Two Canadians die in shooting at Mexican Caribbean resort

Two Canadians died of gunshot wounds after an argument turned violent at a resort near Cancun on Mexico's Caribbean coast, authorities said on Friday. Both guests at the upscale resort on the Riviera Maya of Quintana Roo state had criminal records, said Mexican officials, citing information from the Canadian police. Mexican police are searching for another person thought to have fired the shots who had a "long" criminal record in Canada, said the attorney general's office in Quintana Roo, home to a stretch of white-sand beach resorts and lush jungles.

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  Two Canadians shot dead at upscale Mexican resort

  BBC
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  Mexico Hotel Shooting Leaves One Canadian Dead, Two Wounded

  Storyful

Column: Here's what happened after $1,200 was drained from an 11-year-old's bank account

In response to Chase's refusal to restore even a portion of his daughter's money, Golden said he closed his five Chase accounts and moved about $160,000 in assets to another bank. "I was amazed," he told me. "They showed no remorse whatsoever.

Mother: teachers manipulated child to change gender identity

A mother who claims teachers secretly manipulated her 11-year-old daughter into changing her gender identity and name has filed a legal case against a tiny California school district. Spreckels Union School District was responsible for “extreme and outrageous conduct” that led the student on a path toward transitioning as a boy and drove a wedge between mother and child, according to the claim filed Wednesday by a conservative legal group. Jessica Konen said two middle school teachers who ran the school's Equality Club — later known as UBU (You Be You) — planted the seed that her daughter was bisexual in 6th grade and then introduced the idea she was transgender.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision Blizzard stock on the day Microsoft announced plans to buy the video game company

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene filed a stock disclosure that she sold up to $15,000 worth of Activision stock on January 18. Microsoft's announced plans to acquire video-game giant Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion on the same day. Activision's stock soared that day, and Greene reported more than $200 in capital gains from the sale.

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  Microsoft 'pulled up a megayacht' for Activision Blizzard employees

  Yahoo Finance
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  What the Microsoft-Activision mega deal means for Big Tech regulation

  Yahoo Finance Video

U.S. suspends 44 U.S flights by Chinese carriers after China action

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government said on Friday it would suspend 44 China-bound flights from the United States by four Chinese carriers in response to the Chinese government's decision to suspend some U.S. carrier flights over COVID-19 concerns. The suspensions will begin on Jan. 30 with Xiamen Airlines' scheduled Los Angeles-to-Xiamen flight and run through March 29, the Transportation Department said. The decision will cut some flights by Xiamen, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines.

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  US blocks flights by Chinese airlines in escalating dispute

  Associated Press
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  China Southern Airlines completes Boeing 737 MAX test flight

  Reuters

US man found dead surrounded by deadly pythons and cobras

A US man has been found dead at his home surrounded by dozens of snakes - many of them venomous. Neighbours alerted police after going to the house in the US state of Maryland and discovering him lying on the floor, apparently unconscious. When officers arrived, they found 124 venomous and non-venomous snakes including pythons, cobras and rattlesnakes.

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  Dead man — and 100-plus snakes — found in rural Maryland home. Some were venomous

  State College Centre Daily Times
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  124 snakes found with body of dead man in Maryland home

  The Independent

FBI Reveals What Was in Brian Laundrie’s Notebook

Brian Laundrie scrawled messages in a notebook admitting that he killed his girlfriend Gabby Petito, the FBI said in a statement Friday as they announced that their investigation into the couple's deaths was now closed. The notebook was found alongside Laundrie's remains in a wooded area in Florida in October, weeks after police say he killed Petito while they were traveling the country in a van. “The FBI's primary focus throughout the investigation was to bring justice to Gabby and her family,” said FBI Denver Special Agent Michael Schneider.

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  FBI: Laundrie admitted killing Gabby Petito in notebook

  Associated Press
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  FBI says Brian Laundrie admitted to killing Gabby Petito in notebook recovered with his remains

  Herald-Tribune

Texas attorney general refuses to hand over Jan. 6 records

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has rejected a prosecutor's demand for records of his appearance at a pro-Donald Trump rally that preceded the assault on the U.S. Capitol. Last week, the Travis County district attorney's office had set a four-day deadline for Paxton to turn over the records involving the Jan. 6, 2021, rally or face a lawsuit accusing him of violating the state open records law. But in a letter to the district attorney's office Friday, the attorney general's office denied any violations and rejected the office's demands.

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  AG Ken Paxton denies violating open records law in newspapers' request for Jan. 6 communication

  Austin American-Statesman
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  Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton tests positive for COVID-19

  KTBC

People Are Sharing Things They Don't Do Anymore Because Of COVID, And It's A Reminder How Much Our Lives Have Genuinely Changed These Past Two Years

So when I stumbled upon a Reddit thread comparing life before COVID versus now, I was intrigued by the conversation going on in the comments. Redditor u/Outrageous-Collar-09 asked the question, "What normal thing pre-COVID feels weird now?" and the responses ranged.

Bill Maher pushes back on Fauci: 'Don't sit there in your white coat and tell me "just do what we say"'

"That's not a criticism of them like they're being corrupt, although there certainly is plenty of corruption in the medical establishment," the "Real Time" host said in an interview with Deadline published Friday, when asked if he believes Fauci, the nation's leading infectious disease doctor ,or the medical establishment "really know what they are doing." The medical community, the controversial HBO host said, has been wrong "a lot" throughout history. Despite the country seeing more than 860,000 deaths from COVID-19 since 2020, Maher said he was "never scared" of the pandemic.

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  Is ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’ New Tonight?

  The Wrap
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  Dr. Fauci Just Issued New Rules for Staying Safe

  Eat This, Not That!

Kansas teen's death has spotlight on 'stand your ground' law

Kansas lawmakers were thinking of homeowners facing down burglars and people attacked on the street when they wrote a “stand your ground” law more than a decade ago allowing use of deadly force in self defense. Now even some Republicans in the GOP-controlled Legislature who support the idea behind the law want to revisit it. Police took 17-year-old Cedric Lofton to the center after a foster care agency said he needed a mental health exam for increasingly erratic behavior.

My Gentle, Intelligent Brother Is Now A Conspiracy Theorist And His Beliefs Are Shocking

In Australia, there's [a tunnel] all the way around the continent and it's being used for human trafficking and organ harvesting and basically using human beings like cattle. JFK found out about it 50 years ago, and it's taken 50 years to drive them out. And it's now over.

The January 6 committee obtained a draft of post-insurrection White House remarks that said 'the election fight is over.' Trump gave a speech but left out that sentence.

The January 6 committee reportedly has a Trump White House document titled "Remarks on National Healing." The document was drafted for delivery a day after the riot, and Trump gave nearly identical remarks. A line in the document that Trump didn't say in his Twitter video is: "The election fight is over."

'No SALT no deal': Democrats vow to block Build Back Better bill without tax break

Several U.S. House members from President Joe Biden's Democratic Party are threatening to block a renewed push for his Build Back Better spending bill if it does not include the expansion of a federal deduction for taxes paid to states and local entities. Expanding the deduction, known as SALT for State and Local Taxes, has been a demand of lawmakers in higher-tax states such as California, New Jersey and New York, especially in suburbs where Democrats seek to retain control in Nov. 8 elections. The SALT deduction, part of the U.S. income tax code from its inception more than a century ago, was restricted to $10,000 in a 2017 Republican tax law.

Racist New York Couple From Viral Train Incident Are Arrested... and Fired

A man and woman in New York have been both fired and arrested for verbally assaulting a family on a train in an incident that police have determined to be a hate crime. The Daily Voice reported that Justin Likerman and Kristin Digesaro, of Long Island, turned themselves in on Wednesday. New York's Metropolitan Transit Authority said the charges were brought in conjunction with the Manhattan District Attorney's Office and the Hate Crimes Unit.

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  Couple arrested after launching hateful rant against family, including 10-year-old boy, on train

  NBC News
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  Pair charged with hate crimes for abusing woman on New York train after being caught in viral video

  The Independent

It Turns Out Some Tattoos Are MAJOR Red Flags To Have — Here Are 24 Of The Worst

Here are 24 tattoos — besides the obvious, like tattoos of hate symbols — that people think are major red flags for someone's personality. "Something in a language they don't speak." u/Hullaba-Loo "What you think it means: 'Wisdom and Courage.

Bulgaria says it decides on its defence with NATO allies

Bulgaria decides on its defence plans in coordination with its allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Prime Minister Kiril Petkov said on Friday after Russia said its security demands included that NATO forces leave Bulgaria and Romania. Concern is running high in the West as Russia has amassed tens of thousands of troops near Ukraine's border. Russia denies planning an attack, but says it could take unspecified military action if its security demands are not met.

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  How Putin's obsession with NATO has led to the brink of war in Ukraine

  Yahoo News
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  Spain's foreign minister says Europeans are 'united' on Ukraine crisis

  Reuters

Mitch McConnell Addresses His Comment Comparing 'African-American Voters' to 'Americans'

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is explaining a remark made Wednesday in which he briefly compared "African-American voters" to "Americans" — and drew immediate criticism from congressional Democrats who argued he was separating out Black people from the rest of the country. "This is 2022 and being American is not synonymous with looking or thinking like you," Virginia Rep. Donald McEachin said in a statement to McConnell on Thursday, part of a larger wave of backlash from Democratic lawmakers and social media users. "Please take 19 seconds to watch this video to understand why we have to fight for voting rights for ALL Americans," California Rep. Judy Chu wrote on Twitter, sharing a viral clip of McConnell's comment.

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  McConnell: Black people vote at similar rates to 'Americans'

  Associated Press
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  McConnell corrects his correction on Black voters

  Associated Press Videos

Jury selection proceeds for Avenatti-Stormy Daniels trial

Michael Avenatti, the once high-profile California attorney who regularly taunted then-President Donald Trump during frequent television appearances, was introduced Thursday to prospective jurors who will decide whether he cheated porn star Stormy Daniels out of book-deal proceeds. Jury selection hit full stride a week after written questionnaires were filled out as U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman introduced over 60 prospective jurors to Avenatti and the lawyers on both sides who will present evidence during a trial projected to last up to a month.

Hipster Megachurch in Shambles Over Pastor’s Alleged Affair

When volunteers at Venue Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, arrived at their pastor's house last November, they were hoping to raise his spirits with a surprise visit. Instead they got a shock: Pastor Tavner Smith was alone with a female church employee—she in a towel, he in his boxers. The charismatic 41-year-old hurriedly explained that the two of them had been making chili and hot dogs and gotten food on their clothes, according to one volunteer who was present.

Jordan Klepper's Talk With Recovering 'Stop The Steal' Supporter Takes Brutal Turn

In a web exclusive shared by “The Daily Show” on Wednesday, the guy said he was “completely consumed” by the rallies, sleeping in his car for three months to attend them. It took me a long time to find myself again,” he told Klepper, “The Daily Show” correspondent who's been embedding himself among anti-vaxxers and Capitol-riot supporters. I feel like I just got out of a cult.