Trump Is Furious At Ron DeSantis For Stealing His Ideas And His News Cycle From Him: Report
Trump Is Furious At Ron DeSantis For Stealing His Ideas And His News Cycle From Him: Report https://digitalarkansasnews.com/trump-is-furious-at-ron-desantis-for-stealing-his-ideas-and-his-news-cycle-from-him-report/
Rolling Stone reported Sunday that former President Donald Trump is not happy with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who some say will use his 2022 win to propel himself to the Republican nomination for president in 2024. DeSantis tried to throw himself into the same stunt that Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) was doing, shipping immigrants and refugees off to other cities around the country and politicizing it with Fox.
It put DeSantis in a difficult position, commentators said, so he went to Texas to ship their immigrants to Martha’s Vinyard instead of immigrants in Florida. One of those was a one-year-old baby. It has become the major news story for the past several days, with immigrant rights groups revealing that the migrants were lied to about where they were going and what was happening. Some were told they were being taken to Boston, others had appointments to appear in immigration courts in Seattle but were shipped to the northeast instead.
Trump is furious, not because of the stunt using human beings as political pawns, but because DeSantis has become a Fox news star, Rolling Stone reported.
“Trump has fumed over all the praise DeSantis’ action has been receiving in influential conservative circles lately,” the report said. He “has privately accused DeSantis of doing this largely to generate a 2024 polling boost for himself among GOP voters.”
Trump has been trying to use the search warrant executed at his country club in Florida to raise money for a “legal defense fund” and paint himself as a victim. He was also said to be fuming that the whole idea was his and not DeSantis’ or Abbott’s.
The move by the GOP governors has eliminated the coverage Trump is getting on conservative outlets, which dramatically cuts into his fundraising. It comes at a time that those inside Trump world say the former presient thinks he should be dominating the news. While neither Trump nor DeSantis has declared they’re running for president, Trump has indicated he’s all in. Trump’s biggest ploy to get rid of DeSantis in 2024 could be stopping him this year, but Trump has been unwilling to go that far and it may be to his own detriment as many GOP voters see DeSantis as a more intelligent version of Trump.
According to the reports about 50 Venezuelans and Columbian migrants were tricked into the Martha’s Vinyard flight. Most were fleeing socialism and communism, policies that Republicans once opposed at all costs. In the past, Republicans have been eager to accept those fleeing such leaders, but that has changed.
on Sunday, Trump announced he was returning to Florida after being away for several months.
Read the full report at Rolling Stone.
Read More Here
Ron DeSantis Racks Up Recent Fox News Mentions Way More Than Other Non-Trump Potential 2024 Rivals In GOP
Ron DeSantis Racks Up Recent Fox News Mentions, Way More Than Other Non-Trump Potential 2024 Rivals In GOP https://digitalarkansasnews.com/ron-desantis-racks-up-recent-fox-news-mentions-way-more-than-other-non-trump-potential-2024-rivals-in-gop/
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has been the focus of sharp criticism for flying two planes of Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, but it’s also brought him applause from the right and a deluge of air time on Fox News — a crucial metric as the jockeying for position in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination gets underway.
CNN’s Harry Enten broke down the numbers on CNN Newsroom Sunday, telling anchor Pamela Brown how the controversy was helping DeSantis raise his national profile.
“If there is something that Ron DeSantis knows how to do, it is to generate press,” said Enten.
And the numbers showed that the Florida governor had been successful. According to Enten, over the past six months, DeSantis was the clear leader among potential GOP presidential candidates other than former President Donald Trump in getting mentions on Fox News.
DeSantis had been mentioned 1,021 times, far ahead of former Vice President Mike Pence (585), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (442), and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley (161).
Those figures were only calculated through this past Thursday, and “this has only started,” Enten noted, so DeSantis’ numbers could continue to jump even higher.
“Ron DeSantis has managed to follow the Trump playbook,” Enten concluded. “Remember,Trump was able to generate all of that press ahead of his 2016 run, basically, was able to cannibalize all of that press. And it seems that Ron DeSantis is able to do something rather similar as we head into 2024.”
A New York Times analysis in March 2016 found that Trump had benefited from nearly $2 billion — that’s billion with a “b” — in free media by that point in the 2016 presidential race, more than doubling Hillary Clinton and far surpassing the rest of his Republican primary opponents combined. A 2018 study found that Trump’s overwhelming media presence did indeed contribute to his success by presenting “viability cues” that were “influential in setting the stage” during the primaries.
Watch the video above, via CNN.
Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com
Read More Here
Biden Says Presidential Run In 2024 Remains To Be Seen
Biden Says Presidential Run In 2024 ‘Remains To Be Seen’ https://digitalarkansasnews.com/biden-says-presidential-run-in-2024-remains-to-be-seen/
President Joe Biden told CBS’s “60 Minutes” on Sunday that a presidential run in 2023 remains to be seen.
When asked by “60 Minutes” correspondent Scott Pelley whether he was “committed to running again” or waiting for “certain conditions,” Biden said “it remains to be seen,” adding that it was “much too early” to decide.
“Look, if I were to say to you, I’m running again, all of a sudden, a whole range of things come into play that I have― requirements I have to change and move and do,” Biden told Pelley.
When Pelley asked if the requirements Biden was referring to were election laws, Biden affirmed him.
“In terms of election laws,” Biden replied. “And it’s much too early to make that kind of decision. I’m a great respecter of fate.”
“My intention, as I said to begin with, is that I would run again. But it’s just an intention,” the president continued. “But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen.”
Biden’s uncertainty about his re-election campaign is a step back from previous comments he’s made, affirming more confidently that he would be running.
Last December, when asked by ABC News’ David Muir whether he would run for re-election if former President Donald Trump ran again, Biden said he would.
“Sure, why would I not run against Donald Trump if he were the nominee? That’d increase the prospect of running,” Biden said in December 2021.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told CNN that Biden has “repeatedly said” he was running for re-election, saying: “The president has repeatedly said that he plans to run in 2024, and I’m gonna have to leave it there.”
During the “60 Minutes” segment, Biden also discussed other pertinent issues the country is facing, such as inflation, COVID-19 and the supposed end of the pandemic, and the top-secret documents that were found in Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
According to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, Biden’s approval rating improved from a low of 36% in July to 45% in September. However, Biden still struggles to win a majority of approval from the public, with 53% of U.S. adults disapproving of him, according to the same poll.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
Related…
Biden Approval Rises Sharply Ahead Of Midterms: AP-NORC Poll
Why Biden Finally Spoke Up About The Buses Of Asylum Seekers
Why The Inflation Reduction Act Boosted Democrats While The Infrastructure Law Failed
Read More Here
Q&A: House District 64 Candidate David Lansford https://digitalarkansasnews.com/qa-house-district-64-candidate-david-lansford/
House District 64 candidate David Lansford (Courtesy David Lansford)
NAME: David Lansford
POLITICAL PARTY: Independent (DTS)
OCCUPATION: Pharmacist
CITY OF RESIDENCE: Clovis
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE: Mayor of Clovis for 20 years and member and chairman of numerous boards and commissions over three decades of public service.
EDUCATION: B.S. pharmacy 1982 SWOSU
CAMPAIGN WEBSITE: davidlansford.com
1. New Mexico is highly reliant on the oil and natural gas industries to generate revenue to fund state programs, as evidenced by recent oil boom and bust cycles. What steps should the Legislature take to diversify the state’s economy and revenue base?
Support the creation, viability and sustainability of small business.
2. During the last regular legislative session, there was an unsuccessful push to make it easier to keep certain defendants behind bars until trial. Should New Mexico law be changed to make it easier to hold individuals charged with violent offenses such as murder and first-degree child abuse behind bars until trial?
Sign up for our free Journal Election Guide newsletter
Yes.
3. What steps should the Legislature take to address crime and public safety as New Mexico faces one of the highest violent crime rates in the nation?
Teach the consequences of criminal behavior as part of the public education curriculum. Get back to the benefits of a speedy trial. Crimes against children should be punished more severely. More accountability for prosecutors.
4. Given the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, do you support or oppose codifying abortion protections in state law? And do you support or oppose enacting any restrictions on abortion in New Mexico?
Oppose. Support.
5. New Mexico has already implemented several gun control laws in recent years. Would you support or oppose legislation that banned or restricted the sale of AR-15-style semi-automatic weapons, such as raising the age limit for purchasing such weapons? And what about legislation making it a crime to fail to safely secure firearms around children?
Oppose. Support.
6. The state agency tasked with keeping New Mexico children safe has faced recent scrutiny over transparency issues and its handling of high-profile child abuse cases. What changes would you support to improve the operations of the Children, Youth and Families Department?
Uncertain.
7. What changes, if any, should New Mexico make to its gross receipts tax code?
A greater percentage of the gross receipts tax revenue should be allocated to local jurisdictions
8. New Mexico is currently the only state that does not pay its legislators a salary, though lawmakers do get per diem payments and can qualify for a legislative pension. Do you support or oppose a salaried Legislature and, if so, how much should lawmakers be paid?
Uncertain, needs thorough evaluation.
9. What more, if anything, should the Legislature do to address a court ruling that found New Mexico is failing to provide a sufficient education to all students, especially Native Americans and those who don’t speak English as a first language?
As a first step, legislation and state policy should encourage strong family support for public education by focusing on teaching and learning the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic with an emphasis on early childhood and elementary programs.
10. In recent years, New Mexico has steadily increased spending on early childhood programs, such as home visiting, prekindergarten and child care assistance, and created a new early childhood trust fund. Do you support or oppose the proposed constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would withdraw more money from the state’s permanent school fund to increase funding for early childhood services and K-12 education?
Possibly.
11. In order to address climate change and air quality issues, do you support or oppose legislation limiting greenhouse gas emissions and requiring the state achieve net-zero emissions by 2050?
Oppose.
12. Do you believe changes should be made to the emergency powers held by a governor during a pandemic or other time of crisis. If so, do you believe such powers should be expanded or reduced and in what specific ways?
I only support emergency powers that do not violate any elements of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
13. Would you support a merit-based evaluation system to determine how the state spends its capital outlay funding?
Uncertain.
14. Do you believe former President Donald Trump’s claim that he was the legitimate winner of the 2020 presidential election? (Yes or No answer only, please)
No response provided.
15. What changes, if any, would you support to New Mexico’s election laws?
Require voter ID and paper ballots. Disallow drop boxes and unsolicited ballots being mailed to residents.
Personal background
1. Have you or your business, if you are a business owner, ever been the subject of any state or federal tax liens?
No.
2. Have you ever been involved in a personal or business bankruptcy proceeding?
No.
3. Have you ever been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of drunken driving, any misdemeanor or any felony in New Mexico or any other state? If so, explain.
No.
Home » 2022 election » Q&A: House District 64 candidate David Lansford
Read More Here
Biden Says U.S. Forces Would Defend Taiwan In The Event Of A Chinese Invasion
Biden Says U.S. Forces Would Defend Taiwan In The Event Of A Chinese Invasion https://digitalarkansasnews.com/biden-says-u-s-forces-would-defend-taiwan-in-the-event-of-a-chinese-invasion/
US President Joe Biden accompanied by the First Lady Jill Biden arrive at Buckingham Palace in London, Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. Markus Schreiber/Pool via REUTERS
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
WASHINGTON, Sept 18 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said U.S forces would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, his most explicit statement so far on the issue, something sure to anger Beijing.
Asked in a CBS 60 Minutes interview broadcast on Sunday whether U.S. forces would defend the self-ruled island claimed by China, he replied: “Yes, if in fact, there was an unprecedented attack.”
Asked to clarify if he meant that unlike in Ukraine, U.S. forces – American men and women – would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, Biden replied: “Yes.”
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
The interview was just the latest time that Biden has appeared to go beyond long-standing stated U.S. policy on Taiwan, but his statement was clearer than previous ones about committing U.S. troops to the defend the island.
The United States has long stuck to a policy of “strategic ambiguity” and not making clear whether it would respond militarily to an attack on Taiwan.
Asked to comment, a White House spokesperson said U.S. policy towards Taiwan had not changed.
“The President has said this before, including in Tokyo earlier this year. He also made clear then that our Taiwan policy hasn’t changed. That remains true,” the spokesperson said.
The CBS interview with Biden was conducted last week. The president is in Britain for Queen Elizabeth’s funeral on Monday.
In May, Biden was asked if he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan and replied: “Yes … That’s the commitment we made.”
In the 60 Minutes interview, Biden reiterated the United States did not support Taiwanese independence and remained committed to a “One-China” policy in which Washington officially recognizes Beijing not Taipei.
Biden’s remarks are sure to enrage Beijing, which was greatly angered by a visit to Taiwan by U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi in August.
That visit promoted China to conducted its largest-ever military exercises around Taiwan and China has protested moves by U.S. lawmakers to advanced legislation that would enhance U.S. military support for Taiwan. read more
Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to bring democratically-governed Taiwan under Beijing’s control and has not ruled out the use of force.
There was no immediate response to a request for comment from China’s embassy in Washington.
In a phone call with Biden in July, Xi warned against playing with fire over Taiwan, saying “those who play with fire will perish by it.” read more
Asked last October if the United States would come to the defense of Taiwan, which the United States is required by law to provide with the means to defend itself, Biden said: “Yes, we have a commitment to do that.”
At that time, a White House spokesperson said Biden was not announcing any change in U.S. policy and some experts referred to the comment as a “gaffe”. read more
Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said if Biden made such pledges he needed to ensure he could back them up.
“If President Biden plans to defend Taiwan, then he should make sure the U.S. military has the capability to do so,” she said. “Rhetorical support that isn’t backed up by real capabilities is unlikely to strengthen deterrence.”
Biden’s Asia policy czar, Kurt Campbell, has in the past rejected any move to “strategic clarity” over Taiwan, saying there were “significant downsides” to such an approach.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Costas Pitas, Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Gerry Doyle and Lincoln Feast.
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Read More Here
'Republican Jesus' Video Goes Viral Mocking Trump Conservatives
'Republican Jesus' Video Goes Viral Mocking Trump, Conservatives https://digitalarkansasnews.com/republican-jesus-video-goes-viral-mocking-trump-conservatives/
A satirical video from ‘Republican Jesus’ in which a man mocks radical conservative ideals has resurfaced and gone viral online.
The video titled ‘GOP Jesus’ has gained seven million views over the weekend and sees comedy group Friend Dog Studios mimic the wild beliefs of right-wing Americans, particularly those of Donald Trump‘s.
The sketch depicts a Jesus-like character and sayings and morals had he been a Republican or, more notably, a MAGA supporter.
Actor Ben Auxier plays the Republican Jesus character and is seen at the beginning of the video carrying a young girl as he is watched on by his followers.
The man looks at the child and then says to the group of people: “I say unto you whoever welcomes one of these little ones in my name might be letting in a murderer or a drug. Let’s get her to a detention centre.”
Wild.
In another scene, the fake Jesus recites a verse from the Bible: “I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink.”
Only to follow it up with a sarcastic remark: “And behold, now I’m all lazy and entitled. You shouldn’t have done that.”
The video then seemingly takes aim at the soulless politicians who use their position for their own personal gain.
He asks: “What does a man profited if he gained the whole world, but lose his soul?”
Before answering: “A lot. He has profited a lot. One soul for the whole world, that is an amazing deal.”
The three-minute video was produced back in 2018 and made fun of then-President Donald Trump and his supporters and their wildly radical beliefs.
The video resurfaced in the wake of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Texas Governor Greg Abbott sending dozens of migrants to Democratic-led states and cities.
They say they are making a point against the Biden administration and the mishandling of the border and illegal immigration.
A bus of migrants was actually sent to Vice President Kamala Harris’ house at the Naval Observatory in Washington D.C.
They say they are reminding the Biden Administration ‘to do its job & secure the border’.
The treatment of the migrants certainly mirrors that of GOP Jesus and the child in the first scene of the video.
Read More Here
Joe Biden Says He Told King Charles That Queen Elizabeth Would Be With Him Every Step Of The Way
Joe Biden Says He Told King Charles That Queen Elizabeth Would “Be With Him Every Step Of The Way” https://digitalarkansasnews.com/joe-biden-says-he-told-king-charles-that-queen-elizabeth-would-be-with-him-every-step-of-the-way/
Joe Biden offered his personal recollections of Queen Elizabeth as “decent, honorable and all about service,” while he said that he consoled King Charles by telling him that “she’s going to be with him every step of the way — every minute, every moment.”
Biden gave remarks after signing the official condolence book at Lancaster House in London, one of a series of appearances he made with First Lady Jill Biden in advance of the funeral for the Queen on Monday.
“We’ve had an opportunity to meet with an awful lot of consequential people, but I can say that the ones who stand out in your mind are those whose relationship and interaction with you are consistent with their reputation,” Biden said. “When the Queen had us to the castle for tea and, we were joking, crumpets, she kept offering me more; I kept eating everything she put in front of me, but she was the same in person … as her image: decent, honorable, and all about service.”
A reporter asked Biden why he thought that the Queen reminded him of his mother.
“Just because of the way she touched when she leaned over,” Biden said. “She had that look like, ‘Are you okay? Anything I can do for you? What do you need?’ And then also, ‘Make sure you do what you’re supposed to do.’”
Biden added, “What she gave is a sense of, maybe above all, the notion of service. We all owe something. There’s something within our capacity to do that can make things, not just the world better, but your neighborhood better, your household better, your workplace better.”
“That’s what she communicated to me, anyway, and it was an honor to meet her.”
The Bidens earlier visited Westminster Hall to pay their respects to the Queen, and later attended a reception at Buckingham Palace.
Read More Here
Bears Upset-Bid Falls Short In Arkansas https://digitalarkansasnews.com/bears-upset-bid-falls-short-in-arkansas/
by: Dan Lindblad
Posted: Sep 18, 2022 / 07:53 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 18, 2022 / 07:53 PM CDT
FAYETTEVILLE, Ar. — For three quarters at Razorback Stadium it was the FCS squad that was the better team on the field.
Missouri State scored the games first 17 points, but Arkansas scored the games final 21 points.
That has many in maroon still thinking what if.
About 12 minutes from the biggest win in school history, and one of the biggest in college football history, but Arkansas pulled away with a 38-27 win on Saturday night in Fayetteville.
“Play all four quarters,” Missouri State wide receiver Ty Scott said. “We played three. I’ll be honest with you that fourth quarter wasn’t us. I know it wasn’t us. Now we have to take it out on someone else next week.”
In the beginning it was all going the way of the underdog.
Arkansas punted or turned it over on the first four drives while Missouri State scored on three straight drives after two early punts.
“They came in and played the best that they could possibly do,” Bears head coach Bobby Petrino said. “Put it all out there on the field. We are going to talk about the ability to look in the mirror and like what we saw and how our effort was as we looked in the mirror. I think they all can do that and be proud of how hard they played and competed.”
In the fourth Arkansas scored three touchdowns through a total of 11 plays.
Despite the great showing and the three hours last night that the country was talking Missouri State.
“We closed all the doubters’ mouths,” Scott said. “It gave our team a spark that we can play with anybody, any college. Regardless, FBS or FCS, like I said it’s 11 on 11 and I think my guys did enough to show the world that we can play with anybody.”
The players could only talk the final 15 minutes.
Arkansas remained the number 10 ranked team in the country in this week’s AP poll.
Again, the Hogs flipping the script late, outgaining the bears 152-42 in the fourth quarter.
After the narrow win, Hogs head coach Sam Pittman saying afterward he was outcoached, but he’s thankful to still be undefeated.
“We are so fortunate to win,” Pittman said. “Games like this, if you aren’t playing well or the other team is playing well, whatever the situation is. You are just trying to fight and claw to come out with a win. There were several different times in the game we felt like we weren’t going to.”
Both teams will play another ranked team next week.
Arkansas will travel to AT&T Stadium to play Texas A&M. Missouri State will welcome in South Dakota State, who could be the number one team in the FCS ranks when they are released.
Ozarks High School Sports
Read More Here
Jim Cramer: My Biggest Worry With The Fed And Why It Has Us In A Holding Pattern
Jim Cramer: My Biggest Worry With The Fed And Why It Has Us In A Holding Pattern https://digitalarkansasnews.com/jim-cramer-my-biggest-worry-with-the-fed-and-why-it-has-us-in-a-holding-pattern/
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference after a Federal Open Market Committee meeting on January 29, 2020 in Washington, DC.
Samuel Corum | Getty
There’s a broad perception that Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell does not care one whit about corporate news. He’s strictly a creature of broad government economic reports — the consumer price index, the producer price index, industrial production, retail sales and, of course, the nonfarm employment numbers. He also cares about what his fellow Fed people say. But for the most part, an earnings blowup is a tree falling in the woods: He’s not around to hear it make a sound.
Read More Here
DeSantis Gets Standing Ovation From GOP Voters After Flying Migrants To Martha's Vineyard
DeSantis Gets Standing Ovation From GOP Voters After Flying Migrants To Martha's Vineyard https://digitalarkansasnews.com/desantis-gets-standing-ovation-from-gop-voters-after-flying-migrants-to-marthas-vineyard/
“This is a crisis. It’s now getting a little bit more attention,” DeSantis said, earning a standing ovation as he talked about the southern border and nodding to the headlines he instigated when he flew 50 migrants from the border to Martha’s Vineyard.
The reception DeSantis received in Kansas enforced the perception that last week’s ploy accomplished more than raising awareness for the border crisis or diverting migrants who may have eventually ended up in Florida (though none said that was their destination). It also expeditiously thrust the Republican leader, who’s running for reelection this fall, into the national spotlight as he weighs whether to run for president in 2024.
At an event just hours later in Wisconsin, DeSantis declared that the country’s immigration system is “on the ballot” this November.
“This border is now an issue in these elections,” DeSantis said. “And I think it’s something that our candidates need to take.”
The rallies in Kansas and Wisconsin marked the fifth and sixth stops in a national blitz by DeSantis to boost a new generation of conservative candidates and test his political brand in a tour coordinated by the conservative group Turning Point Action.
DeSantis’ road trip mirrors the state-by-state rallies that former President Donald Trump is holding in battlegrounds ahead of the midterms and his expected foray into another bid for the White House, and it has served as a prelude to a hypothetical primary battle between the GOP’s two biggest names. On Saturday, Trump held a rally for Republican Senate nominee J.D. Vance in Youngstown, Ohio, where DeSantis dazzled a large crowd last month. From Olathe, Kansas, DeSantis traveled to Green Bay to stump for Wisconsin GOP gubernatorial nominee Tim Michels, about 90 minutes north of where Trump did the same in August.
DeSantis’ action on migrants has galvanized the GOP base and won praise from fellow Republicans, some of whom have predicted it will pay off for DeSantis politically.
Conservative radio host Pete Mundo, speaking earlier in the program, called the flights arranged by the Florida governor as “one of the most savvy political moves I’ve ever seen in my lifetime” and suggested sending protesters outside the event to Martha’s Vineyard. Kansas GOP Sen. Roger Marshall said in his remarks that he asked DeSantis backstage, “How I could get a ticket to drive one of those buses from the border to the Delaware beach?”
The actions by DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who sent migrants to Washington, DC, were widely criticized by local officials in the cities where the migrants arrived unannounced, as well as by Democrats and the White House. President Joe Biden accused the Republican governors of “playing politics with human beings.”
But in the days after migrants arrived in Martha’s Vineyard, turning the wealthy vacation destination into a waypoint for asylum seekers overnight, DeSantis has doubled down on his decision to get Florida involved. He vowed to use “every penny” of the $12 million the Legislature budgeted to transport more migrants from the border, even though the state law says the money is intended to move people from inside his state.
DeSantis told the Kansas crowd that his move laid bare the hollowness of sanctuary cities that advertise as welcoming to outsiders. The 50 migrants were “given basically a lottery ticket to get to the wealthiest sanctuary jurisdiction in the country,” DeSantis said, adding that there were “job listings” on the island and hotels where migrants could stay.
“You’re talking about 50 people. Did they get them employed? Did they get them set up? No,” DeSantis said of the residents of Martha’s Vineyard. “They called out the National Guard and they deported those people off the island the very next day.”
The migrants were moved by boat to Cape Cod 48 hours after arriving in Massachusetts to receive additional services. Despite no warning of the migrants’ arrival, the citizens there quickly mobilized food and shelter.
“Now we see that’s just self-congratulatory virtue signaling,” DeSantis said.
DeSantis’ recent actions — and many others — received a positive response from GOP candidates in deep-red Kansas.
“I’m all for it,” said Derek Schmidt, the Republican state attorney general running for governor whom DeSantis was campaigning for in Olathe.
Schmidt is challenging incumbent Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, a political outlier who is hoping to once again win in a state where Trump carried all but a handful of counties just two years ago. Schmidt’s odds are complicated by state Sen. Dennis Pyle, a former Republican running for governor as a conservative Independent.
Despite the toss-up nature of the race, it has largely flown under the national radar compared to other closely watched contests for governor and US Senate. Kansas made headlines last month when voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed lawmakers to ban abortion in the state, which has contributed to Democratic enthusiasm across the country about running on the issue in November.
DeSantis’ visit to Kansas was illustrative of his growing influence in all corners of the Republican Party. Not only did he draw a sizable crowd, but Schmidt made clear that if elected he would model his governorship after DeSantis.
“I want a future for our great state of Kansas that looks a whole lot more like Ron DeSantis has in Florida than like where Joe Biden and Laura Kelly want to take this country,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt highlighted DeSantis policies he would adopt, many modeled off the divisive social battles that Floridians have experienced in the past two years. He promised Kansas would have a parents bill of rights, that he would ban sexual orientation and gender identity instruction in the classroom and would prohibit transgender women and girls from participating in scholastic female athletics — all actions DeSantis has already taken.
“You have a legislature here that will produce a lot of good legislation,” DeSantis said. “You just need a governor that will sign the legislation. And you guys can make that happen.”
During the rally in Green Bay, Michels called DeSantis “a man who was willing to step up and make the hard decisions.”
GOP Sen. Ron Johnson, who faces a difficult reelection against Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, also spoke at the event and didn’t mention DeSantis. After President Joe Biden narrowly won Wisconsin in 2020, and with two marquee races on the ballot this year, the state is one of the most closely watched of 2022.
Ahead of the rally in Wisconsin, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers panned Michels and DeSantis for holding a rally a couple miles from Lambeau Field just before the Green Bay Packers kicked off their home opener against the Chicago Bears.
“Wisconsinites don’t want an out of touch, out of state radical ruining their Sunday — and they don’t want Ron DeSantis here either. Tim Michels continues to show Wisconsin voters that he’s wrong for our state, and holding an event just before a Packers game with one of the most divisive politicians in the country is another red flag,” Evers said in a statement.
DeSantis told the crowd in Wisconsin he was headed to his first Packers game after his speech.
Meanwhile, in Kansas, Republicans assured the audience that they made sure the event wouldn’t conflict with a Kansas City Chiefs game. The city’s much-loved professional football team played on Thursday night.
DeSantis joked, “(Organizers) said they wanted to do it on a Sunday afternoon and I said, ‘the Kansas City Chiefs better not be playing.'”
This story has been updated with additional developments.
Read More Here
Report: Some Census Takers Who Fudged Data Didn https://digitalarkansasnews.com/report-some-census-takers-who-fudged-data-didn/
Some census takers who falsified information during the 2020 count didn’t have their work redone fully, weren’t fired in a timely manner and in some cases even received bonuses, according to the U.S. Commerce Department’s watchdog group.
The findings released Friday by the Office of Inspector General raise concerns about possible damage to the quality of the once-a-decade head count that determines political power and federal funding,
Off-campus students at colleges and universities were likely undercounted since the census started around the same time students were sent home to stop the spread of COVID-19 in March 2020, the review found.
During the 2020 census, The Associated Press documented cases of census takers who were pressured by their supervisors to enter false information into a computer system about homes they had not visited so they could close cases during the waning days of the census.
Supervisors were able to track their census takers’ work in real time through mobile devices that the census takers used to record information about households’ numbers, demographic characteristics and members’ relationships to one another. As a result, supervisors would get alerts when actions raised red flags about accuracy, such as a census taker recording data on a home while far away from the address or a census taker conducting an interview in just a few minutes. As a quality control check, others census takers were sent back to homes to re-interview residents.
The Inspector General’s probe concluded that some alerts weren’t being properly resolved, some re-interviews weren’t properly conducted and that the work of some census takers whose work had been flagged for falsifying data had not been reworked to fix its accuracy. In fact, some census takers whose work was flagged for falsifications were given more cases, weren’t fired and were reassigned to other operations, the report said.
Of the 1,400 census takers who were designated “hard fails” because questions about the accuracy of their work, only 300 were fired for misconduct or unsatisfactory performance. Of the 1,400 “hard fail” census takers, 1,300 of them received bonuses ranging from $50 to $1,600 each, the report said.
The census is the largest nonmilitary mobilization in the U.S. Data gathered during the census determines how many congressional seats each state gets. The numbers also are used for redrawing political districts and distributing $1.5 trillion in federal spending each year. Because of that, undercounts can cost communities funding.
The 2020 census faced unprecedented challenges including the pandemic, natural disasters and political interference from the Trump administration.
In response to the Inspector General’s report, the Census Bureau said it appreciated the concerns that were raised but disagreed with the conclusions that data quality may have been damaged since the report cited only a small number of cases out of the overall workload.
“As a result, we asserted that the findings could not and should not be presented as a conclusive assessment of overall census quality,” Census Bureau Director Robert Santos said in the written response.
Under Census Bureau rules, college and university students should have been counted where they spent the most time, either at on-campus housing or off-campus apartments, even if they were sent home because of the pandemic. Most schools didn’t provide the Census Bureau with off-campus student data, and the bureau had to use a last-resort, less-accurate statistical tool to fill in the information gaps on more than 10% of the off-campus student population when they were given the information, the Inspector General’s report said.
Schools often didn’t provide the data because they didn’t information on off-campus students or because of privacy concerns. The Inspector General recommends passage of legislation that would require schools to provide needed information in future head counts.
“Although difficult to quantify, the fiscal implication of specifically undercounting off-campus students at the correct location for states and localities is potentially far-reaching,” the report said.
The city of Boston, which is home to Northeastern University, Boston University and several other schools, said in a challenge to its census figures that the count missed 6,000 students.
Read More Here
Joe Kent Seeks Election On America First Agenda Thats What I Stand For
Joe Kent Seeks Election On ‘America First Agenda, That’s What I Stand For’ https://digitalarkansasnews.com/joe-kent-seeks-election-on-america-first-agenda-thats-what-i-stand-for/
By Isabel Vander Stoep / isabel@chronline.com
Editor’s Note: A profile on Democratic congressional candidate Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal, can be found here.
Working for the CIA, former Green Beret Joe Kent lived about as covert a life as one can. Now, by the endorsement of former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate from Yacolt has been thrust into the public eye.
Well over a year ago now, Kent was roused to candidacy by Republican incumbent Jaime Herrera Beutler’s vote to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Long before the filing deadline last May, he and candidates Heidi St. John and Wadi Yakhour held a pact that the former president’s endorsement of one would spur the other two to drop out of the race.
While the promise was not kept by St. John, Kent secured the endorsement and later punched his ticket to the Nov. 8 general election when he came up over Herrera Buetler, ending her service after six terms representing Washington’s 3rd Congressional District. His opponent is Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Washougal.
After holding phone town halls with the former president and making multiple appearances on Fox News with Tucker Carlson, Kent is coming to grips with massive changes to his life in rural Clark County, where he lives with his two sons, 7-year-old Colt and 5-year-old Josh.
“Initially it was hard. But I mean, we’re in very odd times right now, very, I think, desperate times. I was able to kind of put that aside. And I feel passionately about what I’m doing and the issues that I stand for and the movement I’m a part of,” he said, later describing that movement as an “‘America First’ agenda, that’s what I stand for.”
‘Galvanized’
Asking Kent, 43, a Gold Star husband who’s traveled the world, to summarize his life story is asking for a Washington November without rain.
He grew up in Portland as a Boy Scout who loved visiting Mount St. Helens. His grandparents fought in World War II, giving him interest in war history from childhood.
In 1993, “savage combat” of the Black Hawk Down incident shocked and inspired him, he said.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1998 and was stationed at Fort Lewis. During the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, he was in training for the Special Forces.
“The mentality coming from the ‘80s and ‘90s, a lot of us thought, ‘Oh man, the guys that got to go spend that early phase in Afghanistan, that’s going to be it. That’s going to be our Panama, Grenada or Mogadishu and we’re not going to go to war for another 10, 15 years.’ So, I was definitely galvanized (by 9/11). There’s some real threats out there. I wanted our country to take them seriously,” he said.
His service as a Green Beret often meant spending half his year deployed and the other half in training, he said, until 2018.
“Then, retired on a Friday and swore in with the CIA on Monday as a CIA paramilitary operations officer,” he said, calling that wing of the agency the “pointy edge of covert operations.”
He primarily worked out of the Middle East, speaking Arabic and training partner forces to take out terrorists.
In Baghdad in 2007, he briefly met Shannon Smith, who was serving on an intelligence team of Navy SEALs. The next time they met in 2013, the two served in a small unit together and bonded quickly, Kent recalled.
He was 33 when they met the second time. In the following two years, they were married and had their first child.
While he always thought of the Pacific Northwest as home, the duo intended on raising their children overseas, going from embassy to embassy and combining family life with service to their country, Kent said.
As Trump was making his rise toward the presidency in 2015-16, Kent said he was one of the few to take him seriously early on. When Trump talked foreign policy and immigration on the debate stage, Kent said, “he went for the throat of the Bush foreign policy.”
But Kent’s desire to be involved in policymaking didn’t come until 2019, when his wife was killed by a bombing in Syria.
Resolved to stop being “shot at for a living” and after meeting Trump during a tribute to Shannon and others who were killed, Kent had a lot to say.
“And whoever will listen to me, I’ll do my best to contribute to the conversation,” he said.
Joe Kent’s Style
In his “old life,” as he referred to it, Kent’s neighbors never knew where he was. Now, he spends his time talking to everyone, be it on podcasts, TV or during in-person town halls. He’s also engaged to be married.
He recognized Trump is the guy with the mean tweets, “for lack of a better term,” and no doubt a polarizing figure.
“My style is not that at all. If they come to my town halls, and I think if they get to know me, you’ll see that difference,” Kent said, adding later that because of his military background, he could see how people might mistake him as stoic. “But I try and do enough unscripted media where people can actually see me.”
When the Clark County candidate thinks of the “America First” agenda, he imagines energy independence, strict immigration policy and spending federal dollars on law enforcement in the 3rd district with the goal of knocking out crime. He has previously proposed ending all legal and illegal immigration besides immigration through marriage and ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
He is anti-abortion, calling abortion a “sacrament of the Democrat religion right now,” in his interview with The Chronicle.
And, maybe more than anything, he’s against what he calls “establishment” Republicans, consistently joining those lambasting Herrera Beutler as a “RINO,” Republican in Name-Only, for her impeachment vote.
He said he doesn’t mind when people call him far-right, “because that typically means you’re not an establishment Republican. I personally don’t think I’m extreme.”
He’s taken a firm stance on the 2020 presidential election, saying it was stolen from Trump, and even speaking at a rally in Washington, D.C. in support of those accused of storming the Capitol, calling them “political prisoners,” as reported by The New York Times.
Asked what he would say to those who agree with his platform up until his claims of widespread election fraud, Kent said in the 3rd district he doesn’t believe it’s actually a hot-button issue “in the way the media thinks.”
Pointing to the cumulative 41.99% of the vote split between him, St. John and candidate Vicki Kraft in the primary, he said, “Vicki and I both would say it’s rigged and stolen. Heidi said there’s major problems with the election. With our base right now, there’s a lot of people that have major issues with election integrity.”
The question of how Kent will bridge the gap and earn the votes from supporters of Herrera Beutler remains. He previously told The Chronicle he thinks voting for Herrera Beutler is no different from voting for a Democratic candidate, and further, that the Democratic Party simply does not have moderate candidates anymore.
“I think folks just have to recognize what the stakes are. And unfortunately, I hate to say it this way, but they have to decide which side they’re going to be on. Because there’s no middle. You can’t be a wishy-washy person now as you’re either with what’s going on with the current administration or you’re going to fight it. And that’s it,” Kent said.
A Big District, A Young Man’s Game
In his office in Vancouver, Kent’s campaign manager, Ozzie Gonzalez mans the door. Energetic and intense, the 22-year-old graduated from Camas High School a few years ago and began working for the campaign after Kent filed for office.
Gonzalez says the campaign hired 12 staffers over the summer and half returned to college in the fall.
Kent said it was an honor to have young folks on his team. He felt with COVID-19, Gen-Z has been forced to grow up fast, relating that to his young adulthood around the time of Sept. 11.
“(Campaigning) is definitely a young man’s game,” Kent said. “Being able to run around the district a whole bunch and still have the energy to keep up with everything.”
In a district spanning parts of Thurston County and encompassing Clark, Lewis, Cowlitz, Pacific, Wahkiakum and Skamania counties, the landscape and its people are diverse. The Chehalis, Columbia and Willapa River Basins are all firmly within its political lines, as are the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and Mount St. Helens.
A long list of environmental issues face the district.
Kent and Gluesenkamp Perez alike want their potential stints in Congress to be defined by championing problems for rural Washingtonians, and both have a focus on increasing family wage jobs, reducing crime and supporting commercial fishermen, loggers and recreators.
Ultimately, Kent believes it’s these issues and relationships that earned him a shot at the general.
“I think we won the election because we knocked on doors, went out and talked to people, and then town halls. If people come and experience that, they’re going to see who I am,” he said.
The top vote-getter this November will serve a two-year term and will make a $174,000 yearly salary.
For more on the candidates, visit the online voters’ guide at https://elections.lewiscountywa.gov/current-election/. To register to vote, head to https://elections.lewiscountywa.gov/voter-registration/ or call 360-740-1164 to find registration nearest you. The general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 8.
The League of Women Voters of Clark County will hold a debate between the two 3rd Congressional District candidates at 2 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 15, at the downtown Vancouver public library at 901 C St., Vancouver.
Read More Here
POLL: Arkansas GOP Candidates Sanders Boozman Griffin Hold Double-Digit Leads In Statewide Races
POLL: Arkansas GOP Candidates Sanders, Boozman, Griffin Hold Double-Digit Leads In Statewide Races https://digitalarkansasnews.com/poll-arkansas-gop-candidates-sanders-boozman-griffin-hold-double-digit-leads-in-statewide-races/
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – New polling from Talk Business & Politics and Hendrix College shows the Republican candidates in three major Arkansas statewide races hold commanding leads with just over 50 days until Election Day.
The poll numbers released Sunday show that with Sen. John Boozman holds a 13-point lead over his closest opponent, Democrat Natalie James.
Boozman’s 43.5% and James’ 30.5% both far outpace the Libertarian, Kenneth Cates, who only picked up support in 5% of respondents. Another 21% of those polled were undecided.
The race for governor was a bit tighter, with an 11-point difference between Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders at 51% and Democrat Chris Jones at 40%.
Ricky Dale Harington Jr. is struggling in the poll, only picking up 2% of the respondents. There were only 7% of those surveyed who said they were still undecided.
It should be noted that the poll was taken early in the week and ahead of the announcement by Sanders Friday that she had undergone successful thyroid cancer surgery. She was released from the hospital Saturday.
In the run to be the state’s next Attorney General, current Lt. Gov. Tim Griffin at 49% holds a 17=point lead over Democrat Jesse Gibson, who saw support from 32% of those polled. Another 19% said they were undecided.
Roby Brock, host of Capitol View on KARK 4 News and editor-in-chief of Talk Business & Politics, noted that even though it is less than eight weeks until the end of the election, there is still time for changes in these numbers.
“By no means do I expect these races to finish at the numbers this baseline poll shows,” Brock said. “As political spending kicks in a higher gear and undecideds make their choices, I expect to see every candidate’s numbers rise. For well-funded candidates, I expect a dramatic rise.”
The results in the poll on these Arkansas races show a possible shift in some independent voters, though Brock said it may take more than one year to see if this is a one-time change or something more long-term.
“The trend lines in this poll do suggest that Independents are not leaning as Republican as they have in the past, but I’d have to see this phenomenon happen over more than one election cycle to call it a pendulum swing,” he explained.
For more analysis on these polls, head to TalkBusiness.net.
Read More…
Hurricane Fiona Makes Landfall On Puerto Rico Knocking Out Power To Island
Hurricane Fiona Makes Landfall On Puerto Rico, Knocking Out Power To Island https://digitalarkansasnews.com/hurricane-fiona-makes-landfall-on-puerto-rico-knocking-out-power-to-island/
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, Sept 18 (Reuters) – Most of the island of Puerto Rico was without power on Sunday as Hurricane Fiona made landfall, causing severe flooding and landslides before barreling toward the Dominican Republic, a government agency said.
The center of the storm made landfall on the southwestern coast of Puerto Rico near Punta Tocon at 3:20 p.m. ET (1920 GMT) with maximum sustained winds of about 85 miles (140 kilometers) per hour, clearing the threshold for a Category 1 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said.
The NHC said the storm was causing “catastrophic flooding” by early Sunday evening.
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Electricity was initially completely out across the island of 3.3 million people, said LUMA Energy, operator of the island’s grid, and the Puerto Rico power authority, on Sunday afternoon. That night officials said some power had begun to be restored, but reconnecting the whole island would take several days.
At a press conference in the capital San Juan on Sunday night, LUMA spokesman Abner Gomez said the entire electrical system had first been shut down to protect its infrastructure. Some power was being restored with priority being given to hospitals and other critical community services, he said.
“This has been catastrophic,” Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi said at the news conference. “We are responding to the emergency as weather conditions permit.”
Several landslides had been reported, officials said. Roads were closed and a highway bridge in Utuado, a town in the center of the island, had been washed away by a flooding river.
Puerto Rico’s ports have been closed and flights out of the main airport canceled. Torrential rains and mudslides were also forecast for the Dominican Republic as the storm progresses northwestward, with the Turks and Caicos Islands likely facing tropical storm conditions on Tuesday, the NHC said.
“These rains will produce life-threatening and catastrophic flash flooding and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and the eastern Dominican Republic,” the agency said.
A man stands in the strong winds of Hurricane Fiona in Ponce, Puerto Rico September 18, 2022. REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo
U.S. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico on Sunday, a move that authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief and provide emergency protective measures. read more
U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said agency officials deployed to Puerto Rico will assist with restoration efforts “as it becomes safe to do so.”
The rains have increased in intensity since Sunday morning, along with strong wind gusts, residents said.
Denise Rios, who lives in the southwestern town of Hormigueros, said she was left without power following a strong gust of wind and rain that began around noon.
“Since then it hasn’t stopped,” she said. “It is raining heavily and the wind is blowing hard. I’m calm, but alert.”
A wide swathe of Puerto Rico was forecast to get 12 to 16 inches (30 to 40 cm) of rain while parts could be hit by up to 25 inches (63.5 cm), according to the NHC.
Puerto Rico’s grid remains fragile after Hurricane Maria in September 2017 caused the largest blackout in U.S. history. In that Category 5 storm, 1.5 million customers lost electricity with 80% of power lines knocked out.
Authorities have opened more than 100 shelters and closed beaches and casinos, and residents were urged to seek shelter.
One death tied to Fiona has been reported so far, in the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe. Authorities said one man was found dead on Saturday after his house was swept away by floods. France will recognize a state of natural disaster for Guadeloupe, President Emmanuel Macron said on Twitter on Sunday. read more
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
Reporting by Ivelisse Rivera in San Juan; Additional reporting by Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, and Tim Reid in Los Angeles; Editing by Grant McCool, Lisa Shumaker, Daniel Wallis and Richard Chang
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Read More Here
More Than 100 Golf Carts Gather For MAGA Club Rally In The Villages
More Than 100 Golf Carts Gather For MAGA Club Rally In The Villages https://digitalarkansasnews.com/more-than-100-golf-carts-gather-for-maga-club-rally-in-the-villages/
The Villages MAGA Club held a golf cart rally Sunday afternoon.
The club, which has split from Villagers for Trump, offered some familiar themes as members showed their support for Gov. Ron DeSantis and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio.
More than 100 golf carts gathered for the event which traveled from Lake Sumter Landing to Brownwood. Many of the participants in the rally indicated they belong to both the new MAGA Club and Villagers for Trump.
The Villages MAGA Club held a golf cart rally Sunday afternoon.
Janin Robert with her dog Oscar took part in her first golf cart rally in The Villages.
Janin Robert of the Village of Bonnybrook attended the rally with her Goldendoodle, Oscar. She has been in The Villages for about a year. They moved to The Villages from Louisiana, in part because of the support Villagers have shown for President Trump. She is also a big fan of DeSantis.
“This is the first golf cart rally I have done,” she said.
The MAGA Club will hold its inaugural dinner Oct. 24 at the Wildwood Community Center. Lara Trump, who is married to Donald Trump’s son, Eric, will be the featured speaker. She has worked for Inside Edition and as a contributor to Fox News.
Read More Here
Trump Committing https://digitalarkansasnews.com/trump-committing/
Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner said on Sunday that ex-President Donald Trump has committed “crimes against” his supporters who continue to defend him despite his continuous actions that some critics deem controversial.
During an episode of his show Justice Matters that was posted on YouTube, Kirschner spoke about Trump’s Save America PAC which recently reportedly paid $3 million as a retainer to cover the legal fees of Chris Kise, a new lawyer hired for the former president, according to CNN.
A former Florida solicitor general, Kise is expected to work with Trump’s defense team who might be bracing for potentially going to court over the classified documents that the FBI seized last month from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago house.
The former federal prosecutor said that Trump’s supporters don’t have an “influential” and connected criminal defense lawyer, “so they’re being indicted, tried, convicted and imprisoned, while presumably some of them continue to send the few dollars they have to Donald Trump’s Save America PAC so he can do what? so he can take their money and pay his own criminal defense attorney.”
Pictured above, Former President Donald Trump enters the stage at a Save America Rally to support Republican candidates running for state and federal offices in the state of Ohio at the Covelli Centre on September 17 in Youngstown, Ohio. Former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner said on Sunday that Trump has committed “crimes against” his supporters who continue to defend him despite his continuous actions that some critics deem controversial. Photo by Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
Kirschner was referring to the Save America PAC website which has a tab calling for donations to “Save America” and support Trump.
“So, while his supporters go to prison, Donald Trump can continue to play golf and hold hate rallies and fundraisers,” he added. “There is a deep, disturbing injustice in America right now and it will only be remedied if Donald Trump is indicted, and tried and convicted and punished for his crimes against the United States, for his crimes against we the people, for his crimes against some of his own supporters.”
The Save America PAC website also had a message that read “The future of our Country is at stake and president Trump is calling on all Patriots to join his fight to Save America. Will you step up?”
“So I may have missed the part where it said your hard earned dollars, if you donate to Donald Trump’s Save America PAC, will be going to pay exorbitantly high retainer fees that Donald Trump has to pay because he usually stiffs his criminal defense lawyers,” Kirschner said on Sunday, adding that Trump’s supporters can’t afford to pay $3 million for criminal defense attorneys.
“The boots of the insurrection, Donald Trump’s foot soldiers, the people who were lied to, duped and deceived into believing that their vote was stolen, their election was stolen, their president was stolen. The people who were directed by Donald Trump to march on the Capitol ‘fight like hell or you won’t have a country anymore,'” Kirschner added.
Last month, Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was searched by FBI agents who seized classified documents that the former president took from the White House and kept after leaving office. The documents reportedly included sensitive information related to “highly classified programs” and nuclear weapons.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing related to keeping the classified documents and said that he declassified them before leaving office. A claim that was refuted by former justice department official Mary McCord who said he had no authority to do so after leaving office, according to Reuters.
Former New York federal chief judge Raymond Dearie has been appointed as a special master who will be looking into the seized documents to determine whether any of the materials can be protected under executive privilege or attorney-client privilege. Dearie is expected to complete the review by November 30.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s office for comment.
Read More Here
Rare September Rainstorm Batters The Bay Area After Grueling Heat And Drought
Rare September Rainstorm Batters The Bay Area After Grueling Heat And Drought https://digitalarkansasnews.com/rare-september-rainstorm-batters-the-bay-area-after-grueling-heat-and-drought/
Sep. 18, 2022Updated: Sep. 18, 2022 4:01 p.m.
Dark clouds gather over Oracle Park in San Francisco during Saturday’s game between the Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers as the Bay Area braced for a rare September rainstorm.
Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle
Rain battered the Bay Area on Sunday, moving from the northern valleys toward the south, upending street events in San Francisco and triggering fears of blackouts or toppled trees.
A storm that generated days of tantalizing forecasts had finally arrived.
For residents recovering from a record heat wave, in a season typically marked by grueling wildfires and protracted drought, the rain brought surprise and relief, some panic, and a little disappointment. Forecasts show the storms will likely persist at least through Tuesday.
In downtown San Francisco, the showers came in bursts, picking up at about 9:45 a.m. and spraying down hard enough, within a few minutes, to rattle the tin chimney caps of apartment buildings. By 10 a.m. the dounpour had washed leaves down the drains and was threatening to clog them up and start building lakes in intersections.
Then, by 10 :15 a.m., it had abated, another illustration of California’s extreme vicissitudes in weather, where atmospheric rivers follow long parched periods. At 11 a.m. the wind began moaning and the rain started again. Organizers canceled the annual LeatherWalk in SoMa, the Stern Grove Festival and Sunday Streets in the Western Addition.
Inclement weather delayed Flower Piano, a popular performance festival in Golden Gate Park, by one hour, though the even proceeded at 11 a.m. with tents covering all twelve pianos.
“The crowd is less than if it were a sunny day but there is a phenomenal dedicated hearty group of pianists and listeners who are here and outfitted in their finest rain jackets, rain boots and umbrellas,” said Brendan Lange, spokesperson for Flower Piano.
At 2:30 p.m., Yasmin Bahl started her regular run up the Lyon Street steps in a pouring rain at Green Street. By the time she reached the top at Broadway, the rain had cleared enough to see a lone sailboat on the slate gray bay.
“We blinked. It’s over,” she said of the storm, before she started on her second of 10 sets on the steps. Yet Sunday’s weather pattern had been anything but consistent, and meteorologists predicted more torrents as the day wore on.
Gentle rains that moistened pavement at about 8 a.m. in the East Bay turned fierce in the afternoon, when the rain came pouring down in sheets. By then the storm had doused much of the North Bay, where forecasters predict the mountains may see up to 3.5 inches of rainfall.
Powerful winds blasting southward along the coast prompted the National Weather Service to issue an advisory for Sunday and warn of likely outages.
“We’re definitely considering this a welcomed rain event that will bring moisture to some of our dry fuels,” said Brooke Bingaman, a National Weather Service meteorologist. Thouth the storm’s behavior may seem erratic, Bingaman and other weather scientists expect it will produce unseasonably high levels of precipitation.
Southerly winds gather over the Bay Area on Saturday night, with rain forecast for all area by Sunday night into early Monday.
National Weather Service Bay Area
In downtown San Francisco, residents should anticipate about an inch, roughly four times what the city collects in an average September, Bingaman said.
So far amounts vary from a few hundredths to 0.13″ Sonoma and Marin Counties. A few drops of rain already at San Francisco within last hour, more arriving from the southwest. The surface to upper level low still spinning up (strengthening) ~ 200 miles west of Point Reyes. #CAwx pic.twitter.com/8VM6V9tr06
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) September 18, 2022
Oakland should expect a half-inch to .75-inch of rain, possibly doubling its September rain average, she added. Forecasts expect similar totals in the San Jose area, which may also double its September average.
“But it’s another case where the North Bay is the winner for rain,” Bingaman said.
Sonoma and Napa counties should get 1-2 inches of widespread rain that began lashing the North Bay valleys Saturday night, pelting Mount Tamalpais and Mill Valley, the National Weather Service reported, as winds picked up in the East Bay hills and Santa Cruz mountains.
Commuters should expect a messy Monday morning drive, Bingaman said, as the first rain of the year mixes with oil residue on Bay Area roads, creating dangerous conditions, along with high winds blowing debris onto roadways.
The winds could also blow tree limbs onto power lines, causing outages. In addition, the first rains can turn accumulated dirt on power lines into mud, which conducts electricity and can damage the system and cause outages.
Fortunately, Bingaman said, the Bay Area’s wildfire burn scars are older, so she is not expecting mudslides in the area.
In the Lake Tahoe area, there’s the possibility of light snow in higher elevations, said National Weather Service meteorologist Zach Tolby. But the bigger impact should be cooler temperatures, breezier conditions and about an inch of rain in the area.
Tolby said residents are finally getting a reprieve from smoky air.
“The Mosquito Fire has been pouring in smoke,” he said. “So, we’re all quite excited to see some wind, rain and clouds.”
Matthias Gafni and Rachel Swan are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: matthias.gafni@sfchronicle.com, rswan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @mgafni @rachelswan
Read More Here
5-Star Quarterback DJ Lagway Releases Top 10 https://digitalarkansasnews.com/5-star-quarterback-dj-lagway-releases-top-10/
by: Otis Kirk
Posted: Sep 18, 2022 / 03:09 PM CDT
Updated: Sep 18, 2022 / 03:09 PM CDT
FAYETTEVILLE — Willis (Texas) Class of 2024 five-star quarterback DJ Lagway has released his Top 10 schools including Arkansas.
Lagway, 6-2, 225, has 32 offers, but on Sunday he started the narrowing down process. Arkansas, Baylor, USC, LSU, Texas A&M, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma and Clemson made the cut.
In four games this season with the Wildkats, Willis has completed 41 of 69 passes for 575 yards, eight touchdowns and three interceptions. He has also rushed 13 times for 190 yards and two touchdowns.
In 2021, Lagway completed 132 of 247 passes for 1,579 yards, 17 touchdowns and two interceptions. He also gained 715 yards and six touchdowns on 127 carries.
Lagway is also an outstanding baseball player and has also been offered by Arkansas for that sport. His father, Derek, was a running back at Baylor from 1997-2001.
Pig Trail Video
HOGSCHEDULE
SECSTANDINGS
Trending Stories
Read More Here
Once McCain https://digitalarkansasnews.com/once-mccain/
Jonathan J. Cooper | Associated Press
Phoenix — Simmering discontent among a segment of Arizona Republicans over John McCain’s famous penchant for bucking his party boiled over in the winter of 2014 with the censure of the longtime U.S. senator.
McCain’s allies responded with an all-out push to reassert control over the Arizona Republican Party. Censure proponents were ousted or diminished, and McCain went on to defeat his far-right challenger in a blowout during the 2016 primary.
Less than a decade later, the right wing forces that McCain marginalized within the Arizona GOP are now in full control, with profound implications for one of the nation’s most closely matched battlegrounds. Arizona Republicans have traded McCain for Donald Trump.
“We drove a stake in the heart of the McCain machine,” Kari Lake, making a dramatic stabbing gesture, said in a speech days after she won the Republican primary for governor in early August.
Lake, a well-known former television news anchor, has delighted segments of the state’s GOP base that have long been at odds with their party’s establishment and want their leaders to confront Democrats, not compromise with them.
She draws large, enthusiastic crowds that are unusually energized for a midterm election. Her fans erupt in rapturous applause when she takes a shot at the media or pledges to repel the “invasion” at the southern border.
“She’s for border control. She’s a MAGA person. She is fighting the establishment. And that, to me, is enough,” said Bob Hunt, a Republican in Tucson who attended a Lake rally this summer.
McCain, who died in 2018, never lost a race in his home state. But his maverick brand of Republicanism is in retreat after election-denying allies of the former president swept GOP primaries this month from governor and U.S. Senate down to the state Legislature.
Kelli Ward, the primary challenger McCain trounced in his last re-election campaign, was elected state GOP chair in 2019. She broke with precedent for party leaders and campaigned openly for Trump’s slate of candidates ahead of the primary this year.
It is in some ways a return to roots for Republicans in Arizona, a state with a long history as a crucible for emerging strands of conservatism.
Barry Goldwater, an Arizona senator from the 1950s through the 1980s, pushed the GOP in a new direction, laying the groundwork for conservative and libertarian movements. He gave voice to anti-elite grievances and racial anxieties that have contributed to Trump’s appeal.
McCain replaced Goldwater in the Senate, representing an Arizona reshaped by decades of migration. Young families flocked to affordable neighborhoods in and around Phoenix, and retirees escaping the snow settled in new golf communities attracting seniors.
McCain eventually built a national profile as a fiscal conservative unafraid — even eager — to buck GOP leadership. He helped pass campaign finance reform legislation and worked on unsuccessful immigration reform and climate change legislation. In one of his last defiant decisions, he gave a dramatic thumbs down vote to kill legislation that would have repealed former President Barack Obama’s health care law.
McCain won over independents and some Democrats to overwhelmingly win reelection. But the apostasies that appealed to more moderate voters made him a pariah to many within his own party.
Democrats think this year’s slate of Trump-backed nominees gives them a fighting chance to win some of the top offices on the ballot. If the Republicans win, officials who refuse to accept Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election will hold the levers of power with the ability to set election laws and certify results in a state that plays an important role in determining control of Congress and the presidency.
Ideological factions are always at tension within political parties, and Arizona Republicans have long hosted a particularly raucous tug-of-war. Pro-business, limited government conservatives — such as McCain, former Sen. Jeff Flake and termed-out Gov. Doug Ducey — are derided as “Republicans in name only” by a base eager to fight culture war battles.
Still, a large chunk of Republican voters like the establishment brand. Lake had a tough primary race against Karrin Taylor Robson, a conservative businesswoman and longtime donor to mainstream candidates from both parties. Lake, Finchem and the other successful Trump allies all won their primaries with less than 50% of the vote in multi-candidate fields.
“The people we put up are not conservative,” said Kathy Petsas, a Republican activist who backed mainstream Republicans in the primary. “There’s nothing conservative about lying about the results of the 2020 election. When we undermine our democratic institutions, there’s nothing conservative about that.”
But rarely have the insurgents been as dominant as they are now in Arizona. The GOP nominees for nearly all statewide offices push lies about the 2020 election.
Lake incessantly went after Ducey, McCain, Flake and others she labeled “Republicans in name only” on her way to winning the GOP nomination for governor. She joined with Mark Finchem, who won the primary for secretary of state, in a lawsuit seeking to require hand-counting of ballots; they lost, but filed an appeal this week.
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar was censured by the House and lost his committee assignments for posting a video depicting violence against Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The primary winners represent those who control the Arizona Republican Party today and are fiercely loyal to Trump, who was just the second Republican since the 1940s to lose Arizona.
Last year, the party censured McCain’s widow, Cindy McCain, for endorsing Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, along with Flake and Ducey. Flake decided not to run for re-election in 2018 after his criticism of Trump infuriated the base and promised a fierce primary battle.
“Unfortunately, all these election deniers were successful here in Arizona, in a swing state,” said Bill Gates, the Republican chairman of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, which has faced vitriolic backlash for defending the 2020 election against Trump’s false claims of fraud. “So we’ll see if those folks are able to win in the general election. I think that will give us a feel on where this party is headed in the future.”
Gates was censured by Legislative District 3 Republicans last month for saying election-denying GOP candidates may have to lose for the party to find its way.
Rusty Bowers, the staunchly conservative speaker of the state House, also has found himself ostracized by his party for taking a stand against Trump’s lies. He lost the primary in his bid to move to the state Senate.
Bowers last month said Trump has “thrashed our party” and that the Arizona GOP faces a “hard reckoning” if it continues to bully those who don’t fall in line with the former president’s demands.
For now, the far-right wing of the party is ascendant and sees no need to moderate.
Days after Lake won the primary for governor, her campaign shared a video of Goldwater’s speech accepting the 1964 Republican nomination for president.
“I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice,” he said. “And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue.”
The crowd erupted. Goldwater went on to win just six states in the second most lopsided defeat in a presidential race in U.S. history, but he remained a hero to many in his home state.
Lake’s official campaign Twitter account said a united party would bring “a Conservative revival” to the state in the general election: “The Party of Goldwater has risen like a Phoenix.”
Read More Here
Biden To Host 2021 World Series Champion Atlanta Braves
Biden To Host 2021 World Series Champion Atlanta Braves https://digitalarkansasnews.com/biden-to-host-2021-world-series-champion-atlanta-braves/
FILE – Atlanta Braves manager Brian Snitker holds the Commissioner’s Trophy during a celebration at Truist Park, Friday, Nov. 5, 2021, in Atlanta after the Braves defeated the Houston Astros in Game 6 on Tuesday to win their first World Series MLB baseball title in 26 years. President Joe Biden will host the 2021 World Series champion Braves at the White House. Biden is getting in the Sept. 26 visit just a few days before the 2022 regular season wraps up and playoffs begin. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File) (John Bazemore, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will host the 2021 World Series champion Atlanta Braves at the White House.
Biden is getting in the Sept. 26 visit with just about a week before the 2022 regular season wraps up and playoffs begin. The Braves beat the Houston Astros in six games last year. The Braves are in second place in the National League East standings with 91 wins. Post-season begins Oct. 7.
The president, regardless of party, often honors major league and some college sports champions with a White House ceremony, typically nonpartisan affairs in which the commander in chief pays tribute to the champs’ prowess, poses for photos and comes away with a team jersey.
Those visits were highly charged in the previous administration. Many athletes took issue with President Donald Trump’s policies and rhetoric on policing, immigration and more. Trump, for his part, didn’t take kindly to the criticism from athletes or their on-field expressions of political opinion.
Under Biden, the tradition appears to be back. He’s hosted the NBA champion Milwaukee Bucks and Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers at the White House.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Read More Here
NYT Blames Russian Trolls For Amplifying Antisemitism Allegations That Took Down The Women's March Movement
NYT Blames Russian Trolls For Amplifying Antisemitism Allegations That Took Down The Women's March Movement https://digitalarkansasnews.com/nyt-blames-russian-trolls-for-amplifying-antisemitism-allegations-that-took-down-the-womens-march-movement/
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
The New York Times published a report over the weekend claiming that the outrage over the controversial ties of the Women’s March organizers, which eventually dismantled the movement, was fabricated by Russian internet trolls who were deployed by the Kremlin in 2017 to enflame “racial and ethnic tensions.”
In the Sunday piece titled “How Russian Trolls Helped Keep the Women’s March Out of Lock Step,” reporter Ellen Berry claimed that the online uproar over event organizers, particularly Linda Sarsour’s close alliance with radical Nation of Islam leader and outspoken antisemite Louis Farrakhan was mostly manufactured by online Russian trolls posing as “fictional Americans” whose job was to draft social media posts aimed at undermining the movement.
Accusations of antisemitic affiliations against Sarsour, a Palestinian activist who has embraced the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, prompted some of the event’s largest sponsors and progressive organizations to publicly distance from the group. The accusations of antisemitism fractured the group’s momentum, leaving “lasting scars on the American left,” Berry wrote.
DNC PULLS OUT OF WOMEN’S MARCH AMID ANTI-SEMITIC CONCERNS
Activist Linda Sarsour – Thousands of advocates, activists and community members flooded the streets at Foley Square joined the New Sanctuary Coalition and The New York Immigration Coalition at the Lights for Liberty vigil, deemed one of the largest solidarity actions in history with over 750 vigils across 5 continents ((Photo by Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)Imga)
“But there is also a story that has not been told, one that only emerged years later in academic research, of how Russia inserted itself into this moment,” she continued.
Berry said Sarsour’s ties – some of which she claims were “fabricated” by the Russians – were “singled out” because she wore a Hijab, which “marked her as an observant Muslim.
“Over the 18 months that followed, Russia’s troll factories and its military intelligence service put a sustained effort into discrediting the movement by circulating damning, often fabricated narratives around Ms. Sarsour, whose activism made her a lightning rod for Mr. Trump’s base and also for some of his most ardent opposition,” she wrote.
Berry said an investigation found 152 Russian accounts produced material about Sarsour, totaling approximately 2,642 tweets about her, “many of which found large audiences,” she wrote.
“[Forty-eight] hours after the march, a shift of tone occurred online, with a surge of posts describing Ms. Sarsour as a radical jihadi who had infiltrated American feminism,” Berry wrote. “Ms. Sarsour recalls this vividly, because she woke to a worried text message from a friend and glanced at Twitter to find that she was trending.
Crowds gather at Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. for the Bans Off Our Bodies pro-abortion march. (Fox News)
“Not all of this backlash was organic,” she went on. “That week, Russian amplifier accounts began circulating posts that focused on Ms. Sarsour, many of them inflammatory and based on falsehoods, claiming she was a radical Islamist, ‘a pro-ISIS Anti USA Jew Hating Muslim’ who ‘was seen flashing the ISIS sign.’”
As the strength of the coalition began to fade, Russian accounts supposedly “boosted their output around Mr. Farrakhan and the Women’s March leaders that spring, posting 10 or 20 times a day,” Berry said.
However, Berry acknowledged, while the report cites Russia as a key driver before the Women’s March dissolution, “there is no evidence that they were a primary driver of the conversation” against the group’s organizers.”
‘THE VIEW’ GRILLS WOMEN’S MARCH CO-FOUNDER TAMIKA MALLORY OVER TIES TO LOUIS FARRAKHAN
The Times report garnered backlash on social media over the weekend, with critics accusing the Grey Lady of whitewashing the antisemitic undertones of the Women’s March by casting them as victims of online Russian trolls.
“This story is ridiculous,” prominent attorney Ted Frank wrote on Twitter. “Russian trolls didn’t make Linda Sarsour be anti-Semitic or associate with Farrakhan.”
“This is such a telling article in the New York Times,” international security professor Max Abrahms agreed. “The story condemns disinformation but actually promotes it by blaming the backlash to Linda Sarsour on Russia lol.”
“Linda Sarsour has an extensive record of bigotry and hate that has nothing to do with Russian trolls,” conservative writer A.G. Hamilton wrote. “ Thinking that some alleged Russian trolls contributing a few tweets to the criticism aimed at her excuses that is nonsense and shame on you for suggesting it.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Jim Hanson, executive director of America Matters, called the piece a “sad attempt to deflect f[ro]m the fact that Womens March leaders were anti-Semitic terror apologists.
“Decent people felt sick when they saw this evil hag speaking at the march,” Hanson wrote.
New York Post columnist Miranda Devine said the report is an “example of @NYTimes exaggerating Russian disinfo and ignoring Dem disinfo in defense of its protected classes: 5000 words about 2600 tweets in 18 months from Russian troll/bots on Linda Sarsour’s anti-Semitism.”
Yael Halon is a reporter for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to yael.halon@fox.com.
Read More Here
Minnesota Poll: Attorney General Keith Ellison And GOP Challenger Jim Schultz Locked In Close Race
Minnesota Poll: Attorney General Keith Ellison And GOP Challenger Jim Schultz Locked In Close Race https://digitalarkansasnews.com/minnesota-poll-attorney-general-keith-ellison-and-gop-challenger-jim-schultz-locked-in-close-race/
DFL Attorney General Keith Ellison and Republican challenger Jim Schultz are nearly deadlocked in the battle for the state’s top legal office, according to a new Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll.
The poll found 46% of respondents support Ellison, with 45% favoring Schultz. In the fight for secretary of state, DFL incumbent Steve Simon leads GOP candidate Kim Crockett by a margin of almost 8 percentage points.
With less than two months until Election Day, Ellison — who won by less than 4 percentage points in 2018 — is trying to hang on against political newcomer Jim Schultz, whose campaign trail messaging has zeroed in on rising crime, a key issue for many voters. Ellison’s narrow lead falls within the poll’s margin of error, which is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Two out of three voters in Hennepin and Ramsey counties backed Ellison, while those in greater Minnesota and a wide swath of suburban and exurban counties supported Schultz, the Minnesota Poll found. The poll, which was conducted Sept. 12 through 14 with 800 likely voters in Minnesota, showed similar geographic divides in the governor and secretary of state races.
All three of those statewide Democratic candidates fared better than their GOP counterparts among voters younger than 50. But while both Simon and Walz got more support from those 65 or older and independent voters, in the attorney general’s race Schultz was more popular among older voters and independents.
“I see a lot of polls, all of which tell me this is a very competitive race,” Jeanne Stuart, Ellison’s campaign manager, said in a statement after hearing the result.
Schultz’s campaign, meanwhile, reiterated their message that he will partner with police to tackle violent crime.
“Keith Ellison is going to lose in November. Just as Minneapolis voters rejected Ellison’s efforts to defund the police, Minnesota voters will reject Ellison’s second term as they continue to learn about his extreme far-left record as attorney general,” Schultz’s campaign manager, Christine Snell, said in a statement.
Ellison has said he did not back defunding. Stuart said the GOP is spreading disinformation “to distract Minnesotans from the fact they want to roll back abortion rights and let corporations roll over Minnesota families, and the fact that his opponent has never stepped foot in a courtroom.”
Nine percent of poll participants had not decided who they would pick for attorney general, and more than 12% had not made up their mind in the secretary of state race.
Clayton Kearns, of Blaine, was not in that camp. He plans to split his ticket in November. The 39-year-old advertising agency owner described himself as conservative-leaning, but said he votes based on the candidate. He intends to support Walz, Simon and Schultz.
“It’s not so much about Jim Schultz, it’s more about not Keith Ellison. I think he’s a divisive figure and he does not represent Minnesota well,” Kearns said, adding that tackling crime is a top priority as he considers that race and others.
He was among the overwhelming majority of people polled who said they are confident votes in the upcoming midterm election will be counted accurately.
“There will be, I’m sure, some wild accusations thrown at the Secretary of State’s Office about election integrity, election fraud, which just isn’t the case,” Kearns said. “[Simon] can certainly stand up to that scrutiny, and I think all Minnesotans can rest assured it’s going to be a fair and honest election.”
More than eight in 10 voters said they have high or moderate confidence in the election results. However, there was a clear divide between those who backed President Joe Biden in 2020 and those who voted for former President Donald Trump.
Nearly nine in 10 Biden voters said they had a “high amount” of confidence in the accuracy of the midterm election results. Among Trump voters, 20% had high confidence, around 42% had moderate confidence and a little less than a third had “not much” confidence.
Scott Keig, of Plymouth, is “voting straight Republican” this year. He said stories from other states raised concerns about the 2020 election results, including claims of “late night vote dumps” in Wisconsin. Fact checkers have debunked claims of fraud in those Wisconsin votes.
However, Keig said he doesn’t think there were issues in Minnesota.
“I really don’t have concerns about election fraud for the state of Minnesota,” he said, adding, “I can’t cite anything.”
He said he doesn’t know much about Crockett, the Republican secretary of state candidate.
“I plan on voting for her because she has an ‘R’ next to her name on that ballot. … I don’t have anything against Steve Simon,” he said.
Crockett is pushing for tightened voting laws in the state and has made baseless allegations the 2020 election was “rigged.”
“Every voter should feel confident their vote counted. ‘Most Minnesotans’ is not good enough. Then we can stop fighting about ‘who won’ and start solving big challenges like crime and inflation. For that, we need new leadership and better voting rules like Photo ID,” Crockett said in a statement in response to the poll results.
Simon, who is seeking a third term, does not aim to change voting laws, although he is interested in the push to automatically register voters as they apply for a driver’s license. His campaign spokeswoman Risikat Adesaogun stressed public confidence in elections in response to the poll results.
“Minnesotans vote at the highest rate in the country because they know our election system is fundamentally fair, honest, accurate, and secure,” she said in a statement. “November is another opportunity for Minnesotans to strengthen the freedom to vote — and to reject dangerous conspiracy theories about our election system.”
Ellen Frei, who lives in Karlstad near the Canadian border, is confident the nationwide results in the last presidential election results were accurate. “I don’t buy that,” she said of election conspiracies that circulated after 2020.
For her, ensuring the continuation of abortion access is key in November. She plans to support Democrats, including Ellison, in hopes they will defend abortion rights.
“The issue of abortion is being left up to the states,” she said. “I’m hopeful the abortion issue gets resolved the way I would like.”
Read More Here
Minnesota Poll: 48% Support Making Sports Gambling Legal
Minnesota Poll: 48% Support Making Sports Gambling Legal https://digitalarkansasnews.com/minnesota-poll-48-support-making-sports-gambling-legal/
Nearly half of Minnesota voters say sports gambling should be legalized in the state, a new Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll found.
Forty-eight percent of Minnesotans said betting on sports should be legal here, while 33% said it should not be. About 1 in 5 Minnesotans were undecided on the issue.
“I don’t have a reason for it to be illegal,” said Max Roth, a 26-year-old Maple Grove resident who supports legalization. “I generally support things being legal unless there is evidence that by having them legal you are hurting people.”
The poll surveyed 800 Minnesota likely voters from Sept. 12 to 14 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
Legalizing sports betting would represent a major expansion of for-profit gambling in the state. The DFL-controlled Minnesota House voted in May to legalize sports betting, but the proposal differed from the one in the GOP-controlled Senate and the two bodies were unable to reach an agreement before the session ended. Under the House measure, which was crafted with input from the state’s 11 tribal nations, Minnesotans would have been able to place bets at brick-and-mortar locations and online.
Commercial sports betting was largely prohibited under federal law until the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the ban unconstitutional in 2018. Sports betting is now legal in more than 30 states, including all of Minnesota’s neighbors.
Iowa in particular has become a popular sports betting destination for Minnesotans.
In the Minnesota Poll, men were more likely than women to support legalizing sports gambling. Other than the gender difference, there were no stark divides on the issue between political parties, age groups or geographical areas.
Fifty-three percent of Democrats, 50% of Republicans and 40% of independents favored legal sports betting. Minnesotans who voted for former President Donald Trump were more likely to back sports gambling than those who voted for President Joe Biden .
In the Twin Cities metro area, about half of respondents supported legalizing sports betting, while in northern Minnesota, 53% did. Southern Minnesotans offered the least support for the issue at 39%, with another 39% in the region opposing it and 22% undecided.
The issue garnered less support among Minnesotans ages 18-34 than it did older groups. Those 35-49 years old were most likely to support legalizing sports gambling.
Mike Casey, a 62-year-old Duluth resident who opposes legalized sports gambling, said he thinks state resources could be better focused elsewhere. He said he worries that people who aren’t wealthy could gamble away their incomes.
“I’ve always felt that gambling is a tax on the poor,” Casey said.
Read More Here
A World Where Emotions Trump Reality And Scientism Replaces Science
A World Where Emotions Trump Reality And Scientism Replaces Science https://digitalarkansasnews.com/a-world-where-emotions-trump-reality-and-scientism-replaces-science/
OPINION:
This week, a bit of news that escaped the notice of many was a dust-up between Lila Rose and Dr. Phil. The topic? The definition of science and the definition of life. The exchange went something like this.
Ms. Rose: “The science is clear. Life begins at conception. This is simply a genetic and biological fact.”
Dr. Phil: “That’s not true. There is no consensus. Life doesn’t begin until we, the scientists, decide it does.”
And there you have it — mansplaining at its finest. No one decides anything other than smart men like the good doctor who clearly knows so much more than any silly woman who dares disagree with him, even when that woman obviously knows more about science than he does.
Welcome to the rise of feelings over facts. Welcome to a world where emotions trump reality. Welcome to the rise of scientism over science.
In the early 1900s, G. K. Chesterton observed that the “Dr. Phils” of his day were only too willing to use their arbitrary definitions of “science” to justify their pernicious philosophies and then impose their subjective worldviews on everyone else with a near-religious zeal. “I never said a word against eminent men of science. What I complain of is a vague, popular philosophy which supposes itself to be scientific when it is really nothing but a sort of new religion and an uncommonly nasty one,” Chesterton said.
Recognizing that science could never presume to compete in the moral arena, Chesterton went further. “To mix science up with philosophy is only to produce a philosophy that has lost all its ideal value and a science that has lost all its practical value. It is for my private physician to tell me whether this or that food will kill me. It is for my private philosopher to tell me whether I ought to be killed.”
Chesterton knew science could answer the questions of mathematics and medicine, but he was also keenly aware it had nothing to say about meaning. He warned that scientific “progress” unrestrained by sacred principles was fraught with dangers. Survival of the fittest, he contended, may be an interesting academic discussion when applied to a vegetable, an animal, or a mineral, but when practiced on people, its consequences are nothing short of horrifying.
Predicting the rise of what he and others labeled “scientism,” C.S. Lewis warned of a dystopia where public policy and even moral and religious beliefs would be dictated by professors and politicians only too eager to assume the role of our new cultural high priests.
In his novel “That Hideous Strength,” Lewis asked the reader to consider an obvious Dr. Phil question: “After two world wars in which scientism has brought us the ‘advancements’ of eugenics and the mass slaughter of millions of people via … ballistic rockets and atomic bombs,” how is your new man-made god working for you?
“The physical sciences, good and innocent in themselves, [have] been subtly maneuvered in a certain direction,” Lewis said. “Despair of objective truth [has] been increasingly insinuated into [scientism]; Concentration upon mere power [has] been the result.” Lewis knew that if those who fancied themselves the “fittest” were unhampered by any objective understanding of right and wrong, their quest for power would always lead to an Orwellian nightmare rather than the paradise promised by his peers.
The list of those warning of the inevitable consequences of scientism is long. Chesterton, Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, T. S. Eliot, Aldous Huxley and George Orwell all warned of this brave new world where nothing was valued other than to “eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die.” They knew that when we believe in the god we see in the mirror more than the God we see in the Bible, little is left for us at the end of days but to join with Anthony Bourdain in singing with sardonic resonance and sad self-deception, “suicide is painless.”
The timeless lesson of Narcissus, who stood at the river’s edge gazing at his own reflection, is that those consumed with themselves, their emotions and their desires will inevitably slip, fall in, and drown.
While Dr. Phil’s hubris is palpable, who can deny that our entire culture now stands with him on the edge of the proverbial pool, mesmerized by our image as much, if not more so, than any Greek god? We deny the empirical and elevate the emotional. We boldly boast that our feelings don’t care about the facts and that our libido is our ultimate Lord. “Copernicus was wrong!” we shout. “We are all geo-centrists now!” Proclaiming there is no Son (yes, I spelled that right), we declare ourselves to be the center of the universe.
Science be damned! Today we all worship in the temple of scientism, and we are its gods. God help us.
• Everett Piper (dreverettpiper.com, @dreverettpiper), a columnist for The Washington Times, is a former university president and radio host.
Read More Here
Pelosi In Armenia Condemns Azerbaijans illegal Attacks As Cease-Fire Holds
Pelosi, In Armenia, Condemns Azerbaijan’s ‘illegal’ Attacks As Cease-Fire Holds https://digitalarkansasnews.com/pelosi-in-armenia-condemns-azerbaijans-illegal-attacks-as-cease-fire-holds/
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), in a visit to Armenia this weekend, accused Azerbaijan of “illegal and deadly” attacks that led to clashes along the border, saying “we strongly condemn those attacks.”
Pelosi traveled with a congressional delegation to Armenia, where a fragile cease-fire has temporarily halted border fighting with neighboring Azerbaijan that killed more than 200 soldiers in recent days. In Yeravan, the capital of Armenia, the delegation on Sunday met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, whom Pelosi described as “a valued partner in advancing security, prosperity and democracy in the Caucasus region.”
Pelosi said the trip had been planned before deadly clashes erupted Sept. 12 along the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia near the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in a flare-up of a decades-long conflict, as Azerbaijan may have been trying to take advantage of Russia’s preoccupation with its invasion of Ukraine. Armenia is a close ally of Russia, while Azerbaijan is aligned with Turkey.
Military officials in Azerbaijan acknowledged the strikes but accused Armenia of a “wide-scale provocation,” planting mines near border facilities and shelling Azerbaijani positions earlier on Monday. Armenia called these allegations “an absolute lie” and blamed Baku for the renewed hostilities.
At a joint news conference Sunday with Armenian National Assembly President Alen Simonyan, Pelosi said it was clear the attacks were initiated by Azerbaijan and must stop, and that the United States should use its influence and leverage to show support for Armenia.
“The immediate response from the United States was to stop the violence and to have a cease-fire,” Pelosi said. “Our delegation had been very outspoken, saying that this was initiated by Azeris and that there has to be recognition of that and how that will stop.”
Pelosi said President Biden was a strong supporter of Armenia, and vowed the two countries would “work together on what the next steps may be” to address the flare up of violence.
“The democracy in Armenia is a value to the world, a joy to the world,” Pelosi said. “We have to enlarge the issue though … What does security in Armenia mean to regional and global security? What does democracy in Armenia mean to end the fight between democracy and autocracy which is going on in the world now? In both cases, it means a great deal.”
Pelosi’s office said she is the highest ranking U.S. official to visit Armenia since the country’s independence in 1991 from the former Soviet Union.
Other members of the U.S. delegation include Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., (D-N.J.) chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Rep. Jackie Speier (D.-Calif.), who is of Armenian descent, and Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.), who is of Armenian Assyrian descent.
The period leading up to the visit has been marked by days of heavy fighting that represent the largest outbreak of hostilities since a full-scale war in 2020, in which Azerbaijan recaptured territories that Armenia had occupied for decades. The six-week war ended with military victory for Azerbaijan and a fragile Moscow-backed truce, in which Armenia surrendered large swaths of territory.
The Southern Caucasus region has long been a source of diplomatic sensitivities for the United States. But after lobbying by members of Congress and Armenian Americans, Biden last year formally recognized a massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century as a genocide, a term that the United States had long avoided for fear of harming its relationship with Turkey. Historians estimate that 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a campaign of forced marches and mass killings during World War I.
Pelosi invoked those deaths in the context of the continuing war in Ukraine. “It is the moral duty of all to never forget: an obligation that has taken on heightened urgency as atrocities are perpetrated around the globe, including by Russia against Ukraine,” Pelosi said in a statement ahead of her trip.
Mary Ilyushina contributed to this report.
Read More Here
Hurricane Fiona Makes Landfall Along Southwestern Coast Of Puerto Rico | CNN
Hurricane Fiona Makes Landfall Along Southwestern Coast Of Puerto Rico | CNN https://digitalarkansasnews.com/hurricane-fiona-makes-landfall-along-southwestern-coast-of-puerto-rico-cnn/
Latest Videos
Power has gone out across all of the US territory of Puerto Rico on Sunday, according to PowerOutage.us, as Hurricane Fiona bears down on the islands, which are already grappling with the threat of flooding and mudslides stemming from the Category 1 storm. CNN meteorologist Chad Myers has the latest.
” data-duration=”01:45″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”Complete blackout in Puerto Rico as Hurricane Fiona nears island” data-index=”idx-0″ data-show-name=”” data-show-url=”” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_bc2f93a653f3de25341780c6e058fcbb-h_a9305b941bcba55b514ed55bcf0c4d5e@published” data-video-id=”weather/2022/09/18/hurricane-fiona-puerto-rico-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_bc2f93a653f3de25341780c6e058fcbb-h_a9305b941bcba55b514ed55bcf0c4d5e@published”
CNN
Now playing
Complete blackout in Puerto Rico as Hurricane Fiona nears island
President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin about using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine after Russia was forced to retreat.
” data-duration=”02:15″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”See Biden’s warning to Putin over nuclear weapons” data-index=”idx-1″ data-show-name=”Newsroom” data-show-url=”https://www.cnn.com/shows/newsroom” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_ce9018d962107eb9759dc1b8da89e9ec” data-video-id=”politics/2022/09/18/biden-warns-putin-60-minutes-nuclear-weapon-nr-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_ce9018d962107eb9759dc1b8da89e9ec”
Getty Images
Now playing
See Biden’s warning to Putin over nuclear weapons
Surveillance footage captured the moment a gymnasium collapsed following a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in southeastern Taiwan. CNN’s Will Ripley reports.
” data-duration=”02:39″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”Video shows people fleeing as gymnasium collapses during earthquake” data-index=”idx-2″ data-show-name=”” data-show-url=”” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_1ec41757d5f4ba57588a78da557a305d” data-video-id=”world/2022/09/18/earthquake-taiwan-southern-coast-intl-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_1ec41757d5f4ba57588a78da557a305d”
SET TV
Now playing
Video shows people fleeing as gymnasium collapses during earthquake
A routine training military jet was supposed to land at Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Fort Worth. Instead, a bird flew into the aircraft and caused a crash in a Lake Worth neighborhood that hospitalized the pilot instructor and the student.
” data-duration=”01:11″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”Video shows moment US military jet is taken down over neighborhood” data-index=”idx-3″ data-show-name=”” data-show-url=”” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_1c44503d70a7d347c199ee43aa589b8d” data-video-id=”us/2022/09/17/military-jet-crash-texas-orig-jc.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_1c44503d70a7d347c199ee43aa589b8d”
Now playing
Video shows moment US military jet is taken down over neighborhood
After less than 48 unexpected hours in Martha’s Vineyard, nearly 50 Venezuelan migrants were given a warm sendoff as they embarked on next leg of their journey. Their unannounced arrival was part of a campaign by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to send migrants to “sanctuary cities” by surprise. CNN’s Miguel Marquez reports.
” data-duration=”03:38″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”Migrant tells CNN what he was promised to get on plane” data-index=”idx-4″ data-show-name=”Situation Room” data-show-url=”https://www.cnn.com/shows/situation-room” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_7a46643d5ec90ba22e50fe1ce5a469ac” data-video-id=”us/2022/09/18/marthas-vineyard-venezuela-migrants-marquez-sitroom-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_7a46643d5ec90ba22e50fe1ce5a469ac”
CNN
Now playing
Migrant tells CNN what he was promised to get on plane
Susan Glasser, one of the authors of an explosive new book about Donald Trump’s presidency, discusses a new interview where Trump said he would not pick Mike Pence to be his Vice President if he runs in 2024.
” data-duration=”01:48″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”Author of explosive new book reveals what Trump told her” data-index=”idx-5″ data-show-name=”State of the Union” data-show-url=”https://www.cnn.com/shows/state-of-the-union” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_45d9bd7027aba88b9d3b0a6d7a009234″ data-video-id=”politics/2022/09/18/dividers-trump-book-susan-glasser-sotu-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_45d9bd7027aba88b9d3b0a6d7a009234″
Getty/CNN
Now playing
Author of explosive new book reveals what Trump told her
CNN anchor Jake Tapper asks New York City Mayor Eric Adams if he has a message to Republican Governors Greg Abbott (TX) and Ron DeSantis (FL). An estimated 2,500 migrants have been bused to New York from Texas.
” data-duration=”02:09″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”Hear Mayor Adams’ message to Abbott and DeSantis on bused migrants” data-index=”idx-6″ data-show-name=”State of the Union” data-show-url=”https://www.cnn.com/shows/state-of-the-union” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_332b16eb9eb963cbff154067f324c7e9″ data-video-id=”politics/2022/09/18/nyc-mayor-eric-adams-greg-abbott-ron-desantis-busing-migrants-sotu-tapper-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_332b16eb9eb963cbff154067f324c7e9″
CNN/Getty
Now playing
Hear Mayor Adams’ message to Abbott and DeSantis on bused migrants
Melania Trump criticized her husband’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic during his presidency, according to a new book by reporters Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.
” data-duration=”01:59″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”New book reports what Melania Trump told her husband during pandemic” data-index=”idx-7″ data-show-name=”Newsroom” data-show-url=”https://www.cnn.com/shows/newsroom” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_90593e2cbf29f095a09de83a594b4639″ data-video-id=”politics/2022/09/18/melania-trump-covid-19-new-book-nr-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_90593e2cbf29f095a09de83a594b4639″
Now playing
New book reports what Melania Trump told her husband during pandemic
Kennedy Wainaina, brother of Irene Gakwa, tells CNN’s Anderson Cooper about the family’s last contact with her and the ongoing efforts to find his missing sister.
” data-duration=”04:09″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”Irene Gakwa’s brother shares the last time he spoke to her” data-index=”idx-8″ data-show-name=”” data-show-url=”” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_028629ca599af6b571ed09d82f55a47a” data-video-id=”us/2022/09/17/irene-gakwa-wyoming-missing-kennedy-wainaina-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_028629ca599af6b571ed09d82f55a47a”
Now playing
Irene Gakwa’s brother shares the last time he spoke to her
Pieper Lewis, a girl who was 15 years old when she killed a man she said raped her multiple times, must pay his family $150,000 in restitution, an Iowa judge ruled. CNN’s Lucy Kafanov has the details.
” data-duration=”03:57″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”Teen who killed her alleged rapist ordered to pay his family $150,000″ data-index=”idx-9″ data-show-name=”The Lead” data-show-url=”https://www.cnn.com/shows/the-lead” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_0ed7df9bffaef6d98077dbef51c6c710″ data-video-id=”us/2022/09/15/iowa-teen-sex-trafficking-rape-victim-pieper-lewis-restitution-lead-kafanov-pkg-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_0ed7df9bffaef6d98077dbef51c6c710″
Now playing
Teen who killed her alleged rapist ordered to pay his family $150,000
In campaign remarks, Pennsylvania’s Republican nominee for governor Doug Mastriano commented on the “privileged” school his rival Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro attended. CNN’s Jake Tapper calls out Mastriano’s claims and explains his own perspective.
” data-duration=”03:50″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”GOP candidate hits rival over past school. Tapper, an alumnus of the school, reacts” data-index=”idx-10″ data-show-name=”The Lead” data-show-url=”https://www.cnn.com/shows/the-lead” data-source=”CNN” data-uri=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_cb2c07419ad6638e725dca969c5d96d3″ data-video-id=”us/2022/09/15/doug-mastriano-republican-nominee-governor-josh-shapiro-background-the-lead-vpx.cnn” data-video-instance=”archive.cms.cnn.com/_components/video-resource/instances/h_cb2c07419ad6638e725dca969c5d96d3″
Now playing
GOP candidate hits rival over past school. Tapper, an alumnus of the school, reacts
CNN speaks to a Venezuelan migrant unexpectedly flown to Martha’s Vineyard as well as volunteers scrambling to help the sudden influx sent by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. CNN’s Miguel Marquez reports.
” data-duration=”02:42″ data-editable=”settings” data-headline=”Hear from Venezuelan migrant sent to Martha’s Vineyard” data-index=”idx-11″ data-show-name=”The Lead” data-show-url=”https://www.cnn.com/shows/the-le...
Dollar’s Rise Spells Trouble For Global Economies https://digitalarkansasnews.com/dollars-rise-spells-trouble-for-global-economies/
Updated Sept. 18, 2022 2:31 pm ET
Read More Here
