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U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler said he was sorry Thursday after the New York Times obtained photos of him wearing blackface about two decades ago at a college Halloween costume party where he dressed as Michael Jackson. The images emerged as Lawler, a first-term Republican, is locked in a competitive reelection fight for his congressional seat in New York’s Hudson Valley. In a statement provided to The Associated Press, Lawler described himself as a lifelong Jackson superfan who was attempting to pay homage to the pop star. The Times reported that the photo was taken in 2006 when Lawler was 20. In an image posted by the newspaper, Lawler can be seen wearing a red jacket and posing with an outstretched arm in one of Jackson’s signature dance moves. He used bronzer to darken his face.
Jared Kushner just flagrantly violating the Logan Act multiple times. Will anything come of it? Doubtful.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A woman who says she worked as a hair-and-makeup stylist for Garth Brooks alleged in a lawsuit filed Thursday that he raped her in a Los Angeles hotel in 2019. The woman does not use her name and goes by Jane Roe in the lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Brooks forcefully denied the allegations in a statement and acknowledged he tried to get a court to stop Thursday’s lawsuit from being filed. The woman says in the lawsuit she had worked for Brooks’ wife, country singer Trisha Yearwood, since 1999, and had started also working for Brooks in 2017.
www.bbc.com
A French judge has reversed a ruling in the trial of a man who is accused of drugging his wife to sleep and recruiting dozens of men to abuse her for over a decade. Lawyers for Gisèle Pelicot, 72, had earlier appealed against the judge's initial decision to only show video of the crimes to lawyers and the jury. She has waived her right to anonymity in the trial, enabling the shocking details of the case to be heard in public. Her lawyers argued the video should be seen to draw attention to the use of drugs to commit sexual abuse. They hailed the latest ruling as a "victory"
The owner of the shuttered Three Mile Island nuclear plant is pursuing a $1.6 billion federal loan guarantee to help finance its plan to restart the Pennsylvania facility and sell the electricity to Microsoft to power data centers, according to details of the application shared with The Washington Post. Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend. The taxpayer-backed loan could give Microsoft and Three Mile Island owner Constellation Energy a major boost in their unprecedented bid to steer all the power from a U.S. nuclear plant to a single company. Microsoft, which declined to comment on the bid for a loan guarantee, is among the large tech companies scouring the nation for zero-emissions power as they seek to build data centers. It is among the leaders in the global competition to dominate the field of artificial intelligence, which consumes enormous amounts of electricity. ...
The Supreme Court is taking up the case of an Ohio woman who claims she suffered sex discrimination in her employment because she is straight. The justices on Friday agreed to review an appellate ruling that upheld the dismissal of the discrimination lawsuit filed by the woman, Marlean Ames, against the Ohio Department of Youth Services. Arguments probably will take place early next year. Ames, who has worked for the department for 20 years, contends she was passed over for a promotion and then demoted because she is heterosexual. Both the job she sought and the one she had held were given to LGBTQ people.
www.independent.co.uk
**_Americans have already started noticing a decline in toilet paper rolls in their local stores as customer apparently bulk buy - despite the majority of paper being produced domestically_** Toilet paper ‘panic buying’ has been reported in parts of the country, as Americans fear the impact of the ongoing port strike. Roughly 45,000 members of the International Longshoremen’s Association [walked out on Tuesday morning after their contract with the ports expired.](safari-reader://www.independent.co.uk/news/us-port-strike-supply-chain-ila-union-b2621920.html) News that the strike could impact 36 ports appears to have led some consumers to buy rolls upon rolls of toilet paper in a panic, with shoppers posting pictures of their local stores with empty shelves. Social media users in New Jersey, Colorado, Virginia and other states reported shelves cleaned out of toilet paper.
www.theguardian.com
**_Analysis of satellite data finds plant cover has increased more than tenfold over the last few decades_** Plant cover across the Antarctic peninsula has soared more than tenfold over the last few decades, as the climate crisis heats up the icy continent. Analysis of satellite data found there was less than one sq kilometre of vegetation in 1986 but there was almost 12km2 of green cover by 2021. The spread of the plants, mostly mosses, has accelerated since 2016, the researchers found. The growth of vegetation on a continent dominated by ice and bare rock **is a sign of the reach of global heating into the Antarctic, which is warming faster than the global average**. The scientists warned that this spread could provide a foothold for alien invasive species into the pristine Antarctic ecosystem. Greening has also been reported [in the Arctic](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-019-0688-1), and in 2021 [rain, not snow, fell on the summit](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/20/rain-falls-peak-greenland-ice-cap-first-time-on-record-climate-crisis) of Greenland’s huge ice cap for the first time on record.
www.aljazeera.com
> Critics say the US rushed to evacuate its citizens in Israel last year. For Lebanon, the response has been much slower.
www.huffpost.com
Brian Comer, a 64-year-old white man, was accused of illegally hunting geese at a golf course on the day Trump amplified racist lies about Haitian immigrants in the city.
www.bbc.com
The death toll from Hurricane Helene has risen to 200 as rescuers continue to search for survivors from the storm that tore across the US south-east. More than half of the deaths were in North Carolina, where entire communities were uprooted and devastated by the deadliest mainland storm since Katrina in 2005. Hundreds of people are still missing and nearly a million homes are without power nearly a week after Helene made landfall.
www.theguardian.com
Melania Trump made an extraordinary declaration in an eagerly awaited memoir to be published a month from election day: she is a passionate supporter of a woman’s right to control her own body – including the right to abortion. “It is imperative to guarantee that women have autonomy in deciding their preference of having children, based on their own convictions, free from any intervention or pressure from the government,” the Republican nominee’s wife writes, amid a campaign in which Donald Trump’s threats to women’s reproductive rights have played a central role. “Why should anyone other than the woman herself have the power to determine what she does with her own body? A woman’s fundamental right of individual liberty, to her own life, grants her the authority to terminate her pregnancy if she wishes. “Restricting a woman’s right to choose whether to terminate an unwanted pregnancy is the same as denying her control over her own body. I have carried this belief with me throughout my entire adult life.”
www.motherjones.com
Long gone are the innocent days when media outlets [claimed](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/10/business/media/elon-musk-politics-twitter.html) the independence and nuance of the politics of Elon Musk. Now, amid [myriad X posts](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/05/i-read-everything-elon-musk-posted-for-a-week-send-help/) spreading far-right propaganda on immigrants, trans people, and, well, just about any other topic, it has become obvious where one of the richest men in the world stands. This week, there was more proof that Musk has put his money where his mouth has been. According to a [report](https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/elon-musk-political-donations-stephen-miller-desantis-39464294) from the *Wall Street Journal*, Musk poured tens of millions of dollars into Republican campaigns and conservative groups even before he [publicly endorsed](https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1812256998588662068?lang=en)Donald Trump in July. Conservatives helped conceal Musk’s contributions through so-called social welfare or “dark money” groups that do not have to disclose their donors and can raise unlimited funds. (Musk did not respond to the *Journal*’s request for comment.) One piece of reporting stood out. The newspaper found that the tech billionaire donated more than $50 million in 2022 for campaign advertisements by Citizens for Sanity, a group connected to former Trump aide [Stephen Miller](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/08/stephen-miller-is-just-like-donald-trump-but-competent/) and his non-profit [America First Legal](https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/04/bradly-impact-fund-michael-flynn-stephen-miller-culture-war-project-veritas-american-first-legal-cpi/), which bills itself as “the long-awaited answer to the ACLU.”
www.oklahoman.com
Bids opened Monday for a contract to supply the state Department of Education with 55,000 Bibles. According to the bid documents, vendors must meet certain specifications: Bibles must be the King James Version; must contain the Old and New Testaments; must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights; and must be bound in leather or leather-like material. A salesperson at Mardel Christian & Education searched, and though they carry 2,900 Bibles, none fit the parameters. But one Bible fits perfectly: Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the U.S.A. Bible, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and commonly referred to as the Trump Bible. They cost $60 each online, with Trump receiving fees for his endorsement.
abcnews.go.com
A historic United States port strike has been suspended and a tentative agreement was reached "on wages," according to the International Longshoremen’s Association and the U.S. Maritime Alliance. "Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume," the ILA and USMX said in a joint statement Thursday evening. The tentative agreement would increase workers’ wages by **62% over the life of the 6-year contract**, sources familiar confirm to ABC News. This represents a significant increase from the shipping industry group’s offer of a 50% wage increase earlier this week. The union had been pushing for a 77% pay hike over six years. The tentative agreement would **bring the hourly wage for a top dockworker to $63 per hour at the end of the new contract**, up from $39 per hour under the expired contract.
The mayor of a middle-class Los Angeles County suburb said the city stands by its moratorium on homeless shelters and supportive housing even after facing state sanctions Thursday. California’s housing department revoked approval of the state-mandated housing plan for Norwalk, a city of just over 100,000 people with a homeless population of at least 200 according to county data. The move — the latest escalation of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s pressure campaign on cities to help solve the housing crisis — means Norwalk could lose eligibility for state housing and homelessness grants, and be forced to approve affordable housing projects even if they conflict with city zoning. The city council passed the temporary but sweeping ban in August, in the process quashing a county effort to resettle dozens of people living in encampments to a local hotel. After the council doubled down on the ban last month, extending it through August 2025, Newsom clapped back. “It’s beyond cruel that Norwalk would ban the building of shelters while people are living on the city’s streets,” Newsom said in a statement today.
www.motherjones.com
The Supreme Court will begin a new term on Monday, in which it is set to hear pivotal cases for transgender and LGBTQ rights, for our environment, and gun violence. But the term’s biggest blockbuster could be a case that not only hasn’t yet been filed, but is still just a concept. That’s because in the next three months, the justices may be asked to inject themselves into the late stages of the 2024 election. If presented with such an opportunity, this could be the term that the Supreme Court elects Donald Trump. The high court has already been a player in this election. Last term, the justices ensured that Trump’s attempt to steal 2020’s election could not disqualify him from the presidency, issuing a decision assuring he would appear on every ballot. The court delayed Trump’s criminal trial over his attempted coup, then granted him broad immunity from criminal prosecution, preventing damaging courtroom revelations from emerging before voting. In August, the court used its shadow docket to allow Arizona, a key swing state, to require proof of citizenship with voter registration forms at the request of the Republican National Committee. But perhaps least known—and yet, most important—was Moore v. Harper, a 2023 ruling in which the court set the stage for the next Bush v. Gore scenario by holding that the justices themselves would have the last say when it comes to questions over state-level election rules and disputes.
A federal judge in Missouri put a temporary hold on President Joe Biden’s latest student loan cancellation plan on Thursday, slamming the door on hope it would move forward after another judge allowed a pause to expire. Just as it briefly appeared the Biden administration would have a window to push its plan forward, U.S. District Judge Matthew Schelp in Missouri granted an injunction blocking any widespread cancellation. Six Republican-led states requested the injunction hours earlier, after a federal judge in Georgia decided not to extend a separate order blocking the plan. The states, led by Missouri’s attorney general, asked Schelp to act fast, saying the Education Department could “unlawfully mass cancel up to hundreds of billions of dollars in student loans as soon as Monday.” Schelp called it an easy decision.
theintercept.com
cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/21022250 > Ahmad Wuhidi > October 4 2024, 6:00 a.m. >
www.theguardian.com
**_Videos voiced by Nate Hochman tout conspiracy theories about McKinsey and have elements of fascist rhetoric_** A Marco Rubio-linked thinktank [stoking fears about Haitian migrants](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/21/nate-hochman-marco-rubio-anti-immigrant-thinktank-america-2100) in Pennsylvania has also produced a sequence of videos in recent months that **promote conspiracy theories about LGBTQ+ people, human rights organizations and even the corporate consultancy McKinsey & Company**. The editor hired to produce those videos also produces for the media organization founded by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow chief and prominent election-denier who is a close ally of the former US president [Donald Trump](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/donaldtrump). The videos and the **ongoing campaign against Haitians** – which follows a similar effort in Springfield, Ohio, that has caused chaos in the midwestern city – raise questions about the **increasingly extreme political rhetoric used in Republican circles**. Two experts told the Guardian that the ads contained elements of fascist rhetoric. --- 🗳️ **Register to vote:** https://vote.gov/
Before [Hurricane Helene’s](https://apnews.com/world-news/weather-general-news-domestic-news-1a071b5de822e51f741a193374a49c26) landfall last week, the National Weather Service began an **all-out blitz to alert emergency planners, first responders and residents** across the Southeast that the storm’s heavy rains and high winds could bring disaster hundreds of miles from the coast. Warnings blared phrases such as “URGENT,” “life threatening” and “catastrophic” describing the impending perils as far inland as the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Smartphones buzzed with repeated push alerts of flash floods and dangerous winds. States of emergency were declared from Florida to Virginia. And the weather service reached back to 1916 for a precedent, correctly predicting Helene would rank among the “most significant weather events” the Asheville, North Carolina, area had ever seen. **But the red flags and cataclysmic forecasts weren’t enough to prevent the still-rising [death toll](https://apnews.com/article/helene-asheville-north-carolina-64fe5ca1b80f22fd2fd3b7c50b291d85)**. The number has soared to at least 215 across six states. At least 72 of those were in hard-hit Asheville and surrounding Buncombe County from flash floods, mudslides, falling trees, crumbled roads and other calamities.
www.independent.co.uk
**_A former Colorado county clerk has been sentenced to nine years behind bars for leading a scheme to breach voting system data in her county_** A judge sentenced a former Colorado county clerk to nine years behind bars Thursday for leading a voting system data-breach scheme inspired by the rampant false claims that fraud altered the 2020 presidential outcome. Judge Matthew Barrett handed down the sentence after jurors found Tina Peters guilty in August for allowing a man to misuse a security card to access to the Mesa County election system and for being deceptive about that person’s identity. The man was affiliated with My Pillow chief executive Mike Lindell, a prominent promoter of false claims that voting machines were manipulated to steal the election from Trump.
www.nbcnews.com
The FBI and Microsoft have seized more than 100 web domains they say Russian intelligence used for cyber-espionage, according to court documents unsealed Thursday. The domains were alleged to be staging grounds for Russia’s FSB intelligence agency in its ongoing efforts to spy on targets of interest, ranging from the U.S. [Energy Department](https://www.cisa.gov/news-events/cybersecurity-advisories/aa23-341a) to [Russian nonprofit groups](https://www.accessnow.org/russian-phishing-campaigns/) and media outlets critical of the Kremlin. The FBI [said in an affidavit](https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25183816-fsb-fbiaff) that **the websites were used as part of a “spear phishing campaign,” a term for targeted efforts to trick people into divulging sensitive information, usually email login credentials**. That information was sought “with the goal of gaining unauthorized access to the computers and email accounts of victims, to then steal valuable information and sensitive United States government intelligence,” the FBI said in the affidavit.
www.theguardian.com
**_Democratic vice-presidential candidate calls opponent a ‘slick talker’ in first comments on Tuesday’s televised clash_** The day after the only vice-presidential debate this year, Democrat Tim Walz called his Republican challenger, JD Vance, a “slick talker” who was trying to rewrite history and gaslight people about Donald Trump’s record. During a rally in York, Pennsylvania, Walz made his first public comments on the debate, which polls show was essentially a tie between the two vice-presidential candidates. The Minnesota governor was on a tour through the swing state on Wednesday. Walz said the two men “had a civil but spirited debate” and that he didn’t underestimate Vance’s debate skills. But, he added: “**You can’t rewrite history and trying to mislead us about Donald Trump’s record. That’s gaslighting. That’s gaslighting, on the economy, reproductive freedom, housing, gun violence**.” --- 🗳️ **Register to vote:** https://vote.gov/
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