WorldAssociated PressSweden seizes evidence at Baltic Sea pipeline leak site
Sweden's domestic security agency said Thursday that its preliminary investigation of leaks from two Russian gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea “has strengthened the suspicions of serious sabotage” as the cause and a prosecutor said evidence at the site has been seized. The Swedish Security Service said the probe confirmed that “detonations" caused extensive damage to the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines last week. Authorities had said when the leaks off Sweden and Denmark first surfaced that explosions were recorded in the area.
PoliticsINSIDERTrump resented having to sign letters for US troops killed in Afghanistan during his presidency because he didn't want to 'attach his name to a war he disliked,' a book says
The reporter Maggie Haberman describes in her new book Trump's views of the 20-year Afghanistan War. Years before Donald Trump captured the presidency in 2016, he had voiced his strong opposition to the US presence in Afghanistan, railing against the war that began after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and toppled the Taliban-led government, which would emerge victorious in 2021. In August 2012, Trump tweeted that Afghanistan was "a complete waste," adding that it was time for American troops to "come home."
U.S.The Daily BeastHerschel Walker Says Paying for Abortion Is ‘Nothing to Be Ashamed Of’
As the story about Herschel Walker paying for a former girlfriend's abortion gets harder and harder to deny, the Georgia Senate candidate's denials are getting more and more absurd. After The Daily Beast reported Wednesday night that the anonymous woman who says Walker paid for her abortion in 2009 is also the mother of one of his children, Walker appeared on The Hugh Hewitt Show, where the conservative radio host tried to help him clean up some of the lingering details about the bombshell that has rocked his campaign. It didn't go well for Walker.
- U.S.WTTG
DC Deputy Mayor charged with assault and battery after Arlington gym parking lot altercation
Chris Geldart, a DC Deputy Mayor for Public Safety and Justice has been charged with assault and battery after a parking lot altercation at a Gold's Gym in Arlington.Dustin Woodward, a trainer at Gold's Gym in says DC's Deputy Mayor Chris Geldart grabbed him by the neck in the gym's parking lot.
U.S.Kansas City StarPolice: Fired Olathe teacher had sex with 17-year-old student multiple times at school
A fired Olathe Northwest High School teacher and coach facing three felony charges is accused of having sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old student both at his home and at the school multiple times, according to court records. Last month, Steven Mesa, 47, was arrested and charged in Johnson County District Court with three counts of unlawful sexual relations with a student. Mesa, a physical education teacher and wrestling coach, was fired effective Sept. 1, after working for the Olathe school district since August 2001.
U.S.MoneyWise'Remarkable reversal': President Biden just (quietly) scaled back student loan forgiveness — and the change could impact up to 1.5M borrowers. Are you one of them?
The Department of Education reversed course last week by quietly scaling back on eligibility for President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan. Borrowers with certain loans issued and managed by private lenders but guaranteed by the government now will not be able to receive relief under the new guidelines, which were updated on the department's website at the end of September. Biden's student loan forgiveness plan made waves when it was first announced in August, with the promise that billions of dollars were about to be wiped from student loan records.
U.S.Associated PressTexas executes inmate who fought prayer, touch rules
A Texas death row inmate whose case redefined the role of spiritual advisers in death chambers nationwide was executed Wednesday, despite the efforts of a district attorney to stop his lethal injection. John Henry Ramirez, 38, was executed at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with Ramirez, saying states must accommodate the wishes of death row inmates who want to have their faith leaders pray and touch them during their executions.
U.S.Miami HeraldTheir father, 87, evacuated for Hurricane Ian. Rattled by storm surge, he died in his car
The day Hurricane Ian hit Florida, Tom Cummiskey, 87, had evacuated his Fort Myers trailer and was driving about 35 miles east from the coast, fielding calls on his flip phone from friends and family urging him to get off the road. “I told him just to stay there,” said son Jerry Cummiskey, recalling the call he had when his father pulled into the inland town of LaBelle around lunchtime on Wednesday, Sept. 28. It was the last time the two spoke, ending a 24-hour stretch where Jerry Cummiskey and his wife, Teresa, thought they had helped steer Tom to safety from afar as they kept in touch with him from their home in New Jersey.
WorldThe Daily BeastRussian Infighting Peaks With Calls for Suicide and Execution
Just over two weeks since Vladimir Putin's latest hail mary in his war against Ukraine, things are going so well for the Russian leader that draftees are rioting, his top allies are at each other's throats over a series of losses, and his defense minister has now been urged by his own team to blow his brains out. Kirill Stremousov now joins a rapidly growing list of Putin loyalists openly venting about recent Russian failures on the battlefield—and blaming “worthless” Russian military brass for the humiliating debacle. After weeks of complaints by pro-Kremlin military bloggers, anger at the military has now officially carried over into a more formal setting: even some Russian lawmakers are now lashing out at defense officials, with retired army officer Andrei Kartapolov on Wednesday demanding the army “stop lying” about war losses.
WorldReutersRussian bodies, shattered vehicles mark Moscow's loss of Ukrainian town
LYMAN, Ukraine (Reuters) - The bodies of two Russian soldiers lay bloating in trees on opposite sides of the road, close to the blasted hulks of the cars and the van in which Ukrainian army officers said the dead men's unit was retreating into the eastern town of Lyman. Unaware that their forces already had withdrawn from the key rail junction, the Russians last weekend drove into an ambush by Ukrainian special forces, their flight and lives ended by a storm of gunfire, the officers said. The bodies, the ruined vehicles and carpets of bullets, torn uniforms and metal shards testified on Wednesday to Moscow's loss of Lyman to a Ukrainian counteroffensive that has reclaimed parts of Donestk province overrun by Russian forces earlier this year.
U.S.The HillHarris, Secret Service director concerned over Monday motorcade accident
Vice President Harris and the director of the Secret Service have reportedly expressed concerns over an accident on Monday involving the vehicle Harris was traveling in after the agency initially did not disclose details about the minor collision, according to The Washington Post. The motorcade was delayed in transporting Harris to the White House after a Secret Service agent-driven vehicle hit a tunnel curb in Washington, D.C., but the incident, which occurred in Foggy Bottom, was reportedly logged in an electronic alert to agency supervisors as “a mechanical failure.” Harris was examined by medical staff and determined to be unharmed, but damage to the vehicle's tire was significant enough that the vice president had to be transferred to another vehicle in order to complete her transit to the White House, according to the report.
PoliticsNational ReviewInvestigators Believe They Have Enough Evidence to Charge Hunter Biden with Tax, Gun Crimes: Report
Federal investigators believe they have gathered enough evidence to charge President Joe Biden's son Hunter “with tax crimes and a false statement related to a gun purchase,” according to a bombshell new report from the Washington Post. Federal investigators associated with the FBI and IRS determined months ago that they had sufficient evidence to indict the younger Biden but it is now up to the U.S. attorney in Delaware, who was appointed by former president Trump, to determine whether to charge him, per the Post. Chris Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, responded to an inquiry from the Post with a written statement accusing investigators of misconduct.
U.S.ReutersProud Boys member pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy for U.S. Capitol attack
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A member of the far-right Proud Boys, Jeremy Bertino, pleaded guilty on Thursday to a charge of seditious conspiracy over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, making him the first member of the group to do so. Six other members, including former Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio, are due to stand trial beginning in December on charges including seditious conspiracy, which carries a potential prison sentence of up to 20 years. Bertino also pleaded guilty to a gun charge.
WorldTheStreet.comElon Musk Spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin
Elon Musk is trying to weather the storm. The CEO of Tesla has gone from hero to pariah in the war between Russia and Ukraine in a few days. When Moscow invaded Kyiv on February 24, the billionaire provided Starlink, the satellite internet access service offered by his aerospace company SpaceX.
PoliticsHuffPostPete Buttigieg Has Perfect Response To Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's Unhinged Complaint
Greene, who recently made headlines for saying Pride Month “needs to end,” has previously targeted the transportation secretary with bizarre and nonsensical homophobia. In March, she told Trump rally attendees in Georgia that “Pete Buttigieg can take his electric vehicles and his bicycles, and he and his husband can stay out of our girls' bathrooms. The following month, she said that “mom and dad have been replaced by Chasten and Pete Buttigieg and their designer babies.
WorldReutersKremlin denounces Zelenskiy's comments about preventive strikes -RIA
The Kremlin on Thursday denounced comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which he suggested NATO should launch preventive strikes to rule out any Russian use of nuclear weapons, RIA news agency said. "Such statements are nothing other than an appeal to start yet another world war with unpredictable, monstrous consequences," RIA cited Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. In a discussion with the Lowy Institute, an Australian think tank, Zelenskiy said he believed strikes were necessary to preclude any use of nuclear weapons.
WorldUkrayinska PravdaAzov Regiment about captivity: Ukraines leaders allowed us to choose, 300 out of 600 wounded had festering wounds
THURSDAY, 6 OCTOBER 2022, 15:57 Major Bohdan "Tavr" Krotevych, Chief of Staff of the Azov Regiment, said that the command at the Azovstal steel plant [in Mariupol, under siege in the spring of 2022 - ed.] made a decision to surrender because of the medical condition of the wounded, as the wounds of 300 of the 600 wounded began to fester. Source: briefing by the commanders of the Azov Regiment Quote: "Commander Denys Prokopenko of the Azov Regiment was in contact with the President of Ukraine, with Commander-in-Chief General Zaluzhnyi, and with the Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, General Budanov.
U.S.The RootPolice Charged a Woman for Recording Them Holding a Black Man at Gunpoint. Now, They Owe Her
A woman charged with a misdemeanor for recording Minnesota police officers holding two Black men at gunpoint settled her federal lawsuit against the city for $70,000, according to the Star Tribune. In addition to monetary compensation, the city also agreed to policy reform within the police department. Arizona recently attempted to make recording police encounters illegal but they surely weren't the first to try.
WorldReutersRussia wants secret U.N. vote on move to condemn 'annexation' of Ukraine regions
Russia is lobbying for a secret ballot instead of a public vote when the 193-member U.N. General Assembly next week considers whether to condemn Moscow's move to annex four partially occupied regions in Ukraine after staging what it called referendums. Ukraine and allies have denounced the votes in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as illegal and coercive. A Western-drafted U.N. General Assembly resolution would condemn Russia's "illegal so-called referenda" and the "attempted illegal annexation" of the areas where voting occurred.
WorldThe Daily BeastPutin’s Dueling Foot Soldiers Are Now Apparently Killing Each Other Off
While Ukraine's military has been successfully chasing Russian troops out of one territory after another, Vladimir Putin's foot soldiers have apparently been turning their weapons on each other as the Russian leader's “special military operation” continues to come apart at the seams in spectacular fashion. The Kremlin's flailing bid to get an edge on the battlefield by deploying mercenaries from the Wagner Group—which now includes hundreds of prison inmates—has reportedly backfired as the private military force butts heads with the Russian military.
- U.S.Yahoo News Video
Biden seems to say 'No one f***s with a Biden' during tour of Hurricane Ian devastation
After touring areas of Fort Myers, Fla. devastated by Hurricane Ian, President Biden engaged in a conversation with Fort Myers Beach Mayor Ray Murphy and appeared to say, "No one f***s with a Biden." Murphy responded, "You're goddamned right," and laughed.
U.S.Associated PressMexican actor guilty in Miami road rage death
A Mexican actor was convicted in South Florida on Tuesday of fatally punching a man during a road rage confrontation. A six-person jury in Miami-Dade circuit county found Pablo Lyle, 35, guilty of manslaughter, according to court records. “Two lives were destroyed by simple roadway anger, a situation we see far too often on our streets and on streets across the country,” Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said in a statement.
U.S.The WrapCNN’s Jim Sciutto Off Air for ‘Personal Leave’ After Internal Investigation (Report)
CNN anchor and reporter Jim Sciutto has been off the air this week for a “personal leave” after an investigation by the network related to a serious fall he had earlier this year in Amsterdam, according to reports. Sciutto had been traveling back to the United States after covering the war in Ukraine and was injured during a stopover in the Dutch city, according to The Daily Beast. Sciutto had since recovered, and CNN directed Sciutto to deal with a “personal situation,” the report said.
U.S.WFTVSEE: Receding floodwaters in Orlo Vista reveal a dinosaur-like fish trapped in a fence
Channel 9 photographer Ulen Hodges captured an interesting photograph Tuesday while covering flooding in Orange County's Orlo Vista neighborhood. The community, which sits south of West Colonial Drive between North Hiawassee and North Kirkman roads, has endured ongoing flooding. Neighbors have begun to assess the damages left behind by the hurricane, and at one home, Hodges spotted a seemingly ancient fish called the Florida gar.
HealthYahoo LifePeople taking the popular weight-loss drug semaglutide say it’s ‘seamless.’ Experts weigh in
Like nearly 50% of Americans, Talia (not her real name) had gained weight over the pandemic and wanted to do something about it. After a friend lost 40 pounds using semaglutide — a prescription injectable weight-loss medication that's garnering a lot of buzz right now — her interest was piqued. The New York resident made an appointment with her friend's doctor and asked about any potential risks and whether she needed to follow a specific diet while on the medication.
“They give voters the chance to hear candidate views. In their own words. In real time.”
“There is campaigning, and there is governing. Two different things. … In the end, it is governing that really matters.”
“We are in a crisis of democracy, and we need to be able to figure out how to disagree.”
“In very close races, small mistakes can prove decisive, or at least knock a campaign in the wrong direction for a few days.”
“The debates themselves are shaping up to be major campaign issues. It’s tedious, and it does not serve the voters.”