Queen Elizabeth Funeral News | Queen Procession Live Updates | English News Live | King Charles
Queen Elizabeth Funeral News | Queen Procession Live Updates | English News Live | King Charles https://digitalarkansasnews.com/queen-elizabeth-funeral-news-queen-procession-live-updates-english-news-live-king-charles/
Queen Elizabeth Funeral News | Queen Procession Live Updates | English News Live | King Charles CNN-News18
Opinion: The Queen’s funeral is the hottest ticket on Earth CNN
One of the Queen’s Favorite Relatives Fainted as Her Majesty’s Coffin Arrived at Westminster Hall Marie Claire
Soldiers rehearse in Windsor before Queen’s funeral – video The Guardian
LIVE: Queen Elizabeth II to lie in state in Westminster Hall until Monday KPRC 2 Click2Houston
View Full Coverage on Google News
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Helping The Youth Rebuild Connection With Law Enforcement
Helping The Youth Rebuild Connection With Law Enforcement https://digitalarkansasnews.com/helping-the-youth-rebuild-connection-with-law-enforcement/
JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – GROW NEA is teaching young adults how to interact with first responders, and while doing this, they get to meet officers in their community, building that rapport with the officers that work to keep them safe.
GROW NEA sets out to protect not only the youth but also the first responders.
Shawunta Johnson is the founder of GROW NEA, and he preaches communication. Miscommunication, or lack thereof, can sometimes lead to some dangerous situations.
“Communication between law enforcement I think that is a good way to keep everyone safe, ” Shawunta Johnson, the founder of GROW NEA.
Communication helps make sure everyone gets treated with respect.
A huge communication error is not informing the officer that you are carrying a weapon. Sometimes you forget about the weapon, and it happens, but making sure you communicate that you are armed helps everyone out.
“Everybody at the end of the day just want to go home, the police officers want to go home to their families and the civilization wants to go home to their families,” said Johnson.
Someone will always influence kids and young adults. Unfortunately, some get caught up and get influenced by the wrong crowd.
Vincence Mathes knows this too well. He is a former gang member, and he now shares his experiences with the youth, helping guide them down the right path and become a positive influence in their life.
“Realize that people are here to lead you in the right direction and to help get past some of the stigma,” said Vincence Mathes.
This was the first mentoring session for GROW NEA. Next month they will host a meeting where youth can learn how to respond to paramedics and even learn CPR.
Copyright 2022 KAIT. All rights reserved.
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New Orleans Becomes Murder Capital Of America Overtaking St. Louis
New Orleans Becomes Murder Capital Of America, Overtaking St. Louis https://digitalarkansasnews.com/new-orleans-becomes-murder-capital-of-america-overtaking-st-louis/
NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
New Orleans has overtaken St. Louis as the murder capital of America as the city sees a 141% increase in homicides when compared to recent years.
According to data from the Metropolitan Crime Commission, an organization that tracks crime and also tries to bring it down, there have been 52 homicides per 100,000 residents as of Sept. 11.
In St. Louis, there have been almost 45 homicides per 100,000 residents as of Sept. 17, according to data from the St. Louis Police Department.
By comparison, there have been almost 18 homicides in Chicago per 100,000 residents and 3.5 in New York City.
NEW ORLEANS ON PACE TO HAVE ONE OF THE HIGHEST MURDER RATES IN THE WORLD IN 2022
Police vehicles block access to Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. On Thursday, city leaders voted to reinstate facial recognition technology for police to use as crime continues to increase. (Bryan Tarnowski/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Homicides in New Orleans are up 141% when compared to 2019 and up 78% when compared to 2021, according to the data, which states that there have been 205 homicides in the city from the beginning of 2022 until Sept. 11.
New Orleans has also seen a 100% increase in shootings in 2022 when compared to 2019.
On Sept. 8, officials in New Orleans announced an $80 million plan to increase pay for police officers, offer free health care, and $30,000 in increased hiring incentives for new hires within the department.
GIANNO CALDWELL SAYS ENDING CASH BAIL IN ILLINOIS WILL BE LIKE ‘THE PURGE’ AFTER BROTHER MURDERED IN CHICAGO
A New Orleans Police Department vehicle. (NOPD)
The city recently hired a consultant, former head of the New York City Police Department’s patrol division Fausto Pichardo to review ways in which the police department can better combat crime, according to FOX 8.
Pichardo said in his report released on Tuesday that the police department must take “action now” if the city is going to be saved.
“Action must be taken NOW if there is ever a chance to save the city and bring the reputation of being a city where tourists can come to party and celebrate and not become victims,” Pichardo wrote.
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A police officer walks down a nearly deserted Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021. Hoping to beef up a dwindling police force amid a rise in violent crime, New Orleans officials announced a three-year $80 million plan Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, offering raises for all officers, free health care and $30,000 in incentive payments for new hires. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Among the recommendations are an immediate redeployment of 212 police officers to patrol duty rather than their current assignments.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Adam Sabes is a writer for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to Adam.Sabes@fox.com and on Twitter @asabes10.
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Election 2022 Trump https://digitalarkansasnews.com/election-2022-trump-2/
The crowd cheers during the campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022.
Tom E. Puskar – freelancer, FR60050
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Election 2022 Trump https://digitalarkansasnews.com/election-2022-trump-3/
Tom E. Puskar – freelancer, FR60050
Sep 17, 2022
27 min ago
Former President Donald Trump welcomes JD Vance, Republican candidate for U.S. Senator for Ohio, to the stage at a campaign rally in Youngstown, Ohio., Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022.
Tom E. Puskar – freelancer, FR60050
Are you concerned with election security during this midterm election?
The Associated Press reports that investigations into voting systems are leading to disturbing findings: sensitive voting system passwords were posted online; copies of confidential voting software were available for download; and ballot-counting machines were inspected by people who were not supposed to have access. Those were a few of the findings. Some investigators are concerned that rogue election workers might use their access to election equipment and the knowledge gained through the breaches to launch an attack from within.
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By Transporting Migrants GOP Governors Are Exposing Democrats Hypocrisy
By Transporting Migrants, GOP Governors Are Exposing Democrats’ Hypocrisy https://digitalarkansasnews.com/by-transporting-migrants-gop-governors-are-exposing-democrats-hypocrisy/
Next time, Joe Biden should be more precise when he calls for national unity. Because he and his fellow Democrats don’t like the kind of unity they’re getting from Republican governors.
The decision by GOP leaders in Texas, Florida and Arizona to “share” their abundance of foreign migrants with northern cities and states that boast of their sanctuary status is apparently not a gift the Dems appreciate. In fact, the president and his party are so mad they’re setting fire to the welcome wagons.
Shipping the migrants north is outrageous, a stunt, pure politics, they wail. The White House is making noises about assigning its chief partisan enforcer, Attorney General Merrick Garland, to stop it.
That would be the height of irony because the same White House has for months secretly shipped tens of thousands of migrants around the country, often in the middle of the night with no notice to local officials. No Dems complained then, so where did their love go?
Naturally, the media is eager to echo the left’s sudden pain, with Chuck Todd of NBC News showing why he deserves to replace Brian Stelter, late of CNN, as the most mocked man in television. Todd declared it “inhumane” to send 50 migrants to Martha’s Vineyard because it’s a “literal island that doesn’t have any infrastructure designed to help them at all.”
Hillary Clinton can usually be counted on to say something ridiculous, and she didn’t disappoint. “Literally human trafficking” is what she called the Vineyard dispatch, the brainchild of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Like Todd, Clinton not only doesn’t get the irony, she misses the point.
Democrats like Hillary Clinton have said that the migrants being brought to Martha’s Vineyard is “literally human trafficking.”
Photo by CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
The Dems running New York, Chicago, Washington, DC, and, yes, Martha’s Vineyard, are being hoisted on their own petard.
They supported virtually unfettered immigration, but didn’t bargain on thousands of the world’s unwashed popping up in their neighborhoods. In aiming their fire at Republicans sending the migrants north, they’re only shooting the messengers.
Their hypocrisy is a thing to behold and the GOP governors deserve an award for delivering a comeuppance for the ages.
More broadly, Biden’s border fiasco is the latest proof that the left has plenty of fanciful ideas about creating paradise but none on how to govern in the real world. The defund-the-police movement led to a sickening surge in violent crime that continues as cops are demonized and criminals are coddled.
Blunders piling up
The war on fossil fuels led to the dramatic rise in oil prices and helped fuel the historic inflation eating family paychecks. Biden is so far detached from reality that he actually threw a party to celebrate yet another spending bill that will keep the inflation fires roaring.
It is simply incredible how much damage he has inflicted on the nation in just 20 months.
President Biden held a White House event to celebrate the Inflation Reduction Act on Sept. 13, 2022.
AP Photo/Andrew Harnik
And now the blue havens are getting a taste of the disaster that is the open-border policy. Unprecedented waves of people are crossing over, including many who flew to Mexico from far-off countries, knowing they could simply walk into America.
Immigration restrictions were a mainstay of both parties for generations, but the leftward shift of Dems led to less tolerance for barriers. Then, as with so many other issues, the presidency of Donald Trump saw them jettison common sense and go nuts as a form of protest.
Radical activists began preaching the gospel of massive immigration as a key to social and racial justice.
Biden, a sucker for anything anti-Trump, rejected his predecessor’s success in limiting illegal crossers and the abuse of the asylum system, which lets people stay in the US for years because of bureaucratic inertia. Making them wait in Mexico until their claims were adjudicated, as Trump did, persuaded many the dangerous trek north was not worth the risk.
Biden foolishly dismantled those restrictions, stopped building the wall and essentially issued an invitation for the whole world to come to America.
Migrant crisis moves North: Here’s what’s happening around the country as border states bus migrants around the US
National Guard called into Martha’s Vineyard for 50 migrants
Migrants dropped off on Kamala Harris’ DC doorstep dispute her ‘secure’ border claim: ‘We come in free, no problem’
Flood of migrants helps lead to worst NYC shelter failure in more than decade
DC now a ‘border town’ as mayor declares public emergency over bussed migrants
Huge rise in border deaths from drowning, dehydration overwhelm Texas border town’s morgues
And come they are. Hundreds of thousands cross the border each and every month, more than 4 million since he took office, according to Fox News, which is the only network that regularly covers the crisis.
Unaccounted masses
Most migrants, coached by American lawyers, turn themselves in to federal agents with a claim of asylum. Although most claims will be rejected, the process will take years.
Perhaps 20% of the total, or as many as 900,000, reportedly avoided the agents and simply entered the country without being identified or making any claims to stay.
There is no end in sight, and the numbers already here are so vast that it is hard to imagine how the situation gets rectified.
Migrants outside of Vice President Kamala Harris’s residence at the Naval Observatory after being transported from Texas on Sept. 15, 2022.
Photo by JIM LO SCALZO/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Meanwhile, with the border states unable to continue to bear the ever-growing burden of cartel shipments of fentanyl and other drugs and the care of the migrants turned loose by agents, the northern cities and states have been handed an opportunity to show their benighted fellow Americans how to put their supposed compassion into practice.
Instead, they’ve gone as hard as if their hearts are frozen over. Their compassion vanished the minute it collided with reality.
The Vineyard had its meager allotment of 50 shipped off to a military base on Cape Cod, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot sent a bus of migrants to a suburb and DC Mayor Muriel Bowser summoned the National Guard and declared a state of emergency, saying the nation’s capital is “not a border town.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, who claimed the border is “secure,” can watch from her official residence as buses drop off migrant passengers, absolute proof her claim was false.
Mayor Adams in New York is making some especially curious decisions, with 8,000 of the 11,000 migrants who arrived living in crowded homeless shelters.
A bus of migrants arriving at Port Authority in Manhattan on Sept. 17, 2022.
G.N.Miller/NYPost
Adams said nothing as Biden sent his secret flights north, then went ballistic when Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas started sending busloads to Gotham.
But as The Post discovered, Adams also made a deal with the Democratic mayor of El Paso, Texas, to take 200 migrants from that city everyday.
At the same time, the swelling influx led City Hall to see if it can finesse the requirement that New York provide a bed to any and all comers.
If there is a consistent principle and a coherent plan in this mash-up of contradictions, it’s well hidden.
Still, the GOP governors have failed in their main objective. They made clear they not only wanted Dem mayors and governors to share the burden, but also for them to convince Biden to wake up and secure the border.
Yet not a single Dem has publicly demanded that Biden shut off the spigot. Their party loyalty might be admirable if it weren’t so destructive to their cities and the nation.
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WYFP? Do You Keep A 'death List' https://digitalarkansasnews.com/wyfp-do-you-keep-a-death-list/
News of an Oath Keeper’s J6 “death list” made me think about whether Johnny Depp or other celebrities keep death lists much like the Dead Pool or “rule of three” that emerges when a celebrity dies. Trumpist culture is the kind that actually keeps such lists, much like hypothesizing that Trump keeps such a list, or has flushed several down a toilet. Such pathological signs of obsession, much like watching the Depp-Heard trial on TV, or the mourning for the UK monarchy.
Recent court documents allege the names of Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss were written on a pad of paper labeled “death list” found by police in the home of suspected Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell, Salon reports. Earlier this month, prosecutors revealed the existence of the “death list” but did not name the workers. Caldwells is charged with serious conspiracy.
www.theroot.com/…
Here is DeathList 2022. This is a list of 50 celebrities chosen by the DeathList committee, before the start of the year, for the fact they may die in 2022. The concise summary of the DeathList rules: Candidates must be famous enough such that their death is confidently expected to be reported by the UK media; Candidates cannot be famous solely for the fact they are likely to die imminently and only 25 candidates can reappear from the previous year’s list. After the record-breaking year of 2020, DeathList 2021 was a bit of a let-down with only 12 deaths, well short of the record of 20.
deathlist.net
“Trumpism is here to stay, for the foreseeable future. Which means that authoritarianism—with inflections, or at least overtones, of fascism—will be here for a while, too. With an infrastructure, with a popular base, and with elite enablers.”https://t.co/GJ6qcJEU8n
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 2, 2022
‘ readability=”8.8888888888889″
x
“Trumpism is here to stay, for the foreseeable future. Which means that authoritarianism—with inflections, or at least overtones, of fascism—will be here for a while, too. With an infrastructure, with a popular base, and with elite enablers.”https://t.co/GJ6qcJEU8n
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) June 2, 2022
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Democrats Doubt Biden Will Run For Reelection In 2024
Democrats Doubt Biden Will Run For Reelection In 2024 https://digitalarkansasnews.com/democrats-doubt-biden-will-run-for-reelection-in-2024/
US President Joe Biden, who was the oldest individual to be inaugurated when he was sworn in January 2021, is telling everyone he plans to run for reelection in 2024, but most Democrats aren’t sure he will follow through on that plan.
Biden, who has suffered a dip in his job approval ratings in recent months, has been telling advisers and staff he plans to run again in 2024. Biden would be 82 at the start of his second term if reelected.
Cedric Richmond, the former Democratic lawmaker and Biden White House official, said definitively the plan is on when it comes to Biden and 2024.
“He’s running and we’re building an infrastructure for him to run and win,” Richmond told NBC this week. “Right now, it’s all an early investment in 2024 while we’re helping 2022.”
However, a number of Democrats have cast their doubts.
If Democrats lose the House but keep the Senate majority, will Biden decide to stick with his stated plans and be the party’s nominee?
Democrats are talking behind the scenes, and talking about the possibilities, debating the pros and cons of a Biden run.
“I think a lot of the mystery is we’re all beholden to the never-ending political news cycle, and Trump announced for reelection like three minutes after taking office, but it’s not unusual for a president to be waiting until after the midterms to announce,” said Democratic strategist Eddie Vale, urging Democrats to stay calm.
“I think a lot of people who were speculating about him not running were bed wetting because of insanely far out poll numbers and/or have a different preferred candidate, but every indication seems to me he’s running,” he said.
Biden said in June he “would not be disappointed” to face Trump in a rematch. Last week, Vice President Harris also reiterated that view.
“The president has been very clear that he intends to run again,” she told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And if he does, I will be running with him proudly.”
A majority of Democratic voters say Biden should not run for the White House in 2024, according to a new poll.
A USA Today-Ipsos poll found that 56 percent of Democratic voters oppose Biden’s reelection bid. The online survey was conducted Aug 18-22.
Sixty percent of Democrats said they believe Biden can gain a victory if he does contest the election in 2024.
Whereas, 59 percent think former President Donald Trump “deserves reelection” and should be the Republican nominee.
An incredible 82 percent of Republican voters think Trump could win the 2024 election.
Biden has been under attack for his advanced age from Republicans. Former US Ambassador to the United Nations and Republican Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley has even suggested that aged politicians in the American government should undergo a “cognitive test.”
According to another recent poll, Biden is the least popular US president in decades with 59 percent of Americans believing his performance has been poor and 45 percent “strongly disapproving” of the Democratic president’s leadership in the past two years.
Biden and his team have been denying official reports indicating that the US economy is in a state of recession.
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Matt Gaetz Sought Preemptive Pardon In Sex Traffic Probe Aide Reportedly Told Jan. 6 Panel
Matt Gaetz Sought Preemptive Pardon In Sex Traffic Probe, Aide Reportedly Told Jan. 6 Panel https://digitalarkansasnews.com/matt-gaetz-sought-preemptive-pardon-in-sex-traffic-probe-aide-reportedly-told-jan-6-panel/
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told a former White House aide that he sought a preemptive presidential pardon in a sex trafficking investigation, according to testimony before members of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
A probe launched in the waning days of the Trump administration is reportedly still seeking to determine if Gaetz broke federal law by allegedly recruiting women online for paid sex, including a teenager. He has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with a crime.
Some of the alleged interactions with women occurred with the help of former Gaetz “wingman” Joel Greenberg. The one-time Seminole County tax collector pleaded guilty last year to six crimes, including trafficking a minor. He has been cooperating with federal investigators, and turned over “years of Venmo and Cash App transactions and thousands of photos and videos,” ABC News reported last year.
Johnny McEntee, a White House aide, recently testified that Gaetz told him he sought a presidential pardon from former President Donald Trump’s then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in the trafficking investigation, sources familiar with the testimony told the Post.
McEntee recounted that Gaetz told him “he did not do anything wrong, but they are trying to make his life hell, and you know, if the president could give him a pardon, that would be great,” the Post reported.
Gaetz didn’t specify that it was the Justice Department conducting the probe, but McEntee said he assumed that was the investigation he was referring to, the Post reported.
The testimony is the first linking Gaetz to a specific request for a pardon in the trafficking probe, the outlet noted. The Jan. 6 panel revealed this summer that Gaetz was among at least five Republican lawmakers who sought broad pardons from Trump to protect them from potential insurrection crimes investigations might uncover.
Neither McEntee nor Meadows responded to the Post’s request for comment. A representative for Gaetz pointed out that the Republican lawmaker never asked Trump directly for a pardon, but did not comment on a request submitted through Meadows.
Gaetz “discussed pardons for many other people publicly and privately at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to the Post. “As for himself, President Trump addressed this malicious rumor more than a year ago stating, ‘Congressman Matt Gaetz has never asked me for a pardon.’”
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Ukrainian Strikes Into Russias Border Towns Compound Putins Troubles
Ukrainian Strikes Into Russia’s Border Towns Compound Putin’s Troubles https://digitalarkansasnews.com/ukrainian-strikes-into-russias-border-towns-compound-putins-troubles/
After a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the northeast of the country, the messy war that Russian President Vladimir Putin started is now being fought directly on his doorstep, with artillery strikes hitting military targets in Russia and Russian officials in cities and towns along the border ordering hasty evacuations.
On Saturday, a new round of strikes hit the Belgorod region in Western Russia, killing at least one person and wounding two.
On Friday, Ukraine reportedly struck the base of the Russian 3rd Motorized Rifle Division near Valuyki, just nine miles north of the Russia—Ukraine border. Russian officials did not acknowledge that a military target was hit but said one civilian died, and the local electrical grid experienced a temporary disruption.
Russia blamed the attacks on Ukraine, but Kyiv did not claim responsibility for striking targets in Russian territory.
Kyiv has assured U.S. officials that donated weapons would not be used to strike targets inside Russia proper. But Ukrainian forces are now so close to the border that they can hit targets using their own less-advanced weaponry.
That Russian citizens are starting to seriously feel the impact of the war directly is another new source of pressure on Putin, who returned home this weekend from a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan where he faced a remarkable public rebuke by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and questions about the war from Chinese President Xi Jinping.
In a stunning public rebuke, Modi told Putin that “today’s era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this.” That followed an acknowledgment by Putin that he had heard “concerns and questions” about the war from the Chinese president.
Ukraine has made stunning advances in the Kharkiv region, in the northeast of the country, in the past two weeks. During its advances, it has also uncovered hundreds of mass graves and stories of Russian forces terrorizing residents in the liberated city of Izyum.
Ukrainian officials have cited the gains and the evidence of torture and killings to reiterate pleas for modern battle tanks and other heavily armored vehicles which NATO allies have been slow to send.
Valuyki and Krasny Khutor are among dozens of small settlements in Russia that the Russian military uses as a staging ground, putting them in the middle of Moscow’s faltering invasion and Kyiv’s mounting counteroffensive.
The local governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, has ordered the evacuation of hundreds of people and shut down schools in border towns over the past months. But now the authorities in Belgorod are under increasing pressure from unnerved residents who are experiencing what many Ukrainians have lived with for months: nighttime explosions, destroyed homes and sometimes casualties.
“I’m asking once again, where is our army, the one that must be protecting us?” Belgorod resident Tatyana Bogacheva wrote on Gladkov’s VKontakte social media page. “We are on the border; they are shooting at us, so we need an army and protection. Who will wake up the President?”
Russian forces have been depleted after battlefield blunders and are scrambling to find personnel and working equipment to hold their ground in northeastern Ukraine. A recent hasty retreat from Izyum and Balakliya as well as concerns among local Russians who fear the war is coming home appear to have prompted Moscow to reinforce the border with young conscripts.
Russian soldiers who had been conscripted to serve in the 1st Guards Motor Rifle Regiment of the Taman Division as part of this year’s spring draft are reportedly being transferred from the Moscow region to “protect the state border.”
The BBC Russian Service, citing the families of troops, reported that many conscripts in the Taman Division had died at the beginning of the invasion and those who survived were returned to the Russian territory. But instead of returning to headquarters in Naro-Fominsk near Moscow, they were stationed in Valuyki. The new group of conscripts is supposed to replace those who are due to be demobilized in October, the BBC said.
According to Russian laws, conscripts can’t be sent into battle unless they have at least four months of training. Putin has repeatedly denied that Russia is using conscripts in Ukraine. But the country’s defense ministry acknowledged as early as March that some had been mistakenly sent to fight.
Russia’s problems along the border are drawing criticism from staunch pro-Kremlin quarters inside Ukraine as well. “I am curious whether the Russian leadership is going to somehow react to the constant shelling of Russian territory?” Igor Girkin, a hard-line former commander of separatists in Ukraine, lamented in his Telegram blog. “Or do I understand correctly that the Kremlin no longer considers the Belgorod region to be the territory of Russia?”
The war also appears to be weakening Russia’s capacity to put out fires to the south, in the region the Kremlin has long considered its backyard.
This week, for example, Armenia sought Russia’s help amid a renewed Azerbaijani attack on its border towns, according to the country’s prime minister Nikol Pashinyan, who formally appealed to the Moscow-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), a regional security alliance of post-Soviet states, including Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.
But the response so far has been slow and tepid, perhaps undermining Armenia’s trust in Moscow as an ally and in the CSTO as a reliable security broker.
Azerbaijan is not part of the CSTO but is backed by Turkey, an essential mediator in the Ukrainian war. Azerbaijan accused Armenia of “provocations” in the border area, something Yerevan denies.
More than 200 officers have been killed on both sides this week, in what turned into the deadliest confrontation since the six-week war over the breakaway region of Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020.
On Friday, in a face-to-face meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijani leader Ilham Aliyev said the border conflict had “stabilized,” and a cease fire had been in place for the last three days.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday she plans to make a weekend visit to Armenia.
War in Ukraine: What you need to know
The latest: Grain shipments from Ukraine are gathering pace under the agreement hammered out by Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations in July. Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports had sent food prices soaring and raised fears of more hunger in the Middle East and Africa. At least 18 ships, including loads of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, have departed.
The fight: The conflict on the ground grinds on as Russia uses its advantage in heavy artillery to pummel Ukrainian forces, which have sometimes been able to put up stiff resistance. In the south, Ukrainian hopes rest on liberating the Russia-occupied Kherson region, and ultimately Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014. Fears of a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station remain as both sides accuse each other of shelling it.
The weapons: Western supplies of weapons are helping Ukraine slow Russian advances. U.S.-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) allow Ukrainian forces to strike farther behind Russian lines against Russian artillery. Russia has used an array of weapons against Ukraine, some of which have drawn the attention and concern of analysts.
Photos: Washington Post photographers have been on the ground from the very beginning of the war — here’s some of their most powerful work.
How you can help: Here are ways those in the U.S. can help support the Ukrainian people as well as what people around the world have been donating.
Read our full coverage of the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Are you on Telegram? Subscribe to our channel for updates and exclusive video.
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John Fetterman Facing Health Questions Boosts Public Schedule In Pennsylvania Senate Bid
John Fetterman, Facing Health Questions, Boosts Public Schedule In Pennsylvania Senate Bid https://digitalarkansasnews.com/john-fetterman-facing-health-questions-boosts-public-schedule-in-pennsylvania-senate-bid/
Republicans contend the Democrat, who is recovering from a stroke, has been trying to hide his condition from voters
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman greeted supporters Sunday in Blue Bell, Pa. Photo: kriston jae bethel/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
Updated Sept. 17, 2022 6:53 pm ET
SCRANTON, Pa.—Four months after a life-threatening stroke took him off the campaign trail, John Fetterman, the lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, is presenting himself more often to voters as he tries to show that he retains the ability to serve effectively.
His Republican opponent, the celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz, says that Mr. Fetterman is shielding his health status from voters, by declining to hold news conferences and by agreeing to appear at only one debate. That debate is scheduled for Oct. 25, two weeks before Election Day and more than a month after Pennsylvania counties are allowed to start early voting.
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Razorbacks Pick Up Win In Little Rock https://digitalarkansasnews.com/razorbacks-pick-up-win-in-little-rock/
Branford Clay September 17, 2022
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Arkansas got its season off to an excellent start at the Arkansas Invite on Saturday and posted a team score of 674 to win the seven-team meet. Other teams in the Arkansas Invite included Henderson State, Ouachita Baptist, University of the Ozarks, William Baptist University, Hendrix College, and Harding University Club Swim Team.
The Razorbacks totaled 13 wins in the Arkansas Invite.
“I am very happy with the team’s performance. It’s a great way to start the season competing against every other college team in the state of Arkansas,” stated head coach Neil Harper. “I thought our freshmen really performed well, and we were also led by our seniors and grad seniors!”
Senior Regan Caufield swept the dive events by getting wins in the one-meter and three-meter dive.
“Regan did an excellent job today. I’m really proud of her and I look forward to the great of the year,” said dive coach Abel Sanchez.
Hog Highlights
Arkansas had six events where there was a first, second, and third-place finish.
The Hogs placed first in all three relays, which included the 200 Medley Relay, 400 Freestyle Relay, and 200 Freestyle Relay.
Graduate Transfer Luciana Thomas had multiple wins, in events of 500 Freestyle and 200 Medley Relay.
More Information
Keep up with all the latest news and information and get behind the scenes looks into our program on social media. Follow us on Twitter at @RazorbackSD and check out our Facebook page. Stats, news, and athlete information can be found at ArkansasRazorbacks.com.
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Lewiston Council To Take Up Resolution In Response To Paul LePage Election Comment
Lewiston Council To Take Up Resolution In Response To Paul LePage Election Comment https://digitalarkansasnews.com/lewiston-council-to-take-up-resolution-in-response-to-paul-lepage-election-comment-2/
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The former governor, without evidence, recently cited Lewiston as a city that requires ‘a little bit more careful’ monitoring of elections.
LEWISTON — The City Council will vote Tuesday on a resolution reaffirming its support and faith in local elections, after former Gov. Paul LePage questioned election integrity in larger communities.
The resolution, brought forward by Councilor Linda Scott, states that “public support for — and trust in — free and fair elections are necessary to ensure popular support and legitimacy for those who make governmental decisions,” and that a “prominent political figure” had recently called into question election integrity “despite offering no evidence to support this charge.”
LePage, the Republican gubernatorial contender, made the comments during a recent GOP event in Mount Vernon, where he said he has “great confidence in small towns,” but that larger cities like Bangor, Rockland, Lewiston, Portland, and South Portland “are areas you got to be a little bit more careful.”
The Lewiston resolution states that the mayor and City Council “wholeheartedly support and have full faith and confidence in the Lewiston City Clerk, city clerk staff, and other election officials and volunteers to conduct Lewiston’s elections with honesty, integrity and impartiality.”
It’s not the first time LePage has called election matters into question. He supported Donald Trump’s claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
LePage also regularly insisted that college students in Maine who come from other states shouldn’t be allowed to vote here.
Lewiston, the second largest city in Maine and home to Bates College, has been a previous target of election-related political moves. In 2016, anonymous flyers were distributed at Bates College that warned students they could face legal jeopardy if they register and vote without taking other steps to become Maine residents, such as changing to a Maine driver’s license and reregistering their vehicles in Maine.
Two years later, then-Mayor Shane Bouchard issued a letter to more than 200 people who had registered to vote during the previous year’s election and mayoral runoff. In it, he laid out the state’s requirements for when someone declares residency in Maine, including getting a Maine driver’s license and vehicle registration.
At the time, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap called the letter a “disservice to the public discourse,” and said that not updating a driver’s license or failing to register a vehicle doesn’t prevent one from voting.
“Most importantly, those requirements were not crafted with the intent to pose as barriers that must be overcome before a citizen can exercise the right to vote,” he said.
Mayor Carl Sheline on Friday said “any suggestion that Lewiston’s elections are anything but free, fair and accurate is wrong. However, it’s important for us as a council to stand behind city staff and the volunteers who make our city’s elections possible.”
City Clerk Kathy Montejo, who oversees local elections, has been a municipal clerk for 30 years and has won multiple awards.
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Merrick Garland Lectures On 'the Rule Of Law' After Trump Judge Ruled Former President Deserves Special Treatment
Merrick Garland Lectures On 'the Rule Of Law' After Trump Judge Ruled Former President Deserves Special Treatment https://digitalarkansasnews.com/merrick-garland-lectures-on-the-rule-of-law-after-trump-judge-ruled-former-president-deserves-special-treatment/
Federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland. (AFP)
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland explained the concept of the rule of law in a Saturday speech before new immigrants at Ellis Island.
“Everything Mr. Garland says these days is parsed for deeper meaning — and prosecutorial clues — as the Justice Department plunges ahead with sprawling, open-ended investigations into former President Donald J. Trump and his allies. The attorney general often uses public appearances to address Mr. Trump and Trumpism in veiled but unmistakable terms, decrying division and vowing to hold ‘the powerful’ accountable for crimes they commit,” The New York Times reported.
“But Saturday’s speech came at a critical moment, as Mr. Garland commits to an inquiry into possible criminality by a former president who remains a political force, and has repeatedly attacked Mr. Garland, his department and the F.B.I.”
Garland’s speech came only days after Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon issued a highly criticized ruling claiming Trump deserved special treatment as a former president.
“The protection of law — the rule of law — is the foundation of our system of government,” Garland told the new citizens.
“The rule of law means that the law treats each of us alike: There is not one rule for friends, another for foes; one rule for the powerful, another for the powerless; a rule for the rich, another for the poor,” Garland said.
Garland argued the rule of law “is fragile, it demands constant effort and vigilance.”
Cannon was widely criticized for arguing Trump deserved different than everyone else.
“Based on the nature of this action, the principles of equity require the Court to consider the specific context at issue, and that consideration is inherently impacted by the position formerly held by Plaintiff,” Cannon wrote.
Harvard Law’s Laurence Tribe tweeted Cannon, “ends her denial of a stay by saying (in effect) former presidents are entitled to special treatment.”
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti summed up the judge’s argument as “former presidents get special treatment.”
“From the beginning, Judge Cannon’s open admission that Trump is entitled to special treatment has troubled me most,” civil rights lawyer Subodh Chandra wrote. “There is no rule of law. There is no equal justice under law. Not where lawless judges like this are concerned.”
On Friday, a group of top former GOP officials filed a motion asking to file a friend of the court briefing in the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. The group includes former Govs. William Weld (R-MA) and Christine Todd Whitman.
Ambassador Norm Eisen, who was ethics czar in the Obama White House, said “former top GOP officials from every GOP administration since Reagan agree: Donald Trump shouldn’t get special treatment in court because he’s a former president.”
The group argued, “the district court also erred by repeatedly affording greater protection to the plaintiff because he is a former president.”
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump’s former accounting firm turns over docs to Congress
“‘Principles of equity’ require that citizens be treated equally under the law. The district court’s analysis, which gave greater weight to the reputation of a former President than to the reputation of any other citizen, and greater weight to that personal reputation than to national security concerns, is fundamentally inconsistent with the basic tenets of U.S. law,” they wrote. “Under the court’s reasoning, its analysis would be different if the plaintiff were not the former President but a school teacher, police officer, or veteran who had taken classified information from a U.S. government facility and stored it in their home.”
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On The Colorado River Growing Concern For Trout And Chub
On The Colorado River, Growing Concern For Trout And Chub https://digitalarkansasnews.com/on-the-colorado-river-growing-concern-for-trout-and-chub-2/
In this photo provided by Terry Gunn, Lehman Beardsley, left, and Gunn, who guides fishing trips, pose with a rainbow trout at Lees Ferry near Marble Canyon, Ariz., Nov 7, 1987. As Lake Powell reservoir just upstream declines, it sends warmer water with less oxygen into the river below the dam. Should that water reach 73 degrees, Gunn said his family’s guide service may start calling off afternoon trips. (Courtesy of Terry Gunn via AP)
Denver • To guide fishing trips for a year or two, that’s what brought Terry Gunn to the red canyons of northern Arizona. The chance to hike, raft and fly fish drew Wendy Hanvold, a retired ski bum, who took a job there waiting tables at an anglers lodge. She heard rumors of the intrepid fishing guide who had just returned from an Alaska trip, and one day when he came in approached his table to take his order.
“You fly fish, right?” she said. “I’ve always wanted to learn.”
It was a match made in Marble Canyon.
Since then, the couple opened an anglers shop, guide service, purchased a lodge, and raised their son. They take pride in showing tourists the best spots to catch and release prized rainbow trout beneath craggy cliffs carved by the Colorado River.
But it could all soon change as warmer water temperatures threaten fish survival and the Gunns’ livelihood.
Key Colorado River reservoirs Lake Powell and Lake Mead are both only about one-quarter full. The continued drop, due to overuse and an increasingly arid climate, is threatening the fish and the economies built around them.
“We’re in totally uncharted territory,” said Gunn, who began guiding in Marble Canyon in 1983. That year, Glen Canyon Dam began to release water on an emergency basis after record snowmelt produced a powerful spring runoff, resulting in near failure of the dam. In all these years, the river has usually been cold, with typical summer temperatures in the 50s.
But since late August, the water temperature at Lees Ferry — the site of a world-famous trout fishery — has risen above 70 degrees seven times. That might be idyllic for a summer dip under the blazing Arizona summer sun, Gunn said, but approaches peril for the beloved sport fish. A few degrees higher can be lethal.
To make matters worse, when temperatures rise, the amount of oxygen dissolved in the water falls, making it tough for fish to even breathe.
As the reservoir drops, it sends warmer water with less oxygen into the river below the dam. Should that water reach 73 degrees, Gunn said his family’s guide service could start calling off afternoon trips.
Recently, a small reprieve of cooler temperatures has taken the edge off the fear at Lees Ferry, but uncertainty still taints the air.
“Mother Nature holds a handful of trump cards and if she decides to play one, there’s not a damn thing you can do about it,” Gunn said.
Seven states, Mexico, and tribal nations depend on the stressed Colorado River. They have undergone voluntary and mandatory cuts and are grappling with how to further reduce their reliance on the river by about 15 to 30 percent, per a recent mandate by the Department of the Interior.
Struggling aquatic life further complicates the already delicate river management and increases the cost.
Just a few miles north of Lees Ferry and its trout fishery there’s another threat — nonnative predatory smallmouth bass. They’re supposed to be contained in Lake Powell. But this summer they were found in the river below the dam. Smallmouth bass already wreaked havoc on native fish way upriver where the government spends millions of dollars each year to control the predators. They were held at bay in Lake Powell because Glen Canyon Dam has served as a barrier for them for years — until now. The reservoir’s recent sharp decline is enabling these introduced fish to shoot through the dam and edge closer to the Grand Canyon, where the biggest groups of humpback chub, an ancient, threatened, native fish, remain.
The National Park Service is going so far as to apply chemicals Saturday to kill these predatory fish. The infested area is sealed off from the river with a vinyl barrier, desirable fish are moved to the main channel, and the substance is applied to just that area, said National Park Service fisheries biologist Jeff Arnold. A second treatment is likely later this fall. The Bureau of Reclamation has said it will contribute $30,000 for the second treatment, and is exploring additional funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act for longer-term solutions such as barriers that would prevent fish from even approaching the dam.
A mid-term solution could involve a technique that lets cold water from deeper in the lake flow into the river below. Although this would mean forgoing hydropower, the cool water would disrupt spawning of predatory fish. It’s been successful in other rivers and could help protect both native fish and rainbow trout.
Several hundred miles downstream, at the site of another fish threat, one hatchery has completely shut down. Lake Mead Fish Hatchery, which used to breed endangered razorback sucker and bonytail chub, ceased operations earlier this year when the lake dipped below the point where the hatchery drew its water.
Last month, the state of Nevada and the Bureau of Reclamation announced they’re kicking in nearly $12 million on a project to pull water from deeper in the lake into the hatchery. The new line will source water from a third straw that the Southern Nevada Water Authority built following a severe drop in lake levels in the early 2000s. As Lake Mead plummeted this year, the agency had to begin using it to rescue Las Vegas, and soon, the hatchery.
Floating boat docks sit on dry ground as water levels have declined near the Callville Bay Resort & Marina in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Aug. 30, 2022, near Boulder City, Nev. As America’s large reservoirs on the Colorado River drop to record-low levels, fish are among those suffering the impact. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Walking into a silent hatchery, normally abuzz with flowing water and air compressors, is a challenge, said Nevada Department of Wildlife supervising fish biologist Brandon Singer.
“At first you feel kind of lost, your purpose is gone,” Singer said. But it’s been an opportunity for repair work and for his team to work on species in other parts of the state while they await their return to fish-rearing.
Maintaining native fish populations is a legal obligation the bureau has under the Endangered Species Act. It could face a lawsuit if it fails to meet that obligation, even as it juggles other pressing demands on the river.
Back upstream near Lake Powell, the introduced rainbow trout don’t have the same protection. Losing them would be heartbreaking but feels inevitable, said Terry Gunn, who checks water temperature religiously. “It’s like watching a family member grow old or die — it’s gonna happen.”
Wendy Gunn says if the trout fishery is lost and smallmouth bass take over, she could imagine Lees Ferry transitioning to a haven for warm water fish. It would be tragic in many ways, with the beloved rainbow trout gone and the likelihood that native fish downstream could be next, she said, but people would still come to cast lines.
“Everybody’s just gonna have to adapt,” Wendy said. “You either roll with it and change or you go away.”
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Protests Break Out At Funeral Of Iranian Woman Who Died After Morals Arrest
Protests Break Out At Funeral Of Iranian Woman Who Died After Morals Arrest https://digitalarkansasnews.com/protests-break-out-at-funeral-of-iranian-woman-who-died-after-morals-arrest/
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DUBAI, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Protests broke out in western Iran on Saturday at the funeral of a young woman who died after being detained by morality police enforcing strict hijab rules, and security forces used tear gas to disperse demonstrators.
Videos posted on social media showed protesters shouting anti-government slogans after gathering in Saqez, hometown of Mahsa Amini. They came from nearby cities in Iran’s Kurdistan province to mourn the 22-year-old who died in a hospital in the capital Tehran on Friday.
“Death to the dictator” – a reference to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, chanted the crowd, while some women took off their headscarves. Police were seen firing tear gas and one man was shown on a video with an injury to the head that someone could be heard saying was caused by birdshot. Reuters could not authenticate the videos.
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Protests spread to the provincial capital, Sanandaj and continued late into the night. Social media videos showed crowds chanting “Saqez is not alone, it’s supported by Sanandaj”. Marchers were seen confronting riot police amid the sound of sporadic gunfire. Other posted videos showed youths setting fire to tyres and throwing rocks at riot police across clouds of tear gas.
In recent months, rights activists have urged women to publicly remove their veils, a gesture that would risk their arrest for defying the Islamic dress code as the country’s hardline rulers crack down on “immoral behaviour”. read more
Videos posted on social media have shown cases of what appeared to be heavy-handed action by morality police units against women who had removed their hijab.
INVESTIGATION INTO DEATH
Authorities have launched probes into the death of Amini, but a medical examiner said on Saturday results of forensic tests may take three weeks. Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told state TV there was no report she was beaten.
Police said Amini became ill as she waited with other detained women at a morality police station, rejecting allegations on social media that she was likely beaten.
Police released closed-circuit television footage apparently supporting their version of events. Reuters could not authenticate the video, which appeared to have been edited.
Police earlier said Amini had suffered a heart attack after being taken to the station to be “educated”. Her relatives have denied she suffered any heart condition.
Prominent sports and arts figures posted critical social media comments about Amini’s death and protests were held in a Tehran on Friday amid a heavy presence of riot police.
As during past protests, authorities appeared to have restricted mobile internet access in Saqez and nearby areas, social media posts said.
Internet blockage observatory NetBlocks reported “a significant internet outage” in Tehran on Friday, linking it to the protests. read more
Under Iran’s sharia, or Islamic law, imposed after the 1979 revolution, women are obliged to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothes to disguise their figures. Violators face public rebuke, fines or arrest.
Decades after the revolution, clerical rulers still struggle to enforce the law, with many women of all ages and backgrounds wearing tight-fitting, thigh-length coats and brightly coloured scarves pushed back to expose plenty of hair.
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Reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Alex Richardson and David Gregorio
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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News Wrap: DOJ Appeals For Access To Classified Documents Recovered From Trump
News Wrap: DOJ Appeals For Access To Classified Documents Recovered From Trump https://digitalarkansasnews.com/news-wrap-doj-appeals-for-access-to-classified-documents-recovered-from-trump/
In our news wrap Saturday, the Justice Department asked a federal appeals court to restore its access to the classified materials found at Mar-a-Lago while an independent arbiter conducts his review, Puerto Rico is under a hurricane warning as Tropical Storm Fiona approaches, violent protests have broken out in Haiti’s capital, and Queen Elizabeth II lies in state for a final two days in London.
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Eloa Jane Art & Design A Small Business In Arkansas Exhibited Eleven Artworks At The Carrousel Du Louvre In Paris France PR.com
Eloa Jane Art & Design, A Small Business In Arkansas, Exhibited Eleven Artworks At The Carrousel Du Louvre In Paris, France – PR.com https://digitalarkansasnews.com/eloa-jane-art-design-a-small-business-in-arkansas-exhibited-eleven-artworks-at-the-carrousel-du-louvre-in-paris-france-pr-com/
Fayetteville, AR, September 17, 2022 –(PR.com)– Eloa Jane Pereira, a Brazilian-born artist, immigrated to the US in 2005. In 2008, she staged her first solo exhibition in Massachusetts and received her first award in the US. Since then, Eloa Jane has developed her technique and style using paper from her mailbox. She rolls, coils and weaves magazine pages, discarded copy paper and even reuses coffee filters.
After moving to Arkansas in 2014, she had a turning point in her art career with her awarded series Neighbors and Neighborhood, which depicted her reality of living in a rural community in Fayetteville, Arkansas. In 2020, she received the Artist of the Year Award sponsored by the National Museum of Women in Arkansas, the Artist 360 grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, and an Honorable Mention award from the Circle Foundation for the Arts in Lyon, France.
Focus Art Fair Paris 2022 contacted Eloa Jane directly about exhibiting at the Carrousel du Louvre in France. The fair took place from September 1st to 4th, 2022, with the theme “Where traditional art meets digital art,” an effort to adapt to the post-COVID-19 era.
Curators and the public had the opportunity to see eleven of Eloa Jane’s art portfolio during the four days in Paris. The Kind Mowers, 24 x 24 inches paper relief, depicts the studio and neighbors who graciously mowed her lawn after theirs. One large paper tapestry 77 x 33 inches Migratory Grief, highlighting the feeling of losing family and friends after immigrating abroad. And nine figurative face reliefs 10 x 8 inches each, representing the diversity and beauty of mingled ethnicities.
To see more of her work, visit www.eloajane.com or follow @eloajane on Instagram.
Eloa Jane Art & Design
Eloa Jane Pereira
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As Massive Storm Batters Alaska Coastal Towns Residents Are Evacuated Widespread Flooding Reported
As Massive Storm Batters Alaska Coastal Towns, Residents Are Evacuated, Widespread Flooding Reported https://digitalarkansasnews.com/as-massive-storm-batters-alaska-coastal-towns-residents-are-evacuated-widespread-flooding-reported/
Alaska braces for strongest storm in years
Alaska braces for strongest storm in years 00:15
A massive, potentially record-breaking storm brought major flooding and damage to coastal towns in Alaska on Saturday morning, and some residents were evacuated. Gov. Mike Dunleavy said he “verbally declared” a disaster for communities impacted by the storm.
The governor said on Twitter there have been no reported injuries. “We will continue to monitor the storm and update Alaskans as much as possible,” he tweeted.
Flooding is seen in Golovin, Alaska, on Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022. Heidi Varga
In the town of Golovin, major flooding was reported early Saturday, according to the National Weather Service, and forecasters warned it would only get worse. The town could see an additional 1 to 2 feet of water by the day’s end.
“Water is surrounding the school, homes and structures are flooded, at least a couple homes floating off the foundation, some older fuel tanks are tilted over,” the weather service’s office in Fairbanks tweeted.
Photos from the weather service showed the high water levels there.
Major flooding in Golovin this morning. Water is still expected to rise 1-2 feet by this afternoon Our thoughts are with the community. (photos courtesy C. Lewis) #akwx pic.twitter.com/BO63uN8dGL
— NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022
Another town, Shaktoolik, reported coastal flooding, with water “entering the community and getting close to some homes,” according to the weather service. Residents there were evacuated to a school and clinic. Shaktoolik was also expected to see the worst of the storm later in the day.
According to the NWS, the water level in Nome rose above 10 feet Saturday, and is expected to continue to rise.
A very angry sea in Nome this morning. Waves and storm surge are pushing into the community, including along Front Street. Water levels are expected to peak this afternoon. Here is an image from the Port of Nome (courtesy of Alaska Ocean Observing System). pic.twitter.com/oX5XZPHIti
— NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022
The weather service also shared footage from a webcam in Unalakleet, comparing an average day in the town against the scene there Saturday morning.
Images from the FAA airport webcam in Unalakleet. One image shows a normal day, the other shows water inundating the area around the airport as of 8am this morning. Water levels will continue to rise another foot by this afternoon. #akwx pic.twitter.com/0tVjXy3dLv
— NWS Fairbanks (@NWSFairbanks) September 17, 2022
As of Saturday morning, large swaths of the state’s western coast were under coastal flooding and high wind warnings. The weather service said the flood warnings would remain in effect until Sunday night while the wind warnings were expected to expire by Saturday night.
Other portions of the state are under gale and storm warnings, according to the weather service.
The weather service shared peak reported wind gusts as of 8 a.m. local time — the highest recorded was 91 mph in Cape Romanzof. Several other towns, including Golovin, saw winds topping 60 mph.
The center of the storm was located just south of the Bering Strait on Saturday morning, the weather service said.
Here’s a view of the Bering Sea storm lit by moonlight just prior to sunrise (brightening on the right). It’s centered just south of the Bering Strait at this time.
It was just over a half moon last night. Thankfully tides weren’t as high as they could have been. pic.twitter.com/sKoVAWOaBc
— NWS Alaska Region (@NWSAlaska) September 17, 2022
The storm is the remnants of Typhoon Merbok, and forecasters predicted this week it could bring “potentially historical” flooding, with some coastal areas seeing water levels up to 11 feet higher than the normal high tide.
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Sophie Reardon
Sophie Reardon is a News Editor at CBS News. Reach her at sophie.reardon@viacomcbs.com
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Can The Fed Tame Inflation Without Further Crushing The Stock Market? What Investors Need To Know.
Can The Fed Tame Inflation Without Further Crushing The Stock Market? What Investors Need To Know. https://digitalarkansasnews.com/can-the-fed-tame-inflation-without-further-crushing-the-stock-market-what-investors-need-to-know/
Market Snapshot
Last Updated: Sept. 17, 2022 at 4:26 p.m. ET First Published: Sept. 17, 2022 at 8:00 a.m. ET
Investors should brace for more volatility with policy makers expected to deliver another jumbo rate hike
Fed Chair Jerome Powell says bringing down inflation will cause pain for households and businesses.
MarketWatch photo illustration/iStockphoto
The Federal Reserve isn’t trying to slam the stock market as it rapidly raises interest rates in its bid to slow inflation still running red hot — but investors need to be prepared for more pain and volatility because policy makers aren’t going to be cowed by a deepening selloff, investors and strategists said.
“I don’t think they’re necessarily trying to drive inflation down by destroying stock prices or bond prices, but it is having that effect.” said Tim Courtney, chief investment officer at Exencial Wealth Advisors, in…
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Phony Document Lands On Court Docket In Trump Search Case
Phony Document Lands On Court Docket In Trump Search Case https://digitalarkansasnews.com/phony-document-lands-on-court-docket-in-trump-search-case-2/
WASHINGTON (AP)
When a government document mysteriously appeared earlier this week in the highest profile case in the federal court system, it had the hallmarks of another explosive storyline in the Justice Department’s investigation into classified records stored at former President Donald Trump’s Florida estate.
The document purported to be from the U.S. Treasury Department, claimed that the agency had seized sensitive documents related to last month’s search at Mar-a-Lago and included a warrant ordering CNN to preserve “leaked tax records.”
The document remained late Thursday on the court docket, but it is a clear fabrication. A review of dozens of court records and interviews by The Associated Press suggest the document originated with a serial forger behind bars at a federal prison complex in North Carolina.
The incident also suggests that the court clerk was easily tricked into believing it was real, landing the document on the public docket in the Mar-a-Lago search warrant case. It also highlights the vulnerability of the U.S. court system and raises questions about the court’s vetting of documents that purport to be official records.
The document first appeared on the court’s docket late Monday afternoon and was marked as a “MOTION to Intervene by U.S. Department of the Treasury.”
The document, sprinkled with spelling and syntax errors, read, “The U.S. Department of Treasury through the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Marshals Service have arrested Seized Federal Securities containing sensitive documents which are subject to the Defendant Sealed Search Warrant by the F.B.I. arrest.”
It cited a federal statute for collecting financial records in federal investigations. The document also included the two supposed warrants, one that claimed to be sent to CNN in Atlanta and another to a towing company in Michigan.
Those supposed warrants, though, are identical to paperwork filed in another case in federal court in Georgia brought by an inmate at the prison medical center in Butner, North Carolina. The case was thrown out, as were the array of other frivolous lawsuits the man has filed from his prison cell.
The man has been in custody for several years since he was found not competent to stand trial after an arrest for planting a fake explosive outside the Guardian Building, a skyscraper in Detroit. Since his incarceration, he has filed a range of lawsuits and has impersonated the Treasury Department, claimed to be a federal trustee and claimed to be a lawyer for the Justice Department, a review of court records shows.
In the Georgia case, the man alleged that Trump and others had “acquired ‘millions of un- redacted classified tax returns and other sensitive financial data, bank records and accounts of banking and tax transactions of several million’ Americans and federal government agencies,” court documents say.
The judge in that case called his suit “fanatic” and “delusional,” saying there was no way to “discern any cognizable claim” from the incoherent filings.
The man has repeatedly impersonated federal officials in court records and has placed tax liens on judges using his false paperwork, two people familiar with the matter told the AP. Because of his history as a forger, his mail is supposed to be subjected to additional scrutiny from the Bureau of Prisons.
It’s unclear how the documents — the fake motion and the phony warrants — ended up at the court clerk’s office at the courthouse in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A photocopy of an envelope, included in the filing, shows it was sent to the court with a printed return address of the Treasury Department’s headquarters in Washington. But a postmark shows a Michigan ZIP code, and a tracking number on the envelope shows it was mailed Sept. 9 from Clinton Township, Michigan, the inmate’s hometown.
The AP is not identifying the inmate by name because he has a documented history of mental illness and has not been charged with a crime related to the filing.
“There is simply nothing indicating that he has any authorization to act on behalf of the United States,” the judge in the Georgia case wrote.
But despite the clear warning signs — including a stamp noting the Georgia case number on the phony warrants — the filing still made its way onto the docket.
Spokespeople for the Justice Department and the Treasury Department would not comment. They declined to answer on the record when asked if the document was false and why the government had not addressed it.
Representatives in the court clerk’s office and the magistrate judge overseeing the search warrant case did not respond to requests for comment.
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Irans President Raeisi: No Meeting With US President On Sidelines Of UN General Assembly Session
Iran’s President Raeisi: No Meeting With US President On Sidelines Of UN General Assembly Session https://digitalarkansasnews.com/irans-president-raeisi-no-meeting-with-us-president-on-sidelines-of-un-general-assembly-session/
President Ebrahim Raeisi says he has no plans for either meeting or talking with his American counterpart, Joe Biden, during his upcoming trip to New York, where the Iranian chief executive is slated to address the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly.
“I do not think that such a meeting is going to take place,” Raeisi told CBS News’ 60 Minutes program during an interview conducted Tuesday, which the channel is going to broadcast in full on Sunday.
Iran’s president made the comment when he as asked, “Are you open to a meeting with President Biden? A face-to-face?” adding, “I don’t believe having a meeting or a talk with him will be beneficial.”
The Iranian president was also asked whether he could see any differences between the Biden administration and the administration of his predecessor Donald Trump.
“The new administration in the US, they claim that they are different from the Trump administration,” Raeisi said, adding, “They have said it in their messages to us. But we haven’t witnessed any changes in reality.”
Under Trump, the United Sates left a 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers, reinstating the sanctions that the deal had lifted.
On his campaign trail, Biden alleged that he intended to return Washington to the deal, which is officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
He has, however, stopped short of taking any such measure, and has even imposed more sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
The Austrian capital of Vienna has been hosting many rounds of negotiations between Iran and the JCPOA’s remaining members since last year to examine the potential of the deal’s revival and fresh removal of the sanctions.
The talks have, however, failed to bring about either amid, what Tehran has denounced as, Washington’s continual foot-dragging and inflexibility.
Speaking to Qatar’s Al Jazeera television network on Thursday, Raeisi likewise said direct talks with the US over the nuclear agreement were “of no avail.”
The final decision for restoration of the JCPOA rested with the US, he said, adding, “The US has to take trust-building measures” towards the Iranian side.
Raesi also told the Doha-based network that any potential removal of the American sanctions had to be accompanied with relevant “guarantees” that Washington would not return the bans again.
The Iranian president censured a raft of new sanctions that Washington had imposed most recently on Iran, asking, “If Washington is after an agreement, why does it apply new sanctions during the course of the nuclear talks?”
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On The Trail: Bolduc Makes U-Turn On Key Issues https://digitalarkansasnews.com/on-the-trail-bolduc-makes-u-turn-on-key-issues/
Republican Senate nominee Don Bolduc headed to Georgia on Friday – in search of fundraising dollars to compete against incumbent Democrat Maggie Hassan – to attend and speak at a retreat organized by the National Republican Senatorial Committee for major donors.
But the former Army general who narrowly edged longtime state Senate President Chuck Morse on Tuesday left behind a brewing controversy following his backtracking on comments he made during his primary campaign supporting former President Donald Trump’s repeated unproven claims that the 2020 election was “stolen.”
Bolduc, who struck a populist theme as he ran as an outsider and MAGA-style Republican amid a crowded primary field of contenders for the GOP nomination, embraced Trump’s constant bemoaning of his 2020 election loss. Bolduc, who served 10 tours of duty in the Afghanistan War, was part of a group of retired generals who signed a letter questioning the legitimacy of the election due to what they charged was “a tremendous amount of fraud.”
“I signed a letter with 120 other generals and admirals saying Trump won the election, and damn it, I stand by [it],” Bolduc proclaimed, during a primary debate last month.
But on Thursday, Bolduc shifted gears during a TV interview on Fox News.
“We live and learn, right?” he said. “And I’ve done a lot of research on this.”
His research included speaking with Granite State voters, he said.
“I have come to the conclusion, and I want to be definitive on this, the election was not stolen,” Bolduc emphasized.
He added that while he still believes there was fraud in the 2020 contest, “elections have consequences and, unfortunately, President Biden is the legitimate president of this country.”
State Rep. Al Baldasaro of Londonderry, a top Trump supporter and surrogate in New Hampshire, was not impressed.
“It’s a shame that he changed his mind,” Baldasaro said. “I disagree with him.”
Hassan’s campaign on Friday put out a statement spotlighting Bolduc’s change of stance that was headlined “Bolduc fails in his attempt to run away from his very, very long record of election denial.”
Bolduc also appears to be moderating his stance on the issue of legalized abortion.
Following the blockbuster move in June by the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, sending the combustible issue of legalized abortion back to the states, Bolduc called the decision a necessary correction.
Bolduc, who repeatedly highlighted that he’s “pro-life,” said at a primary debate this summer that he would “always default for a system that protects lives from beginning to end.”
But Bolduc says that he would not support a proposal, unveiled on Tuesday by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, to implement a federal abortion ban after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
“No, I’m not going to support it because it makes no sense,” Bolduc said on Fox News after declaring his primary victory. “The Supreme Court has already decided that this is a state issue. The states have it. That’s where it needs to be. Women on both sides of the issue will get a better voice at the state level.”
Hassan told reporters on Wednesday that Bolduc’s statements are “inconsistent with what he’s been saying for years. He has said he would vote for anti-choice legislation in Washington.”
Bolduc’s new comments opposing a federal abortion ban do call in to question a television commercial from the Hassan campaign launched on Wednesday that charged that “if Don Bolduc and Congressional Republicans take control of the U.S. Senate they would push for a nationwide ban on abortion — a ban with no exceptions.”
While Bolduc gave New Hampshire conservatives plenty of red meat during the primaries, there were concerns from some Republicans in the state and nationally that a nomination victory by the retired general, who has severely struggled with fundraising, would allow Hassan to win re-election.
A couple of weeks ago a newly formed super PAC named the White Mountain PAC, which had loose links to longtime Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell’s political orbit, dished out roughly $4 million to run TV commercials in New Hampshire boosting Morse and blasting Bolduc for his “crazy ideas.”
Now, post-primary, Bolduc appears to be doing what some other MAGA-style GOP nominees have done as they shifted to the general election, and that’s moderate their stance on some key issues.
New Hampshire’s competitive Republican primaries for the past six months often pitted conservative candidates supported by mainstream Republicans against far-right contenders often aligned with Trump and his legions of MAGA loyalists.
The patching up of primary differences is a work in progress, but one top Republican says is essential to secure victory in November.
“Now is the time for us to unite and come together as a party in New Hampshire, come together as a party all across this country and do what needs to be done,” former Vice President Mike Pence emphasized on Wednesday night, as he headlined a fundraiser for Bolduc in Wilton.
The next morning, the New Hampshire GOP held their post-primary unity breakfast at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord.
NHGOP chair Steve Stepanek warned the audience to not “take anything for granted between now and November,” and urged that “as passionately as you worked for your candidate in the primary, whether they won or lost, everyone has to work as passionately for the Republican ticket going forward.”
Seeking some unity, Bolduc walked over to Republican Gov. Chris Sununu and gave him a big hug during the breakfast.
After stressing at the end of his speech that “we do not win without this team coming together,” Bolduc stepped down from the podium and approached Sununu, who was next in line to speak, and embraced the governor, who remains the most popular politician among Granite State Republicans.
The hug by Bolduc appeared to be an attempt to erase a recent history of bad blood between the two men, who now share the top of the GOP ticket on November’s ballot in New Hampshire.
National Republican leaders spent a year trying to recruit Sununu to take on Hassan, viewed as vulnerable as she seeks a second term in the Senate. However, the governor announced last November that he would instead run for re-election.
Bolduc claimed last year that Sununu was a “communist Chinese sympathizer” and that the Sununu family’s business “supports terrorism.” While Bolduc has walked back those attacks, he has continued to criticize Sununu’s policies during the coronavirus pandemic as “executive overreach.”
A few weeks ago, Sununu said on a popular statewide talk-radio program that Bolduc was “not a serious candidate, he’s really not, and if he were the GOP nominee, I have no doubt we would have a much harder time… He’s kind of a conspiracy theorist-type candidate.”
While Sununu tempered those criticisms in recent days, he endorsed Morse ahead of the primary.
On the eve of the unity breakfast, Bolduc appeared to try and make amends with some of his past rhetoric on the campaign trial.
“A campaign is tough. It’s tough on everybody. We say things in the heat of conversation that we regret later. We hope that we can say we’re sorry for it and people forgive, but that’s not always the case. And I’m no different,” he lamented during the Pence-headlined fundraiser. “I’m a man who’s fallible. A man who errs. A man who says things that perhaps should be left unsaid.”
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee Releases Statement On The Passing Of Ying Lee
Congresswoman Barbara Lee Releases Statement On The Passing Of Ying Lee https://digitalarkansasnews.com/congresswoman-barbara-lee-releases-statement-on-the-passing-of-ying-lee/
By Ben Jealous
A New Mexico judge has done the country a big favor. Judge Francis Mathew upheld a little-known provision of the U.S. Constitution and removed a public official for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. I hope other judges have the courage to follow his lead.
The principle that no person is above the law — that powerful people have to obey the laws like everyone else — is essential to a democratic society. If this principle is not enforced, corrupt leaders will undermine the rule of law and democracy itself.
Judge Mathew ruled that a county commissioner who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol can no longer hold public office. The ruling was based on a section of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which was passed after the Civil War. It forbids anyone from holding public office if they had taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States and then “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” against the country.
The judge found that Otero County Commissioner Couy Griffin helped lead the mob that used violence to try to prevent Congress from affirming Joe Biden’s win in the presidential election. Griffin later bragged about his role and suggested that there might be another insurrection coming.
Judge Mathew’s ruling is a milestone in the effort to hold public officials accountable for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election. It should provide a road map — and some moral courage — to other judges considering legal efforts to hold state legislators and others accountable for trying to undermine democracy.
Another important effort to hold powerful people accountable for the insurrection is being conducted by the House Select Committee that is investigating the insurrection and the schemes that led up to it.
The committee’s public hearings this summer gave the American people a powerful dose of truth-telling about the lies and deceptions of President Trump, members of his legal team, and his political allies. The committee’s investigation is continuing, and we can look forward to more public hearings this fall.
Members and staff of the committee have spent countless hours digging through emails and other public records; interviewing former Trump administration officials and lawyers; members of Congress, and far-right activists who promoted Trump’s lies about election fraud. They are still at it. Among the people they hope to interview this fall are former Vice President Mike Pence, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and far-right activist Ginni Thomas — wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Truth is a first step toward accountability. But it cannot be the only step.
The committee’s efforts to get a full picture of the illegal scheming to overturn the election is essential. So is punishing wrongdoers and preventing future attempts to subvert our elections.
There are plenty of wrongdoers who need to be held accountable, punished, and prevented from using powerful government positions to undermine democracy and the rule of law. And that includes former President Trump, whose lies about a “stolen” election fueled the insurrectionists’ anger.
In our system of government, there are many people with roles to play in defending our democracy. Congress can use its oversight power to reveal the corruption within the White House. The Justice Department can prosecute criminals like those who attacked the Capitol Police — and those who broke other laws as they tried desperately to keep the defeated Trump in power. Judges can hold public officials accountable for violating the Constitution.
And we the voters can defend democracy by electing local, state, and national officials who are committed to the democratic process — and rejecting those who seek power for the purpose of interfering with our elections and our ability to hold powerful people accountable.
Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. A New York Times best-selling author, his next book “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free” will be published by Harper Collins in December 2022.
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The U.S. Economy Is Being Pushed To The Brink https://digitalarkansasnews.com/the-u-s-economy-is-being-pushed-to-the-brink/
The U.S. economy is on the brink of a crisis.
Tuesday’s release of the Consumer Price Index for August confirmed a disturbing reality: inflation isn’t moderating. This virtually guarantees that the Federal Reserve will continue its path of hiking interest rates, which, as Fed Chair Jerome Powell has said, “will cause pain” to the American economy.
August’s worse-than-expected CPI report also sent stocks falling to their worst day since June 2020 – and though the stock market isn’t the economy, it often is a visible sign of the economy’s health.
Ultimately, there is a very real and increasing possibility of a severe economic downturn in the U.S. – resulting in a recession, or worse, stagflation, which is a combination of persistently high inflation, slow economic growth, and high unemployment.
While many economists predicted that prices would decrease between July and August – due to steadily declining gas prices, which seemed to be giving the economy a respite – the CPI report confirmed the opposite. Prices continued their steady march higher in August, increasing by .1% from July, and 8.3% from a year ago.
Just as alarmingly, Core Inflation, which strips out food and energy, rose twice as much as most economists expected – .6% from July and 6.3% from a year ago – a reflection of rising costs for housing and other essential items.
Even worse, rising prices are showing no signs of subsiding. As Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers tweeted, this week’s CPI report confirms “that the U.S. has a serious inflation problem.”
“Core inflation is higher this month than for the quarter, higher this quarter than last quarter, higher this half of the year than the previous one, and higher last year than the previous one,” Summers went on to say.
This unrelenting inflation – which continues to climb despite the 25% decline in gas prices over the last several months – underscores how challenging it will be for the Federal Reserve to bring it back to their 2% target.
This current bout of inflation – widespread and “sticky” – is causing concern for economists on and off Wall Street, as the Fed may be forced to take drastic measures to rein in the worst inflation we have experienced in decades.
The Federal Reserve only has one tool to combat inflation: raising interest rates, which essentially puts the brakes on the economy by increasing borrowing costs. This slows down demand for goods and services and typically causes unemployment to rise.
The latest CPI report drastically heightened the prospect of the Fed delivering an aggressive and painful 100bps – or 1% – rate hike. This would be the first hike of this size in more than 40 years, dating back to the late 1970’s when Chairman Paul Volcker was deliberately trying to send the U.S. into a recession in order to tame inflation.
Though, given that this wave of inflation is being caused by limited supply – not purely by strong demand – the Fed risks raising interest rates to a level where they strangle the American economy without immediately curbing inflation.
There could be considerable collateral damage if the Fed goes down this path. The International Monetary Fund has estimated that unemployment in the U.S. would have to double to 7.5% – or roughly 12 million Americans unemployed – in order to crush inflation, triggering another financial crisis in and of itself.
If the U.S. enters a recession – or worse, a period of stagflation – the $7.6 trillion lost in U.S. stocks this year may continue to grow, destroying the household wealth that Americans have built up for years in 401ks and similar plans.
From a political perspective, this week’s economic news poses a tremendous risk to Democrats, who would prefer to head into midterms with positive – or at the very least, neutral – economic news, and want to keep Americans focused on the fight over abortion rights and tying the Republican Party to Donald Trump.
President Biden’s confounding decision to celebrate the passage of his “Inflation Reduction Act” – just hours after the release of a disheartening CPI report – underscores the failure of his administration to develop a reassuring message surrounding this issue, which public polling consistently finds to be Americans’ top priority.
That being said, the dangers posed to Democrats’ chances of holding onto Congress in November’s midterms pale in comparison to the dangers of what appears to be an inevitable economic and financial crisis.
This crisis will impact all Americans, but especially the most vulnerable among us – namely, seniors and low-income households. Yet, any time the government provides additional aid, it pours gasoline on the inflation fire.
Ultimately, a once-in-a-generation pandemic, years of wasteful government spending, a war in Ukraine, and a Federal Reserve that was too slow to react to inflation have pushed the economy to the brink.
While it remains to be seen when the economy will break, when it does, we can be sure that it will be detrimental to Americans’ jobs, incomes, and overall quality of life.
Douglas Schoen is a longtime Democratic political consultant.
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Gaetz Sought Pardon Related To Justice Department Sex Trafficking Probe
Gaetz Sought Pardon Related To Justice Department Sex Trafficking Probe https://digitalarkansasnews.com/gaetz-sought-pardon-related-to-justice-department-sex-trafficking-probe-2/
Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) told a former White House aide that he was seeking a preemptive pardon from President Donald Trump regarding an investigation in which he is a target, according to testimony given to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Johnny McEntee, according to people familiar with his testimony, told investigators that Gaetz told him during a brief meeting “that they are launching an investigation into him or that there’s an investigation into him,” without specifying who was investigating Gaetz.
McEntee added that Gaetz told him “he did not do anything wrong but they are trying to make his life hell, and you know, if the president could give him a pardon, that would be great.” Gaetz told McEntee that he had asked White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows for a pardon.
Asked by investigators if Gaetz’s request for a pardon was in the context of the Justice Department investigation into whether Gaetz violated federal sex trafficking laws, McEntee replied, “I think that was the context, yes,” according to people familiar with the testimony who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters.
The testimony is the first indication that Gaetz was specifically seeking a pardon for his own exposure related to the Justice Department inquiry into whether he violated sex trafficking laws. His public posture in the final months of the Trump administration was much less specific, repeatedly calling for broad preemptive pardons to fend off possible Democratic investigations.
McEntee testified that Gaetz met him briefly one evening and discussed the issue of a pardon but McEntee could not recall whether their conversation happened before or after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, according to people familiar with the testimony.
The Justice Department investigation into whether Gaetz paid for sex, paid for women to travel across state lines to have sex, and had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, was opened in the final months of the Trump administration with approval from Attorney General William P. Barr. The probe stemmed from a federal investigation of Gaetz’s friend who is now a convicted sex trafficker. Gaetz has denied paying for sex or having sex with a minor as an adult.
McEntee did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Neither Meadows nor his lawyer immediately responded to requests for comment. A spokesperson for Gaetz declined to address the testimony or whether Gaetz discussed a pardon with McEntee or Meadows and instead responded that Gaetz never directly asked Trump for a pardon.
“Congressman Matt Gaetz discussed pardons for many other people publicly and privately at the end of President Donald Trump’s first term,” the spokesperson wrote in an email. “As for himself, President Trump addressed this malicious rumor more than a year ago stating, ‘Congressman Matt Gaetz has never asked me for a pardon.’ Rep. Gaetz continues to stand by President Trump’s statement.”
The House select committee also declined to comment.
Gaetz has not been charged with any crimes but Joel Greenberg, a Gaetz associate and former tax collector for Seminole County, Fla., pleaded guilty in the spring of 2021 to six criminal charges, including sex trafficking of a minor. Greenberg agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors and testify in court, and has been providing investigators with information about Gaetz since 2020, The Washington Post previously reported.
“The last time I had a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old, I was 17,” Gaetz has previously said. On Nov. 25, 2020, weeks after Trump lost the presidential election, Gaetz told Fox News that Trump “should pardon everyone from himself to his administration officials to Joe Exotic if he has to.”
Cassidy Hutchinson, a top White House aide to Meadows, told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack that she recalled Gaetz and Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) both advocating for a “blanket pardon” for lawmakers who attended a Dec. 21, 2020, meeting at the White House to discuss efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. In the previously aired testimony, she said they also advocated for pardons for “a handful of other members that were not at the December 21st meeting.”
Hutchinson added that Gaetz, however, “was personally pushing” for a pardon “since early December.” But the focus of that pardon request was not clear from Hutchinson’s testimony. “I’m not sure why Mr. Gaetz would reach out to me to ask if he could have a meeting with Mr. Meadows about receiving a presidential pardon,” she added.
Brooks, who put a request for a pardon in an email to a White House aide at the time, defended his actions in a statement after Hutchinson’s testimony saying, “There was a concern Democrats would abuse the judicial system by prosecuting and jailing Republicans” for objecting in Congress to the certification of the election.
Eric Herschmann, a former Trump White House lawyer, told investigators that he also believed that Gaetz was seeking a pardon, according to an excerpt of the deposition played during one of the committee’s public hearings.
“The general tone was, we may get prosecuted because we were defensive of, you know, the president’s positions on these things,” Herschmann recalled. “The pardon that he was discussing requesting was as broad as you can describe, from the beginning — I remember he is — from the beginning of time up until today for any and all things. Then he mentioned Nixon. And I said Nixon’s pardon was never nearly that broad.”
Gaetz ultimately did not receive a pardon from Trump.
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