Digital Alaska News

Stock Futures Flat Ahead Of The Federal Reserve's Expected Interest Rate Hike https://digitalalaskanews.com/stock-futures-flat-ahead-of-the-federal-reserves-expected-interest-rate-hike/ Stock futures were muted on Wednesday morning as traders look ahead to the upcoming interest rate hike announcement from the Federal Reserve. Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 were roughly flat, while Nasdaq 100 futures nudged 0.04% higher. Stocks fell Tuesday on the first day of the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 313.45 points, or 1.01%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.13% and 0.95% respectively. Yields also jumped Tuesday. The 2-year U.S. Treasury note yield surged as high as 3.99%, its highest level since 2007. The yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly touched 3.6%, the most since 2011. Investors expect that on Wednesday, the central bank will deliver its third consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hike to tame high inflation. A higher-than-expected consumer price index reading in August and hawkish comments on rate hikes from Fed leaders have weighed on stocks, with more pressure likely ahead as the central bank continues to fight inflation. “We’ll never truly know whether the equity market lows are in for the year without successfully testing the June lows,” said John Lynch, chief investment officer at Comerica Wealth Management in a Tuesday note. “To be sure, the recent technical weakness in stock prices must now contend with the resolve of monetary policy makers in their fight against inflation.” He added that third-quarter earnings season may also add headwinds for stock prices if they show further margin erosion for U.S. companies. Investors will also be watching for earnings from Lennar, KB Homes, General Mills and Steelcase Wednesday. Existing home sales will also be released Wednesday morning. Oil prices rise after Putin announces partial military mobilization Russia’s Putin announces partial military mobilization Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a ceremony to receive letters of credence from newly-appointed foreign ambassadors at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, September 20, 2022.  Pavel Bednyakov| Sputnik | Reuters Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday announced a partial military mobilization in Russia, putting the country’s people and economy on a wartime footing as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine continues. In a rare pre-recorded televised announcement, Putin said the West “wants to destroy our country” and claimed the West had tried to “turn Ukraine’s people into cannon fodder,” in comments translated by Reuters. Putin said “mobilization events” would begin Wednesday without providing many further details, aside from saying that he had ordered an increase in funding to boost Russia’s weapons production. Read more here. – Holly Ellyatt Germany nationalizes energy giant Uniper as Russia squeezes gas supplies Uniper has received billions in financial aid from the German government as a result of surging gas and electric prices following Russia’s war in Ukraine. Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images The German government on Wednesday agreed to the nationalization of utility Uniper as it strives to keep the industry afloat in the wake of a worldwide energy crisis. Having already accepted in July to bail out the major gas importer with a 15 billion euro ($14.95 billion) rescue deal, the state will now buy out the 56% stake of Finland’s Fortum for a 0.5 billion euros. The German state is set to own around 98.5% of Uniper. “Since the stabilisation package for Uniper was agreed in July, Uniper’s situation has further deteriorated rapidly and significantly; as such, new measures to resolve the situation have been agreed,” Fortum announced in a statement on Wednesday morning. Read more here. – Elliot Smith CNBC Pro: Want to play the EV sector? Analysts say this lithium stock could soar 70% As interest in battery stocks picks up after a tough year so far, CNBC Pro analyzed a number of stocks in the sector that analysts say have serious potential. CNBC Pro screened the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF on FactSet for stocks that could outperform. One stock that made the list has jumped over 40% this year so far, and analysts say it has further upside of more than 70%. CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here. — Weizhen Tan Fed should prioritize soft landing, says Lazard’s Temple Even though the Federal Reserve is set to deliver its third consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hike this week – tripling the pace of tightening – they should be careful not to throw the economy into a recession, said Ron Temple, head of U.S. Equity at Lazard Asset Management. “Inflation is unacceptably high, and investors, politicians, and consumers are anxious, but patience is a virtue,” said Temple. “Monetary policy works with long and variable lags.” He added that key drivers of inflation are already falling. “The Fed should avoid the temptation to overreact to recent data and keep their eyes on the goal of achieving the softest landing possible,” he said. —Carmen Reinicke Stitch Fix share falls following report of revenue loss Shares of Stitch Fix fell about 1.5% in post-market trading. The online styling company reported revenue losses in the fourth quarter after the bell Tuesday. Stitch Fix reported a loss of 89 cents per share on a net revenue of $481.9 million, which is down 16% from the same period a year ago. Net revenue for the first quarter of 2023 is expected to be down approximately 20% from the same quarter a year prior, the company said in a release detailing its performance. “Today’s macroeconomic environment and its impact on retail spending has been a challenge to navigate, but we remain committed to working through our transformation and returning to profitability,” said CEO Elizabeth Spaulding. Full-year revenue was down 1.4% compared to the prior year. — Alex Harring Stock futures open flat ahead of key Fed decision Stock futures opened flat Tuesday evening as Wall Street awaits the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s interest rate decision Wednesday. The central bank is expected to deliver another 0.75 percentage point interest rate hike to calm inflation. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 20 points, or 0.06%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.10% and 0.15%, respectively. —Carmen Reinicke Read More Here

Remembering The Life Of Helen Winslow 1938 – 2022 https://digitalalaskanews.com/remembering-the-life-of-helen-winslow-1938-2022/ Newburyport – Known to many as “Fitzie”, Helen was born January 16, 1938, to Mary and Christopher Fitzpatrick. “Fitzie” passed away peacefully at Avita of Newburyport, Massachusetts on September 18, 2022. It was an honor for her four grateful daughters to be with her as she began her new journey. “Fitzie” was one of five siblings. She grew up in Franklin, Massachusetts where she attended Dean Jr. College. She then ventured into Boston where she was an accountant and lived on Tremont Street. She was always up for an adventure whether it be out to the Berkshires, down to The Cape or heading up to the White Mountains. It was on one of these adventures north, on the Boston & Maine Train, to enjoy some skiing that she met her best friend and soulmate, Hap Winslow. They met “Après~Ski” at Tuckerman’s Inn in North Conway, New Hampshire. The two would enjoy skiing and the “Après” tradition for over fifty years, eventually passing it onto their family. Together “Fitzie” and Hap, Mum and Dad, accrued many beloved traditions and memories raising their family. They enjoyed countless fun moments with their children, sons-in-law, daughter-in-law, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, and friends. “Fitzie” felt most comfortable observing from the back and sharing her quick wit, one-liners and puns that prompted many laughs. She held a special passion for running, tennis and reading. Her humble joy for these hobbies was passed onto a wealth of people. Whether it be “The Wednesday Girls” with whom she played tennis, “The Running Buddies” she ran countless road races with, or the friends and family who enjoyed Coffee/Tea Time with her at “58”; we all cherished our time with her. She had a magical smile and kindness that made those around her feel connected. Later in life, “Fitzie” worked as a Certified Nursing Assistant at Seaview Retreat in Rowley. Here, she exemplified her gifts for service and compassion to others. Her down to earth personality created a sense of family for residents, staff, and loved ones. Her appreciation for each individual, created an abundance of friendships that spanned generations. Helen/”Fitzie” is survived by her four daughters and spouses; Kathleen Winslow and Erik Prussman of Rowley, MA; AnnMarie and Nate Keliher of South Hampton, NH; Marty and John Blanchard of Rowley, MA; Elizabeth and Mark Smith of Skagway, AK; Daughter-in-law Kate Collins-Winslow of Merrimac, MA; and grandchildren; Kyla Prussman, Jaden, Camden, and Griffin Keliher, Athena and Addison Smith, Joseph and Julia Winslow, sister-in-law June Fitzpatrick, and brother-in-law Ted Hoegler. She will be remembered and missed by many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Hap/Ralph Winslow, son David Winslow; sisters, Arlene Hoegler, Anne Balog; brothers; Bernard and Jimmy Fitzpatrick. The family wishes to express extreme gratitude to Avita Staff of Newburyport for treating our Mum like family. Words cannot express the comfort and peace their daily care and love brought. Thank you also to Compassus Hospice and Palliative Care in her final days. Their guidance during this time was a gift. We are blessed by the out-pouring of support and love for our mother and family during this time. It has served as a reminder for the constant love and support she provided to others throughout her life. Calling hours will be 9 to 11 a.m. on Thursday, September 22, at St. Mary Parish, 196 Main Street, Rowley, MA. A Mass of Christian Burial will immediately follow at 11 a.m. Interment will be 12 p.m. at Rowley Burial Ground. Should you wish to send flowers, they can be sent to F. S. Roberts & Son Funeral Home, 14 Independent Street, Rowley, MA. Published on September 21, 2022 Send Flowers: When Is the Ordering Deadline? Next-Day Delivery ANY DAY OF THE WEEK Order any time up till the day before Same-Day Delivery MON-FRI Order by 2:00PM SAT & SUN Order by noon Morning Delivery TUES-SAT Order by 3:00PM The day before SAT & SUN Order by Saturday Note: These are general guidelines; some florists may not be able to operate within these timelines. During peak periods such as Valentine’s Day, Memorial Day and most holidays, florists are not always able to keep up to demand. Tribute will contact you if there are any issues. Read More Here

Russia Announces Immediate 'partial Mobilization' Of Citizens For Its Offensive In Ukraine | CNN https://digitalalaskanews.com/russia-announces-immediate-partial-mobilization-of-citizens-for-its-offensive-in-ukraine-cnn/ CNN  —  Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens in an escalation of Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine and pledged to use “all means” to defend the country and its people. “Our country also has various means of destruction and in some components more modern than those of the NATO countries, and if the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people,” Putin said in a speech Wednesday indicating a possible new chapter in the months long conflict. The latest developments follow a significant shift in Russia’s position after a sudden and successful Ukrainian offensive through most of occupied Kharkiv this month, which has galvanized Ukraine’s Western backers and led to recriminations in Moscow. Addressing the potential for escalation and use of nuclear weapons, Putin said “those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the prevailing winds can turn in their direction.” Conducting “partial mobilization” in the country was necessary in order to “protect our homeland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the Russian leader said, and those efforts would begin Wednesday with their decree was already signed. The mobilization would mean citizens who are in the reserve and those with military experience would be subject to conscription, he added. The announcement comes as Russia is believed to face shortages of manpower and follows amendments to Russia’s law on military service made Tuesday, which raise the penalties for resistance related to military service or coercion to violate an official military order during a period of mobilization or martial law. Putin framed the ongoing fighting as part of a larger struggle for Russian survival against a West whose goal is it is to “weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country” – a statement that takes on more weight as several Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine announced referendums multiple Kremlin-backed authorities in occupied areas of eastern and southern Ukraine that they will hold referendums on formally joining Russia this week. “They are already saying directly that they were able to split the Soviet Union in 1991 and now the time has come for Russia to break up into a multitude of regions and areas which are fatally hostile to each other,” he said. The referendums, which Putin backed during his speech Wednesday, could pave the way for Russian annexation of the areas, allowing Moscow to frame the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive there as an attack on Russia itself, thereby providing Moscow with a pretext to escalate its military response. In what appeared to be a coordinated announcement, Russian-appointed leaders in the occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic and Donetsk People’s Republic all said they planned to hold “votes” beginning on September 23. Together the four regions that have announced their referendum plans make up around 18% of Ukraine’s territory. Russia does not control any of the four in their entirety. The expected referendums, which run counter to international law upholding Ukraine’s sovereignty, have been announced as world leaders have descended on New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, where the war and it impacts were already poised to loom large. Ukraine has dismissed the announcement of referendums in the occupied regions as a “sham” stemming from the “fear of defeat,” while the the country’s Western supporters signaled they would not alter their support for Ukraine. Putin on Wednesday said Russia has been asked for support from the two “people’s republics” and the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia for the referendums and had pledged to do “everything to ensure the safe conditions for people to express their will.” The announcements had already received swift support from Russian politicians. Former Russian President and vice-chairman of Russia’s National Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has publicly endorsed referendums in the self-declared Donbas republics, saying this would have “huge significance” for “systemic protection” of the residents. “Encroachment on Russian territory is a crime which allows you to use all the forces of self-defense,” Medvedev said on his Telegram channel, in an apparent allusion to the potential for the military escalation. It’s unclear what form an escalation could take, but concerns have been raised throughout the conflict over whether Russia would resort to using its nuclear stockpile in the Ukraine. US President Joe Biden addressed these concerns in a 60 Minutes interview earlier this week, when a reporter asked what he would say to the Russian leader regarding the use of chemical or tactical nuclear weapons. “Don’t. Don’t. Don’t. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II,” Biden said, adding that the US response to such actions would be “consequential.” Putin endorsed a new “deterrent” strategy in June 2020 that allowed for the use of nuclear weapons in response to a non-nuclear attack on Russia that threatened its existence. On Tuesday, Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, amended the law on military service, toughening the punishment for violation of military service duties – such as desertion and evasion from service – according to state news agency TASS. The bill sets a jail term of up to 15 years for resistance related to military service or coercion to violate an official military order, involving violence or the threat of its use, during the period of mobilization or martial law. Read More Here

Putin Sets Partial Military Call-Up, Won’t ‘bluff’ On Nukes https://digitalalaskanews.com/putin-sets-partial-military-call-up-wont-bluff-on-nukes/ KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists in Russia, in a measure that appeared to be an admission that Moscow’s war against Ukraine isn’t going according to plan after nearly seven months of fighting and amid recent battlefield losses for the Kremlin’s forces. The Russian leader, in a televised address to the nation aired on Wednesday morning, also warned the West that he isn’t bluffing over using all the means at his disposal to protect Russia’s territory, in what appeared to be a veiled reference to Russia’s nuclear capability. Putin has previously warned the West not to back Russia against the wall and has rebuked NATO countries for supplying weapons to help Ukraine. The total number of reservists to be called up is 300,000, officials said. Only those with relevant combat and service experience will be mobilized, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said. He added that there are around 25 million people who fit this criteria, but only around 1% of them will be mobilized. Putin’s announcement came against the backdrop of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, where Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last February has been the target of broad international criticism. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky is due to address the gathering in a prerecorded address on Wednesday. Putin didn’t travel to New York. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace described Putin’s mobilization announcement as “an admission that his invasion is failing.” “He and his defense minister have sent tens of thousands of their own citizens to their deaths, ill-equipped and badly led,” Wallace said in a statement. “No amount of threats and propaganda can hide the fact that Ukraine is winning this war, the international community are united and Russia is becoming a global pariah.” The partial mobilization order came a day after Russian-controlled regions in eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans to hold votes on becoming integral parts of Russia — a move that could set the stage for Moscow to escalate the war following Ukrainian successes. The referendums, which have been expected to take place since the first months of the war, will start Friday in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. The war, which has killed thousands of people, has driven up food prices worldwide and caused energy costs to soar. It has also brought fears of a potential nuclear catastrophe at Europe’s largest nuclear plant in Ukraine’s now Russia-occupied southeast. In his address, Putin accused the West in engaging in “nuclear blackmail” and noted “statements of some high-ranking representatives of the leading NATO states about the possibility of using nuclear weapons of mass destruction against Russia.” He didn’t identify who had made such comments. “To those who allow themselves such statements regarding Russia, I want to remind you that our country also has various means of destruction, and for separate components and more modern than those of NATO countries and when the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, to protect Russia and our people, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal,” Putin said. He added: “It’s not a bluff.” Putin said he has already signed the decree for partial mobilization, which is due to start on Wednesday. A full-scale mobilization would likely be unpopular in Russia and could further dent Putin’s standing after the recent military setbacks in Ukraine. “We are talking about partial mobilization, that is, only citizens who are currently in the reserve will be subject to conscription, and above all, those who served in the armed forces have a certain military specialty and relevant experience,” Putin said. On the referendum plans, Putin noted that Russia-backed authorities of the occupied Ukrainian regions asked the Kremlin to support them in their effort to become part of Russia. “We will do everything to provide safe conditions during referendums, so that people can express their will,” Putin stressed. Foreign leaders have described the ballots as illegitimate and nonbinding. Zelenskyy said they were a “sham” and “noise” to distract public attention. Shoigu, the Russian defense minister, also said that 5,937 Russian soldiers have died in the Ukraine conflict, far lower than Western estimates that Russia has lost tens of thousands. In his nightly address Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s commitment to retake areas occupied by Russian forces remained unchanged. “The situation on the front line clearly indicates that the initiative belongs to Ukraine,” he said. “Our positions do not change because of the noise or any announcements somewhere. And we enjoy the full support of our partners in this.” Even a partial mobilization is likely to increase dismay among Russians about the war. The Vesna opposition movement called for nationwide protests on Wednesday, saying “Thousands of Russian men — our fathers, brothers and husbands — will be thrown into the meat grinder of the war. What will they be dying for? What will mothers and children be crying for?” It was unclear how many would dare to protest amid Russia’s overall suppression of opposition and harsh laws against discrediting soldiers and the military operation. The upcoming referendum votes are all but certain to go Moscow’s way. In another signal that Russia is digging in for a protracted and possibly ramped-up conflict, the Kremlin-controlled lower of house of parliament voted Tuesday to toughen laws against desertion, surrender and looting by Russian troops. Lawmakers also voted to introduce possible 10-year prison terms for soldiers refusing to fight. If approved, as expected, by the upper house and then signed by Putin, the legislation would strengthen commanders’ hands against failing morale reported among soldiers. In the Russian-occupied city of Enerhodar, shelling continued around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Ukrainian energy operator Energoatom said Russian shelling again damaged infrastructure at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and briefly forced workers to start two diesel generators for emergency power to the cooling pumps for one of the reactors. Such pumps are essential for avoiding a meltdown at a nuclear facility even though all six of the plant’s reactors have been shut down. Energoatom said the generators were later switched off as main power weas restored. The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been a focus for concern for months because of fears that shelling could lead to a radiation leak. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the shelling. ___ Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine Read More Here

Scholars Targeted By China Initiative Seek Accountability https://digitalalaskanews.com/scholars-targeted-by-china-initiative-seek-accountability/ The Department of Justice discontinued its controversial China Initiative in February, amid accusations that the program was criminalizing China-linked workers’ paperwork errors and spreading anti-Asian sentiments instead of uncovering actual state-sanctioned economic espionage. The initiative, launched in 2018, did lead to multiple pleas and convictions: a hospital researcher and her husband pleaded guilty in 2020 to conspiring to steal trade secrets to sell them to the Chinese government, for instance. Song Guo Zheng, former professor of internal medicine at Ohio State University, pleaded guilty and was sentenced last year to 37 months in prison for lying on federal funding applications in order to hide his participation in a Chinese talent program and extensive collaboration with Chinese researchers. Yet numerous academics who were charged under the China Initiative but never tried or convicted say the DOJ knowingly pursued flimsy cases against them, upending their lives, with nary an apology. Two of those professors are now seeking to hold federal investigators accountable, in their own ways. Xiaoxing Xi, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Physics at Temple University, is suing the lead federal agent on his case, among other government entities. Anming Hu, associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, is leading international opposition to the nomination of the lead prosecutor in his case for U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. Suing the FBI Xi’s case actually predates the China Initiative, but he and his supporters say it was part of a clear and long-standing DOJ pattern of singling out Chinese American scientists for undue scrutiny. Xi was charged with wire fraud in 2015, with the government alleging that he shared superconductivity technology from a private U.S. company, about something called a pocket heater, with Chinese agents. He was arrested at gunpoint in his home in front of his family members and then interrogated and subjected to a body-cavity search while in federal custody. Several months later, the government dropped all charges. In the interim, Xi had been put on administrative leave, banned from his lab and suspended as the interim chair of physics at Temple. Xi’s lawsuit against the lead Federal Bureau of Investigation agent on his case alleges that agents made knowingly or recklessly false statements about Xi to advance the inquiry. Xi also alleges that his arrest was at least in part racially motivated. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2017, was mostly dismissed last year. Xi and his legal team are now appealing that lower court’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Prior to a court appearance last week, Xi said in a news conference that “one of the questions people ask me often, for example, is, ‘Has the government apologized to you?’ And my answer is no. And it’s something that people feel very unfair about. Because as individuals, if we do something, we bear the consequences. And when the FBI agents or government officials do something, they have no consequences. And so they will do anything, everything, and that is a traumatizing factor to the whole community. So I hope we can prevail.” The American Civil Liberties Union is helping Xi with his case. David Rudovsky, one of Xi’s lawyers and a senior fellow in law at the University of Pennsylvania, said during the news conference that Xi “has been instrumental in research on superconductive technology. He’s been doing that for years, all fully legal, and he’s had communications with his colleagues in China about that research, all fully legal. Nothing confidential was provided to his colleagues there.” The FBI “erroneously” determined that Xi had been discussing pocket heater technology with colleagues in China via email, when he’d really been discussing another technology entirely, Rudovsky said. And the inventor of the pocket heater told the FBI prior to Xi’s indictment that none of the emails in question were about the heater—but investigators pushed forward anyway, Rudovsky said, adding, “This is the key fact in the case.” Temple declined comment on Xi’s case. Xi, a naturalized U.S. citizen, returned to teaching at Temple shortly after the federal case against him collapsed. Opposing a Promotion for His Prosecutor Hu’s case at UT Knoxville started in 2018, when an FBI agent accused him of being a spy based on an alleged tip of unknown origin and a Chinese news item about Hu’s part-time faculty appointment at Beijing University of Technology, which the agent translated via Google. Hu denied any wrongdoing, and the agent pressured him to become a spy for the U.S. during his work in China. Hu refused, and the agent then surveilled both Hu and his son, a student at UT Knoxville, for close to two years. Eventually, agents accused Hu, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration grantee and a naturalized Canadian citizen, of violating a 2011 law that prohibits NASA funding from benefiting China or Chinese-owned companies. Hu was charged with three counts each of wire fraud and making false statements, even though he’d previously disclosed his connection to Beijing University of Technology to UT Knoxville and sought clarification about the NASA grant restriction as it pertains to faculty members. Hu’s first trial, in 2021, ended in a hung jury and a mistrial. His second trial later that year ended in his acquittal, with U.S. District Judge Tom Varlan writing his 52-page opinion that “even viewing all the evidence in the light most favorable to the government, no rational jury could conclude that defendant acted with a scheme to defraud NASA.” Casey Arrowood, assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee office, oversaw the case against Hu. This summer, President Biden nominated Arrowood for promotion to U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee. That nomination is now before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee—and Hu and his supporters hope it dies there. “Based on the facts from my case, we believe that Mr. Arrowood does not satisfy the qualification of a U.S. attorney’s role of being just and fair under the law, and we ask you to rescind your nomination,” Hu wrote in a letter to Biden last month. Among other arguments, Hu said that Arrowood never should have validated the FBI’s poor case with a prosecution, that Arrowood himself didn’t understand the NASA funding law in question and that the wrongful prosecution harmed both Chinese Americans and the U.S. government’s reputation. “The U.S. has attained international leadership in science and technology largely because this nation attracts the most talented people from across the world,” Hu wrote. “The nomination of Mr. Casey Arrowood conveys the opposite message.” Groups such as United Chinese Americans, APA Justice, Asian American Scholar Forum and the Tennessee Chinese American Alliance all have spoken out against the Arrowood nomination as well. Arrowood referred a request for comment to his office’s press officer, who did not respond to questions. Members of the judiciary committee, including Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn, did not respond to requests for comment. UT Knoxville said in a statement, “We are pleased and grateful to welcome Dr. Hu back to the UT faculty. To assist Dr. Hu with his immigration status, the university offered to reimburse Dr. Hu for legal fees for an immigration attorney of his choice, provided a letter of support from Chancellor Plowman, and was responsive to his needs throughout the process. All steps needed to resolve his immigration status were completed on Jan. 27. Dr. Hu was immediately reinstated to his tenured faculty position with an effective date of Feb. 1, and the campus is providing him with $300,000 in startup funds to help him re-establish his research.” Hu said in an interview that both his case and Xi’s were “driven by racial targeting” and demonstrate a deep misunderstanding of how professors collaborate and work together across international borders. “Professors, we use our holidays and other free time to go to other universities and lecture and have academic exchange. We present our ideas and our research to peers and other universities, and we learn from each other. None of it relates to national security. Most of our results will be published anyway.” Hu estimated that he’d lost years of work defending himself, and he said that while he can’t get the time back, he can keep speaking out against the person in charge of his case. Accountability ‘Starts With Transparency’ Jeremy S. Wu, co-organizer of the advocacy group APA Justice—which is part of a coalition calling for a thorough investigation of Hu’s prosecution—said that Arrowood’s “misconduct should certainly not be rewarded.” Regarding Xi’s case, Wu said he and colleagues hope that the appeal will lead to “discovery of the FBI agent misconduct in his case, a judicial review of federal immunity [for public officials] and possibly new legislation restricting immunity.” On the idea of accountability, Wu said it “starts with transparency.” The FBI, DOJ and federal funding agencies involved in China Initiative cases “have not been transparent in disclosing the status, progress and outcome of their investigations … There are no facts except rhetoric associated with the claim of threat or what happened to the thousands of investigations. Hundreds if not thousands of researchers and scientists of Chinese and Asian descent are subject to these unaccounted and endless investigations for years.” At one point last year, when the China Initiative was still active, the FBI said that it was opening a new Chinese counterintelligence case every 12 hours. But a precise accounting of these cases is not available...

AP News Summary At 3:09 A.m. EDT https://digitalalaskanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-309-a-m-edt-2/ Putin sets partial mobilization in Russia, threatens enemies KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a partial mobilization in Russia as the fighting reaches nearly seven months. Putin’s address to the nation on Wednesday comes a day after Russian-controlled regions in eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans to hold votes on becoming integral parts of Russia. The Kremlin-backed efforts to swallow up four regions could set the stage for Moscow to escalate the war following Ukrainian successes on the battlefield. The referendums, which have been expected to take since the first months of the war, will start Friday in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. Biden at UN to call Russian war an affront to body’s charter NEW YORK (AP) — President Joe Biden is ready to make the case at the U.N. General Assembly that Russia’s “naked aggression” in Ukraine is an affront to the heart of what the international body stands. In his address Wednesday morning, the American president is looking to rally allies to continue to back the Ukrainian resistance. Biden also plans to meet on the sidelines of the General Assembly with new British Prime Minister Liz Truss and announce a global food security initiative. But White House officials say the crux of Biden’s visit to the U.N. this year will be a full-throated condemnation of Russia as its brutal war nears the seven-month mark. US, Iran to speak at UN; Zelenskyy to appear from Ukraine UNITED NATIONS (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and Iran President Ebrahim Raisi are among those taking the spotlight on the second day of the world body’s first fully in-person meeting since the coronavirus pandemic began. But perhaps one of the biggest draws on Wednesday will be Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskky, who will be heard but not seen in the flesh. The 193-member assembly voted last week to allow Zelenskky to deliver a pre-recorded address because of his need to deal with Russia’s invasion, making an exception to its requirement that all leaders speak in person. Unsurprisingly, Ukraine has been the center of attention at the U.N. assembly, with world leader after world leader condemning Russia for attacking a sovereign nation. Man sets himself on fire in apparent protest of Abe funeral TOKYO (AP) — A man has set himself on fire near the Japanese prime minister’s office in Tokyo in apparent protest of the state funeral for former leader Shinzo Abe. Kyodo News agency reported the man sustained burns but told police he set himself on fire with oil and a note found with him proclaimed his opposition to the Abe state funeral. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is in New York for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. The planned state funeral for Abe has become increasingly unpopular among Japanese as more details emerge about the ruling party’s and Abe’s links to the Unification Church, which built close ties with ruling party lawmakers over their shared interests in conservative causes. EXPLAINER: What kept Iran protests going after first spark? Protests have erupted across Iran in recent days after a 22-year-old woman died while being held by the morality police for violating the country’s strictly enforced Islamic dress code. The young woman had been picked up by Iran’s morality police for her allegedly loose headscarf, or hijab. Many Iranians, particularly the young, have come to see her death as part of the Islamic Republic’s heavy-handed policing of dissent and the morality police’s increasingly violent treatment of young women. This has led to daring displays of defiance, in the face of beatings and possible arrest. In street protests, some women tore off their mandatory headscarves, demonstratively twirling them in the air, or burned them. Fiona threatens to become Category 4 storm headed to Bermuda SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona is threatening to strengthen into a Category 4 storm as it lashes the Turks and Caicos Islands and was forecast to squeeze past Bermuda later this week. The storm was blamed for causing at least four direct deaths in its march through the Caribbean, where it unleashed torrential rain in Puerto Rico, leaving a majority without power or water as hundreds of thousands of people scraped mud out of their homes following what authorities described as “historic” flooding. Power company officials initially said it would take a couple of days for electricity to be fully restored but then appeared to backtrack late Tuesday night. House to vote on election law overhaul in response to Jan. 6 WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is preparing to vote on an overhaul of a centuries-old election law in an effort to prevent future presidential candidates from trying to subvert the popular will. The legislation under consideration Wednesday is a direct response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to find a way around the Electoral Count Act. That arcane 19th century law governs, along with the U.S. Constitution, how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential election winners. Trump and a group of his aides and lawyers tried to exploit loopholes in the law to overturn his defeat. At UN, hope peeks through the gloom despite a global morass UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Hope can be hard to find anywhere these days. That goes double for the people who walk the floors of the United Nations, where shouldering the weight of the world is a core part of the job description. And when world leaders are trying to solve some of humanity’s thorniest problems, it’s easy to lose sight of hope. And yet at the U.N. General Assembly this year, while there is lots of misery and pessimism, there are also signs of brightness poking through like clovers in the sidewalk cracks. The U.N. secretary-general says hope is an increasingly rare commodity, but he also says it persists. Some 230 whales beached in Tasmania; rescue efforts underway HOBART, Australia (AP) — About 230 whales are stranded on Tasmania’s west coast, just two days after 14 sperm whales were found beached on an island nearby. The pod stranded on Ocean Beach appears to be pilot whales. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania said Wednesday that at least half of them are presumed to still be alive. The department says a team was assembling whale rescue gear and heading to the area. Two years ago, about 470 long-finned pilot whales were found beached on Tasmania’s west coast in the largest mass-stranding on record in Australia. The pilot whale is notorious for stranding in mass numbers, for reasons that are not entirely understood. The Muscogee get their say in national park plan for Georgia MACON, Ga. (AP) — Hundreds of Native Americans returned to their historic capital in Macon, Georgia, this weekend for the 30th annual Ocmulgee Indigenous Celebration. Nearly 200 years after the last Creek Indians were forcibly removed to Oklahoma to make way for slave labor in the Deep South, citizens of the Muscogee Creek Nation are celebrating their survival. They’re also supporting an initiative to put the National Park Service in charge of protecting the heart of the Creek Confederacy. A federal review is nearly complete, meaning Interior Secretary Deb Haaland could soon ask Congress to create the Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read More Here

Readers Sound Off On Columbus Day, UN General Assembly And Kids At Risk https://digitalalaskanews.com/readers-sound-off-on-columbus-day-un-general-assembly-and-kids-at-risk/ Point Pleasant, N.J.: Voicer Karen Cirillo makes an excellent point. Italian-Americans should be proud of our heritage and we should do everything possible to end the negative stereotyping of those of us of Italian descent. I consider myself a proud Italian-American. I have openly admonished Italian-Americans for acting unethically, and I have praised “paisani” for making worthwhile, positive contributions to the community. I disagree with Cirillo’s statement about waiting for Columbus Day to show our pride. Christopher Columbus is not a source of pride for the Italian people — he is actually an embarrassment. Nor is Columbus an Italian hero. Instead, he was Spain’s first conquistador, and, in reality, the original gangster in the New World. For many years, I have tried to convince people that we should no longer honor and pay tribute to Columbus. “Don Colombo” reinforces all the negative stereotypes of Italian people. Just like the stereotypical Mafiosi boss we see in gangster films, Columbus terrorized and exploited the native population and European settlers for his personal gain and to maintain control of his territory. Columbus instituted the slave trade in the Western Hemisphere. He was also a pimp who rewarded his lieutenants with pubescent, underage indigenous girls. Anyone who dared to defy the authority of Don Colombo was cruelly punished. These factual accounts of “Don Colombo” are well documented. If we really want to end the negative stereotyping of Italian people, then we must start by dumping Columbus Day. We shouldn’t allow this man to be the poster child of Italian legacy, culture and heritage. Carminuccio Cosimo Palladino Circa 1500, an Indian Cacique of the Island of Cuba, with Christopher Columbus. Original Artwork: An engraving by F Bartolozzi after a drawing by B West. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Paramus, N.J.: Wouldn’t it be nice for the planet if some of the UN General Assembly delegates used Skype or Zoom and teleconferenced? This would be a real teachable moment for all of us! The gridlock inflicted on the poor people who live and work in Manhattan is staggering. This gridlock is compounded by the crime on the subways, homelessness and the building boom that New York City is still enjoying. Ironically, climate change is very important to the UN General Assembly delegates. Walt Stevens Forest Hills: As a stroke survivor like John Fetterman, I’m insulted by the cruel comments made by Dr. Oz — but at least Fetterman knows whether or not he lives in Pennsylvania, New York or New Jersey, and knows how many houses he owns. This is a wizard without a heart, courage or a brain. Stew Frimer Manhattan: White supremacists are getting national press in the Miami Herald, The New York Times, on CNN and on HBO. The networks and news outlets are helping organizations like the Proud Boys grow their followings. Edward Drossman Flushing: In response to Voicer Thomas Facchiano: You are seriously advocating for Sept. 11 to be declared a national holiday. Why? So the uninformed, devoid-of-empathy Americans can have a last hurrah of summer to go to the beach, pool, barbecuing, picnicking, celebrating, taking advantage of sales at Kohl’s and Macy’s? Is this how we should remember the worst attack on our soil that killed nearly 3,000 innocent Americans? No, absolutely not! You compare the idea to Memorial Day. If we take your advice, Americans will be greeting each other on the holiday with “Happy Sept. 11″! Needless to say, that would send a horrible message. Paul Gross Charlotte, N.C.: Sept. 11 was about a week ago and it’s time to pack it away for another year. We say we’ll never forget but we couldn’t even keep the now-closed 9/11 Tribute Museum open for more than 20 years. Why doesn’t the federal government assume the cost of the Tribute Museum and the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum? Why haven’t they been folded into the Smithsonian Institution system as an affiliate? I travel a lot and there are scads of Smithsonian affiliates scattered across the nation. Are any of those more important than this? Schools throughout the tristate area should be making field trips to the museum every year, perhaps as part of the fifth-grade curriculum. We need to remember our history, and not just with a memorial. Names on slabs of granite mean nothing to younger people who did not live through the events. People need to see the objects and hear people’s stories to truly remember. Why do you think you can visit the concentration camps so many years after WWII? Barbara Haynes Charlotte, N.C.: Why did you make it so hard to find the Voice of the People on the Daily News website? I hate the new format! Thinking of canceling my subscription! Ron Turek Plainview, L.I.: Add the names of Erin Merdy’s three young children (”City knew mom had psych troubles,” Sept. 15) to Lisa Steinberg, Nixzmary Brown, Elisa Izquierdo, Zymere Perkins and Myls Dobson — a list of lives sacrificed by New York City’s Administration for Children’s Services. ACS let this case “fall through the cracks” even though those cracks are more like gaping holes in their floors. It closed a recent probe of Ms. Merdy without conducting a mental health exam. And ACS has the nerve to issue a statement claiming that its “top priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all children in New York City.” Richard Siegelman The Daily News Flash Weekdays Catch up on the day’s top five stories every weekday afternoon. Brooklyn: Excuse me, but couldn’t some of the $1 billion that Chirlane McCray got to help mental health services in the city have gone to help Erin Merdy and save her children? Where did all that money go, anyway? Anita Dente Hillsborough, N.J.: Re Voicer Thomas Sarc’s dislike of Shriners Hospitals for Children spokespeople Alec and Kaleb: I’d rather watch these two bright young men pitch for a hospital than have to listen to old has-beens like Joe Namath and Jimmie Walker screeching about Medicare Advantage plans, or failed presidential candidate Mike Huckabee hawking sketchy sleep aids during virtually every television commercial break. Teresa Maj Omaha: Can someone comment and tell me why the U.S. has not banned the NHL’s Russians? The U.S. Open’s? Tom Dahulick San Francisco: Much as Britain’s Queen Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria are remembered for their cultural legacies, including William Shakespeare’s plays and the Tudor and Victorian styles of architecture, Queen Elizabeth II’s 70-year reign spanned an evolving era of music, fiction, television and film in which she was an influential figure. Elizabeth II was the subject of “Her Majesty,” the Beatles’ final song on their final (“Abbey Road”) album, and she reportedly enjoyed ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” because “I am the Queen and I like to dance.” A.A. Milne dedicated a book of “Winnie the Pooh” songs to the newborn Princess Elizabeth, and she met Thomas the Tank Engine in one of Wilbert Awdry’s “Railway Series” children’s stories. She was portrayed on film in the comedy “The Naked Gun” and the dramas “The King’s Speech” and “The Queen,” and on television in “The Crown.” Her passing ends a remarkable Second Elizabethan Age. Shoshana and Stephen A. Silver Newton, N.J.: To the obviously soulless Voicer Timothy Collins: If your twice-impeached hero croaked tomorrow (wishful thinking), you’d insist on 30 days of worldwide mourning. Queen Elizabeth was a much more consequential world figure and is deserving of worldwide attention upon her passing. Your homophobia is also obvious. Go away. Michael Schnackenberg Bronx: Re “Council bid to fund abortions” (Sept. 14): As New York City retirees fight to keep their earned Medicare benefits, l find it offensive that the City Council wants to fund abortions. The city wants to save money off the backs of retired workers. Meanwhile, l’m sure that Mayor Adams and the rest of the city politicians are not giving up their benefits. City unions should not back the city Medicare Advantage push on its retirees. Daniel Correa Norwalk, Conn.: To Voicer John Lemandri: Donald Trump said the FBI searched Barron’s room for documents, but the Department of Justice said they did not. Stop watching only Fox News. They, like Trump, always twist everything. I’m angry with the Daily News for putting this Voicer’s comment in the paper. It only gives Trumpers an opportunity to get the lies out to the public. F. Larusso Read More Here

Trump's Allies Are Baffled Over His Increasing Support Of The QAnon Movement: Rolling Stone https://digitalalaskanews.com/trumps-allies-are-baffled-over-his-increasing-support-of-the-qanon-movement-rolling-stone/ Former President Donald Trump has been referencing the QAnon movement more frequently since the FBI raided his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on August 8.Brandon Bell/Getty Images Some people close to Trump are confused as to why he is suddenly leaning hard towards QAnon. Some sources suggested to Rolling Stone that Trump was trolling for likes among his supporters. Other sources told the outlet that Trump was amused by the QAnon memes and images he reposted. Allies of former President Donald Trump are baffled as to why he is leaning harder than ever into his support of QAnon — a conspiracy-theory-led movement that baselessly claims Trump is fighting a deep-state cabal of pedophiles. Rolling Stone spoke to several people close to Trump, some of whom expressed confusion as to why the former president was suddenly so vocal with promoting QAnon-related messages. The New York Times reported over the weekend that music sounding like a QAnon song had been played at a Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio. During the rally, the former president’s supporters were also seen pointing their fingers to the sky in a one-finger salute, which experts said might have been a nod to the movement’s slogan, “Where we go one, we go all.” “Fuck if I know,” an unnamed Trump ally told Rolling Stone when asked about the former president’s apparent support for the fringe group. The outlet also spoke to other people close to the former president, some of whom theorized that Trump was trolling for likes from his supporters. “He’s said that he thinks some of their memes and images are ‘funny,'” a source close to Trump said, per Rolling Stone. The same source said Trump also thought it was “hilarious” that the media would get “so mad” whenever the former president would “touch the Q shit.” Another Rolling Stone source, described as a former White House official, said that Trump sometimes thought his QAnon-linked followers had “the right idea” regarding their hatred for the “deep state,” a term used in the movement to refer to shady, secret networks and alliances influencing power at the highest echelons of government. “I do not remember his exact words, but [Trump’s response] was along the lines of: There are plenty of bad and sick people in Hollywood” and among the “liberal elite,” the source told Rolling Stone. A representative at Trump’s post-presidential press office did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. Following the FBI’s raid on the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence on August 8, Trump — who previously flirted with the idea of QAnon — has started referencing the movement far more intensely than before. In August, Trump shared over a dozen messages on his Truth Social account, some of which referenced QAnon and contained baseless conspiracy theories about the FBI. Other posts by the former president on Truth Social this month have included a reposted image of himself sporting a “Q” lapel pin, along with the movement’s slogan. Former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi said this week that Trump’s embracing of QAnon could be “the last act of a desperate man.” Speaking to Insider on Monday, Figliuzzi said Trump’s support of QAnon was indicative of “increasing desperation,” which could lead to violence within the movement. Read the original article on Business Insider Read More Here

House To Vote On Election Law Overhaul In Response To Jan. 6 – KESQ https://digitalalaskanews.com/house-to-vote-on-election-law-overhaul-in-response-to-jan-6-kesq/ By MARY CLARE JALONICK Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House will vote on an overhaul of a centuries-old election law, an effort to prevent future presidential candidates from trying to subvert the popular will. The legislation under consideration Wednesday is a direct response to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to find a way around the Electoral Count Act, an arcane 1800s-era law that governs, along with the U.S. Constitution, how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential election winners. While that process has long been routine and ceremonial, Trump and a group of his aides and lawyers tried to exploit loopholes in the law in an attempt to overturn his defeat. The bill would set new parameters around the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress that happens every four years after a presidential election. The day turned violent last year after hundreds of Trump’s supporters interrupted the proceedings, broke into the building and threatened the lives of then-Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress. The rioters echoed Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud and wanted Pence to block Democrat Joe Biden’s victory as he presided over the joint session. The legislation intends to ensure that future Jan. 6 sessions are “as the constitution envisioned, a ministerial day,” said Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican who co-sponsored the legislation with House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. Both Cheney and Lofgren are also members of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. “The American people are supposed to decide an election, not Congress,” Lofgren said. The bill, which is similar to legislation moving through the Senate, would clarify in the law that the vice president’s role presiding over the count is only ceremonial and also sets out that each state can only send one certified set of electors. Trump’s allies had unsuccessfully tried to put together alternate slates of illegitimate pro-Trump electors in swing states where Biden won. The legislation would increase the threshold for individual lawmakers’ objections to any state’s electoral votes, requiring a third of the House and a third of the Senate to object to trigger votes on the results in both chambers. Currently, only one lawmaker in the House and one lawmaker in the Senate has to object. The House bill would set out very narrow grounds for those objections, an attempt to thwart baseless or politically motivated challenges. The legislation also would require courts to get involved if state or local officials want to delay a presidential vote or refuse to certify the results. The House vote comes as the Senate is moving on a similar track with enough Republican support to virtually ensure passage before the end of the year. After months of talks, House Democrats introduced the legislation on Monday and are holding a quick vote two days later in order to send the bill across the Capitol and start to resolve differences. A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation this summer and a Senate committee is expected to vote on it next week. While the House bill is more expansive than the Senate version, the two bills cover similar ground and members in both chambers are optimistic that they can work out the differences. While few House Republicans are expected to vote for the legislation — most are still allied with Trump — supporters are encouraged by the bipartisan effort in the Senate. “Both sides have an incentive to want a set of clear rules, and this is an antiquated law that no one understands,” said Benjamin Ginsburg, a longtime GOP lawyer who consulted with lawmakers as they wrote the bill. “All parties benefit from clarity.” House GOP leaders disagree, and are encouraging their members to vote against the legislation. They say the involvement of courts could drag out elections and that the bill would take rights away from states. Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, Lofgren’s GOP counterpart on the House Administration Committee, said Tuesday that the bill would trample on state sovereignty and is “opening the door to mass litigation.” Democrats are “desperately trying to talk about their favorite topic, and that is former president Donald Trump,” Davis said. Cheney, a frequent Trump critic who was defeated in Wyoming’s GOP primary last month, says she hopes it receives votes from some of her Republican colleagues. The bill would “ensure that in the future our election process reflects the will of the people,” she said. ___ AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. Read More Here

Biden Arrives At The UN 'with The Wind At His Back,' But Worries Remain As Russia's War In Ukraine Drags On – KESQ https://digitalalaskanews.com/biden-arrives-at-the-un-with-the-wind-at-his-back-but-worries-remain-as-russias-war-in-ukraine-drags-on-kesq/ CNN By Kevin Liptak, CNN President Joe Biden returns to the green-marbled United Nations stage Wednesday prepared to tout renewed American leadership on Ukraine and the environment, even as the combined effects of a prolonged conflict and economic uncertainty create a dark mood among world leaders. Biden’s second speech to the United Nations General Assembly is a moment for him to herald the US-led effort to back Ukraine and punish Russia for its invasion, along with a new, historic investment in combating climate change. After making his debut UN address last year under the cloud of a messy Afghanistan withdrawal and stalled domestic ambitions, Biden enters his sophomore outing with a stronger hand. “We believe that the President heads to New York with the wind at his back,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. Still, even as Biden proclaims renewed US leadership, deeper questions persist over his ability to maintain that position in the years ahead, as the specter of a global recession looms and threats to American democracy fester. Biden has spent ample time underscoring those threats in recent weeks, primarily for a domestic audience but with foreign capitals also listening intently. He has recounted in recent speeches sitting around a table at last year’s Group of 7 summit in Cornwall, England, telling fellow leaders that “America is back.” French President Emmanuel Macron, Biden has told audiences, asked him: “For how long?” That question still hangs over Biden’s efforts on the world stage, even a year-and-a-half into his term, as his predecessor continues to wield influence over the Republican Party and prepares to mount another run for the White House. Biden himself said in an interview that aired Sunday that while he intends to run for reelection, a final decision “remains to be seen.” One of the issues currently at the forefront of global affairs — the pained negotiations to restart the Iran nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew — only underscores the effects of pendulum swings in American leadership. For Biden, the yearly UN speech is another stab at explaining to the world how he has steered the United States back into a position of leadership after the “America First” years of Donald Trump. In it, he will offer a “firm rebuke of Russia’s unjust war in Ukraine,” according to Sullivan, and deliver “a call to the world to continue to stand against the naked aggression that we’ve seen these past several months.” He also plans to unveil “significant new announcements” toward combating food insecurity and “lay out in detail how the US has restored its global leadership and the integrity of its word on the world stage,” Sullivan said. After his speech Wednesday morning, Biden will host a pledging session for the Global Fund to Fight HIV, AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. In the evening, Biden and the first lady will host a leaders’ reception at the American Museum of Natural History. This week’s schedule was thrown into flux as world leaders assembled in London for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral, one of the largest gatherings of heads-of-state in recent memory. Many flew from the British capital to New York for the UN meetings. Instead of his usual Tuesday morning speaking slot, Biden’s address was pushed back a day. Unlike the past several years, when the UN General Assembly was scaled down due to Covid-19, this year’s gathering is back to its usual in-person capacity. Biden and his aides have been drafting the address for several weeks, a period that coincided with Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive taking back some Russian-held territory after months of occupation. The initiative had been coordinated with American officials, including through enhanced information and intelligence sharing, and sustained by weaponry provided by the US and its allies. US officials have cautioned Ukraine’s current gains don’t necessarily signal a wider change in the outlook of the war, which remains likely to be a prolonged conflict. A day ahead of Biden’s speech, two Russian-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine announced plans for referendums on officially joining Russia, votes the US has previously warned would be “shams.” One of Biden’s objectives in his speech Wednesday will be to stress the importance of maintaining unity among western allies in supporting Ukraine in the uncertain months ahead. That effort is made more difficult by a looming energy crisis as Russia withholds supplies of natural gas to Europe as winter sets in. Higher costs spurred in part by withering western sanctions on Moscow have led to an economic calamity that is causing political turmoil for many leaders in Biden’s coalition, including himself. The President meets with one of those leaders, British Prime Minister Liz Truss, later Wednesday. It will be their first formal in-person talks since Truss entered office earlier this month following the decision of her predecessor, Boris Johnson, to step down. She inherited a deep economic crisis, fueled by high inflation and soaring energy costs, that has led to fears the UK could soon enter a prolonged recession. While few in the Biden administration shed tears at Johnson’s resignation — Biden once described him as the “physical and emotional clone” of Trump — the US and the UK were deeply aligned in their approach to Russia under his leadership. White House officials expect that cooperation will continue under Truss, even as she comes under pressure to ease economic pressures at home. Less certain, however, is whether Truss’s hardline approach to Brexit will sour relations with Biden. The President has taken a personal interest in the particular issue of the Northern Ireland Protocol, a post-Brexit arrangement that requires extra checks on goods moving between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. The rules were designed to keep the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland open and avoid a return to sectarian violence. But Truss has moved to rewrite those rules, causing deep anxiety in both Brussels and Washington. Russian President Vladimir Putin is not expected in-person at this year’s general assembly, though his foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will be in New York for the event. Chinese President Xi Jinping is also not planning to attend the UN in person this year. The two autocratic leaders, who met in-person last week, have deepened ties between their countries as relations with the west deteriorate. Biden has warned Xi against supporting Putin in his invasion of Ukraine, a theme he’s expected to reiterate in Wednesday’s speech. Putin and Xi’s absence underscores the limits of venues like the UN to resolve the world’s most serious problems. With permanent seats on the UN Security Council, Russia has resisted approving resolutions on Syria and Ukraine, leading to inaction. Efforts to reform the Security Council have gained more steam under the Biden administration, though prospects of breaking the body’s stalemate seem slim. Biden’s aides are still weighing how specifically he will speak to the US desire to reform the Security Council during his visit to the UN this week, but he is expected to make his views known at least in private with other leaders. “We’re committed to finding a way forward to make the UN fit for purpose for this century. And, currently, there is an attack on the UN system. There’s an attack on the charter. And that’s by a permanent member of the Security Council,” Biden’s ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I can’t change the fact that Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council, but I can continue the efforts that we have succeeded at, and that’s isolating them, condemning them, and making sure that they know and understand it’s not business as usual,” she told Jake Tapper. The-CNN-Wire & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. Read More Here

Trump Urges Appeals Court To Keep Shielding Records From Justice Department https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-urges-appeals-court-to-keep-shielding-records-from-justice-department/ Washington — Former President Donald Trump’s legal team on Tuesday urged a federal appeals court to turn down a request from the Justice Department to allow investigators to regain access to a tranche of roughly 100 documents with classification markings seized from his Florida estate, claiming the government has “criminalized a document dispute” and is objecting to a “transparent process that simply provides much-needed oversight.”  “This investigation of the 45th President of the United States is both unprecedented and misguided,” James Trusty and Christopher Kise, Trump’s lawyers, wrote in their response. “In what at its core is a document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control, the government wrongfully seeks to criminalize the possession by the 45th President of his own Presidential and personal records.” In their 40-page filing, Trump’s lawyers told the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit that the FBI’s seizure of documents from Trump’s South Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, presents “extraordinary circumstances that warrant review by a neutral third party,” and said the Justice Department has not proven that the documents at the crux of its request to the appeals court are classified.  “Ultimately, any brief delay to the criminal investigation will not irreparably harm the government,” Trusty and Kise wrote. “The injunction does not preclude the Government from conducting a criminal investigation, it merely delays the investigation for a short period while a neutral third party reviews the documents in question.” A detailed property list from the FBI made public this month shows that federal agents seized 33 items, boxes or containers from a storage room and from desks in Trump’s office that contained 103 documents marked “confidential,” “secret” or “top secret” during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search at the South Florida property. Last Friday, the Justice Department turned to the 11th Circuit after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon rejected its request to restore access to the tranche of records marked classified that were among the material seized. Cannon barred the Justice Department from using the documents in its ongoing criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of sensitive government records, pending a review by a third-party arbiter known as a special master. In their filing to the 11th Circuit asking the court to stay Cannon’s order keeping the subset of sensitive record off-limits to investigators, federal prosecutors argued the decision “hamstrings” its criminal probe and “irreparably harms the government by enjoining critical steps of an ongoing criminal investigation and needlessly compelling disclosure of highly sensitive records,” including to Trump’s lawyers. By blocking the review and use of the records for investigative purposes, the ruling “impedes the government’s efforts to protect the nation’s security,” Justice Department lawyers wrote in their 29-page filing. In addition to keeping in place her order stopping federal investigators from using the sensitive documents, Cannon, appointed to the federal bench by Trump, also named Judge Raymond Dearie to serve as the special master. Dearie is tasked with reviewing the roughly 11,000 documents recovered by the FBI from a storage room and Trump’s office at Mar-a-Lago for personal items and records, as well as material that may be potentially subject to attorney-client or executive privileges.  Dearie, a longtime judge on the federal district court in Brooklyn, met with Justice Department lawyers and Trump’s legal team Tuesday afternoon. He’d asked the parties to submit proposed agenda items in advance.  In a letter on Monday, federal prosecutors suggested the conference focus on the “precise mechanics” of how the documents should be reviewed, aspects of the order appointing Dearie as special master and future progress reviews. In a separate letter to Dearie, Trump’s lawyers pushed back on the Oct. 7 deadline proposed by Dearie for the two sides to finish sifting through and labeling the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago. They also objected to a request from Dearie that Trump disclose information regarding any potential declassification of the sensitive materials taken from his South Florida residence, arguing that doing so would force Trump to “fully and specifically disclose a defense to the merits of any subsequent indictment without such a requirement being evident in the district court’s order.” Read More Here

Marine Toby Gutteridge Tells Of Rebuilding Life After Afghan Shooting https://digitalalaskanews.com/marine-toby-gutteridge-tells-of-rebuilding-life-after-afghan-shooting/ Image source, Toby Gutteridge Image caption, Toby Gutteridge said he joined the British military “for a really strong challenge” A special forces soldier who was paralysed when he was shot through the neck in Afghanistan has told of his experiences in a new book. Ex-Royal Marine Toby Gutteridge from Poole, Dorset, was 24 when he was seriously hurt in the 2009 shooting. In his book, he talks about how he rebuilt his life and overcame mental heath issues. He also revealed he could have flown home two weeks before the shooting but did not want to leave his comrades. Mr Gutteridge was born in South Africa but grew up in the US and UK before he joined the Royal Marines and then the Poole-based special forces. He said he had suffered from drink and drug addiction but joined the British military “for a really strong challenge”. Image caption, Mr Gutteridge was paralysed instantly by the shooting During his second posting to Afghanistan he was taking part in a night raid on a compound when he was shot through the neck – a bullet from an AK-47 shattering his C2 vertebrae. “I was paralysed instantly. That was me, lights out, I just slumped to my knees and fell forward while the fighting continued around me.” He was eventually dragged outside where his colleagues stemmed the bleeding and kept him breathing before he was medically evacuated. Despite the worst fears of the doctors treating him, he survived, but has been left needing a wheelchair and permanently linked to a ventilator. He has documented the process of “rebuilding myself from scratch” in a book, Never Will I Die. “I’d lost my entire identity – my job, my career, everything I’d built myself on. Joining the marines was all very physical and you build your identity around that. “It was really tough – I reached a point where I didn’t see the point in carrying on.” After getting “the right professional help”, he eventually went back to college to do GCSEs and A-levels before graduating with a first class business degree at Bournemouth University. Image source, Toby Gutteridge Image caption, Doctors doubted whether the marine would survive his injuries “Life is precious and I was lucky enough to be given a second chance and I’m trying to make the most of it now. “I’ve seen life taken away at the blink of an eye – it almost happened to me,” he said. In his book, he also revealed he turned down the chance of being flown home two weeks before he was injured, following a less serious shooting. “We were a close, small unit – it’s all about brotherhood and I didn’t feel it necessary to go home and let anyone down,” he said. Mr Gutteridge has gone on to set up an extreme sports clothing brand which he said reflects his outlook on life. “No matter how hard and tough life gets, there is always light at the end of the tunnel. It will get better,” he said. Some 454 British troops died during the conflict in Afghanistan, with thousands more injured. Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk. Read More Here

Stock Futures Rise Ahead Of The Federal Reserve's Expected Interest Rate Hike https://digitalalaskanews.com/stock-futures-rise-ahead-of-the-federal-reserves-expected-interest-rate-hike/ Stock futures were slightly higher on Wednesday morning as traders look ahead to the upcoming interest rate hike announcement from the Federal Reserve. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 42 points, or 0.14%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.15% and 0.13%, respectively. Stocks fell Tuesday on the first day of the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 313.45 points, or 1.01%. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.13% and 0.95% respectively. Yields also jumped Tuesday. The 2-year U.S. Treasury note yield surged as high as 3.99%, its highest level since 2007. The yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly touched 3.6%, the most since 2011. Investors expect that on Wednesday, the central bank will deliver its third consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hike to tame high inflation. A higher-than-expected consumer price index reading in August and hawkish comments on rate hikes from Fed leaders have weighed on stocks, with more pressure likely ahead as the central bank continues to fight inflation. “We’ll never truly know whether the equity market lows are in for the year without successfully testing the June lows,” said John Lynch, chief investment officer at Comerica Wealth Management in a Tuesday note. “To be sure, the recent technical weakness in stock prices must now contend with the resolve of monetary policy makers in their fight against inflation.” He added that third-quarter earnings season may also add headwinds for stock prices if they show further margin erosion for U.S. companies. Investors will also be watching for earnings from Lennar, KB Homes, General Mills and Steelcase Wednesday. Existing home sales will also be released Wednesday morning. CNBC Pro: Want to play the EV sector? Analysts say this lithium stock could soar 70% As interest in battery stocks picks up after a tough year so far, CNBC Pro analyzed a number of stocks in the sector that analysts say have serious potential. CNBC Pro screened the Global X Lithium & Battery Tech ETF on FactSet for stocks that could outperform. One stock that made the list has jumped over 40% this year so far, and analysts say it has further upside of more than 70%. CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here. — Weizhen Tan Fed should prioritize soft landing, says Lazard’s Temple Even though the Federal Reserve is set to deliver its third consecutive 0.75 percentage point rate hike this week – tripling the pace of tightening – they should be careful not to throw the economy into a recession, said Ron Temple, head of U.S. Equity at Lazard Asset Management. “Inflation is unacceptably high, and investors, politicians, and consumers are anxious, but patience is a virtue,” said Temple. “Monetary policy works with long and variable lags.” He added that key drivers of inflation are already falling. “The Fed should avoid the temptation to overreact to recent data and keep their eyes on the goal of achieving the softest landing possible,” he said. —Carmen Reinicke Stitch Fix share falls following report of revenue loss Shares of Stitch Fix fell about 1.5% in post-market trading. The online styling company reported revenue losses in the fourth quarter after the bell Tuesday. Stitch Fix reported a loss of 89 cents per share on a net revenue of $481.9 million, which is down 16% from the same period a year ago. Net revenue for the first quarter of 2023 is expected to be down approximately 20% from the same quarter a year prior, the company said in a release detailing its performance. “Today’s macroeconomic environment and its impact on retail spending has been a challenge to navigate, but we remain committed to working through our transformation and returning to profitability,” said CEO Elizabeth Spaulding. Full-year revenue was down 1.4% compared to the prior year. — Alex Harring Stock futures open flat ahead of key Fed decision Stock futures opened flat Tuesday evening as Wall Street awaits the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s interest rate decision Wednesday. The central bank is expected to deliver another 0.75 percentage point interest rate hike to calm inflation. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures rose by 20 points, or 0.06%. S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures climbed 0.10% and 0.15%, respectively. —Carmen Reinicke Read More Here

Opening Statements Set For Trial Against Close Trump Ally https://digitalalaskanews.com/opening-statements-set-for-trial-against-close-trump-ally/ NEW YORK (AP) — When Donald Trump sought the presidency in 2016, a California billionaire named Tom Barrack made sure to get in the mix. The pair had been close friends for decades before Barrack emerged as an informal campaign advisor. He later became the chair of Trump’s inaugural committee. The problem, federal prosecutors say, is that Barrack was also secretly working at the same time as an agent for the United Arab Emirates, an energy-rich U.S. ally. The allegation has landed the defendant in federal court in Brooklyn. The trial is expected to illuminate his relationship with Trump, and how Barrack sought to leverage that relationship to protect the interests of, and feed intelligence to, the UAE. Before being indicted, Barrack drew attention by raising $107 million for Trump’s inaugural celebration following the 2016 election. The event was scrutinized both for its lavish spending and for attracting foreign officials and businesspeople looking to lobby the new administration. U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan and lawyers are expected to complete jury selection on Wednesday morning. Opening statements would follow. The judge has asked potential jurors who expressed anti-Trump sentiments if they could set them aside and remain neutral. Some were dismissed when they said they couldn’t. During his questioning, the judge told prospective jurors that they may be hearing testimony from former Trump administration officials, and maybe even Trump himself. The 75-year-old Barrack — who was arrested last year and released on $250 million bail — has pleaded not guilty to charges accusing him of acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, obstruction of justice and making false statements. The Los Angeles-based private equity manager was a key figure in UAE investments in a tech fund and real estate totaling $374 million. Prosecutors say that while he was nurturing those business deals, Barrack helped UAE leaders influence Trump during his campaign for president and after he was elected. Those efforts included drafting a speech for Trump that praised a member of the country’s royal family, passing information back to the Emiratis about how senior U.S. officials felt about a boycott of Qatar, and promising to advance the interests of the UAE if he were appointed as an ambassador or envoy to the Middle East. Such an appointment “would give ABU DHABI more power!” Barrack wrote in one message obtained by federal prosecutors, referring to the capital of UAE, which commands tens of billions of dollars in wealth funds from its oil and gas deposits. The U.S. government is seeking to present evidence at trial that Barrack was in close communication with the UAE’s director of national intelligence, Ali al-Shamsi. “Al Shamsi was one of the most important UAE government officials that the defendants communicated with as part of the charged scheme, particularly given his senior role in UAE intelligence operations, and testimony regarding his role and responsibilities is central to this case,” prosecutors wrote in court papers. The defense has sought to exclude evidence of Barrack’s lavish lifestyle, arguing in court papers that it would invite the jury to convict Barrack “based on improper emotional appeals and creates a substantial risk of class bias.” Barrack has denied any wrongdoing. His lawyers said his contacts with the Emirates were not a secret and had been disclosed to Trump’s campaign and administration. He told reporters as he left the courthouse on Tuesday that watching the jury selection process gave him faith he will be cleared. “It’s an amazing system,” he said. Read More Here

Arbiter In Trump Docs Probe Signals Intent To Move Quickly https://digitalalaskanews.com/arbiter-in-trump-docs-probe-signals-intent-to-move-quickly/ Donald Trump’s attorneys Evan Corcoran and James Trusty walk past media at Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2022, in New York. Lawyers for Trump and for the Justice Department appeared in federal court before a veteran judge named last week as special master to review the roughly 11,000 documents — including about 100 marked as classified — taken during the FBI’s Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. (AP Photo/Brittainy Newman) WASHINGTON (AP) — The independent arbiter tasked with inspecting documents seized in an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s Florida home said Tuesday he intends to push briskly though the review process and appeared skeptical of the Trump team’s reluctance to say whether it believed the records had been declassified. “We’re going to proceed with what I call responsible dispatch,” Raymond Dearie, a veteran Brooklyn judge, told lawyers for Trump and the Justice Department in their first meeting since his appointment last week as a so-called special master. The purpose of the meeting was to sort out next steps in a review process expected to slow by weeks, if not months, the criminal investigation into the retention of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago after Trump left the White House. As special master, Dearie will be responsible for sifting through the thousands of documents recovered during the Aug. 8 FBI search and segregating those protected by claims of executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. Though Trump’s lawyers had requested the appointment of a special master to ensure an independent review of the documents, they have resisted Dearie’s request for more information about whether the seized records had been previously declassified — as Trump has maintained. His lawyers have consistently stopped short of that claim, even as they have asserted that a president has absolute authority to declassify information. They said in a separate filing Tuesday that the Justice Department had not proven that the records remained classified. “In the case of someone who has been president of the United States, they have unfettered access along with unfettered declassification authority,” one of Trump’s lawyers, James Trusty, said in court Tuesday. But Dearie said that if Trump’s lawyers will not actually assert that the records have been declassified, and the Justice Department instead presents an acceptable case that they remain classified, then he would be inclined to regard them as classified. “As far as I’m concerned,” he said, “that’s the end of it.” In a letter to Dearie on Monday night, the lawyers said the declassification issue might be part of Trump’s defense in the event of an indictment. Trusty said in court Tuesday that the Trump team should not be forced at this point to disclose a possible defense based on the idea the records had been declassified. He denied that the lawyers were trying to engage in “gamesman-like” behavior but instead believed it was a process that required “baby steps.” He said the right time for the discussion is whenever Trump presses forward with a claim to get any seized property back. Dearie said he understood the position but observed: “I guess my view of it is, you can’t have your cake and eat it” too. The resistance to the judge’s request was notable because it was Trump’s lawyers, not the Justice Department, who had requested the appointment of a special master and because the recalcitrance included an acknowledgment that the probe could be building toward an indictment. Despite the focus on whether the seized documents are classified or not, the three statutes the Justice Department listed on a warrant as part of its investigation do not require that the mishandled information be classified in order to initiate a prosecution. The Trump team has also questioned the feasibility of some of the deadlines for the special master’s review. That work includes inspecting the roughly 11,000 documents, including about 100 marked as classified, that were taken during the FBI’s search. U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump appointee who granted the Trump team’s request for a special master, had set a Nov. 30 deadline for Dearie’s review and instructed him to prioritize his inspection of classified records. The Justice Department has asked a federal appeals court to halt Cannon’s order requiring it to provide him with classified documents for his review. That appeal is pending. Dearie, a Ronald Reagan appointee whose name is on the atrium of his Brooklyn courthouse, made clear during Tuesday’s meeting that he intended to meet the deadlines, saying there was “little time” to complete the assigned tasks. Julie Edelstein, a Justice Department lawyer, said she was hopeful that the department could get the documents digitized and provided to Trump’s lawyers by early next week. She noted that the department had given the legal team a list of five vendors approved by the government for the purposes of scanning, hosting and otherwise processing the seized records. After some haggling, Dearie instructed Trusty’s lawyers to choose a vendor by Friday. Earlier Tuesday, the Trump legal team urged the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit to leave in place Cannon’s order temporarily barring the Justice Department’s use of the classified records for its criminal investigation while Dearie completes his review. The department has said that order has impeded its investigation into the presence of top-secret information at Mar-a-Lago. Trump’s lawyers called those concerns overblown, saying investigators could still do other work on the probe even without scrutinizing the seized records. “Ultimately, any brief delay to the criminal investigation will not irreparably harm the Government,” Trump’s lawyers wrote. “The injunction does not preclude the Government from conducting a criminal investigation, it merely delays the investigation for a short period while a neutral third party reviews the documents in question.” Sisak reported from New York. Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

Mail Ballot Fight Persists In Key States https://digitalalaskanews.com/mail-ballot-fight-persists-in-key-states/ FILE – Chet Harhut, deputy manager, of the Allegheny County Division of Elections, wheels a dolly loaded with mail-in ballots, at the division of elections offices in downtown Pittsburgh, May 27, 2020. State laws in the crucial battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin force most mail-in ballots to be processed and counted after Election Day, sometimes stretching the process by a week or more. That lag time in getting results opens the door to lies and misinformation that can sow distrust about the eventual outcome in close races. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File) HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and his allies seized on the drawn-out vote processing and counting in Pennsylvania during the 2020 election to fuel his false claims that fraud cost him victory in the battleground state — and election officials worry that a replay could be on the horizon in November’s crucial Senate and governor’s races. And it’s not just Pennsylvania. Michigan and Wisconsin are other crucial swing states that allow no-excuse mail-in ballots but give local election offices no time before Election Day to process them. Election workers’ inability to do that work ahead of time means many of the mailed ballots may not get counted on Election Day, delaying results in tight races and leaving a gaping hole for misinformation and lies to flood the public space. “That time between the polls closing on election night and the last vote being counted is really being exploited by people who want to undermine confidence in the process,” said Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia election commissioner during the 2020 presidential election who is now president and CEO of the good-government group Committee of Seventy. The first step in processing mailed ballots, or pre-canvassing, is a routine but crucial administrative task that allows election workers to verify voters’ signatures and addresses, or spot problems that could be fixed by voters. Once ballots are deemed valid, they are removed from their envelopes — another time-consuming task — so they are ready to be counted on Election Day. Not in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, though. Thirty-eight other states — including Republican-controlled ones such as Florida, Georgia and Texas — allow mailed ballots to be processed before Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, even brags about producing results on election night — a pointed criticism he made during a recent stop in Pennsylvania. For the three critical battleground states, such objections fall flat. Efforts since 2020 to give local election workers more time before Election Day to process mailed ballots have died in Republican-controlled legislatures. Instead, Republicans in those states have sought to tighten restrictions on voting by mail — provisions vetoed by Democratic governors. “Counting the ballots should be driven by security, not speed,” Wisconsin state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, a Republican, said earlier this year as lawmakers were considering legislation on the issue. “Why would we want to give bad actors the chance to see ballots prior to Election Day?” Republicans helped kill a bipartisan bill that would have allowed more time for processing mailed ballots in Wisconsin amid claims that it would give partisans more time to cheat or leak vote counts early — another unfounded conspiracy theory promoted as a way to explain Trump’s loss. Like Pennsylvania, election workers in Michigan and Wisconsin must wait until Election Day to start the pre-canvassing of mailed ballots. For now, in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, requests for absentee ballots are running below 2020’s rate, relieving some of the burden on local election offices. Still, Claire Woodall-Vogg, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said it’s “a total guess” when counting will finish in Wisconsin’s most populous county. She hopes it will wrap up by 11 p.m. on election night. A late rush of dropped-off ballots — as happened in 2020 — isn’t expected this year, she said, because courts banned the use of drop boxes. In Michigan in 2020, lawmakers agreed to give clerks in more populous cities and towns 10 hours on the day before Election Day to process mailed ballots. Clerks unsuccessfully sought a similar provision for this year. The Michigan Secretary of State’s office said it was too early to estimate how many absentee ballots might be cast or how long it will take to process them. The Republicans who control the Pennsylvania Legislature have refused to allow early processing of mailed ballots unless it comes packaged with provisions Democrats oppose, such as putting limits on drop boxes and expanding voter identification requirements. County election officials say they are grateful the state approved $45 million in election administration grants to help them buy ballot processing equipment and pay for workers to help. But they still face the work of processing well over 1 million mailed ballots just as they are running the November election. A number of them do not expect to finish processing mailed ballots until at least the day after the election — even after working through the night. The Pennsylvania House Republicans’ lead lawmaker on election legislation said allowing counties to process ballots before Election Day must be combined with “election integrity” measures. “Once a ballot is opened, you remove the outside envelope from the ballot, you remove any ability to question anything in that election system,” said Republican state Rep. Seth Grove. “So you have to guard the front end of it a lot better.” Those who advocate for earlier processing say observers can watch the pre-canvassing of mailed ballots, increasing transparency, and note that it is allowed by many other states. “If people want to observe the process,” said Lee Soltysiak, the chief operating officer of Montgomery County in Pennsylvania, “they’re more likely to do it at 3 p.m. and not 3 a.m.” All three states flipped to support Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and are still being buffeted by conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss. Among those is that election workers falsified ballots in the middle of the night in Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and other Democratic-leaning cities across battleground states lost by Trump, despite no such evidence emerging for nearly two years since the election. Death threats to election officials followed the arguing, as did a flurry of litigation designed to keep Trump in office. In the middle of the counting, two men inspired by Trump’s election lies and armed with guns drove from Virginia to where ballots were being tallied in Philadelphia. Trump continues to peddle the conspiracy theories, repeating this month during a rally in Wilkes-Barre that Pennsylvania’s vote in 2020 was “a rigged election.” Fearing a repeat of the false claims from two years ago, Democrats in the Pennsylvania Legislature continued to push Republicans to bring up a pre-canvassing bill — without any poison pills — for a vote. “That bill will not run,” said Democratic state Rep. Scott Conklin. “Why won’t it run? Because if it runs, it takes away the conspiracy theories. It takes away the fact that what they’re saying is nonsense and not true.” Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

Mail Ballot Fight Persists In Key States, Sure To Slow Count https://digitalalaskanews.com/mail-ballot-fight-persists-in-key-states-sure-to-slow-count-2/ AP Photo/ Carolyn Kaster, File Democrat and Franklin County Commissioner Bob Ziobrowski, right, and Republican and member of the Franklin County election board Jerry Warnement, left, work together to review and duplicate damaged absentee and mail-in ballots that would not go through the electronic ballot scanner the morning after the Pennsylvania primary election at the Franklin County offices in Chambersburg, Pa., May 18. HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump and his allies seized on the drawn-out processing and counting in Pennsylvania during the 2020 election to fuel his false claims that fraud cost him victory in the battleground state. Election officials worry that a replay could be on the horizon for November’s midterm elections, with high-stakes races on the state’s ballot for governor and U.S. Senate. And it’s not just Pennsylvania. Michigan and Wisconsin are other crucial swing states that allow no-excuse mail-in ballots but give local election offices no time before Election Day to process them. Election workers’ inability to do that work ahead of time means many of the mailed ballots may not get counted on Election Day, delaying results in tight races and leaving a gaping hole for misinformation and lies to flood the public space. “That time between the polls closing on election night and the last vote being counted is really being exploited by people who want to undermine confidence in the process,” said Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia election commissioner during the 2020 presidential election who is now president and CEO of the good-government group Committee of Seventy. The first step in processing mailed ballots, or pre-canvassing, is a routine but crucial administrative task that allows election workers to verify voters’ signatures and addresses, or spot problems that could be fixed by voters. Once ballots are deemed valid, they are removed from their envelopes — another time-consuming task — so they are ready to be counted on Election Day. Not in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, vote-count outliers. Thirty-eight 38 other states — including Republican-controlled ones such as Florida, Georgia and Texas — allow mailed ballots to be processed before Election Day, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, even brags about producing results on election night — a pointed criticism he made during a recent stop in Pennsylvania. For the three critical battleground states, such objections fall flat. Efforts since 2020 to give local election workers more time before Election Day to process mailed ballots have died in Republican-controlled legislatures. Instead, Republicans in those states have sought to tighten restrictions on voting by mail — provisions vetoed by Democratic governors. “Counting the ballots should be driven by security, not speed,” Wisconsin state Rep. Janel Brandtjen, a Republican, said earlier this year as lawmakers were considering legislation on the issue. “Why would we want to give bad actors the chance to see ballots prior to Election Day?” Republicans helped kill a bipartisan bill that would have allowed more time for processing mailed ballots in Wisconsin amid claims that it would give partisans more time to cheat or leak vote counts early — another unfounded conspiracy theory promoted as a way to explain Trump’s loss. Like Pennsylvania, election workers in Michigan and Wisconsin must wait until Election Day to start the pre-canvassing of mailed ballots. For now, in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, requests for absentee ballots are running below 2020’s rate, relieving some of the burden on local election offices. Still, Claire Woodall-Vogg, executive director of the Milwaukee Election Commission, said it’s “a total guess” when counting will finish in Wisconsin’s most populous county. She hopes it will wrap up by 11 p.m. on election night. A late rush of dropped-off ballots — as happened in 2020 — isn’t expected this year, she said, because courts banned the use of drop boxes. In Michigan in 2020, lawmakers agreed to give clerks in more populous cities and towns 10 hours on the day before Election Day to process mailed ballots. Clerks unsuccessfully sought a similar provision for this year. The Republicans who control the Pennsylvania Legislature have refused to allow early processing of mailed ballots unless it comes packaged with provisions Democrats don’t want, such as banning drop boxes and expanding voter identification requirements. County election officials say they are grateful the state approved $45 million in election administration grants to help them buy ballot processing equipment and pay for workers to help. But they still face the work of processing well over 1 million mailed ballots just as they are running the November election. A number of them do not expect to finish processing mailed ballots until at least the day after the election — even after working through the night. The Pennsylvania House Republicans’ lead lawmaker on election legislation said allowing counties to process ballots before Election Day must be combined with “election integrity” measures. “Once a ballot is opened, you remove the outside envelope from the ballot, you remove any ability to question anything in that election system,” said Republican state Rep. Seth Grove. “So you have to guard the front end of it a lot better.” Those who advocate for earlier processing say observers can watch the pre-canvassing of mailed ballots, increasing transparency, and note that it is allowed by many other states. “If people want to observe the process,” said Lee Soltysiak, the chief operating officer of Montgomery County in Pennsylvania, “they’re more likely to do it at 3 p.m. and not 3 a.m.” All three states flipped to support Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election and are still being buffeted by conspiracy theories about Trump’s loss. Among those is that election workers falsified ballots in the middle of the night in Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and other Democratic-leaning cities across battleground states lost by Trump, despite no such evidence emerging for nearly two years since the election. Death threats to election officials followed the arguing, as did a flurry of litigation designed to keep Trump in office. In the middle of the counting, two men inspired by Trump’s election lies and armed with guns drove from Virginia to where ballots were being tallied in Philadelphia. Trump continues to peddle the conspiracy theories, repeating this month during a rally in Wilkes-Barre that Pennsylvania’s vote in 2020 was “a rigged election.” Fearing a repeat of the false claims from two years ago, Democrats in the Pennsylvania Legislature continued to push Republicans to bring up a pre-canvassing bill — without any poison pills — for a vote. “That bill will not run,” said Democratic state Rep. Scott Conklin. “Why won’t it run? Because if it runs, it takes away the conspiracy theories. It takes away the fact that what they’re saying is nonsense and not true.” Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

R https://digitalalaskanews.com/r/ To the editor: This month, Matt Castelli rolled out the Moderate Party platform. The party’s unnunaced comparison of the extreme right and extreme left is divorced from the reality of local and national politics, and it’s a mediocre electoral strategy. In Saranac Lake, where Castelli held a town hall this month, the extreme right consists of COVID conspiracy theorists and insurrectionist sympathizers. According to an analysis by The Guardian, some of our North Country neighbors were Three Percenters, a far-right, anti-government militia. The extreme left of Saranac Lake organized Black Lives Matter demonstrations and were the most vocal opponents of the first crisis pregnancy center inside the Adirondack Park. Nationally, the extreme right are fascist bigots working to strip people of their fundamental human rights while attempting to violently overthrow elections. The extreme left are attempting to expand what we understand as fundamental human rights to include things like housing and healthcare. Compare the views of two candidates who could reasonably be considered extreme right and extreme left: Doug Mastriano and Amane Badhasso. Mastriano is the Republican candidate for governor in Pennslyvania. He’s a Christian nationalist who doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state. He has promoted a wide range of conspiracy theories, including Q-Anon, and repeatedly attempted to invalidate the presidential election results in Pennsylvania. He believes climate change is a hoax. He wants to ban same-sex marriage. He believes Islam is incompatible with the United States Constitution. Amane Badhasso is a community organizer. She came to Minnesota at the age of 13 through a refugee resettlement program. In 2020, she served as a key staffer for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in Minnesota. After the murder of George Floyd, she worked on the ballot proposition that would’ve radically transformed the Minneapolis Police Department. In 2022, she ran for the House of Representatives on a platform that supported Medicare For All, a Green New Deal, and expanding voting rights in a far more ambitious and thoughtful way than what is being proposed by the Moderate Party. There is no equivalence between the extreme right and extreme left, yet the Moderate Party doesn’t even attempt to make a distinction. This approach is hostile towards a group of voters Castelli absolutely needs to show up in big numbers while attempting to attract voters who aren’t going to flip. Harm reduction is a compelling enough reason for some of us to vote for a candidate we aren’t enthusiastic about, but I doubt it’ll turn out unlikely voters. Without expanding the electorate, Castelli needs to flip more than 9% of Stefanik’s 2020 support. That doesn’t even take redistricting into account, which made NY-21 more favorable to Republicans. Vote for Castelli on the Democratic Party line and reject the Moderate Party this November. Hopefully it doesn’t persist beyond this election. David Lynch Saranac Lake – Sources: – https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/43334/20210305/website-leak-finds-far-right-militia-members-in-st-lawrence-county https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/doug-mastriano-donald-trump-christian-right-1234589455/ https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/editorials/doug-mastriano-donald-trump-2020-election-overturn-20220914.html https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/doug-mastriano-senate-lgbtq-islam-climate-dreamers-1397275/ https://www.amaneforcongress.com/blank-1-1-1 Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

What's In The House, Senate Bills Overhauling Jan. 6 Count https://digitalalaskanews.com/whats-in-the-house-senate-bills-overhauling-jan-6-count/ WASHINGTON (AP) — The central idea behind House and Senate bills to reform an arcane federal election law is simple: Congress should not decide presidential elections. The bills are a direct response to the Jan. 6 insurrectio n and former President Trump’s efforts to find a way around the Electoral Count Act, a 19th century law that governs, along with the U.S. Constitution, how states and Congress certify electors and declare presidential election winners. The House is voting on its version of the legislation on Wednesday and a Senate committee will consider its bipartisan bill next week. While the House bill is more expansive, the two bills would make similar changes, all aimed at ensuring that the popular vote from each state is protected from manipulation by bad actors or partisans who want to overturn the will of the voters. House Administration Committee Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., a lead sponsor of the House bill, says people who wanted to overturn the 2020 election took advantage of ambiguous language “to have Congress play a role that they really aren’t supposed to play.” Supporters in both chambers — Democrats and some Republicans — want to pass an overhaul before the start of the next Congress and ahead of the 2024 presidential campaign cycle, as Trump has signaled that he might run again. Ten GOP senators have backed the legislation, likely giving Democrats the votes they need to break a filibuster and pass their electoral bill in the 50-50 Senate. A look at what the two bills would do: CLARIFY THE VICE PRESIDENT’S ROLE Lawmakers and legal experts have long said the 1887 law is vague and vulnerable to abuse, and Democrats saw Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, as a final straw. Supporters of the former president attacked the Capitol that day, echoing his false claims of widespread election fraud, interrupting the congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s victory and calling for Vice President Mike Pence’s death because he wouldn’t try to block Biden from becoming president. Both the House and Senate bills would clarify that the vice president’s role presiding over the congressional certification every Jan. 6 after a presidential election is “ministerial” and that he or she has no power to determine the results of the election — an effort to make that point emphatically in the law after Trump and some of his allies put massive pressure on Pence. He resisted those entreaties, but many lawmakers were concerned that the law wasn’t clear enough on that point. The Senate bill states that the vice president “shall have no power to solely determine, accept, reject, or otherwise adjudicate or resolve disputes over the proper list of electors, the validity of electors, or the votes of electors.” The House bill has similar language and adds that the vice president “shall not order any delay in counting or preside over any period of delay in counting electoral votes.” MORE DIFFICULT TO OBJECT The two bills would also make it more difficult for lawmakers to object to a particular state’s electoral votes. Under current law, just one member of the Senate and one member of the House need to lodge an objection to automatically trigger votes in both chambers on whether to overturn or discard a state’s presidential election results. Both bills would significantly raise that threshold, with the House bill requiring a third of each chamber to object and the Senate bill requiring a fifth of each chamber to object. The House bill goes even further, specifying very narrow grounds for the objections, such as if certain electors are ineligible under the law or if a state submitted too many votes. Brookings Institution Fellow Norm Eisen, a legal expert who consulted with lawmakers writing the legislation, said the House bill puts tighter parameters around “opportunities for mischief” by lawmakers who may be taking sides. NO FAKE ELECTORS Both bills would ensure that there is one “single, conclusive slate of electors,” as senators put it, a response to Trump allies’ unsuccessful efforts to create alternate, illegitimate slates of Trump electors in states that Biden narrowly won in 2020. Each state’s governor would be required to submit the electors, which are sent under a formal process to Congress and opened at the rostrum during the congressional session on Jan. 6 after every presidential election. The House and the Senate bills would also establish legal processes if any of those electors are challenged by a presidential candidate. ‘CATASTROPHIC EVENTS’ The House and Senate legislation would also revise language in current law that wasn’t challenged during the 2020 election, but that lawmakers think could be vulnerable to abuse. The law now allows state legislatures to override the popular vote in their states by calling a “failed election,” but the term is not defined under the law. The Senate bill says a state could only move its presidential election day if there are “extraordinary and catastrophic” events that necessitate that to happen. House lawmakers and legal experts like Eisen have argued that the Senate language is still too vague, and the House bill would only allow such a delay if a federal judge agrees that there has been a genuine catastrophic event affecting enough ballots. The House bill would also limit such a move to the affected geographic area and would require the extension to last no longer than five days after Election Day. CERTIFYING ELECTIONS The House bill would add language to try to prohibit state or local officials from refusing to count valid votes in a presidential election or refusing to certify a legitimate election — an attempt to assuage some lawmakers’ fears that the next presidential candidate will follow Trump’s lead and try to pressure lower-level officials to overturn the results. Presidential candidates could go to court to force such a count. The Senate bill has no such language. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More Here

Hurricane Fiona Blasts Turks And Caicos Islands, Begins Moving Towards Bermuda https://digitalalaskanews.com/hurricane-fiona-blasts-turks-and-caicos-islands-begins-moving-towards-bermuda/ Hurricane Fiona drenched the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday as a Category 3 storm after devastating Puerto Rico, where most people remained without electricity or running water and rescuers used heavy equipment to lift survivors to safety. The storm’s eye passed close to Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, after the government imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas.  By late Tuesday night, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC), the storm was centered about 95 miles north of North Caicos Island, with hurricane-force winds extending up to 45 miles from the center and tropical-storm-force winds extending up to 160 miles. The storm was moving in a north direction at about 8 mph.  Samuel Santiago removes mud from the front of his house in the San Jose de Toa Baja neighborhood in Puerto Rico on Sept. 20, 2022, amid flooding after Hurricane Fiona made landfall.  Pedro Portal/El Nuevo Herald/Tribune News Service/Getty Images Fiona was expected to approach Bermuda late Thursday, the NHC said, and is expected to strengthen over the next few days. The U.S. State Department issued an advisory Tuesday night telling U.S. citizens to “reconsider travel” to Bermuda.       While the storm was still lashing the archipelago late Tuesday, officials reported only a handful of downed trees and electric posts and no deaths. However, they noted that telecommunications on Grand Turk were severely affected. “Fiona definitely has battled us over the last few hours, and we’re not out of the thick of it yet,” said Akierra Missick, minister of physical planning and infrastructure development. Turks and Caicos could still see another 1 to 3 inches of rain from Fiona, while the Dominican Republic could see another 1 to 2 inches, the NHC forecasted, bringing the potential for even more flooding. In total, parts of Puerto Rico could receive as much as 35 inches of rain from the storm, while some portions of the Dominican Republic could see 20 inches. “Storms are unpredictable,” Turks and Caicos Premier Washington Misick said in a statement from London, where he had been attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. “You must therefore take every precaution to ensure your safety.” A man wades through a flooded street in Nagua, Dominican Republic, on Sept. 19, 2022, after the passage of Hurricane Fiona.  ERIKA SANTELICES/afp/AFP/Getty Images Fiona was forecast to weaken before running into easternmost Canada over the weekend. It was not expected to threaten the U.S. mainland. Fiona triggered a blackout when it hit Puerto Rico’s southwest corner on Sunday, the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm. By Tuesday morning, authorities said they had restored power to nearly 300,000 of the island’s 1.47 million customers. Power was also restored to San Jorge Children and Women’s Hospital in San Juan Tuesday afternoon, Puerto Rico power distribution company Luma reported. Puerto Rico’s governor warned it could take days before everyone has electricity.  Water service was cut to more than 760,000 customers — two-thirds of the total on the island — because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, officials said. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted late Tuesday night that 1.2 million people in Puerto Rico were still without power, and 27% of the island was without water service. Hochul also added that 1,301 people were in temporary shelters. She said that New York State Police troopers were set to deploy to the region to assist in the recovery efforts.  The storm was responsible for at least two deaths in Puerto Rico. A 58-year-old man died after police said he was swept away by a river in the central mountain town of Comerio. Another death was linked to a power blackout — a 70-year-old man was burned to death after he tried to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running, officials said. In the Dominican Republic, authorities also reported two deaths: a 68-year-old man hit by a falling tree and an 18-year-old girl who was struck by a falling electrical post while riding a motorcycle. The storm forced more than 1,550 people to seek safety in government shelters and left more than 406,500 homes without power. The hurricane left several highways blocked, and a tourist pier in the town of Miches was badly damaged by high waves. At least four international airports were closed, officials said. The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, said authorities would need several days to assess the storm’s effects. In the central Puerto Rico mountain town of Cayey, where the Plato River burst its banks and the brown torrent of water consumed cars and homes, overturned dressers, beds and large refrigerators lay strewn in people’s yards Tuesday. “Puerto Rico is not prepared for this, or for anything,” said Mariangy Hernández, a 48-year-old housewife, who said she doubted the government would help her community of some 300 in the long term, despite ongoing efforts to clear the streets and restore power. “This is only for a couple of days and later they forget about us.” She and her husband were stuck in line waiting for the National Guard to clear a landslide in their hilly neighborhood. “Is it open? Is it open?” one driver asked, worried that the road might have been completely closed. Other drivers asked the National Guard if they could swing by their homes to help cut trees or clear clumps of mud and debris. Hurricane Fiona slams Puerto Rico, leaving most of the island without power or clean water 05:07 Michelle Carlo, a medical adviser for Direct Relief in Puerto Rico, told CBS News on Tuesday that conditions on the island were “eerily similar” to 2017, when Hurricane Maria caused nearly 3,000 deaths.  “Despite Fiona being categorized as only a Category 1 hurricane, the water damage in Puerto Rico has been in some places as bad or even worse than when Maria hit us five years ago,” Carlo said. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps.   National Guard Brig. Gen. Narciso Cruz described the resulting flooding as historic. “There were communities that flooded in the storm that didn’t flood under Maria,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” Cruz said that 670 people have been rescued in Puerto Rico, including 19 people at a retirement home in the north mountain town of Cayey that was in danger of collapsing. “The rivers broke their banks and blanketed communities,” he said. Some were rescued via kayaks and boats while others nestled into the massive shovel of a digger and were lifted to higher ground. He lamented that some people refused to leave their home, adding that he understood them. “It’s human nature,” he said. “But when they saw their lives were in danger, they agreed to leave.” A member of the Puerto Rico National Guard wades through water searching for people in need of rescue from flooded streets in the aftermath of Hurricane Fiona in Salinas, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 19, 2022. Reuters/Ricardo Arduengo Jeannette Soto, a 34-year-old manicurist, worried it would take a long time for crews to restore power because a landslide swept away the neighborhood’s main light post. “It’s the first time this happens,” she said of the landslides. “We didn’t think the magnitude of the rain was going to be so great.” Gov. Pedro Pierluisi requested a major disaster declaration on Tuesday and said it would be at least a week before authorities have an estimate of the damage that Fiona caused. He said the damage caused by the rain was “catastrophic,” especially in the island’s central, south and southeast regions. “The impact caused by the hurricane has been devastating for many people,” he said. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency traveled to Puerto Rico on Tuesday as the agency announced it was sending hundreds of additional personnel to boost local response efforts. On Tuesday evening, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra declared a public health emergency for Puerto Rico. This comes after President Biden issued an emergency declaration Monday. HHS has deployed 25 personnel to the island so far, the agency said in a news release. “We will do all we can to assist officials in Puerto Rico with responding to the impacts of Hurricane Fiona,” Becerra said in a statement. “We are working closely with territory health authorities and our federal partners and stand ready to provide additional public health and medical support.” U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday he would push for the federal government to cover 100% of disaster response costs — instead of the usual 75% — as part of an emergency disaster declaration. “We need to make sure this time, Puerto Rico has absolutely everything it needs, as soon as possible, for as long as they need it,” he said. On the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico still faces power challenges 08:03 In: Hurricane Fiona Read More Here

A https://digitalalaskanews.com/a-26/ You don’t have permission to access “http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/crime/article266037071.html” on this server. Reference #18.1e36d517.1663730595.7ad4d7d Read More Here

B https://digitalalaskanews.com/b-10/ We’ve detected unusual activity from your computer network To continue, please click the box below to let us know you’re not a robot. Read More Here

Trump, As President In 2018, Threatened To Prosecute Political Foes Like Hilary, Comey https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-as-president-in-2018-threatened-to-prosecute-political-foes-like-hilary-comey/ Washington, Sep 21 (IANS): Former US President Donald Trump had threatened to use his “presidential powers” to prosecute his political foes such as former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and FBI Director James Comey, who cleared her of any mishandling of government documents in the private emails case, according to a new book. “At one point in the spring of 2018, Trump instructed (then White House Counsel) Don McGahn to direct (then Attorney General Jeff) Sessions to prosecute Clinton and Comey and, if the Attorney General refused, said he would do it himself as President. McGahn had to explain that the President had no such power. “You can’t prosecute anybody,” McGahn told Trump, according to book “The Divider” written by Peter Baker of The New York Times and Susan Glasser of The New Yorker that went up for sale on Tuesday. Trump once required a civics lesson from White House counsel on the limits of his power after he suggested that as President, he could – and would – prosecute his political enemies, according to the new book. Throughout his tenure, Trump had a penchant for skewering his foes via Twitter takedowns and public lashings. But some of his adversaries irked the then President so much so that he sought a more permanent form of revenge against them, the book claimed. According to “The Divider,” from which the Business Insider has quoted excerpts, Trump frequently pressured then US Attorneys General Sessions and Bill Barr to bring criminal charges against his opponents, including Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director Comey. Trump eventually fired both Comey and his deputy for not acceding to his request for stopping the FBI’s investigations into a 3rd party intelligence report (British MI6 agent) that the Russians were involved in hacking systems and influencing the electoral process in the 2016 elections in which Democrat Hilary Clinton lost. The British spy had alleged that the Russians were influencing Trump with favours against his request for a Trump tower in Moscow. The FBI was in the process of corroborating and dismissing the MI6 intelligence report as it would be embarrassing for an incumbent President if it were to come out in the public domain. “‘Congress could seek to ‘impeach and remove’ the President if it concluded that he abused the power of intervening in a criminal matter,’ McGahn wrote, using boldface and italics to emphasize his point,” Glasser and Baker wrote. A spokesperson for Trump did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. Several former Trump White House and government officials have since recounted similar stories that suggest the former President was unfamiliar with the logistics of his newfound position. Earlier this year, Barr said Trump didn’t have a “good idea” of what the roles of the President or Justice Department were entitled throughout his time in office. In the 2021 CIA publication, “Getting to Know the President,” author John L. Helgerson, a former intelligence officer, said Trump was the most difficult incoming President to brief, and an August New York Times report cited intelligence officials who said they often withheld information from Trump for fear of the “damage” he might do if he knew. Read More Here

Trump Lawyers Pressed On Seized Mar-A-Lago Documents By Special Master In NYC https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-lawyers-pressed-on-seized-mar-a-lago-documents-by-special-master-in-nyc-3/ September 20, 2022 10:11 pm By John Annese and Tim Balk, New Daily News NEW YORK — The special master reviewing Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago papers signaled Tuesday that he wants to carry out a limited review, and pressed the former president’s lawyers for refusing to take a position on whether Trump declassified any of the documents. “My view is you can’t have your cake and eat it,” Judge Raymond Dearie told Trump’s lawyers at a hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court. Trump has said he declassified sensitive documents before taking them to his Palm Beach, Florida, estate following his presidency. But Trump’s lawyer Jim Trusty maintains he should not be required to show which documents were declassified, as that would tip the former president’s hand on his defense strategy should he face criminal charges. Trump has not provided any evidence that he declassified the papers. Dearie, a respected semiretired judge, has a Nov. 30 deadline to complete his examination of more than 10,000 documents — including about 100 marked classified. After he was tapped as special master by Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump-appointed judge in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida — Dearie appeared to carve out a relatively limited purview for himself, expressing his desire not to pry into sensitive documents if he can avoid it. “Let’s not belittle the fact that we are dealing with potentially legitimately classified information,” Dearie said. “The government has a very strong obligation, to all of us, to see to it that this information doesn’t get in the wrong hands.” He added, “If I can make my recommendation to Judge Cannon, right or wrong, without exposing myself or you to that material I will.” Julie Edelstein, a Justice Department lawyer, said “some of the documents are so sensitive that even members of the team investigating possible offenses here have not yet been provided clearance” to see them. In a back-and-forth with Trusty, the special master contended that if “for whatever reason (you) decide to advance any claim of declassification, which I understand is your prerogative, I’m left with the prima facie case of classified documents, and that’s the end of it,” using a legal term referring to sufficiently satisfying first impressions. Trusty countered that Trump as the former president had “unfettered access along with unfettered classification authority.” Dearie’s extensive experience includes a seven-year spell on the shadowy U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. At one point, Dearie said he was “taken aback” by comments from Trusty that the judge said indicated he was “going beyond” his instructions from Cannon. “I think I’m doing what I’m told,” Dearie said. Cannon, who was appointed by Trump in the final months of his administration, has barred the Justice Department from using the documents for criminal investigative purposes pending the special master review. The government is appealing at the Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit in Atlanta, where six of the 11 judges on the court are Trump appointees. Also Tuesday, Trump’s legal team filed court papers opposing the appeal, describing the case as a “document storage dispute that has spiraled out of control.” ——— (Daily News staff writer Molly Crane-Newman contributed to this story.) ——— ©2022 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Read More Here

Melania Trump Suddenly Claims To Be A Big Fan Of Christmas https://digitalalaskanews.com/melania-trump-suddenly-claims-to-be-a-big-fan-of-christmas/ Melania Trump wants people to know that she’s got nothing against Christmas. It’s been nearly two years since a secret recording of the former first lady was released in which she complained to her then friend and aide, Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, about working “my ass off at Christmas stuff” at the White House. “Who gives a fuck about Christmas stuff and decoration? But I need to do it, right?” Melania Trump said in the recording of the 2018 phone call released by Wolkoff. But now Melania Trump wants to “set the record straight” ― just as she’s launched a new line of Christmas ornaments and corresponding NFTs. “I will personally set the record straight because the mainstream media has failed to provide context for these misleading exchanges,” she said in a statement to right-wing outlet Breitbart. “Christmas is an important time for me, my family and the American people, and my devotion to the holiday is personal and profoundly serious.” Melania Trump’s stylistic choices for White House Christmas decor often stoked controversy. SAUL LOEB via Getty Images She claimed Wolkoff “spitefully edited and released our conversation to create the perception that Christmas is not significant to me.” Wolkoff responded derisively to the comments Tuesday. “Melania Trump needs to attack ME to sell Christmas ornament NFT’s. What is Melania worried about? She can’t sell ornaments on her own?” she tweeted, calling the statement “fiction.” “A portion” of the proceeds from the ornaments will go toward one of Melania Trump’s “Be Best” initiatives for foster care children, according to Fox News. Melania Trump’s stylistic choices for White House Christmas decor invited controversy on several occasions. In 2017, she decorated the East Wing hallway with stark white branches, which spawned a meme and comparisons to horror movies. In 2018, she went with an assortment of crimson trees that The Washington Post dubbed a “nightmare forest” reminiscent of costumes in “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Read More Here

Trump Rape Accuser Renews Push To Depose Him In Defamation Case https://digitalalaskanews.com/trump-rape-accuser-renews-push-to-depose-him-in-defamation-case/ By Erik Larson New York advice columnist , who in 2019 sued for defamation after he denied raping her two decades ago, intends to renew a previously abandoned bid to depose the former president. In a letter dated Aug. 8 but filed in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, Carroll’s lawyer told US District Judge she would push to depose Trump again because the former president wasn’t cooperating in pre-trial exchange of documents. Carroll had previously said she would rely mainly on documents to speed the case. The previous decision not to take a deposition was based … To read the full article log in. © 2022 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. All Rights Reserved Read More Here

Writer, Who Accused Donald Trump Of Rape, To File New Lawsuit Against Him https://digitalalaskanews.com/writer-who-accused-donald-trump-of-rape-to-file-new-lawsuit-against-him/ E. Jean Carroll’s lawyer said her client plans to sue Donald Trump on November 24. Washington: A writer who accused Donald Trump of raping her more than a quarter-century ago plans to file a new lawsuit against the former U.S. president, whose lawyer called the effort “extraordinarily prejudicial.” In a letter made public on Tuesday, a lawyer for E. Jean Carroll said the former Elle magazine columnist plans to sue Trump for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress under New York state’s Adult Survivors Act. That law, recently signed by New York Governor Kathy Hochul, gives adult accusers a one-year window to bring civil claims over alleged sexual misconduct regardless of how long ago it occurred. Carroll has accused Trump of raping her in late 1995 or early 1996 in a dressing room at the Bergdorf Goodman department store in Midtown Manhattan. Trump has denied raping Carroll and accused her of concocting the rape claim to sell her book. Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan said her client plans to sue Trump on Nov. 24 when the state law takes effect, and that the claims and Carroll’s existing defamation case against Trump could be tried together in February 2023. In a letter responding to Kaplan, Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said Trump “adamantly” objected to combining both cases, after both sides finished gathering evidence for trial, and that it was “extraordinarily prejudicial” to add the new claims. “To permit plaintiff to drastically alter the scope and subject matter of this case at such time would severely prejudice defendant’s rights,” Habba wrote. “Plaintiff’s request must be disregarded in its entirety.” DEPOSITION SOUGHT Kaplan also said she now wants Trump to testify under oath at a deposition, to better understand his “theory of the case,” despite her saying in February that a deposition wouldn’t be needed. “To be clear, the deposition of defendant need not take very long,” Kaplan said. Kaplan’s letter is dated Aug. 8 and Habba’s is dated Aug. 11. They were made public on Tuesday afternoon. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan oversees the case. Trump faces an array of litigation and investigations, including into his efforts to undo the 2020 U.S. presidential election and refusal to turn over various documents. In August, Trump invoked his constitutional right against self-incrimination more than 400 times during a deposition by New York Attorney General Letitia James, who is conducting a civil probe into his namesake Trump Organization’s business practices. Trump and Carroll are still awaiting a decision by the federal appeals court in Manhattan over whether Carroll’s defamation case can proceed at all. Carroll sued in November 2019 after Trump, then in his third year in the White House, told a reporter that Carroll made up the rape claim and that he did not know her and “she’s not my type.” Trump has argued that he was shielded from the lawsuit by a federal law that provides immunity to government employees from defamation claims. Both sides argued their appeals last Dec. 3. Carroll’s lawyers have said they want to obtain a DNA sample from Trump to compare against a dress Carroll claimed to have worn during the alleged rape. (Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.) Read More Here

Cowboys For Trump Cofounder Appeals Ban From Public Office https://digitalalaskanews.com/cowboys-for-trump-cofounder-appeals-ban-from-public-office/ Otero County, New Mexico Commissioner Couy Griffin speaks to reporters as he arrives at federal court in Washington, Friday, June. 17, 2022. A New Mexico state district court judge has disqualified Griffin from holding public office. State District Court Judge Francis Mathew issued a ruling Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022, that permanently prohibits Griffin from holding or seeking local or federal office. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe, File) SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico politician and Trump supporter who was removed and barred from elected office for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, is attempting to appeal that decision to the state Supreme Court. Cowboys for Trump cofounder and former county commissioner Couy Griffin on Tuesday notified the high court of his intent to appeal. The ruling against Griffin this month from a Santa Fe-based District Court was the first to remove or bar an elected official from office in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol building that disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, without going inside the building. He was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served. Griffin has invoked free speech guarantees in his defense and says his banishment from public office disenfranchises his political constituents in Otero County. He was barred from office under provisions of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which holds that anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution can be barred from office for engaging in insurrection or rebellion. The provisions were put in place shortly after the Civil War. A flurry of similar lawsuits around the country are seeking to use the provision to punish politicians who took part in Jan. 6. Griffin says he continues to act as his own legal counsel in the case. “Honestly I have felt very abandoned by many,” Griffin said. Conservative activists aligned with Griffin have urged supporters to file disciplinary complaints against the judge who barred Griffin from office. Griffin, a 48-year-old former rodeo rider and former pastor, helped found Cowboys for Trump in 2019. The promotional group staged horseback parades to spread President Donald Trump’s conservative message about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions. This year, Griffin voted twice as a county commissioner against certifying New Mexico’s June 7 primary election, in a standoff over election integrity fueled by conspiracy theories about the security of voting equipment in the Republican-dominated county. Read More Here

ADFG Board Of Game Dall Sheep Regulations Meeting Set For October 19 https://digitalalaskanews.com/adfg-board-of-game-dall-sheep-regulations-meeting-set-for-october-19/ ADFG Board Of Game Dall Sheep Regulations Meeting Set For October 19 The following is courtesy of the Alaska Department of Fish and Game: NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING OF THE ALASKA BOARD OF GAME Notice is given that the Alaska Board of Game (Board) will hold a non-regulatory, informative meeting via web-conference at 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, October 19, 2022. The main purpose of the board meeting is to receive a report from the Department of Fish and Game on recent survey and harvest data of Dall sheep, and future management considerations.   The meeting is open to the public via live audio stream at www.boardofgame.adfg.alaska.gov. No oral testimony will be taken. The Board will accept written public comment, due no later than Thursday, October 13, 2022. Written comments may be submitted on the Board’s website at www.boardofgame.adfg.alaska.gov; faxed to (907) 465-6094; or mailed to Boards Support Section, P.O. Box 115526, Juneau, AK 99811-5526. The meeting agenda, reports, and other meeting materials will available online at https://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=gameboard.meetinginfo&date=10-19-2022&meeting=webconference. For more information about the meeting, contact the Department of Fish and Game, Boards Support Section at (907) 465-6098. If you are a person with a disability who may need a special accommodation in order to participate, please contact the Boards Support Section at (907) 465-6098 no later than 5:00 p.m. Thursday, October 13, 2022 to ensure that any necessary accommodations can be provided. ? About Author chrisco2 Read More Here

Fiona Swipes Turks And Caicos, Puerto Rico Faces Big Cleanup https://digitalalaskanews.com/fiona-swipes-turks-and-caicos-puerto-rico-faces-big-cleanup/ CAYEY, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona blasted the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday as a Category 3 storm after devastating Puerto Rico, where most people remained without electricity or running water and rescuers used heavy equipment to lift survivors to safety. The storm’s eye passed close to Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, on Tuesday morning after the government imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas. Storm surge could raise water levels there by as much as 5 to 8 feet above normal, according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. Late Tuesday afternoon, the storm was centered about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of North Caicos Island, with hurricane-force winds extending up to 30 miles (45 kilometers) from the center. Premier Washington Misick urged people to evacuate. “Storms are unpredictable,” he said in a statement from London, where he had attended the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II. “You must therefore take every precaution to ensure your safety.” Fiona had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) and was moving north-northwest at 8 mph (13 kph), according to the Hurricane Center, which said the storm was likely to strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Bermuda on Friday. Rain was still lashing parts of Puerto Rico Tuesday, where the sounds of people scraping, sweeping and spraying their homes and streets echoed across rural areas as historic floodwaters began to recede. In the central mountain town of Cayey, where the Plato River burst its banks and the brown torrent of water consumed cars and homes, overturned dressers, beds and large refrigerators lay strewn in people’s yards Tuesday. “Puerto Rico is not prepared for this, or for anything,” said Mariangy Hernández, a 48-year-old housewife, who said she doubted the government would help her community of some 300 in the long term, despite ongoing efforts to clear the streets and restore power. “This is only for a couple of days and later they forget about us.” She and her husband were stuck in line waiting for the National Guard to clear a landslide in their hilly neighborhood. “Is it open? Is it open?” one driver asked, worried that the road might have been completely closed. Other drivers asked the National Guard if they could swing by their homes to help cut trees or clear clumps of mud and debris. The cleanup efforts occurred on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Maria, which hit as a Category 4 storm in 2017 and knocked out power for a year in parts of Cayey. Jeannette Soto, a 34-year-old manicurist, worried it would take a long time for crews to restore power because a landslide swept away the neighborhood’s main light post. “It’s the first time this happens,” she said of the landslides. “We didn’t think the magnitude of the rain was going to be so great.” Gov. Pedro Pierluisi requested a major disaster declaration on Tuesday and said it would be at least a week before authorities have an estimate of the damage that Fiona caused. He said the damage caused by the rain was “catastrophic,” especially in the island’s central, south and southeast regions. “The impact caused by the hurricane has been devastating for many people,” he said. The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency traveled to Puerto Rico on Tuesday as the agency announced it was sending hundreds of additional personnel to boost local response efforts. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency on the island and deployed a couple of teams to the U.S. territory. The broad storm kept dropping copious rain over the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, where a 58-year-old man died after police said he was swept away by a river in the central mountain town of Comerio. Another death was linked to a power blackout — a 70-year-old man was burned to death after he tried to fill his generator with gasoline while it was running, officials said. Parts of the island had received more than 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain and more was falling Tuesday. National Guard Brig. Gen. Narciso Cruz described the flooding as historic. “There were communities that flooded in the storm that didn’t flood under Maria,” he said, referring to the 2017 hurricane that caused nearly 3,000 deaths. “I’ve never seen anything like this.” Cruz said 670 people have been rescued in Puerto Rico, including 19 people at a retirement home in Cayey that was in danger of collapsing. “The rivers broke their banks and blanketed communities,” he said. Some people were rescued via kayaks and boats while others nestled into the massive shovel of a digger and were lifted to higher ground. He lamented that some people initially refused to leave their homes, adding that he understood why. “It’s human nature,” he said. “But when they saw their lives were in danger, they agreed to leave.” The blow from Fiona was made more devastating because Puerto Rico has yet to recover from Hurricane Maria, which destroyed the power grid in 2017. Five years later, more than 3,000 homes on the island are still covered by blue tarps. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday he would push for the federal government to cover 100% of disaster response costs — instead of the usual 75% — as part of an emergency disaster declaration. “We need to make sure this time, Puerto Rico has absolutely everything it needs, as soon as possible, for as long as they need it,” he said. Authorities said Tuesday that at least 1,220 people and more than 70 pets remained in shelters across the island. Fiona triggered a blackout when it hit Puerto Rico’s southwest corner on Sunday, the anniversary of Hurricane Hugo, which slammed into the island in 1989 as a Category 3 storm. By Tuesday morning, authorities said they had restored power to nearly 300,000 of the island’s 1.47 million customers. Puerto Rico’s governor warned it could take days before everyone has electricity. Water service was cut to more than 760,000 customers — two thirds of the total on the island — because of turbid water at filtration plants or lack of power, officials said. Fiona was forecast to weaken before running into easternmost Canada over the weekend. It was not expected to threaten the U.S. mainland. In the Dominican Republic, authorities reported two deaths: a 68-year-old man hit by a falling tree and an 18-year-old girl who was struck by a falling electrical post while riding a motorcycle. The storm forced more than 1,550 people to seek safety in government shelters and left more than 406,500 homes without power. The hurricane left several highways blocked, and a tourist pier in the town of Miches was badly damaged by high waves. At least four international airports were closed, officials said. The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, said authorities would need several days to assess the storm’s effects. Fiona previously battered the eastern Caribbean, killing one man in the French territory of Guadeloupe when floodwaters washed his home away, officials said. ___ Associated Press reporters Martín Adames in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and Maricarmen Rivera Sánchez in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed. Read More Here