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Republican Allies Break With Trump After He Claims He Can Declassify Documents Just By “thinking” https://digitalarkansasnews.com/republican-allies-break-with-trump-after-he-claims-he-can-declassify-documents-just-by-thinking/ Top Republican senators pushed back on former President Donald Trump’s claim that he could declassify secret national security documents just by “thinking about it.” “If you’re the president of the United States, you can declassify just by saying it’s declassified, even by thinking about it,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday. “Because you’re sending it to Mar-a-Lago or wherever you’re sending it. There doesn’t have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesn’t have to be. You’re the president — you make that decision.” Some top Senate Republicans broke with Trump’s claim as he faces a federal criminal investigation into classified documents that were seized by the FBI during an August 8 raid on his Mar-a-Lago residence. Senate GOP Whip John Thune, R-S.D., told CNN on Thursday that there is, in fact, a process for declassifying documents, and that “it ought to be adhered to and followed.”  “I think that should apply to anybody who has access to or deals with classified information,” he said. “I think the concern is about those being taken from the White House absent some way of declassifying them or the fact that there were classified documents removed — without sort of the appropriate safeguards. I think that is what the Justice Department is getting at.” Even top Trump allies took issue with the former president’s statement that he could declassify documents with his mind, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who simply acknowledged that “the process is probably more complicated than that.” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told the network there is a formal process that everyone must go through when declassifying sensitive material. “As I understand the Executive Branch requirements, there is a process that one must go through,” he said. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., who sits on the Armed Services Committee, told CNN that the handling of classified documents is a  “very serious” issue. “I think anyone who takes the time to appropriately protect that information and who has taken the time to see what’s in the information would have serious concerns about how items could be accessed if they’re not stored properly,” he said. “And so once again, up here, we take it very seriously. People can get hurt, people can get killed if it’s not stored correctly, and if that information gets out.” Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. However, some GOP senators are still defending Trump’s claims. When asked about the former president’s comments on Fox News, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., smiled and doubted that Trump made the claims. When pressed on the issue, he claimed Trump was “probably suggesting, I imagine, that it’s easy to do.” “I suspect what he means is that there’s not much to it, and that may be right. I just don’t know,” Hawley added. “I haven’t thought about the constitutional angle in terms of what authority that gives the president.” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a close ally of the former president, claimed that his understanding of the Constitution is that Trump is “the one person who has the ability to declassify when he wants to declassify.”  “It’s like the pardon power. It’s pretty much unlimited. The founders invested that power with him, and he can declassify it,” he said. “I don’t know that the constitution spells out there’s a specific process he has to go through, I think he just has that power.” Indiana senator Mike Braun also came to Trump’s defense. “I think there’s prerogative on the part of the president to declassify,” he said when asked about Trump’s comments. “What the proper methodology is, I don’t know. I guess we’ll find out how.” Read More Here

Trump's Messiah Scam Increases His Threat To America https://digitalarkansasnews.com/trumps-messiah-scam-increases-his-threat-to-america/ Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay Donald Trump has built a cult around himself. This is dangerous to America and dangerous to democracy. Cults of personality in governance are broadly incompatible with democracy. They usually erupt in dictatorships where the Great Leader’s face and sayings are splashed all over public places. Think Mao’s China, Stalin’s USSR, Hitler’s Germany, Kim’s North Korea.   On a smaller scale and in a different context, we see how destructive such personality cults can be with the deaths around Jim Jones’ Jonestown, David Koresh’s Branch Davidians, and Charles Manson’s Family. This is what Donald Trump aspires to. Back in 2000, Louise and I visited Egypt. Our guide was a retired professor of Egyptology from the largest university in the country, and as we were touring Luxor he pointed out some writing carved fifteen or so feet up a stone wall at the Temple of Karnack. “This is from when Alexander the Great conquered Egypt,” he told us, as I recall. “It says that Alexander was the child of Amen, the god of all the gods, the one who was so great that even to this day we say his name at the end of prayers.” “Why would Alexander make that claim?” I asked. “Because” he said, “it’s a lot easier to seize and hold power when people think you have a connection to their idea of divinity.” While modern Hebrew scholars may disagree about why “amen” ends our prayers, it was a lesson for me that I’ve kept in mind ever since. Beware of leaders asserting connections to divinity, particularly if they’re grasping for political or financial power. Trump is now openly encouraging his followers to think of him as divine or, at least, divinely inspired. And this isn’t a new pitch, it’s just getting a new round of attention. Back in 2019, when Trump actually was president, Dana Milbank noted for The Washington Post: “On Wednesday morning, he tweeted out with approval a conspiracy theorist’s claim that Israelis view Trump ‘like he’s the King of Israel’ and ‘the second coming of God’ (a theology Jews reject). He shared the conspiracy theorist’s puzzlement that American Jews don’t view him likewise. “Hours later, he explained why he has taken a tough trade policy against China: ‘I am the chosen one.’” Followers of the Qanon cult and the Fox “News” cult appear to believe him. And, like those who followed the people mentioned above, it’s tearing apart families, devastating our politics, and causing deaths across the nation. As a Cleveland newspaper noted a week ago yesterday: “A man who authorities say killed his wife and dog and seriously wounded his daughter before being shot by police reportedly was depressed by Donald Trump’s loss in the presidential election and became fixated by online conspiracy theories such as QAnon.” The man’s daughter who avoided being shot, Rebecca Lanis, told The Detroit News: “It’s really so shocking but it really can happen to anybody. Right-wing extremism is not funny, and people need to watch their relatives and if they have guns, they need to hide them or report them or something because this is out of control.” And she’s right: it is out of control. Rational people know that messiahs don’t molest women and brag about it, don’t fleece people with a phony school who just want a college education, don’t encourage racial hatred, and don’t get crowds to try to overturn democracy and kill a policeman. But Trump isn’t after the rational people. He’s a predator, and his prey are the psychologically and emotionally vulnerable, people crushed by 40 years of Reagan’s neoliberalism, now desperate for simple answers to complex problems. We should have known when Trump said, in a Charles Manson moment, that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and his followers would still support him. Charismatic con men can make some people believe anything. For example, nearly a third of all registered Republicans believe that top-level Democrats are running international child trafficking rings to torture and abuse kids before draining their blood. Where did this modern-day variation on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion come from?   When I was young my favorite writers were Ernest Hemmingway and Hunter S. Thompson, and my favorite Thompson novel was his Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.  Which is why a caller last year who started on a rant about Democrats harvesting “adrenochrome” from children caused me to both cut him off the air and go back to my copy of the novel to see if my memory was right. Sure enough, there it was. Thompson was bemoaning running out of hashish and being almost out of opium when his “fat Samoan” sidekick offered an alternative:  “As your attorney,” he said, “I advise you not worry.” He nodded toward the bathroom. “Take a hit out of that little brown bottle in my shaving kit.” “What is it?” “Adrenochrome,” he said. “You won’t need much. Just a little tiny taste.” I got the bottle and dipped the head of a paper match into it. “That’s about right,” he said. “That stuff makes pure mescaline seem like ginger beer. You’ll go completely crazy if you take too much.” I licked the end of the match. “Where’d you get this?” I asked. “You can’t buy it.” “Never mind,” he said. “It’s absolutely pure.” I shook my head sadly. “Jesus! What kind of monster client have you picked up this time? There’s only one source for this stuff…” He nodded. “The adrenaline glands from a living human body,” I said. “It’s no good if you get it out of a corpse.” When Thompson pushes his “attorney” about where the adrenochrome came from, the fictional character tells the fictional tale of having once been hired to represent a child molester/murderer who’d presumably extracted it from one of his victims: “Christ, what could I say?” Thompson’s sidekick told him. “Even a goddamn werewolf is entitled to legal counsel. I didn’t dare turn the creep down. He might have picked up a letter opener and gone after my pineal gland.”   That little seed, entirely fictional, planted in the national subconscious back in the early ‘70s, has now blossomed into a full-blown flower of a belief held by literally millions of Americans.   As Rightwing Watch documents, uber-Trump cultist and “journalist” Liz Crokin explains in one of her many videos:  “Adrenochrome is a drug that the elites love. It comes from children. The drug is extracted from the pituitary gland of tortured children. It’s sold on the black market. It’s the drug of the elites. It is their favorite drug. It is beyond evil. It is demonic. It is so sick.” People who have been ensnared by the QAnon cult and are gullible enough to believe this kind of thing are the explicit targets now in Trump’s crosshairs. Similarly, when then-OMB Director Mick Mulvaney used the word “pizza” in a televised cabinet meeting, Crokin laid out how she and all the other Trump cultists were being flagged as to the “reality” of a pizza restaurant in a DC suburb being the place where the children were being held prior to being tortured and having their adrenochrome “harvested”: “President Trump and his staffers are constantly trolling the deep state,” she said of Mulvaney’s reference as Trump nodded in agreement.  “That’s President Trump’s way of letting you know that Pizzagate is real and it’s not fake. He’s constantly using their words against them and throwing it in their face and God bless him, it’s amazing.” And now the cult that Trump has both adopted and built around himself is claiming its victims, as personality cults usually do. Matthew Taylor Coleman, a 40-year-old Christian surfing school owner, drove his two children, a 3-year-old boy and a nine-month-old girl, to Mexico where he slaughtered them with a spear-fishing gun. His children “were going to grow into monsters so he had to kill them,” said federal officials handling the investigation.  Coleman told police that killing his kids was “the only course of action that would save the world” because they had “lizard DNA” and would grow up to threaten us all.   Federal officials believe he learned this from Qanon/Trump followers, as did Anthony Quinn Warner who died when he blew up his truck outside an AT&T building in Nashville on Christmas Day 2020 causing a widespread internet outage in an apparent attempt to cripple the “lizard people” network opposing Trump, which included Bill and Hillary Clinton and the Obamas.  The University of Maryland’s National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism notes that 68 percent of the open Qanon followers arrested at the US Capitol on January 6th who had also committed crimes before or after that coup attempt “have documented mental health concerns, according to court records and other public sources.” Their psychological issues included “post-traumatic stress disorder, paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and Munchausen syndrome by proxy.” The “Qanon Shaman” of so many iconic 1/6 pictures has now pleaded mental illness as his reason for showing up at the Capitol, as have two others who “were found to be mentally unfit to stand trial and were transferred to mental health care facilities.” Of the six women arrested on 1/6 who’d also committed crimes before or after the coup attempt, the researchers note, “all six…have documented mental health concerns.” This should be no surprise: Donald Trump also has well-documented mental illness, as do most messianic cult leaders. But his mental illness is what makes him dangerous to society, just like Jones, Koresh, and Manson. Psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee MD edited a compilation of articles by accredited mental health professionals discussing Trump’s issues and their possible impact on America, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. Psychiatrist Justin Frank MD wrote Trump on...

AP News Summary At 9:48 A.m. EDT https://digitalarkansasnews.com/ap-news-summary-at-948-a-m-edt/ World opinion shifts against Russia as Ukraine worries grow NEW YORK (AP) — The tide of international opinion appears to have decisively shifted against Russia, as a number of non-aligned countries joined the United States and its allies in condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine and its threats to the principles of the international rules-based order. In what many believed earlier this year was Western wishful thinking, much of the international community spoke out against the conflict in rare displays of unity at the often fractured United Nations. The coalescing condemnation picked up steam earlier in the week when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the mobilization of some additional 300,000 troops to Ukraine, signaling the unlikelihood of a quick end to the war and suggested that nuclear weapons may be an option. Moscow-held regions of Ukraine in ‘sham’ vote to join Russia KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Voting has started in Russian-held regions of Ukraine on referendums to become part of Russia. Ukraine and the West have denounced the Kremlin-orchestrated referendums as an illegitimate attempt by Moscow to annex areas its forces have occupied during nearly seven months of war. The votes are being held in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials reported more evidence of possible war crimes on Friday. The governor of the Kharkiv region, which was mostly held by Russian forces before a Ukrainian counteroffensive this month, said 436 bodies were exhumed from a mass burial site in the eastern city of Izium, 30 of them with visible signs of torture. NY probe found potential crimes. Why isn’t Trump in cuffs? NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s attorney general isn’t arresting former President Donald Trump even though she says her three-year investigation uncovered potential crimes in the way he ran his real estate empire. Instead, Democrat Letitia James announced a civil lawsuit seeking $250 million and a permanent ban on the Republican former president from doing business in the state. So why isn’t Trump being prosecuted? For one, James doesn’t have jurisdiction under state law to bring a criminal case. For another, mounting a criminal fraud case is far more challenging than a civil lawsuit. Trump says he didn’t break any laws and the lawsuit is politically motivated. Pro-government rallies held in Iran amid mass protests Read More Here

Ron DeSantis https://digitalarkansasnews.com/ron-desantis/ Last week when I wrote about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ sadistic little trolling exercise — coercing asylum seekers to board a plane for Martha’s Vineyard, purely to own the libs — I speculated that Donald Trump must have been gnashing his teeth over  his former protégé stealing the idea from him. That was true, as it turned out. Rolling Stone reported that Trump was furious, claiming that he’d tried to do something similar as president but the bureaucrats wouldn’t let him. Of course, Trump was also livid that DeSantis was getting all the attention on right-wing media. Well, he needn’t have worried about losing the spotlight. This week all the attention pivoted back to Trump as numerous legal crises descended upon him and DeSantis faded into the background. Which was a lucky break for the Florida governor, honestly. Some rather unsavory facts have emerged in the last few days about his Martha’s Vineyard stunt, shedding light on who may have profited from it as well as what he had hoped to achieve with an aborted flight to Delaware — President Biden’s home state — that was supposed to happen a few days later. This story is still unfolding, but the more we learn, the uglier the whole thing looks. Payments for the Martha’s Vineyard flight apparently went to some big-donor cronies with connections to the DeSantis administration, and no one has yet figured out who hired the shadowy characters in Texas who made all kinds of false promises to asylum seekers to get them on the plane. The Miami Herald is all over this and I’m sure their reporters will dig up more very soon. As for the Delaware flight, it was originally scheduled to take off from San Antonio on Tuesday, with the same shady characters luring unsuspecting migrants onto the plane. Then it was abruptly canceled, possibly because word got out and authorities in Delaware government were prepared to receive them. Some in the press have swallowed the line that the plan was to “punk” the Delaware libs by making them get ready for a bunch of migrants and then landing an empty plane in New Jersey, which strikes me as ridiculous. Potential passengers had already been recruited, who were left high and dry when the plan was canceled at the last minute. It seems far more likely that DeSantis and his accomplices started to feel the heat and decided to call the whole thing off. There are various questions about the legality of this scheme. A sheriff in Texas has opened a criminal investigation and a nonprofit has filed a lawsuit against DeSantis on the migrants’ behalf. When it became clear that these migrants were asylum seekers fleeing the dysfunctional left-wing government in Venezuela, DeSantis likely became worried about the political optics, and about upsetting an influential Republican constituency. Florida has a lot of Venezuelan immigrants opposed to the current regime in their home country. This whole ruse was designed to get the media talking about immigration and the border just ahead of the midterm elections, and I suppose it may have achieved that end. But it also exposed DeSantis, once again, as a snotty troll, and his act may be wearing thin with people who don’t have the emotional development of 12-year-old bullies. Naturally, the hardcore Trump base loved it. But can he sustain that love the way Trump has? Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course. The New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie wrote recently about DeSantis’ culture-war stunts, from his war on Disney for being “woke” to ordering Florida schools to indoctrinate students with the right-wing propaganda version of American history. It seems to be pretty much the only thing DeSantis does these days, and he certainly attracts tons of attention flitting from one invented battleground to another without pausing for breath. But Bouie pointed out that DeSantis’ most recent maneuvers haven’t work out the way he hoped. Sure, he got his photo-ops and national media attention, which he craves more than anything, but the results weren’t likely to play well with normal people. His “election police” arrests of alleged illegal voters turned out to represent failures by his own officials, who had registered a small number of voters who weren’t eligible. And the Martha’s Vineyard ploy, rather than showing horrified liberals screaming to get the Latinos off their lawns, instead showed a small community responding with empathy and compassion, which undercut the desired narrative about hypocritical liberal elites. In Bouie’s view, DeSantis isn’t ready for prime time: Yes, when viewed from the perspective of partisan media, DeSantis looks almost unstoppable. But to a typical person — someone who may have heard about these stunts but doesn’t know much about DeSantis otherwise — he looks a lot like a bully, someone willing to play high-stakes games with people’s lives for the sake of his own ego and advancement. Well, you might say, Donald Trump is a bully, too. Yes, he is. But Donald Trump is also a lifelong celebrity with a public persona that is as much about “The Apprentice” and even “Home Alone 2” as it is about his political career. What’s more, Trump has the skills of a celebrity. He’s funny, he has stage presence, and he has a kind of natural charisma. He can be a bully in part because he can temper his cruelty and egoism with the performance of a clown or a showman. He can persuade an audience that he’s just kidding — that he doesn’t actually mean it. That’s an astute observation. Trump is a nasty piece of work: a crybaby, a braggart and an ignorant fool. To his large and devoted following, he’s also wildly entertaining, which is a huge part of his appeal. In fact, that’s the most important part of his appeal. Yes, he has given former fringe elements on the right permission to let their freak flags fly and flaunt their hatred. But when he says “there’s nothing more fun than a Trump rally,” for his fans that’s absolutely right. Trump’s roadshow is their rolling Woodstock, their Grateful Dead. Now tell me if this guy has an ounce of fun in him: DeSantis gave a speech to big donors about two weeks ago in which he telegraphed his plans to send migrants to Martha’s Vineyard and made clear that he plans to run for president in 2024 as an unreconstructed culture warrior. His speech sounds like Pat Buchanan, back in the latter’s glory days of the ’80s and ’90s. But Buchanan in person could be garrulous and funny, a classic Irish-American backslapper and glad-hander, which made up somewhat for his hardcore hate-mongering. DeSantis has none of that personal charm: DeSantis did not joke with the crowd, or thank his hosts, or even wait for applause at times as the audience cheered him, according to multiple people familiar with the gathering. In a private roundtable with top donors, he mainly gave the same speech he gave to the larger group. He was at the retreat for about three hours. Several people familiar with the event said he received mixed reactions from donors, who liked his broader message but wished he would connect more personally. Say what you will about Trump, but his celebrity glamour definitely works on some people and no one would claim he lacks a gift for showmanship. DeSantis, on the other hand, is a creepy, dour, unlikable jerk. While the Trump cult does love an asshole, they want one in the vein of a wrestling “heel,” who makes them feel good about being bad. Ron DeSantis wants to be president and he’s adopted the latest right-wing ideological fad, “Orbánism,” meaning the doctrines of “illiberal democracy” borrowed from the current regime Hungary. That’s definitely dangerous. But there is a political graveyard full of Republican Great White Hopes who felt sure they could be elected president until they came face to face with actual voters: Scott Walker, Fred Thompson, Lamar Alexander, Rudy Giuliani; the list goes on. Ron DeSantis may well be the next member of that ignominious club.  Read more on the Jan. 6 committee: Ron DeSantis tries out 2024 pitch, vowing vengeance on Big Tech and “woke” capitalism Of course DeSantis flouts the law and human decency — He’s just following Trump’s example Ron DeSantis’ Martha’s Vineyard stunt is straight out of Stormfront and “border militia” rhetoric Read More Here

Making It Legal https://digitalarkansasnews.com/making-it-legal/ Op-Ed September 23, 2022 U.S. politics are fast approaching the situation of Germany at the collapse of the Weimar Republic. In November 1932, Paul von Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor of Germany, after two elections that year had failed to produce a majority government. Hitler was sworn in on Jan. 30, along with his colleague Hermann Göring, as Minister Without Portfolio. There’s a scary title for you. What should alarm us today is that after being appointed — not elected — Hitler rushed through so much legislation within 30 days of taking office that everything he did after then was legal, according to Ralf Dahrendorf’s authoritative 1967 book, “Society and Democracy in Germany.” Let’s look at the parallels between Germany then and the United States now. Hitler was appointed only because of frustrations with the electoral process. There are difference, of course: No one contested the legitimacy of the July and November 1932 elections; they simply failed to produce a majority government. That’s a different, and more honest state of perplexity than we live with today, in which the very bases of electoral politics are under attack by an extreme right-wing party. Though Hitler was installed in office on Jan. 30, he actually “seized power” four weeks later, after the Reichstag fire, which he attributed to Communists, though its true cause remains uncertain. Many historians believe it was a manufactured crisis, and that the fire actually was set by members of Hitler’s Nazi party. Mass torchlight parades through Berlin and elsewhere, featuring members of Hitler’s brownshirts, helped cement Hitler’s grip on power. Compare this to the violent United the Right march in Charlottesville, Va., and the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 26, 2021, and Trump’s overt sympathy and appeals to right-wing fascist groups — Trump’s brownshirts — the Proud Boys and QAnon. Trump’s repeated lies about election fraud are his own re-creation of the Reichstag fire: a phony “crisis” meant to cement himself in power. And like Trump, Hitler decried Communists and “international capitalists,” who allegedly wanted to destroy the government that Hitler actually destroyed. Dahrendorf’s point about the de facto legalization of whatever the (appointed) Fűhrer wanted to do provides a blueprint for the Republican Party’s assault on government. In our gridlocked politics today, appointed officials have become legislators, above all on the U.S. Supreme Court. For at least 10 years — since Barack Obama and then Joe Biden were elected — the Republican Party’s openly professed objective has been to prevent the government from governing. Mitch McConnell said it right out loud in 2009, and continues to do so today. His unethical refusal to call a confirmation hearing for Merrick Garland in 2016, followed by his shoving Amy Coney Barrett onto the Supreme Court as Trump’s term expired were overt, and successful, efforts to allow unelected political appointees write our laws. It’s clear: Republicans want to disable and prevent Congress from making law. They want their party’s appointees to do it. They prefer, and have been able, to disconnect the federal government from the people it governs: to allow and encourage their appointed, unelected minions, to wreak the Party’s wrath upon us. Trump’s three Supreme Court judges above all, followed by the lickspittle Aileen Cannon, who presides under the Mar-a-Lago catastrophe. What a disgrace to our republic — to the very idea of a republic. It is not alarmist to compare the MAGA Republicans to the Nazis. Just consider all the parallels above. It is high time that Americans consider all these parallels, realize the direction that the Republican Party is leading us, and ask yourself the question: What are you going to do about it? Subscribe to our columns Want new op-eds sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe below! Read More Here

Dow Drops 400 Points, Breaks Below 30,000 On Fear The Fed Is Overdoing Its Inflation Fight https://digitalarkansasnews.com/dow-drops-400-points-breaks-below-30000-on-fear-the-fed-is-overdoing-its-inflation-fight/ Growth sectors take a hit, consumer discretionary down 7% this week Stocks focused on economic growth and a stable economy slumped in early morning trading on Friday. Consumer discretionary slumped more than 2%, with information technology and communication services down at least 1% each. Energy also plummeted 6% as oil prices slipped. Shares of travel-oriented names took the biggest leg lower, with Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival, Caesars Entertainment, and Royal Caribbean down 4% each. Ford, Tesla and General Motors also shed about 4% each. Investors also rotated out of technology names and semiconductors, with Netflix and Amazon down about 2%. Apple and Alphabet shed more than 1%. Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices slumped 1.5% and 2.1%, respectively. — Samantha Subin Stocks open lower, Dow breaches below 30,000 level Stocks opened lower on Friday, continuing the recent sell-off trend that’s hit Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 340 points, or 1.1%, touching below its June closing low and the 30,000 level. The S&P 500 slid 1.3% and the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.2%. — Samantha Subin Oil hits lowest trading price since January Oil hit a trading low of $79.64 per barrel Friday, marking the first time since early January it has traded below $80 per barrel. Prices shot up in tandem with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the country is a world leader in oil production. March posted a 2022 high at just over $130 per barrel. Americans paid an average price per gallon of $3.689 on Friday, according to AAA. That’s down about 26% from the highest recorded average that came in June when the national average hit $5.016. — Alex Harring Climb in Treasury yields a result of ‘technical issues,’ says Allianz’s El-Erian The moves in the Treasury market are not a signal on the economy but instead are a result of technical issues, according to Mohamed El-Erian, chief economic advisor to Allianz. The yield on the 2-year Treasury hit a new 15-year high on Friday, while the 10-year yield neared levels not seen since 2011. “A lot of people can’t get done what they want to get done, so they’re getting done what they can get done. Don’t underestimate the amount of suboptimal decisions being made right now because liquidity has become so patchy,” he said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Friday. The structural weakness and fragilities have been long in the making and amplified by the duration and size of the Federal Reserve‘s QE, El-Erian added. “It matters because … if you can’t get what you want to get done, you will start spreading contagion around markets,” he said. — Michelle Fox Recession odds increasing as Fed stays aggressive, Citi’s Willer says A Federal Reserve staying hawkish in its approach to fight surging prices only heightens the risks of recession ahead, Citi’s Dirk Willer said in a note to clients Friday. “The likelihood of a US recession in 2023 is increasing given the hawkish Fed,” he wrote. “While it is widely understood that earnings estimates are too high given such recession risk, the market is unlikely to be able to look through falling earnings, as valuations also typically compress.” Willer also believes that the weak year-to-date numbers in equities and indications that the central bank is nowhere near ending its rate-hiking cycle further minimize the likelihood of a Santa Claus rally after the mid-term elections. “Our charts suggest that the case for a Nov/Dec rally crucially depends on how well the market has been doing going into year-end,” he wrote. “Only when Jan to October returns were strong has a year-end rally been in the cards. This year, Santa may not deliver.” Citi suggests investors take a defensive stance to play this uncertain market. The bank maintains a long position in healthcare, replacing its previous position in communication with utilities and staying short on financials and industrials. — Samantha Subin Where the major averages stand heading into Friday’s session All the major averages are slated to end the week with losses ahead of Friday’s trading session, with the Dow on track to break below its June closing low. Here’s where all the major averages stand: Dow Jones Industrial Average: Down 17.2% this year, 2.4% for the week 18.6% off its 52-week high Sits 0.5% above its June closing low S&P 500: Down about 3% for the week, 21.1% this year Sits 22% off its highs 2.5% above June’s closing low Nasdaq Composite: Down 3.3% this week, off 29.3% this year Sits 31.7% off its highs Roughly 4% above June’s low As of Thursday’s close, all the major S&P 500 sectors sit in negative territory for the year, with the exception of utilities and energy. For the week, the consumer staples sector has suffered the slimmest losses, down just 0.4%. — Samantha Subin Coinbase shares fall with crypto prices in premarket trading Coinbase shares slipped by about 4% in premarket trading as cryptocurrency prices fell. Although the cryptocurrency exchange has been diversifying its services and revenue streams, that business still accounts for the majority of its revenue, and trading activity tends to stall when prices are low. The crypto market is especially spooked along with the broader markets after the Federal Reserve this week recommitted to an aggressive rate hiking plan. — Tanaya Macheel Bleakley’s Boockvar sees ‘biggest financial bubble’ popping as yields surge Global government bond yields are soaring, a product of recent sharp central bank interest rate increases to control inflation. For Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Financial Group, it’s more evidence of a bubble popping in sovereign debt in which real yields had been running at negative level for years. With yields moving opposite price, the capital losses for holders of those bonds are piling up as central bank are no longer able to keep rates low. “Bottom line, all those years of central bank interest rate suppression, poof, gone.” Boockvar wrote Friday morning. “These bonds are trading like emerging market bonds and the biggest financial bubble in the history of bubbles, that of sovereign bonds, continues to deflate. If the world’s central bankers didn’t decide to play god over the cost of money, we wouldn’t be now going thru the aftermath.” In the U.S., the 2-year yield, which is most susceptible to Fed rate hikes, was up 9.6 basis points Friday morning to 4.22%, up around 15-year highs. Similar surges are happening elsewhere, with 10-year gilts in the UK at 3.79%, the German 10-year bund around 2.03% and the Swiss 10-year at 2.34%. In addition to the Fed, the Bank of England, Swiss National Bank and the central banks in the Philippines and Indonesia, among others, also approved sizeable rate hikes this week. —Jeff Cox Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Costco, Boeing, FedEx and more Here are some of the stocks making the biggest moves in Friday’s premarket trading: FedEx – FedEx remains on watch this morning after announcing a 6.9% increase in shipping rates and plans to cut another $4 billion in annual costs. FedEx fell 3.2% in the premarket. Costco – Costco lost 3.3% in the premarket despite reporting better-than-expected profit and sales for its latest quarter after reporting operating margins that were slightly below consensus. Boeing – Boeing lost 1.8% in the premarket after announcing it will pay $200 million to settle SEC charges that it made misleading claims about the safety risks of its 737 MAX jet after two of the planes were involved in fatal crashes. Check out the full list of stocks moving in premarket trading here. — Peter Schacknow, Samantha Subin Futures at their lows Stock futures are at their lows of the session having steadily declined the last four hours. As for potential catalysts for the rollover, the 2-year Treasury yield has continued its march higher, topping 4.2% in overnight trading. The U.S. dollar is also continuing to climb which could weigh on U.S. multinationals. The dollar move comes as the U.K. unveiled new economic measures to revive its economy. Oil is also falling with WTI futures now off by 3.3%. -John Melloy Goldman Sachs cuts S&P 500 price target to 3,600 Goldman Sachs sees the chances of a ‘hard landing’ resulting in a U.S. recession as more likely than ever following the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting and interest rate hike. That will weigh on stocks through the end of the year. The firm on Thursday slashed its year-end target for the S&P 500 to 3,600 from 4,300. The current target implies that the index will fall more than 4% through the end of the year. “The forward paths of inflation, economic growth, interest rates, earnings, and valuations are all in flux more than usual with a wider distribution of potential outcomes,” wrote David Kostin in a Thursday note. The bank also forecasts that in a recession, the S&P 500 could fall even further. Read more on CNBC Pro. —Carmen Reinicke Energy stocks among biggest premarket losers Energy shares were among the biggest losers in early premarket trading as crude futures rolled over on recession fears. WTI crude was down 2.5% to $81.33 a barrel. Shares of Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Schlumberger were all down more than 2% in premarket trading. -John Melloy Headed for a losing week Here are key market stats for the week: -The Dow is down -2.42% week-to-date, on pace for its 5th negative week in 6. -The S&P is down -2.98% WTD, on pace for its 5th negative week in 6.  -The NASDAQ is down -3.33% WTD, on pace for its 5th negative week in 6.  -All sectors are negative for the week, led to the downside by Real Estate, down -5.21%.  Consumer Staples is the best performer, down -0.42%.  -Chris Hayes CNBC Pro: Is it time to buy Treasurys? H...

Hurricane Fiona Barrels Toward Canada In A Rare Weather Event After Hitting Bermuda With Heavy Rains https://digitalarkansasnews.com/hurricane-fiona-barrels-toward-canada-in-a-rare-weather-event-after-hitting-bermuda-with-heavy-rains/ Hurricane Fiona hammered Bermuda with heavy rains early Friday as the now-Category 3 storm marched toward northeastern Canada. The center of the storm was passing northwest of Bermuda by Friday morning with maximum sustained winds nearing 125 mph, with higher gusts, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said. The storm was downgraded from a Category 4 hurricane as it made its way past the island, it said. Now, it has its sights set on Atlantic Canada, where the strength of the storm will be historic for that region. The Canadian Hurricane Centre said Fiona was expected to reach the waters of the maritime province of Nova Scotia by Friday evening, with “heavy rainfall” and powerful “hurricane force winds” expected to hit Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec starting early Saturday. “This storm is shaping up to be a severe event for Atlantic Canada and eastern Quebec,” it said on its website in an update early Friday. “Numerous weather models are consistent in their prediction of what we call a deep hybrid low pressure system, possessing both tropical and intense winter storm properties, with very heavy rainfall and severe winds.” Hurricanes in Canada are relatively rare, with storms typically losing their main source of energy as they hit colder waters. However, Canada’s eastern coast has seen such storms before, including Hurricane Juan in 2003, which heavily affected parts of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island and resulted in multiple deaths, according to Canada’s hurricane center. The storm also caused widespread power outages, major tree damage and delivered record coastal water levels, it said. The North Atlantic, where Fiona is headed, also represents some of the fastest warming waters in the world, with the warming sea surface temperatures in the region attributed to climate change.  The hurricane center said the severe winds and rain expected to come with Fiona would have “major impacts” for eastern Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, western Newfoundland, eastern Quebec and southeastern Labrador. “There will also be large waves, especially for the Atlantic coasts of Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and eastern portions of the Gulf of St. Lawrence,” the hurricane center said. It also warned of that high possibility of a “storm surge,” or an abnormal rise of water caused by a storm, in parts of Nova Scotia, western Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The hurricane center also warned of the possibility of downed trees and power outages, noting that “most regions will experience hurricane force winds.” It said construction sites could also be “particularly vulnerable” to the storm. Fiona has left major devastation in its wake, including eight deaths suspected of being connected to the storm in Puerto Rico, one confirmed death in the Dominican Republic and another confirmed death in Guadeloupe. In Puerto Rico, much of the population is still without power and access to clean drinking water as recovery efforts continue after homes were destroyed, trees downed and roads blocked by the hurricane. As of early Friday, at least 928,000 customers were affected by power outages across Puerto Rico, according to the online tracker PowerOutage.us. Speaking at a Thursday briefing with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials in New York, President Joe Biden said hundreds of FEMA and other federal officials were working on the ground to help assist in the response efforts in Puerto Rico. “We’re all in this together,” the president said, as he expressed concern that many homes and businesses were still without power, as well as clean drinking water. Biden also noted that Fiona’s devastation came exactly five years after Hurricane Maria, the deadliest U.S. natural disaster in over 100 years, hit Puerto Rico. “To the people of Puerto Rico who are still hurting from Hurricane Maria five years later,” he said, “we are with you. We’re not going to walk away. We mean it.” Chantal Da Silva Chantal Da Silva is a breaking news editor for NBC News Digital based in London.  Kathryn Prociv Kathryn Prociv is a senior meteorologist and producer for NBC News.  Read More Here

Russia Begins Orchestrating Staged Voting In Occupied Territories https://digitalarkansasnews.com/russia-begins-orchestrating-staged-voting-in-occupied-territories/ Image A billboard reads “Our choice – Russia” before a referendum in Russian-occupied Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine.Credit…Associated Press KYIV, Ukraine — Moscow began orchestrating referendums on joining Russia in areas it occupies in Ukraine, an effort widely seen as a sham that is expected to culminate in the annexation of an area larger than Portugal. While the Kremlin has used referendums and annexation in the past to exert its will, the boldness of President Vladimir V. Putin’s gambit in Ukraine far exceeds anything it has tried before. Huge numbers of people have fled the areas that Russia controls, the process has been rushed and referendums are taking place against a backdrop of oppression — with U.N. experts citing evidence of war crimes in a forceful new statement. The ballots being distributed had one question: Do you wish to secede from Ukraine and create an independent state that will enter the Russian Federation? “We will be able to make our historic choice,” Kirill Stremousov, a leader of the Russian occupation administration in the southern region of Kherson, said in a statement. He said the wording on the ballots — in both Ukrainian and Russian — was “in accordance with international law,” but even before the first vote, the referendum plans were met with international condemnation. President Biden, speaking to the United Nations General Assembly this week, said that “if nations can pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences,” then the global security order established to prevent the horrors of World War II from repeating will be imperiled. Russian proxy officials in four regions — Donetsk and Luhansk in the east, and Kherson and Zaporizka in the south — earlier this week announced plans to hold referendums over four days beginning on Friday. Russia controls nearly all of two of the four regions, Luhansk and Kherson, but only a fraction of the other two, Zaporizka and Donetsk. Ukrainian officials have dismissed the voting as grotesque theater — staging polls in cities laid to waste by Russian forces and abandoned by most residents. President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukraine’s allies for their steadfast support and said “the farce” of “sham referenda” would do nothing to change his nation’s fight to drive Russia from Ukraine. Ukrainian partisans, sometimes working with special operations forces, have blown up warehouses holding ballots and buildings where Russian proxy officials preparing for the vote held meetings.. An explosion rocked the Russian-controlled southern city of Melitopol on Friday morning before the vote got underway. Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor, warned residents to stay away from Russian military personnel and equipment. To give the appearance of widespread participation, minors ages 13 to 17 have been encouraged to vote, the Security Services of Ukraine warned on Thursday. And Ukrainian officials said that workers were being forced to vote under threat of losing their jobs. The exiled mayor of the occupied city of Enerhodar, the satellite town of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the south, told residents to stay away from polling stations. “Stay at home if possible and do not open the door to strangers,” he said in a message posted on Telegram. Olha, who communicated with friends in Enerhodar on Thursday night and who, like others, did not want to use her full name out of concern for her safety, said preparations had been going on for weeks and that security had been tightened. “Since yesterday, they do not allow men aged 18 to 35 to leave the city,” she said. “They want to conscript them to the Russian armed forces. And Ukrainians will have to fight against Ukrainians,” she said, stopping short as she broke into tears. It was a concern expressed repeatedly by residents in occupied areas, as well as by Ukrainian officials: that one of the first consequences of annexation would be conscription of Ukrainians into the Russian military. That is already the case in parts of Luhansk and Donetsk occupied by Russia since 2014. Andriy, 44, who has friends and relatives in Kherson, said he had spoken with friends who said it wasn’t possible to leave the city because of the referendum. “You know, those who are smart, they sit at home and don’t go anywhere,” he said. Anna Lukinova and Maria Varenikova contributed reporting from Kyiv, Ukraine, and Edward Wong from New York. Image A woman cast her ballot at a polling station in the village of Krasny Yar, Luhansk region, Ukraine, on Friday.Credit…Stringer/EPA, via Shutterstock The staged voting in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine is taking place against a backdrop of violence and repression. A campaign to “Russify” the areas began across the occupied parts of southern and eastern Ukraine in the first weeks of the Russian invasion, with a sophisticated propaganda apparatus that closely followed the tracks of the tanks. Billboards were plastered with signs declaring “Russia is here forever.” Access to some Ukrainian cellphone networks was severed. Internet service was routed through Russia. The Ukrainian currency was replaced by the Russian ruble. Teachers were forced to teach a Russian curriculum. As oppression deepened, many people fled. There are an estimated 1 to 1.2 million people living in the Russian-occupied lands seized since Feb. 24, according to Ukrainian officials — less than half the prewar population. The places Russian forces have occupied and then abandoned are a testament to the brutality of Russian rule, Ukrainian and Western officials say. “Wherever the Russian tide recedes, we discover the horror that’s left in its wake,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said at the United Nations on Thursday. While staged votes are being held in four Ukrainian provinces, Russian forces do not have control over the entire administrative regions. Russian forces in southern Ukraine are dug in, slowing a Ukrainian offensive around the Black Sea port city of Kherson, but they are struggling elsewhere. Russia controls less than half of the Zaporizka and Donetsk regions. And in the Luhansk region, where Moscow engaged in a bloody scorched earth campaign to reach the administrative border this summer, Russian forces are now on the defensive. The referendums are intended to give President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia legally dubious justification to declare parts of Ukraine as Russian. The staged votes recall a poll in 2014 in Crimea that took place under the watch of armed soldiers and was quickly followed by Russia’s annexation of the peninsula. The threat of nuclear conflagration has been a source of deep concern since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February, and annexing parts of Ukraine could bring them under the protection of Moscow’s nuclear umbrella. Mr. Putin warned earlier this week that Russia “will use all the means at our disposal” to defend Russian territory. Image A cell where Ukrainian detainees, including civilians, were allegedly interrogated and tortured at the central police station in Kupiansk.Credit…Nicole Tung for The New York Times GENEVA — Russian soldiers have raped and tortured children in Ukraine, a United Nations-appointed panel of independent legal experts said in a damning statement on Friday that concluded war crimes had been committed in the conflict. A three-person Commission of Inquiry set up in April to investigate the conduct of hostilities in four areas of Ukraine laid out the graphic allegations in an unusually hard-hitting, 11-minute statement to the U.N Human Rights Council in Geneva. “The commission has documented cases in which children have been raped, tortured, and unlawfully confined,” the panel’s chairman, Erik Mose, told the council. He added: “Children have also been killed and injured in indiscriminate attacks with explosive weapons. The exposure to repeated explosions, crimes, forced displacement and separation from family members deeply affected their well-being and mental health.” The report added more chilling allegations to the list of crimes widely reported by Ukrainian and international investigators probing the executions of civilians in Bucha and the mass burial site found near the town of Izium after it was recaptured by Ukrainian troops this month. “Based on the evidence gathered by the Commission, it has concluded that war crimes have been committed in Ukraine,” Mr. Mose said in his statement. He later told reporters that the commission had not yet concluded that violations amounted to crimes against humanity. The commission found that some Russian troops had committed sexual and gender-based violence, with the victims ranging in age from four years old to 82. “There are examples of cases where relatives were forced to witness the crimes,” Mr. Mose told the council, noting that the commission was documenting the actions of individual soldiers and had not found any general pattern of sexual violence as a war strategy. The commission’s findings were based on visits to 27 towns and settlements in the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv, and Sumy, and interviews with more than 150 victims and witnesses. Mr. Mose said the experts inspected sites of destruction, graves and places of detention and torture. “We were struck by the large number of executions in the areas that we visited,” Mr. Mose told the council, noting that common features of such killings included “prior detention, hands tied behind backs, gunshot wounds to the head and slit throats.” The commission is investigating credible reports of many more executions in 16 towns and settlements, he added. Mr. Mose, a Norwegian judge and former president of the international criminal tribunal that prosecuted perpetrators of Rwanda’s genocide, said that in interviews witnesses provided consis...

Arkansas Department Of Agriculture Reminds Producers Of Protections Under The Arkansas Grain Grading Act | Stuttgart Daily Leader https://digitalarkansasnews.com/arkansas-department-of-agriculture-reminds-producers-of-protections-under-the-arkansas-grain-grading-act-stuttgart-daily-leader/ LITTLE ROCK, AR – The Arkansas Department of Agriculture is reminding grain producers of protections offered under the Arkansas Grain Grading Act, which sets minimum standards for grain grading and gives producers an opportunity to dispute an issued grade. The Arkansas Grain Grading Act was enacted in 2019 and applies to all grain warehouses in Arkansas. Under the Act, grain warehouses and dealers that engage in grain grading must have their programs and graders certified by the Grain Warehouse Section of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Plant Industries Division.  All grain grading must be conducted according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Official United States Standards for Grain Handbook. A warehouse must grade and sample each delivered load within 24 hours. Warehouses must retain any sample that has received more than a four percent reduction for a minimum of two days. Producers wishing to dispute an issued grade may have the sample regraded by an official grading agency. If requested, the grain warehouse shall provide the sample to the official grading agency. The resulting grade shall be deemed the official grade of the sample. Those wishing to dispute grades must request a regrade within two days. More information about the Plant Industries Division’s Grain Grading Program can be found at agriculture.arkansas.gov/plant-industries/feed-and-fertilizer-section/grain-grading/. A copy of the Arkansas Grain Grading Act and Rules can be found at agriculture.arkansas.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2020/05/Arkansas_Grain_Grading_Act_Act_795_and_regulations_final_rule.pdf. For questions about the Arkansas Grain Grading Act or the Grain Grading Program, email grainwarehouse@agriculture.arkansas.gov. Read More…

RICK ON THE ROAD: Rivalry Born In Bentonville When West Came To Play https://digitalarkansasnews.com/rick-on-the-road-rivalry-born-in-bentonville-when-west-came-to-play/ Bentonville’s coach Barry Lunney Sr. falls into a pack of celebrating Tigers after the team defeated Fayetteville during the Class 7A state championship football game Dec. 6, 2014, at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock. (File Photo/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette) BENTONVILLE — Not in our house. That was the message from Bentonville High to Bentonville West when the teams met to decide the 7A-West Conference championship in 2017. Bentonville had already established itself as a top football program under Coach Barry Lunney Sr., who retired in January 2015 after leading the Tigers to a string of conference championships and four of their five state titles. But Bentonville’s standing as a football town soared on the night of Nov. 3, 2017, in a showdown between the established Tigers of Bentonville High and the newcomers from Bentonville West. West was 9-0 at the time, and the Wolverines had the advantage of being declared the home team at Tiger Stadium because their facility in Centerton had not yet been built. It was Bizzaro World that night, akin to a segment in the Superman comics where up was down, down was up, and the planet spun backward. West fans sat on the home side at Tiger Stadium while Bentonville High fans were moved to the east side that included portable bleachers that were brought in to accommodate an overflow crowd. West honored its seniors before the game, and Bentonville High fans watched a long procession of students and parents walk onto the field and leave under an arch lined with balloons of the West school colors. Bizzaro World, indeed. Bentonville’s players were also supposed to dress in the visitors’ locker room that night. But the Tigers blew that plan up when they changed from street clothes at an elementary school down the street and roared off the bus and onto the field in full gear from the visitors’ side of the stadium. The atmosphere was absolutely electric for the fans, coaches and, especially, the players. “Our coaches were pretty ticked off we were the away team in our own stadium,” said Preston Crawford, a former all-state running back for Bentonville. “When we got off the bus and saw the crowd, it was like chills went through my skin and, probably everybody else’s skin, too. The game was exciting, by far the best high school game I ever played in.” Bentonville won 37-28, which earned the Tigers the conference championship and a No. 1 seed for the Class 7A state playoffs in 2017. Bentonville students rushed to celebrate on the field with the players, including senior Dwight Crawford, who sprinted around with his hands clasped firmly on a large Bentonville Tigers flag. “I wanted to chase him around, but I was too tired,” Preston said of his older brother. “He was a senior that year playing in his last high school football game before the playoffs, so I was really happy for him.” Normalcy returned in 2018 with the completion of a $3.7 million football stadium for Bentonville West with seating for more than 4,000 fans and a two-story press box. “Claws Up” is the battle cry for the Wolverines, who’ve yet to beat the Tigers in football. Bentonville West will get another chance on Nov. 4 at Tiger Stadium to end 7A-West Conference play. “The addition of the Bentonville West Wolverines had a great impact on football in Benton County,” Bentonville Athletic Director Scott Passmore said. “The program opened up with immediate success. The success of Bentonville West has helped create one of the best Friday night rival games in football.” Bentonville, of course, is home to Walmart, a multinational corporation that sparked the tremendous population growth in Northwest Arkansas, which now totals more than 560,000, according to data collected for the 2020 census. The city is a mixture of old and the new, where the original Bentonville High School built in the 1920s in the Spanish colonial style stands quietly on Second Street just minutes from a bustling downtown square that includes businesses, government buildings and, of course, Walton’s 5&10, a museum and gift shop that traces what Walmart founder Sam Walton started. There are loads of trendy new restaurants from which to choose but there’s also the old standards like Glasgow’s, the oldest Mexican restaurant in Benton County that looks much like it did when it opened in the 1960s. Much has changed in Bentonville since then, including the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art that draws thousands of visitors each year and an annual film festival founded by actress Geena Davis. But on Friday nights during the fall, high school football takes center stage with Bentonville West and Bentonville High, which won its first state championship in football under then-coach Gary Wear in 2001. That rise to the top earned the Tigers statewide respect they hadn’t had before. As its population grew, Bentonville invested more in its public schools toward classrooms and facilities and hired Lunney from Fort Smith Southside in 2005 to head its football program. The move paid off big time with Lunney leading the Tigers to four state championships starting in 2008. Bentonville’s 24-21 state championship victory over Fayetteville in 2014 capped a 10-year tenure at the school for Lunney, whose teams compiled a 97-25 overall record and a 59-11 mark in 7A-West Conference play during that time. Under his guidance, the Tigers also won or shared eight consecutive 7A-West titles, and built a 33-game conference win streak from 2009-13. “Coach Lunney earned the respect of the entire sports community and elevated the [Bentonville] program to one of the best in the state of Arkansas, with national recognition as well,” Passmore said. “One of Coach Lunney’s greatest strengths was the ability to surround himself with great people. He was a magnet for success, and others wanted to be a part of this success. A strong faith, work ethic, discipline, respect and trust were all characteristics of his programs.” With the Lunney era concluded, Jody Grant at Bentonville and Bryan Pratt at Bentonville West are established head coaches with similar goals: To win championships and continue to build on what most, but not all, consider one of the best rivalries in Northwest Arkansas. “You’ve got to win to be considered a rivalry,” Preston Crawford said, “and they haven’t beaten us yet.”     Bentonville head coach Jody Grant gestures Nov. 8, 2019, during a football game at Bentonville West High School in Centerton. (File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)        Bentonville West senior Nicholas Bell weaves through traffic Aug. 26 against Booker T. Washington at Wolverine Stadium in Centerton. (File Photo/Special to NWA Democrat-Gazette/Brent Soule)        Ben Sellers (from left), Logan England, Jared Richey and Brendan Wrona of Bentonville join in the celebration Nov. 3, 2017, after Bentonville defeated Bentonville West at Tiger Stadium in Bentonville. (File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)        Preston Crawford, a former all-state running back for Bentonville, poses for a portrait Sept. 12 at Tiger Stadium in Bentonville. Visit nwaonline.com/220923Daily/ for today’s photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Charlie Kaijo)        Bentonville West head football coach Bryan Pratt (left) speaks with his coaching staff Aug. 16 during the first quarter of a football scrimmage against Fort Smith Northside at Mayo-Thompson Stadium in Fort Smith. Visit nwaonline.com/220817Daily/ for today’s photo gallery. (File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)        Cody Elliott (32) of Booneville carries the ball as Peyton Cole (30) of Harding Academy pursues Sept. 16 during the third quarter of the Harding Academy’s 44-14 win at Bearcat Stadium in Booneville. (File Photo/NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)    Rick On The Road — Football Towns Each week, award-winning Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports columnist Rick Fires will go on the road across the region, visiting communities where football is an integral part of the Friday night fabric. Award-winning photojournalist Charlie Kaijo will document the journey through interviews and photographs that illustrate what makes each town a football town. VIDEO LINK: http://nwaonline.com/923rick/ Aug. 26: Prairie Grove Sept. 2: Farmington Sept. 9: Alma Sept. 16: Springdale Today: Bentonville Sept. 30: Fayetteville Oct. 7: Fort Smith Oct. 14: Charleston Oct. 21: Harrison Oct. 28: Booneville Nov. 4: Greenwood Prep Rally Game Of The Week Chip Souza and Rick Fires break down the Prep Rally Game of the Week as Bentonville West travels to Fayetteville, and Farmington looks to take a stand at Harrison in the 5A-West opener. http://nwaonline.com/923gotw/ River Valley Report Veteran River Valley Democrat-Gazette sports reporter Leland Barclay recaps the Week 3 clash between Harding Academy and Booneville and takes a look at this week’s 6A-West clash between Van Buren and Greenwood. http://nwaonline.com/92222rvreport/ Prep Rally Podcast NWA Democrat-Gazette sports reporters preview the start of 7A-West Conference play and recall the coaching excellence of the late George Loss, who guided Fort Smith St. Anne’s to great heights. http://nwaonline.com/92222preprally/ Read More Here

Poll: Big Majority Of Oklahoma Republican Voters Think 2020 Election Was Stolen https://digitalarkansasnews.com/poll-big-majority-of-oklahoma-republican-voters-think-2020-election-was-stolen/ As Congress moves to change the process for counting Electoral College votes after a presidential election, nearly two-thirds of likely Republican voters in Oklahoma still think the 2020 election was stolen. Legislation to raise the threshold for challenging a state’s Electoral College votes and to clarify the vice president’s limited role in the certification cleared the House on Wednesday, with the aim of heading off a future attempt to overturn the outcome of a presidential election. The bill was backed by only nine Republicans, none from Oklahoma. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, criticized the bill earlier in the week when it was considered by the House Rules Committee. “After the attack on the Capitol building last January, there is bipartisan consensus that reforms to the Electoral Count Act are desirable,” said Cole, the top Republican on the committee. “Commonsense reforms, like an acknowledgement that the vice president’s role is ministerial in nature, could be the subject of bipartisan agreement.” More:GOP voters favor candidates who talk about God However, Cole said the House bill went beyond consensus reforms to the point of improperly interfering in states’ conduct of their own elections. Cole called the legislation “another partisan bill designed to fit a political narrative.” Cole and the other four House members from Oklahoma voted in 2021 against accepting the Electoral College votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Westville, the Republican nominee to replace U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, said in a televised debate last month that he believed the 2020 election was stolen. “It’s going to be very hard to convince me that Joe Biden received more votes than any other president in history,” Mullins said. “It is absolutely absurd to think that’s even possible.” According to a recent poll, 63% of likely Republican voters in Oklahoma agree. The poll was taken by Amber Integrated, of Oklahoma City, Aug. 11-15 and had a margin of error of 3.8%. There was little difference in opinion by gender. Older voters were more likely than young ones to believe the election was stolen. The biggest differences among Republicans on the question came in regard to education: 82% with a high school education or less believed the election was stolen, while 51% with a four-year college degree and 46% with a graduate degree thought it was stolen. Head of Oklahoma Republican Party doesn’t believe 2020 election was stolen Oklahoma Republican Party Chair A.J. Ferate contradicted Mullin and his GOP opponent T.W. Shannon last month for claiming in the debate that the election was stolen. Ferate tweeted that the election wasn’t stolen and that former President Donald Trump’s campaign had not proved fraud in court. More:Oklahoma economy still sailing strong despite headwinds Asked about the poll showing 63% of likely Oklahoma Republicans believing the election was stolen, Ferate told reporters for The Oklahoman on Wednesday, “That’s fine. I don’t have a problem with that. If they want to believe that, that’s their decision … If people want to say the election was stolen, why does that bother me? I just want people to vote for Republicans and I want to put conservatives in office.” However, Ferate also said that two U.S. Senate candidates lost in Georgia last year because Republican voters thought the 2020 election was rigged and didn’t turn out to vote. “In Oklahoma, I can’t have those people staying home,” he said. “Whether they believe the election was rigged or not, I need them all to come out. I need them all to come vote.” Donald Trump criticizes bill altering process for counting Electoral College votes In debate on Wednesday about the legislation to update the Electoral Count Act, Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, said, “If your aim is to prevent future efforts to steal elections, I would respectfully suggest that conservatives should support this bill. If instead your aim is to leave open the door for elections to be stolen in the future, you might decide not to support this or any other bill to address the Electoral Count Act.” Trump on Thursday criticized the legislation, saying on social media that language clarifying the vice president couldn’t influence the certification proved he was right that former Vice President Mike Pence could have sent election results back to state legislatures. The White House issued a statement in support of the House bill, saying the Biden administration “shares the Congress’ interest in safeguarding the electoral process to preserve the will of the people, as expressed through democratic procedures established by law.  “Since the Electoral Count Act was enacted in 1887, several close or contested elections have revealed the need for greater precision in the statutory structure. The proposed legislation is another important step in Congress’ consideration of critically needed reform of the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act.  Americans deserve greater clarity in the process by which their votes will result in the election of a President and Vice President.” The House bill would require one-third of lawmakers from the House and the Senate to make a challenge to a state’s electors. Currently, a single lawmaker can launch a challenge. A Senate version of the bill would require one-fifth of each House.  It is not clear when the Senate will take up the matter.  Staff writers Ben Felder and Carmen Forman contributed to this report Read More Here

Post Politics Now: Hoyer, McCarthy To Deliver Dueling Speeches On Why Their Parties Should Win https://digitalarkansasnews.com/post-politics-now-hoyer-mccarthy-to-deliver-dueling-speeches-on-why-their-parties-should-win/ Today, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are delivering dueling speeches on why their parties should prevail in the November midterm elections. Both addresses will be delivered in the Pittsburgh area. McCarthy is expected to talk up the House Republicans’ “Commitment to America” agenda, while Hoyer is set to highlight a string of recent legislative victories for Democrats. In Washington, President Biden is appearing at the latest in a series of Democratic National Committee fundraisers before hosting a concert at the White House by Elton John. Biden is expected to speak at the event, which has been dubbed “A Night When Hope and History Rhyme.” Your daily dashboard 8:15 a.m. Eastern time: Hoyer speaks in Pittsburgh. Watch live here. 9:30 a.m. Eastern: McCarthy speaks in Monongahela, Pa. Watch live here. 1 p.m. Eastern: Biden delivers remarks at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser at the National Education Association headquarters in Washington. 2:30 p.m. Eastern: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre holds a briefing. Watch live here. 7 p.m. Eastern: Former president Donald Trump hosts a “Save America” rally in Wilmington, N.C. 8 p.m. Eastern: Biden hosts a musical performance at the White House by Elton John. Got a question about politics? Submit it here. After 3 p.m. weekdays, return to this space and we’ll address what’s on the mind of readers. Take a look: The Fetterman-Oz meme campaign, illustrated Return to menu A banner towed by an airplane over the Jersey Shore. A troll website with a doctored image of a shirtless candidate. The rivals for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat are turning to uncommon tactics to paint their opponent as unqualified or unfit, The Post’s Hannah Dormido and Dylan Moriarty write in a piece that includes illustrations of the sparring. Per our colleagues: Since emerging from the primaries, Democratic nominee John Fetterman has waged a relentless trolling offensive, creating moments that often went viral on social media portraying Republican rival Mehmet Oz as an out-of-state elitist. Oz began countering with his own posts questioning Fetterman’s health and willingness to debate, as well as his policy positions. The contentious race is unfolding one meme at a time. But behind the eye-catching — sometimes eye-rolling — visuals, there are strategic messages each candidate is pushing with voters as they try to define the opponent’s personality and experience. You can read (and see) the full piece here. On our radar: House GOP ‘Commitment to America’ purposely short on specifics Return to menu The House Republican conference entered this week preparing to promote its “Commitment to America” pledge, a one-page memo of principles unveiled to members Thursday. GOP leaders hope it will persuade voters to hand them control of the House, and serve as the guiding touchstone that holds the group together when legislative divisions inevitably emerge. The Post’s Marianna Sotomayor and Leigh Ann Caldwell report that the document is purposely short on policy specifics, according to aides familiar with the drafting process — an acknowledgment that the conference remains divided on which legislative proposals would be the best prescription for a number of political issues. The latest: White House announces $1.5 billion to target opioid crisis Return to menu The White House on Friday announced $1.5 billion in grants aimed at addressing the opioid crisis and supporting individuals in recovery. The funding is part of a federal program that aims to help states increase access to treatment for substance abuse, make medications such as naloxone more widely available and expand access to recovery support services. The funding will also allow states to increase investments in overdose education and other programs, the White House said. The announcement of the funding coincides with what President Biden has proclaimed as National Recovery Month. On our radar: Trump faces growing legal peril as he seeks to raise profile ahead of 2024 Return to menu The legal dangers facing former president Donald Trump rose this week, after the New York attorney general filed a fraud lawsuit that could effectively shutter the Trump Organization and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit allowed federal investigators to continue their probe into classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago. At least a half-dozen additional legal efforts are proceeding against Trump and his allies — committing him to months of legal wrangling as he seeks to raise his political profile for a possible 2024 bid while increasing the prospect of becoming the first former U.S. president to face indictment after leaving office, The Post’s Michael Scherer, Josh Dawsey, Devlin Barrett and Perry Stein report. Noted: How a Trump soundtrack became a QAnon phenomenon Return to menu Earlier this week, close advisers to former president Donald Trump grappled with a question: what to do about the QAnon song. The Post’s Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer report that the melody — an orchestral theme featuring swelling strings, gentle bell tones and brooding piano harmonies — was the soundtrack to a campaign-style video Trump released in August. But it wasn’t until Saturday’s rally in Youngstown, Ohio, when the tune closed Trump’s nearly two-hour speech, inspiring the crowd to respond with raised arms and pointed index fingers, that it broke through as a phenomenon. Analysis: Biden’s unwarranted bragging about reducing the budget deficit Return to menu In his recent “60 Minutes” interview, President Biden claimed that “we’ve … reduced the deficit by $350 billion my first year.” Writing in The Fact Checker, The Post’s Glenn Kessler notes that in just the week before the interview aired, the president mentioned having reduced the budget deficit by $350 billion six times, sometimes saying he wants to counter accusations that he is running up the federal tab. Per Glenn: Biden never quite says his policies reduced the deficit. But when he says things like “I lowered your deficit,” he certainly signals that. The president is playing a rhetorical shell game. He’s trying to dazzle listeners with impressive-sounding numbers. But the reality is he’s increased the budget deficit, not reduced it. Budget deficit numbers are complicated — and often dull. So we will try to keep this as simple as possible. The best way to determine a president’s impact on budget deficits is to look at what was predicted before he arrived — and then what happened after his policies have been enacted. You can read Glenn’s full analysis here. The latest: U.S. has sent private warnings to Russia against using a nuclear weapon Return to menu The United States for several months has been sending private communications to Moscow warning Russia’s leadership of the grave consequences that would follow the use of a nuclear weapon, according to U.S. officials, who said the messages underscore what President Biden and his aides have articulated publicly. The Post’s Paul Sonne and John Hudson report that the Biden administration generally has decided to keep warnings about the consequences of a nuclear strike deliberately vague, so the Kremlin worries about how Washington might respond, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe sensitive deliberations. Per our colleagues: Read More Here

UAFS Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month With Cultural Events Aimed At Engaging Fort Smith Community https://digitalarkansasnews.com/uafs-celebrates-hispanic-heritage-month-with-cultural-events-aimed-at-engaging-fort-smith-community/ Hannah Cervantes (from right), a senior at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, helps serve coffee-infused horchata and sweet bread to Maria Garcia, Yahir Artero and Nathaly Artero, a sophomore at the university, and others, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at a Cafecito y Pan Dulce (or Coffee, Culture, and Conversation) event as part of the universityâ€s Hispanic Heritage Month inside the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center on the UAFS campus in Fort Smith. Visit nwaonline.com/220923Daily/ for today’s photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton) FORT SMITH — The University of Arkansas at Fort Smith’s Hispanic and Latinx Heritage Month events are full of dancing, food and opportunities for the community to learn about a culture that may be different from their own. Events started with a kickoff at the main branch of the Fort Smith Public Library. Monica Cortez, an employee services specialist for the college and an organizer for the events, said nearly 100 students and community members attended to listen to a children’s story time, do a craft and enter a raffle for free books. “We were amazed at the community’s response. We had no idea we were going to have so many people attend,” Cortez said. The second event, Cafecito y Pan Dulce — or Coffee, Culture and Conversation — took place Thursday by the fireplace in the student union. Attendees could try Mexican sweet bread and coffee-infused horchata, a beverage usually made of soaked grains, nuts or seeds with water and infused with spices. Cristina Castorena, chairwoman of Hispanic Heritage Month, said the point of the event is to expose people to a different culture in an open forum. “It’s important that the students who identify as Hispanic or identify with Latin culture feel included and celebrated, and at UAFS, that’s the honest truth,” Castorena said. “And beyond celebrating our students and employees, Hispanic Heritage Month is also about exposing people who don’t identify as Hispanic to our culture and welcoming them into conversations.” Upcoming events include Sí Se Puede or Yes We Can at UAFS, a bilingual recruiting event and student resource fair at the Campus Center Reynolds Room from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29. The event is meant for Hispanic high school students to come learn more about UAFS, with Spanish- and English-speaking volunteers able to provide information, Castorena said. “I think we have to be aware that not everyone knows how to access education and that language barriers can be one of those reasons,” Castorena said. “So doing purposeful events like this allows us to grasp why we’re not getting ahold of certain types of group settings. This allows us to open the door to UAFS, because maybe some of them haven’t visited UAFS and this is going to be their first time.” “We held one in April, so this is going to be the second, and we hope to do it every semester,” Cortez said. “We have taken on the big responsibility of translating all of the documents that the different offices have sent our way. For example, financial aid, the academic success center, the writing center. So we want to make sure that we have translated documents to give out to parents or prospective students because we know that is something needed in our community, especially here in Fort Smith with our big Hispanic population. We want to be that bridge for all those parents and students that are looking for resources in Spanish.” The final events are the annual Salsa at the UAFS Bell Tower from 6:30-9 p.m. Oct. 6, and an open student forum titled “Breaking Generational Stereotypes: Learning More About the Hispanic Student Perspective” from 12:15 to 1:30 p.m. Oct. 13 at the Windgate Theater. Beyond the active events, the UAFS campus will celebrate Hispanic heritage visually with flags lining the Smith Pendergraft Campus Center and displays in the Boreham Library. The university will also highlight Hispanic students, faculty, staff and alumni on its social media pages through day-in-the-life takeovers throughout the month. Castorena said UAFS has held Hispanic Heritage Month events for several years, but it recently moved from the Student Activities Office to the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Office to organize it and other affinity months.     Hannah Cervantes (right), a senior at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith, helps serve coffee-infused horchata and sweet bread to freshman Emerald Baker and other students, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at a Cafecito y Pan Dulce (or Coffee, Culture, and Conversation) event as part of the universityâ€s Hispanic Heritage Month inside the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center on the UAFS campus in Fort Smith. Visit nwaonline.com/220923Daily/ for today’s photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)        Cristina Castorena (right), a staff member at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith and chair of its Hispanic Heritage Month Planning Committee, helps serve sweet bread and coffee-infused horchata to students, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, at a Cafecito y Pan Dulce (or Coffee, Culture, and Conversation) event as part of the universityâ€s Hispanic Heritage Month inside the Smith-Pendergraft Campus Center on the UAFS campus in Fort Smith. Visit nwaonline.com/220923Daily/ for today’s photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Hank Layton)    Read More Here

Ukraine Live Briefing: Russia Stages Referendums In Occupied Regions In The Face Of World Condemnation https://digitalarkansasnews.com/ukraine-live-briefing-russia-stages-referendums-in-occupied-regions-in-the-face-of-world-condemnation/ Moscow launched staged referendums on Friday in Ukrainian territory under its control, a dramatic escalation to consolidate its grip over swaths of the country. Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe. Return to menu The referendums on the prospect of joining Russia, illegal under international law, will last five days in Ukraine’s east and southeast: the separatist Luhansk and Donetsk territories in the eastern Donbas region, Kherson in the south and occupied parts of nearby Zaporizhzhia. Russian news agencies said hundreds of polling stations will open and refugees in Russia will take part in these staged referendums, which have drawn global condemnation as a plan for Moscow to absorb Ukrainian territory. Kremlin-backed authorities assured support for the annexation of Ukrainian territory. “We’re coming home,” Denis Pushilin, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, said Friday in a video. President Vladimir Putin has declared his support for the process, with little doubt that the announced result will overwhelmingly favor becoming part of Russia. When the Kremlin annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 after a disputed vote, it claimed that 97 percent backed joining Russia. Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said Donbas and other regions “will be accepted into Russia.” Medvedev, deputy head of the Security Council, also suggested Moscow could use nuclear weapons to defend those territories. Washington has for months sent private warnings to Moscow about grave consequences if it used a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, though it was unclear whether any messages were sent in recent days, The Washington Post reported. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attacked the legitimacy of the referendums. Speaking in Russian, he urged Russians to resist the partial military mobilization Putin announced this week. “Tens of thousands are wounded and maimed. Want more? No? Then protest. Fight back. Run away. Or surrender to Ukrainian captivity. These are options for you to survive,” he said in his nightly address. Voronezh BELARUS RUSSIA Chernihiv Area held by Russia- backed separatists before Feb. 2022 Belgorod Sumy Valuyki Kyiv Kharkiv LUHANSK KHARKIV Cherkasy Slovyansk Luhansk UKRAINE Bakhmut Dnipro Donetsk Kirovohrad DONETSK Zaporizhzhia ZAPORIZHZHIA Mariupol Mykolaiv Melitopol KHERSON MOL. Kherson Odessa RUSSIA Kerch CRIMEA Krasnodar Annexed by Russia in 2014 100 MILES ROM. Novorossiysk Sevastopol Black Sea Control areas as of Sept. 11 Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project Ukrainian reclaimed territory through counteroffensives Area held by Russia- backed separatists before Feb. 2022 Voronezh BELARUS RUSSIA Chernihiv Belgorod Sumy Kyiv Kharkiv Poltava Cherkasy Kramatorsk Dnipro Uman Zaporizhzhia Mariupol Melitopol Mykolayiv Kherson RUSSIA Odessa Crimea Krasnodar Annexed by Russia in 2014 Novorossiysk Sevastopol 100 MILES Control areas as of Sept. 11 Sources: Institute for the Study of War, AEI’s Critical Threats Project Ukrainian reclaimed territory through counteroffensives Area held by Russia- backed separatists before Feb. 2022 RUSSIA BEL. Chernihiv Belgorod Sumy Kyiv Kharkiv Poltava Cherkasy Dnipro Zaporizhzhia Mariupol Melitopol Mykolayiv Kherson RUS. Odessa Crimea Sevastopol Annexed by Russia in 2014 100 MILES Black Sea Control areas as of Sept. 11 Sources: Institute for the Study of War Return to menu U.N. chief António Guterres described the referendums as a “violation of the UN Charter and international law.” Western leaders, including President Biden, have denounced the process as a “sham.” Traffic at the Finnish-Russian border was at a “higher level than usual” on Thursday but still below pre-pandemic levels, a Finnish border guard official said after Russia’s first military mobilization since World War II. Kazakhstan has seen an influx at the border from neighboring Russia, according to Reuters. Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania closed their borders to most Russian citizens. Diplomats clashed over allegations of Russian war crimes at a heated U.N. Security Council meeting on Thursday. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia’s withdrawal from the Ukrainian cities of Izyum and Bucha revealed gruesome torture and killings that could not be dismissed as the actions of a few bad actors. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov denied the charges and condemned Western support for Kyiv before leaving the room. Return to menu Ukraine said it shot down four Iranian-made attack drones in the south. Ukraine reported its first encounter with a Shahed drone last week, after U.S. officials said Tehran began sending them to Russia in August. The U.N. nuclear watchdog said “detailed talks” about a safety zone at the Zaporizhzhia plant are underway. The International Atomic Energy Agency said its proposal sought to protect Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which Russian forces control in Ukraine. Return to menu Putin faces domestic fury over reservist call-up: Russian families bade tearful farewells on Thursday to thousands of sons and husbands abruptly summoned for military duty as part of Putin’s mobilization, Robyn Dixon, Mary Ilyushina and David L. Stern report. “More than 1,300 people were arrested at anti-mobilization protests in cities and towns across Russia on Wednesday and Thursday,” they write. “Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed reports of booked-out flights and queues to leave Russia as ‘false.’ ” Read More Here

Alex Jones Declares He’s ‘done Saying I’m Sorry’ At Sandy Hook Trial https://digitalarkansasnews.com/alex-jones-declares-hes-done-saying-im-sorry-at-sandy-hook-trial/ Infowars founder Alex Jones lashed out as he testified in a tense Connecticut courtroom Thursday as part of a defamation trial that will determine how much he should pay to the relatives of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre. The far-right conspiracy theorist and host, known for emotional outbursts on his shows, appeared frustrated at several points and said he would not make further apologies for popularizing the false claim that the shooting in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax. “Is this a struggle session? Are we in China?” Jones asked, referring to Maoist rallies where people were publicly humiliated, after an attorney for the plaintiffs, Chris Mattei, pointed out the victims’ family members in the courtroom. “I’ve already said I’m sorry hundreds of times, and I’m done saying I’m sorry.” The fatal shooting of 26 people, including 20 children, sustained headlines for years on Infowars and other fringe websites that propagated the baseless assertion that the victims’ family members were “crisis actors” involved in a government “false-flag operation” designed to curtail Second Amendment rights. Jones has subsequently acknowledged that the massacre was “100 percent real” and that it was irresponsible to say otherwise. Jones was ordered in August in a separate Texas trial to pay more than $45 million in damages to parents of a Sandy Hook victim. He lost the Connecticut trial after Judge Barbara Bellis ruled in November that he was liable by default after refusing to turn over financial records and other documents ordered by the court. Infowars and its parent company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy protection this year as the Sandy Hook families pursued civil litigation. Though Jones was even-tempered for much of his testimony, he sometimes verbally jousted with Mattei. His own lawyer also struggled to stop him from providing elaborate answers when roused. Bellis repeatedly asked jurors to leave the courtroom so that the scope of Jones’s answers could be discussed with the lawyers. The frequency of their departures led her to joke that they were getting their exercise for the day. In the hours-long session, Jones used one of Mattei’s questions to plug the address of a website accepting cryptocurrency contributions. He also answered “no” to the question of whether his credibility was the most important thing to his audience, insisting that his focus was on “crushing the globalists.” “Alex Jones is probably the most unsympathetic litigant I’ve seen in quite a long period of time,” said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Marymount University. “This is a case about punishment, deterrence and making people whole,” she said. A representative for Infowars could not be immediately reached early Friday. In one exchange, Mattei accused Jones of putting targets on Sandy Hook parents’ backs, in an apparent reference to his claim that they were crisis actors. The attorney referenced parents in the courtroom, calling them “real people,” to which Jones responded: “Just like all the Iraqis you liberals killed and loved.” “You’re unbelievable. You switch on emotions, on and off, when you want. You’re just ambulance chasing,” Jones added. The size and scope of damages awarded by the jury will be closely watched at a time of heightened concern about online misinformation and disinformation. “It matters what these verdicts are because it tells us how much we think people are harmed by this type of speech,” Levinson said. “It tells us that this might be an effective way to try to shut down the Alex Joneses of the world.” Details of the case — such as whether the jury is convinced that Jones’s false statements were deliberate lies — will help determine the type and the size of damages, said Eugene Volokh, a law professor at the University of California at Los Angeles. “If you’re going to try to persuade the jury toward punitive damages, you’ve got to show that it’s more than just an honest mistake,” said Volokh, an expert on free-speech law. An attorney for Jones had argued that damages should be limited and that the victims’ relatives had exaggerated the harm that his client’s false assertions had caused, the Associated Press reported. Several relatives of the Sandy Hook victims took the stand this week to share stories of being forced to travel under false names for security purposes and being told they would go to hell by those falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax. Jennifer Hensel, whose daughter Avielle was killed in the shooting and whose husband took his own life in 2019, testified that some conspiracy theorists said they believed that she helped fake the tragedy and that her child was still alive. “God, if she were, wouldn’t that be amazing?” she said, her voice cracking. The trial is set to resume Friday, and Jones is scheduled to continue testifying. Read More Here

Biden Rips Republicans Threatening ‘Blood In The Streets’ If Trump Indicted In Speech To Small Private Fundraiser https://digitalarkansasnews.com/biden-rips-republicans-threatening-blood-in-the-streets-if-trump-indicted-in-speech-to-small-private-fundraiser/ By Tommy ChristopherSep 23rd, 2022, 7:42 am MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images President Joe Biden tore into Republicans at a small private DNC fundraiser, ripping the threat of “blood in the streets” if former President Donald Trump is criminally indicted. On Thursday afternoon, the president spoke to a small gathering of around 40 people at the home of Henry Laufer and Marsha Laufer, during which he took aim at “MAGA Republicans” as has become his habit. The chunk included a reference to threats of varying explicitness — from the likes of Sen. Lindsey Graham and Trump himself — if Trump is charged: And one of the things that I think is really important is that — you know, the press is here, and they sometimes, legitimately — legitimately criticize me a lot, legitimately. But one of the things they talk about — when I talk about MAGA Republicans, I’m not just talking about Trump, I’m talking about those folks who have a different view of how the institutions should function. They’re very much up for grabs right now, the institutions — whether or not the Supreme Court — what legitimacy it has, what it should have; what the Congress can and can’t do. And, you know, we ta- — when I talked about there are some extremes within the other party — and this is not your father’s Republican Party. This is a different party than when you started helping me years ago. It’s a very different party. And, you know, when you — when you defend people who broke down doors in the Capitol and tried to turn around an election and ended up with some police being dead, and when you defend them as patriots, there’s something different about what’s out there. When you hear Republicans talking about “if certain things happen, there’ll be riots in the street and there’ll be blood on the streets,” it — it’s just — it’s not consistent with who we are as a democracy. And when you see the continuation of the notion of failing to recognize the legitimacy of an election when there’s not a single thread of evidence to suggest it was anything other than legitimate, it’s — it’s a dangerous trend. And the fact of the matter is that, you know, the MAGA Republicans have a very different view of where they want to take the country. The bulk of Biden’s speech focused on his administration’s agenda and accomplishments and featured many familiar beats. Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com Read More Here

Conagra Brands Foundation Awards Grants To 23 Local Nonprofits Through “Nourish Our Community” Program https://digitalarkansasnews.com/conagra-brands-foundation-awards-grants-to-23-local-nonprofits-through-nourish-our-community-program/ Employee-nominated grants drive community impact during Hunger Action Month , /PRNewswire/ — Conagra Brands Foundation has announced the 2022 recipients of the “Nourish Our Community” grants, awarding one-year grants to 23 nonprofits across 12 states, totaling $350,000. In an effort to support Hunger Action Month – a time when people across the country come together to raise awareness and take action to impact the issue of food insecurity – Conagra’s involvement will help to create positive social impact in the communities where its employees live and work. For 30 years, Conagra employees have nominated nonprofit organizations in their local communities to be considered for community grants. Conagra employees also devote time to review and discuss the applications to determine the final slate of grant recipients. The Nourish Our Community program supports organizations doing incredible work to address the issues of domestic hunger and food insecurity, cooking skills, nutrition education, healthy and active lifestyles and urban agriculture. “Since its inception, the Nourish Our Communities grant program has given our employees the opportunity to address the prevalent issue of food insecurity by partnering with nonprofits in their local communities,” said Robert Rizzo, Senior Director, Conagra Brands Foundation. “Healthy communities are built through consistent access to nutritious food. With this program, we engage our colleagues throughout the organization to raise awareness of food insecurity on a national level, as well as building local partnerships in communities across the country through our investment of grants and employee volunteerism.” Hunger Action Month, a Feeding America initiative, aims to raise awareness for and take action against the hunger crisis in the United States. Conagra Brands Foundation’s longstanding partnership with Feeding America includes a unique combination of efforts including: national research that increases the collective understanding of the issue of hunger and its impact on vulnerable populations and diverse communities; direct service that improve access to nutritious and culturally relevant food, capacity building efforts that increase front line hunger relief agencies efforts to better serve the community, and national awareness building campaigns that help to educate the public and its leaders about the issue of food insecurity in communities where Conagra operates. Conagra also provides significant product donations that are distributed to Feeding America’s network of 200 food banks. More information about each of the “Nourish Our Community” grant recipients can be found below: ALPHA COMMUNITY CENTER (Ohio) Project: AlphaMeals Funding from the Conagra Brands Foundation helps Alpha Community Center prepare essential meals and serve them to seniors, individuals with disabilities and individuals who are experiencing homelessness. This community meal service not only provides nutritious meals, but also some relief from the stress and worry associated with managing limited financial resources. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Tina B. – Troy, OH BACKPACK BLESSINGS (Georgia) Project: Weekend Meals and Snacks Support from Conagra underwrites the costs associated with filling backpacks with food and distributing them to elementary school children to take home during the weekends when they have limited access to food. BackPack Blessings currently delivers 600 food filled backpacks to children in Marietta Georgia every Friday while school is in session. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Stacy R. – Atlanta, GA BCMW COMMUNITY SERVICES (Illinois) Project: Eat, Learn and Grow Conagra Brands Foundation’s grant will support a three-pronged effort to fight food insecurity.  Two hundred families will be presented with food bundles, 40 school age children will learn about healthy snacks and raised garden beds will be constructed so that 50 families can be supplied with fresh produce. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Traci H. – Centralia, IL BOYS AND GIRLS CLUB OF DANE COUNTY (Wisconsin) Project: Walworth County Food Security Boys and Girls Club of Dane County inspires and empowers young people to reach their full potential as productive, responsible, and caring adults. The Conagra Brands Foundation funding assists the Boys and Girls Club that serves the Conagra community of Darien, WI in continuing its Family Meals to Go program, as well as their holiday meal distribution. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Sergio R. – Darien, WI CARE FOR FRIENDS (Illinois) Project: CarePacks The Conagra Brands Foundation grant supports Care For Friends’ efforts to provide food to unhoused young students and their families. Care For Friends will distribute Care-Packs filled with nutritious groceries to 430 families which includes 1,800 individuals identified by the Students in Temporary Living Situations Office of Chicago Public Schools. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Bradley H. – Chicago, IL CITY SPROUTS (Nebraska) Project: Urban Food Production and Distribution City Sprouts will produce more than 50,000 pounds of fresh, nutritious produce at its new, six-acre urban farm site in Omaha for individuals facing food insecurity. The Conagra Brands Foundation supports its efforts to cultivate, harvest, and distribute produce to local community members through Free Farms Stands and in collaboration with food distribution agencies in the Omaha area. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Molly R. and Ami S. – Omaha, NE CONSCIOUS ALLIANCE (Colorado) Project: Feed Kids Before Landfills Funding from the Conagra Brands Foundation helps Conscious Alliance deliver on its mission to rescue and redistribute healthy meals and snacks to children in the Denver-metro area. The organization reduces food waste by rescuing food and delivering it to children which significantly improves the physical and emotional health of children. It currently serves young people along the Front Range of Colorado, and the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, and plans to expand further to reach more children in need of food support. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Patrick A. – Boulder, CO FIGUEROA WU FAMILY FOUNDATION (Illinois) Project: Pilsen Food Pantry – Delivery Efforts Figueroa Wu Family Foundation provides community wellness, targets hunger, fights racial and economic inequities, and provides an inviting space for cultural engagement. Its biggest program, the Pilsen Food Pantry, supports local families with free emergency food, clothing, books, and physical therapy. This grant supports the home delivery program, which was launched to help those unable to travel for food. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Sebastian B. – Chicago, IL GROW JACKSON (Michigan) Project: Community Gardening Grow Jackson operates five gardens within the City of Jackson.  Funding from the Conagra Brands Foundation will help expand its main garden by 50% allowing it to increase the amount of fresh, healthy food that is grown and distributed to its neighbors. It anticipates that this effort will increase its capacity by 5,000 lbs., increase the number of volunteers and build deeper connections and more authentic relationships within the community. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Matthew S. – Quincy, IL LIFE STYLES (Arkansas) Project: Healthy Cooking and Meal Planning Life Styles runs the Adult Development Food Program to help individuals with developmental disabilities improve kitchen skills and provides guidance on how to shop for groceries, maintain budgets and prepare healthier meals. Through this program, clients will increase their exhibited level of independence, improve their overall health and will know how to prepare complex meals independently. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Kathia R. – Fayetteville, AR LINCOLN COMMUNITY CENTER (Ohio) Project: Afterschool Snacks The Lincoln Community Center serves students every day after school, providing a safe space to gather, study and to obtain tutoring and homework help.  Support from the Conagra Brands Foundation will ensure that youth have opportunities for exercise and access to healthy, nutritious snacks. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Robert R. – Troy, OH MARIE WILKINSON FOOD PANTRY (Illinois) Project: Older Adult Hunger Relief Nutrition and Healthy U Education This Nourish Our Community grant supports front-line hunger relief efforts provided through its two community food pantries serving Kane, Kendall, DuPage, Will, and DeKalb Counties. A portion of the grant will help expand pantry capacity with the purchase of a power lift truck that will be used to assist with pallets of produce and food for senior citizens. Remaining funds will be used to purchase fresh produce and protein.  Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Brenda J. – Chicago, IL MILLION MEAL MOVEMENT (Indiana) Project: Empowering Youth to Reduce Food Insecurity and Improve Food Access Million Meal Movement is aimed at feeding people who are hungry while also teaching young people about the importance of volunteerism. Grant funds will finance the packing of 28,000 servings of Macaroni and Cheese dinners. These meals will be packed in local Indiana schools and delivered to food banks across the state. Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Oskarina F. – Indianapolis, IN New Visions Homeless Services (Iowa) Project: MOHMS Place Meals New Visions Homeless Services provides transitional and permanent supportive housing to formerly homeless veterans residing in its two housing programs. Its food program provides 109,000 meals annually via a full-service kitchen that accommodates 250 people. Residents are provided t...

European Stocks Slide 2.8% After Weak Euro Zone Data, New UK Economic Plan https://digitalarkansasnews.com/european-stocks-slide-2-8-after-weak-euro-zone-data-new-uk-economic-plan/ European stocks were sharply lower on Friday, as investors digested a raft of central bank decisions and a new economic plan from the U.K. The Stoxx 600 was down 2.8% in early afternoon trading, with all sectors and major bourses trading in the red. Oil and gas stocks and basic resources were the biggest fallers, both down more than 4%. Thursday’s market moves come after the U.K. government announced a raft of tax cuts as the country prepares for a recession. Sterling was down 1.8% against the dollar around midday to trade at $1.1048 following the news. The Bank of England also hiked rates by 50 basis points Thursday — its seventh consecutive increase — and said it believed the U.K. economy was already in a recession. Also Thursday, the Swiss National Bank hiked its benchmark rate to 0.5%, a shift that brings an end to an era of negative rates in Europe. The U.S. Federal Reserve, meanwhile, hiked by another three-quarters of a percentage point Wednesday, and indicated that the hikes will keep on coming. U.S. stocks closed lower Thursday, their third consecutive daily decline, and futures were also lower on Friday. Asia markets, meanwhile, were in the red, with Australian stocks down 2%. Italian election: A likely victory for the far-right? Italy’s voters will elect the country’s next prime minister on Sunday, with polls suggesting a shift to the right. The snap election is likely to mark the country’s biggest political shift for decades, as the nation continues to wrestle with economic instability. Read CNBC’s look-ahead to the election in full here. — Hannah Ward-Glenton Pound hits fresh 37-year low, down to $1.11 The British pound hit a new 37-year low against the dollar to $1.11, down 1.41%, following an economic announcement from U.K. Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng. — Hannah Ward-Glenton UK stocks fall, sterling rises on new economic plan UK scraps plans for corporation tax rise British Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng confirmed the U.K. government would not increase corporation tax to 25% as planned. The rate will stay at 19% in an attempt to jumpstart economic growth. — Hannah Ward-Glenton UK government announces $67 billion energy package and tax cuts Britain’s Finance Minister has announced a raft of measures to help with the increasing cost of living and boost the country’s economy, including a £60 billion ($67 billion) energy package. The package will subsidize gas and electricity bills for households and businesses over the next six months. The government also announced tax cuts for businesses in designated sites, financial services reforms and scrapping bankers’ bonus caps. — Hannah Ward-Glenton Euro zone likely entering recession as price rises hit demand The euro zone will likely enter a recession as the downturn in business activity across the region deepened this month, according to S&P Global. S&P Global’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 48.2 in September, down from 48.9 in August. High energy costs hit manufacturers hard after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and soaring prices have contributed to worsening business conditions. September is the third consecutive month that the PMI has fallen below 50 —the benchmark separating growth and contraction. — Hannah Ward-Glenton FTSE muted ahead of the U.K.’s mini-budget The U.K.’s FTSE 100 is fairly flat this morning as investors await a mini-budget from the country’s Finance Minister Kwasi Kwarteng. Measures laid out in the fiscal announcement are expected to boost the slowing British economy. Tax cuts, energy subsidies and planning reforms are expected to make up the £200 billion ($225 billion) package. — Hannah Ward-Glenton HSBC warns investors to avoid European stocks Investors should avoid allocating to Europe in the hunt for value stocks, as the continent’s energy crisis means the risk-reward is still not there, according to Willem Sels, global CIO at HSBC Private Banking and Wealth Management. “I would caution against buying Europe because of the cheaper valuations and interest rate movements,” said Willem Sels from HSBC Private Banking. Read more here. Here’s how the pan-European Stoxx 600 has traded year-to-date: — Elliot Smith Credit Suisse shares hit record low Credit Suisse leads the market downturn early morning after a report of a possible capital raise. Shares of the investment bank hit a record low of 4.335 francs in early trade. — Hannah Ward-Glenton European markets: Here are the opening calls European stocks are expected to open in positive territory on Friday, as investors react to central bank rate hikes and U.S. recession signals. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 index is expected to open around 25 points higher at 7,172, Germany’s DAX is seen 38 points higher at 12,581, France’s CAC 40 is expected to open up 13 points and Italy’s FTSE MIB is seen 42 points higher, according to data from IG. CNBC Pro: Is it time to buy Treasurys? Here’s how to allocate your portfolio, according to the pros CNBC Pro: Back hedge funds to outperform equities and bonds this year, UBS says As both stocks and bond prices fall simultaneously, hedge funds have broadly outperformed and are “well placed to navigate current market volatility,” according to a new report by UBS. As market volatility persists, the Swiss bank shared the types of hedge funds it prefers. Pro subscribers can read more here. — Ganesh Rao Nomura downgrades China’s 2023 growth outlook Nomura downgraded its forecast for China’s 2023 annual growth to 4.3% from 5.1%. Analysts cited a potentially prolonged Covid-zero policy or a spike in the nation’s infections after a possible reopening in March. The latest downgrade comes after Goldman Sachs lowered its outlook earlier this week to 4.5% from 5.3%. William Ma of Grow Investment Group told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” he’s optimistic on policy changes he sees coming after the People’s Party Congress in mid-October. —Jihye Lee Futures start flat in post-market trading Stock futures were flat after another tumultuous day, as investors continue grappling with the Federal Reserve’s decision to up rates and worries about the health of the economy. Dow Jones Futures went up 41 points, or .14%, to 30,190. The S&P 500 was up 4 points, which translates to .11%, at 3,776. The Nasdaq 100 rose 10 points, .09%, to 11,575,50. — Alex Harring Read More Here

TV And Streaming Viewing Picks For September 23, 2022: How To Watch MLB Tonight https://digitalarkansasnews.com/tv-and-streaming-viewing-picks-for-september-23-2022-how-to-watch-mlb-tonight/ All Times Eastern Australian Rules Football AFL Men’s Grand Final, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Geelong Cats vs. Sydney Swans — FS1, 12:30 a.m. (Saturday) AFL Women’s Round 5 Brisbane Lions vs. Richmond Tigers — FS2, 9 p.m. Basketball Women’s FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Group A, Sydney SuperDome, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia United States vs. Communist China — ESPN2, 12:30 a.m. (Saturday) Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Republic of Korea — ESPN+, 3:50 a.m. (Saturday) Puerto Rico vs. Belgium — ESPN+, 6:20 a.m. (Saturday) Boxing Top Rank Boxing WBC/WBO World Super Featherweight Title, Prudential Center, Newark, NJ Shakur Stevenson vs. Robson Conceição — ESPN, 10 p.m. Max on Boxing — ESPN2, 5 p.m. CFL Week 16 Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Montreal Alouettes — TSN1/TSN4/TSN5/ESPN2, 7:30 p.m. CFL on TSN Pregame — TSN1/TSN4, 7 p.m. College Field Hockey Iowa at Northwestern — Big Ten Network, 4 p.m. College Football Week 4 Virginia at Syracuse — ESPN, 7 p.m. Nevada at Air Force — FS1, 8 p.m. Boise State at Texas-El Paso — CBS Sports Network, 9 p.m. College Football Live — ESPN2, 3 p.m. This Week in SEC Football — CBS Sports Network, 7:30 p.m. Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 8:30 p.m. Inside College Football — CBS Sports Network, 12:30 a.m. (Saturday) College Soccer Men’s Louisville vs. Pittsburgh — ACC Network, 8 p.m. Women’s Stanford vs. USC — Pac-12 Network/Pac-12 Bay Area/Pac-12 Los Angeles, 5 p.m. Oregon State vs. Washington State — Pac-12 Network/Pac-12 Oregon/Pac-12 Washington, 9 p.m. Oregon vs. Washington — Pac-12 Insider, 10 p.m. UCLA vs. Cal — Pac-12 Network/Pac-12 Los Angeles/Pac-12  Bay Area, 11 p.m. College Volleyball Women’s Michigan at Rutgers — Big Ten Network, 6 p.m. Minnesota at Purdue — Big Ten Network, 8 p.m. Cal at Oregon State — Pac-12 Network/Pac-12 Bay Area, 9 p.m. At the Net — Big Ten Network, 10:30 p.m. Drag Racing NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series NHRA Carolina Nationals, ZMax Dragway at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord, NC Qualifying Show 1 — FS1, 7 p.m. Golf LPGA Tour NW Arkansas Championship, Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, AR 1st Round Featured Groups: Nordqvist & Kim Groups — ESPN+, 9 a.m. Main Feed — Golf Channel, 8 p.m. (same day coverage) PGA Tour Presidents Cup, Quail Hollow Club, Charlotte, NC United States vs. International Day 2 (Fourball) — Golf Channel/Peacock, 11:30 a.m. Live From the Presidents Cup — Golf Channel, 6 p.m. PGA Tour Champions Pure Insurance Championship, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, CA 1st Round — Golf Channel, 10 p.m. (same day coverage) Horse Racing America’s Day at the Races — FS2, 2 p.m. Mixed Martial Arts Bellator 285 Lightweights, 3 Arena, Dublin, Ireland Benson Henderson vs. Peter Queally — Showtime, 4 p.m. PFL 2022 Best Highlights — ESPN2, midnight MLB American League Boston at New York Yankees — Apple TV+, 7 p.m. Houston at Baltimore — MLB Network/AT&T SportsNet Southwest/MASN, 7 p.m. Toronto at Tampa Bay — MLB Network/Sportsnet/Bally Sports Sun, 7 p.m. Anaheim at Minnesota — Bally Sports West/Bally Sports North, 8 p.m. Cleveland at Texas — Bally Sports Great Lakes/Bally Sports Southwest, 8 p.m. Detroit at Chicago White Sox — Bally Sports Detroit/NBC Sports Chicago, 8 p.m. Seattle at Kansas City — Root Sports/Bally Sports Kansas City, 8 p.m. National League Chicago Cubs at Pittsburgh — Marquee Sports Network/AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, 6:30 p.m. Milwaukee at Cincinnati — Bally Sports Wisconsin/Bally Sports Ohio, 6:30 p.m. Washington at Miami — MASN2/Bally Sports Florida, 6:30 p.m. Atlanta at Philadelphia — Bally Sports South/NBC Sports Philadelphia, 7 p.m. San Diego at Colorado — Bally Sports San Diego/AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, 8 p.m. San Francisco at Arizona — NBC Sports Bay Area/Bally Sports Arizona, 9:30 p.m. St. Louis at Los Angeles Dodgers — Apple TV+, 10 p.m. Interleague New York Mets at Oakland — SNY/NBC Sports California, 9:30 p.m. MLB Central — MLB Network, 9 a.m. MLB Now — MLB Network, 2 p.m. Off Base — MLB Network, 3 p.m. Pregame Spread — MLB Network, 4 p.m. MLB Tonight — MLB Network, 5 p.m. Countdown to First Pitch — Apple TV+, 6:30 p.m. Blue Jays Central — Sportsnet, 6:30 p.m. MLB Network Strike Zone — Check your local listings, 7 p.m. Countdown to First Pitch — Apple TV+, 9:30 p.m. MLB Tonight — MLB Network, 10 p.m. Quick Pitch — MLB Network, 12:30 a.m. (Saturday) NASCAR NASCAR Race Hub — FS1, 6 p.m. NBA Inside the Association — Stadium, 10 a.m. NBA Today — ESPN, 3 p.m. NFL Good Morning Football — NFL Network, 7 a.m. NFL Now — NFL Network, 1 p.m. NFL Now — NFL Network, 2 p.m. NFL Live — ESPN, 4 p.m. NFL Fantasy Live — NFL Network, 6 p.m. NFL Total Access — NFL Network, 7 p.m. NFL GameDay View — NFL Network, 8 p.m. Rod Woodson: A Football Life — NFL Network, 9 p.m. James Harrison: A Football Life — NFL Network, 10 p.m. NHL NHL Tonight: Top 10 Storylines to Watch — NHL Network, 6 p.m. Soccer Men’s International Friendly Kirin Challenge Cup 2022, Merkur Spielarena, Düsseldorf, Germany Japan vs. United States — ESPN2//UniMás/TUDN, 8:20 a.m. Fútbol central — UniMás/TUDN, 8 a.m. Pre-World Cup Match, Stade Océane, Le Havre, France Brazil vs. Ghana — beIN Sports Xtra/beIN Sports Xtra en Español, 2:20 p.m. Pre-World Cup Match, The Stadium Formerly Known as Joe Robbie, Miami Gardens, Miami Argentina vs. Honduras — beIN Sports Xtra/beIN Sports Xtra en Español/Fubo Sports Network, 7:50 p.m. Misión Europa — TUDN, 6 p.m. Champions League Weekly — CBS Sports Network, 6:30 p.m. Football Report — Fubo Sports Network, 7 p.m. ESPN FC — ESPN+, 8 p.m. Sports News & Talk SportsCenter — ESPN, 7 a.m. The Carton Show — FS1, 7 a.m. Get Up — ESPN, 8 a.m. SportsCenter — ESPNews, 8 a.m. SEC This Morning — SEC Network, 8 a.m. SportsCenter — ESPNews, 9 a.m. The Dan Patrick Show — Peacock, 9 a.m. The Rally Rewind — Stadium, 10 a.m. Campus Insiders — Stadium, 11 a.m. Up & Adams — FanDuel TV, 11 a.m. B1G Today — Big Ten Network, noon The Jim Rome Show — CBS Sports Network, noon SportsCenter — ESPN, noon The Rich Eisen Show — The Roku Channel, noon Live on the Line — Stadium, noon SportsCenter — ESPN, 1 p.m. This Just In — ESPN, 2 p.m. Best of SEC This Morning — SEC Network, 2 p.m. In Play — ACC Network, 3 p.m. Maggie and Perloff — CBS Sports Network, 3 p.m. The Paul Finebaum Show — SEC Network, 3 p.m. Sport Today — BBC World News, 3:30 p.m. Jalen & Jacoby — ESPN2, 4 p.m. ACC PM — ACC Network, 4 p.m. Around the Horn — ESPN2, 5 p.m. Pardon the Interruption — ESPN2, 5:30 p.m. Time to Schein — CBS Sports Network, 6 p.m. SportsCenter — ESPN, 6 p.m. Daily Wager — ESPN2, 6 p.m. Beyond Limits: This is Football — CBS Sports Network, 7 p.m. SEC Now — SEC Network, 7 p.m. The B1G Show — Big Ten Network, 10 p.m. 30 for 30: What Carter Lost — ESPNU, 10 p.m. SportsCenter at Night — ESPN2, 10:30 p.m. SportsCenter at Night — ESPN, midnight Zona mixta — Telemudo, midnight Contacto deportivo — Univision/TUDN, midnight TMZ Sports — FS1, 3:30 a.m. (Saturday) TMZ Sports Weekend — FS1, 4 a.m. (Saturday) Tennis Laver Cup Team Europe vs. Team World, O2 Arena, London, England, United Kingdom Day 1: Day Session — Tennis Channel, 8 a.m. Day 1: Night Session (Roger Federer’s last match) — Tennis Channel, 2 p.m. Courtside Live: Moselle Open Quarterfinals (ATP) — Tennis Channel, noon UEFA Nations League League Phase — Matchday 5 League C — Group 4, Boris Paichadze Dinamo Arena, Tbilisi, Georgia Georgia vs. North Macedonia — FS2, noon League D — Group 2, A. Le Coq Arena, Tallinn, Estonia Estonia vs. Malta — Fox Soccer Plus, noon League A — Group 3, Red Bull Arena, Leipzig, Germany Germany vs. Hungary — FS1, 2:30 p.m. League B — Group 3, Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland Finland vs. Romania — Fox Soccer Plus, 2:30 p.m. League A — Group 3, Stadio San Miro, Milan, Italy Italy vs. England — Fubo Sports Network, 2:33 p.m. League B — Group 3, Stadion Bilino polje, Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Montenegro — Fubo Sports Network 2, 2:35 p.m. League C — Group 4, Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad, Bulgaria Bulgaria vs. Gibraltar — Fubo Sports Network 3, 2:35 p.m. Women’s Super League Arsenal vs. Tottenham Hotspur — CBS Sports Network, 6:30 a.m. (Saturday) Read More Here

Trump Lashes Out At 'lonely And Pathetic' Critic In Late-Night Attack On CNN: 'I Was Probably The Only One Watching' https://digitalarkansasnews.com/trump-lashes-out-at-lonely-and-pathetic-critic-in-late-night-attack-on-cnn-i-was-probably-the-only-one-watching/ By James Barragán, The Texas Tribune Sept. 22, 2022 Watch more video. Having trouble viewing? Watch this video on texastribune.org. New York Mayor Eric Adams blasted Gov. Greg Abbott’s program to bus migrants from Texas to New York as “inhumane” and “un-American” during an appearance at The Texas Tribune Festival, saying Abbott’s office has rebuffed attempts to coordinate the migrants’ arrival and treatment. “Our team reached out and … communicated with his team and stated, ‘Can you let us know so we can coordinate the effort?’ They refused to let us know, they continued to send the buses,” Adams said during a pre-recorded interview for the Festival. “It’s clear that Gov. Abbott is attempting to make this into a political prop using people who are seeking to live the American dream as the prop for him, and it’s just really unfortunate. It’s inhumane, it’s un-American and it’s unethical.” Abbott’s office previously told outlets that the mayors of Democratic cities had not contacted his office about the migrant buses. Texas began sending migrants to Democrat-led cities in other states in April, starting with Washington, D.C., where Abbott said President Joe Biden would “be able to more immediately address the needs of the people that they are allowing to come across our border.” In August, Abbott expanded the program to New York and then Chicago. As of this week, Texas has sent 8,100 migrants on more than 195 buses to Washington; 2,700 migrants on more than 50 buses to New York; and 675 migrants on more than 10 buses to Chicago. Arizona has also started sending migrants to New York. That has led to a war of words between the Democratic mayors of those cities and Abbott, who has argued in cable news appearances that those cities should bear responsibility for the migrants because their policies, which provide support for newly arrived migrants in the country, pull migrants to the United States. Abbott has called the Democratic mayors of those cities “hypocrites” for not being able to deal with the migrants Texas sends their way, which he emphasizes are a fraction of the number that enter Texas on a daily basis. “Mayor Adams said that they welcome in illegal immigrants,” Abbott told Fox News in August. “And now, once they have to deal with the reality of it, they’re suddenly flummoxed, and they cannot handle it.” But Adams said New York has not faltered in attempting to provide the migrants services, though it has come up against logistical challenges. Last week, the city unveiled a new welcome center for migrants that will provide COVID-19 vaccines, shoes and city identification cards, along with other services. “At no time did we take the posture of woe is us. No, just the opposite, we have taken a continuing posture that we have a legal and moral obligation to [help the migrants],” Adams said. Earlier this month, The New York Times reported that the city had failed to house 60 men, many of them asylum-seekers, as required by the city’s right-to-shelter law, which guarantees a shelter bed to every person who wants one. Adams defended the city’s attempt to house the migrants but said his legal team is looking to make changes to the right-to-shelter law to deal with the sudden influx of people coming from other states. “When this decision was made, clearly the judges did not believe that we would all of a sudden receive hundreds of individuals coming here to seek shelter with[in] the time frame,” he said. “Our legal team is really looking at the right-to-shelter ruling, and we have to revisit how it’s done correctly.” Adams was clear that the large number of migrants being bused to the city is a “strain” on its resources — an argument that Abbott has also made about small border cities that have to provide the same kind of help. Adams said the city has received 1,400 school-age children and had to provide water, food and medical resources to the migrants. “Anyone that doesn’t believe that this is not a strain on city resources, it’s just not true,” he said. “But we have not turned away from that moral and legal obligation, and we are not going to.” Adams also said he wants migrants to immediately be granted the right to work while they are in his city and has discussed the idea with federal officials. He said granting that right could help alleviate worker shortages in areas like nursing and restaurant work. Adams said local, state and federal officials have to come together to tackle the migrant crisis and tagged Abbott as “the real villain” in the conversation for his refusal to cooperate in the efforts. “We have to come together to solve this national crisis,” Adams said. “Every city that is available to absorb some of the migrants and asylum-seekers should participate. This is an American crisis, and as Americans we come together in crisis, not tear ourselves apart.” Disclosure: The New York Times has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune’s journalism. Find a complete list of them here. The Texas Tribune Festival is here! Happening Sept. 22-24 in downtown Austin, this year’s TribFest features more than 25 virtual conversations with guests like Eric Adams, Pete Souza, Jason Kander and many others. After they air for ticket holders, anyone can watch these events at the Tribune’s Festival news page. Catch up on the latest news and free sessions from TribFest. This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/22/eric-adams-texas-tribune-festival/. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org. Read More Here

Church-State Separation ‘very Thin’ With Trump Republicans, Butler Says On 'Meet The Press' – Baptist News Global https://digitalarkansasnews.com/church-state-separation-very-thin-with-trump-republicans-butler-says-on-meet-the-press-baptist-news-global/ The idea of separation of church and state remains strong in America but it is hanging by a thread, Anthea Butler said this week on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “The idea of it is very strong. The reality of it is not,” said Butler, chair of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania. Among Trump Republicans in particular, “I would say that the separation of church and state is very thin, if not nonexistent.” Asked where is the line between appropriate religious expression and Christian nationalism, Butler: “The line becomes when people become so dogmatic that they want to step over into a violent space. And what I mean by that is the people who want to impose something on someone else. “One of the great things about America is that it’s a democracy, right? And that America got started by people who were escaping religious (persecution) so they could have religious freedom. And so one of the things I think is really important here in the delineation between what is Christian nationalism and what is not Christian nationalism is what are people trying to impose? Are they trying to use their Christian nationalism to do a takeover? And then finally, who gets to be included as a Christian in America.” Butler joined a panel discussion with NBC News correspondent Anne Thompson; Andrew Whitehead, professor of sociology at IUPUI in Indianapolis; and former Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo of Florida who now works as an NBC political analyst. Their topic was the rising threat of Christian nationalism. Thompson was asked if it’s possible journalists like her are making too much of Christian nationalism, if it might be hyped too much. It’s not overblown, she said. “There are people out there who want to take the country back to a more Christian culture., I don’t think we’re making too much of it. It certainly is a strong movement. You see it in our politics today. Will it have legs? It seems to.” Whitehead was asked if there are degrees of Christian nationalism. Yes, he said, “when we survey the American public, we find that Christian nationalism is really a spectrum, where you have Americans on the very upper end who strongly embrace these ideas that the U.S. is a Christian nation, that it plays a special role in God’s work in the world globally, all of those things. And then you have Americans that think Christianity should play a role in American society but wouldn’t go so far as to say it should be privileged. And then we find there are many Americans that resist and reject Christian nationalism as well. “And so the important thing is that it’s not a binary either left or right, but it’s a spectrum of belief and strength.” Curbelo was asked to explain what’s going on inside today’s Republican Party related to Christian nationalism. Specifically, he was asked to respond to a statement by Al Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who said he’s not going to run from the label of “Christian nationalist.” And he was asked about a statement by U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who proudly claimed the Republican Party is the party of  Christian nationalism.” “What (you’re) pointing out is the hypocrisy in all of this,” the former Republican congressman replied. “It has been Republicans and conservatives over the years who have criticized other countries like Muslim countries for imposing religious beliefs and practices, and also for attacking communist countries for imposing atheism and banning people from practicing their religion. “So what’s happened here is this has become a part of the culture wars. And this is the bunker mentality that Donald Trump and other conservatives have pushed a lot of the population into thinking they’re under assault.” While Christian nationalism may be wrong and dangerous, it is fed by the reality that conservative Americans feel like “the pace of cultural change in our country has been pretty rapid in recent decades,” Curbelo added. “We have to understand that some people increasingly feel excluded, left behind, and obviously that generates a lot of anxiety and that’s why people act out in these ways.” Whitehead affirmed that description. “When we look at it, Christian nationalism … is about power. And when we think of that in terms of a democracy and a functioning democracy, it’s about sharing power and playing by the same rules. And so with Christian nationalism, we find over and over that if it comes down to democracy or power, they’re going to choose power every time.” But what may be a winning strategy for Republican primaries could prove to be a liability in a general election, Curbelo said. “This could be part of the trap Republicans have set up for themselves where they elect the most ‘conservative’ candidate at primaries and then these people just can’t win. “So eventually this movement will likely just be extinguished because people get tired of losing. That’s one theory, but certainly, … there is a critical mass support that can get these people past primaries.” Butler offered an urgent warning: “If we don’t pay attention to this right now, we may be on the losing end later. … The GOP has had slogans like this a long time, whether it’s been Make America Great Again, or American exceptionalism. … What is more interesting right now is that the religious and the political are being put together. And that makes for a very powerful mix. Whether or not people win in November, we still have to contend with this in 2024.” Related articles: Christian nationalism is a danger to our nation | Opinion by Marvin McMickle Georgia representative says Christian nationalism actually is a good thing No, BJC has not become a leftist mouthpiece | Opinion by Mark Wingfield Read More Here

2025 BMW X5 Flaunts Cool Alternative Style, Rendering Artist Trumps BMW Designers https://digitalarkansasnews.com/2025-bmw-x5-flaunts-cool-alternative-style-rendering-artist-trumps-bmw-designers/ People have long been vocal about the automotive industry’s uniformity when it comes to traditional high-profit venues. Alas, the way some chose to stand out in the crowd is definitely… something else. And there is no need to take our word for granted. Instead, let us give you the example of Germany’s ruling Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz triumvirate. Everyone knows that Audi is the one that technically innovates but stalls in terms of design. Mercedes was once the epitome of comfort and stately styling – now it arguably follows the same righteous path as its Ingolstadt-based counterpart. BMW, on the other hand, has set sail towards the outrageous island and features a disparate lineup that seems to have been dreamed of by various alien races who have never heard of Earth’s schools of art and design. Just think for a moment about the way some regular cars and SUVs look (such as the 2 Series or the X3 and X5, for example). Then imagine the humongous-grilled M3/M4 and 4 Series right next to the all-new split-headlight 7 Series, i7, and X7 with LCI (Life Cycle Impulse, aka a facelift!). Well, not everyone (along with most of the breathing world) is happy about it. But Giorgi Tedoradze, a Georgia-based industrial designer better known as tedoradze.giorgi on social media, can also do something CGI about it. So, not long ago, he started imagining a distinctive new design for BMW’s might X-series. And he naturally started with the X1 compact crossover SUV before progressing to the larger X3. Anyway, after schooling BMW’s designers about how to properly dress up a crossover SUV with CGI attire, he now proceeds to flaunt the cool alternative style for the larger BMW X5 sibling, as well. That one, now in its fourth generation, jumps over the upcoming 2024 BMW X5 M redesign that is already making the rounds courtesy of our spy photographer partners and goes directly to a potential all-new 2025 model year X5 iteration. So, does it look miles better, or not? Read More Here

What To Know About The Proposed Public Charter School In Carmel https://digitalarkansasnews.com/what-to-know-about-the-proposed-public-charter-school-in-carmel/ A proposed public charter school in Carmel, the potential first K-8 charter school in Hamilton County, has been met with support and pushback from community members and stakeholders. Valor Classical Academy charter school is seeking authorization to start a K-6 school in the fall of 2023 and possibly use a former Carmel Clay school building. At a public hearing Wednesday night, school choice advocates say they want more affordable choice options in Carmel, while those against said district resources could be siphoned away from schools if the charter is approved. Here’s what you need to know: What is Valor Classical Academy? Valor Classical Academy is a charter school that has partnered with Hillsdale College to open a new school in the Carmel Clay school district. If approved, the school plans to open to K-6 students in the fall of 2023, but it is still unclear where the school will be housed. The school then plans to add on a grade level each year until it reaches to be a K-12 school, possibly by 2028. Valor Academy: Classical charter school with ties to conservative college makes plans for Carmel location The school’s charter application says that the mission of the school is to “fill a critical gap in K-12 education in Hamilton County, Indiana, by offering a tuition-free, rigorous, content-rich, civics-centered, classical education grounded in the foundational tenets of our Western heritage and center on Truth and Virtue.” The application also says students “will be engaged in Socratic dialogue, and will study the Great Works of literature, which express and explore universal truths that provide insight into our heritage, our individual personhood and what it means to live a meaningful life.” Hillsdale College is a private school in southern Michigan that is known for promoting conservative Christian values and has close ties with President Donald Trump. Valor is seeking charter authorization through the Grace College charter school authorization board, which is separate from the college’s board of trustees. Grace is a Christian college in northern Indiana which has already approved one Hillsdale-affiliated charter school in Indiana. What’s happening with Orchard Park school building? Valor sued Carmel Clay Schools earlier this year over the use of Orchard Park Elementary school for the charter school’s possible future facility. Per the lawsuit, Valor alleges that per state law, Carmel Clay Schools should have notified the state about the closure of the elementary building, which would have made it available to Valor to lease or buy for $1. Orchard stopped offering instructional learning in its facility in May of 2021 and in June 2021 the Carmel Clay School board approved a resolution for a partnership with Carmel Clay Parks and Recreation for shared use of the property. The district has said the building remained in use since classes ended and pointed to a response from Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita’s office that the district followed state law. The next hearing for that case is scheduled for Oct. 24. Wilson told IndyStar after Wednesday’s hearing that she hopes a final decision will be made by the end of the year. What happened at the public hearing? Community members and Carmel Clay schools stakeholders spoke at a public hearing held at a Holiday Inn in Carmel on Wednesday, Sept. 21. The public hearing was hosted by representatives from Grace College as a way to get feedback that would be considered as the college evaluates the charter’s application. Many speakers who were in favor of Valor spoke on how they want more school choice options in Hamilton County that are not private schools. Others mentioned how they wanted their children to be taught under a more “classical” curriculum and with conservative values in mind. Holly Wilson is the founding board president for Valor and said at the beginning of Wednesday’s hearing that Valor is about putting parents in control of their child’s education and emphasizes a classical education model. “A classical education is not transient or speculative,” Wilson said. “It doesn’t change with the winds of our current events and it’s not responsive to political agendas.” Multiple representatives from Carmel Clay School District spoke against Valor, including Katie Browning, Carmel Clay’s school board president, who said those advocating for Valor to be approved are a minority in the district. “We have 16,000 students and their families who make their voices heard every single day by attending Carmel Clay Schools,” Browning said. “Countless families like myself move to Carmel, Indiana specifically for the high caliber education that our students receive at Carmel Clay schools.” What is the community saying? Margaret Tomaska is a parent of a second grader attending a Carmel school and spoke against approving the charter Wednesday night. She said that after examining Valor’s application she doesn’t think it has the same rigor that Carmel schools already offer. “I see something that feels like parental control,” Tomaska said. “I see something that feels political and it’s really upsetting to me as a parent that we want to work to divide our community rather than bring it together and start working together on improving what we have.” More:Valor Classical Academy sues Carmel Clay Schools over use of Orchard Park Elementary Many of the speakers in favor of Valor said that they would like more choice in affordable school options in Hamilton County, which mostly has private or district-run schools. A few speakers in favor of Valor also suggested that some of the things taught in district schools were pushing liberal political agendas. Karoline Zeller grew up in Carmel and spoke in favor of Valor saying that she hopes it provides the same level of success for students that she saw in Carmel schools 30 years ago. “We’re excited for an option that has accountability, limited technology in the classroom, and a commitment to keeping political biases out of the classroom as well,” Zeller said. At one point in the meeting, those in favor of Valor shouted down and tried to quiet a speaker who was in favor of district schools after the speaker mentioned that Hillsdale College has connections to former President Donald Trump, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. If approved, Valor would be the first charter K-8 grade school in the Carmel Clay school district and in Hamilton County. In Hamilton County, there is Options Indiana, an online school, plus the physical campuses of Options Noblesville and Options Westfield as well as Indiana Agriculture and Technology School and Excel Center – Noblesville, a high school for adult learners. A charter school is a public school that operates under a contract, or charter, between the school’s organizer and an authorizer or sponsor. Charter schools are also exempt from some state and school district regulations and have more autonomy than traditional public schools, in exchange for more accountability. An Authorizer may revoke a school’s charter at any time if it’s not fulfilling the terms of its charter.   Additionally, school funding in Indiana follows the student, so if a student enrolls in a charter school, the funding for that student will be allocated to the charter school. What happens next? Those who were not able to come to Wednesday’s meeting can still submit comments online until the close of business Friday, Sept. 23. Keep up with school news:Sign up for Study Hall, IndyStar’s weekly education newsletter. Tim Ziebarth, a representative of Grace College ran Wednesday’s hearing and said that now the college’s charter authorization board has to review all of the public comments and documents submitted by the charter organizers as part of the final steps for approval. Ziebarth couldn’t say when exactly the board meeting for approval of the charter would be held but said it would likely be sometime in October. He said the meeting, which is open to the public, will be posted on the college’s website. IndyStar archives contributed to this reporting. Contact IndyStar reporter Caroline Beck at 317-618-5807 or CBeck@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @CarolineB_Indy. Caroline is also a Report for America corps member with the GroundTruth Project, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization dedicated to supporting the next generation of journalists in the U.S. and around the world. Report for America, funded by both private and public donors, covers up to 50% of a reporter’s salary. It’s up to IndyStar to find the other half, through local community donors, benefactors, grants or other fundraising activities. If you would like to make a personal, tax-deductible contribution to her position, you can make a one-time donation online or a recurring monthly donation via IndyStar.com/RFA. You can also donate by check, payable to “The GroundTruth Project.” Send it to Report for America, IndyStar, c/o The GroundTruth Project, 10 Guest Street, Boston, MA 02135. Please put IndyStar/Report for America in the check memo line. Read More Here

Why Christian Nationalists Are Into “Jumbo-Sized” Shofars Now https://digitalarkansasnews.com/why-christian-nationalists-are-into-jumbo-sized-shofars-now/ “));var m=y[i.size_id].split(“x”).map(function(e){return Number(e)}),v=(0,r.Z)(m,2);f.width=v[0],f.height=v[1]}f.rubiconTargeting=(Array.isArray(i.targeting)?i.targeting:[]).reduce(function(e,t){return e[t.key]=t.values[0],e},{rpfl_elemid:p.adUnitCode}),t.push(f)}else(0,a.logError)(“Rubicon: bidRequest undefined at index position:”.concat(s),n,e);return t},[]).sort(function(e,t){return(t.cpm||0)-(e.cpm||0)})},getUserSyncs:function(e,t,n,r){if(!C&&e.iframeEnabled){var i={};return n&&(“boolean”==typeof n.gdprApplies&&(i.gdpr=Number(n.gdprApplies)),”string”==typeof 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New York AG Sues Trump, Insurance Fraud One Of Many Allegations https://digitalarkansasnews.com/new-york-ag-sues-trump-insurance-fraud-one-of-many-allegations/ New York’s attorney general sued former President Donald Trump and his company for fraud on Wednesday, alleging they padded his net worth by billions of dollars by lying about the value of prized assets including golf courses, hotels and his homes at Trump Tower and Mar-a-Lago. Attorney General Letitia James dubbed it: “The art of the steal.” James’ lawsuit, filed in state court in New York, is the culmination of a three-year civil investigation of Trump and the Trump Organization. Trump’s three eldest children, Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric Trump, were also named as defendants, along with two longtime company executives, Allen Weisselberg and Jeffrey McConney. The lawsuit strikes at the core of what made Trump famous, taking a blacklight to the image of wealth and opulence he’s embraced throughout his career – first as a real estate developer, then as a reality TV host on “The Apprentice” and “Celebrity Apprentice,” and later as president. James wants Trump and the other defendants to pay at least $250 million, which she said was the approximate worth of the benefits it got through fraudulent practices. James, a Democrat, announced details of the lawsuit at a news conference on Wednesday. She said her office filed the case – which is civil, not criminal in nature – after rejecting settlement offers made by lawyers for the defendants. The alleged scheme was intended to burnish Trump’s billionaire image and the value of his properties when doing so gave him an advantage, such as in obtaining favorable loan terms, while playing down the value of assets at other times for tax purposes, James’ office said. “This investigation revealed that Donald Trump engaged in years of illegal conduct to inflate his net worth, to deceive banks and the people of the great state of New York,” James said at the news conference. “Claiming you have money that you do not have does not amount to the art of the deal. It’s the art of the steal.” James said her investigation uncovered potential criminal violations, including falsifying business records, issuing false financial statements, insurance fraud, conspiracy and bank fraud. She said her office is referring those findings to federal prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service. In a statement posted to his Truth Social platform, Trump called the lawsuit “Another Witch Hunt by a racist Attorney General” and called James, who is Black, “a fraud who campaigned on a ‘get Trump’ platform, despite the fact that the city is one of the crime and murder disasters of the world under her watch!” Trump lawyer Alina Habba said the lawsuit “is neither focused on the facts nor the law – rather, it is solely focused on advancing the Attorney General’s political agenda,” accusing James of abusing her authority “by prying into transactions where absolutely no wrongdoing has taken place.” Habba said the allegations in the lawsuit are “meritless.” James is seeking to remove the Trumps from businesses engaged in the alleged fraud and wants an independent monitor appointed for no less than five years to oversee the Trump Organization’s compliance, financial reporting, valuations and disclosures to lenders, insurers and tax authorities. She is seeking to replace the current trustees of Trump’s revocable trust, which controls his business interests, with independent trustees, to bar Trump and the Trump Organization from entering into commercial real estate acquisitions for five years, from obtaining loans from banks in New York for five years and permanently bar Trump and three of his adult children from serving as an officer or director in any New York corporation or similar business entity registered and/or licensed in New York State. She also seeks to permanently bar Weisselberg and McConney from serving in the financial control function of any New York corporation or similar business entity registered and/or licensed in New York State. James’ lawsuit comes amid a swirl of unprecedented legal challenges for a former president, including an FBI investigation into Trump’s handling of classified records and inquiries into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election. The Trump Organization is set to go on trial in October in a criminal case alleging that it schemed to give untaxed perks to senior executives, including its longtime finance chief Weisselberg, who alone took more than $1.7 million in extras. Weisselberg, 75, pleaded guilty Aug. 18. His plea agreement requires him to testify at the company’s trial before he starts a five-month jail sentence. If convicted, the Trump Organization could face a fine of double the amount of unpaid taxes. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has been conducting a parallel criminal investigation of the same business practices at the heart of James’ civil lawsuit. That probe lost momentum earlier this year after Bragg raised questions internally about whether a criminal case was viable, but the Democrat has said it has not been abandoned. At the same time, the FBI is continuing to investigate Trump’s storage of sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, and a special grand jury in Georgia is investigating whether Trump and others attempted to influence state election officials. All of the legal drama is playing out ahead of the November midterm elections, where Republicans are trying to win control of one or both houses of Congress. Meanwhile, Trump has been laying the groundwork for a potential comeback campaign for president in 2024 and has accused President Joe Biden’s administration of targeting him to hurt his political chances. State law allows a broad range of civil remedies against companies committing commercial fraud, including revoking licenses to conduct business in the state, removing company officers and forcing the payment of restitution or disgorgement of ill-gotten gains. James’ office could also seek to ban Trump from being involved in certain types of businesses, as happened in January when a judge barred ex-drug company CEO Martin Shkreli from the pharmaceutical industry for life. In a previous clash with Trump, James oversaw the closure of his charity, the Trump Foundation, after her predecessor in the attorney general’s office, Barbara Underwood, filed a lawsuit alleging he misused its assets to resolve business disputes and boost his run for the White House. A judge ordered Trump to pay $2 million to an array of charities to settle the matter. James, who campaigned for office as a Trump critic and watchdog, started scrutinizing his business practices in March 2019 after his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen testified to Congress that Trump exaggerated his wealth on financial statements provided to Deutsche Bank when he was trying to obtain financing to buy the NFL’s Buffalo Bills. Since then, James’ office and Trump’s lawyers have repeatedly sparred over the direction of the investigation and Trump’s unwillingness to comply with subpoenas for his testimony and records. Trump spent months fighting the subpoena that led to his August deposition, his lawyers unable to convince courts that he should be excused from testifying because his answers could be used in Bragg’s criminal probe. In May, Trump paid $110,000 in fines after he was held in contempt of court for being slow to respond to a subpoena James’ office issued seeking documents and other evidence. The contempt finding was lifted in June after Trump and his lawyers submitted paperwork showing they had made a good faith effort to find relevant documents. Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Read More Here

Arkansas Legislative Panel OKs Another $72.4M To Seven School Districts https://digitalarkansasnews.com/arkansas-legislative-panel-oks-another-72-4m-to-seven-school-districts/ FILE — The state Capitol is shown in this file photo. A legislative panel on Thursday signed off on $72.4 million in spending authority for the state Department of Education to disburse federal American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund moneys to seven school districts. The Legislative Council’s Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Subcommittee authorized the spending authority Thursday afternoon. Two of the seven school districts seeking more of their allocations of the federal funds revised their plans to meet the Legislative Council’s recommendation that the funds be used to give a $5,000 bonus to full-time teachers, a $2,500 bonus to full-time classified staff, and a bonus to part-time classified staff in amounts that are half of those awarded their full-time counterparts, according to a Bureau of Legislative Research analyst. These two school districts are the Little Rock and Mountain View districts. The five other school districts seeking more of their allocations of the federal funds didn’t provide the Legislative Council’s recommended bonuses and provided justifications for not doing so, according to the bureau analyst. Those five school districts include the Arkansas Connections Academy, Bentonville, Trumann, Lead Hill and White County Central. They cited varying reasons for not providing the recommended bonuses. The Bentonville school district said the district provided a 1% increase to all salary schedules and a bonus of 1.2% on each employee’s contract in the 2020-2021 school year, and a 2.5% increase to the salary schedules and a bonus of 1.2% on each employee’s contract in the 2021-2022 school year. In the 2022-2023 school year, a 2% increase was provided to all salary schedules. “All of these were provided out of the district operating budget,” the school district said. “We have revised the [American Rescue Plan] to provide a $2,300 bonus to licensed [employees] and $1,150 bonus to classified employees pending board approval in September.” The Bentonville district has $6.5 million remaining of the $8.2 million in federal funds that were provided, “the 4th from the bottom when looking at the allocation per student,” according to the district. The Bentonville district said it received $455.49 per student while those districts at the top received $13,189.59 per child. State officials have said the federal funds were allocated to districts based on the Title 1 funding formula. “We are requesting additional [American Rescue Plan] funds to fully meet the recommendation of the [Arkansas Legislative Council],” the Bentonville School District said. The White County Central School District said that “our funding was not enough to meet the requirements of the [Arkansas Legislative Council].” During the 2021-2022 school year, the district used ESSER III funds for staffing interventionists in the elementary, middle and high schools, the district said. “We hired interventionist for the 22-23 school year to help shrink the gap of learning loss within the district,” the White County Central School District said. “Another cost was for technology Chromebooks for students in the district. The remaining balance will be used for retention and recruitment incentive for District employees.” The spending authority of the federal funds authorized by the panel on Thursday is the sixth tranche of American Rescue Plan funds that it has reviewed since the Legislative Council rescinded $500 million in spending authority from the state Department of Education on July 21 as part of its push for school districts to use the money on bonuses for teacher retention before it voted to grant back $42 million of that spending authority. The council’s July 21 vote to rescind the $500 million in spending authority from the state Department of Education came about two weeks after Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson said he wouldn’t put a teacher salary increase on the call for the special session that was held Aug. 9-11 to enact individual and corporate income tax cuts because of the lack of support in the Republican-dominated Legislature for a teacher pay increase in the special session. Republican legislative leaders said they want lawmakers to consider increasing teacher pay during the 2023 regular session, starting Jan. 9, after the House and Senate education committees complete their biennial educational adequacy review by Nov. 1. So far, the Legislative Council’s Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee has signed off on $769.8 million in spending authority for school districts’ American Rescue Plan ESSER Fund plans, said Department of Education spokesperson Kim Mundell. “We have a request next week for $119,241,556,” she said Thursday after the legislative panel’s meeting. Thirteen school districts have not turned in their American Rescue Plan-ESSER plans yet, Mundell said. The funds are a part of the more than $1 billion in federal funding the state received from the ESSER fund to support schools during the covid-19 pandemic. ESSER funds are a part of the American Rescue Plan Act approved by Congress and signed by President Biden in March 2021. The purpose of the American Rescue Plan ESSER funds is to help state education agencies and local school districts to safely reopen and sustain safe operations of schools and to address the academic, social, emotional and mental health impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s students, according to the state Department of Education. Under federal law, the state Department of Education may not direct how school districts choose to use these federal funds, but will assist school districts as needed to develop plans and priorities, department Secretary Johnny Key has said. The Department of Education may not reimburse districts for American Rescue Plan ESSER expenses until the department’s appropriation request has been approved by the subcommittee, according to Key. Read More…

Major Covid Holdouts In Asia Drop Border Restrictions https://digitalarkansasnews.com/major-covid-holdouts-in-asia-drop-border-restrictions/ Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan have relaxed their pandemic rules, as they look to bolster their economies and play catch-up with much of the world. Send any friend a story As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Anyone can read what you share. Tourists in the Asakusa district of Tokyo earlier this month.Credit…Kimimasa Mayama/EPA, via Shutterstock Sept. 23, 2022Updated 4:59 a.m. ET HONG KONG — After two and a half years of tight pandemic controls, some of Asia’s last holdouts are finally opening their borders, as they move to bolster their economies and play catch-up with a world that has largely learned to live with Covid. Hong Kong said on Friday that it would abandon mandatory hotel quarantine for people coming to the city starting next week, following a similar move by Taiwan. Japan said it would drop its daily limit on arrivals and fully open its doors to tourists on Oct. 11. The flurry of moves this week has left just one major country with strict border controls: China, where the ruling Communist Party still clings to its “zero Covid” policy. Those who travel to China, mainly residents, still face 10 days of hotel quarantine at their own expense. When the pandemic swept across the world in early 2020, many governments in Asia were quick to shut their borders, with most places locking out anyone who wasn’t a resident. Reopening has been a grinding and slow process, as officials fretted over the vulnerability of their older populations and feared their health systems would buckle. Image At Haneda airport near Tokyo in June.Credit…Franck Robichon/EPA, via Shutterstock But the isolation has become difficult to bear, especially as much of the rest of the world has fully reopened. Cut off from big-spending tourists and facing economic headwinds, business leaders have increasingly pressured officials in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan to rethink their policies. Last week, the World Health Organization chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the end of the pandemic was “in sight,” underscoring the collective readiness of many governments to begin to imagine a world beyond Covid-19. “I’m conscious of the fact that, while we need to control the spread of Covid, we also need to ensure that there will be maximum activities in society and economic activities for society to carry on,” John Lee, Hong Kong’s top leader, said this week before the relaxation of the rules on Friday. It was the starkest admission yet that the strict rules, tied closely to mainland China’s pandemic policy, had come at a cost that officials were no longer willing to tolerate. Image Hong Kong’s top official, John Lee, at a press briefing this month.Credit…Isaac Lawrence/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, acknowledged the importance of international tourists for the country’s survival. “People around the world have been asking, ‘When can we travel to Japan?’” Mr. Kishida said on Wednesday, before the new rules were announced, according to the public broadcaster NHK. “Now, I hope they’ll make plans to visit Japan and get a taste of Japanese cuisine.” In Taiwan, President Tsai Ing-wen said people were ready to reconnect to the rest of the world. “It has finally come to the final moment of the pandemic,” Ms. Tsai wrote on her Facebook page. “Now, we must make every effort to revive tourism, stimulate the economy and lead Taiwan’s economy to develop by leaps and bounds.” Over the past two years, Japan and Hong Kong have missed out on hosting important global gatherings, the type that are central to their identities as important hubs in the region. The Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled for August 2020, were held a year later, but only for domestic spectators. Big, splashy events in Hong Kong like Art Basel, the Rugby Sevens and regional financial conferences were canceled as the city remained closed off to nonresidents and tourists. Image The arrivals hall at Hong Kong International Airport in March.Credit…Jerome Favre/EPA, via Shutterstock Hong Kong had one of the strictest quarantine requirements at one point, with 21 days of mandatory hotel quarantine for arrivals. On Friday, officials announced a new policy to take effect next week, which would only require visitors to do several days of P.C.R. testing and health monitoring. With borders restricted, tourism has been slow to come back in much of the region. Once a top aviation hub, Hong Kong was “effectively off the map now,” Willie Walsh, the director general of the International Air Transport Association, said in April. While Hong Kong’s relaxation of Covid restrictions goes further than any at any other point in the pandemic, the new rules will still prevent visitors from going to restaurants and bars during their period of health monitoring, raising questions about whether it will be enough to attract tourists on short visits. In 2019, Japan took in around $46.1 billion from foreign tourism, according to the Japan External Trade Organization. Virtually all of that disappeared after the pandemic began. Before its latest move, Japan had tried in fits and starts to get tourism going, without much luck. In June, the government changed the border rules, letting in tourists who agreed to participate in guided tours booked through travel agencies. In September, it changed the rules again, but still kept visitors on a tight leash. Things got off to a slow start: Only 12,405 tourists entered the country in June, according to the most recent government data. Japan’s reopening could unleash a flood of pent-up travel demand, providing a much-needed boost to the country’s travel and hospitality sectors. Almost 32 million international tourists visited Japan in 2019, triple the number from six years before, according to government data. Image Sensoji Temple, a popular tourist attraction in Tokyo.Credit…Yuichi Yamazaki/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images But inbound tourism is unlikely to approach prepandemic levels anytime soon. Chinese visitors, who accounted for around 30 percent of Japan’s inbound traffic in 2019, are severely limited in their ability to travel under Beijing’s strict Covid policies. Domestically, Japan plans to encourage tourism by offering government-subsidized discounts to Japanese residents for hotels, restaurants and some kinds of entertainment, Mr. Kishida said. It is a revival of a plan, known as “Go to Travel,” that his predecessor introduced in an effort to increase domestic tourism after it was wiped out in the pandemic’s early months. The Asian governments are all in need of the economic help. Japan’s economy has slowly begun to bounce back, with shoppers filling malls and families eating out. But the plunge in the yen, which is hovering around its weakest level in nearly a quarter-century, has been painful for domestic consumers. In Hong Kong, thousands of small businesses have closed their doors, unable to recover from several rounds of social distancing measures that forced restaurants and bars to remain shut for weeks or months. The tough measures, together with a crackdown on the former British colony’s legacy of free speech, have prompted young Hong Kongers, expatriates and multinational companies to leave the city permanently. Image Cleaning windows at the 54th-floor viewing deck of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building this month.Credit…Kimimasa Mayama/EPA, via Shutterstock While Taiwan’s economy has remained relatively healthy due to its semiconductor industry, tourism has suffered. Taiwan capped the number of arrivals during the pandemic, and for a while, nonresidents couldn’t go there at all. “The dark days of waiting to travel abroad have finally come to an end,” said April Lin, 36, a Taiwanese tour guide in the central city of Taichung. “It’s a much-needed rain for many in the tourism industry.” Alexandra Stevenson reported from Hong Kong, and Ben Dooley from Tokyo. Hisako Ueno contributed reporting from Tokyo, and Amy Chang Chien from Taipei, Taiwan. Read More Here

Western Arkansas Planning And Development District Searching For Land For New Office Space https://digitalarkansasnews.com/western-arkansas-planning-and-development-district-searching-for-land-for-new-office-space-2/ FORT SMITH — The Western Arkansas Planning and Development District has set its sights on relocating its office, with the Chaffee Crossing area being a strong possibility. Sasha Grist, district executive director, told the district’s Board of Directors on Wednesday that the sites its building committee looked at last month in Chaffee Crossing are feasible for a new office building. The Western Arkansas Planning and Development District is an organization that provides information, support and services concerning a variety of fields to those in Crawford, Franklin, Logan, Polk, Scott and Sebastian counties. This includes community and economic development, workforce development, transportation improvement, 911 emergency services and geographic information system/utility mapping. Grist believes the next step will be for the committee to discuss these options with Fort Smith-based MAHG Architecture. She will also meet with real estate agencies next week to ensure there aren’t any other sites the committee missed in Fort Smith. Grist said the district’s office at 1109 S. 16th St. in Fort Smith was built in 1979 before the district moved in in 1991. She said despite an addition to the building in 2012, the district has insufficient space to be able to carry out the services and hire the staff it needs, having “outgrown” the property. Daniel Rogers, the mayor of Paris and chairman of the Board of Directors, said he believes a new office building will allow the district to do more for the counties and cities in its service area. This has included bringing in millions of dollars for these communities by helping them apply for federal and state grants. Read More Here

DeSantis To Face Trial For Suspension Of Prosecutor Who Defied Abortion Ban Law https://digitalarkansasnews.com/desantis-to-face-trial-for-suspension-of-prosecutor-who-defied-abortion-ban-law/ A Florida prosecutor suspended by Ron DeSantis for defying a new 15-week abortion law says a federal judge’s decision to send his reinstatement appeal to trial means a reckoning is coming for the state’s Republican governor. Andrew Warren, a Democrat, was removed as Hillsborough county state attorney on 4 August after saying he would not enforce the abortion ban or prosecute providers of gender transition treatment for young people. DeSantis cited Warren’s alleged “woke agenda” in reasons for his decision. At a hearing in Tallahassee on Monday, Judge Robert Hinkle denied motions from DeSantis to dismiss Warren’s lawsuit, and another by Warren seeking an immediate return to office, instead requesting their differences be settled at a trial in the coming weeks. “The governor now has to answer it to a court of law where facts matter and where you have to tell the truth,” Warren said in an interview with the Guardian. “It’s a victory for the truth. A federal judge has ruled that the governor has to come into court to explain the reasons behind my suspension, to show that it wasn’t political, to show that it wasn’t in violation of my free speech rights, to show that it wasn’t in violation of the voters’ rights to have the state attorney of their choice.” The closely watched case is expected to give clarity to DeSantis’s power to purge elected officials who disagree with him. In recent weeks, the governor has also removed four members of a school board in Broward county that defied him over Covid-19 mask mandates. “The governor is entrusted by the people of Florida to utilize his constitutional powers and may suspend elected officials in Florida who refuse to enforce the law,” DeSantis’s office said in a statement following Monday’s hearing. Critics, however, have accused the governor of selective application of the principle. The Orlando Sentinel noted that DeSantis has taken no action against so-called “constitutional” sheriffs who say they won’t enforce certain gun laws. But he did act in 2019, suspending the Broward county sheriff, Scott Israel, a Democrat, for “neglect of duty”. Warren said he believed a trial, which could begin as early as next month, would cut through any political posturing. “This has always been a fight for democracy, and rule of law, and for elections,” he said. “This is our fight for the truth. And now the people will get the truth because the governor is being forced to explain himself. “Ultimately, he may be called to testify in court. The court was pretty clear that it wants to hear from the governor in terms of the explanations about the suspension to make sure that the reasons why I was suspended are consistent with Florida law, and with federal law.” Warren said his reinstatement was not the sole objective of his lawsuit. “I would have liked to be back in office already but there’s more at stake than just my job,” he said. “Regardless of what party you belong to, or who you vote for, yours always matters. No elected official has the right to throw out anyone’s vote. And the governor here has tried to throw out the votes of hundreds of thousands of Floridians and overturn an election. “If he gets away with it, what’s left of our democracy? What’s the point of having elections?” Warren ran as a progressive when he unseated long-term incumbent Republican Mark Ober as Hillsborough county state attorney in 2016, and was re-elected with 53% of the vote four years later. He immediately set about enacting policies that upset conservatives, the Tampa Bay Times reported, including a pledge to introduce programs to rehabilitate convicts and prevent recidivism. According to Tampa’s Fox13, Susan Lopez, whom DeSantis appointed in Warren’s place, has already reversed several of his policies, including the reinstatement of a controversial law enforcement “bike-stop” measure that critics say unfairly targets minorities. Read More Here

Inquiring Photographer: Thoughts On Saudi-Sponsored Women's Golf Tournament At Trump Golf Links – Norwood News https://digitalarkansasnews.com/inquiring-photographer-thoughts-on-saudi-sponsored-womens-golf-tournament-at-trump-golf-links-norwood-news/ By DAVID GREENE TRAVIS EASTMAN, PARKCHESTER Photo by David Greene With a recent U.S. government report implicating some individuals in the Saudi Arabian government in having assisted the 9/11 hijackers, this week we asked readers for their thoughts on Trump Golf Links, located in Ferry Point Park in Throggs Neck, hosting a Saudi-sponsored, women’s golf tournament next month in The Bronx. “It’s so funny you mention that because I was just watching something on that. What took place was really different because what went down was the government is hiding something, because for us to do what we did, it had to be something else that was done to make them do what they did. I was down there when all that took place…I heard about that. I was, like, damn! How? With all the lives taken and all of the destruction that took place, how can they work with those people who committed devastation to America? How are you going to allow business to come in here? Russia and Saudi Arabia made good money in the U.K., but they didn’t do that here and they were able to build their fortunes there and elsewhere. The golf tournament is a slap in the face to America and a slap in the face to all of the people who went to work, thinking they were coming back home to their loved ones, and never made it back home. It’s a slap in the face to democracy. It should not even be held. How can [former President Donald] Trump even do something of this nature?” Travis Eastman, Parkchester  JORGE DAVILA, KINGSBRIDGE  Photo by David Greene “I don’t agree with this tournament he [former President Donald Trump] is going to host, because he should respect the American homeland, the nation, and he doesn’t. He gave us trouble and now he disrespects us. He is doing it for money and for publicity. He did wrong to this nation and now he’s trying to prove himself that he did right. He’s looking for money too. I live in The Bronx, and I don’t want this event to take place here.” Jorge Davila, Kingsbridge  BOBBY LAMONTE TOLLIVER, Soundview  Photo by David Greene “I had heard about something with the Saudis and Trump before, but you’ve kind of verified it for me and you know, thinking about it honestly, I’m trying my best to have a critical standpoint. I’m trying to view it…..from what you’re telling me, and the information I’ve been told, and information I’ve looked up on my own, and if this is indeed true, and they’re coming over here, that’s a bit [expletive] up. C’mon now! We’ve lost people. Being African American, I’m American, nonetheless. If this is indeed the truth, it’s [expletive] due to the fact that we were told a bunch of b——t, and now, you have these people from another country coming here. They’re behind something. We went to war over and lost, Lord knows, how many lives of our own, and destroyed two different countries over what? A lie? So, it’s a bit upsetting, because I was 11 years old when that happened, and I was, like, George Bush’s poster boy, saying we’ve got to go over there, and we’ve got to do this, so you kind of feel a bit foolish, knowing what I know now.” Bobby Lamonte Tolliver, Soundview DION POWELL, CROTONA Park  Photo courtesy of Dion Powell “I know people personally that work at Trump Links. They just had a car show two weeks ago… I know people that work there, and I’ve spoken to them about it, Blacks and Latinos and beyond, and they say, ‘Dion, this place is the best job I’ve had ever. These people that come here, not Trump, but people that frequent the establishment, over-tip, and they’re so nice. If they’re racist, then I don’t know, but they pay me a $50 tip for a $12 drink, if I bring it in a timely fashion and make sure that the liquid does not hit the bottom of that glass.’ So that’s the testimonials I want people to know from the minority side, and I do want it to happen because of that one factor… I’d show up if I was invited.” Dion Powell, Crotona Park SHANEQUA CHARLES, FORDHAM Manor  Photo courtesy of Shanequa Charles “Two things were particularly striking when I learned of the Saudi-backed women’s tournament, hosted by [former President Donald] Trump. One, despite my own personal feelings, and [alleged] evidence of the American government’s [alleged] involvement in the collapse of the Twin Towers in 2001, it is not in good taste that the former president is in bed on a deal like this. Two, given the history with dealings that have landed him in tremendous legal trouble, potential jail time, etc., I don’t believe that he deserves to make millions of dollars off of an event of this magnitude when he has, unfortunately, proven time and time again that he cannot be trusted to act in the best interest of our country.” Shanequa Charles, Fordham Manor Editor’s Note: Dion Powell is running for State senate in District 32 in the November 2022 general election on the Conservative Party ticket, while Shanequa Charles ran for State Assembly in District 78 in the June 2022 Democratic Primary.    Check out our 21st anniversary 9/11 commemoration coverage here. Read More Here