Trump's Stolen Election Story Premeditated, He Knew Of Capitol Attack: House Committee https://digitalarizonanews.com/trumps-stolen-election-story-premeditated-he-knew-of-capitol-attack-house-committee/  By Kenneth Tiven The 9th and final public hearing of the US Congressional Committee probing the January 6, 2020 insurrection at the nation’s capitol produced compelling information about the culpability of former US President Donald Trump.  This was an echo of the Watergate hearings into President Nixon’s role in the Watergate Burglary 50 years ago: What did the president know and when did he know it. The story arc wove together testimony and video clips shown in the first eight hearings demonstrating that Trump’s complaint of a “stolen election” was premeditated, concocted before the first votes were counted. House Investigating Committee chairman Bennie Thompson and co-chair Liz Cheney said in opening statements that Trump’s criminal behaviour rested on testimony primarily from multiple Republicans working for Trump. They rejected Trump’s complaint that this is a partisan witch-hunt. Lacking prosecutorial power, the committee probably will provide its evidence to the Department of Justice which has its own parallel probe underway as part of criminal prosecution of those arrested for the Capitol Hill riot. The committee voted 9-0 to subpoena Trump for testimony under oath. Trump has used his Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer in state courts and is likely to do the same if he ever sits before any congressional committee. As the hearing was underway, the US Supreme Court issued a stinging one sentence denial of Trump’s request to intervene in the case resulting from the FBI seizing classified documents that Trump took to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office. “The application to vacate the (pro-government) stay entered by the United States Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit on Sept. 21, 2022, presented to Justice Thomas and by him referred to the court is denied.” The underlying critical point in today’s hearing was that documents finally obtained from the Secret Service revealed agency knowledge of right-wing militia actions intended for the rally in Washington. However, for apparent political considerations, top levels of the protection service declined to take strong action to shut down both the Trump rally and any ensuing attack on the Capitol building. The Committee suggested it would invite various Secret Service and Trump officials back to discuss if they lied to the committee about what they knew. Missing documents included voice and text messages. The agency had insisted the erasure was routine because the service had given new phones to agents, losing everything from the first weeks of January 2020. Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican on the committee not running for re-election, described Trump as the central commanding figure from start to finish of the Big Lie. Others pointed out that Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative, played an outsized role in convincing Trump that he could use the rigged election gambit to stay in office. Stone’s intimate connection to the most violent elements of January 6 was also established. This will be the last committee meeting if Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives in the November election.  Any charges resulting from events of January 6 are independent of Trump’s growing legal problems with the federal document case or criminal and civil suit in state courts in Georgia and New York  This was the first hearing which the committee formally accused Trump of committing crimes. His special place in US history is guaranteed for having been impeached twice (and acquitted twice by the Senate), and accused of a crime or crimes by Congress. He would be the first US president charged with a crime associated with his presidency. Keep in mind that deciding whether something is a crime is not black and white. Different parts of the government use different standards. Congress can issue a criminal referral when it thinks a crime may have been committed. Federal prosecutors, though, are supposed to only charge cases they think they can successfully argue to the jury standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt.” This hearing played out with these possible charges in mind: Obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress On January 6, 2021, Congress convened officially proceeding to certify the tally of electoral votes from the states, making Joe Biden president. Many of the Jan. 6 attackers have been charged with this. Former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade says Trump broke this federal law by trying to stop lawmakers from certifying Biden’s win. But to prove that, prosecutors will, need to prove intent. The committee has testimony that Trump knew he lost but pushed lies about it anyway. Video after video showed Trump campaign aides and even former attorney general William P. Barr telling Trump he lost. “I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff, which I told the president was bullshit,” Barr said in testimony taped earlier this year. Though doing nothing is not a crime, the president’s inaction in this period might be evidence of his intent. Conspiracy to defraud the United States Proving this crime requires showing that “at least two people entered into an agreement to obstruct a lawful function of the government, by deceitful or dishonest means.” Trump’s meetings with lawyer John Eastman regarding swapping Trump state electors to replace Biden’s seems to meet this requirement.  Seditious conspiracy This is the most serious crime the Department Justice could charge Trump with and conviction would bar him from ever holding elective offices. It would require  connecting Trump directly to the leaders of the mob that attacked the Capitol. Leaders of the far-right militia groups Oath Keepers and Proud Boys have been charged and convicted for this crime. Seditious conspiracy is a rare and serious charge, alleging a forcefully effort to overthrow the peaceful transfer of presidential power. Wire fraud Trump may have committed fraud by fundraising on the false basis that the election was stolen compounded by the fact he faked having an “Official Election Defense Fund. He raised more than $250,000,000 for something that did not exist. Trump aides testified most money donated went to Trump’s Save America PAC. “If Trump solicited funds for one purpose and knowingly used the funds for another, he could be guilty of wire fraud,” said a former federal prosecutor. The committee made it abundantly clear they believe he knew exactly what he was doing, with an ends justify the means logic he feels entitled to use. “One of the weird things about all of this,” said Berkley Law Professor Orin Kerr, “is that Trump was doing things which any normal person would have realized was unlawful or would have realized there was no evidence for. So, how do you assess the psychology of Donald J. Trump in terms of what he was thinking?” Did you find apk for android? You can find new Free Android Games and apps. Read More Here

5 Things To Know For October 14: January 6, Parkland, Raleigh, Ukraine, NASA – KVIA https://digitalarizonanews.com/5-things-to-know-for-october-14-january-6-parkland-raleigh-ukraine-nasa-kvia/ By Alexandra Meeks, CNN The future of some of America’s beloved retail stores is looking questionable right now amid fierce competition online. Bed Bath & Beyond, Rite Aid, Party City, Tuesday Morning and Joann are among several chains that may not survive a recession due to their elevated risk of bankruptcy, according to credit agencies. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. (You can get “5 Things You Need to Know Today” delivered to your inbox daily. Sign up here.) 1. January 6 The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, attack at the US Capitol voted to subpoena former President Donald Trump during Thursday’s public hearing. The committee argued in its final hearing before the midterm elections that Trump was directly involved in the bid to overturn the 2020 election, with the panel presenting new evidence that Trump knew he had lost but had a plan to declare victory no matter the election result. The panel also showed previously unseen footage of congressional leaders taking refuge amid the violence as the panel detailed Trump’s inaction during the attack. The committee is now working to present a final report by the end of the year on whether to make any criminal referrals to the Justice Department. 2. Parkland The Parkland school shooter has avoided the death penalty after a jury recommended he be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the February 2018 massacre at Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School — a move that left some of the victims’ families disappointed and angry. “This jury failed our families today,” said Fred Guttenberg, the father of 14-year-old victim Jaime Guttenberg — one of the 17 people killed in the shooting. The jury’s recommendation Thursday came after a monthslong trial to decide the gunman’s punishment. A judge is expected to issue the gunman’s formal sentence on November 1. Victims and family members are expected to speak before the sentence is delivered that day. 3. Raleigh Five people — including an off-duty police officer — were killed and at least two others were wounded in a shooting Thursday in Raleigh, North Carolina, police said. The shooting unfolded around 5 p.m. in the neighborhood of Hedingham and an hourslong ordeal ensued as authorities worked to apprehend the suspect. The suspected shooter, a minor, was taken into custody four and a half hours later, police said. “Tonight, terror has reached our doorstep. The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh,” Gov. Roy Cooper said during a news conference. “This is a senseless, horrific and infuriating act of violence that has been committed.” There have been at least 531 mass shootings in the US so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive. 4. Ukraine In a near unanimous vote earlier today, an assembly of European lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favor of Russia being declared a “terrorist” regime. A total of 99 out of 100 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe voted in support of the resolution. Only a Turkish MP from the Republican People’s Party abstained. Also today, Russia hit the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia following a week of deadly strikes on civilian targets in the country. Additionally, Russian officials said their air defenses had shot down rockets in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine. 5. NASA Four astronauts are scheduled to splashdown off the coast of Florida today, capping off a nearly six-month mission at the International Space Station. Rough weather has forced some delays, but NASA and SpaceX say the astronauts are still expected to return home at 4:50 p.m. ET. The spacecraft that will bring the astronauts home typically has seven potential landing zones — just off the coast of Pensacola, Tampa, Tallahassee, Panama City, Cape Canaveral, Daytona and Jacksonville. This mission, called Crew-4, has marked a historic first on the ISS, as Jessica Watkins became the first Black woman to join the space station crew for an extended stay. Also aboard the mission are NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Bob Hines and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti with the European Space Agency. BREAKFAST BROWSE Netflix with ads is here What was once believed unthinkable is now a reality… Here’s everything you need to know about the company’s new plan. Social media reacts to Fox News contributor’s $28 Taco Bell lunch Skeptics online are questioning whether this man truly spent $28 for a solo lunch at Taco Bell. Watch the hilarious video here. Creepy doll trailer freaks the internet out Oh, you thought “Chucky” was creepy? Just wait until you see “Megan.” Purse frozen in time was found during Texas school renovations Inside the unexpected discovery were family photos, diary entries, and a calendar opened to April 1959. The European capital of cool that keeps getting cooler Affordable rent. Great nightlife. Gorgeous streets. Tourists from around the globe are flocking to this city in droves. QUIZ TIME Which fast food chain has the slowest drive-thru, according to a new study? A. McDonald’s B. Taco Bell C. Chick-fil-A D. Dunkin’ Donuts Take CNN’s weekly news quiz here to see if you’re correct! TODAY’S NUMBER 200,000 That’s how many Starlink satellite units made by Elon Musk’s SpaceX have been donated to Ukraine — but those charitable contributions could be coming to an end soon. SpaceX has informed the Pentagon that it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service as it has, according to a letter obtained by CNN. The operation “has cost SpaceX $80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year,” Musk tweeted last week. The satellite systems have been a vital source of communication for Ukraine’s military, allowing it to fight and stay connected even as cellular and internet networks have been destroyed in its war with Russia. TODAY’S QUOTE “We sternly warn against North Korea’s repeated provocations and strongly urge [North Korea] to stop them immediately.” — South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, calling for North Korea to stand down after their forces flew warplanes near their shared border overnight. North Korean aircraft approached the no-fly zone straddling the border after 10:30 p.m. local time Thursday, according to the JCS, in a move that Pyongyang followed up just hours later with its 27th missile launch of the year. South Korea responded by scrambling fighter jets, including its top-of-the-line F-35s. The flurry of military activity on both sides of the border came just hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un warned his nuclear forces are fully prepared for “actual war.” TODAY’S WEATHER Check your local forecast here AND FINALLY Have a sweet day! Watch this baker resurrect old desserts from the past that many people miss. (Click here to view) The-CNN-Wire & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. Read More Here

The New Kris Kobach Pushes On In The Race For Kansas Attorney General – Newstalk KZRG https://digitalarizonanews.com/the-new-kris-kobach-pushes-on-in-the-race-for-kansas-attorney-general-newstalk-kzrg/ TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kris Kobach, the Kansan with a national reputation as a hardline provocateur on immigration and voter ID laws, is trying to rebrand himself as a calmer, steadier voice in his comeback bid for elective office. Republicans hope the candidate for Kansas attorney general is a “new” Kobach. Many of them say he’s staying more on message with a better organized campaign after losing the 2018 race for Kansas governor and a 2020 U.S. Senate primary. Both of those losses were chalked up to disorganized campaigns and Kobach being too abrasive even for very Republican Kansas voters. The former Kansas secretary of state built a national profile — and created lasting political foes — as the go-to adviser for state and local officials wanting to crack down on illegal immigration. But his platform this year doesn’t mention immigration. The signature prop of his campaign for governor four years ago was a jeep painted with a U.S. flag design and equipped with a replica machine gun, and it’s nowhere to be seen this year. “There’s been some learning, trial and error, over time, and I think Kobach as a candidate has grown and become more disciplined,” said Moriah Day, a Republican and gun-rights activist who once worked for Kobach in the secretary of state’s office. “There are certainly advisers and others who have pushed hard for that discipline, and some of them have been together for a few cycles now.” Kobach’s Democratic opponent in the Nov. 8 election is Chris Mann, who is making his first run for elective office. While Republicans have won 80% of statewide down-ballot races over the past 50 years, both parties see the Kobach-Mann contest as a toss-up because of Kobach’s political baggage. Some of the baggage comes from Kobach advocating strict immigration laws years before Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 and upsetting not only immigrant rights advocates but GOP-leaning business and agricultural groups. Kobach also pushed the idea that droves of people could be voting illegally and championed a tough prove-your-citizenship rule for new Kansas voters, only to see the federal courts strike it down and order the state to pay voting rights attorneys $1.4 million. Then there was his brand in his 2018 and 2020 races, the fighter who was even willing to take on GOP leaders. While Republicans across the U.S. have embraced a combative persona in Trump and other candidates, and Trump carried Kansas twice by wide margins, the state’s voters more often have favored candidates with an aw-shucks demeanor. The jeep with the machine gun became a symbol of how Kobach seemed not to care that he annoyed or angered some voters. He mocked what he called the “snowflake meltdown” the first time he rode it in a parade in 2018. 2018, Kris Kobach, then Kansas secretary of state and the Republican nominee for Kansas governor, rides in a parade in a jeep with a replica machine gun in Baldwin City, Kan. (AP Photo/John Hanna) Some are skeptical that Kobach has changed in any substantive way, and say he is not always on message. For example, his comments during campaign appearances sometimes veer into his plan to slowly and quietly maneuver to ban abortion. Kansas voters in August rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have cleared the way for the Republican Legislature to tighten abortion restrictions or ban the procedure. Kobach backed the measure, which was GOP lawmakers’ response to a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision declaring access to abortion a “fundamental” right under the state’s Bill of Rights. Kobach advocates amending the state constitution to elect Supreme Court justices rather than have governors appoint them. Eventually new, more conservative justices would overturn the 2019 ruling, he argues. Backers argue that Kobach’s views on abortion are well-known enough that he can’t backpedal now. But he’s pitching a proposal that faces big political hurdles, and some Republicans fear that talking about abortion will keep moderate Republicans and independents riled and boost Democratic turnout. Kobach has said he’ll defend existing abortion restrictions as attorney general, but his critics worry that he’ll hunt for new ways to curb access if he’s elected. “I thought we had a representative form of government, but it looks like Kris Kobach will certainly be willing to subvert the wishes of the voters when he has a chance,” said former Kansas House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a moderate Republican and western Kansas farmer. Democrat Mann, 46, was a police officer in his early 20s in the northeastern Kansas city of Lawrence, where he now lives. An on-duty accident involving a drunken driver ended his career in uniform and he then served as a prosecutor in nearby Kansas City, Kansas, as a state securities regulator and on the board of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “I’m not in this to chase the spotlight or to grab attention like my opponent, and that’s all he’s going to do,” Mann said during an interview. Kobach, 56, said he’s learned from past campaigns and is delegating more tasks. For this year’s race, he hired Axiom Strategies, a prominent Kansas City-area GOP firm, and his chief consultant is a conservative state senator, J.R. Claeys, in good standing with top Kansas Republicans. And that jeep with the replica machine gun from four years ago? “That was a different time,” Kobach said, chuckling, noting that four years ago was “right in the middle” of Trump’s high-drama administration. Kobach’s lower-key campaign appeals to William Hendrix, a 21-year-old Topeka resident who is treasurer for a local Young Republicans group. He predicted that as attorney general, Kobach would “cool down on the campaign-trail rhetoric.” “He’ll see the limitations of the office and also at the same time, what he can do with what he has,” Hendrix said. Read More Here

Stock Futures Are Higher Ahead Of Big Bank Earnings https://digitalarizonanews.com/stock-futures-are-higher-ahead-of-big-bank-earnings/ Stock futures ticked up Friday as investors turned their attention to big bank earnings after the major averages staged a historic turnaround rally. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 110 points, or 0.37%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.3%, and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 0.2%. JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup are all scheduled to report before the bell. Dow member UnitedHealth posted quarterly results Friday as well, with earnings and revenue coming in above expectations. UnitedHealth shares ticked higher by 0.8%. The reports come a day after the market staged a massive comeback. The Dow ended Thursday’s session up 827 points after being down more than 500 points to start the day. The S&P 500 rose 2.6% to break a six-day losing streak, and the Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.2%. The moves followed the release of the consumer price index, a key U.S. inflation reading that came in hotter than expected for the month of September. Initially, this weighed on markets as investors braced themselves for the Federal Reserve to continue with its aggressive rate-hiking plan. Later, however, they shrugged off those worries. “The best excuse for today’s bounce is ‘sell the news’ paired with highly negative sentiment/positioning,” said Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. “The market had already fallen six straight days, de-risking the report a bit, and September CPI likely doesn’t change the near-term path of the Fed (which was already quite hawkish).” Still, persistent inflation remains a problem for the Fed and for investors’ worries around the central bank’s policy tightening. “The turnaround is a welcome respite for investors, but the market still requires greater clarity on the extent of tightening still ahead,” said Brian Levitt, global market strategist at Invesco. “The focus remains on the pace of inflation and the underlying strength in the jobs market. A market rally will likely commence when the market believes that a Fed tightening pause is in the offing.” There’s still more economic data this week, too. September’s retail sales will come out at 8:30 a.m. ET. Later in the morning, investors are looking forward to the latest consumer sentiment figures from the University of Michigan. European markets rise on UK fiscal U-turn hopes European markets jumped on Friday as speculation abounded that the U.K. government could be about to U-turn on its controversial fiscal policies. The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.8% in early trade, having more than halved its opening gains. Utilities added 2% while tech stocks were the only sector in the red, shedding 0.7%. U.K. Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng flew home early from the International Monetary Fund in Washington on Thursday night as ministers convened to address the nation’s economic chaos. – Elliot Smith U.S. unemployment will overshoot on continued rate hikes, economist With the Federal Reserve expected to undertake more aggressive interest rate hikes, unemployment in the U.S. will rise higher than forecast, RBC Capital Markets chief U.S. economist Tom Porcelli says. Porcelli expects three more 75 basis-point hikes and predicts the Fed will get to a terminal rate of 4.75%. “But I do not believe that, you know, putting three additional 75 basis point hikes in the system is going to sort of quell near term inflationary dynamics,” he said on CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Friday. “What it will do is raise the unemployment rate meaningfully higher than what they’re forecasting for next year, which is to say, 4.4%,” he said. “There’s no way you will have a 4.4% unemployment rate with a Fed that aggressive.” At 4.75%, unemployment would be at 5% which equates to about 2 million job losses, Porcelli adds. The current U.S. unemployment rate is 3.5%. — Su-Lin Tan China’s September consumer price index grows at fastest pace since April 2020 China’s September consumer price index grew annually at 2.8%, the fastest pace since April 2020, pushed higher by food costs. Food prices rose by 8.8% annually. The nation’s CPI rose by 0.3% in September from August, missing estimates of 0.4% in a Reuters poll. The producer price index for the month grew 0.9% compared to a year ago, also missing expectations of 1% that economists surveyed by Reuters predicted. — Jihye Lee CNBC Pro: Stocks in this key market are outperforming the S&P 500 — and it’s not where you might expect The S&P 500 has lost 25% of its value so far this year, but could still fall by “another easy 20%,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon predicted on Monday. Its sharp decline is a familiar story around the world, as investors flee stocks. But one “surprising” index is bucking the trend and beating the S&P 500 this year. Pro subscribers can read more here. — Zavier Ong Economically-sensitive areas of the market are performing well, says Truist’s Lerner Truist predicts a recession over the next six to 12 months but maintains its view that it’s not a time to be short-term negative, according to analyst Keith Lerner. “Indeed, the markets are the most oversold, or stretched to the downside, since mid-June prior to that rally and sentiment suggests any good news could go a long way on short-term basis,” he said. “Thus, we do not view this as a time to press a negative view after such a sharp selloff, at least not short term.” “It is also notable that we are starting to see some better action from some of the more economically-sensitive areas of the market, such as industrials and financials, alongside energy and health care, which are clear market leaders,” he added. — Tanaya Macheel Hit to corporate earnings could be ‘mild,’ says Baird’s Mayfield While the economy has shown early signs of cooling, it’s nowhere near what the Federal Reserve needs to reach 2% to 3% inflation, says Ross Mayfield, investment strategy analyst at Baird. “The Fed is likely skittish about pausing too early and repeating the mistakes of 1970s, but in being so, risks overtightening and inducing a recession sometime in 2023,” he said. “The good news is that the consumer and labor market have plenty of cushion that past slowdowns have not been afforded. We’d expect a milder recession by historical standards and think the hit to corporate earnings could be equally mild.” — Tanaya Macheel Stock futures open flat Stock futures were little changed Thursday night as investors turned their attention to big bank earnings. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures added 20 points, or 0.07%. S&P 500 futures inched higher by 0.08%. Nasdaq 100 futures were lower by 0.04%. In regular trading, the Dow ended up 827 points after being down more than 500 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 rose 2.6% to break a six-day losing streak. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 2.2%. — Tanaya Macheel Read More Here

Raleigh Police Search Home Related To Mass Shooting, Press Conference Being Held Friday Morning https://digitalarizonanews.com/raleigh-police-search-home-related-to-mass-shooting-press-conference-being-held-friday-morning/ RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Raleigh police are expected to provide an update on the mass shooting that killed five people and injured three others in the eastern part of the city. On Friday morning, officers were spotted searching a home near where the shooting took place. One of those people killed Thursday afternoon was an off-duty police officer. The four others killed were civilians. Three others were hospitalized, including a Raleigh K9 officer. A civilian victim is in critical condition as of late Thursday night. A K9 was also injured. The suspected gunman, who is a juvenile male, was finally taken into custody at Old Milburnie Road and McConnell Oliver Drive just after 9:30 p.m. What happened? Officers first responded around 5:13 p.m.to an active shooting call near the Neuse River Greenway in the Hedingham neighborhood near Osprey Cove Drive and Bay Harbor Drive. Police reportedly cornered the suspect in a barn off Buffaloe Road, a law enforcement source told ABC11. Police would only say that the suspect was “contained” before tweeting Thursday night that the suspect was in custody. Reaction to shooting Many people are still just trying to process what all unfolded in that neighborhood. ABC11 spoke with one neighbor who can’t believe what happened. “Right now I’m just confused, you know? Quiet neighborhood. I ain’t seen so much violence like this in a minute, man. Just shocking, man, you know?” Lavarius Thompson said. Another resident who spoke to ABC11 said the neighborhood was in shock. “A lot of police activity, honestly I was actually in the house with my child, my oldest child, and we were hearing a lot of sirens and it was like, kind of alarming because it was more than a couple,” Victoria McGraw said. “The most alarming part had to be my youngest daughter, she was with her dad, and he just kept calling me, like what was going on, and he was seeing a flood of police officers coming in and that’s when I looked outside and there were police officers up and down the street.” Mayor Baldwin and Governor Roy Cooper addressed the city last night in two news conferences. “Tonight terror has reached our doorstep. The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh. This is a senseless, horrific, and infuriating act of violence that has been committed,” Gov. Cooper said. WATCH: Raleigh officials give update on shooting Law enforcement response It took a big effort from multiple agencies to arrest the suspect. Several agencies, along with the Raleigh Police Department responded and were on the ground engaging in the manhunt until the suspect was in custody. Copyright © 2022 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved. Read More Here

Russia's War In Ukraine | CNN https://digitalarizonanews.com/russias-war-in-ukraine-cnn-4/ See new ‘kamikaze’ drones used by Russia in attacks on Ukraine 02:41 – Source: CNN A Russian rocket hit the southern city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday following a week of deadly strikes on civilian targets in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Russian officials said their air defenses had shot down rockets in the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine. Russia’s Rostov region is to receive residents of Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region on Friday, according to Russian authorities, after Moscow announced evacuations in the face of a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his plea for more air defense capacities Thursday as NATO defense ministers meet in Brussels, saying Kyiv has only about 10% of what it needs to combat Moscow’s blitz. Satellite images show some traffic has resumed on a key bridge in annexed Crimea after Russian state media said eight people had been arrested in connection with the massive explosion that damaged the structure. Marianna Vishegirskaya walks down stairs in a maternity hospital damaged by shelling in Mariupol, Ukraine, on March 9. (Evgeniy Maloletka/AP) There have been 620 attacks on health services in Ukraine since Russian launched its military invasion in February, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The agency’s top priorities are continuing support for the 150 health partners on the ground and responding urgently to the 620 attacks on health care since the beginning of the war, the agency’s Europe director Hans Kluge said Friday. Other concerns for WHO include the health needs of those in Ukraine and “anticipating and preparing for challenges winter will bring,” he said at a press conference on the health impacts of the escalating conflict in Ukraine.  The winter season poses challenges specifically for those “living precariously” and unable to heat their homes, Kluge added.  “Wintertime challenges, and the recent escalation in fighting, could add to significant internal displacement with an anticipated two to three million people on the move in Ukraine itself as well as another exodus of refugees to surrounding countries,” he said.  “Consequently, there will be an even greater strain on health services both in Ukraine and refugee receiving countries,” he continued.  Mental health issues, another priority for WHO, will likely be “exacerbated,” said Kluge.  “Ten million people… are potentially at risk of mental disorders, including acute stress, anxiety, depression, substance abuse and post-traumatic stress disorder,” he said, adding that this estimate was made before the recent escalation in Ukraine.   Russia’s Rostov region will on Friday receive residents from Kherson in south Ukraine, according to a Russian governor. The head of the Russian-backed administration in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson has appealed to the Kremlin to organize an evacuation of civilians in the face of a Ukrainian offensive. “The Rostov region will receive and accommodate everyone who wants to come to us from the Kherson region,” Vasily Golubev, governor of the Rostov region, told state news agency TASS Thursday.  “We have already prepared to receive the first people arriving. We will create all the conditions for them. We are accepting the first group tomorrow,” Golubev added. “The civilian population should be at a safe distance from the hostilities,” the deputy head of the Russian-backed administration in Kherson, Kirill Stremousov, said on Telegram Friday. “Already now, on the right bank of the Kherson region, our Russian army is courageously and professionally holding back the daily attempts of the militants of the Kyiv regime to break through the defenses and launch an offensive against the settlements of the region, including, of course, the city of Kherson.” Golubev’s announcement came after Moscow said it would help evacuate residents of occupied Kherson to other areas, as Kyiv continued to make gains in its offensive to retake the southern Ukrainian region. Russian President Vladimir Putin, flanked by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, attend the summit of leaders of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in Astana, Kazakhstan, on October 14, (Turar Kazangapov/Reuters) Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged the use of “goodwill” to settle conflicts around the world, without making a reference to the war in Ukraine. “Everyone has goodwill, and we need to use this goodwill to the maximum” in resolving any conflicts, Putin said while speaking to the leaders at the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit.  “We must strive to find ways out of the current situation, wherever it arises,” he added.  Putin also said that Russia “welcomes the mediation efforts of anyone, as long as they are directed at calming the situation, to the benefit all participants in the conflicts.”  “This also applies to our partners from the US and Europe,” he added.  The event in the Kazakh capital of Astana is being attended by the leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.  Since launching its invasion of Ukraine in February, the Kremlin has ruptured diplomatic ties with Kyiv and its Western allies. Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree formally ruling out potential negotiations with Putin. It came in response to Putin’s announcement that he would illegally annex four regions in Ukraine, in a move widely condemned by international leaders. President Volodymyr Zelensky honors the memory of the dead (President of Ukraine) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has laid a wreath at a memorial for the thousands of servicemembers killed fighting Russian and Russian-backed forces between 2014 and the full-scale invasion in February. The wreath was laid in honor of the Day of Defenders of Ukraine, which was first celebrated in 2015. “On Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv, in the presence of an honor guard and to the sound of surma, a wreath with flowers from the Ukrainian people was placed at the Wall of Remembrance of the Fallen Defenders of Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian War,” the president’s office said in a statement. The ceremony comes after the bodies of 62 Ukrainian soldiers were “returned home” earlier this week following “difficult negotiations,” according to the country’s Ministry for Reintegration of the Temporary Occupied Territories. “62 fallen heroes were returned home,” the ministry’s statement said, adding that the bodies included those of soldiers who had been held at a prison in Olenivka in the eastern Donetsk region. Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi in Kyiv, Ukraine, on October 19. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters) The battlefield is “complicated but controlled” as Ukrainian forces push ahead with their counteroffensive to take back parts of the country seized by Russia in the early days of Moscow’s invasion, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Thursday. “In fierce battles, under the steel rain of Russian shells, we held on to every piece of our land. We stopped the enemy onslaught and buried the myth about the invincibility of the Russian army. And now we’re getting ours back. No one and nothing will stop us,” Zaluzhnyi said in a Twitter post. Zaluzhnyi said last winter “is already part of world history.” “We withstood a powerful enemy’s attack. We showed what it means to be Ukrainian, to have the courage to fight for your freedom,” he said. In the latest indication that Russian troops are struggling in the face of Ukrainian advances,Moscow said Thursday its forces would help evacuate residents of the occupied southern Kherson region to other areas. The Ukrainian military has been carrying out a counteroffensive in Kherson and eastern parts of the country, taking back territory that had been occupied by Russia as well as striking critical infrastructure such as bridges and railways. Weapons aid: On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his plea for more air defense capacities as NATO defense ministers met in Brussels, saying Kyiv has only about 10% of what it needs to combat deadly Russian strikes. And according to Zaluzhnyi, Russia’s superior artillery means “the issue of increasing the fire capabilities of the Armed Forces is still relevant.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is seen on screen as he remotely addresses a speech to the members of the political delegations of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg, France, on October 13. (Frederick Florin/AFP/Getty Images) An assembly of representatives drawn from 46 national parliaments across Europe voted overwhelmingly in favor on Thursday for a resolution calling on European countries to “declare the current Russian regime as a terrorist one.” A total of 99 out of 100 members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) voted in support of the resolution. Only a Turkish MP from the Republican People’s Party abstained. “The continued use of long-range artillery by the Russian military to hit towns and cities across Ukraine has caused massive destruction and death,” the resolution said. “With these indiscriminate attacks, Russia aims to advance its terrorist policy to suppress the will of Ukrainians to resist and defend their country and provoke maximum harm to civilians.” The resolution called on Russian to “completely and unconditionally withdraw its occupying forces.” PACE is a parliamentary body of the Council of Europe, an international organization separate from the European Union. It has a broader membership, including countries like Turkey, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. PACE consists of national parliamentarians drawn from its member nations. A Russian official on Friday morni...

How “media Literacy” Became The New “fake News”: A Meaningless Corporate Buzzword https://digitalarizonanews.com/how-media-literacy-became-the-new-fake-news-a-meaningless-corporate-buzzword/ Tessa Jolls, president of the Center for Media Literacy, published a report last month entitled “Building Resiliency: Media Literacy as a Strategic Defense Strategy for the Transatlantic.” It reads like a blueprint for indoctrinating students in corporatism and militarism under the auspices of media literacy education. Jolls received a Fulbright-NATO Security Studies Award to study “aspects of the current information ecosystem and the state of media literacy in NATO countries.” Let’s offer some historical context: NATO during the Cold War and has long since outlived its original stated purpose of combating the spread of communism. Political sociologist Peter Phillips has argued, for instance, that NATO has morphed into a global army that engages in questionable conflicts and human rights abuses in an effort to serve the “transnational capitalist class.”  As with the crisis created by the manipulated term “fake news,” media literacy is being weaponized by organizations and individuals who seek to increase their power by influencing the public’s perception of reality. For example, Steve Bannon, former White House chief strategist for Donald Trump, has a long history of spreading false information. Form 2012 to 2018, he was the executive chairman of the Breitbart News site, which has manipulated videos, manufactured stories, and spread baseless conspiracy theories. Starting with Bannon’s tenure, Breitbart published articles lauding “media literacy” as a way to combat “fake news,” proclaiming that the site’s late founder, Andrew Breitbart, integrated media literacy into the platform. But what Breitbart means by the term — especially given the site’s track record — seems to run counter to traditional definitions of media literacy.  The standard definition of media literacy used in American education is “the ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create and act using all forms of communication.” In response to the post-2016 panic over fake news, there was a demand for more media literacy education in schools. This provided a window of opportunity for major media companies — which had long sought to enter the classroom to advertise their products and collect student data — to move rapidly toward indoctrinate students with corporate propaganda under the “media literacy” umbrella. Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. Jolls’ report only serves to empower such efforts, arguing that corporate “allocations for media literacy education are few and far between.” It also appeals directly to the military-industrial complex — meaning the alliance between the military and related defense and national security industries — in calling for “funding and programming from all corners: government, foundations, and the private sector (tech and media companies, other corporations).” Most Big Tech companies emerged from the military industrial complex, and continue to serve its interest in many ways. Rather than advocate for a critical standard of media literacy education, one that would account for the power dynamics invested in NATO and its long history of working against democracy and social justice, Jolls lauds the “values that NATO states” represent, saying they represent an “excellent foundation” for “media literacy initiatives.” Indeed, to normalize NATO values in education, Jolls suggests what amounts to a psychological operations campaign, or psy-op, to spread NATO’s version of media literacy to the public through “mass media, media aggregators such as AP, Reuters and LexisNexis, social media and influencers.” The report calls on NATO to “nurture grassroots efforts,” which sounds more like astroturfing. The same military and intelligence communities now calling for “media literacy” have been producing and spreading fake news, at home and abroad, for at least 70 years. Jolls’ report ignores that members of the same military and intelligence communities that she lauds have produced and spread fake news to U.S. citizens, from the time of Operation Mockingbird in the mid-20th century up through the present on various social media platforms. She also never discusses public efforts to disempower the military-industrial complex’s ability to dictate truth. Earlier this year, for instance, critics from both the left and the right successfully lobbied to have the Department of Homeland Security scrap its Disinformation Governance Board, which was altogether too reminiscent of the Ministry of Truth in George Orwell’s “1984.” Instead, Jolls seems to be following the lead of similar dubious media literacy projects from the military-industrial complex, such as the NewsGuard browser extension. Described as an “Internet Trust Tool” and positioned as an objective tool for educators, NewsGuard has an advisory board loaded with military veterans and former intelligence officers. Its rating system has a clear ideological bias: NewsGuard consistently promotes establishment and legacy media sources that echo a narrow range of status-quo opinions — even when they have been proven to spread false information — and downgrades independent and alternative media outlets that challenge institutions of government, industry and the military. Jolls mirrors NewsGuard’s top-down approach to media literacy education, calling on NATO leaders to determine “the intent and purposes for media literacy interventions” by choosing the “social problem or behavior or ideology” or issue for educators to focus on. It is certainly true that we need a critical media literacy curriculum in the U.S. — but that’s not what Jolls and NewsGuard are promoting. Real media literacy education empowers students to be autonomous and sophisticated media users, who ask their own questions about who controls media messaging and interrogate the power structures behind them. When a student is left dependent on the military-industrial complex to analyze content for them, that’s not education. It’s indoctrination.  Read More Here

January 6 Committee Votes To Subpoena Donald Trump https://digitalarizonanews.com/january-6-committee-votes-to-subpoena-donald-trump/ Former US President Donald Trump has ridiculed the prospect of testifying in front of the Congressional Committee investigating last year’s January 6th riot at the US Capitol. In what was likely its last hearing, the committee dramatically waited until the very end to announce a subpoena that compels Trump to testify about his actions regarding that riot. But as TRT’s World’s Andy Roesgen reports, there’s a big question mark on whether a Tump testimony, will ever happen. Thousands attend ‘Invasion Day’ rallies across Australia What was the 1967 Six-Day War? US congresswomen describe migrant camp conditions in emotional testimonies Pyeongchang One Year On: Winter Olympics leave mixed legacy Iraq’s lawmakers elect Abdul Latif Rashid as new president Ukraine: Russian missiles hit more than 40 cities, towns WWF: Wildlife populations declined 69% on average since 1970 Türkiye’s President Erdogan re-emphasises importance of diplomacy Worst flooding in a decade displaces over 1.4M people Biden to re-evaluate relations with Riyadh after OPEC+ cuts UNGA votes to condemn illegal Russian annexations in Ukraine Ukraine says more of Kherson recaptured NATO allies conduct enemy invasion simulations President Erdogan visits Kazakhstan for talks, Asia summit West concerned about possible Russian nuclear weapon attacks At least 100 dead in Venezuela after month’s worth of rain fell in eight hours Read More Here

Oath Keepers Trial Turns To Trump’s Call To Rally https://digitalarizonanews.com/oath-keepers-trial-turns-to-trumps-call-to-rally/ Members of the Oath Keepers gather on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. (AP/Manuel Balce Ceneta) WASHINGTON — Members of the far-right Oath Keepers were ecstatic when then-President Donald Trump invited supporters to a “wild” protest in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress would be certifying the results of the 2020 election, according to messages shown Thursday during the seditious conspiracy trial for the militia group’s founder and four associates. During an FBI agent’s testimony, jurors saw a string of online posts that Oath Keepers members in Florida exchanged after Trump’s tweet on Dec. 19, 2020, about a “big protest” at the upcoming joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. “Be there, will be wild!” Trump said. “He wants us to make it WILD,” Kelly Meggs, an Oath Keepers leader from Dunnellon, Fla., wrote in a message to other group members. “He called us all to the Capitol and wants us to make it wild!!! Sir Yes Sir!!!” Trump’s words appeared to energize Oath Keepers members. They used an encrypted messaging app to discuss their plans to be in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, when, after a Trump rally near the White House, a mob stormed the Capitol and disrupted Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over the Republican incumbent. “These will be flying Jan. 6 in front of the Capitol,” Meggs wrote in a post that included the image of an Oath Keepers flag. Graydon Young, an Oath Keepers member from Florida who has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, said he was going to Washington even though it “feels like a fool’s errand.” Oath Keepers founder and national leader Stewart Rhodes responded on Dec. 25, 2020, that he disagreed with that assessment. “Trump needs to know we support him in using the Insurrection Act,” Rhodes wrote. “And he needs to know that if he fails to act, then we will.” Rhodes added that he believed the Secret Service would be “happy to have us out there” if Trump “calls us up as militia.” A key argument for Rhodes’ lawyers is that the Oath Keepers founder believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act, which gives the president broad authority to call up the military and decide what shape that force will take. Trump did float that kind of action at other points in his presidency. Meggs and Rhodes, who’s from Granbury, Texas, are on trial with Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Va.; Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Fla.; and Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio. They are the first Capitol riot defendants to be tried on seditious conspiracy charges for what prosecutors said was a plot to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power. The Civil War-era charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. As testimony continued Thursday, the House Jan. 6 committee played a recording at its public hearing of Watkins saying, “It has spread like wildfire that [Vice President Mike] Pence has betrayed us” and “100 percent” of the crowd would be going to the Capitol right after a Trump tweet that had criticized Pence, as the Senate’s presiding officer, for not delaying or rejecting the certification of the Electoral College vote by Congress. Defense lawyers have accused prosecutors of cherry-picking messages and have said there is no evidence the Oath Keepers had a plan to attack the Capitol. The trial started last Oct. 3 and is expected to last more than a month. Trump’s Dec. 19 tweet also was a focus of a July hearing by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. One committee member, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., said the tweet “served as a call to action and in some cases as a call to arms.” A second, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said it “electrified and galvanized” Trump supporters, including the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and other far-right extremists. Several members of the Proud Boys, including former national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, also are charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack and await a trial in December. Thursday’s testimony for the Oath Keepers trial focused on members of the group’s Florida contingent and their communications in the days leading up to the riot. In a chat for Oath Keepers members in Florida on the Signal messaging app, Rhodes said they should adopt the QAnon slogan “WWG1WGA,” which stands for “Where we go one, we go all.” QAnon is a conspiracy theory that has centered on the baseless belief that Trump was secretly fighting a cabal of Satan-worshipping “deep state” enemies, Hollywood elites and prominent Democrats. “They come for one of us, they come for all of us,” Rhodes posted on Dec. 21, 2020. “When they come for us, we go for them.” Kelly Meggs responded: “It’s easy to chat. The real question is who’s willing to DIE.” Three days before the Capitol attack, Meggs sent a message to an associate that said, “1776 we are going to make history.” “What happened in 1776?” Justice Department prosecutor Louis Manzo asked FBI Special Agent Kelsey Harris. “The American revolution,” the agent replied. Read More Here

Trump Steps Up Attacks As Pelosi Footage Shows She https://digitalarizonanews.com/trump-steps-up-attacks-as-pelosi-footage-shows-she/ Nancy Pelosi says she’s ‘going to punch him out’ Invalid email We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info Donald Trump has lashed out at Nancy Pelosi as footage emerged of the House Speaker saying she would “punch” the former president if he turned up at the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, referring to the ex-president in a clip obtained by CNN, said:“If he comes, I’m gonna punch him out.” Trump, attending a rally just before the riots, riled his supporters to “fight like hell” – but later defended his speech as “extremely calming”. Ms Pelosi added in the footage: “I’ve been waiting for this, for trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I’m gonna punch him out, and I’m gonna go to jail and I’m gonna be happy.” The footage was released during what could be the final the hearing of the House Jan. 6 committee on Thursday afternoon. It was recorded by the Speaker’s daughter, Alexandra Pelosi, a filmmaker. On Thursday, the committee voted to subpoena the former president (Image: Getty) The footage was released during the hearing of the House Jan. 6 hearing on Thursday afternoon (Image: CNN) In a rant posted to his Truth Social account following several minutes of footage being played at the hearing, Trump wrote: “Why didn’t Crazy Nancy Pelosi call out the ‘troops’ before January 6th, which I strongly recommended that she do. “It was her responsibility, but she ‘didn’t like the look’. Crazy Nancy failed the American People!” In the footage, the Speaker can also be heard, along with a host of other Congressional leaders, calling out for help as they watch news footage of the exterior of the building. Ms Pelosi can be heard saying: “Oh, my gosh, they’re just breaking windows, they’re doing all kinds of […] they said somebody was shot. READ MORE: Lukashenko’s border war threats unmasked as false-flag operation Trump, attending a rally just before the riots, riled his supporters to ‘fight like hell’ (Image: Getty) “It’s just horrendous, and all at the instigation of the president of the United States.” On Thursday, the committee voted to subpoena the former president, legally summoning Trump to testify about the insurrection. He could face penalties, even imprisonment, if he refuses to comply with the summons. Mississippi Democrat Representative Bennie Thompson said: “He is required to answer for his actions.” DON’T MISS: Sterling hits week high as Kwarteng cuts US trip short to face coup [LIVE]  Joe Biden plots second term in office as Trump prepares to run [REPORT] Should a snap general election be called? POLL [VOTE] It is expected to be the final hearing on the January 6 riots (Image: Getty) Wyoming Republican Representative Liz Cheney, who is vice-chair of the committee investigating the storming of the Capitol, said the panel was “obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion”. She added: “And every American is entitled to those answers.” Trump took again to his Truth Social account, posting: “Why didn’t the Unselect Committee ask me to testify months ago? “Why did they wait until the very end, the final moments of their last meeting? “Because the Committee is a total ‘BUST’ that has only served to further divide our Country which, by the way, is doing very badly – A laughing stock all over the World?” Read More Here

US Capitol Rioters Charge Lawmakers In Chilling Video Footage! | DH Latest News, DH NEWS, US, Latest News, Members And People, NEWS, International, Politics, Crime , Protesters, Lawmakers, US Capitol Rioters, Video Footage, Investigation https://digitalarizonanews.com/us-capitol-rioters-charge-lawmakers-in-chilling-video-footage-dh-latest-news-dh-news-us-latest-news-members-and-people-news-international-politics-crime-protesters-lawmakers-us-capitol/ New video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leaders responding aggressively to the situation was released Thursday by the investigation panel looking into the Capitol incident on January 6. As protesters attack the Capitol building, Pelosi is shown taking cover somewhere secure. Alexandra Pelosi, a documentary filmmaker and daughter of Nancy Pelosi, captured everything on camera. She may be seen saying to her coworkers, ‘There has to be some way.  We can preserve the sense of security or trust that people have in the ability to elect the president of the United States and in the functioning of the government’.  Then, in preparation for a breach, MPs can be seen donning tear gas masks on the House floor.’ Do you think this is true?’  Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina, a different Democratic leader, was addressed by Pelosi in shock. She even says, ‘I’m going to punch him out, at one point’ in regard to Donald Trump. A rioter can be seen pointing at her while yelling, ‘We’re coming in if you don’t bring her out,’ outside of her office. The speaker was then led into a chamber with Chuck Schumer, the majority leader in the Senate, who announced, ‘I’m going to call up the effin’ secretary of DoD’. The video depicts the scenario within the structure in real time and demonstrates how unprepared some authorities were to handle the issue at hand. They can be heard berating Trump, whose actions put them in a terrible predicament, in their heated remarks. In the video, Pelosi and Schumer engage in negotiations with governors and defence officials in an effort to send the National Guard to the Capitol since the police were stranded and suffering from the rioters’ savage assaults. Trump did little to stop the assailants while it took the National Guard hours to get to the Capitol. Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a committee member, said that ‘as the president watched the bloody attack unfold on Fox News from his dining room, members of Congress and other government officials stepped into the gigantic leadership void created by the president’s chilling and steady passivity that day’. Chris Miller, the acting defence secretary, was instructed to dispatch the Maryland National Guard by Schumer. Pelosi informs Schumer that they are breaching the law in several ways, ‘and quite honestly, much of it at the instigation of the president of the United States’. Read More Here

The Nation In Brief: Pfizer: New Booster Is More Effective https://digitalarizonanews.com/the-nation-in-brief-pfizer-new-booster-is-more-effective/ FILE – This image provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Antonio LaMotta. LaMotta and Joshua Macias, two supporters of former President Donald Trump arrested after driving a Hummer with guns and ammunition to a Philadelphia site where votes were being counted in November 2020, were convicted of weapons charges Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, but acquitted of election interference. (Philadelphia Police Department via AP, File) Pfizer: New booster is more effective Pfizer and its German vaccine partner said their booster tailored to the latest omicron variants raised more antibodies against the dominant strains of covid-19 compared with the original shot. Blood from 80 volunteers collected seven days after the booster shot showed an increase in neutralizing antibodies against the BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants in a study, Pfizer and BioNTech said Thursday. The vaccines were authorized without data showing their performance in humans. Pfizer and BioNTech plan to release additional data in coming weeks measuring immune responses one month following administration of the new bivalent booster. They have not shared data on the shot’s efficacy, which would offer a better measure of protection against widely circulating variants. “While we expect more mature immune-response data from the clinical trial of our omicron BA.4/BA.5-adapted bivalent vaccine in the coming weeks, we are pleased to see encouraging responses just one week after vaccination in younger and older adults,” Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla said. “These early data suggest that our bivalent vaccine is anticipated to provide better protection against currently circulating variants than the original vaccine, and potentially help to curb future surges in cases this winter,” Bourla said. The U.S. fall booster campaign has thus far faltered. Only 11.5 million Americans have been administered a newly modified vaccine, a fraction compared with previous booster campaigns. On Wednesday, U.S. regulators expanded access to the new bivalent booster shots to include children 5 and older. Covid health crisis forecast into ’23 WASHINGTON — The Biden administration said Thursday that the covid-19 public health emergency will continue through Jan. 11 as officials brace for a spike in cases this winter. The decision comes as the pandemic has faded from the forefront of many people’s minds, with daily deaths and infections dropping. The public health emergency, first declared in January 2020 and renewed every 90 days since, has dramatically changed how health services are delivered. The declaration enabled the emergency authorization of covid vaccines, testing and treatments for free. It expanded Medicaid coverage to millions of people, many of whom who will risk losing that coverage once the emergency ends. It temporarily opened up telehealth access for Medicare recipients, enabling doctors to collect the same rates for those visits and encouraging health networks to adopt telehealth technology. Since the beginning of this year, Republicans have pressed the administration to end the emergency. President Joe Biden, meanwhile, has urged Congress to provide billions more in aid to pay for vaccines and testing. The government ceased sending free covid-19 tests in the mail last month, saying it had run out of money. Florida expands voting access after Ian TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday issued an executive order expanding voting access for the midterm elections in three counties where Hurricane Ian destroyed polling places and displaced thousands of people. The move, which followed requests from Lee, Charlotte and Sarasota counties as well as voting rights groups, comes as Florida undertakes recovery from the Category 4 hurricane that hit Sept. 28 and leveled parts of the state. The order extends the number of early voting days in the three counties and authorizes election supervisors to designate additional early voting locations, steps that allow voters to cast ballots at any polling place in their registered county from Oct. 24 through Election Day. Election supervisors can also relocate or consolidate polling places if necessary. It also waives training requirements for poll workers and suspends a signature requirement for voters requesting to have a mail ballot sent to an address different from the one election officials have on file. Gun-toters acquitted of vote meddling PHILADELPHIA — Two supporters of former President Donald Trump arrested after driving a Hummer with guns and ammunition to a Philadelphia site where votes were being counted in November 2020 were convicted of weapons charges but acquitted of election interference. Prosecutors argued that Vets for Trump co-founder Joshua Macias and co-defendant Antonio LaMotta, both of Virginia, planned a mass shooting as the outcome of the election remained uncertain. However, Common Pleas Court Judge Lucretia Clemons rejected that theory Wednesday, finding the men guilty only of bringing weapons to the city without a permit on Nov. 5, 2020. LaMotta is separately charged with federal misdemeanor offenses stemming from his alleged illegal entry of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Both men remain free on bail pending sentencing in December, when they face a possible sentence of probation to 18 months in jail, defense lawyer William Brennan said.     FILE – This image provided by the Philadelphia Police Department shows Joshua Macias. Macias and Antonio LaMotta, two supporters of former President Donald Trump arrested after driving a Hummer with guns and ammunition to a Philadelphia site where votes were being counted in November 2020, were convicted of weapons charges Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, but acquitted of election interference. (Philadelphia Police Department via AP, File)    Print Headline: Pfizer: New booster is more effective Covid health crisis forecast into ’23 Florida expands voting access after Ian Gun-toting Trump supporters acquitted Gun-toters acquitted of vote meddling Read More Here

In Memoriam: Funeral Notices, October 14, 2022 https://digitalarizonanews.com/in-memoriam-funeral-notices-october-14-2022/ In memoriam: Funeral notices, October 14, 2022 Funeral notices for Friday, October 14, 2022. For more obituaries go to legacy.com/obituaries/tucson/ In memoriam: Funeral notices, October 14, 2022 Paid Obituaries Diane Beltz On Sunday, October 2, 2022, Diane Beltz, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother passed away at the age of 85. Diane was born on August 24, 1937, in Chicago, IL to Alfred and Irene Hansen. Her family moved to Albuquerque, NM in in the early 1940s. As a child, ballet and horses were her loves/passions. Diane graduated from Highland High School in Albuquerque in 1955 and attended the University of New Mexico, majoring in Fine Arts. Diane (mother of five children) met Ted Beltz (father of four children) in 1972. Three months later, at the age of 35, they married and merged their two families while living in Bosque Farms, NM. Ted retired from Kirtland Air Force Base in summer of 1976 and the family moved to northern New Mexico. Ted worked as a hunting guide for the UU Bar Ranch while Diane and the kids ran the ranch house, kept the hunting/fishing cabins clean, tended to the animals, and cooked for many hunters from across the globe who came and went. It was a family business if there ever was one! Ted and Di worked for, or owned, several businesses after leaving the UU Bar. After the last of the kids left home, Ted and Di settled in Rio Rancho, NM in 1988 where they created a network of devoted friends. Upon their eventual retirement in 2008, Ted and Di moved to Tucson, AZ where they spent years enjoying the hiking trails, beautiful sunsets, and ideal weather. She was an extremely talented cook, keeping her church congregation, neighbors, friends, and family well fed. She was an avid reader and loved needlepoint, crafts of all kinds, and gardening, spending many years cultivating her yards and gardens. She never met a stranger and was known for her lively and compassionate spirit. Throughout the years Diane and Ted were constantly asked “which ones are your kids?”. The answer that they each would give is “they are all our kids”. This sense of family was instilled in everyone and is something that has trickled down through generations creating a family bond that is very special to all. At the end of September 2022, the family came together in Tucson, AZ for a planned family reunion and 50th Anniversary Celebration for Ted and Diane. Diane’s passing occurred while they were all together. The timing may seem uncanny, but not to those who knew Diane. It was just the way she would have wanted it. Lovingly surrounded by all nine of her children and their spouses, as well as some grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Diane was preceded in death by her mother and father, her younger sister Judy Tanny, brother-in-law John Tanny and niece Jennifer Tanny. Diane’s faith and family were her compass. Diane’s spirit is carried on by her husband of 50 years, Ted Beltz, her nine children and their spouses: Michael Powell from Heber, AZ (spouse Sandy), Andrea French from Moab, UT (spouse Randy), Laura Walker from Amarillo, TX (spouse Cecil), Lisa Wilcox from Albuquerque, NM (spouse Frank), Valerie Thomson from Las Vegas, NV, Joey Beltz from Corpus Christi, TX, Mark Beltz from Payson, AZ (and his love Debi Henry), Chris Beltz from Calhan, CO (spouse Melissa) and Bill Beltz from Chandler, AZ (partner Christina Diaz), 22 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren, two brothers: Robert Hansen (partner Artemis Chakerian) from Albuquerque, NM and Richard Hansen (spouse Janice Ziegler) from Eugene, OR, nieces, nephews and an extended family of friends from every walk of life. The family wishes to thank the devoted Hospice caregivers from Catalina Hospice as well as the many family members who lovingly cared for Diane, allowing her to pass peacefully while in the comfort of her home. Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be scheduled in the future. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to St Jude’s Children Research Hospital. Related to this collection Funeral notices for Sunday, October 9, 2022. For more obituaries go to Funeral notices for Saturday, October 8, 2022. For more obituaries go to Funeral notices for Tuesday, October 11, 2022. For more obituaries go to Funeral notices for Thursday, October 13, 2022. For more obituaries go to Funeral notices for Wednesday, October 12, 2022. For more obituaries go to Funeral notices for Friday, October 7, 2022. For more obituaries go to Funeral notices for Sunday, September 18, 2022. For more obituaries go to Funeral notices for Tuesday, October 4, 2022. For more obituaries go to Read More Here

Diane Beltz https://digitalarizonanews.com/diane-beltz/ On Sunday, October 2, 2022, Diane Beltz, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother passed away at the age of 85. Diane was born on August 24, 1937, in Chicago, IL to Alfred and Irene Hansen. Her family moved to Albuquerque, NM in in the early 1940s. As a child, ballet and horses were her loves/passions. Diane graduated from Highland High School in Albuquerque in 1955 and attended the University of New Mexico, majoring in Fine Arts. Diane (mother of five children) met Ted Beltz (father of four children) in 1972. Three months later, at the age of 35, they married and merged their two families while living in Bosque Farms, NM. Ted retired from Kirtland Air Force Base in summer of 1976 and the family moved to northern New Mexico. Ted worked as a hunting guide for the UU Bar Ranch while Diane and the kids ran the ranch house, kept the hunting/fishing cabins clean, tended to the animals, and cooked for many hunters from across the globe who came and went. It was a family business if there ever was one! Ted and Di worked for, or owned, several businesses after leaving the UU Bar. After the last of the kids left home, Ted and Di settled in Rio Rancho, NM in 1988 where they created a network of devoted friends. Upon their eventual retirement in 2008, Ted and Di moved to Tucson, AZ where they spent years enjoying the hiking trails, beautiful sunsets, and ideal weather. She was an extremely talented cook, keeping her church congregation, neighbors, friends, and family well fed. She was an avid reader and loved needlepoint, crafts of all kinds, and gardening, spending many years cultivating her yards and gardens. She never met a stranger and was known for her lively and compassionate spirit. Throughout the years Diane and Ted were constantly asked “which ones are your kids?”. The answer that they each would give is “they are all our kids”. This sense of family was instilled in everyone and is something that has trickled down through generations creating a family bond that is very special to all. At the end of September 2022, the family came together in Tucson, AZ for a planned family reunion and 50th Anniversary Celebration for Ted and Diane. Diane’s passing occurred while they were all together. The timing may seem uncanny, but not to those who knew Diane. It was just the way she would have wanted it. Lovingly surrounded by all nine of her children and their spouses, as well as some grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Diane was preceded in death by her mother and father, her younger sister Judy Tanny, brother-in-law John Tanny and niece Jennifer Tanny. Diane’s faith and family were her compass. Diane’s spirit is carried on by her husband of 50 years, Ted Beltz, her nine children and their spouses: Michael Powell from Heber, AZ (spouse Sandy), Andrea French from Moab, UT (spouse Randy), Laura Walker from Amarillo, TX (spouse Cecil), Lisa Wilcox from Albuquerque, NM (spouse Frank), Valerie Thomson from Las Vegas, NV, Joey Beltz from Corpus Christi, TX, Mark Beltz from Payson, AZ (and his love Debi Henry), Chris Beltz from Calhan, CO (spouse Melissa) and Bill Beltz from Chandler, AZ (partner Christina Diaz), 22 grandchildren, 38 great-grandchildren, two brothers: Robert Hansen (partner Artemis Chakerian) from Albuquerque, NM and Richard Hansen (spouse Janice Ziegler) from Eugene, OR, nieces, nephews and an extended family of friends from every walk of life. The family wishes to thank the devoted Hospice caregivers from Catalina Hospice as well as the many family members who lovingly cared for Diane, allowing her to pass peacefully while in the comfort of her home. Cremation has taken place. A memorial service will be scheduled in the future. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to St Jude’s Children Research Hospital. Obituaries Newsletter Sign up to get the most recent local obituaries delivered to your inbox. Read More Here

Russia’s Airstrikes, Intended To Show Force, Reveal Another Weakness https://digitalarizonanews.com/russias-airstrikes-intended-to-show-force-reveal-another-weakness/ On Monday, Russia fired 84 missiles, many at Ukrainian civilian infrastructure targets, causing power outages in many cities. On Tuesday, Russia launched another 28 cruise missiles. And on Thursday, the Ukrainian Armed Forced General Staff said Russia had hit more than 40 settlements since the day before. In all, more than three dozen people were killed. But no matter how many times Russia fires at Ukraine, pro-war Russian nationalists want more, even though targeting civilian infrastructure is potentially a war crime. “It has to be done constantly, not just once but for two to five weeks to totally disable all their infrastructure, all thermal power stations, all heating and power stations, all power plants, all traction substations, all power lines, all railway hubs,” said Bogdan Bezpalko, a member of the Kremlin’s Council on Interethnic Relations. “Then, Ukraine will descend into cold and darkness,” Bezpalko said on state television. “They won’t be able to bring in ammunition and fuel and then the Ukrainian army will turn into a crowd of armed men with chunks of iron.” But the hawks, who are demanding publicly on TV broadcasts and on Telegram to know why Russia does not hit more high value targets, won’t like the answer: The Russian military appears to lack sufficient accurate missiles to sustain airstrikes at Monday’s tempo, according to Western military analysts. “They are low on precision guided missiles,” said Konrad Muzyka, founder of Gdansk, Poland-based Rochan Consulting said, offering his assessment of Russia’s sporadic air attacks. “That is essentially the only explanation that I have.” Even as NATO allies on Thursday said they would rush additional air defenses to Ukraine, the experts said the reason Russia had yet to knock out electricity and water service across the country was simple: it can’t. Since May, Russia’s use of precision guided missiles (PGMs) has declined sharply, with analysts suggesting then that Russian stocks of such missiles may be low. Tuesday’s attacks mainly used air-launched cruise missiles, which are slower than Iskander guided missiles and easier for Ukraine to shoot down, according to Muzyka. In March, the Pentagon reported that Russia’s air-launched cruise missiles have a failure rate of 20 to 60 percent. “If Russia had a limitless supply of PGMs, I think that they would still strike civilian targets, because that’s what the Russian way of warfare is,” Muzyka said. He said analysts did not have confirmed information about Russian missile stocks or production levels, and judgments were based on the decline in usage of PGMs and Moscow’s greater reliance on less accurate missiles. At least one person was killed in Zaporizhzhia in a new round of Russian missile attacks across Ukraine on Oct. 11, according to the State Emergency Service. (Video: The Washington Post) But a clue lies in Russia’s failure to destroy the kinds of targets that Ukraine is able to hit using U.S.-supplied HIMARS artillery. “If we take a look at what HIMARS has done to Russian supply routes, and essentially their ability to sustain war, they’ve done massive damage to Russia’s posture in this war,” Muzyka said. “So technically, you know, if the Russians had access to a large stock of PGMS, they could probably inflict a similar damage to Ukrainian armed forces, but they haven’t.” “They actually failed to,” he continued. “They even failed to interdict the main Ukrainian supply roads. They failed to destroy bridges, railway, railway intersections, and so on and so forth.” Russian President Vladimir Putin is juggling so many military problems that some Western analysts are already predicting Russia’s war will fail. Others say it remains too early to write Russia off, especially with hundreds of thousands of conscripted reinforcements potentially headed to the battlefield in coming weeks. Since day one, Russia has sustained shocking levels of battlefield casualties, battering military morale. It has suffered repeated defeats, including the failure to take Kyiv, a retreat from Snake Island, the rout in Kharkiv and loss of Lyman, a strategic transit hub. Ukrainian forces also continue to slowly recover territory in Kherson region, in their ongoing southern offensive. Russia’s military mobilization also remains in shambles, with angry draftees posting videos online almost daily, complaining of insufficient training and poor equipment. Moscow police raided hostels and cafes on Tuesday to grab men and deliver them to mobilization points, and military recruitment is continuing in Russian prisons, according to independent Russian media site SOTA. Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies at King’s College London, wrote in a newsletter that Russia’s escalation of missile attacks on civilian targets Monday had achieved no clear military gain. “Russia lacks the missiles to mount attacks of this sort often, as it is running out of stocks and the Ukrainians are claiming a high success rate in intercepting many of those already used,” Freedman wrote. “This is not therefore a new war-winning strategy but a sociopath’s tantrum.” Putin’s “need to calm his critics also explains why he has lashed out against Ukrainian cities,” Freedman wrote. “The hard-liners have been demanding attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure for some time and they now have got what they wanted. But they will inevitably be disappointed with the results.” “These attacks could well be repeated, because it is part of the mind-set of Putin and his generals that enemies can be forced to capitulate by such means,” he added. “But stocks of Kalibr and Iskander missiles are running low.” Amid Russia’s military setbacks, striking at Ukraine’s power grid in recent days was designed to shock and terrify civilians, starve them of energy in the winter and break their will to resist, according to Maria Shagina, an analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank. Kyiv residents cleared debris from their homes and stores after a Russian missile attack on Oct. 10. (Video: Reuters) One apparent goal of Russia’s strikes on six electrical substations in Lviv, western Ukraine, was to stop Ukraine exporting electricity to Europe, Shagina said. The strikes also crippled the city’s power supply. “Now we’re seeing the escalation and weaponization of the critical infrastructure,” she said, adding that it was no accident that Russia had destroyed Ukraine’s capacity to export electricity to Europe at the same time Moscow has weaponized natural gas, cutting supplies to pressure European Union countries. “There is some intensification of the war, in terms that Russia doesn’t hide even the fact that they have attacked civilian infrastructure, critical infrastructure,” Shagina added. “They’re trying to escalate the war as much as they can.” Muzyka said Russia, ignoring international conventions, has consistently targeted civilian apartment blocks and infrastructure in two Chechen wars, in Syria and Ukraine. “Definitely they focus on the power grid as a way of making civilian lives miserable,” he said. “For Russians, striking civilian areas, residential areas and anything that can potentially impact the lives of civilians is a military objective, because for Russia, the war is total.” “Essentially what the Russians are trying to do is to wear down Ukrainians, decrease the morale, decrease the willingness to fight and from their point of view, hopefully increase the pressure on the Ukrainian government to enter negotiations with Russia,” he added. Ukraine has asked Western allies for state of the art air defense systems to protect its civilians and vital infrastructure. But even as NATO pledged more help, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that getting those systems to Ukraine would take time. “Unfortunately, the Western response is rather limited,” Shagina said, adding that Russia is trying “to use the full range of measures they can deploy against the West and Ukraine.” But no matter how harsh the attacks, the hawks in Russia say it is still not enough. Russian journalist Andrei Medvedev, a member of the Moscow city council, who runs a popular hard line nationalist pro-war Telegram channel, urged patience, saying the decision “to bomb Ukraine into the Middle Ages” had not yet been taken. Another hawk, Alexander Kots, the war correspondent of Komsomolskaya Pravda, who has his own influential pro-war Telegram channel, said he hoped the strikes signaled a new kind of warfare that would bombard Ukraine “until it loses its ability to function.” Natalia Abbakumova contributed to this report. Read More Here

Japan Stocks Up More Than 3%, Asia Markets Gain After Wall Street's Rally https://digitalarizonanews.com/japan-stocks-up-more-than-3-asia-markets-gain-after-wall-streets-rally/ An employee works at the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 13, 2022. Toru Hanai | Bloomberg | Getty Images Shares in the Asia-Pacific jumped on Friday, taking the lead from Wall Street overnight as investors shook off a strong inflation report. The Nikkei 225 in Japan was 3.25% higher at 27,090.76, while the Topix gained 2.35% to 1,898.19. Japan’s yen plunged to its lowest levels against the U.S. dollar since 1990 overnight before paring losses, and is still trading at 147-levels. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was 1.93% higher in the final hour of trade after climbing 3.9% earlier in the session, and the Hang Seng Tech index was up 2.16%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was up 1.84% at 3,071.99 and the Shenzhen Component rose 2.81% to 11,121.72. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 1.75% to 6,758.80. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 2.3% to 2,212.55 and the Kosdaq climbed 4.09% to 678.24. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 2.15% higher. Singapore’s GDP grew 4.4% in the third quarter and is expected to further tighten its monetary policy. In the U.S., inflation data showed consumer prices increased more than expected in September, with CPI rising 0.4% from August, and 8.2% from September last year. Core inflation accelerated even faster in September. Stocks had a volatile session but ultimately rebounded to close higher, with each major index gaining more than 2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average soared 1,500 points from its lows to the highest level on Thursday in the U.S. “Equity investors seemingly decided that a stronger U.S. inflation [report] today still doesn’t negate expectations of a sharp declines in prices ahead,” Rodrigo Catril, currency strategist at National Australia Bank, wrote in a note Friday. He added that the rally could have been a result of short-covering. — CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Carmen Reinicke and Alex Harring contributed to this report. It’s not the right time to invest in semiconductor stocks yet, says analyst Investors should not get into the chip space yet, said chairman of Kirkland Capital, Kirk Yang, explaining that he is cautious of Taiwan and the global semiconductor landscape. Yang said the chip sector now faces a demand-side problem due to higher interest rates, the U.S. imposing restrictions on exports to China, as well as inventory corrections. “Unfortunately, we’ll continue to see negative data points for [the] next several quarters,” Yang projected. “Probably a better time to get into semiconductor stocks sometime in the first half of next year.” — Lee Ying Shan U.S. unemployment will overshoot on continued rate hikes, economist With the Federal Reserve expected to undertake more aggressive interest rate hikes, unemployment in the U.S. will rise higher than forecast, RBC Capital Markets chief U.S. economist Tom Porcelli says. Porcelli expects three more 75 basis-point hikes and predicts the Fed will get to a terminal rate of 4.75%. “But I do not believe that, you know, putting three additional 75 basis point hikes in the system is going to sort of quell near term inflationary dynamics,” he said on CNBC’s Squawk Box Asia on Friday. “What it will do is raise the unemployment rate meaningfully higher than what they’re forecasting for next year, which is to say, 4.4%,” he said. “There’s no way you will have a 4.4% unemployment rate with a Fed that aggressive.” At 4.75%, unemployment would be at 5% which equates to about 2 million job losses, Porcelli adds. The current U.S. unemployment rate is 3.5%. — Su-Lin Tan CNBC Pro: Don’t let the volatility ‘scare you out of stocks’: What to buy right now “Bear markets are no fun. But we do know that every bear market is eventually followed by a bull market and the trick is not to let the market volatility scare you out of stocks,” Nancy Tengler, CEO and chief investment officer of Laffer Tengler Investments, said. She believes investors should seize the opportunity to put money in the “highest quality names” amid the current market weakness, naming four stocks she likes. Pro subscribers can read more here. — Zavier Ong TSMC surges more than 5% after third-quarter net profit beats estimates Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company jumped as much as 5.31% after its earnings topped estimates, with third-quarter net profits surging almost 80% from a year ago. The Apple supplier’s net income rose to 280.9 billion new Taiwan dollars ($8.81 billion) for the July-September quarter – compared with 156.26 billion new Taiwan dollars for the same period in 2021. TSMC’s stock was last up 4.94%. – Jihye Lee Currency check: Japan’s yen at 32-year low, Australian dollar strengthens The Japanese yen fell to a 32-year low against the dollar overnight and hovered around 147-levels in Asia’s morning. The yen touched 147.67 per dollar after the U.S. inflation report came in hotter than expected, reaching weakest levels since August 1990. It last traded at 147.30 against the greenback. Meanwhile, the Australian dollar strengthened to $0.6329 after falling to $0.6169 following the U.S. CPI data release. “AUD quickly recovered its losses, helped by reports that the UK government would change part of its proposed fiscal policy,” Kim Mundy, a currency strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, wrote in a note. — Abigail Ng Singapore’s central bank tightens monetary policy as expected The Monetary Authority of Singapore tightened its monetary policy in a widely expected move as inflation pressures weigh on the economy. The central bank said it will re-center the mid-point of its exchange rate policy band known as the Singapore dollar Nominal Effective Exchange Rate. The MAS left the slope and width of the policy band unchanged. Singapore controls policy through its exchange rate rather than interest rates. It manages the strength or weakness of the Singapore dollar against its main trading partners. Inflation stood at 7.5% in August. Read the story here. — Abigail Ng China’s September consumer price index grows at fastest pace since April 2020 China’s September consumer price index grew annually at 2.8%, the fastest pace since April 2020, pushed higher by food costs. Food prices rose by 8.8% annually. The nation’s CPI rose by 0.3% in September from August, missing estimates of 0.4% in a Reuters poll. The producer price index for the month grew 0.9% compared to a year ago, also missing expectations of 1% that economists surveyed by Reuters predicted. — Jihye Lee Singapore’s GDP for the third quarter comes in at 4.4% Singapore’s gross domestic product grew 4.4% in the third quarter from the same period last year, according to advance estimates released by the government, much higher than 3.4% predicted by analysts in a Reuters poll, and in line with growth in the second quarter. GDP in the third quarter also expanded 1.5% from the previous quarter on a seasonally adjusted basis, meaning Singapore avoided a technical recession. Second-quarter GDP contracted 0.2% from the first quarter.  The Ministry of Trade and Industry in August narrowed Singapore’s GDP forecast for 2022 to 3% to 4%, compared to an earlier 3% to 5%. Read more here. — Abigail Ng CNBC Pro: Stocks in this key market are outperforming the S&P 500 — and it’s not where you might expect The S&P 500 has lost 25% of its value so far this year, but could still fall by “another easy 20%,” JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon predicted on Monday. Its sharp decline is a familiar story around the world, as investors flee stocks. But one “surprising” index is bucking the trend and beating the S&P 500 this year. Pro subscribers can read more here. — Zavier Ong Stocks close higher after remarkable Thursday reversal Stocks closed higher Thursday after staging a major reversal in intraday trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 827 points, or 2.83%, to close at 30,038.06 after being down more than 500 points earlier in the day. The S&P 500 ticked up 2.60% to 3,669.87, breaking a six-day losing streak. The Nasdaq Composite gained 2.23% to end the day at 10,649.15. —Carmen Reinicke Read More Here

Jan. 6 Panel Subpoenas Trump, Shows Startling New Video https://digitalarizonanews.com/jan-6-panel-subpoenas-trump-shows-startling-new-video/ Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, holds a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022. Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., is left. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled startling new video and described his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to his supporters’ fierce assault on the U.S. Capitol. With alarming messages from the U.S. Secret Service warning of violence and vivid new video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders pleading for help, the panel showed the raw desperation at the Capitol. Using language frequently seen in criminal indictments, the panel said Trump had acted in a “premeditated” way ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, despite countless aides and officials telling him he had lost. Trump is almost certain to fight the subpoena and decline to testify. On his social media outlet he blasted members for not asking him earlier — though he didn’t say he would have complied — and called the panel “a total BUST.” “We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6’s central player,” said Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the committee’s vice chair, ahead of the vote. In the committee’s 10th public session, just weeks before the congressional midterm elections, the panel summed up Trump’s “staggering betrayal” of his oath of office, as Chairman Bennie Thompson put it, describing the then-president’s unprecedented attempt to stop Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. While the effort to subpoena Trump may languish, more a nod to history than an effective summons, the committee has made clear it is considering whether to send its findings in a criminal referral to the Justice Department. In one of its most riveting exhibits, the panel showed previously unseen footage of congressional leaders phoning for help during the assault as Trump refused to call off the mob. Pelosi can be seen on a call with the governor of neighboring Virginia, explaining as she shelters with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and others that the governor of Maryland has also been contacted. Later, the video shows Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders as the group asks the Defense Department for help. “They’re breaking the law in many different ways,” Pelosi says at one point. “And quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the president of the United States.” The footage also portrays Vice President Mike Pence — not Trump — stepping in to help calm the violence, telling Pelosi and the others he has spoken with Capitol Police, as Congress plans to resume its session that night to certify Biden’s election. The video was from Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra, a documentary filmmaker. In never-before-seen Secret Service messages, the panel produced evidence that extremist groups provided the muscle in the fight for Trump’s presidency, planning weeks before the attack to send a violent force to Washington. The Secret Service warned in a Dec. 26, 2020, email of a tip that members of the right-wing Proud Boys planned to outnumber the police in a march in Washington on Jan. 6. “It felt like the calm before the storm,” one Secret Service agent wrote in a group chat. To describe the president’s mindset, the committee presented new and previously seen material, including interviews with Trump’s top aides and Cabinet officials — including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr and Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia — in which some described the president acknowledging he had lost. Ex-White House official Alyssa Farah Griffin said Trump once looked up at a television and said, “Can you believe I lost to this (expletive) guy?” Cabinet members also said in interviews shown at the hearing that they believed that once legal avenues had been exhausted, that should have been the end of Trump’s efforts to remain in power. “In my view, that was the end of the matter,” Barr said of the Dec. 14 vote of the Electoral College. But rather than the end of Trump’s efforts, it was only the beginning — as the president summoned the crowd to Washington on Jan. 6. The panel showed clips of Trump at his rally near the White House that day saying the opposite of what he had been told. He then tells supporters he will march with them to the Capitol. That never happened. “There is no defense that Donald Trump was duped or irrational,” said Cheney. “No president can defy the rule of law and act this way in our constitutional republic, period.” Thursday’s hearing opened at a mostly empty Capitol complex, with most lawmakers at home campaigning. Several people who were among the thousands around the Capitol on Jan. 6 are now running for congressional office, some with Trump’s backing. Police officers who fought the mob filled the hearing room’s front row. The House panel said the insurrection at the Capitol was not an isolated incident but a warning of the fragility of the nation’s democracy in the post-Trump era. “None of this is normal,” Cheney said. Along with interviews, the committee is drawing on the trove of 1.5 million pages of documents it received from the Secret Service, including an email from Dec. 11, 2020, the day the Supreme Court rejected one of the main lawsuits Trump’s team had brought against the election results. “Just fyi. POTUS is pissed,” the Secret Service message said. White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, recalled Trump being “fired up” about the court’s ruling. Trump told Meadows “something to the effect of: ‘I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out,’” Hutchinson told the panel in a recorded interview. Thursday’s session served as a closing argument for the panel’s two Republican lawmakers, Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who have essentially been shunned by Trump and their party and will not be returning in the new Congress. Cheney lost her primary election, and Kinzinger decided not to run. The committee, having conducted more than 1,000 interviews and obtained countless documents, has produced a sweeping probe of Trump’s activities from his defeat in the November election to the Capitol attack. Under committee rules, the Jan. 6 panel is to produce a report of its findings, likely in December. The committee will dissolve 30 days after publication of that report, and with the new Congress in January. At least five people died in the Jan. 6 attack and its aftermath, including a Trump supporter shot and killed by Capitol Police. More than 850 people have been charged by the Justice Department, some receiving lengthy prison sentences for their roles. Several leaders and associates of the extremist Oath Keepers and Proud Boys have been charged with sedition. Trump faces various state and federal investigations over his actions in the election and its aftermath. Today’s breaking news and more in your inbox Read More Here

“Only If Trump Was The President,” European Leaders Begin Missing Trump As The War Seems Endless https://digitalarizonanews.com/only-if-trump-was-the-president-european-leaders-begin-missing-trump-as-the-war-seems-endless/ According to Politico, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has stressed that only Former US President Donald Trump could end the war in Ukraine. Reportedly, the Hungarian PM asserted that peace negotiations are the need of the hour between the U.S. and Russia, with Trump serving as the American representative. Furthermore, Viktor Orbán asserted that only American military assistance has encouraged Ukraine to carry on fighting, adding that “the Ukrainians have infinite resources since they get all that from the Americans.” Orbán believes that the current U.S. President Joe Biden is not the adequate person to lead the negotiations, as he has “gone too far” with his accusations and provocation attempts against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Is Europe missing Trump? Orban has also claimed that the “war would never have broken out if Donald Trump was still head of the United States and Angela Merkel was the German Chancellor.” Well, without any shadow of a doubt, Viktor Orban has never been a great fan of Joe Biden and the Democrats of the USA. Furthermore, just a week ago, the Hungarian PM joined twitter and pitched, “European politics is not formulated by institutions in #Brussels. I believe that European politics resides in Berlin, Budapest, Warsaw, and Lisbon. European politics is none other than the totality of the will of Member States. There is no European position above that.” Some say that European politics is formulated by institutions in #Brussels. I believe that European politics resides in Berlin, Budapest, Warsaw and Lisbon. European politics is none other than the totality of the will of Member States. There is no European position above that. pic.twitter.com/4LSZxPC7aw — Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) October 12, 2022 In recent times, several European leaders, including French President Macron and Finnish PM Sanna Marin have expressed their dissatisfaction with Biden and his non-sensical approach to the Ukraine war. Biden has practically enslaved and blackmailed European countries to continue fighting for Ukraine. Russia and Europe’s ties have been shattered by Biden alone. Read More: It’s official: Trump prevented the war in Ukraine by delaying NATO’s incendiary plans Times were different in 2016-2020 However, things were a lot different when Donald Trump was the President of the United States. Firstly, the crisis in Ukraine is not new at all. The tensions were still high during the Trump era. In 2019, Trump approved the US federal budget, which included around $400 million in military funding to aid NATO’s efforts to stave off Russian forces in Ukraine and the US. Trump highlighted that the assistance should only be used in retribution and not as a means of provocation. Source: Financial Times Trump has often emphasized that official talks between Ukraine and Russia are the only way to settle disputes pertaining to the Donbas region. Even a meeting between Zelensky and Putin at the Normandy conference was arranged at the request of US and EU leaders. There were no signs of a possible war. Trump even tried maintaining a fine line between Russia and the EU. At the UN summit, Trump had warned Germany and the rest of Europe to stop relying on Russia for energy as Putin in future could choke these supplies. Guess what, he was not wrong at all. Putin has undoubtedly choked Europe’s energy. Read More: Viktor Orban and Donald Trump are creating a ‘global right’ movement to bring peace A Changing mood Pushing Zelensky against Putin has been a great bargain for the Democrats. Now as EU industries are also opening operations in the USA, American revenues are skyrocketing. As a result, the EU is becoming dependent on the USA. Additionally, Biden is threatening nuclear war now. The US President emphasized a few days ago that Putin is driving the globe toward “armaggedon.” Pentagon employees and EU politicians did not appreciate these remarks. Due to these faulty approaches of Biden, the tides are turning against him in the European Union. France and Germany are openly raising questions over US’ intent and claiming they don’t want World War III. Read More: The day of reckoning for radical democrats is coming who framed Trump for the Capitol riots When Trump was the President of the United States, the EU consistently criticized him, branding him a megalomaniac who might ignite World War III. They now realize that Joe Biden, who was formerly thought to be a savior of the world, could be the catalyst for the Third World War. They are now pleading with Trump to engage in peace talks, which, to be honest, is what Europe needs right now. Read More Here

Trevor Noah Is Inspired By Trump’s Camera Work https://digitalarizonanews.com/trevor-noah-is-inspired-by-trumps-camera-work/ Television|Trevor Noah Is Inspired by Trump’s Camera Work https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/14/arts/television/trevor-noah-donald-trump.html Best of Late Night Noah joked on Thursday that Trump gets away with so much criminal activity, “it just shows us we could do crime, too.” Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. “Who else gets caught committing crimes with their own security cameras?” Trevor Noah asked.Credit…Comedy Central Oct. 14, 2022, 3:19 a.m. ET Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now. Not So Smooth Criminal An aide for former President Donald Trump was caught on camera moving boxes out of a storage room at Mar-a-Lago both before and after the Justice Department issued a subpoena demanding the return of all classified documents he’d removed from the White House. Trevor Noah called Trump “a legend.” “Who else gets caught committing crimes with their own security cameras?” Noah said on Thursday. “Who are you? How are you real?” “There’s something inspiring about it, too, when you think about it. It’s actually inspiring. Because Trump is so bad at crime, but he gets away with so much of it, it just shows us we could do crime, too. He’s like the drunk couple at karaoke; hearing them screech through ‘Don’t Stop Believin’ gives you the confidence to try ‘Kiss From a Rose.’” — TREVOR NOAH “Man, he’s a bad criminal. You’re supposed to get rid of the evidence. Trump is the first criminal to plant the evidence on himself.” — SETH MEYERS “I have to say, all this evidence, it’s crazy the only Trump being held in prison right now is Melania.” — JIMMY KIMMEL “Remember how he was ranting and raving about the agents searching Barron’s bedroom and going through Melania’s closet? That’s because he put the documents there.” — JIMMY KIMMEL “He’s such a bad criminal. If Donald Trump wasn’t born rich, he’d be one of those bank robbers who passes the teller a note with his name signed at the bottom.” — JIMMY KIMMEL The Punchiest Punchlines (Another Day, Another Subpoena Edition) “The House Jan. 6 committee voted unanimously today to subpoena former President Trump. I would say this is big news, but it’s really more like putting one more parking ticket on that van that’s been on your block for a year. That ticket ain’t gettin’ paid.” — SETH MEYERS “And to make sure the former president reads the subpoena, it’s being printed on the wrapper of a Gordita Supreme.” — STEPHEN COLBERT “Watching him testify before Congress would be insane. He’d go on all sorts of insane rants and attack people. It would be like casting an actual lion in ‘The Lion King.’” — SETH MEYERS “But I feel like he will be a little conflicted. Because on the one hand, yes, he thinks this is a crooked witch hunt that is out to get him, but on the other hand, the ratings.” — TREVOR NOAH The Bits Worth Watching Andrew Garfield, George Clooney, Salma Hayek, Halle Berry and Larry David are just a few celebrities who participated in the latest edition of Mean Tweets on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.” Image Tár in charge: Cate Blanchett as the conductor Lydia Tár in Todd Field’s movie.Credit…Focus Features Cate Blanchett stars as a powerful conductor who behaves as badly as any male maestro in the new film “Tár.” Read More Here

CNN Obtains Footage Of Pelosi Saying She’d 'punch Him Out' If Trump Went To Capitol On January 6 https://digitalarizonanews.com/cnn-obtains-footage-of-pelosi-saying-shed-punch-him-out-if-trump-went-to-capitol-on-january-6/ On Anderson Cooper 360 Thursday, CNN aired previously unseen footage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on January 6, 2021, both before and after the storming of the Capitol. At one point, while watching former President Trump’s speech at The Ellipse in which he told his supporters to march on the Capitol, saying he’d go with, Pelosi left no doubt about how she felt about the former president. “I hope he comes. I’m gonna punch him out,” Pelosi said. “This is my moment. I’ve been waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds, I’m gonna punch him out and I’m gonna go to jail, and I’m gonna be happy.” In later footage, Pelosi is seen huddled with other members of Congress speaking with Acting Secretary of Defense Christophe Miller, who was appointed to the position after Trump had lost the election. Along with Pelosi is House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who would later falsely blame Pelosi for the lack of security at the Capitol that day, when in fact it was Miller who stripped the commander of the D.C. National Guard of his ability to deploy troops just two days before the insurrection. Any troop deployment had to get the okay from Miller. In the video, Pelosi is seen urging Miller to allow the National Guard to secure the Capitol. “Just pretend for a moment it was The Pentagon or the White House or some other entity that was under siege,” Pelosi said to Miller. “You can logistically get people there as you make the plan, and you have some leadership of the National Guard there, they have not been given the authority to activate.” Read More Here

NJ Spotlight News | Jan. 6 Committee Shows New Testimony Against Trump, Allies | Season 2022 | PBS https://digitalarizonanews.com/nj-spotlight-news-jan-6-committee-shows-new-testimony-against-trump-allies-season-2022-pbs/ Skip to Main Content Use one of the services below to sign in to PBS: You’ve just tried to add this video to My List. But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. You’ve just tried to add this show to My List. But first, we need you to sign in to PBS using one of the services below. Sign in with PBS Account Sign in with Google Sign in with Facebook Sign in with Apple By creating an account, you acknowledge that PBS may share your information with our member stations and our respective service providers, and that you have read and understand the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. You have the maximum of 100 videos in My List. We can remove the first video in the list to add this one. You have the maximum of 100 shows in My List. We can remove the first show in the list to add this one. NJ Spotlight News Clip: 10/13/2022 | 6m 35s | Video has closed captioning. In the final public hearing on Thursday before the midterm elections, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection made its strongest case yet, with the committee’s Republican vice chair saying that the majority of evidence collected shows the central cause of the deadly riot was one man — former President Donald Trump. Aired: 10/13/22 Rating: NR Report a Problem Before you submit an error, please consult our Troubleshooting Guide. Type of Error Please add more details Your report has been successfully submitted. Thank you for helping us improve PBS Video. NJ Spotlight News is a local public television program presented by THIRTEEN. Read More Here

Jan. 6 Panel Votes To Subpoena Donald Trump https://digitalarizonanews.com/jan-6-panel-votes-to-subpoena-donald-trump/ The Jan. 6 committee also showed previously unseen footage of congressional leaders calling for help during the Capitol attack. Author: abc10.com Published: 11:25 PM PDT October 13, 2022 Updated: 11:25 PM PDT October 13, 2022 Read More Here

'Sad And Tragic Day': Off-Duty Officer, 4 Others Dead In Raleigh Mass Shooting; Suspect In Custody https://digitalarizonanews.com/sad-and-tragic-day-off-duty-officer-4-others-dead-in-raleigh-mass-shooting-suspect-in-custody/ RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Raleigh Police said a suspect is in custody hours after a mass shooting that left five people dead, including an off-duty police officer. Police announced at a 10:45 p.m. news conference that the suspected shooter is a juvenile who is a White male and is in the hospital. RPD Lt. Jason Borneo said he could not provide any other details. There is a news conference scheduled for Friday morning. “This is a sad and tragic day for the City of Raleigh,” a visibly emotional Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said at an earlier news conference Thursday night. Gov. Roy Cooper was present at the late news conference. “Terror has reached our doorstep. The nightmare of every community has come to Raleigh,” Cooper said. WATCH: Gov. Cooper among those at late evening briefing He thanked law enforcement agencies for their bravery and work in capturing the shooter after losing one of their own. Officers first responded around 5:13 p.m. Thursday to an active shooting call near the Neuse River Greenway in the Hedingham neighborhood near Osprey Cove Drive and Bay Harbor Drive. An off-duty Raleigh police officer was shot and killed. Another officer who was shot has been released from the hospital. A K-9 officer was also shot but he suffered what Baldwin said were non-life-threatening injuries. Baldwin said two people were transported to WakeMed, including the K-9 officer who was shot in the knee and released from the hospital late Thursday evening. The civilian victim was in critical condition as of late Thursday. “All of us in Raleigh right now need to come together,” Baldwin said. “We need to support those in our community who have suffered a terrible loss; a loss of a loved one. We need to support the family of the police officer who was killed and also the police officer who was shot.” The mayor urged all who are “watching or listening” to reach out to those you love and let them “know you care.” “We must do more We must stop this mindless violence in America. We must address gun violence,” Baldwin said. “We have much to do and tonight, we have much to mourn.” WATCH: Raleigh officials give update on shooting Cooper tweeted that he had talked to Mayor Baldwin and was deploying state resources to assist at the scene. “DPS is providing any needed resources as requested in this investigation and working with local law enforcement to stop this shooter,” said NCDPS Secretary Eddie M. Buffaloe Jr. ATF Special Agents also responded to the scene. Police reportedly cornered the suspect in a barn off Buffaloe Road, a law enforcement source told ABC11. Police would only say that the suspect was “contained” before tweeting Thursday night that the suspect was in custody. Officers were working at least four separate crime scenes. “It’s a very tragic day for us and we ask for your prayers during this very challenging time for us,” Borneo said. Borneo said Police Chief Estella Patterson was away at a conference but had been kept up to date on developments. She was expected to fly back to Raleigh overnight. WATCH: Residents being allowed back into neighborhood People who live and work in that area were advised to remain in their homes and to contact 911 if they see anything or anyone suspicious. Residents who were on their way home were allowed to go into the neighborhood Thursday evening after waiting for several hours. Others who arrived later were told by police that it would be several more hours before they could get into the Eagle Trace Drive area. A resident who spoke to ABC11 said the neighborhood was in shock. “A lot of police activity, honestly I was actually in the house with my child, my oldest child, and we were hearing a lot of sirens and it was like, kind of alarming because it was more than a couple,” Victoria McGraw said. “The most alarming part had to be my youngest daughter, she was with her dad, and he just kept calling me, like what was going on, and he was seeing a flood of police officers coming in and that’s when I looked outside and there were police officers up and down the street.” McGraw said she stepped outside and saw officers waving to neighbors to go into their houses. WATCH: Hedingham resident recounts confusion as officers swarmed scene “One of the officers informed me that there was some gunman around,” McGraw said. Copyright © 2022 WTVD-TV. All Rights Reserved. Read More Here

Horizon Honors Soars Through The Titan Invitational https://digitalarizonanews.com/horizon-honors-soars-through-the-titan-invitational/ Trey Costello sprints to the finish (Erin Hjerpe/AZPreps365) Erin Hjerpe is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Horizon Honors through AZPreps365.com The heat was scorching at the Titan Invitational in Gilbert’s Crossroads Park on Thursday. Maya Wells started off strong for Horizon Honors through the finish as she passed Arizona College Prep to place 16th at 23 minutes, 8.7 seconds. ”I thought I had a good finish and I sniped a girl,” Wells said. Madelyn Longstreet finished 44th (27:38) to cap off the girls run. The Horizon Honors boys’ top runner Trey Costello finished seventh at 17:23.4, seven seconds off his personal best. “I thought it was pretty good for today cause it’s pretty hot, and I was like top two division four so I was happy with it,” Costello said. Costello finished ahead of a dominant Valley Christian team. Most of the runners in front of him were Division III, so his finish today is a test for sectionals. “His goal today was to finish top 10,” Horizon Honors head coach David Sheveland said. Costello was followed by Antonio Arelleno at 53rd (20:05.7), Liam Proctor at 62nd (20:33.5), Jon Buschko at 75th (21:25.0), Keenan Christian at 91st (22:37.9), Reese Burros at 100th (20:20.3) and Joey Evans at 101st (31:01.9). This meet was important for the Eagles as they just came off fall break in which Sheveland stressed to his team about the importance of training. The boys team finished 11th at 250 points while Valley Christian took the division with 69 points. Zachary Albenese from Seton Catholic placed first at 16:36.7, respectively. AZ College Prep won the girls division with 39 points. Saguaro’s Evangeline Dunckley placed first at 19:54.8 followed closely by American Leadership Academy-Ironwood top runner Teagan Fears at 19:59.6. The team continues to push through the season getting closer to sectional and the state championship.  Sheveland hopes to take his team to state for the first time in 26 years. He has high hopes for his team after their finish today. Four of their runners finished between 20 and 23 minutes, which is good for the team race. While they only finished 11th, they were only two points behind Arete Prep and four points behind Veritas Prep. Horizon Honors looks to continue their success with its two final meets before sectionals. They will travel to Rose Mofford Sports Complex on Oct. 19 for the Valley Lutheran Invitational. They will see familiar faces such as Valley Christian and Arete Prep who they competed against today. The Eagles will then host their own Horizon Honors Invitational at Pecos Park on Oct. 26. Schools like ALA-Ironwood and Arete Prep will be in attendance. Division I school Mountain Pointe will also be in attendance. Mountain Pointe’s best boys runner Daniel Biakeddy finished 12th (17:12.2) at Desert Twilight on Sept. 30. Both meets will bring in good competition for Horizon Honors. The team needs to push through the next two weeks in preparation for sectional. The sectional meet for Division IV East will take place Nov. 2 at Crossroads Park. Read More Here

South Korea Scrambles Jets As Kim Jong Un Sends Warplanes Near Border https://digitalarizonanews.com/south-korea-scrambles-jets-as-kim-jong-un-sends-warplanes-near-border/ SEOUL — South Korea scrambled fighter jets overnight Thursday after North Korean warplanes flew close to the border dividing the two countries. The move, which was widely seen as provocative even by Pyongyang’s standards, came as the North launched another ballistic missile early Friday morning, the latest of several recent weapons tests by Kim Jong Un’s regime. North Korean aircraft flew as close as seven miles north of a de facto maritime border between the two Koreas, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Pyongyang’s warplanes were also detected just over a dozen miles north of a land border. The incidents took place between late Thursday and early Friday, and about 10 of Pyongyang’s warplanes were involved. North Korea also dispatched warplanes near the South last week, but the latest flights — which are considered highly unusual — veered even closer to Seoul’s airspace. The South Korean military said it “conducted an emergency sortie with its superior air force, including the F-35A” fighter jets, but no clashes were reported. Seoul also said Pyongyang had fired artillery shells into maritime buffer areas established in 2018 as part of inter-Korean peace efforts. “The [North] Korean People’s Army sends a stern warning to the South Korean military inciting military tension in the front-line area with reckless action,” a spokesman for the General Staff of North Korea’s army said, according to a statement carried by the state-run Central News Agency. The official said the “countermeasures” were in response to earlier South Korean artillery fire that lasted some 10 hours. The South Korean Defense Ministry said it had conducted artillery drills at a site just south of the border with North Korea but that the exercises did not violate a 2018 military agreement. “To mark his 10th year in office, Kim Jong Un needs to step up as a heroic leader — and he has nothing but nuclear arms to show off as achievement,” said Uk Yang, a military strategy expert at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul. The recent military drills and tests held by the North, while threatening, also expose the limits of Pyongyang’s forces, he said. The warplanes were “antiquated” and suggest that the provocations are “signs of desperation,” he added. North Korea says it views recent military drills by the United States, South Korea and Japan as a threat. The allies say the training exercises are defensive in nature. South Korea’s presidential office on Friday convened an emergency meeting of its National Security Council and pledged to work with allies to prepare for further provocations from the North. Tensions continue to build while nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington remain stalled. North Korea has carried out more than 40 missile launches this year and this week, Kim supervised a cruise missile test and pledged to strengthen the regime’s nuclear arms program to ward off enemies. The North Korean leader said his nuclear forces were fully prepared for “actual war,” according to state media. On Friday, South Korea also imposed unilateral sanctions against North Korea for the first time in roughly five years. The measures target 15 North Korean individuals and 16 organizations involved in nuclear and missile development, according to the South’s Foreign Ministry. The short-range ballistic missile that North Korea launched Friday was fired at about 1:49 a.m. toward waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, according to the South Korean military. The missile flew some 435 miles and reached an altitude of about 31 miles, the JCS said. Read More Here

Trial: Trump Tweet About ‘wild’ Protest Energized Extremists https://digitalarizonanews.com/trial-trump-tweet-about-wild-protest-energized-extremists/ FILE – Members of the Oath Keepers on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. A member of the Oath Keepers who traveled to Washington before the Jan. 6 attack at the U.S. Capitol testified during the seditious conspiracy case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022, about a massive cache of weapons the far-right extremist group stashed in a Virginia hotel room. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the far-right Oath Keepers were ecstatic when then-President Donald Trump invited supporters to a “wild” protest in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, when Congress would be certifying the results of the 2020 election, according to messages shown Thursday during the seditious conspiracy trial for the militia group’s founder and four associates. During an FBI agent’s testimony, jurors saw a string of online posts that Oath Keepers members in Florida exchanged after Trump’s tweet on Dec. 19, 2020, about a “big protest” at the upcoming joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. “Be there, will be wild!” Trump said. “He wants us to make it WILD,” Kelly Meggs, an Oath Keepers leader from Dunnellon, Florida, wrote in a message to other group members. “He called us all to the Capitol and wants us to make it wild!!! Sir Yes Sir!!!” Trump’s words appeared to energize Oath Keepers members. They used an encrypted messaging app to discuss their plans to be in the nation’s capital on Jan. 6, when, after a Trump rally near the White House, a mob stormed the Capitol and disrupted Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over the Republican incumbent. “These will be flying Jan. 6 in front of the Capitol,” Meggs wrote in a post that included the image of an Oath Keepers flag. Graydon Young, an Oath Keepers member from Florida who has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, said he was going to Washington even though it “feels like a fool’s errand.” Oath Keepers founder and national leader Stewart Rhodes responded on Dec. 25, 2020, that he disagreed with that assessment. “Trump needs to know we support him in using the Insurrection Act,” Rhodes wrote. “And he needs to know that if he fails to act, then we will.” Rhodes added that he believed the Secret Service would be “happy to have us out there” if Trump “calls us up as militia.” A key argument for Rhodes’ lawyers is that the Oath Keepers founder believed Trump was going to invoke the Insurrection Act, which gives the president broad authority to call up the military and decide what shape that force will take. Trump did float that kind of action at other points in his presidency. Meggs and Rhodes, who’s from Granbury, Texas, are on trial with Thomas Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia; Kenneth Harrelson of Titusville, Florida; and Jessica Watkins of Woodstock, Ohio. They are the first Capitol riot defendants to be tried on seditious conspiracy charges for what prosecutors said was a plot to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power. The Civil War-era charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. As testimony continued Thursday, the House Jan. 6 committee played a recording at its public hearing of Watkins saying, “It has spread like wildfire that (Vice President Mike) Pence has betrayed us” and “100 percent” of the crowd would be going to the Capitol right after a Trump tweet that had criticized Pence, as the Senate’s presiding officer, for not delaying or rejecting the certification of the Electoral College vote by Congress. Defense lawyers have accused prosecutors of cherry-picking messages and have said there is no evidence the Oath Keepers had a plan to attack the Capitol. The trial started last Monday and is expected to last more than a month. Trump’s Dec. 19 tweet also was a focus of a July hearing by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. One committee member, Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., said the tweet “served as a call to action and in some cases as a call to arms.” A second, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said it “electrified and galvanized” Trump supporters, including the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and other far-right extremists. Several members of the Proud Boys, including former national chairman Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, also are charged with seditious conspiracy for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 attack and await a trial in December. Thursday’s testimony for the Oath Keepers trial focused on members of the group’s Florida contingent and their communications in the days leading up to the riot. In a chat for Oath Keepers members in Florida on the Signal messaging app, Rhodes said they should adopt the QAnon slogan “WWG1WGA,” which stands for “Where we go one, we go all.” QAnon is a conspiracy theory that has centered on the baseless belief that Trump was secretly fighting a cabal of Satan-worshipping “deep state” enemies, Hollywood elites and prominent Democrats. “They come for one of us, they come for all of us,” Rhodes posted on Dec. 21, 2020. “When they come for us, we go for them.” Kelly Meggs responded: “It’s easy to chat. The real question is who’s willing to DIE.” Three days before the Capitol attack, Meggs sent a message to an associate that said, “1776 we are going to make history.” “What happened in 1776?” Justice Department prosecutor Louis Manzo asked FBI Special Agent Kelsey Harris. “The American revolution,” the agent replied. Newsletter Join thousands already receiving our daily newsletter. Read More Here

Republicans Hope For A 'new' Kris Kobach In Kansas AG Race https://digitalarizonanews.com/republicans-hope-for-a-new-kris-kobach-in-kansas-ag-race/ TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kris Kobach, the Kansan with a national reputation as a hardline provocateur on immigration and voter ID laws, is trying to rebrand himself as a calmer, steadier voice in his comeback bid for elective office. Republicans hope the candidate for Kansas attorney general is a “new” Kobach. Many of them say he’s staying more on message with a better organized campaign after losing the 2018 race for Kansas governor and a 2020 U.S. Senate primary. Both of those losses were chalked up to disorganized campaigns and Kobach being too abrasive even for very Republican Kansas voters. The former Kansas secretary of state built a national profile — and created lasting political foes — as the go-to adviser for state and local officials wanting to crack down on illegal immigration. But his platform this year doesn’t mention immigration. The signature prop of his campaign for governor four years ago was a jeep painted with a U.S. flag design and equipped with a replica machine gun, and it’s nowhere to be seen this year. “There’s been some learning, trial and error, over time, and I think Kobach as a candidate has grown and become more disciplined,” said Moriah Day, a Republican and gun-rights activist who once worked for Kobach in the secretary of state’s office. “There are certainly advisers and others who have pushed hard for that discipline, and some of them have been together for a few cycles now.” Kobach’s Democratic opponent in the Nov. 8 election is Chris Mann, who is making his first run for elective office. While Republicans have won 80% of statewide down-ballot races over the past 50 years, both parties see the Kobach-Mann contest as a toss-up because of Kobach’s political baggage. In this photo from Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022, Kris Kobach, the Republican nominee for Kansas attorney general, makes a short speech at the start of a bus tour across Kansas for GOP candidates in Topeka, Kan. Many Republicans say they’re seeing a “new,” calmer, steadier Kobach this year after he lost the 2018 race for Kansas governor and a U.S. Senate primary in 2020. (AP Photo/John Hanna) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/John Hanna In this May 1998 family photo, Chris Mann, right, now the Democratic nominee for Kansas attorney general, stands with his father, left, in his new Lawrence police uniform, in Lawrence, Kansas. Mann would later be injured on duty and forced to give up his career as an officer before becoming a lawyer, a prosecutor in Kansas City, Kansas, and a national board member for Mothers Against Drunk Driving. (Chris Mann via AP) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS In this photo from Saturday, Oct. 20, 2018, Kris Kobach, then the Kansas secretary of state and the Republican nominee for Kansas governor, rides in a parade in a jeep with a replica machine gun in Baldwin City, Kan. The jeep was the signature prop in Kobach’s campaign for governor that year, which he lost to Democrat Laura Kelly. (AP Photo/John Hanna) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/John Hanna In this photo from Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022, Chris Mann, the Democratic candidate for Kansas attorney general, answers questions as he stands out police headquarters in Lawrence, Kan. Mann is a former Lawrence police officer who was injured on duty and then became a local prosecutor and Mothers Against Drunk Driving national board member. (AP Photo/John Hanna) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/John Hanna PreviousNext Some of the baggage comes from Kobach advocating strict immigration laws years before Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 and upsetting not only immigrant rights advocates but GOP-leaning business and agricultural groups. Kobach also pushed the idea that droves of people could be voting illegally and championed a tough prove-your-citizenship rule for new Kansas voters, only to see the federal courts strike it down and order the state to pay voting rights attorneys $1.4 million. Kobach served as co-chairman of Trump’s short-lived presidential advisory commission on “election integrity” and promoted Trump’s lies about widespread voter fraud. At the time, The Associated Press reported that Kobach oversaw an election system in Kansas that threw out at least three times as many ballots in the 2016 election as any similarly sized state did, fueling concerns about massive voter suppression should its practices become the national standard. Then there was his brand in his 2018 and 2020 races, the fighter who was even willing to take on GOP leaders. While Republicans across the U.S. have embraced a combative persona in Trump and other candidates, and Trump carried Kansas twice by wide margins, the state’s voters more often have favored candidates with an aw-shucks demeanor. The jeep with the machine gun became a symbol of how Kobach seemed not to care that he annoyed or angered some voters. He mocked what he called the “snowflake meltdown” the first time he rode it in a parade in 2018. Some are skeptical that Kobach has changed in any substantive way, and say he is not always on message. For example, his comments during campaign appearances sometimes veer into his plan to slowly and quietly maneuver to ban abortion. Kansas voters in August decisively rejected a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would have cleared the way for the Republican Legislature to tighten abortion restrictions or ban the procedure. Kobach backed the measure, which was GOP lawmakers’ response to a 2019 Kansas Supreme Court decision declaring access to abortion a “fundamental” right under the state’s Bill of Rights. Kobach advocates amending the state constitution to elect Supreme Court justices rather than have governors appoint them. Eventually new, more conservative justices would overturn the 2019 ruling, he argues. Backers argue that Kobach’s views on abortion are well-known enough that he can’t backpedal now. But he’s pitching a proposal that faces big political hurdles, and some Republicans fear that talking about abortion will keep moderate Republicans and independents riled and boost Democratic turnout. Kobach has said he’ll defend existing abortion restrictions as attorney general, but his critics worry that he’ll hunt for new ways to curb access if he’s elected. “I thought we had a representative form of government, but it looks like Kris Kobach will certainly be willing to subvert the wishes of the voters when he has a chance,” said former Kansas House Majority Leader Don Hineman, a moderate Republican and western Kansas farmer. Democrat Mann, 46, was a police officer in his early 20s in the northeastern Kansas city of Lawrence, where he now lives. An on-duty accident involving a drunken driver ended his career in uniform and he then served as a prosecutor in nearby Kansas City, Kansas, as a state securities regulator and on the board of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. “I’m not in this to chase the spotlight or to grab attention like my opponent, and that’s all he’s going to do,” Mann said during an interview. Kobach, 56, said he’s learned from past campaigns and is delegating more tasks. For this year’s race, he hired Axiom Strategies, a prominent Kansas City-area GOP firm, and his chief consultant is a conservative state senator, J.R. Claeys, in good standing with top Kansas Republicans. And that jeep with the replica machine gun from four years ago? “That was a different time,” Kobach said, chuckling, noting that four years ago was “right in the middle” of Trump’s high-drama administration. Kobach’s lower-key campaign appeals to William Hendrix, a 21-year-old Topeka resident who is treasurer for a local Young Republicans group. He predicted that as attorney general, Kobach would “cool down on the campaign-trail rhetoric.” “He’ll see the limitations of the office and also at the same time, what he can do with what he has,” Hendrix said. But Kobach also might appear more measured than in the past because if he loses this year, “it really could be, possibly, the end,” said Bob Beatty, a political science professor at Washburn University in Topeka. Patrick Miller, an associate University of Kansas professor of political science, wondered whether Kobach seems less provocative because the attorney general’s race can’t command the same kind of attention his 2018 and 2020 races did. “All of that attention given to him in 2018 was an invitation for him to be very flamboyant as a politician,” Miller said. “Maybe losing had an effect on that and maybe he’s more cautious. Maybe, he’s more calculating.” Kobach has promised to spend each breakfast thinking about potential lawsuits against the Democratic president’s administration and during one Topeka event urged the crowd to chant, “Sue Biden.” The candidate himself goes back and forth on whether there’s a new Kobach. He says there is a little truth in the GOP buzz but some exaggeration, too. “I’m still my old self in the sense that I stick to my guns,” Kobach said. “I don’t back down.” ____ Follow John Hanna on Twitter: https://twitter.com/apjdhanna Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More Here

AP News Summary At 1:29 A.m. EDT https://digitalarizonanews.com/ap-news-summary-at-129-a-m-edt/ Jan. 6 panel subpoenas Trump, shows startling new video WASHINGTON (AP) — The House Jan. 6 committee has subpoenaed Donald Trump for his testimony about the 2021 Capitol attack. The panel voted unanimously Thursday to compel the former president to appear. Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, the panel’s vice-chair, says, “We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6th’s central player … the man who set this all in motion.” Earlier in Thursday’s hearing, the last before next month’s congressional elections, the panel presented vivid new video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders pleading for help. And it outlined Trump’s multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss. Police: 5 killed, including officer, in N. Carolina shooting RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Police in North Carolina say that the suspect who killed five people in a shooting was a juvenile male. Raleigh Police Lt. Jason Borneo said that the suspect was taken into custody around 9:37 p.m. Thursday, hours after the shooting. His identity and age weren’t released. Authorities have said that he opened fire along a walking trail in a residential area northeast of downtown. Authorities say an off-duty police officer was among those slain. Two other people, including another police officer, were taken to hospitals. The officer was later released, but the other survivor remained in critical condition. NKorea fires missile and shells, further inflaming tensions SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says North Korea has launched a ballistic missile toward its eastern waters. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says the launch happened early Friday but gave no further details. It’s the latest in a spate of missile launches by North Korea in recent days. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff says North Korea also flew warplanes near the rivals’ border late Thursday and early Friday, prompting South Korea to scramble fighter jets. There have been no reports of clashes between the two Koreas. North Korea’s military also issued a statement accusing South Korea of carrying out artillery fire for about 10 hours near the border Thursday. Ukraine gets more air defense pledges as Russia hits cities KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s allies have committed to providing advanced air defense systems to protect against Russia’s missile intensifying missile attacks. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskky said Thursday such systems would “protect our sky from the terror of Russia” and help end the war. Responding to Zelenskyy’s pleas, Britain announced it would provide missiles for advanced NASAM anti-aircraft systems that the Pentagon plans to send to Ukraine. The U.K. is also providing hundreds of aerial drones. Russian forces attacked the Kyiv region with Iran-made kamikaze drones and fired missiles at civilian targets Thursday as payback for the bombing of a strategic bridge linking Russia with annexed Crimea. US migrant policy ‘bucket of cold water’ to some Venezuelans NECOCLI, Colombia (AP) — Venezuelan Gilbert Fernández still plans to cross the dangerous Darién jungle into Panama headed over land toward the U.S. despite Washington’s announcement that it will grant conditional humanitarian permits only to 24,000 Venezuelan migrants arriving by air. Fernández says that “the news hit us like a bucket of cold water.” The announcement also said that Venezuelans arriving by land at the Mexico-U.S. border would be returned to Mexico. Fernández spoke on a beach in Necoclí, a coastal town in Colombia where some 9,000 people, mostly Venezuelans, wait to board a boat to take them to the entrance of the Darién Gap. High court rejects Trump plea to step into Mar-a-Lago case WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected former President Donald Trump’s plea to step into the legal fight over the FBI search of his Florida estate. The justices did not otherwise comment Thursday in turning away Trump’s emergency appeal. Trump had pressed the court on an issue relating to classified documents seized in the search of Mar-a-Lago. The Trump team was asking the justices to overturn a lower court ruling and permit an independent arbiter, or special master, to review the roughly 100 documents with classified markings that were taken in the Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago. Ohio Dems press party to invest in high stakes Senate seat COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Democrats across Ohio are pleading for help in the state’s high-stakes Senate contest. They’re afraid they may lose a winnable election if national party leaders don’t make major investments in the coming days. So far, the most powerful groups in Democratic politics have prioritized Senate pickup opportunities in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania over Ohio. Democratic Senate contender Tim Ryan, a longtime congressman, says party leaders who don’t believe he can win “have no idea what’s going on out here.” Republican JD Vance has benefited from more than $30 million from outside Republican groups. By contrast, Ryan has benefited from roughly $2.5 million in outside spending. Black leaders rebuke Tuberville stance on reparations, crime As far as Jeremy Ellis is concerned, Republican Tommy Tuberville should know or learn more about the long history and struggles of the Black Alabama residents he represents in the U.S. Senate. Tuberville told people Saturday at an election rally in Nevada that Democrats support reparations for the descendants of enslaved people because “they think the people that do the crime are owed that.” His remarks — seen by many as racist and stereotyping Black Americans as people committing crimes — cut deeply for some, especially in and around Africatown, a community in Mobile, Alabama, that was founded by descendants of Africans smuggled in 1860 to the United States aboard a schooner called the Clotilda. Parkland school shooter spared from execution for killing 17 FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Florida school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to life without parole for the 2018 massacre of 17 people at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. That sentence comes after the jury announced Thursday that it could not unanimously agree that Cruz should be executed. The decision ends a three-month trial that included graphic videos and photos, and heart-wrenching testimony from victims’ family members. Many family members shook their heads, looked angry or covered their eyes as the jury’s decision was read. Some parents sobbed as they left court. A judge will formally sentence Cruz on Nov. 1. Social Security benefits to jump by 8.7% next year WASHINGTON (AP) — Millions of Social Security recipients will get an 8.7% boost in their benefits in 2023. That’s a historic increase and welcome news for American retirees and others — but it’s tempered by the fact that it’s fueled by record high inflation that’s raised the cost of everyday living. The cost-of-living adjustment means the average recipient will receive more than $140 a month extra beginning in January.  It is meant to help cover the higher cost of food, fuel and other goods and services. But a separate government report Thursday showed prices accelerating again. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read More Here

Ohio Dems Press Party To Invest In High Stakes Senate Seat https://digitalarizonanews.com/ohio-dems-press-party-to-invest-in-high-stakes-senate-seat/ COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Democrats across Ohio are pleading for help in the state’s Senate contest, afraid they may lose a winnable election unless national party leaders make major investments in the coming days. So far, the most powerful groups in Democratic politics have prioritized Senate pickup opportunities in North Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania over Ohio, once a perennial swing state that veered right in the Trump era. But on the eve of the 2022 midterms, some public polls suggest Ohio is as competitive as the other swing states, leaving many Democrats here wondering why their party isn’t backing Senate contender Tim Ryan more forcefully. “Ohio’s just not a priority anymore. It’s a daunting task that we have to navigate,” said state Rep. Dontavius Jarrells, a Ryan ally. “The reality is that without federal investments, he may not win.” Ryan, a 10-term congressman, said in an interview that party leaders who believe he can’t win “have no idea what’s going on out here.” “I’ve come to terms with the fact that we’re probably not going to get any help. I’m playing with the team we got on the field,” Ryan said. “I can’t think of anything more Ohio than us taking on the entire political establishment at this point.” The tension is a reflection of the difficult decisions Democratic leaders are facing about how to invest limited financial resources in the final weeks before the Nov. 8 election. With a razor-thin Senate majority, any move could carry longterm consequences. If Republicans gain even one seat, they would take control of the Senate — and with it, gain power to control judicial nominations and President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda. And if Ryan comes up short by just a few points, there will likely be an intense round of post-election questions about whether the party could have done more to win. The financial disparities in the race are stark. Republican JD Vance, a venture capitalist and author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” is the beneficiary of more than $30 million from outside Republican groups. They include organizations aligned with former President Donald Trump and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. By contrast, Ryan has benefited from less than $4 million in outside spending so far. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has built a reputation as a progressive Democrat who can still win over working class voters in places like Ohio, said the party should do more. “If we want to win in Ohio, we need to invest in Ohio,” he said. “Tim Ryan is running a great campaign because he’s showing voters that he is the candidate who’s on their side. That’s how you win elections.” David Bergstein, the spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is the official campaign arm for Senate Democrats, said the organization was “proud” to support Ryan’s campaign with a coordinated investment of roughly $1 million in television spending that allowed the campaign to take advantage of lower advertising rates for candidates. There is still a chance Democrats will find some additional money to help Ryan. The Senate Majority PAC, by far the most influential super PAC in Senate Democratic politics, is not ruling out significant Ohio investments over the election’s final days, although the group has spent little there so far compared with other key states. On Thursday, the group announced an additional $4 million investment in North Carolina television advertising, bringing its total spending in the state to $15 million and counting. “Tim Ryan is running a remarkably strong campaign that is resonating with Ohio voters of every political persuasion and putting Republicans on defense, while Vance’s weak candidacy has become a serious liability for the GOP,” said JB Poersch, Senate Majority PAC president. “We’re going to continue making strategic, effective decisions that put us in the best position possible to accomplish our mission: defending our Democratic Senate majority.” Another pro-Democrat group, the Save America Fund, has already spent $2.5 million on television ads designed to help Ryan since August. The group has been discussing more significant buys with other PACs. “We are having lots of conversations about how Tim Ryan can win this race,” said Eric Hyers, a former colleague of Ryan’s campaign manager who is running the Save America Fund. “We are all in on this.” But there are no easy options for Democratic groups deciding where to dedicate their final round of resources. Democrats are defending vulnerable incumbent senators across Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and New Hampshire. They have also been investing heavily in flipping Republican-held seats across Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Democratic officials privately note that Trump has twice won Ohio by 8 points, reflecting the Republican leanings of the state. By comparison, Trump won North Carolina by less than 1 percentage point and lost Wisconsin by just over 1 percentage point. National Democratic strategists also note that Ohio’s large working-class population has shifted sharply away from Democrats in recent years, despite Ryan’s best efforts to appeal to such voters. That sentiment has led to a sense among Democrats in Ohio that their national party is abandoning them. “There’s a lot of frustration,” said Ohio-based Democratic strategist Cliff Schefter, conceding that national Democratic leaders have a difficult job. “Tim Ryan doesn’t need a lot — just something. Do what you gotta do. Find a little bit of extra money. This race is incredibly winnable.” Some Republicans privately see Vance as an underwhelming candidate, although most expect him to win because of the state’s recent Republican shift. He has badly trailed Ryan in fundraising, typically an important gauge of a candidate’s strength. Ryan has raised more than $21.5 million on his own, compared with Vance’s $3.6 million. As the race moves into its final weeks, Vance is leaning on Trump’s continued popularity in the state to maintain momentum, particularly among undecided working-class white voters. Donald Trump Jr., one of Vance’s strongest supporters, campaigned alongside the Ohio Republican last week. But Vance’s relationship with Trump is complicated. Vance was initially a so-called “Never Trumper” before Trump won the president. The former president then botched Vance’s name at a rally during the spring primary. And at Trump’s most recent Ohio rally for Vance, the former president quipped that Vance “is kissing my a—” for political support. Ryan echoed that comment during a debate this week, calling Vance an “a— kisser.” In the interview, Ryan said he’s considering renaming his campaign bus “The A— Kicker Express.” He also made clear that while he’d welcome national Democratic dollars, he doesn’t want Biden to campaign on his behalf. “It’s nothing personal. It’s just like, I’m running in Ohio. I know Ohio. I know the message,” Ryan said. “There’s nobody that can express that better than me. And every time you bring people in, you take on their enemies, they may not say the things way you want it to be said, and we’ve run a very disciplined campaign for the last year and a half. I just want to make sure that I’m the face, I’m the voice.” Ryan added, “And I want Ohioans to know I stand on my own.” Yet many Ryan allies continue to clamor for help from the national party. Former Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper said the DSCC needs to step up and support Ryan now, who’s “fighting as effectively as anybody could” without national money. “It’s so similar to what happened in ’16, it’s kind of hard to watch,” Pepper said, referencing former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland’s loss to Republican Sen. Rob Portman in that year’s Senate race. “It’s when polls are tied, our candidate has more money and is a stronger candidate and, when Republicans throw a punch, we walk away. It’s a terrible signal to send.” In 2016, Strickland ultimately lost to Portman by 21 points. Next door in Pennsylvania, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey won by less than 2. ___ Peoples reported from New York. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More Here

US: January 6 Panel Subpoenas Trump, Shows Startling New Footage https://digitalarizonanews.com/us-january-6-panel-subpoenas-trump-shows-startling-new-footage/ The House Committee said that the Capitol riot was not an isolated incident, but a warning of the fragility of the nation’s democracy in a post-Trump era Photos: AP By AP Published: Fri 14 Oct 2022, 8:45 AM On Thursday, the House January 6 committee voted unanimously to subpoena former President Donald Trump, demanding his personal testimony as it unveiled a startling new video of close aides describing his multi-part plan to overturn his 2020 election loss, which led to his supporters’ fierce assault on the US Capitol. With alarming messages from the US Secret Service warning of violence, and a vivid new video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other congressional leaders pleading for help, the panel showed the raw desperation at the Capitol. Using language frequently seen in criminal indictments, the panel said Trump had acted in a “premeditated” way ahead of the January 6 riots, despite countless aides and officials telling him he had lost. Trump is almost certain to fight the subpoena and decline to testify. On his social media outlet, he blasted members for not asking him earlier — though he didn’t say he would have complied — and called the panel “a total bust”. “We must seek the testimony under oath of January 6′s central player,” said Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the committee’s Vice Chair, ahead of the vote. In the committee’s 10th public session — just weeks before the congressional midterm elections — the panel summed up Trump’s “staggering betrayal” of his oath of office, as Chairman Bennie Thompson put it, describing the then-president’s unprecedented attempt to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. While the effort to subpoena Trump may languish — more a nod to history than an effective summons — the committee has made clear it is considering whether to send its findings in a criminal referral to the Justice Department. In one of its most riveting exhibits, the panel showed previously-unseen footage of congressional leaders phoning for help during the assault as Trump refused to call off the mob. Pelosi can be seen on a call with the governor of neighbouring Virginia, explaining as she shelters with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and others, that the governor of Maryland had also been contacted. Later, the video shows Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP leaders, as the group asks the Defence Department for help. “They’re breaking the law in many different ways,” Pelosi says at one point. “And quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the President of the United States.” The footage also portrays Vice President Mike Pence — not Trump — stepping in to help calm the violence, telling Pelosi and the others that he had spoken with Capitol Police, as Congress planned to resume its session that night to certify Biden’s election. The video was from Pelosi’s daughter, Alexandra, a documentary filmmaker. In never-before-seen Secret Service messages, the panel produced evidence that extremist groups provided the muscle in the fight for Trump’s presidency, planning weeks before the attack to send a violent force to Washington. The Secret Service warned in an email, dated December 26, 2020, of a tip that members of the right-wing Proud Boys planned to outnumber the police in a march in Washington on January 6. “It felt like the calm before the storm,” one Secret Service agent wrote in a group chat. To describe the president’s mindset, the committee presented new and previously seen material, including interviews with Trump’s top aides and Cabinet officials — such as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Attorney General William Barr and Labour Secretary Eugene Scalia — in which some described the president acknowledging he had lost. Ex-White House official Alyssa Farah Griffin said Trump once looked up at a television and said, “Can you believe I lost to this [expletive] guy?” Cabinet members also said in interviews shown at the hearing that they believed that once-legal avenues had been exhausted, that should have been the end of Trump’s efforts to remain in power. “In my view, that was the end of the matter,” Barr said, of the December 14 vote of the Electoral College. However, this was only the beginning of Trump’s last-ditch efforts — as the president summoned the crowd to Washington on January 6. The panel showed clips of Trump at his rally near the White House that day, saying the opposite of what he had been told. He then tells supporters that he would march with them to the Capitol. That never happened. “There is no defence that Donald Trump was duped or irrational,” said Cheney. “No president can defy the rule of law and act this way in our constitutional republic, period.” Thursday’s hearing opened at a mostly-empty Capitol complex, with most lawmakers at home campaigning. Several people who were among the thousands around the Capitol on January 6 are now running for congressional office, some with Trump’s backing. Police officers who fought the mob filled the hearing room’s front row. The House panel said the insurrection at the Capitol was not an isolated incident, but a warning of the fragility of the nation’s democracy in the post-Trump era. “None of this is normal,” Cheney said. Along with interviews, the committee is drawing on a trove: 1.5 million pages of documents it received from the Secret Service, including an email from December 11, 2020 — the day the Supreme Court rejected one of the main lawsuits that Trump’s team had brought against the election results. “Just fyi. POTUS is pissed,” the Secret Service message said. White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to the then-chief of staff Mark Meadows, recalled Trump being “fired up” about the court’s ruling. Trump told Meadows “something to the effect of: ‘I don’t want people to know we lost, Mark. This is embarrassing. Figure it out,’ ” Hutchinson told the panel, in a recorded interview. ALSO READ: US Supreme Court rejects Trump’s request over seized documents Google allows Donald Trump’s Truth Social app in Play Store Trump asks US Supreme Court to intervene over seized classified records Thursday’s session served as a closing argument for the panel’s two Republican lawmakers: Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who have essentially been shunned by Trump and their party and will not be returning in the new Congress. Cheney lost her primary election, and Kinzinger decided not to run. The committee, having conducted more than 1,000 interviews and obtained countless documents, has produced a sweeping probe of Trump’s activities from his defeat in the November election to the Capitol attack. Under committee rules, the January 6 panel is to produce a report of its findings, likely in December. The committee will dissolve 30 days after publication of that report, and with the new Congress in January. At least five people died in the January 6 attack and its aftermath, including a Trump supporter shot and killed by Capitol Police. More than 850 people have been charged by the Justice Department, some receiving lengthy prison sentences for their roles. Several leaders and associates of the extremist Oath Keepers and Proud Boys have been charged with sedition. Trump faces various state and federal investigations over his actions in the election and its aftermath. Read More Here