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.BuzzFeed"Gentrification Is Real": This Woman Says Neighbors Offered Her $800K For Her Grandfather's Multi-Million-Dollar Home
This is Keisha Credit, a 32-year-old entrepreneur whose family first settled down in Seattle when her grandfather, Daniel Duncan, bought a house in the Central District (CD) in 1968. After he passed away in 2020, Keisha inherited the home. Today, the closest property in comparison is currently being sold for $1,995,000 but, as Keisha explained in a now-viral TikTok, she's received offers for hundreds of thousands of dollars under value.
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.
WorldMilitary.comOil Dispute Prompts Call to Remove US Troops from Saudi Arabia, UAE
A trio of Democratic lawmakers wants to pull all U.S. troops out of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after an alliance of oil-producing countries announced it was slashing production, a move which is expected to drive up U.S. gas prices. Democratic Reps. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey, a former State Department official in the Obama administration; Sean Casten of Illinois; and Susan Wild of Pennsylvania announced Wednesday night they were introducing a bill to remove all U.S. forces and military equipment from the two oil-rich nations.
U.S.HuffPostHerschel Walker Abortion Accuser Drops Another Bombshell
The woman who said she had an abortion that Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker had paid for in 2009 is also the mother of one of his known children, The Daily Beast reported Wednesday. In an explosive report published by The Daily Beast earlier this week, the anonymous woman said that while she was dating Walker, now an anti-abortion candidate in Georgia, he urged her to have an abortion and then reimbursed her. Walker, a former college football and NFL standout, called the accusation a “flat-out lie.”
- 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.The News-PressSee before and after photos of Hurricane Ian's impact on these Fort Myers locations
One week after Hurricane Ian battered Southwest Florida, we take a look back at how some locations around Fort Myers fared after the Category 4 storm. Compare the before and after of the location by dragging Fort Myers Amphitheater Give or get help: Where to offer time, money, food and other supplies for Hurricane Ian victims Island homes: How come Sanibel Islanders can visit their homes and Fort Myers Beach residents can't? Matlacha: Historic fishing village Matlacha before Hurricane Ian and after Shrimp market in Fort Myers Boat dock Hundred of boats were damaged or displaced after Hurricane Ian.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
BusinessAutoblogTesla to stop using ultrasonic sensors later this year
Love or hate Elon Musk, there's no denying that Tesla's vehicles are impressive from a technical standpoint. Their electric drivetrains offer more range and power than almost anything else on sale today, but there are some real and reasonable concerns around its semi-autonomous driving functions. The automaker seems unfazed by the investigations and litigation, announcing Tuesday that it would remove a group of sensors from its cars going forward, leaving them only with cameras to navigate the world around them.
PoliticsBloombergJudge to Trump Lawyer in Ex-Aide Deposition: ‘Stop Wasting Time’
Grisham -- who famously never held a press conference and resigned her subsequent post as chief of staff to the first lady after the Jan. 6 insurrection -- was deposed Thursday in Kansas by lawyers for New York columnist E. Jean Carroll. “Stop wasting time,” US Distract Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan said to Trump's lawyers during a brief hearing held over the phone during a break in the deposition, according to a transcript. The sworn testimony was briefly delayed after Trump attorney Michael Madaio tried to halt the deposition when Grisham confirmed she'd taken her prescribed painkillers, though a smaller dose than normal.
WorldThe Daily BeastTop Putin Ally Threatens ‘Cruel’ Attacks on New Country
Top officials in Belarus, a key Russian ally, are growing increasingly on edge this week about what they see as provocations—and warning that they might soon be forced into a harsh response. The head of the border committee of Belarus, Anatoly Lappo, claimed that Poland was acting “provocatively,” and that if any Polish attack takes place against Belarusian border officials, Belarus will not hold back. It's just the latest indication that Belarus could be laying the groundwork to potentially use force against neighboring countries by claiming provocations as a justification.
WorldReutersGerman police see state actor role in Nord Stream blasts as probable - Spiegel
Germany's BKA federal police assumes explosions in the Nord Stream pipelines last week were "a targeted act of sabotage" and said it is probable that state actors were involved, the Spiegel weekly reported, citing a letter to industry representatives. The BKA said in the letter that it did not yet have any findings about who was behind the sabotage but "against the background of the high complexity of the execution of the act and corresponding preparation, the action of state actors seems probable", Spiegel reported. The BKA was not immediately available for comment.
U.S.USA TODAYSlain California family, suspect had longstanding dispute, authorities say
The suspect in the kidnapping and killing of a central California family was a former employee of the family who had a longstanding dispute with them that "got pretty nasty," authorities said Thursday. Relatives of the deceased family told investigators that Jesus Salgado, 48, had sent angry text messages or emails to the family about a year ago after working with their trucking business, Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke told The Associated Press. A farm worker reported a deceased person Wednesday and local authorities found the bodies of 8-month-old Aroohi Dheri; her 27-year-old mother, Jasleen Kaur; her 36-year-old father, Jasdeep Singh; and her 39-year-old uncle, Amandeep Singh in a remo...
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.
U.S.ReutersFlorida beachfront paradise shattered by Hurricane Ian
Nearly a week after Hurricane Ian hammered southwest Florida, once tony Fort Myers Beach is a nearly deserted disaster zone where destroyed beach houses now mar the postcard views that made this stretch of the Gulf Coast famous. The town on Estero Island facing the Gulf of Mexico was one of the communities hit hardest by the Category 4 hurricane, which killed more than 100 people in the state when it struck last week. Fort Myers Beach, a barrier island that stands between the Gulf and the city of Fort Myers, has a population of 5,600, living in bungalows and posh multistory beach houses.
U.S.FTW OutdoorsMountain lion hunts coyote in eerie footage captured by trail-cam
Nighttime footage captured recently via trail-cam shows a mountain lion pursuing a coyote into total darkness on a Southern California trail – and audio hints at a successful hunt. The eerie scene appeared on a motion-sensor camera maintained by Nathalie Orozco for Orange County Outdoors. The footage begins with a lone coyote trotting rapidly down the trail, and the mountain lion, or cougar, in a cautious pursuit that turns into an apparent ambush after both animals vanish into the blackness.
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
A member of the far-right Proud Boys 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. Jeremy Bertino, 43, of Belmont, North Carolina, could potentially become a key witness against five other members of the group, including former Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio, who are due to stand trial beginning in December on charges including seditious conspiracy. A sixth Proud Boys member, Charles Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, North Carolina, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.
“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.”