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AP News Summary At 1:50 P.m. EDT https://digitalarkansasnews.com/ap-news-summary-at-150-p-m-edt/ Bidens among thousands paying respects to Queen Elizabeth II LONDON (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden paid his respects at Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin as thousands of police, hundreds of British troops and an army of officials made final preparations for the queen’s state funeral. The funeral on Monday at Westminster Abbey will be a spectacular display of national mourning that will also be the biggest gathering of world leaders for years. The president made the sign of the cross and put his hand to his heart as he stood quietly near the casket in the ornate 900-year-old Westminster Hall. Thousands are still filing past the queen’s coffin. Authorities are expected to close that massive queue sometime Sunday. King Charles III held a reception for heads of state and other leaders Sunday evening at Buckingham Palace. Queen paved the way for transition to Charles in final years LONDON (AP) — In retrospect, it seems Queen Elizabeth II was preparing us all along for her death. Whether it was due to age, ill health or a sense that the end was near, she spent much of the last two years tying up loose ends, making sure the family firm would keep ticking along. The transition began slowly, with the queen turning over more public duties to her son, now King Charles III. But it moved into overdrive in 2022 as Elizabeth celebrated 70 years on the throne. First she expressed her wish that Charles’ wife, Camilla, be known as queen consort after her death. Then Charles took center stage during Platinum Jubilee festivities. Ukraine alleges torture at village near Russian border KOZACHA LOPAN, Ukraine (AP) — In a dank basement behind the local supermarket, metal bars cordon off a corner of the room to form a large cell. Dirty sleeping bags and duvets show three sleeping spots on top of sheets of Styrofoam for insulation from the damp earth floor. In the corner, two black buckets served as toilets. Ukrainian authorities say this was a makeshift prison where Russian forces abused detainees before Ukrainian troops swept through Kozacha Lopan in a major counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region this month. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said more than 10 such “torture chambers” have been discovered in the region since the hasty withdrawal of Russian troops last week. The claims could not be immediately verified independently. Biden warns US democracy threatened, but how can he save it? WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is finding it’s easier to call out attacks on democracy than it is to stop them. His fundamental rationale for running for president was that America’s democratic traditions were in jeopardy. Now, 20 months into his presidency, the dangers are worse, Biden’s warnings are more dire  — and the limits of his own ability to fix the problem are clearer. That’s because former President Donald Trump continues to stoke the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen even though the falsehood has been rejected by dozens of courts and his own attorney general. They ended wanted pregnancies. Post-Roe, they face new pain. Ashley Lefebvre hugs her unborn daughter’s urn each night. Sarah Halsey treasures the tiny hat worn by her baby who lived just 38 minutes. Abi Frazier lives in a new home because she couldn’t bear to return to the one with the furnished nursery and empty crib. All ended wanted pregnancies because of grave fetal medical problems.  Such seldom discussed abortions are different from the most common type performed early in an unwanted pregnancy. For many who have endured them, the abortion debate since Roe’s reversal has unleashed a torrent of pain — and also brought them together to support each other, speak out and share their stories. Fiona becomes a hurricane, aims at battered Puerto Rico HAVANA (AP) — Fiona has strengthened into a hurricane as it bears down on Puerto Rico, where it has already left hundreds of thousands without power and threatens to dump potentially “historic” levels of rain. Forecasters say up to 25 inches could fall in isolated areas. Fiona on Sunday will be lashing cities and towns in a part of Puerto Rico that is still recovering from a string of strong earthquakes and Hurricane Maria, a Category 4 storm that caused deaths and destruction across the island in 2017. More than 3,000 homes still have only a blue tarp as a roof. Report: Some census takers who fudged data didn’t get fired A watchdog group has determined that some census takers who falsified information during the 2020 census didn’t have their work redone fully, weren’t fired in a timely manner and in some cases even received bonuses. The report by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General raises concerns about possible damage to the quality of the once-a-decade head count that determines political power and federal funding. The report released Friday also says that 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. EXPLAINER: How the strong U.S. dollar can affect everyone NEW YORK (AP) — The value of the U.S. dollar has been on a tear for more than a year against everything from the British pound across the Atlantic to the South Korean won across the Pacific. The dollar is hovering close to its highest level in more than two decades against a key index measuring six major currencies. Many professional investors don’t expect the dollar to ease off anytime soon. Its rise makes an impact on nearly everyone, even those who will never travel beyond U.S. borders. The strength helps to limit inflation, but it can also hurt profits for many U.S. companies. Mexican faith leader jailed for sex abuse; flock stays loyal GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AP) — The leader of a multinational, Mexico-based Christian church is imprisoned in California after pleading guilty to sexually abusing minors. Yet legions of followers in his home city of Guadalajara remain fervently loyal to him. They view his imprisonment as a challenge that will strengthen their church, La Luz del Mundo — Spanish for The Light of the World. The phenomenon was evident recently at the church’s main temple, as thousands gathered to pray for their absent leader during their Holy Supper. To gasps of surprise, Naasón Joaquín García addressed the congregation by telephone from his Los Angeles prison, where he is serving a 16-year sentence. Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II is huge security challenge LONDON (AP) — London Mayor Sadiq Khan says Monday’s state funeral for Queen Elizabeth II is an “unprecedented” security challenge. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to pack central London for an service attend by 500 emperors, kings, queens, presidents, prime ministers and other leaders from around the world. London’s Metropolitan Police says the “hugely complex” policing operation is the biggest in the force’s history, surpassing the London 2012 Olympics. More than 10,000 police officers will be on duty Monday, with London bobbies supplemented by reinforcements from all of Britain’s 43 police forces. The operation will also involve police spotters on rooftops, sniffer dogs on the streets, marine officers on the River Thames and mounted police on horseback. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read More Here

House Oversight Panel Has Begun Receiving Trump Financial Documents After Court Settlement – KYMA https://digitalarkansasnews.com/house-oversight-panel-has-begun-receiving-trump-financial-documents-after-court-settlement-kyma/ By Annie Grayer, CNN (CNN) – The House Oversight Committee has begun receiving financial documents from former President Donald Trump’s former accounting firm, Mazars, after a deal was reached to end litigation over the documents earlier this month. The committee first subpoenaed Trump’s financial records in April 2019, which set off a long battle over the documents. House Oversight Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, a Democrat from New York, said in a statement to CNN that “the Committee has begun to receive documents from Mazars and expects to receive more pursuant to the settlement. These documents are essential for the Committee to uncover the extent of former President Trump’s misconduct and conflicts of interests, and to pursue reforms to prevent similar abuses in the future.” She did not specify which documents Mazars has sent the committee thus far. The New York Times was first to report that the committee had begun receiving the documents. The-CNN-Wire & © 2022 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved. BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION KYMA KECY is committed to providing a forum for civil and constructive conversation. Please keep your comments respectful and relevant. You can review our Community Guidelines by clicking here If you would like to share a story idea, please submit it here. Read More Here

Israeli Sabotage Should Not Be Allowed To Kill Iran Nuclear Deal: Middle East Eye https://digitalarkansasnews.com/israeli-sabotage-should-not-be-allowed-to-kill-iran-nuclear-deal-middle-east-eye/ In a commentary on September 16, Middle East Eye said since the inception of the talks to resolve the nuclear dispute between Iran and the West, including the United States  and certain Western European states, “Israel has done everything to prevent resolving the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy.”  Talks started in April 2021 to resurrect the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPO), that was ditched by former U.S. president Donald Trump. Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed responsibility for Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the nuclear deal. “We convinced the U.S. president [to exit the deal] and I had to stand up against the whole world and come out against this agreement, and we didn’t give up,” Netanyahu said. Even now, Middle East Eye also wrote, Israel “has not missed any opportunity to subvert President Biden’s policy to revive the JCPOA.”   Following is the text of the article: On 12 September, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was “unlikely” that the U.S. and Iran would reach a new nuclear deal anytime soon. Negotiations between Iran and the world powers to revive the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), are faced with a new deadlock.  “The Israelis themselves could have contaminated some locations through their agents in order to block the deal and may continue such covert sabotages.” The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on 6 September indicates that “no progress” has been made in resolving questions about past traces of nuclear material in Iran’s three undeclared sites.  “Iran’s position [on the IAEA probe] contradicts its legally binding obligations and jeopardizes prospects of restoring the JCPOA,” said the latest statement from European powers Germany, France and the UK.  The spokesperson for Iran’s Atomic Organization, Behrouz Kamalvandi, responded that Iran has been fully cooperative regarding the three alleged sites and has sent information and answers to the IAEA’s questions. “The IAEA must not pass judgements on the Iranian nuclear program based on fabricated documents provided by the Israeli regime with specific political goals,” he said. A roadmap was signed between Iran and IAEA right after the nuclear deal and finalized the assessment of issues relating to possible military dimension (PMD) issues in December 2015 and before JCPOA’s implementation in January 2016. “The agency has no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009. Nor has the agency found any credible indications of the diversion of nuclear material in connection with the possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear program,” the IAEA concluded. In May 2018, former President Donald Trump withdrew from the JCPOA and re-imposed the world’s most stringent sanctions and pursued the “maximum pressure” policy on Iran. A year later, in response, Iran increased its uranium capacity and enrichment levels. While the military dimension issues were resolved under the nuclear deal, in 2019, the IAEA requested that Iran answer questions about possible undeclared nuclear activities and materials. The question that arises is whether the safeguards issues constitute the major obstacle standing in the way of reviving the JCPOA. Israeli sabotage Since the inception of the nuclear talks, Israel has done everything to prevent resolving the Iranian nuclear issue through diplomacy.  In 2015, in an unprecedented event, then Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insulted a serving U.S. president in a speech to Congress on the emerging nuclear deal. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed the speech by the Israeli prime minister as an “insult to the intelligence of the United States”.  Netanyahu claimed responsibility for Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal. “We convinced the U.S. president [to exit the deal] and I had to stand up against the whole world and come out against this agreement, and we didn’t give up,” Netanyahu said. In a statement in March 2020, Iran reiterated that “copies of papers presented to Iran by the agency as the basis for its requests are neither authentic nor related to the open-source, but rather claimed by the Israeli regime to have been acquired through a so-called secret operation.” Even during the current U.S. administration, Israel has not missed any opportunity to subvert President Biden’s policy to revive the JCPOA. Over the past decade, Israel has conducted several covert operations against the Iranian nuclear program. From sabotage, bombings, and cyber attacks such as Stuxnet and Duqu, to espionage and the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, Israel has done it all.  Israel’s campaign of fear against Iran’s nuclear program has been ongoing for 40 years. Over the past four decades, every now and then Israel has claimed that Iran is only a few years away from a nuclear bomb. For example, in 1995 Netanyahu claimed “Iran is three to five years from being able to produce a nuclear weapon.”  In 2009, General Yossi Baidatz, the chief of research for Israeli military intelligence, said that Iran would have a working weapon by no later than the end of 2010. In 2013, Israeli intelligence officials claimed that Iran could have a nuclear bomb by 2015 or 2016. Moreover, Iran is deeply suspicious about the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s close relations with Israel. In a statement in March 2020, Iran reiterated that “copies of papers presented to Iran by the agency as the basis for its requests are neither authentic nor related to the open-source, but rather claimed by the Israeli regime to have been acquired through a so-called secret operation.” On 3 June 2022, Grossi visited Israel to meet with the prime minister to discuss the Iranian nuclear program. Right after the visit, on 9 June 2022, the IAEA passed a resolution saying that Iran must provide credible information in response to the IAEA’s questions. “Grossi’s visit to Israel out of phase with IAEA impartiality, professionalism,” the Iranian foreign minister reiterated. The ‘most inspected’ country An informed Iranian source who asked that their identity remains anonymous said “Iran has no problem with addressing all IAEA questions. We are ready to sign a roadmap similar to 2015 with the agency to finalize the IAEA’s technical questions within two months, right after signing the revived agreement. In the case of the contaminated locations, by counting every milligram of Iranian-enriched uranium, the IAEA can verify the truth.” They added: “However, the Israelis themselves could have contaminated some locations through their agents in order to block the deal and may continue such covert sabotages. Yet, we should not let the Israelis drag the IAEA and the Iranians into such a trap in order to keep the nuclear file on the IAEA agenda indefinitely.” In 2011, during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidency, at an international conference, a former chief of the Israeli intelligence service (Mossad) told an Iranian ambassador: “You are negotiating with the six world powers on your nuclear program but, in the end, we will decide on Iran’s nuclear program.”  Israel pushed Trump to withdraw from JCPOA and, as a result, Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to 60 percent was estimated to be 55.6 kg, enabling Iran to produce enough material for a bomb if it decides to. Israel’s campaign to thwart the revival of the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal has shown success. “Israel is conducting a successful diplomatic campaign to stop the nuclear agreement and prevent the lifting of sanctions on Iran,” Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said. However, the outcome of attempts to sabotage the revival of the JCPOA is predictable: more pressure and sanctions on Iran and as a result, more stockpiling of highly enriched uranium (potentially 90 percent) and “zero breakout time” by Iran. In case of a referral of Iran’s nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council to reimpose previous resolutions, Iran will likely suspend its implementation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). And in case of any military strike, Iran will likely move towards producing a nuclear bomb. The world powers need to rethink their current approach. Israel is the only country in the Middle East in possession of nuclear bombs, is one of only four countries in the world that does not permit IAEA inspections, and is not a signatory to the NPT. Iran is not among those four, is a member of the NPT, does not have any nuclear weapons, and is the most inspected country worldwide by the IAEA. Rather than killing the JCPOA and pushing Iran towards developing a nuclear bomb, the world powers should focus on reviving the JCPOA and push Israel to follow the deal’s principles to achieve a Middle East nuclear-weapon-free zone as the UN General Assembly mandated in 1974. Read More Here

Fiona Reaches Hurricane Strength, Dumping ‘life-Threatening’ Levels Of Rain On Puerto Rico https://digitalarkansasnews.com/fiona-reaches-hurricane-strength-dumping-life-threatening-levels-of-rain-on-puerto-rico/ Hurricane Fiona intensified overnight and became a hurricane today. It moves just south of Puerto Rico bringing torrential rain up to 25 inches to some parts of the island. As of 11 a.m., the National Hurricane Center advisory said its center was located about 50 miles south of Ponce, Puerto Rico with maximum sustained winds of 8- mph moving west-northwest at 8 mph. Hurricane force winds extend outward up to 140 miles with Sunday morning gusts tracked at Puerto Rican weather stations close to 55 mph. This visible radar image shows Tropical Storm Fiona moving near Puerto Rico on Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (NOAA – GOES-East) “On the forecast track, the center of Fiona will approach Puerto Rico this morning, and move near or over Puerto Rico this afternoon or evening.” said NHC hurricane specialist Brad Reinhart. “Fiona will then move near the northern coast of the Dominican Republic tonight and Monday, and near or to the east of the Turks and Caicos Islands on Tuesday.” Hurricane warnings are in effect for Puerto Rico and parts of the Dominican Republic with hurricane watches in place for the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tropical storm warnings remain in place for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, more of the Dominican Republic and a tropical storm watch is in effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas. The system’s intense rain continues to fall over both the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, but now moving over Puerto Rico and expected to begin affecting the Dominican Republic by the end of the day, the NHC stated. “These rainfall amounts will produce life-threatening flash floods and urban flooding across Puerto Rico and portions of the eastern Dominican Republic, along with mudslides and landslides in areas of higher terrain,” Reinhart said. It’s expected to drop 12 to 16 inches over the entire island with some areas up to 25 inches. “It’s time to take action and be concerned,” said Nino Correa, Puerto Rico’s emergency management commissioner. The storm was forecast to pummel cities and towns along Puerto Rico’s southern coast that are still recovering from a string of strong earthquakes that hit the region starting in late 2019, with several schools still shuttered and debris to be removed. More than 100 people had sought shelter across the island by Saturday night, the majority of them in the southern coastal city of Guayanilla. With Fiona due just two days before the anniversary of Hurricane Maria, a deadly Category 4 storm that hit on Sept. 20, 2017, anxiety levels ran high across the island. People boarded up windows and stocked up on food and water. “I think all of us Puerto Ricans who lived through Maria have that post-traumatic stress of, ‘What is going to happen, how long is it going to last and what needs might we face?’” said Danny Hernández, who works in the capital of San Juan but planned to weather the storm with his parents and family in the western town of Mayaguez. Many Puerto Ricans also were concerned about blackouts, with Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution, warning of “widespread service interruptions.” Puerto Rico’s power grid was razed by Hurricane Maria and remains frail, with reconstruction starting only recently. Outages are a daily occurrence, and fires at power plants have occurred in recent months. Puerto Rico’s governor, Pedro Pierluisi, said he was ready to declare a state of emergency if needed and activated the National Guard as the Atlantic hurricane season’s sixth named storm approached. The system’s updated path forecasts it to travel further away from Florida, with the center passing over western Puerto Rico as the system heads more northwest and growing in intensity as it passes to the east of the Turks and Caicos up into the Atlantic and threatening Bermuda by the end of the week as a strong Category 2 system with 110 mph winds and 130 mph gusts. Already, storm surge and a deluge from Fiona plagued the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe with at least two people reportedly washed away and more than 20 people who had to be rescued by rising waters on Saturday. One was confirmed dead by Sunday. The storm left behind heavy road damage on Guadeloupe with video on Twitter showing fast-moving floods flowing down streets up to washed out roads and streets flooded up to 2 feet washing away cars. Projected rainfall had been more than 8 inches in some parts of the island. Government officials with the French overseas department said two people were missing swept away by rising waters overnight. Elsewhere in the Atlantic, a tropical wave was detected Thursday midway between the west coast of Africa and the Lesser Antilles islands. The weather system is producing disorganized showers and thunderstorms, and is predicted to slowly develop late this weekend and early next week when it turns northward over the central subtropical Atlantic. The NHC gives it a 20% of forming in the five days. Tropical outlook as of 8 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 18, 2022. (National Hurricane Center) Despite the low chances, their emergence coincides with Colorado State University’s release of its tropical prediction for the next two weeks, saying the tropics could get much busier with a 50% chance of above-average activity taking place. CSU also gave a 40% chance of normal activity taking place and a 10% chance of below-average activity. Fiona could become the season’s third hurricane following hurricanes Daniella and Earl earlier this month. What had been forecast to be an above average tropical season was mostly quiet in July and August before picking up steam on Sept. 1. The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1-Nov. 30. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Read More Here

Eight Years Of Dating Paid Off — In Any Language https://digitalarkansasnews.com/eight-years-of-dating-paid-off-in-any-language/ Leo Felix Bustamante wanted to be noticed in high school, but he didn’t think Brittany Haro would notice he was talking about her. “He told my friend, in Spanish, ‘Oh, your friend (meaning me), ‘she’s so quiet,'” Brittany says. “My friend looked at me and she said, ‘You know she knows what you said, right?'” Leo, taken aback, asked Brittany if she knew the language, to which she replied, ‘I know enough to know you’re talking about me.'” Leo remembers walking into the college writing class they had together at Hawthorne High School in Los Angeles County, Calif., in 2006. “I was a senior and I was kind of getting out of myself a little more and feeling a little goofy and trying to stand out,” he says. “I walked in and I remember seeing this blond girl. I mean, she stood out. And I got to sit in front of her.” Brittany, also a senior that year, had done well in English before that but she had a problem with that subject the year before and signed up for the writing course to bring up her grade. Leo had moved to California from Mexico when he was 13, and he had previously taken ESL (English as a Second Language) courses. By his senior year, though, he was proficient in English and moved out of the ESL program and ended up in the class with Brittany. Brittany couldn’t help but notice Leo’s grand entrance that day. “I did keep to myself for the most part,” she says. “I didn’t generally notice boys. Not that I didn’t like guys but I definitely was not a high school girl that was always talking about boys. He came in and he was talking to everyone in Spanish and he was always in trouble with the teacher. He came in and made a big scene walking in the door.” They had mutual friends and they all started hanging out as a group, going to the beach, watching movies and just sitting around talking. “He would say to my friend in Spanish that he liked me, knowing by then that I could probably understand him,” she says. Leo and Brittany were friends for months before their first date, on Dec. 30, 2006. They went to Jim’s Burgers in Lennox, and because there was limited seating in the restaurant they took their burgers and chili cheese fries outside and sat in Leo’s car. For Valentine’s Day 2007, just a couple of months after they got together, Leo orchestrated an all-day celebration. He had several of their friends present Brittany with origami hearts and letters — L-O-V-E, stuffed animals, balloons and candies between each of her classes and in her closet at home. After school, he hid in the trunk of his car and jumped out to surprise her after her friend insisted she open it, bearing more gifts — a giant teddy bear, chocolate cake from the restaurant where he worked and a sterling silver heart necklace. Four years after they started dating, Leo made a paper box, placed a paper diamond ring inside it and left it for Brittany to find. When she found it, he gave a real promise ring. Two years later, on a Friday night, they invited friends over to watch one of their favorite shows, which was a weekly tradition. Brittany had made spaghetti, put on some comfy clothes and settled on the couch, looking forward to an evening with her favorite people. In the middle of an episode, a slide show popped up, with photos of Brittany and Leo and of them with their friends. Brittany thought the slide show might be a prelude to something special — for their friends. But as she watched the photos displayed on the screen, Leo slipped away and put on a suit, and when he returned, he dropped to his knee and asked her to marry him. They exchanged their vows on July 14, 2014, in Malibu, Calif. They had sent their guests custom-made comic book-style save the date cards and wedding invitations, a nod to their love of Marvel and other superhero shows. They made centerpieces for their big day representing their favorite shows and games. “There was one for ‘Chuck,’ one for ‘Game of Thrones,’ a ‘Pokemon’ one, I think there was probably one for ‘Legend of Zelda,'” Brittany says. They also had a cake topper custom made, a figurine of a man with dark hair holding open the dress shirt under his tuxedo jacket to show an “Ironman” symbol, linking arms with a blond woman. “All of our guys wore superhero T-shirts under their tuxes,” Leo says. They had a second ceremony about a week later, on the beach at Puerta Vallarta, Mexico, with Leo’s family looking on. Brittany and Leo moved to Little Rock in 2011. They have a 5-year-old daughter, Amy. “When we celebrate our anniversary, we don’t celebrate when we got married,” Brittany says. “We will say happy anniversary, and we might go out to eat, but we really celebrate when we started dating because we lose eight years the other way. Dec. 30 is when we really celebrate.” If you have an interesting how-we-met story or if you know someone who does, please call (501) 425-7228 or email: kdishongh@adgnewsroom.com Read More…

Republicans In Key Battleground Races Refuse To Say They Will Accept Results https://digitalarkansasnews.com/republicans-in-key-battleground-races-refuse-to-say-they-will-accept-results/ Of the 19 GOP candidates questioned by The Washington Post, a dozen declined to answer or refused to commit. Democrats overwhelmingly said they would respect the results. September 18, 2022 at 11:59 a.m. EDT Supporters wait for Wisconsin Republican gubernatorial nominee Tim Michels at a primary night event on Aug. 9 in Waukesha. Michels did not respond when asked by The Washington Post if he would accept the results of the race. (Joshua Lott/The Washington Post) A dozen Republican candidates in competitive races for governor and Senate have declined to say whether they would accept the results of their contests, raising the prospect of fresh post-election chaos two years after Donald Trump refused to concede the presidency. In a survey by The Washington Post of 19 of the most closely watched statewide races in the country, the contrast between Republican and Democratic candidates was stark. While seven GOP nominees committed to accepting the outcomes in their contests, 12 either refused to commit or declined to respond. On the Democratic side, 17 said they would accept the outcome and two did not respond to The Post’s survey. The reluctance of many GOP candidates to embrace a long-standing tenet of American democracy shows how Trump’s assault on the integrity of U.S. elections has spread far beyond the 2020 presidential race. This year, multiple losing candidates could refuse to accept their defeats. Trump, who continues to claim without evidence that his loss to Joe Biden in 2020 was rigged, has attacked fellow Republicans who do not agree — making election denialism the price of admission in many GOP primaries. More than half of all Republican nominees for federal and statewide office with powers over election administration have embraced unproven claims that fraud tainted Biden’s win, according to a Washington Post tally. Acceptance of an electoral outcome — win or lose — was once a virtual certainty in American politics, although there have been exceptions. In 2018, Georgia Democratic gubernatorial nominee Stacey Abrams cited voter suppression as a reason for refusing to concede defeat to Republican opponent Brian Kemp. But unlike Trump, Abrams never sought to overturn the certified result or foment an insurrection. In competitive races for governor or Senate in Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas, GOP candidates declined to say that they would accept this year’s result. All but two — incumbent senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Marco Rubio of Florida — have publicly embraced Trump’s false claims about 2020, according to a Post analysis. The Post asked candidates if they would “accept the result” of their contest this year as well as what circumstances might cause them not to. Several used the opportunity of The Post’s survey to raise further doubts about the integrity of U.S. elections. Michigan GOP gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon answered the question of whether she would be willing to accept the result in November’s race by renewing her unfounded attacks on the Democratic secretary of state for her handling of the last election. “In 2020, Jocelyn Benson knowingly and willfully broke laws designed to secure our elections, which directly correlates to people’s lack of faith in the integrity of our process,” said Sara Broadwater, a spokeswoman for Dixon, who is challenging Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and has said repeatedly that the 2020 election was stolen. No evidence has emerged that Benson, the Michigan secretary of state, broke any laws in 2020. Dixon’s campaign added that if authorities “follow the letter of the law” this year, then “we can all have a reasonable amount of faith in the process.” She pointedly did not say whether she will accept the results. Whitmer, for her part, responded to The Post’s survey by pledging to accept the outcome and accusing her opponents of “trying to weaken our democracy, undermine trust in American institutions and silence the voice of Michiganders.” The question of whether elections can be trusted has been central to campaigns from both parties this season, though the substance of their messages has been marked by vivid contrast. Many Republicans have sought voters’ support — and Trump’s — by repeating his false statements about a stolen election. Democrats have warned that such claims put democracy in peril. Candidates willing to deny the results of a legitimate election, they argue, can’t be trusted to oversee future votes. Biden, in a speech earlier this month railing against “MAGA Republicans” for their refusal to accept the 2020 result, said: “Democracy cannot survive when one side believes there are only two outcomes to an election: either they win or they were cheated.” In nonpartisan circles, too, democracy advocates and election-law scholars agree that growing mistrust in U.S. elections presents a grave threat to the nation. “Faith in election integrity is a huge piece of what makes democracy work,” said Paige Alexander, who leads the Atlanta-based Carter Center, a nonpartisan group founded by former president Jimmy Carter that promotes freedom and human rights around the globe. The organization has monitored elections in foreign nations for many years, often asking candidates to sign pledges that they will accept the certified result of a free and fair contest. With the proliferation of false claims about the 2020 election, Alexander said, the center’s leadership agreed that it was time to circulate a similar pledge among candidates in the United States as well. The center is focusing on five battleground states this year — Arizona, Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and Michigan — but its pledge welcomes any candidate, former elected official or organization to sign. “When the integrity of U.S. elections began to be questioned via lawsuits, via media, via misinformation, we realized that one way to gather all the candidates and people who really do respect the election process was around these principles,” she said. She said the center has just begun sending the pledge out to candidates, obtaining commitments so far from Republican and Democratic nominees for Georgia governor and secretary of state. Dixon was the only candidate who responded to the survey with an explanation of why she would not necessarily commit to accepting the result. The campaign of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) responded that he would have nothing to say. Ten other Republicans did not respond to the survey despite repeated inquiries. And seven pledged to accept the results, including Colorado Senate contender Joe O’Dea. O’Dea, who is behind in the polls as he attempts to unseat incumbent Colorado Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D), did not reference Trump by name, but used his response to offer notably sharp criticism of candidates who refuse to concede when they lose. “There’s no polite way to put it. We have become a nation of poor sports and cry babies,” said O’Dea. “We’ll keep a close eye on things, but after the process is done and the votes are counted, I’ll absolutely accept the outcome. If the Senator is up for it, we can certify it over a beer. It’s time for America’s leaders to start acting like adults again. Loser buys.” Bennet also responded to The Post’s survey by pledging to accept the results of a certified election. Others who have questioned the 2020 result told The Post that they would nonetheless accept the result in their own races this year. “Ohio is blessed to have a fantastic Secretary of State who has made election security a top priority — we have no doubt Ohio’s election in 2022 will be run with integrity,” a spokesperson for Ohio Senate contender J.D. Vance wrote in an email. “J.D. encourages other states across the country to follow Ohio’s lead by implementing common-sense measures like voter ID and signature verification.” A spokeswoman for Abrams, who is challenging Kemp again this year, said she “will acknowledge the victor of the 2022 election” and noted that she “has never failed to do that” — a reference to Abrams’s refusal to concede when Kemp defeated her in 2018. Republicans have accused Abrams of being an election denier much like Trump and his supporters, but the candidate has rejected that comparison, given Trump’s fantastical claims of fraud and the violence that ensued. “I have never denied that I lost,” Abrams said on a recent appearance on the ABC television show “The View.” “I don’t live in the governor’s mansion. I would have noticed.” When Abrams ended her campaign in 2018, she acknowledged that Kemp had secured enough votes to claim victory, but she never conceded and she maintained that voter suppression had played a role in denying her victory. She said on a 2018 appearance on “The View” that she “absolutely” stood by that decision because “the election was not fair.” Exactly what would happen if multiple candidates refused to accept their defeats after Nov. 8 is not clear — and depends on the state. Certainly a flurry of litigation, much like 2020, would be likely. But absent hard evidence of irregularities, such legal efforts are likely to meet the same fate as the dozens of lawsuits filed two years ago, all of which went nowhere. In many of the battleground states, election officials who have not embraced Trump’s false claims about widespread election fraud continue to have the power to certify election results — or the power to ask a judge to order a state or local election board to do so. In other places, the potential for chaos is hard to predict because election deniers now hold positions such as county clerk or electoral board member. If Dixon questioned the result in Michigan, for instance, it is possible that the Board of State Canvassers, a four-...

What Does Growth Look Like Under Brian Kelly? One LSU Player Epitomizes It | Toppmeyer https://digitalarkansasnews.com/what-does-growth-look-like-under-brian-kelly-one-lsu-player-epitomizes-it-toppmeyer/ This is the “Topp Rope,” a twice-weekly SEC football column from the USA TODAY Network’s Blake Toppmeyer. You didn’t need to be a defensive coordinator or hold credentials from an X’s and O’s research facility to know where the ball was going. Already, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels had completed three passes to Malik Nabers to move the chains on third down during the fourth-quarter drive. So, when LSU eschewed a long field goal to go for a fourth-and-3, you just knew No. 5 would look for No. 8. Mississippi State safety Collin Duncan probably knew it, too. He had Nabers in press coverage, but Duncan had no over-the-top help on the slot receiver. Nabers beat Duncan with a stutter-step-and-go move, and Daniels delivered a perfect ball for a 27-yard gain. One play later, the Tigers were in the end zone to extend their lead in a 31-16 victory Saturday over previously undefeated Mississippi State. Nabers’ performance epitomizes how LSU (2-1) bounced back after a rocky debut under coach Brian Kelly. Nabers muffed two punt returns during the season-opening loss to Florida State, but on Saturday, that was a distant memory. Daniels targeted Nabers seven times, completing six of those passes. “We’re fighters,” Kelly said.  Hard to argue. LSU established the run, and Daniels continues to be a dual-threat handful for defenses. And the Tigers effectively mixed up their defensive looks to keep one of the nation’s most prolific quarterbacks, Will Rogers, in check. Rogers’ 214 passing yards marked his fewest since 2020. TOPPMEYER:Auburn football shows identity under Bryan Harsin — and it’s ugly The first year of a coaching tenure is about improving as the season goes, and LSU became a better team from Weeks 1 to 3. No one showed that better than Nabers. Anthony Richardson is no Vince Young lately … Florida quarterback Anthony Richardson’s 274 yards of offense in the Gators’ 29-26 season-opening win over Utah evoked some wild comparisons and overreactions.   “Anthony Richardson is the closest thing I’ve seen to Vince Young in a LONG time,” ESPN analyst Greg McElroy tweeted in a statement that should hang in the Hyperbole Hall of Fame. AR still has a long ways to go before he should be mentioned in the same breath as VY. [ WANT MORE OPINIONS FROM BLAKE TOPPMEYER?: Subscribe to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter for an exclusive column each week ] The past two weeks, Florida’s quarterback has been a hindrance. He threw two interceptions for the second consecutive game, and the Gators needed three takeaways plus their offensive line powering a formidable ground attack to hold off South Florida, 31-28. One Richardson gaffe cost the Gators points. On first down from the 5-yard line, Florida had a run play called, but Richardson audibled and threw an ill-placed fade pass for an interception. “I have no issue with the decision to throw it. It’s how he threw it,” UF coach Billy Napier said. I have an issue with both. Florida had gouged USF with four straight runs. With a struggling quarterback and 15 feet from the goal line, hand the ball off. Richardson is a talented runner, but passing remains an adventure. And he’ll face a hostile environment for his fourth career start this week at Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium. The Vols announced a sellout for their 63-6 win over Akron, one of the nation’s worst teams. Just imagine how rowdy Tennessee fans will be when their rival arrives. This is what Texas A&M is … Coach Jimbo Fisher changed quarterbacks, but Texas A&M’s offense didn’t improve with Max Johnson at the wheel. The Aggies’ offense was limited last season, and this one is worse. Thankfully for A&M, its defense ranks among the best in the SEC. That, plus Miami missing two field goals, allowed the Aggies to prevail 17-9 in a bounce-back victory after the loss to Appalachian State. The question is, how many SEC teams can the Aggies (2-1) beat without reaching 20 points? This week’s opponent, Arkansas (3-0), can score in a hurry. Although the Razorbacks had their hands full with FCS Missouri State in a 38-27 victory, they twice had two-play touchdown drives and also scored on a punt return. Unless A&M’s freshman backup quarterback Conner Weigman is the answer, the Aggies simply don’t have the quarterback, the offensive line or the scheme to seriously threaten defenses. Closing thoughts 1. Auburn continues to regress under Bryan Harsin, with a 41-12 loss to Penn State the latest example. There’s no obvious in-season jumpstart for this talent-deficient team. Struggling coaches sometimes buy time by pointing to a brighter future, but Auburn’s recruiting is an anchor rather than a rallying point for Harsin. AU hosts Missouri on Saturday. Labeling that a must-win game for Harsin’s future is an understatement. I doubt Harsin lasts until 2023 with a win over Missouri. With a loss, all doubt is removed. 2. For the second straight week, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer got snippy over a fairly innocuous postgame question following a loss. Asked whether he sensed any give-up in the locker room, Beamer snapped: “Hell no. What kind of question is that? … Get out of here, man.” What kind of question is that? It’s the type of question that follows a 48-7 loss, albeit to No. 1-ranked juggernaut Georgia. 3. How long until Bobby Petrino’s name appears on hot boards for FBS jobs? (Nebraska, anyone?) Petrino’s Missouri State Bears gave Arkansas quite a scare. Missouri State made the FCS playoffs the past two seasons under Petrino after not previously qualifying since 1990. We can crack jokes about Petrino’s extramarital affair at Arkansas or that infamous Petrino-in-a-neck-brace photo that signified the end of his tenure there, but his résumé is no joke. In 14 seasons as an FBS coach, he won at least eight games 12 times. Blake Toppmeyer is an SEC Columnist for the USA TODAY Network. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @btoppmeyer.  If you enjoy Blake’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it. Also, check out his podcast, SEC Football Unfiltered, or access exclusive columns via the SEC Unfiltered newsletter.  Read More Here

Biden Warns US Democracy Threatened, But How Can He Save It? https://digitalarkansasnews.com/biden-warns-us-democracy-threatened-but-how-can-he-save-it-2/ WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is finding it’s easier to call out attacks on democracy than it is to stop them. His fundamental rationale for running for president was that America’s democratic traditions were in jeopardy. Now, 20 months into his presidency, the dangers are worse, Biden’s warnings are more dire — and the limits of his own ability to fix the problem are clearer. Former President Donald Trump continues to stoke the baseless claim the 2020 election was stolen, and even now advocates for the results in certain battleground states to be decertified even though the falsehood has been rejected by dozens of courts and his own attorney general. The belief has taken deep root in the Republican Party, with dozens of candidates insisting Trump was right. Never in the country’s history have elections taken place in a climate where one party has so frontally questioned the integrity of the electoral process and actively sought to undermine confidence in it. “We’re in an unprecedented situation here, because Biden’s predecessor has shown a flagrant disregard for the Constitution of the United States, and now others are following that path,” said Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, who was among a group invited to the White House recently to put today’s challenges in historical context. “It could be dangerous.” FILE – President Joe Biden speaks outside Independence Hall, Sept. 1, 2022, in Philadelphia. In the speech, Biden described democracy as “under assault” and pledged that it was the work of his presidency to defend it. But he also said the solution had to be bigger than him, that he can’t turn back what he sees as a years-long backslide in American political norms on his own. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Matt Slocum FILE – Security forces draw their guns as rioters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. The Department of Justice is prosecuting those who violently stormed the Capitol. More than 870 people have been charged and more than 400 convicted. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/J. Scott Applewhite FILE – President Donald Trump speaks during a rally protesting the electoral college certification of Joe Biden as President in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump continues to stoke the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and even now advocates for the results in certain battleground states to be decertified even though the falsehood has been rejected by dozens of courts and his own attorney general. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Evan Vucci FILE – insurrections loyal to President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. The Department of Justice is prosecuting those who violently stormed the Capitol. More than 870 people have been charged and more than 400 convicted. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/John Minchillo PreviousNext Biden has found, even with the megaphone of the White House, how difficult it is to counter the Trump-inspired narrative and the millions of Americans who believe it. Trump allies have been going around the country peddling lies about the 2020 election and conspiracy theories about voting machines, while Republican candidates running for office this year have repeated his lies to their supporters –- messaging that has reached a broad audience. Every U.S. president swears to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution, but even in ordinary times there is no playbook for safeguarding it. Biden took that oath as the nation was facing challenges unmatched since perhaps the U.S. Civil War, in the view of some historians. In a speech earlier this month at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Biden described democracy as “under assault” and pledged that it was the work of his presidency to defend it. But he also said the solution had to be bigger than him, that he can’t turn back what he sees as a years-long backslide in American political norms on his own. “For a long time, we’ve told ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it’s not,” he said. “We have to defend it, protect it, stand up for it – each and every one of us.” Has Biden himself done enough? His efforts at persuasion don’t seem to have produced any significant shift in public opinion. His push for voting rights legislation in Congress has for the most part fallen short. Beyond the president’s increasingly drastic warnings, White House officials point to the administration’s efforts to push voting rights safeguards through Congress and to their support for the Electoral Count Act, which would patch ambiguities exploited by Trump and his allies. The Department of Justice is prosecuting those who violently stormed the Capitol. More than 870 people have been charged and more than 400 convicted. The administration also has sounded the alarm about domestic extremist groups. There’s an increasing overlap with politically-fueled violence, as a growing number of ardent Trump supporters seem ready to strike back against the FBI or others they consider going too far in investigating the former president. And the National Security Council has developed a whole-of-government strategy to counter domestic violent extremism, which U.S. intelligence officials have called the top threat to homeland security. While voters ranked threats to democracy as the most important issue ahead of the midterm elections, according to an NBC News poll late last month, the conspiracy theories pushed by Trump and his allies have succeeded in sowing doubts about the integrity of U.S. elections in a large swath of the population. Two-thirds of Republicans believe Biden wasn’t legitimately elected president, according to an AP-NORC poll. They believe that votes were switched, or voting machines were corrupted en masse, or that fake ballots were cast in favor of Biden because pandemic-era policies made voting too easy. Trump-backed candidates are winning primaries and some will make it to Congress. In the states, nearly 1 in 3 Republican candidates for offices that play a role in overseeing, certifying or defending elections supported overturning the results of the 2020 presidential race. Candidates have signaled a new willingness to simply refuse to accept the results of their election if they lose. And election workers across the country are getting death threats and are harassed online, pushing many to just resign. “We are very clearly playing with fire with some of the new tactics, allowing them to proliferate around the country,” said Matthew Weil, the executive director of our Democracy Program at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank. “It’s: ‘If my candidate loses, I’m going to drag it out as long as possible. I can cut the legs out from the person who beat me from taking office.’ That’s a new feature and it’s pretty dangerous. We can’t have an election system where people aren’t willing to lose.” Checking the antidemocratic forces within Trumpism is not just a policy aim, it’s a political endeavor as well, and that clouds the picture. Biden aides say his best tool to try to preserve democracy is his use of the bully pulpit to make clear to voters that they play a vital role in participating in the electoral process and deciding whom to put into positions of influence. He isn’t the only one sounding the alarm. The special congressional committee investigating the 2021 Capitol insurrection has delivered the same message, as have election officials in states across the country, historians and other lawmakers. Administration allies say Biden’s efforts have resonated with voters, particularly as Trump’s behavior in late 2020 and early 2021 has been cast into stark relief by the Jan. 6 committee. But the president’s remarks have largely been dismissed by Republicans unwilling to break with Trump. Former Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump supporters threatened to hang on Jan. 6 and who hid in a secure location beneath the building as the masses hunted him in the halls, decried Biden’s comments after the Philadelphia speech. “Never before in the history of our nation has a president stood before the American people and accused millions of his own countrymen of being a ‘threat to this country,’” Pence said in remarks to conservatives. Former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called Biden “the most condescending president of my lifetime.” The struggle the nation is facing goes beyond political parties, though. And “unless and until enough people fight for, protect and build our democracy, the fever we see today will continue,” said Melody Barnes, head of the University of Virginia Karsh Institute of Democracy. The closest parallel, historians say, has been the Civil War era, when war broke out after Southern states wouldn’t recognize Abraham Lincoln had been elected president. Following the end of fighting, there was a continued refusal to accept the rule of law during Reconstruction, as deep racism and violence proliferated, resulting eventually in the Jim Crow era. At critical moments, U.S. leaders have taken a stand to protect the nation from itself. George Washington left office to ensure future leaders would willingly walk away, too. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon after Watergate — a wildly unpopular move in 1974 but one that has since been viewed more as an effort to push the country past a national nightmare. Biden, at a summit this past week on countering hate-fueled violence, talked about how good he felt years ago when he worked successfully with Republicans in the Senate to get the Voting Rights Act extended. “And I thought, well, you know, hate can be defeated,” he said. “But it onl...

Once McCain's Party, Arizona Republican Party Returns To Far-Right Roots https://digitalarkansasnews.com/once-mccains-party-arizona-republican-party-returns-to-far-right-roots/ Annika Cline/KJZZ Sen. John McCain and his wife, Cindy McCain, after his reelection in 2016. 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. Former President Donald Trump and Kari Lake speaking with supporters at a “Save America” rally at Country Thunder Arizona in Florence, Arizona, in January 2022. 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. Warren K. Leffler/Library of Congress Sen. Barry Goldwater in 1972. 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. Paul Gosar speaking with attendees at an event hosted by the Defend America Foundation at the Scottsdale Gun Club in Scottsdale in September 2021. 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. Rusty Bowers 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.” — Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) August 5, 2022 Read More Here

Germans Could Be https://digitalarkansasnews.com/germans-could-be/ Ex-president says he warned Angela Merkel that Berlin’s dependence on Russian energy could lead to a “surrender” Germany could soon cease to exist as a country amid the escalating energy crisis, former US president Donald Trump has suggested.  During a rally in Youngstown, Ohio on Saturday, Trump tore into his successor in the White House, taking aim at Biden’s energy policy and the so-called Green New Deal in particular. The Republican firebrand claimed that, although under his rule the US had become independent in terms of energy and on track to become “totally dominant in energy, bigger than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined,” Joe Biden has since reduced the US to “begging for energy.” Trump then went on to cite Germany’s sorry state of affairs in this area. According to the ex-president, he warned then-Chancellor Angela Merkel that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which was supposed to pump Russian gas to Germany, would make Berlin even more dependent on Russian energy exports.  Trump said he had sent the “white flag of surrender” to Angela Merkel when she refused to ditch the project. “If you are getting 72% of your energy from Russia, here’s the white flag, because you will be surrendering very quickly,” the former US head of state recounted his own warning to Merkel.  He proceeded to cite the “bad things” which have happened between Berlin and Moscow in the past as proof that Germany should not have relied so heavily on Russia. The former US president concluded by saying that “Germany now is going back to the old-fashioned stuff, including coal,” despite its previous pledges to go green.  “But they have no choice, they won’t have a country, they won’t have a country left,” Trump warned cryptically, before returning to the topic of domestic politics again.  Gas prices in Europe soared dramatically soon after Russia launched its military offensive against Ukraine in late February, and have remained consistently higher than last year’s ever since.  With both the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines now inoperative, either due to Berlin’s own or to Moscow’s decision, the German government has put in place emergency measures to stock up on gas. Multiple senior officials in Germany have warned that the coming winter is likely to be tough. Read More Here

Limes Cost 350% More As Cartels Terrorize Mexican Farmers | Big Business | Business Insider https://digitalarkansasnews.com/limes-cost-350-more-as-cartels-terrorize-mexican-farmers-big-business-business-insider/ Limes Cost 350% More As Cartels Terrorize Mexican Farmers | Big Business | Business Insider  Business Insider Read More Here

Strikes And Fighting In Ukraine’s South Put Pressure On Russian Forces https://digitalarkansasnews.com/strikes-and-fighting-in-ukraines-south-put-pressure-on-russian-forces/ Image Ukrainian forces moving near the Kherson front this month. Officials claim they are making slow, hard-fought but steady gains.Credit…Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times KYIV, Ukraine — The pressure on Russian forces in southern Ukraine deepened over the weekend as Ukrainian forces conducted strikes on Russian military strongholds, targeted sites used by local officials loyal to the Kremlin and continued to hit the supply lines for thousands of Russian soldiers on the western bank of the Dnipro River. A missile strike in the Russian-controlled southern Ukrainian city of Kherson leveled a cotton mill that was used as a Russian base, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday, after taking credit for an attack on a courthouse downtown that served as a headquarters for the Kremlin-backed military administration. Another challenge to Russia’s claim that it has full control of the security situation in the city came late Saturday, when a firefight broke out in the streets of the city and continued overnight, according to video released by Russian military bloggers. Kherson remains the only regional capital in Ukraine captured by Moscow since the invasion. It was unclear who was involved in the fighting. Local Russian authorities spoke of a raid targeting Ukrainian guerrilla fighters. The Ukrainian military had no official statement, but officials suggested it was possibly factional fighting among those on Moscow’s side. Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to the Ukrainian president, said that the firefight was an internal struggle between Russians looking to “divide the loot” before they “flee.” Ukraine has been pushing a counteroffensive in the south for weeks, trying to wear down Russian fighters and force their surrender or retreat. But unlike in the northeast, where the Russian lines were thinly spread and quickly overwhelmed by Ukraine’s lightning assault, Russian forces in the south have spent weeks preparing for an expected Ukrainian advance and have fortified their positions. Despite the increasing pressure, there was no indication of any mass Russian withdrawal, and Russian forces have continued to assault Ukrainian positions and pound Ukrainian towns and villages. The city of Kherson and the surrounding region are the only land held by Russia west of the Dnipro. Ukraine has been blowing up Russian ammunition dumps and command posts and hitting river crossings and supply lines with precision missile strikes, seeking to isolate the estimated 25,000 Russians on the Dnipro’s west bank. The Ukrainian military intelligence agency said that four explosions that destroyed the mill on Saturday were the result of the “effective action on the part of Ukraine’s Defense Forces.” Serhiy Khlan, a regional legislator, said Ukrainian forces were also responsible for the strike on the courthouse, which he said took place on Friday as Kremlin-approved local leaders were meeting. Ukrainian forces have disabled all the crossings over the Dnipro so the Russians have been relying on hastily built pontoons to move supplies back and forth. On Saturday night, the Ukrainian military high command said that Russians had sunk nine rail wagons in the Dnipro in an attempt to make a crossing that would allow its forces to “retreat.” As Ukraine seeks to degrade the Russians combat capabilities, officials say their ground forces are making slow and hard-fought gains and advancing steadily on the city of Kherson from several directions. The Ukrainian military has restricted access to front line positions, making it hard to independently assess the state of the offensive. But satellite images suggested that Russian forces had abandoned their position in the village of Kyselivka, less than 20 miles from the regional capital, appearing to confirm accounts from Russian military bloggers. It is unclear if Ukrainian forces have control of the village and it has been fought over in the past. On Sunday, Ukrainian officials announced that the small village of Vysokopillia had been retaken. Only 270 residents remained — from nearly 4,000 before the war — and 80 percent of the homes in the village had been destroyed, according to the Kherson regional press office. “There is no way to restore electricity and water supply, nor to return hospitals, pharmacies and shops to work,” Ukrainian authorities said. Image This handout photograph provided by the Ukrainian Military shows debris of what Ukraine claims is an Iranian-made Shahed-136 drone found near Kupiansk, Ukraine.Credit…Ukrainian Military KOROPOVE, Ukraine — A new and, Ukrainian officers say, frighteningly effective weapon has appeared in the war on the Russian side: Iranian-made attack drones. Russia and Iran never acknowledged striking a deal for the Shahed-136 attack drones, but a senior Ukrainian military official said remnants were discovered on the ground during the counteroffensive that Kyiv began in the northeast earlier this month. The powerful weapon is a so-called kamikaze drone carrying a warhead of about 80 pounds. Its appearance in Ukraine is the first time it has been deployed outside the Middle East. The use of the Shahed-136 drones shows that while Russia remains mostly isolated internationally and was even rebuked just last week by leaders of China and India, Moscow has still found support from Iran. It also adds a layer of geopolitical complexity to the conflict as more nations are drawn into providing weaponry. In its first use in Ukraine, the Iranian drone blew up an American-supplied M777 howitzer used by the Ukrainian military, Colonel Rodion Kulagin, the commander of artillery operations in the Kharkiv counteroffensive, said in an interview. “It blew the triple-seven in half,” Colonel Kulagin said. “Instead of firing 100 artillery shells, it’s easier to release one of these drones” to seek a target, he added. Half a dozen strikes destroyed howitzers and armored vehicles, killing four soldiers and wounded 16, he said. Russia’s use of Iranian drones was reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. The appearance of the drones — even amid Ukraine’s otherwise successful and ongoing counteroffensive in the northeast — prompted Colonel Kulagin to appeal to Ukraine’s Western allies to quickly provide defenses or a similar weapon to strike back. “Give us something like this,” Colonel Kulagin said. Drones have played a crucial role in the conflict already. The United States has supplied Ukraine with its Switchblade drones, and an attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters involved a drone. Ukraine has also deployed Turkish-made Bayraktar TB2 drones firing guided missiles. The Shahed-136 is a delta-wing drone launched from the back of a flatbed truck. Colonel Kulagin said he was not aware of any intelligence documenting the presence of the launcher or drones on the Russian side of the front. But remnants of a drone that crashed near the town of Kupyansk, apparently after malfunctioning, proved the weapon is in use, he said. The weapon drops out of the sky without warning, according to Colonel Kulagin and a Ukrainian artillery officer who witnessed one of the strikes. It is accurate enough to hit a self-propelled howitzer in a spot near the turret where gunpowder is stored, setting off secondary explosions, Colonel Kulagin said. In such strikes nothing remains of the drone after detonation, he said. But witness accounts and the nature of the explosions, which were distinct from the damage caused by artillery fire, made the Ukrainian military confident it its assessment that the drones had been successfully deployed. Debris from the crashed drone indicated that the Russian military had removed its Iranian markings. The drone was mislabeled on a winglet as a Geran-2 Russian-made drone, Colonel Kulagin said. “It’s a very serious problem,” he said. Without countermeasures, he added, “they will destroy all our artillery.” It is unclear how many Iranian attack drones Russia has acquired. The U.S. national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said in July that Russia intended to buy several hundred Iranian drones of various types. The Shahed-136 drones have so far only been deployed in northeastern Ukraine, Colonel Kulagin said. The first successful attack, on the M777 howitzer, was near the town of Chuguyev in August, before the counteroffensive began. The other strikes occurred in the past week or so, he said. “They are testing them and have concentrated them in this region,” Colonel Kulagin said. Captain Volodymyr Danchenko, an artillery officer whom the Ukrainian military made available for a telephone interview, said he witnessed a strike on a self-propelled howitzer — a tracked, armored vehicle that parks briefly to fire artillery before moving to avoid counterattacks. The drone streaked in and obliterated the howitzer, he said. “It was not like artillery that hit us before,” he said. “I haven’t met something like this before.” Maria Varenikova contributed reporting. Image Russia-backed forces outside Donetsk firing a mortar toward the Ukrainian city of Avdiivka on Saturday.Credit…Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters Russian shelling killed five civilians in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Sunday, an official said, among a series of attacks showing that despite facing pressure on the battlefield, Russian forces’ artillery remained a powerful weapon. The official, Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional military governor of Donetsk, said that two of the civilians died in Bakhmut, a city that has been a key focus of a slow Russian advance in recent weeks. Two others were killed in the town of Vuhledar, south of the city of Donetsk, and another in the town of Heorhiivka, he said. Eighteen more people were injured, Mr. Kyrylenko said in a post on the Telegram social messaging app. ...

Jordan Domineck Providing Big Boost To Defense https://digitalarkansasnews.com/jordan-domineck-providing-big-boost-to-defense/ Photo by John D. James Photo by John D. James by: Otis Kirk Posted: Sep 18, 2022 / 09:55 AM CDT Updated: Sep 18, 2022 / 09:55 AM CDT FAYETTEVILLE — Redshirt senior defensive end Jordan Domineck chose Arkansas over Auburn as well as others in recruiting and he has provided a huge boost to the defense. In Arkansas’ 38-27 win over Missouri State on Saturday night Domineck had seven tackles, three solos, two for loss and a pair of sacks. Domineck has been backing up Zach Williams, but getting a lot of snaps. “It’s a great feeling to be able to impact the team,” Domineck said. “I’m out here to play my heart all the way out and do what I need to do. It’s really just the defensive scheme and everybody else is setting it up for me. If you saw that sack at the end of the half, Drew (Sanders) really had him first. It should be 6.5, but he let him go and he saved me. I’m still chasing him. I’m still trying to beat him in sacks.” Sanders has been amazing in the three games at Arkansas after coming in from Alabama. “If that ain’t the truth!,” Domineck said. While the defense had eight sacks and the offense piled up 597 yards it was Bryce Stephens’ punt return that Domineck may have been most excited about. “It really gave us a breath of fresh air,” Domineck said. “Sitting there on the sideline, we saw it happen in real time and we’re just a like, you know how you’re sitting there, and then your heart starts racing and going faster and faster all of a sudden as the play develops. That was really a high for us. We just wanted to be able to ride that momentum.” At Georgia Tech, Domineck played in 31 games with 15 starts. He had 103 tackles, 54 solo, 17 for loss, nine sacks, six forced fumbles, recovered three, eight quarterback hurries and two pass breakups. Pig Trail Video HOGSCHEDULE SECSTANDINGS Trending Stories Read More Here

Trump Mocks J.D. Vance, Saying The Ohio GOP Candidate Is Trying To Get On His Good Side https://digitalarkansasnews.com/trump-mocks-j-d-vance-saying-the-ohio-gop-candidate-is-trying-to-get-on-his-good-side/ While in Ohio campaigning for Republican U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance, former President Donald Trump mocked him.   At a rally Saturday, Trump said Vance is trying to get into his good graces. “J.D. is kissing my ass. Of course, he wants my support,” Trump said to the crowd. “The entire MAGA movement is for J.D. Vance,” he added. Trump said that Vance fell in love with him the same way North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did. “This is a great person who I’ve really gotten to know,” Trump said of Vance. “Yeah, he said some bad things about me, but that was before he knew me and then he fell in love. Remember, I said that about Kim Jong Un – he fell in love, and they said, ‘Oh, Trump was saying he fell in love.’ Actually, he did.” He told the crowd that the choice in November is between voting for Democrats — assuring the continued “destruction” of America — or voting for Republicans in order to save the country. Trump midterms: Investigations may help Donald Trump politically — and that may hurt the Republican Party Latest on Vance: In key US Senate race in Ohio, Democrat Tim Ryan leads Republican JD Vance by a point: Suffolk poll Vance is running against U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan. During his hourlong speech, Trump touched on what he called politically motivated investigations and the “weaponization of the Justice Department,”// and the Afghanistan withdrawal. He also reiterated his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen: “I ran twice, and won twice.”  Vance is running against Ryan for the seat being vacated by retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman. Trump last visited Ohio in April to rally supporters behind the “Hillbilly Elegy” author amid a divisive GOP primary that surfaced Vance’s past criticisms of the former president. “Hillbilly Elegy” portrayed Vance’s rural Midwestern upbringing and made him a media voice of the white working-class during the 2016 presidential election. Last year, upon announcing his candidacy, Vance told the Columbus Dispatch that he disputed criticism that he flip-flopped on his support for Trump, saying he didn’t take the former president seriously at first but always believed in his agenda. “I just didn’t think this guy would actually deliver on it, and he proved me wrong,” Vance said in an interview with the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau in July 2021. Contributing: Record-Courier Read More Here

Biden Draws A Necessary Line https://digitalarkansasnews.com/biden-draws-a-necessary-line/ Bryan Gonzalez  |  Staff Writer On Thursday, Sept. 1, President Joe Biden gave a primetime speech in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA. Under an ominous set with red, white and blue lights in the background, Biden dug into his predecessor, former President Trump, and called him and his supporters out for supporting anti-democratic efforts to subvert the results and certification of the 2020 election. It was the most direct that Biden has been in addressing the growing faction of the Republican Party with an unwavering loyalty to Trump. Biden singled out “MAGA Republicans” and tied them to Trump. He made it clear that he wasn’t talking about all Republicans and that it’s likely that they aren’t even the majority, but just a very loud and vocal minority of GOP voters. While the speech did include the president touting his latest legislative victories, the majority of the speech was aimed at former President Trump and his supporters. It was a bold and politically risky, but necessary step for President Biden to take. Until this speech, Biden has been tepid in criticizing his predecessor publicly and has shied away from confronting the reality that a concerning amount of GOP voters don’t view him as a legitimately elected president. Biden even said when he was campaigning for president that the Trump fever will break in the Republican Party when he defeats Trump and that the GOP will go to the negotiating table with him as president. Biden has operated with this bipartisan framework his entire political career and he has always bragged about working across the aisle and getting stuff down with Republicans. This speech marked a huge change of strategy for the president as he seems to have accepted the reality of just how fractured the electorate and Congress by extension is and is finally going on the offense. As noted by the president in the speech, “Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent an extremism that threatens the very foundation of our republic.” This speech comes at an important time as the midterm elections are only two months away and when Americans go to vote in November, a vast majority of them will have an election denier on their ballot. Donald Trump’s “big lie” about the 2020 election being stolen from him and the idea being mass voter fraud in favor of Joe Biden was laughed out of court in a multitude of cases after the election. That has not changed the mind of Trump’s supporters or even Trump himself. While it has been nearly two years since the election, Trump still pushes election falsehoods in every rally and every press release he writes and this has led to a poll back in June showing 70% of Republicans believing that Biden isn’t the legitimate winner. The speech by Biden also comes at a time when Trump in a recent interview has expressed support for full pardons for the extremists that stormed the capital on January 6th, 2021 trying to keep him in power. And there is also the recent uptake in right-wing extremist attacks and threats against the FBI in light of the raid on Mar-a-Lago. President Biden would have been naive and flagrantly irresponsible if he didn’t bring up the growing extremism in the GOP. While Donald Trump’s legacy is one of blatant disregard for morality and the Constitution, there is probably no crime bigger than his election falsehoods. His “big lie” has led to an embrace of extremism and undermining of democracy. We now see candidates all over the country claim voter fraud and question the outcomes of elections, like Sarah Palin in Alaska and Laura Loomer in Florida. This type of rhetoric is dangerous to democracy and undeniably a characteristic of fascism. During the speech, Biden tried to strike an optimistic tone and made it clear that voters had the power to save the country’s democracy from election-deniers and extremists. While it remains to be seen just how impactful the president’s speech will be on the results in November, it was a necessary step that needed to be taken and one of the most consequential speeches a U.S. president has given in recent memory.  And while the reception to the speech was mixed due to the aggressive tone and the ominous background, it riled up the GOP unlike any speech in Biden’s presidency and it made its main point crystal clear. Biden’s speech in Independence Hall may be viewed in a couple years as one of his very best. Read More Here

Maine Rematch Could Be A Bellwether For Control Of Congress https://digitalarkansasnews.com/maine-rematch-could-be-a-bellwether-for-control-of-congress-2/ AUBURN, Maine (AP) — Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District this year, but his brand of politics is. In a race that will help decide control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden will defend his seat against Republican former Rep. Bruce Poliquin and independent candidate Tiffany Bond. The race is a rematch for Golden and Poliquin, who ran for the same seat in 2018, when Golden emerged victorious by a razor-thin margin. The appeal of Trump-style politics has grown in the district since then despite the fact it is represented by Golden, a moderate Democrat. Poliquin, who represented the 2nd District as a moderate Republican from 2014 to 2018, has shifted his own messaging rightward to try to take advantage of those headwinds. The result is a race that could be an indicator of Trump’s continued influence on swing districts and rural politics. Voters in the district are taking notice. Mary Hunter, a Democrat and retired academic who lives in the city of Lewiston, thinks Golden is still the right candidate for the district. She said she’s voting for him in part because she’s concerned about Democrats losing control of Congress. And she’s aware Trump is still a big influence on a lot of voters in her district. FILE – Bruce Poliquin, Republican candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, speaks to reporters during a campaign stop at Dysart’s Restaurant and Truck Stop, Thursday, May 19, 2022, in Bangor, Maine. In a race that will help decide control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden will defend his seat against Poliquin and independent candidate Tiffany Bond. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Robert F. Bukaty U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, with his daughter Rosemary, speaks to a reporter at his home, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Lewiston, Maine. Golden is being challenged by Republican Bruce Poliquin in the November election. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Robert F. Bukaty PreviousNext “Most people are kind of red team or blue team. I think Jared is doing his best to move to the middle. He’s very centrist,” Hunter said. “Whether that will serve him, I don’t know.” But in Auburn, a nearby city of about 23,000 in the 2nd District, Coastal Defense Firearms owner Rick LaChapelle said he’s planning to vote for Poliquin. LaChapelle, a Republican city councilor in Lewiston, said he respects Golden but feels the Democratic Party has become too extreme. “His party is too radical. He cannot overcome the strength of his party, so you have to change the party,” LaChapelle said. The district, one of two in Maine, includes the state’s second- and third-largest cities — Lewiston and Bangor — but is mostly made up of vast rural areas in northern and western Maine. It also includes the state’s Down East coastline and is home to Maine’s traditional industries such as lobster fishing, logging and potato and blueberry farming. The district is also geographically the largest in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River, and it is far more politically mixed than the heavily Democratic 1st Congressional District in southern Maine. Trump won the 2nd District in 2016 and performed even better in the district in 2020, though he lost the statewide vote both times because of overwhelming margins in the 1st District, centered in liberal Portland. Poliquin has focused his campaign on issues such as curtailing immigration and protecting gun rights. It’s a shift from his earlier campaigns, which focused more closely on controlling taxes and protecting rural jobs, though he continues to tout those issues. His website has warned of liberals who want to defund law enforcement and push critical race theory in schools, and boasted of his work with Trump when he served in Congress. “I came out again from semi-retirement because our country and our state are in deep trouble,” said Poliquin, who was once an investment manager and served two years as Maine’s state treasurer. Golden, a Marine Corps veteran, has long positioned himself as a moderate who supports the 2nd Amendment and works to safeguard industries such as commercial fishing and papermaking. He’s continuing that approach this time around. Golden has shown a willingness to buck his own party over the years, including coming out against President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan in August. His positions have sometimes won him crossover endorsements from groups that often back Republicans, such as when he received the backing of the state’s largest police union in July. The union also endorsed Republican former Gov. Paul LePage, who is running for his old job. Golden said he expects voters to reward him for standing up to the Democratic Party leadership on issues such as Biden’s $740 billion climate and health care bill, which he opposed. “In the last two years, I don’t know of anyone who has been more independent, and more willing to stand up to their own party, than I have been,” Golden said. “I’m not trying to strategize ‘How do I hold on to the Democratic voters or to the Trump voters?’” The race will include the use of ranked-choice voting, which Golden needed to win the seat in 2018. Bond, who came in third in 2018, said independent voters in the race will be the ones who decide it. She said she’s focusing her campaign on issues such as improving health care access and addressing climate change. Bond said she expects ranked voting will play a role again this time around. “I was the candidate who got all the votes that neither party could,” she said. The race is likely to be much closer than Golden’s 2020 reelection victory, said Mark Brewer, a political scientist at University of Maine. Golden won that election handily over Republican Dale Crafts. It’ll be closer this time in part because of national backlash against Democrats over issues such as inflation, Brewer said. But it’ll also be closer simply because the 2nd District is unpredictable, he said. “It’s the kind of district that has a lot of the people Trump made his appeal to in 2016. Relatively rural, largely white working class voters who have a sense of grievance, economic grievance,” Brewer said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that this race is going to be closer than Golden’s last race.” ___ Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ap_politics. Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More Here

Trump Said He Wouldn't Pick Pence As His VP Again Because He 'committed Political Suicide' By Refusing To Reject Electoral College Votes For Biden: Book https://digitalarkansasnews.com/trump-said-he-wouldnt-pick-pence-as-his-vp-again-because-he-committed-political-suicide-by-refusing-to-reject-electoral-college-votes-for-biden-book/ Donald Trump said he wouldn’t pick Mike Pence to be his VP again, according to an upcoming book. Trump said Pence “committed political suicide” when he refused to intervene in the election certification process. Pence has previously stated that the vice president has no authority to overrule the results under the US Constitution. Loading Something is loading. Former President Donald Trump wouldn’t pick Mike Pence to be his running mate if he were to run for president again in 2024, according to an upcoming new book. Trump has yet to announce a 2024 run but he’s been teasing one since leaving the White House.  “It would be totally inappropriate” to pick Pence as his running mate, Trump said, according to a report from The Guardian, which obtained an advance copy of the upcoming book from journalists Susan Glasser and Peter Baker. “Mike committed political suicide” when he refused to intervene in the election certification process as the former president had pressed him to do, Trump told Glasser and Baker. Numerous reports have noted an apparent rift between Pence and Trump during the final days of his presidency, which reached its apex during the Capitol riot.  In January 2020, Pence ignored Trump’s request to intervene in the process, and he later said that Trump was incorrect to say the vice president had the power to overturn the results of a presidential election.  Though the two are no longer on speaking terms, Pence’s remarks drew outrage from Trump, who, in response, plainly called Pence “wrong.” Trump falsely claim that proposed changes to the Electoral Count Act gave Pence the authority. “The reason they want [the law] changed is because they now say they don’t want the Vice President to have the right to ensure an honest vote. In other words, I was right and everyone knows it,” Trump said at the time, adding “Dems and RINOs” want to block the vice president from ensuring an “honest vote.”  “A great opportunity lost, but not forever, in the meantime our Country is going to hell!” Trump said. The Electoral Count Act spells out how Congress counts presidential electors and resolves disputes over results. Lawmakers are seeking to update the bill and clarify language that “leaves a door open for overt partisan manipulation of presidential election results at both the state and federal levels,” Insider’s Grace Panetta reported. As vice president, Pence’s job was to preside over the certification of the Electoral College in what is largely a ceremonial role. He did not have the power to overrule the results under the Constitution. Since the insurrection, Pence has spoken out about his role in the Capitol riot, saying that January 6 was “difficult” to get through and calling it “a tragic day in the life of the nation.”  “I know I did my duty under the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said in a Fox News interview this past January. “But the president and I sat down in the days that followed that, we spoke about it, talked through it, we parted amicably.” Read More Here

In A First, EU Moves To Cut Money For Hungary Over Damaging Democracy https://digitalarkansasnews.com/in-a-first-eu-moves-to-cut-money-for-hungary-over-damaging-democracy/ Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrives for the European Union leaders summit, as EU’s leaders attempt to agree on Russian oil sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Brussels, Belgium May 30, 2022. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/File Photo Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com EU executive proposes taking 7.5 billion euros from Hungary Says remedies proposed by Hungary could work if well implemented 27 EU countries have three months to decide, no veto EU tests new democracy sanction for the first time Hungary pledges to meet all commitments to unlock EU funds BRUSSELS/BUDAPEST, Sept 18 (Reuters) – The European Union executive recommended on Sunday suspending some 7.5 billion euros in funding for Hungary over corruption, the first such case in the 27-nation bloc under a new sanction meant to better protect the rule of law. The EU introduced the new financial sanction two years ago precisely in response to what it says amounts to the undermining of democracy in Poland and Hungary, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban subdued courts, media, NGOs and academia, as well as restricting the rights of migrants, gays and women during more than a decade in power. “It’s about breaches of the rule of law compromising the use and management of EU funds,” said EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn. “We cannot conclude that the EU budget is sufficiently protected.” Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com He highlighted systemic irregularities in Hungary’s public procurement laws, insufficient safeguards against conflicts of interest, weaknesses in effective prosecution and shortcomings in other anti-graft measures. Hahn said the Commission was recommending the suspension of about a third of cohesion funds envisaged for Hungary from the bloc’s shared budget for 2021-27 worth a total of 1.1 trillion euros. The 7.5 billion euros in question amounts to 5% of the country’s estimated 2022 GDP. EU countries now have up to three months to decide on the proposal. Hahn said Hungary’s latest promise to address EU criticisms was a significant step in the right direction but must still be translated into new laws and practical actions before the bloc would be reassured. Development Minister Tibor Navracsics, in charge of negotiations with the EU, said Hungary would meet all 17 of its commitments made to the European Commission to stave off the loss of any EU funding. “Hungary did not make commitments to befuddle the Commission,” Navracsics told a news conference. “We have made commitments that we know can be implemented … therefore, we will not be facing a loss of funds.” CORRUPTION Orban’s government proposed creating a new anti-graft agency in recent weeks as Budapest came under pressure to secure money for the ailing economy and forint, the worst-performing currency in the EU’s east. Orban, who calls himself a “freedom fighter” against the world view of the liberal West, denies that Hungary – an ex-communist country of some 10 million people – is any more corrupt than others in the EU. Navracsics said Orban’s government would submit laws to parliament on Friday to establish a new independent anti-graft authority to monitor the public procurement of EU funds, with the body to be launched by the second half of November. Hungary has also pledged to implement several other anti-corruption safeguards, including tighter rules on conflicts of interest, extending the scope of financial statements and broadening the power of judges to pursue suspected corruption. Navracsics expressed hope that the Commission would be reassured by the implementation of the reforms and withdraw its proposed sanctions against Hungary by Nov. 19. The Commission is already blocking some 6 billion euros in funds envisaged for Hungary in a separate COVID economic recovery stimulus over the same corruption concerns. Reuters documented in 2018 how Orban channels EU development funds to his friends and family, a practice human rights organisations say has immensely enriched his inner circle and allowed the 59-year-old to entrench himself in power. Hungary had irregularities in nearly 4% of EU funds spending in 2015-2019, according to the bloc’s anti-fraud body OLAF, by far the worst result among the 27 EU countries. Orban has also rubbed many in the bloc up the wrong way by cultivating continued close ties with President Vladimir Putin and threatening to deny EU unity needed to impose and preserve sanctions on Russia for waging war against Ukraine. https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/hungary-orban-balaton/ Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; editing by David Evans Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles. Read More Here

Charge Against Fort Smith City Administrator Requested Over Flags’ Removal https://digitalarkansasnews.com/charge-against-fort-smith-city-administrator-requested-over-flags-removal/ Empty flagpoles at Riverfront Park in Fort Smith are seen in this June 3, 2021 file photo. The flagpoles were installed in 2001 for the Flags over Fort Smith display, featuring the seven historic flags that have flown over the city, including the Confederate flag. (File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette) FORT SMITH — Attorney Joey McCutchen is asking Daniel Shue, Sebastian County prosecuting attorney, to charge Fort Smith City Administrator Carl Geffken with a misdemeanor for removing the Flags Over Fort Smith display without public input or approval from city directors. McCutchen claimed Friday that in doing so, Geffken repeatedly violated the Arkansas State Capitol and Historical Monument Protection Act. The monument act became law in April 2021. It states that except as permitted by law or authorized under the Arkansas History Commission, a historical monument cannot be moved, vandalized, damaged, destroyed, removed, altered, renamed or otherwise disturbed. However, the act doesn’t prohibit a governmental entity having responsibility for maintaining a historical monument from taking proper measures for the protection, preservation, care, repair or restoration of a monument. A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $2,500. Colby Roe, one of the city’s attorneys, wrote a letter on Geffken’s behalf to Shue, which said in part McCutchen is misrepresenting the issue either mistakenly or intentionally. He said the city didn’t permanently remove the display, but was waiting for further guidance from the commission. Roe said there has been no violation on behalf of Geffken or anyone else in the city. Shue did not return a phone call left Friday afternoon seeking comment. McCutchen’s request comes roughly one week after a state panel decided the city must keep the Confederate flag as part of its Flags over Fort Smith display if the city wants to restore the monument at Riverfront Park. The Flags over Fort Smith display featured flags that have flown over Fort Smith since 1699 and included the French Fleur-De-Lis, the Spanish Cross of Burgundy, the French Tri-Color Flag, the U.S. 15-star, 20-star and 24-star flags and the Confederate flag. The commission’s decision doesn’t mean Fort Smith will be required to put the flag display back up — that decision rests with city officials — but if it does, the display must include the Confederate flag. The waiver request determining the disposition of the Riverfront Park flag display was the first to go before the Arkansas History Commission since the Arkansas State Capitol and Historical Monument Protection Act became law. The city tried to get new flags for the display two years ago, but learned the vendor no longer sold Confederate flags. The city decided the flags would not be reinstalled and instead decided to replace them with flags that represent the six branches of the military. Geffken admitted to the commission the decision to remove the flags was his. Read More Here

Echoing Trump, These Republicans Won’t Promise To Accept 2022 Results https://digitalarkansasnews.com/echoing-trump-these-republicans-wont-promise-to-accept-2022-results/ Six Republican nominees for governor and the Senate in key midterm states, all backed by Donald Trump, would not commit to accepting the November outcome. Five others did not answer the question. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Ballots being counted during this year’s primary in Michigan, where Tudor Dixon, the Republican nominee for governor, declined to commit to accepting the outcome of the November election.Credit…Emily Elconin for The New York Times Sept. 18, 2022Updated 9:17 a.m. ET WASHINGTON — Nearly two years after President Donald J. Trump refused to accept his defeat in the 2020 election, some of his most loyal Republican acolytes might follow in his footsteps. When asked, six Trump-backed Republican nominees for governor and the Senate in midterm battlegrounds would not commit to accepting this year’s election results, and another five Republicans ignored or declined to answer a question about embracing the November outcome. All of them, along with many other G.O.P. candidates, have pre-emptively cast doubt on how their states count votes. The New York Times contacted Republican and Democratic candidates or their aides in 20 key contests for governor and the Senate. All of the Democrats said, or have said publicly, that they would respect the November results — including Stacey Abrams of Georgia, who refused to concede her 2018 defeat to Brian Kemp in the state’s race for governor. Mr. Kemp, now running against her for another term, “will of course accept the outcome of the 2022 election,” said his press secretary, Tate Mitchell. But several Republicans endorsed by Mr. Trump are hesitant to say that they will not fight the results. Among the party’s Senate candidates, Ted Budd in North Carolina, Blake Masters in Arizona, Kelly Tshibaka in Alaska and J.D. Vance in Ohio all declined to commit to accepting the 2022 results. So did Tudor Dixon, the Republican nominee for governor of Michigan, and Geoff Diehl, who won the G.O.P. primary for governor of Massachusetts this month. The candidates and their aides offered an array of explanations. Some blamed Democratic state election officials or made unsubstantiated claims that their opponents would cheat. In Alaska, a spokesman for Ms. Tshibaka pointed to a new ranked-choice voting system that has been criticized by Republicans and already helped deliver victory to a Democrat in a House special election this year. Image Kelly Tshibaka, a Republican candidate for Senate in Alaska, at a rally hosted by former President Donald J. Trump in Anchorage. She has also declined to say whether she will respect this year’s election results.Credit…Ash Adams for The New York Times An aide to Ms. Dixon, Sara Broadwater, said “there’s no reason to believe” that Michigan election officials, including Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic secretary of state, “are very serious about secure elections.” To some degree, the stances by these Republican candidates — which echo Mr. Trump’s comments before the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections — may amount to political posturing, in an effort to appeal to G.O.P. voters who do not believe the former president lost in 2020. An aide to one Republican nominee insisted that the candidate would accept this year’s results, but the aide declined to be publicly identified saying so. And unlike Mr. Trump two years ago, the candidates who suggest they might dispute the November results do not hold executive office, and lack control of the levers of government power. If any were to reject a fair defeat, they would be far less likely to ignite the kind of democratic crisis that Mr. Trump set off after his 2020 loss. But they do have loud megaphones in a highly polarized media environment, and any unwarranted challenges from the candidates and their allies could fuel anger, confusion and misinformation. “The danger of a Trumpist coup is far from over,” said Rosa Brooks, a law professor at Georgetown University who in early 2020 convened a group to brainstorm ways Mr. Trump could disrupt that year’s election. “As long as we have a significant number of Americans who don’t accept principles of democracy and the rule of law, our democracy remains in jeopardy.” The positions of these Republican candidates also reflect how, over the last two years, some of those aligned with Mr. Trump increasingly reject the idea that it is possible for their side to lose a legitimate election. “You accept the results of the election if the election is fair and honest,” said John Fredericks, a syndicated talk radio host who was a chairman of Mr. Trump’s campaigns in Virginia in 2016 and 2020. “If it’s not fair and honest, you don’t.” Still, many Republican candidates, including several who have cast doubt on the 2020 outcome, said they would recognize this year’s results. Darren Bailey, the Republican nominee for governor of Illinois — who said in a June interview that he did not know if the 2020 election had been decided fairly — responded that “yes,” he would accept the 2022 result. In Nevada, the campaign of Adam Laxalt, the Republican nominee for Senate, said he would not challenge the final results — even though Mr. Laxalt, a former state attorney general, helped lead the effort to overturn Mr. Trump’s 2020 defeat in the state, spoke last year about plans to file lawsuits to contest the 2022 election and called voter fraud the “biggest issue” in his campaign. Image Joe Lombardo, left, a Republican running for governor of Nevada, and Adam Laxalt, center, the party’s nominee for the Senate, said they would not challenge the state’s results.Credit…Roger Kisby for The New York Times “Of course he’ll accept Nevada’s certified election results, even if your failing publication won’t,” said Brian Freimuth, a spokesman for Mr. Laxalt. How Times reporters cover politics. We rely on our journalists to be independent observers. So while Times staff members may vote, they are not allowed to endorse or campaign for candidates or political causes. This includes participating in marches or rallies in support of a movement or giving money to, or raising money for, any political candidate or election cause. And Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, who said during his successful Republican primary campaign for Senate that “we cannot move on” from the 2020 election, promised to uphold voters’ will. “Yes, Dr. Oz will accept the result of the PA Senate race in November,” Rachel Tripp, an Oz spokeswoman, wrote in a text message. Three other Republican Senate candidates — Herschel Walker in Georgia, Joe O’Dea in Colorado and Senator Lisa Murkowski in Alaska — committed to embracing their state’s election results. So did several Republicans running for governor, including Mr. Kemp, Joe Lombardo in Nevada and Christine Drazan of Oregon. Aides to several Republican nominees for governor who have questioned the 2020 election’s legitimacy did not respond to repeated requests for comment on their own races in November. Those candidates included Doug Mastriano of Pennsylvania, Kari Lake of Arizona, Tim Michels of Wisconsin and Dan Cox of Maryland. Ms. Lake was asked in a radio interview this month whether she would concede a defeat to Katie Hobbs, her Democratic rival and Arizona’s secretary of state. “I’m not losing to Katie Hobbs,” Ms. Lake replied. Ms. Hobbs’s spokeswoman, Sarah Robinson, said her candidate “will accept the results of the election in November.” Aides to Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Don Bolduc, the Republican Senate nominee in New Hampshire, declined to answer questions about acknowledging the results. Mr. Johnson has been a prolific spreader of misinformation about the 2020 election and the Capitol riot. Mr. Bolduc claimed that the 2020 contest was stolen from Mr. Trump until Thursday, when he announced two days after winning his primary that President Biden had won legitimately. During a Republican primary debate in Michigan in June, Ms. Dixon would not commit to honoring the results of the primary — which she went on to win — or the general election, pre-emptively accusing Ms. Benson, the secretary of state, of election fraud. “If we see the secretary of state running a fair election the way she should be, then that’s a different story,” Ms. Dixon said. “We have to see what she’s going to do to make sure it’s going to be a fair election.” In a statement, a representative for Ms. Benson said she and her staff “work tirelessly to ensure the state’s elections are secure and accurate, and expect every candidate and election official to respect the will of the people.” Image A crowd in Phoenix watched in September 2021 as the findings of a widely criticized Republican-led review of the state’s 2020 votes were presented to state lawmakers.Credit…Adriana Zehbrauskas for The New York Times In Arizona — where Republicans spent months on a government-funded review of 2020 ballots that failed to show any evidence of fraud — Mr. Masters, the Trump-backed Republican nominee for Senate, baselessly predicted to supporters in July that even if he defeated Senator Mark Kelly, the incumbent Democrat, enough votes would somehow be produced to flip the result. “There’s always cheating, probably, in every election,” Mr. Masters said. “The question is, what’s the cheating capacity?” A Masters aide, Katie Miller, sent The Times an August article in The Arizona Republic in which Mr. Masters said there was “evidence of incompetence” but not of fraud in the state’s primary election. Ms. Miller declined to say if Mr. Masters would respect the November results. Mr. Kelly “has total trust in Arizona’s electoral process,” said a spokeswoman, Sarah Guggenheimer. An aide to Mr. Vance, Taylor Van Kirk, ci...

MHCA Gets 2 Volleyball Wins At Sherwood https://digitalarkansasnews.com/mhca-gets-2-volleyball-wins-at-sherwood/ The Mountain Home Christian Academy volleyball team had a good weekend with two victories Saturday in Sherwood. The Lady Eagles began the day by topping Garrett Memorial in straight sets. Mountain Home Christian posted scores of 25-16, 25-10 and 25-13. The Lady Eagles wrapped up the day with a four-set victory over Abundant Life. Mountain Home Christian won with scores of 22-25, 25-23, 25-17 and 25-10. Carolyn Rogers led the Lady Eagles on the day with 12 kills and three blocks; Kenna Riley provided eight kills, eight blocks and three digs; Caroline Robinson had eight kills and four digs; Maddy Simmons dished out 25 assists; Joanna Oliger finished with six aces; Claire Hammonds ended up with six digs; and Kytalin Cotter added two aces and three digs. WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI Read More Here

Maine Rematch Could Be A Bellwether For Control Of Congress https://digitalarkansasnews.com/maine-rematch-could-be-a-bellwether-for-control-of-congress/ PATRICK WHITTLE, Associated Press Sep. 18, 2022Updated: Sep. 18, 2022 8:56 a.m. This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate 1of5U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, speaks to a reporter at his home, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Lewiston, Maine. Golden is being challenged by Republican Bruce Poliquin in the November election.Robert F. Bukaty/APShow MoreShow Less 2of5U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, with his daughter Rosemary, speaks to a reporter at his home, Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, in Lewiston, Maine. Golden is being challenged by Republican Bruce Poliquin in the November election.Robert F. Bukaty/APShow MoreShow Less 3of5 4of5FILE – Bruce Poliquin, Republican candidate for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, speaks to reporters during a campaign stop at Dysart’s Restaurant and Truck Stop, Thursday, May 19, 2022, in Bangor, Maine. In a race that will help decide control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden will defend his seat against Poliquin and independent candidate Tiffany Bond.Robert F. Bukaty/APShow MoreShow Less 5of5 AUBURN, Maine (AP) — Donald Trump isn’t on the ballot in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District this year, but his brand of politics is. In a race that will help decide control of the U.S. House of Representatives, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden will defend his seat against Republican former Rep. Bruce Poliquin and independent candidate Tiffany Bond. The race is a rematch for Golden and Poliquin, who ran for the same seat in 2018, when Golden emerged victorious by a razor-thin margin. The appeal of Trump-style politics has grown in the district since then despite the fact it is represented by Golden, a moderate Democrat. Poliquin, who represented the 2nd District as a moderate Republican from 2014 to 2018, has shifted his own messaging rightward to try to take advantage of those headwinds. The result is a race that could be an indicator of Trump’s continued influence on swing districts and rural politics. Voters in the district are taking notice. Mary Hunter, a Democrat and retired academic who lives in the city of Lewiston, thinks Golden is still the right candidate for the district. She said she’s voting for him in part because she’s concerned about Democrats losing control of Congress. And she’s aware Trump is still a big influence on a lot of voters in her district. “Most people are kind of red team or blue team. I think Jared is doing his best to move to the middle. He’s very centrist,” Hunter said. “Whether that will serve him, I don’t know.” But in Auburn, a nearby city of about 23,000 in the 2nd District, Coastal Defense Firearms owner Rick LaChapelle said he’s planning to vote for Poliquin. LaChapelle, a Republican city councilor in Lewiston, said he respects Golden but feels the Democratic Party has become too extreme. “His party is too radical. He cannot overcome the strength of his party, so you have to change the party,” LaChapelle said. The district, one of two in Maine, includes the state’s second- and third-largest cities — Lewiston and Bangor — but is mostly made up of vast rural areas in northern and western Maine. It also includes the state’s Down East coastline and is home to Maine’s traditional industries such as lobster fishing, logging and potato and blueberry farming. The district is also geographically the largest in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River, and it is far more politically mixed than the heavily Democratic 1st Congressional District in southern Maine. Trump won the 2nd District in 2016 and performed even better in the district in 2020, though he lost the statewide vote both times because of overwhelming margins in the 1st District, centered in liberal Portland. Poliquin has focused his campaign on issues such as curtailing immigration and protecting gun rights. It’s a shift from his earlier campaigns, which focused more closely on controlling taxes and protecting rural jobs, though he continues to tout those issues. His website has warned of liberals who want to defund law enforcement and push critical race theory in schools, and boasted of his work with Trump when he served in Congress. “I came out again from semi-retirement because our country and our state are in deep trouble,” said Poliquin, who was once an investment manager and served two years as Maine’s state treasurer. Golden, a Marine Corps veteran, has long positioned himself as a moderate who supports the 2nd Amendment and works to safeguard industries such as commercial fishing and papermaking. He’s continuing that approach this time around. Golden has shown a willingness to buck his own party over the years, including coming out against President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan in August. His positions have sometimes won him crossover endorsements from groups that often back Republicans, such as when he received the backing of the state’s largest police union in July. The union also endorsed Republican former Gov. Paul LePage, who is running for his old job. Golden said he expects voters to reward him for standing up to the Democratic Party leadership on issues such as Biden’s $740 billion climate and health care bill, which he opposed. “In the last two years, I don’t know of anyone who has been more independent, and more willing to stand up to their own party, than I have been,” Golden said. “I’m not trying to strategize ‘How do I hold on to the Democratic voters or to the Trump voters?’” The race will include the use of ranked-choice voting, which Golden needed to win the seat in 2018. Bond, who came in third in 2018, said independent voters in the race will be the ones who decide it. She said she’s focusing her campaign on issues such as improving health care access and addressing climate change. Bond said she expects ranked voting will play a role again this time around. “I was the candidate who got all the votes that neither party could,” she said. The race is likely to be much closer than Golden’s 2020 reelection victory, said Mark Brewer, a political scientist at University of Maine. Golden won that election handily over Republican Dale Crafts. It’ll be closer this time in part because of national backlash against Democrats over issues such as inflation, Brewer said. But it’ll also be closer simply because the 2nd District is unpredictable, he said. “It’s the kind of district that has a lot of the people Trump made his appeal to in 2016. Relatively rural, largely white working class voters who have a sense of grievance, economic grievance,” Brewer said. “I don’t think there’s any doubt that this race is going to be closer than Golden’s last race.” ___ Follow AP for full coverage of the midterms at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections and on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ap_politics. Read More Here

Biden Warns US Democracy Threatened, But How Can He Save It? https://digitalarkansasnews.com/biden-warns-us-democracy-threatened-but-how-can-he-save-it/ WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is finding it’s easier to call out attacks on democracy than it is to stop them. His fundamental rationale for running for president was that America’s democratic traditions were in jeopardy. Now, 20 months into his presidency, the dangers are worse, Biden’s warnings are more dire — and the limits of his own ability to fix the problem are clearer. Former President Donald Trump continues to stoke the baseless claim the 2020 election was stolen, and even now advocates for the results in certain battleground states to be decertified even though the falsehood has been rejected by dozens of courts and his own attorney general. The belief has taken deep root in the Republican Party, with dozens of candidates insisting Trump was right. Never in the country’s history have elections taken place in a climate where one party has so frontally questioned the integrity of the electoral process and actively sought to undermine confidence in it. “We’re in an unprecedented situation here, because Biden’s predecessor has shown a flagrant disregard for the Constitution of the United States, and now others are following that path,” said Princeton historian Sean Wilentz, who was among a group invited to the White House recently to put today’s challenges in historical context. “It could be dangerous.” FILE – President Joe Biden speaks outside Independence Hall, Sept. 1, 2022, in Philadelphia. In the speech, Biden described democracy as “under assault” and pledged that it was the work of his presidency to defend it. But he also said the solution had to be bigger than him, that he can’t turn back what he sees as a years-long backslide in American political norms on his own. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Matt Slocum FILE – Security forces draw their guns as rioters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. The Department of Justice is prosecuting those who violently stormed the Capitol. More than 870 people have been charged and more than 400 convicted. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/J. Scott Applewhite FILE – President Donald Trump speaks during a rally protesting the electoral college certification of Joe Biden as President in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. Trump continues to stoke the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen, and even now advocates for the results in certain battleground states to be decertified even though the falsehood has been rejected by dozens of courts and his own attorney general. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS/Evan Vucci PreviousNext Biden has found, even with the megaphone of the White House, how difficult it is to counter the Trump-inspired narrative and the millions of Americans who believe it. Trump allies have been going around the country peddling lies about the 2020 election and conspiracy theories about voting machines, while Republican candidates running for office this year have repeated his lies to their supporters –- messaging that has reached a broad audience. Every U.S. president swears to “preserve, protect and defend” the U.S. Constitution, but even in ordinary times there is no playbook for safeguarding it. Biden took that oath as the nation was facing challenges unmatched since perhaps the U.S. Civil War, in the view of some historians. In a speech earlier this month at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall, Biden described democracy as “under assault” and pledged that it was the work of his presidency to defend it. But he also said the solution had to be bigger than him, that he can’t turn back what he sees as a years-long backslide in American political norms on his own. “For a long time, we’ve told ourselves that American democracy is guaranteed. But it’s not,” he said. “We have to defend it, protect it, stand up for it – each and every one of us.” Has Biden himself done enough? His efforts at persuasion don’t seem to have produced any significant shift in public opinion. His push for voting rights legislation in Congress has for the most part fallen short. Beyond the president’s increasingly drastic warnings, White House officials point to the administration’s efforts to push voting rights safeguards through Congress and to their support for the Electoral Count Act, which would patch ambiguities exploited by Trump and his allies. The Department of Justice is prosecuting those who violently stormed the Capitol. More than 870 people have been charged and more than 400 convicted. The administration also has sounded the alarm about domestic extremist groups. There’s an increasing overlap with politically-fueled violence, as a growing number of ardent Trump supporters seem ready to strike back against the FBI or others they consider going too far in investigating the former president. And the National Security Council has developed a whole-of-government strategy to counter domestic violent extremism, which U.S. intelligence officials have called the top threat to homeland security. While voters ranked threats to democracy as the most important issue ahead of the midterm elections, according to an NBC News poll late last month, the conspiracy theories pushed by Trump and his allies have succeeded in sowing doubts about the integrity of U.S. elections in a large swath of the population. Two-thirds of Republicans believe Biden wasn’t legitimately elected president, according to an AP-NORC poll. They believe that votes were switched, or voting machines were corrupted en masse, or that fake ballots were cast in favor of Biden because pandemic-era policies made voting too easy. Trump-backed candidates are winning primaries and some will make it to Congress. In the states, nearly 1 in 3 Republican candidates for offices that play a role in overseeing, certifying or defending elections supported overturning the results of the 2020 presidential race. Candidates have signaled a new willingness to simply refuse to accept the results of their election if they lose. And election workers across the country are getting death threats and are harassed online, pushing many to just resign. “We are very clearly playing with fire with some of the new tactics, allowing them to proliferate around the country,” said Matthew Weil, the executive director of our Democracy Program at the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank. “It’s: ‘If my candidate loses, I’m going to drag it out as long as possible. I can cut the legs out from the person who beat me from taking office.’ That’s a new feature and it’s pretty dangerous. We can’t have an election system where people aren’t willing to lose.” Checking the antidemocratic forces within Trumpism is not just a policy aim, it’s a political endeavor as well, and that clouds the picture. Biden aides say his best tool to try to preserve democracy is his use of the bully pulpit to make clear to voters that they play a vital role in participating in the electoral process and deciding whom to put into positions of influence. He isn’t the only one sounding the alarm. The special congressional committee investigating the 2021 Capitol insurrection has delivered the same message, as have election officials in states across the country, historians and other lawmakers. Administration allies say Biden’s efforts have resonated with voters, particularly as Trump’s behavior in late 2020 and early 2021 has been cast into stark relief by the Jan. 6 committee. But the president’s remarks have largely been dismissed by Republicans unwilling to break with Trump. Former Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump supporters threatened to hang on Jan. 6 and who hid in a secure location beneath the building as the masses hunted him in the halls, decried Biden’s comments after the Philadelphia speech. “Never before in the history of our nation has a president stood before the American people and accused millions of his own countrymen of being a ‘threat to this country,’” Pence said in remarks to conservatives. Former U.N. ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley called Biden “the most condescending president of my lifetime.” The struggle the nation is facing goes beyond political parties, though. And “unless and until enough people fight for, protect and build our democracy, the fever we see today will continue,” said Melody Barnes, head of the University of Virginia Karsh Institute of Democracy. The closest parallel, historians say, has been the Civil War era, when war broke out after Southern states wouldn’t recognize Abraham Lincoln had been elected president. Following the end of fighting, there was a continued refusal to accept the rule of law during Reconstruction, as deep racism and violence proliferated, resulting eventually in the Jim Crow era. At critical moments, U.S. leaders have taken a stand to protect the nation from itself. George Washington left office to ensure future leaders would willingly walk away, too. Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon after Watergate — a wildly unpopular move in 1974 but one that has since been viewed more as an effort to push the country past a national nightmare. Biden, at a summit this past week on countering hate-fueled violence, talked about how good he felt years ago when he worked successfully with Republicans in the Senate to get the Voting Rights Act extended. “And I thought, well, you know, hate can be defeated,” he said. “But it only hides,” he said with a sigh. “And when given any oxygen, it comes out from under the rocks.” Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Read More Here

Creepy, One-Finger Salute At Trump Rally Evokes https://digitalarkansasnews.com/creepy-one-finger-salute-at-trump-rally-evokes/ In what’s likely the eeriest of countless eerie scenes at a Donald Trump rally, the former president on Saturday lamented the ugly chaos of these times while supporters raised one finger in an overhead salute reminiscent of the “heil Hitler” gesture. Trump ticked off his imagined list of current horrors in a kind of dirge with music playing in the background. Several supporters, some with heads bowed, stood quietly in the audience with a single finger raised above their heads. Some viewers speculated that it referred to the nationalist “America first” slogan, while others claimed it was a symbol of QAnon, which Trump is increasingly espousing. Some in the audience were employing a modified white supremacy “OK” hate sign with only the index finger extended. Aaron Rupar, a journalist who posts clips of Trump speeches, called the scene “one of the most bizarre things I’ve seen at a Trump rally, All it is missing is passing around Kool-Aid right after.” Jesus christ that’s about as close to a crowd of people doing a nazi salute as you’ll probably get outside of an actual nazi meeting where they openly admit they’re nazis. — John Preston (@ArlanKels) September 18, 2022 When Trump first became president, he was shockingly hailed with the Hitler gesture by members of the far-right National Policy Institute. Organization president Richard Spencer shouted, “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” Trump was not on the scene. Read More Here

Historian Douglas Brinkley Talks Democracy, Presidential History At NIU Virtual Event https://digitalarkansasnews.com/historian-douglas-brinkley-talks-democracy-presidential-history-at-niu-virtual-event/ A screen grab of presidential historian Douglas Brinkley (left) and NIU dean Robert Brinkmann (right) engaging in discussion during a Sept. 15, 2022, virtual event put on by Northern Illinois University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. (Megann Horstead) September 18, 2022 at 5:45 am CDT DeKALB – Northern Illinois University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences hosted the latest in its Rebuilding Democracy Lecture Series this week, with discussion covering the current state of democracy, highs and lows of the presidency, elections and presidential influence on America’s standing across the world. The virtual event, moderated by NIU dean Robert Brinkmann, featured a special guest appearance by presidential historian Douglas Brinkley. It also included a Q&A session to engage those on hand for the event. “On a local level, I feel things function in a sense that we’re not pointing fingers at each other at a football game or a Little League game,” Brinkley said. But at the federal level, the public’s view of government isn’t always so rosy, he said. Brinkley said the public’s understanding of federal government shows that the nation has a problem on its hands. He said it’s prompted some to demonize the federal government and what public officials are doing. “That’s why believing in free and fair elections so that our voting is real matters so much,” Brinkley said. Brinkley acknowledged that people may have fear about the future of democracy after the 2020 election but said the state of the nation isn’t uniquely oppressive. He gave several examples, including the time when Abraham Lincoln’s name failed to appear on the ballot in seven Southern states. “Imagine you’re living in one of those seven states and the guy who’s president wasn’t even on the ballot,” Brinkley said. “That spelled a lot of dysfunction.” When asked if there’s anything good to take away from the legacies of former Presidents Warren Harding, Donald Trump and Richard Nixon, Brinkley said it’s complicated. Brinkley said the three former presidents are in the “doghouse of history” right now. “Those three presidents, for many people, are all about corruption,” he said. Nixon often is known for his part in the Watergate scandal that involved a break-in of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. Much like Nixon, Harding became the subject of scandal by engaging in business dealings with friends that led to him pinning the blame for a major corruption on a fall guy. Brinkley said it’s too soon to tell whether Trump will remain in the doghouse for what he did while in office. “Trump’s hard to judge because we don’t know if he’s a one-off asterisk president who served one term,” Brinkley said. “But if he got reelected, it means now there’s something more. He’s kind of a movement, Trump, more than just a president. His idea is to kind of destroy the institution of the presidency.” But Brinkley said he believes Trump has helped Nixon’s legacy and is helping pave the way for him to revise his presidential history. “I don’t think his revision will ever go too far,” Brinkley said. Read More Here

Georgia DA Builds 2020 Election Conspiracy Story From Bottom To Top | Jay Bookman – Pennsylvania Capital-Star https://digitalarkansasnews.com/georgia-da-builds-2020-election-conspiracy-story-from-bottom-to-top-jay-bookman-pennsylvania-capital-star/ Uncategorized Never before have we witnessed a serious, multi-pronged attempt to halt the peaceful transfer of presidential power By Jay Bookman I don’t think Georgia is prepared for what’s coming its way. I don’t know how it could be, not with the most important and controversial trial in American history looming in its not-too-distant future. Now, maybe that trial will never happen. After months of investigative work into an alleged criminal conspiracy to interfere with and overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election, the special grand jury convened by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis could decide that no indictments are warranted. After all, we don’t know what if anything the investigation is finding, because there have been few leaks of consequence. The grand jury process is supposed to be secret, and Willis and her team have been far more professional, diligent and disciplined about honoring secrecy requirements than a certain ex-president has been. That high degree of professionalism and discipline tells us that Willis is taking this very seriously, as she must. And I find it hard to believe that someone who has run such a tight ship is still stringing out a probe that hasn’t found much. Donald Trump’s prospects of escaping unscathed would be far better with an investigation that was loose and sloppy, which so far this shows no sign of being. To the contrary, through court filings, subpoenas and witness statements to the media, we know that the investigation has been broad and wide-ranging. “False electors” who proclaimed themselves the true voice of Georgia voters, and who sent false documents to Congress to that effect, have been warned they might be targets for prosecution. Rudy Giuliani, who told a string of huge whoppers to the Georgia Legislature to try to get it to hand Georgia’s electoral votes to Donald Trump, is also a potential target. Subpoenas have been issued to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, to Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood, to Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, as well as many others. Trump’s fake electors: Here’s the full list Willis and her team are also exploring the illegal breach of voting machines in Coffee County by Trump advocates, a crime that Georgia’s Republican leadership has been notably slow to address, as well as an apparent attempt to intimidate Fulton County poll workers who were falsely accused of rigging the election outcome. Again, this is not the behavior of an investigative team that is coming up empty. It looks instead like the careful, confident work of a team that is quietly disassembling a conspiracy network, figuring out how this effort is related to that effort, who gave the orders, who drew up the strategy, who should be held responsible. And while we have no insight into the operations of the special grand jury, congressional investigations into Trump’s effort to remain in office despite losing the election have been far more public. Extremely damning emails, messages and witness testimony from Trump officials, including requests for pardons from conspiracy participants, have no doubt contributed immensely to Willis’ effort to weave all of this into a narrative that she can take to a jury, a narrative that places Trump at the center of it all. It would be an injustice to prosecute and potentially convict those at lower rungs of an alleged conspiracy to overthrow American democracy while allowing the man who would have benefitted most from it, who inspired it and who even reveled in it, to go scot-free. That said, though, we should acknowledge that it would be a monumental decision to bring charges against Trump. It would create enormous security concerns, with Trump already hinting darkly that violence might be a justifiable response. The global media spotlight would be harsh and blinding, because nothing like it has ever happened in American history. It would be a storm like we have never witnessed, and we would be the center of it. However, the events that have brought us to this point have also been unprecedented: Never before have we witnessed a serious, multi-pronged attempt to halt the peaceful transfer of presidential power; never before have we seen an attempt to silence the voice of American voters. The Fulton grand jurors have seen and heard things that we have not, and if they recommend to Willis that charges are necessary, then they can’t be blamed for the resulting chaos. The responsibility would belong to those who set all this in motion from Nov. 3, 2020 through Jan. 6, 2021. They made the mess; this would be the cleanup. Jay Bookman is a columnist for the Georgia Recorder, a sibling site of the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, where this piece first appeared.  Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics. Read More Here

Tsunami Warnings Issued After 6.9-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan https://digitalarkansasnews.com/tsunami-warnings-issued-after-6-9-magnitude-earthquake-hits-taiwan/ (CNN)Hazardous tsunami waves are possible along coastlines within a 300-kilometer (186-mile) radius of a 6.9-magnitude earthquake that hit southeastern Taiwan on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has said. The quake hit the Chishang township in rural southeastern Taiwan and had a depth of 10 kilometers. Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for Miyako island in the East China Sea, but the agency later removed the warning. Photos showed collapsed buildings in southern Taiwan following the powerful earthquake. The USGS initially registered it at 7.2, before downgrading it to 6.9. Three people are trapped under the rubble of one building, the island’s official Central News Agency (CNA) reported. A fourth person was rescued. About 20 passengers were evacuated after a train derailed in the area, but there were no casualties from the incident, the Taiwan Railway Administration said. Kolas Yotaka, a former presidential spokeswoman who is running for local elections in Hualien county, said that damages were also reported at a local school. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen activated the island’s Central Emergency Operation Center following the quake. Taiwanese residents have been asked to stay alert to avoid potential aftershocks, Tsai said in a recorded statement. About 110 soldiers have also been deployed in Hualien county, along the island’s eastern coast, to assist with disaster relief efforts, Taiwan’s defense ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang said. Read More Here

THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE https://digitalarkansasnews.com/this-weeks-schedule-2/ Thursday’s game 5A-South Little Rock Parkview at Hot Springs Friday’s games 7A-Central Conway at Little Rock Southwest Fort Smith Northside at Bryant Jonesboro at Cabot North Little Rock at Little Rock Central 7A-West Bentonville West at Fayetteville Fort Smith Southside at Rogers Rogers Heritage at Springdale Springdale Har-Ber at Bentonville 6A-East El Dorado at Benton Little Rock Catholic at Searcy Marion at Greene County Tech Sheridan at Jacksonville Sylvan Hills at West Memphis 6A-West Little Rock Christian at Pulaski Academy Mountain Home at Russellville Siloam Springs at Lake Hamilton Van Buren at Greenwood 5A-Central Joe T. Robinson at Watson Chapel Mills at White Hall Morrilton at Beebe Pine Bluff at Maumelle 5A-East Forrest City at Batesville Southside Nettleton at Batesville Paragould at Valley View Wynne at Brookland 5A-South Hot Springs Lakeside at Camden Fairview Hope at De Queen Texarkana at Magnolia 5A-West Clarksville at Alma Dardanelle at Shiloh Christian Farmington at Harrison Prairie Grove at Pea Ridge 4A-1 Berryville at Ozark Gravette at Elkins Green Forrest at Lincoln Huntsville at Gentry 4A-2 Heber Springs at Cave City Riverview at Lonoke Stuttgart at Harding Academy 4A-3 Blytheville at Harrisburg Highland at Gosnell Trumann at Jonesboro Westside Rivercrest at Pocahontas 4A-4 Central Arkansas Christian at Little Rock Hall Clinton at Benton Harmony Grove Dover at Bauxite Pottsville at Mayflower 4A-7 Arkadelphia at Nashville Waldron at Ashdown 4A-8 Hamburg at Dumas Monticello Helena-West Helena Star City at DeWitt Warren at McGehee 3A-1 Booneville at Hackett Charleston at Greenland Lavaca at Cedarville Mansfield at West Fork 3A-2 Perryville at Yellville-Summit Quitman at Newport Salem at Atkins 3A-3 Corning at Osceola Manila at Piggott Palestine-Wheatley at Walnut Ridge 3A-4 Bismarck at Jessieville Glen Rose at Paris Two Rivers at Centerpoint 3A-5 Fouke at Junction City Prescott at Gurdon 3A-6 Camden Harmony Grove at Drew Central Fordyce at Barton Rison at Pine Bluff Dollarway 2A-1 Johnson County Westside at Hector Magazine at Decatur Moutainburg at Bigelow 2A-2 Des Arc at Earle East Poinsett County at Clarendon Marianna at Marked Tree 2A-3 Foreman at Mineral Springs Lafayette County at Dierks Poyen at Murfreesboro 2A-4 Baptist Prep at England Carlisle at Bearden Hazen at Hampton Nonconference Bald Knob at Magnet Cove Smackover at Simms, Texas High school football coaches CALL US Coaches, please call the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette at (501) 378-3411 with game reports before 11 p.m. each Friday night during the fall football season. Scoring plays from players (first and last name), a score by quarter and team records, along with any statistics from the game will be needed, if possible. The Democrat-Gazette also will publish statistics each Thursday throughout the regular season. The deadline for statistics to appear in that edition will be on Wednesdays at noon. Game reports and statistics can also be emailed to sports@arkansasonline.com while scores can be tweeted using #arpreps. Read More…

PREP FOOTBALL: Road To Little Rock For State Finals Begins This Week With Full Schedule Of Conference Games https://digitalarkansasnews.com/prep-football-road-to-little-rock-for-state-finals-begins-this-week-with-full-schedule-of-conference-games/ Are you rested, healed up, and ready to go? I’m directing the question to teams who took off last Friday on a break before conference play. That strategy is understandable, especially for those teams still trying to put the right pieces in place after three nonconference games. I’ll always remember my senior year when our coaches discovered in practice the receiver who zipped a perfect pass 25 yards downfield on an end-around threw far better than our quarterback at the time. The switch was made and we began to win more than we lost. But any changes in personnel or shifts in defensive or offensive philosophy should now be complete because the stakes are about to get much higher this week with a slate full of great games to kick off the conference season. How about Bentonville West at Fayetteville in the 7A-West, Farmington at Harrison in the 5A-West, or Van Buren at Greenwood in the 6A-West? Headliners, for sure, but there are many more games scheduled this week to hold the intent of any fan of high school football. Oh, and for the teams who went 0-3 or 1-2 in nonconference play, don’t sweat it. Arkadelphia started 0-5 in 2018, then won 10 consecutive to capture the state championship in Class 4A. The man who directed that turnaround is J.R. Eldridge, who expects his team to bounce back at Harrison after the Cardinals stumbled badly in a defeat at Class 7A Rogers. Anyone want to bet against him? Me, neither. It appears I’ve greatly underestimated Fayetteville, which had to replace a ton of talent after winning the 7A-West Conference championship and finishing 10-3 following a hard-fought 42-38 loss to Bryant in the championship game at Little Rock. The Bulldogs graduated nearly 40 seniors from that team, including Isaiah Sategna (Arkansas), Bladen Fike (Southeast Missouri State), Kaiden Turner (Indiana), and a handful of others who are now playing college football. But the Bulldogs have regrouped behind junior quarterback Drake Lindsey, who completed 21 of 25 passes for 256 yards and 3 touchdowns in a 42-21 win at Fort Smith Northside. The pecking order in the 7A-West could be determined early with Fayetteville playing important road games at Rogers (Sept. 30) and Bentonville (Oct. 14) following Friday’s conference opener with Bentonville West at Harmon Field. Bentonville is accustomed to winning conference championships and the Tigers want it back after Fayetteville swiped it from them last season. Bentonville begins conference play with a lot of momentum after traveling to Kansas City and returning with a 30-7 victory over Rockhurst, long a Midwestern powerhouse in high school football. That’s a big win for Bentonville and the state of Arkansas. Bentonville dominated the second half by scoring 23 unanswered points, mostly behind the play of Josh Ficklin 118 of his 142 yards rushing after halftime. Springdale Har-Ber will get a closeup view of Ficklin and Bentonville on Friday at Tiger Stadium. The 6A-West, which has already started its conference play, will be fun to watch with Pulaski Academy joining a nine-team league that includes Greenwood, Little Rock Christian, Lake Hamilton, and Greenbrier, all of whom all posted at least nine wins last year. Pulaski Academy was picked first in a preseason poll of the league coaches, a choice which will not sit well with the Greenwood Bulldogs, who’ve won 10 state championships since 2000. The 5A-West welcomes Shiloh Christian, Prairie Grove, and Dardanelle to the fold while Gentry appears to be on the move while putting up huge offensive statistics, especially at quarterback where Chris Bell accounted for eight touchdowns in a 59-28 win over Pea Ridge. Ozark and Elkins are newcomers who’ll test the Pioneers in 4A-West Conference play. It all starts Friday when the road to the state finals in Little Rock that appeared so distant earlier begins to come into focus in conference play. We’ll be along to enjoy the ride. Read More Here

I May Not Be A Fan Of President Biden, But I Will Not Deny His Accomplishments: Donohue https://digitalarkansasnews.com/i-may-not-be-a-fan-of-president-biden-but-i-will-not-deny-his-accomplishments-donohue/ Peter Donohue  |  Times Writers Group I have not been a fan of President Biden as far back as the ’80s. His ability to repeatedly put his foot in his mouth, sometimes right down his throat, made me question his decision making when faced with an immediate issue in need of resolution. Hopefully, he thinks before he decides more than thinking before he speaks. I was clearly not a fan of President Donald Trump, nor a fan of Presidents George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H. W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. I respected President Jimmy Carter immensely, and still do; however, I will acknowledge that he failed to accomplish much during his presidency. For some time, I have recognized the tremendous accomplishments of the Biden presidency. This may seem like an odd description of Biden’s year and a half in office to those who support the former president. Nonetheless if you step back and look objectively at what has happened, how it has been managed and what legislation has been passed, it is really remarkable. I fear because of Biden’s personality, his lack of charisma and his downright failure to remind the public of what he has done, his accomplishments go unnoticed. When Biden called the railroad union chiefs and the bargaining negotiators to the White House, I sensed he made the right call. Thursday morning the announcement of a tentative deal proved my intuition correct. I hope the American public recognizes what a huge accomplishment this was. It would not have happened without the president and his secretaries of labor and transportation. The market fell drastically yesterday with the news of continued inflation in August. To add a supply chain disruption to inflation and the political drama of midterm elections would have been catastrophic to the U.S. economy as the war in Ukraine continues. It may be easy to forget an economic collapse that did not happen because it did not happen. Nonetheless it is momentous and the result of old-fashion political persuasion. The enormity of this accomplishment will be lost in the fervor of the Mar-a-Lago search warrant and the resumption of the Jan. 6 congressional investigation. That is truly a shame. We are so ready to decry failure and short comings in politics and life. When Biden began his term, NATO was on tenuous ground and our commitment to this peacekeeping and strategic alliance, aimed at balancing power in the world, was in doubt. Our commitment was reaffirmed, ultimately stopping Russia as it moved against Ukraine. And now it has been strengthened and expanded. The first gun control legislation in decades passed Congress. The Inflation Reduction Act passed Congress with climate control measures, infrastructure spending, modest healthcare reform, a minimum tax on corporate income and measures to reduce inflation. Instead of cutting taxes and spending revenue, the act approved expenditures in needed areas but provided income with which to pay for those expenses. A balancing act we have not seen in years. Biden rejoined the Paris Climate Accord which current weather demonstrates was an absolute necessity. The major stimulus package, passed at the beginning his first year, positively impacted tens of millions of people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yes, it fueled inflation that is now plaguing us, but without it millions in this country would have been destitute and the death toll from the pandemic would have soared. Businesses were saved that would have collapsed. Our country would not be recognizable had that bill not passed. The burden of student loan debt will receive some relief soon and for those who object to this expense compare it to the money we spend in support of the war in Ukraine. If we can spend that money to save another country, we can help our own struggling youth. By those who study and compare presidential accomplishments, Biden’s performance has been described as “closer to those of Ronald Reagan[‘s] … tax cuts; Bill Clinton and his NAFTA and crime bill; and Obama’s stimulus bill and his health reform.” It is important to point out that all presidents he is compared to were in office for eight years. I may not be a fan of President Biden, but I will not deny his accomplishments. We must have cooperation from Congress with the executive branch if we are to move forward from the devastating impact of COVID-19 and towards climate crisis management and peace in the world. — This is the opinion of Times Writers Group member Peter Donohue, who has been involved in the arts in Central Minnesota for more than 35 years. His column is published the third Sunday of the month. Read More Here