| Veteran GOP strategist predicts Trump's debate performance will suffer thanks to tax bombshell Posted: 29 Sep 2020 02:23 PM PDT  GOP political consultant Mike Murphy predicts President Trump will be distracted at tonight's debate as a result of reports on his taxes.
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| CDC study on COVID-19 in kids bolsters case for elementary school reopening Posted: 28 Sep 2020 11:26 AM PDT  The study adds nuance to prior findings that the risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, increases with age.
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| Portland police seize shields, arrest 24 before march; one officer hospitalized Posted: 29 Sep 2020 09:29 AM PDT  At least 24 people were arrested when police broke up a planned march, then declared an unlawful assembly when protesters reorganized.
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| Oregon hostage situation leaves ‘multiple people' dead Posted: 29 Sep 2020 12:16 AM PDT  Officers responded to an address in Salem at around 12:30 pm on Monday
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| ‘Defund the police’ message on Starbucks cups gets barista fired in Texas Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Starbucks called the incident "unacceptable."
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| A hacker published thousands of students' grades and private information after a Nevada school district refused to pay ransom Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:09 AM PDT  The school district suffered a ransomware attack during its first week of online classes and said law enforcement was investigating.
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| Singapore Airlines drops 'flights to nowhere' after outcry Posted: 29 Sep 2020 02:36 AM PDT  Singapore Airlines said Tuesday it had scrapped plans for "flights to nowhere" aimed at boosting its coronavirus-hit finances after an outcry over the environmental impact.
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| Nigeria's Boko Haram crisis: 'Bomb on donkey' used to ambush Borno governor Posted: 28 Sep 2020 09:11 AM PDT  Militants from an Islamic State-linked group strapped the animal with explosives in Borno state.
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| California's Glass Fire tore through Napa Valley, torching a winery and forcing 53,000 people to evacuate Posted: 28 Sep 2020 04:01 PM PDT  The fire grew to 11,000 acres on Monday, destroying the Chateau Boswell Winery in St. Helena and the nearby Black Rock Inn.
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| Defense attorney tells U.S. court she asked Trump not to pardon Michael Flynn Posted: 29 Sep 2020 03:21 AM PDT  The lead attorney for U.S. President Donald Trump's former national security adviser on Tuesday told a federal judge that she has discussed the ongoing criminal case with the president and asked him not to pardon Michael Flynn, an extraordinary admission that raises questions about political interference. At the same hearing, U.S. Justice Department lawyers denied any corruption or political motives in efforts to get the federal criminal case against Flynn dropped. In May, Attorney General William Barr stunned many in the legal community by ordering prosecutors to have the case dropped, a decision that came after Trump repeatedly complained that Flynn was being treated unfairly.
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| Fox News host floats bonkers conspiracy theory that Joe Biden will use listening devices at debate Posted: 29 Sep 2020 08:41 AM PDT  "The Trump team asked to inspect the ears of each debater for electronic devices or transmitters," Bill Hemmer says
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| Brake failure, 'egregious disregard for safety' caused NY limo crash that killed 20 people, NTSB says Posted: 29 Sep 2020 02:12 PM PDT  Two years after the country's worst road transportation disaster since 2005, the NTSB finalized its report on the cause of the Schoharie, New York, crash.
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| Man dies after falling 100 feet from Oregon cliff while posing for photo in tree Posted: 29 Sep 2020 12:07 PM PDT  Branch brake caused 43-year-old to plummet into ocean
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| Texas sheriff indicted and booked in own jail after probe into Black man's death Posted: 28 Sep 2020 04:52 PM PDT  A Texas sheriff has been indicted on charges of destroying or concealing video in an investigation into the death in custody of a Black man, Javier Ambler, that was filmed by the police reality TV series "Live PD," prosecutors said Monday.
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| Engineers found the location of an elusive leak on the space station: It's in a Russian module that provides crucial life support Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:24 AM PDT  The source of the small leak on the International Space Station is on a module on the station's Russian side, according to NASA.
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| Poll: Slim majority opposes Trump filling Supreme Court vacancy before election Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Still, a majority of those polled agree that the Senate should hold confirmation hearings for Trump's nominee.
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| Alicia Silverstone defends her 9-year-old son’s long hair Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:21 PM PDT  "We would never impose any social ideas about what hair on a boy or girl should look like," the actor wrote.
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| Amnesty International to halt India operations Posted: 29 Sep 2020 07:48 AM PDT  The human rights watchdog tells the BBC that the move comes due to reprisal from the government.
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| Joe and Jill Biden reported earning $16.5 million from book deals and speaking engagements since leaving the White House Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:46 AM PDT  The Bidens released their 2019 tax returns ahead of Biden's first presidential debate against Trump on Tuesday, September 29.
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| South Carolina city apologizes to Black residents for racial injustice resulting from its policies Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:49 AM PDT  The Spartanburg city council unanimously approved a resolution that acknowledges systematic racism.
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| Germany walks away from Lockheed, Boeing cargo helicopter offers Posted: 29 Sep 2020 09:09 AM PDT  The surprise decision halts an acquisition race that was scheduled to a see a contract awarded in 2021.
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| Breonna Taylor case: Attorney general Daniel Cameron accused of deception by juror over charging decision Posted: 29 Sep 2020 05:53 AM PDT  Hospital worker was shot dead during a police raid on her home in March
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| Mom’s sudden death left children fending for themselves for five days, Texas cops say Posted: 29 Sep 2020 05:46 AM PDT  School officials asked for a welfare check at the home when the 5- and 7-year-old brothers didn't show up all week.
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| Barrett tied to faith group ex-members say subjugates women Posted: 28 Sep 2020 02:18 PM PDT  President Donald Trump's nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court has close ties to a charismatic Christian religious group that holds men are divinely ordained as the "head" of the family and faith. Former members of the group, called People of Praise, say it teaches that wives must submit to the will of their husbands. Federal appeals judge Amy Coney Barrett has not commented publicly about her own or her family's involvement, and a People of Praise spokesman declined to say whether she and her husband are current members.
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| Pennsylvania GOP asks Supreme Court to stay mail ballot extension Posted: 29 Sep 2020 04:39 AM PDT  The state supreme court ruled in mid-September that mail ballots should be counted if received within three days after Election Day, if they're postmarked by November 3.
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| Dr. Birx reportedly played a central role in pressuring CDC to advise for school reopening despite surges in coronavirus cases this summer Posted: 28 Sep 2020 08:18 PM PDT  The New York Times reported Birx asked the CDC to include a document in school reopening guidance that downplayed the risk of infection.
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| Massacre in Mexican bar leaves 11 people dead Posted: 28 Sep 2020 05:55 AM PDT 
A massacre in a Mexican bar left 11 people dead on Sunday (September 27). The attorney general's office in the central state of Guanajuato said the bodies of seven men and four women were found at the scene in the city of Jaral del Progreso in the early hours. Authorities added that another woman was also found with gunshot injuries. It comes as the country grapples with a record homicide rate - despite the government's promises to tackle gang violence. Guanajuato, a major car-making hub, has become a recurring scene of criminal violence in Mexico, ravaged by a turf war between the local Santa Rosa de Lima gang and the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel. In July, gunmen killed 24 people at a drug rehabilitation center in Guanajuato. It was one of the worst mass slayings since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office - pledging to reduce record levels of violence.
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| Fact check: False claim that Biden and Harris said the other 'wasn't fit to run the country' Posted: 28 Sep 2020 11:18 AM PDT  A post claims that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris questioned each other's fitness to be president during the Democratic debates. They did not.
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| Breonna Taylor case grand juror: We weren’t given the option of indicting the two cops who shot her Posted: 29 Sep 2020 08:25 AM PDT  Grand juror said AG Daniel Cameron misrepresented the deliberations. Cameron agreed to release grand jury recording
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| Lost wallet used as bait to lure alleged meth dealer into an arrest, Florida cops say Posted: 28 Sep 2020 04:05 PM PDT  The suspect showed up to the meeting spot with methamphetamine and $3,000 on his person.
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| Hezbollah leaders tell French president to change approach Posted: 29 Sep 2020 01:08 PM PDT  The leader of the militant Hezbollah group said Tuesday they still welcome the French initiative to help Lebanon out of its crisis, but said Paris has to change its approach in dealing with local factions and not blame everyone for the failure of forming a new Cabinet. French President Emmanuel Macron has been pressing Lebanese politicians to form a Cabinet made up of non-partisan specialists that can work on enacting urgent reforms to extract Lebanon from a devastating economic and financial crisis. Prime Minister-designate Mustapha Adib resigned Saturday during a political impasse that came amid Lebanon's worst economic and financial crisis in decades — made worse by a massive explosion in Beirut in early August that killed and wounded many and caused widespread damage.
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| State of emergency in 3 California counties as fire scorches wine country Posted: 29 Sep 2020 10:35 AM PDT  Large pieces of ash rained down on Napa Valley early Tuesday and a bright orange glow was visible in the hills above the city.
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| New Project Veritas Video: Voter Fraud in Ilhan Omar’s District Posted: 27 Sep 2020 07:10 PM PDT  A "ballot broker" boasts about keeping hundreds of absentee ballots in his car trunk. He brags about them being filled in by people other than the voters. Often, money changes hands. Witnesses tie the rampant fraud to the campaign chairman of a prominent member of the radical "squad" in the U.S. House. Loose election laws allow people to come from out of state, vote, and then leave again.This activity is really happening in America in 2020, and it's been captured on video by guerrilla filmmaker James O'Keefe. Some of it could be coming to swing states near you if something isn't done.A concerted effort is being made to use the coronavirus as an excuse to transform how we vote in elections by shifting to mail-in or absentee ballots. We are told that democracy will be improved if we allow ballots to be handled outside the scrutiny of election officials -- and that there is almost no voter fraud, so what's to worry about?Common sense and election observers argue against any sudden shift. "Absentee ballots remain the largest source of potential voter fraud," concluded the bipartisan Commission on Federal Election Reform, co-chaired by former President Jimmy Carter. Allowing such ballots "increases the risks of fraud and of contested elections."In 2012, a grand jury in Miami-Dade County warned about the risks of absentee voting: "Once that ballot is out of the hands of the elector, we have no idea what happens to it. The possibilities are numerous and scary."Omar Escobar, the Democratic district attorney of Starr County, Texas, says that in his area the abuse of elderly citizens for their absentee ballots is such that "the time has come to consider an alternative to mail-in voting . . . something that can't be hijacked."Guerilla filmmaker James O'Keefe is famous for having busted institutions ranging from the fraudulent voter-registration group ACORN to NPR to Google. His Project Veritas team has also piled up an impressive array of videos documenting voter fraud and how easy it is to commit it.Veritas reporters found that it was easy to vote using the name of a dead person in New Hampshire. They filmed a Greenpeace activist in Colorado boasting about how he could find ballots in trash cans that could be fraudulently mailed in. In North Carolina, political operatives encouraged Veritas representatives to vote even if they were not citizens. In 2016, Veritas cameras caught Alan Schulkin, Manhattan's Democratic election commissioner, saying, "It's absurd. There is a lot of fraud. Not just voter fraud, all kinds of fraud." He explained, "They put [people] in a bus and go from poll site to poll site." Schulkin was promptly fired for his candor by New York City mayor Bill de Blasio.Now O'Keefe has trained his cameras on "ballot harvesting," in which third parties collect mail-in ballots and deliver them to election officials. While illegal in some states, it is legal in California and other states. The individual collecting the ballots can even be a paid campaign worker for someone who is on the ballot. So-called ballot brokers will target certain communities, apartment complexes, or nursing homes to collect votes for their political party.O'Keefe has uncovered what appears to be a massive ongoing voter-fraud scheme in Minneapolis. It is linked to the political machine of Ilhan Omar, the congresswoman from Minnesota's fifth district (Minneapolis) and a close ally of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the U.S. House.Omar was first elected in 2018 and quickly became a controversial figure, rebuked for her anti-Semitic remarks and accused of shady campaign spending and having committed immigration fraud by marrying her brother. In 2020, she was challenged by Antone Melton-Meaux, a lawyer who promised to pay less attention to national progressive politics and who ran on the campaign slogan "Focused on the Fifth." He was endorsed by the Minneapolis Star Tribune editorial board and former Minneapolis NAACP president Nekima Levy-Armstrong.Melton-Meaux wound up losing in the August Democratic primary, 57 percent to 39 percent.Many people believe that Omar's complete domination of the district's politics is rooted in her machine's ability to fool, seduce, or bribe members of her Somali community into committing voter fraud.Minnesota law forbids anyone from "ballot harvesting" more than three ballots in an election. So why does Liban Mohamed, a "ballot broker," boast about having 300 ballots in his car from the August primary, many of them blank and some opened? "Money is everything," he laughs on the video. Activists describe how people receive cash when they hand their absentee ballot over so it can be filled out.A. J. Awed, a Somali who was a losing candidate for city council in Minneapolis's Ward 6, is shocked at the "corruption" he sees. He calls Omar's machine "an alliance between [her] clan and the progressive Left." A Somali political activist says the state's Democratic Party knows all about the schemes. She describes how Somalis have long moved in from out of state and temporarily established residence and then voted on Election Day, with local campaign workers "vouching" for them. They then disappear and go back to their real homes and their normal lives. Now, with the loosening of mail-in ballot laws, cheating is even easier.O'Keefe's guide and facilitator in making these undercover videos is Omar Jamal. A Somali American, Jamal works for the Ramsey County Sheriff's Office and also runs the Somali Watchdog Group, which fights corruption by some of the community's leaders.O'Keefe's sources say the practices that O'Keefe describes are organized by Ali (Isse) Gainey, Ilhan Omar's deputy district director. Isse has served critical roles in Omar's two successful congressional campaigns as the field organizer for her Minnesota House race and the outreach director for her first congressional campaign. Jamal says that Omar is "victimizing her own community and undermining election integrity."Nor is the corruption new. Phyllis Kahn, a Democratic state representative in Minneapolis for 44 years until Omar defeated her in 2016, has long complained about voter fraud tied to Omar's machine; she believes that fraud contributed to her sudden defeat.Nor is Kahn the only Democrat concerned that voter fraud exists and is seriously undermining our elections. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, the Hawaii Democrat who made a mild splash as a presidential candidate this year, has become a lead co-sponsor of a bill to withdraw federal election assistance from states that allow ballot harvesting. Her Republican counterpart on the Election Fraud Prevention Act is Illinois Republican Rodney Davis."Banning ballot harvesting is not a partisan issue . . . and it is ripe for fraud," she says in a video. "It poses a serious threat to the integrity of our elections."Omar Jamal is even more blunt. "If American people don't pay attention to what's happening, soon the country will collapse," he warns. "The rules and regulations, if you ignore that, and you let corruption and fraud become a daily business, then tough luck. The country will not exist as they know it."
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| A 2nd woman has reportedly accused Nikola Motors founder Trevor Milton of sexual assault Posted: 28 Sep 2020 11:08 PM PDT  Two women have filed police reports against Milton, both accusing him of sexually abusing them when they were 15, CNBC reported.
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| QAnon followers champion Trump as a savior for trafficked children, but federal prosecutions have dropped by a third over the past 2 years Posted: 29 Sep 2020 01:05 PM PDT  According to a report from the Human Trafficking Institute, there were 73 new federal trafficking criminal cases involving children only launched last year, compared to 124 in 2017.
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| Dr. Rebecca Grant says 'America First' Trump agenda grounded in domestic economic prosperity Posted: 28 Sep 2020 02:43 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo believes Trump administration foreign policy has made the world safer. Analysis from international relations expert Dr. Rebecca Grant.
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| Auschwitz director offers to serve time in place of 13-year-old Nigerian sentenced to 10 years for blasphemy Posted: 29 Sep 2020 11:58 AM PDT  The director of the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland has offered to serve time for a Nigerian child who was convicted of blasphemy and ordered to spend ten years in prison by a Sharia court . In an open letter, Piotr Cywinski asked Nigeria's President to intervene and pardon 13-year-old Omar Farouq for the conviction. "As the director of the Auschwitz memorial, which commemorates the victims and preserves the remains of the German Nazi concentration and extermination camps, where children were imprisoned and murdered, I cannot remain indifferent to this disgraceful sentence for humanity," he wrote. Omar Farouq was arrested earlier this year by religious police in Kano, Nigeria's second-largest city, after he had a 'blasphemous' conversation with an older man. His conviction by a religious court has provoked condemnation by the United Nations and global human rights groups. Mr Cywinski told The Telegraph that he felt he had to act when he heard about Omar. "When I heard about this story last week, I remembered that [Nigeria's] President Buhari visited Auschwitz in 2018. So I thought that maybe a voice coming from this difficult place would have some effect on him... I have kids that age. "There are some times we have to stop our own silence and try to do something. It's not enough to just like something on Facebook or retweet it." Mr Cywinski added that since he sent the letter last week, no one from the government had responded yet. Kola Alapinni, Omar's lawyer, told The Telegraph that the adolescent has been held in a prison for adults and not been allowed to see any legal representation. If Omar had been older, Mr Alapinni says, he would have been sentenced to death. At a federal level, Nigeria is a secular state. But 12 of the country's northern Muslim-dominated states have a Sharia system running in parallel to the secular courts. These courts can only try Muslims and regularly serve out medieval-style punishments. Mr Alapinni, a graduate of the University of Essex and a secularist campaigner, says he will keep fighting Omar's corner. "Section 10 of the constitution says Nigeria is a secular state. We are not Iran; we are no Saudi Arabia; we are not the Vatican. We are a multi-religious state with freedom of thought, expression and religion enshrined in the constitution," he says. "This should not be happening."
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| Catholic voters can't ignore abortion or Kamala Harris' religious bigotry in 2020 election Posted: 28 Sep 2020 10:28 AM PDT  As Pope Francis has said, 'The right to life is the first among human rights.' So why make American Catholics feel like they shouldn't vote for life?
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| Justice Ginsburg buried at Arlington in private ceremony Posted: 29 Sep 2020 12:56 PM PDT  Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was buried Tuesday in a private ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, laid to rest beside her husband and near some of her former colleagues on the court. Washington last week honored the 87-year-old Ginsburg, who died Sept. 18, with two days where the public could view her casket at the top of the Supreme Court's steps and pay their respects. On Friday, the women's rights trailblazer and second woman to join the high court lay in state at the U.S. Capitol, the first woman to do so.
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| Pelosi says Democrats unveil new COVID-19 aid bill Posted: 28 Sep 2020 03:40 PM PDT  U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Monday that Democratic lawmakers unveiled a new, $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief bill, which she said was a compromise measure that reduces the costs of the economic aid. In a letter to Democratic lawmakers released by Pelosi's office, she said the legislation "includes new funding needed to avert catastrophe for schools, small businesses, restaurants, performance spaces, airline workers and others." Pelosi in recent days has said she thinks a deal can be reached with the White House on a new coronavirus relief package and that talks were continuing.
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| Federal prosecutor speaks out against boss Bill Barr: Attorney General has "brought shame" to DOJ Posted: 28 Sep 2020 01:44 AM PDT  Assistant U.S. Attorney James D. Herbert is the first sitting prosecutor to publicly rebuke the head of the DOJ
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| U.S. missile destroyer ship breaks Navy record for longest stint at sea Posted: 29 Sep 2020 08:15 AM PDT  The USS Stout reached 208 days at sea Sept. 26 as the Navy has imposed restrictions on port visits to protect sailors from the coronavirus.
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| Air Force Completes 8-Year B-1 Bomber Battle Station Upgrade Posted: 28 Sep 2020 01:11 PM PDT  The service announced that it finished the Integrated Battle Station, or IBS, modification earlier this month.
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