PoliticsSalonDemocrats have dreamed of Texas going blue. An election forecaster just called the race a "toss up"
Donald Trump and Joe Biden | Texas Photo illustration by Salon/Getty Images With less than one week until Election Day and an unprecedented number of early votes already cast, President Donald Trump's campaign appears to be faltering in more states. And the most consequential slip seems to be underway in the historically unassailable conservative stronghold of Texas — an electoral prize Democrats have eyed for years. On Wednesday, the influential Cook Political Report shifted the deep red state towards Democratic nominee Joe Biden, from "lean Republican" to "toss-up."
CelebrityThe IndependentAOC hits back at Laura Ingraham's criticism of her Vanity Fair cover in scathing tweet
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at criticism from Fox Newsâ Laura Ingraham over her appearance on the cover of Vanity Fair wearing â outfits worth $14,000â . On Thursday Ocasio-Cortez tweeted a scathing response to Ingrahamâ s retweet of the broadcasters article titled: â AOC appears in Vanity Fair in outfits worth $14,000 to curse out Trumpâ "100 per cent worth it, would do it again," the progressive Democratic representative said. The congresswoman, who is bidding for re-election in New York's 14th congressional district, then went one step further to undermine the broadcaster's criticism of her with sarcastic follow-up.
- U.S.Reuters
Two arrested with explosives in van during Philadelphia protests: police
The driver and passenger of a van were arrested on Wednesday with dynamite, a propane tank torch, a Taser and tools including electric drills, bolt cutters and machetes, Shapiro said in a statement late on Thursday. The two suspects appeared to be part of a larger ring of 10-15 vehicles that had set off from a parking lot in a convoy, it said, citing Philadelphia police who were responding to a commercial burglary alarm. "These individuals who have been charged today tried to use a message of justice to provide cover for their own gain," Shapiro said, referring to the street unrest over the police shooting of Walter Wallace.
U.S.Business InsiderGov. Ron DeSantis had trouble voting because someone had falsely submitted a change of address under his name
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis learned his primary address had been changed without his consent when he went to vote on Monday. Investigators found his address had been changed through a web browser at a home in Naples, Florida. Anthony Guevara, 20, was arrested by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and charged with altering a voter registration without consent and unauthorized access of a computer.
U.S.NBC NewsJerry Falwell Jr. is suing Liberty University after his forced resignation over sex scandal
Former Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. filed a state lawsuit Wednesday against the evangelical school founded by his father, claiming he was wrongly ousted from his leadership post. Falwell had led the school for 13 years before he resigned under pressure in August amid a series of embarrassing scandals, culminating with him posting to Instagram a photo of himself on his yacht with a woman who was not his wife and with his pants unzipped. In a complaint in state court in Lynchburg, Virginia, Falwell's lawyers alleged that Liberty defamed Falwell and breached the former president's contract.
- PoliticsCBS-Pittsburgh
Tensions Between Pittsburgh's Firefighters, Paramedics Escalate
Pittsburgh firefighters and paramedics are fighting a turf battle and the public is caught in the middle; KDKA's Andy Sheehan reports.
PoliticsNational ReviewFBI Investigating Hunter Biden for Money Laundering: Report
The FBI opened an investigation into Hunter Biden and associates in 2019 on suspicion of money laundering, a Justice Department official told Sinclair Broadcasting. The criminal investigation is ongoing, the DOJ official said. The revelation comes after Tony Bobulinski, a former business partner of Hunter Biden, came forward with a trove of documents regarding the Biden family's dealings with now-defunct Chinese energy firm CEFC.
PoliticsSalonKavanaugh corrects controversial opinion after Vermont fact-checks false claim about mail-in voting
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh Zach Gibson/Getty Images Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh corrected his controversial opinion in a Wisconsin mail-in voting case after Vermont's secretary of state sent the hight court a letter fact-checking his "erroneous claim" about the state's voting by mail rules. Kavanaugh issued a concurring opinion in the Supreme Court's 5-3 decision to ban Wisconsin from counting mail-in ballots if they are sent by Election Day but arrive after Nov. 3, citing Vermont as an example of a state which had not changed its "ordinary election rules" due to the coronavirus pandemic.
WorldThe Daily BeastWoman Beheaded in French Knife ‘Terror’ Attack at Church, 3 Dead
Three people have been killed—including one elderly woman and another person by decapitation—and several others injured in a suspected terror attack inside the Notre-Dame basilica in the French city of Nice. The knife-wielding assailant, who was wounded by police gunfire, allegedly yelled “Allahu Akbar” several times, including while he was being detained, in what has come to be known as a battle cry for Islamic extremists in Europe. The city's mayor, Christian Estrosi, wrote immediately after the killings that “everything suggests a terrorist attack,” and said the unnamed suspect had been arrested and taken to a hospital in the city.
PoliticsThe Independent‘Bad things are going to happen to him’: Trump threatens unmasked ‘Anonymous’ whistleblower at Florida rally
Donald Trump appeared to threaten a former mid-level Department of Homeland Security official who two years ago penned an op-ed under the alias âAnonymousâ slamming the president, saying âbad things are going to happenâ to Miles Taylor. The president also boasted about his coronavirus response, saying up to 2m people might have died in the United States.
PoliticsAFPGreenwald resigns from The Intercept over Biden article
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald said Thursday he had resigned from The Intercept after the US investigative media outlet refused to publish his article critical of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Greenwald, one of the first journalists to report on the Edward Snowden documents on US mass surveillance, said he was leaving the website he started in 2014 with two other journalists. "The final, precipitating cause is that The Intercept's editors, in violation of my contractual right of editorial freedom, censored an article I wrote this week, refusing to publish it unless I remove all sections critical of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden," Greenwald said in a blog post.
- WorldAssociated Press
Albania hosts online Balkan anti-Semitism forum
Albania held an online forum against anti-Semitism Wednesday, the first time such a meeting has been staged in the Balkans, with Prime Minister Edi Rama calling anti-Semitism “a threat to our own civilization.” The Balkans Forum Against Anti-Semitism was organized by Albania's Parliament in partnership with the New York-based Combat Anti-Semitism Movement (CAM) and the Jewish Agency for Israel. Last week Albania's parliament unanimously approved the definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which describes hate speech and other acts that discriminate against the Jewish people or the state, their properties or religious objects.
PoliticsThe WeekLindsey Graham, you're on your own
There have been few high-profile Republican politicians more publicly and slavishly devoted to President Trump over the last few years than Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). Apparently that near-total fealty hasn't been enough for Graham to earn a little loyalty in return. The Trumpiest corners of the conservative ecosphere have made it plain in recent weeks that they're ready to abandon Graham — who is locked in a tight re-election race with Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison — even if it means losing his Senate seat.
PoliticsThe IndependentMitch McConnell’s approval drops nationwide despite political win with Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination
Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has taken a hit among Americans with nearly half saying they feel worse about the senatorâs job performance over the last four years, according to a new poll. Only 16 per cent of respondents said they felt better about Mr McConnell, a Republican senator for Kentucky, and his job performance over the last four years. This compared to 44 per cent of respondents saying they feel worse about his performance, according to an Independent poll with JL Partners.
PoliticsUSA TODAYHillary Clinton joins Electoral College 4 years after it cost her the presidency: 'Pretty sure I'll get to vote for Joe'
Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the 2016 presidential election because of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is comprised of 538 delegates: People who cast the votes that formally elect the president. It's a system that tends to give smaller states a larger voice in the process of electing the president, and one that Clinton has publicly opposed in the past.
CelebrityINSIDERMatthew McConaughey doesn't let his kids say the words 'lying,' 'hate,' and 'I can't'
Matthew McConaughey doesn't let his three kids say the words "lying," "I can't," and "hate." The actor told Oprah Winfrey about his childrearing philosophy during an interview for Apple TV+ series, "The Oprah Conversation." McConaughey also said that he and his wife Camila Alves are trying to raise kind, respectful young men.
WorldAssociated PressQAnon's 'Save the Children' morphs into popular slogan
The “Save the Children” effort emerged earlier this year as a splinter movement from QAnon, the group of internet conspiracy theorists who believe without evidence that President Donald Trump is secretly fighting a supposed network of celebrities and government officials who are running a child trafficking ring. The movement's rise has complicated the efforts of the humanitarian organization called Save the Children and other nonprofits that work to help the world's needy children. Vermillion, who works in home health, said she is not a QAnon supporter and tries hard to filter out conspiracy theories that enter her Facebook feed.
WorldAFP'China is angry': Taiwan anxiety rises as sabre-rattling grows
The tank traps on the beaches of Kinmen Island are a stark reminder that Taiwan lives under the constant threat of a Chinese invasion -- and fears of a conflict breaking out are now at their highest in decades. Democratic Taiwan has learned to live with the warnings of Beijing's authoritarian leaders that they are ready and willing to seize a place it views as part of its territory. But that background static has reached hard-to-ignore levels recently with China's jets now crossing into Taiwan's defence zone at an unprecedented rate and the People's Liberation Army releasing propaganda simulating an invasion of the island -- and even an attack on US bases in Guam.
CelebrityTheGrioIce Cube explains why he blew off Zoom call with Kamala Harris: ‘I want to get things done’
Ice Cube has been adamant that Democrats told him to hold off until after the election before making demands for his “Contract With Black America. However, he admitted that he blew off a Zoom call with vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris. The NWA rapper and actor recently revealed to Fox Soul's Cocktails with Queens, that features Claudia Jordan, Vivica A. Fox, LisaRaye McCoy, and Syleena Johnson, that he turned down a request by the California senator to be a part of a Zoom call.
BusinessBusiness InsiderFacebook admits it 'improperly' blocked some political ads due to 'technical issues' as Joe Biden's campaign slams it for being 'wholly unprepared'
Facebook "improperly" blocked some political ads due to "technical issues" when implementing its ban on new ads in the week before Election Day, the company said in a blog post Thursday. Facebook said this was an automated process and that "no ad was paused or rejected by a person, or because of any partisan consideration." Biden's campaign had earlier on Thursday slammed Facebook after thousands of its ads were blocked, saying it had "no sense of the scale of the problem, who it is affecting, and their plan to resolve it."
PoliticsThe IndependentTrump says US allies are 'in many ways worse than the enemy' and claims Germany preferred Obama
President Donald Trump said that US allies in many ways treat â us worse than the enemy,â as he claimed that Germans prefer former president Barack Obama. Speaking during a rally in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday, Mr Trump said that Democratic challenger Joe Bidenâ s policies would put the US in a â depression,â and weaken its strength on the international stage. â He wants you to surrender our country to China, to all of these over countries that have taken total advantage of us,â President Trump said, as the crowd started to boo.
WorldAssociated PressFormer Turkish PM and veteran politician Mesut Yilmaz dies
Mesut Yilmaz, a former Turkish prime minister and veteran politician who served as premier three times during a tumultuous political era in his country, died Friday at age 72, the official Anadolu news agency reported. Yilmaz led the now-defunct center-right Motherland Party or ANAP from 1991 to 2002 and served as prime minister three times in the 1990s. Two of those premierships lasted only months because of the fall of his coalition governments.
HealthBusiness Insider1 infected camper likely led to 115 coronavirus cases at an overnight camp where people didn't have to wear masks or social distance
76% of campers and staffers at a faith-based retreat for high school boys in Wisconsin came down with COVID-19 after a single camper developed symptoms. The camp implemented some mitigation strategies, like requiring the 152 attendees to quarantine at home for a week before travel, but didn't require mask wearing or social distancing. Attendees who didn't contract COVID-19 had tested positive for antibodies prior to arrival, providing evidence of their potential protective power.
PoliticsReutersTrump and Biden's final economic pitch: GDP growth vs 'deep hole'
Behind that shortfall is a large number of jobless Americans whose struggles may factor into their decision whether to support incumbent Trump or former Vice President Biden in the presidential election. GRAPHIC: Record economic growth, but deep scars remain Record economic growth, but deep scars remain - https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-ELECTION/ECONOMY/xklvymoqbvg/chart.png Biden issued a statement Thursday reminding voters that the economy is still in a "deep hole" and that the recovery, which benefited mostly "those at the top", is slowing. "Yes, GDP rose last quarter, but visits to food banks haven't slowed, and poverty has grown.
WorldAssociated PressAnalysis: Iran frets over US vote it insists doesn't matter
Top officials in Iran say the upcoming U.S. election doesn't matter, but nearly everyone else there seems to be holding their breath. The race for the White House could mean another four years of President Donald Trump's “maximum pressure” campaign. Or it could bring Joe Biden, who has raised the possibility of the U.S. returning to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.
“Many are longtime Republicans wrestling with what they see as a choice between two lousy candidates.”
“Some undecideds turn out to be people who’ve long felt alienated from the two big political parties.”
“They’re not following the 24-hour news cycle. The election and politics are just not a high priority.”
“One common trait: at this stage of the game, the undecided voter doesn’t fit into an easy political profile.”
“More realistically...these voters may not be motivated to vote at all in the 2020 election.”