WorldAssociated PressDuterte hits Putin: I kill criminals, not children, elders
Outgoing Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte sharply criticized Russian leader Vladimir Putin for the killings of innocent civilians in Ukraine, saying while the two of them have been tagged as killers, “I kill criminals, I don't kill children and the elderly.” Duterte, who openly calls Putin an idol and a friend, voiced his rebuke for the first time over Russia's invasion of Ukraine in remarks aired Tuesday where he blamed the three-month old war for the spike in global oil prices that has battered many countries, including the Philippines.
U.S.Rolling StoneFox News’ Coverage of the Uvalde Shooting Was Sickening
The decade following the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary has proved that the Republican Party's infatuation with guns is stronger than any reservations it may have about children being slaughtered. Conservative gun worship has been reaffirmed in the wake of shooting after shooting, and it shouldn't be surprising that after at least 21 people, including at least 19 children, were killed in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday by a teenager who bought two assault rifles on his 18th birthday, Republican politicians and right-wing media chose guns over the nation's children. The reaction was especially egregious on Fox News, which decided to put bloviating pundits front and center as information about what happened became public, ignore even the most basic tenets of journalism in favor of reckless speculation, and bring on a steady procession of “experts” to offer harebrained solutions for the epidemic of people with guns killing people in schools.
BusinessQuartzThis is the photographic evidence presented in a lawsuit over fast-food burger sizes
A 35-page class-action lawsuit, filed in the US district court for the Eastern District of New York, claims that Wendy's exaggerates the thickness of its beef patties and the amount of burger toppings it uses in its ads. It also alleges that McDonald's uses undercooked patties in ads to make them appear bigger than they are. The lawsuit cites one McDonald's ad in which the beef patty extends all the way to the edge of the bun, comparing it to the actual burger where it does not.
U.S.Associated PressSearch for Supreme Court leaker falls to former Army colonel
When Gail Curley began her job as Marshal of the U.S. Supreme Court less than a year ago, she would have expected to work mostly behind the scenes: overseeing the court's police force and the operations of the marble-columned building where the justices work. Earlier this month, however, Curley was handed a bombshell of an assignment, overseeing an unprecedented breach of Supreme Court secrecy, the leak of a draft opinion and apparent votes in a major abortion case. People who know Curley, 53, described the former Army colonel and military lawyer as possessing the right temperament for a highly charged leak investigation: smart, private, apolitical and unlikely to be intimidated.
U.S.Raleigh News and ObserverWild colt sat down by its mom and mysteriously died on Outer Banks. Cause is revealed
A cause has been discovered in the mysterious death of a weeks-old wild horse on North Carolina's Outer Banks. The colt, named Charlie, was the first born of the season and “showed no sign of illness, struggle, or distress” prior to being found dead April 14, the nonprofit Corolla Wild Horse Fund reports. Charlie was just three weeks old at the time.
PoliticsHuffPostMajorie Taylor Greene Wins GOP Primary, Goes Off On Texas School Shooting
Greene called Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell one of Congress' “failed leaders” and said to loud applause that she's part of a “majority who even now wants to see Hillary Clinton in jail. Sending me back to Washington will send a message to the bloodsucking establishment: It is we who will set the policy agenda for the next decade and not them,” Greene said. She added: “We're going to start speaking the truth more forcefully and more loudly than ever before.
PoliticsAssociated PressPelosi pushes back on archbishop who denies her Communion
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pushed back Tuesday on the decision by San Francisco's conservative Catholic archbishop to deny her Communion over her support of abortion rights, saying she respects that people have opposing views but not when they impose them on others. Pelosi made her comments on MSNBC's “Morning Joe.” In a letter last week to Pelosi, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone said he would refuse her Communion after she vowed to codify into law the Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
WorldBusiness InsiderThe US Army only ever fired one nuclear artillery shell from its 'Atomic Annie' cannon, and this is what it looked like
The US Army fired a nuclear weapon from its atomic cannon for the first and last time 69 years ago. The cannon, initially named "Able Annie," was later renamed "Atomic Annie." During the May 25, 1953, test, the cannon fired a nuclear shell that unleashed a 15-kiloton blast.
U.S.Fort Worth Star-Telegram‘How do you even sleep at night?’ Texas Sen. Ted Cruz faces backlash after Uvalde shooting
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is taking heat to his response to the shooting in Uvalde that left more than 20 dead, including at least 18 elementary school students. Uvalde is a town of 15,000 about 80 miles west of San Antonio. “Heidi & I are fervently lifting up in prayer the children and families in the horrific shooting in Uvalde,” Cruz said in a post on Twitter.
U.S.Associated PressMcCormick sues over counting mail ballots in Pa. Senate race
The campaign of David McCormick, who is in a neck-and-neck Republican primary contest for the U.S. Senate against celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, sued in a Pennsylvania court Monday to try to ensure counties obey a brand-new federal appeals court decision that could help him make up ground. McCormick's lawsuit, filed after hours, asks the state's Commonwealth Court to require counties to promptly count mail-in ballots that lack a required handwritten date on the return envelope. It is the first — but likely not the last — lawsuit in the contest between Oz and McCormick, a former hedge fund CEO.
U.S.QuartzBritain ended the horror of school shootings after one single massacre
His attack came before school shootings had become something schools prepared for with drills and plans—and before they were routinely carried out by other students. In that innocent time, when the Dunblane school principal heard loud bangs from another part of the school, he thought it was building work that he hadn't been told about. After a teacher burst into his office and told him what was happening, he he ran to the gym, where he witnessed “a scene of unimaginable carnage, one's worst nightmare,” he told the inquiry later.
U.S.Kansas City StarWhat killed ‘big frigging snake’ in Indiana? The answer may be stuck in its throat
Big snakes have even bigger appetites, but one large, swimming serpent in Indiana was recently found dead with a “huge” fish lodged in its throat, photos show. Amber Conley and Brad Walton were fueling up at Brookville Lake, about 76 miles southeast of downtown Indianapolis, when they spotted the snake, Conley said in a May 22 Facebook post. “While fueling up today, we came across a dead snake that had choked on a huge fish,” Conley said.
WorldReutersTanks, but no ammo – Germany's Ukraine pledges show military muddle
Four weeks ago, Germany agreed to send dozens of anti-aircraft tanks to help defend Ukraine from Russia's invasion, part of what it called a turning-point after decades of military restraint. Berlin says it can deliver the first Gepard tanks in July. That's too slow, a Ukrainian parliamentarian said on Tuesday, as Russian forces launched an assault on the country's east.
U.S.HuffPostRep. Paul Gosar Spreads Lie About Texas Shooter In Hateful Since-Deleted Tweet
Extremist Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Arizona) deleted a disturbing and offensive tweet Tuesday that falsely claimed the gunman who killed more than 20 people at a Texas school was a “transsexual leftist illegal alien.” The lawmaker wrote the message in response to a Twitter user who wondered if the shooter was a member of the far-right, “the kind of trash that” Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Gosar “travel to speak to?” before deleting their tweet. Paul Gosar deleted a tweet containing racist, transphobic and false claims about a mass shooting at an elementary school.
U.S.Miami HeraldPassenger’s punch knocks United Airlines worker through the counter, NJ video shows
A passenger's powerful punch knocked a United Airlines worker through the ticket counter and bloodied his face at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey during a dispute, video shows. The ticketed passenger, identified as Brendan Langley, 27, of Georgia, was arrested after the May 19 incident resulted in the United Airlines customer service representative getting sent to the hospital, a Port Authority media representative confirmed to McClatchy News in a statement. Port Authority oversees transportation in New Jersey and New York.
- ScienceReuters
Ancient massive 'Dragon of Death' flying reptile dug up in Argentina
Argentine scientists discovered a new species of a huge flying reptile dubbed "The Dragon of Death" that lived 86 millions of years ago alongside dinosaurs, in a find shedding fresh insight on a predator whose body was as long as a yellow school bus. The new specimen of ancient flying reptile, or pterosaur, measured around 30 feet (9 meters) long and researchers say it predated birds as among the first creatures on Earth to use wings to hunt its prey from prehistoric skies. The team of paleontologists discovered the fossils of the newly coined Thanatosdrakon amaru in the Andes mountains in Argentina's western Mendoza province.
- PoliticsInternet Video Archive
2000 Mules
Mules,” a documentary film created by Dinesh D'Souza, exposes widespread, coordinated voter fraud in the 2020 election, sufficient to change the overall outcome. Drawing on research provided by the election integrity group True the Vote, “2000 Mules” offers two types of evidence: geotracking and video.
U.S.The Daily Beast‘I Was Just 16’: Pastor’s ‘Adultery’ Confession in Church Goes Off the Rails
A church pastor in Indiana publicly confessed to his congregation this week that he'd committed “adultery” two decades ago—but he was quickly called out by a woman who took the stage to say she had only been 16 when he preyed on her. The public confrontation that played out Sunday at the New Life Christian Church and World Outreach in Warsaw has now sparked an investigation by local prosecutors in Kosciusko County, according to local reports. The footage shows the pastor, John Lowe II, announce his resignation from the stage after he revealed that he had “committed adultery.”
WorldAssociated PressChina wants 10 Pacific nations to endorse sweeping agreement
China wants 10 small Pacific nations to endorse a sweeping agreement covering everything from security to fisheries in what one leader warns is a “game-changing” bid by Beijing to wrest control of the region. A draft of the agreement obtained by The Associated Press shows that China wants to train Pacific police officers, team up on “traditional and non-traditional security" and expand law enforcement cooperation. China also wants to jointly develop a marine plan for fisheries — which would include the Pacific's lucrative tuna catch — increase cooperation on running the region's internet networks, and set up cultural Confucius Institutes and classrooms.
U.S.Business InsiderOne place you won't find guns in the wake of the Texas school massacre? The NRA's upcoming leadership conference in Houston this week.
One place you won't be able to find firearms in Texas is at the NRA's Houston conference this week. Attendees aren't allowed to bring their firearms into the event, per Secret Service guidelines. One place you won't be able to find firearms in Texas after the Robb Elementary School massacre is, surprisingly, the National Rifle Association's upcoming forum in Houston on May 27.
PoliticsLexington Herald-Leader‘Nobody saw it coming.’ How 3 influential Northern Ky. Republicans lost on primary day.
Hopefully, this is a wake up call for the people in Frankfort – who are just voting with the agenda of the lobbyists – that that's not going to get it done anymore,” Massie said. But some in the Republican party say the results are a little more muted than 'a wakeup call. Tres Watson, a former spokesman for the Republican Party of Kentucky who launched his own moderate conservative Super PAC this election cycle, was quick to point out that House GOP incumbents' losses came mostly at the hands of Boone County voters, though Koenig's district is split between Boone and Kenton counties.
WorldReutersUkrainian court orders ex-president's arrest in absentia on treason charge
A Ukrainian court on Monday ordered the arrest in absentia of former President Viktor Yanukovych, accusing him of treason over an agreement he signed in 2010 extending Russia's lease on naval facilities in Crimea. The agreement, widely known in Ukraine as the Kharkiv Pact, allowed Russia to keep its Black Sea Fleet in the Crimean port of Sevastopol. Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in 2014 after mass protests, has already received a 13-year jail sentence in absentia for treason.
U.S.HuffPostTucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham Ridiculously Rip Biden's Reaction To Texas School Shooting
A president demanding solutions to prevent mass shootings was apparently too much for Fox News hosts Tucker Carlson and Laura Ingraham on Tuesday. The right-wing TV personalities ripped President Joe Biden for urging lawmakers to pass “commonsense gun laws” after a gunman killed at least 19 grade-school students and two adults in Uvalde, Texas. “Why are we willing to live with this carnage?” Biden told viewers in a White House speech that also offered condolences, prayers and personal reflections.
BusinessMarketWatchDon’t get sucker-punched by capital gains taxes when you sell your home
Financial adviser James Guarino says some clients don't realize that home sale profits are potentially taxable until their returns are prepared — and by that time, they may have spent the windfall or invested the money in another house. “They're not happy campers when they find out that Uncle Sam not only is going to tax this as a capital gain, but they're also going to have some exposure at the state level,” says Guarino, a certified public accountant and certified financial planner in Woburn, Massachusetts. Longtime homeowners who took advantage of previous tax rules, which allowed people to roll the gains from one home into the next, could be in for a particularly nasty surprise.
WorldAssociated PressTurkey's Erdogan says he will no longer talk to Greek PM
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday he would cease talking to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and cancel a key meeting between their two governments, accusing the Greek leader of antagonizing Turkey. In a televised address following a Cabinet meeting, Erdogan accused neighboring Greece of harboring followers of U.S.-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, who Turkey says was behind a 2016 failed coup attempt, and of establishing military bases against Turkey. Gulen has long denied the Turkish allegation.
“It could give millions a chance to finally buy a house or start their business or help their kids get an education, too.”
“You signed a contract…If you don’t want to deal with the financial pressure of debt, don’t take out the loan.”
“Without action from Biden, Black student debt will hinder his agenda with respect to eliminating racial inequities.”
“Blanket relief could end up routing too much relief to those who do not need it and too little to those who do.”
“Unlike a number of other policy issues, student debt relief doesn’t need to be pushed through a narrowly controlled Congress.”