Newsom Drops Bombshell Decision on White House Bid if Harris Runs

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Gov. Gavin Newsom has revealed one factor that could tank his expected presidential bid: fellow Democrat Kamala Harris.

Newsom was asked in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper about his expected White House run, and he didn’t hold back on how the former vice president, his former colleague and rumored frenemy, could change his decision.

“I wouldn’t run if she ran,” Newsom said while fly-fishing with Tapper in Montana.

“I wouldn’t do that to her … I wouldn’t waste anyone’s time,” Newsom explained, calling it “mutually assured destruction.”

The governor, who recently returned from a much-publicized trip to South Carolina — recently named as Democrats’ first presidential primary state — said he wasn’t sure if his fellow California Dem will actually launch a bid.

However, he suggested that the two have extensive “crossover” in their friends and supporters, claiming to Tapper: “I wouldn’t do that to people.” (Read more from “Newsom Drops Bombshell Decision on White House Bid if Harris Runs” HERE)

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr

Supreme Court Rejects Mail-in Voting Restrictions Ahead of Midterms in Blow to Trump Admin

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The Supreme Court on Monday rejected President Donald Trump ’s mail ballot restrictions for now, capping a flurry of last-minute legal action with voting in the midterm elections already underway.

The decision allows states to continue sending out mail ballots under the same processes they’ve used for years.

Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissented from the brief order. Justice Brett Kavanaugh agreed that the restrictions should not go into effect for the midterms but indicated he might rule in favor of the Trump administration later.

The Trump administration had asked the court, once again at the center of a roiling political controversy, to clear the way for restrictions before the pivotal November contests for control of Congress. The case has major implications because nearly one-third of the country votes by mail.

Election officials have said there was simply no way to carry out a complete overhaul in the weeks before the midterms. Indeed, Alabama, North Carolina and Wisconsin began sending mail ballots to voters over the past week while the new system was still not active. (Read more from “Supreme Court Rejects Mail-in Voting Restrictions Ahead of Midterms in Blow to Trump Admin” HERE)

Trump calls AI risks a ‘hoax,’ says there is a ‘SICK conspiracy’ against AI and data centers

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President Donald Trump said Monday that he would be a sufficient guardrail against rogue artificial intelligence, claiming that any efforts to limit the technology is part of a “SICK conspiracy.”

Trump was pushing back against calls by tech leaders such as Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Elon Musk to have greater government oversight of AI. Many tech leaders generally say their goal is to develop the technology in ways that promote safety, address legal liability, feed economic growth, advance science and preserve national security.

The president maintained that his presence in the Oval Office should assuage any fears about AI, which has become a source of controversy after a series of hacks in recent months that showed AI agents could be working to deceive humans.

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Trump posted on social media. (Read more from “Trump calls AI risks a ‘hoax,’ says there is a ‘SICK conspiracy’ against AI and data centers” HERE)

Trump Calls on Ukraine to Halt Strikes on Russian Diesel, Saying Attacks Causing Shortage

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U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to halt strikes on Russian diesel, saying the attacks are causing a fuel shortage.

Trump was asked by a reporter if he had spoken with Zelenskyy following his recent conversation with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Trump responded by calling on Zelenskyy to halt strikes against Russia.

“Mr. Zelensky has to do one thing. He has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia,” Trump told reporters on the sidelines of the Irish Open, which is being played at his Doonbeg golf club.

“Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage of diesel fuel.” (Read more from “Trump Calls on Ukraine to Halt Strikes on Russian Diesel, Saying Attacks Causing Shortage” HERE)

If That Grocery Store Receipt Was Already Making Your Eyes Water … Just Wait

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As Americans recoil from price tags at their local supermarket, a meteoric rise in diesel prices threatens to make their checkout total even more shocking.

Pressure on global petroleum markets is increasingly reaching American consumers as conflicts across the Middle East threaten two critical oil-shipping chokepoints, the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, while attacks have also damaged Saudi Arabia’s key route for bypassing Hormuz. The turmoil, which includes the Iran war launched Feb. 28, has driven diesel prices to a nationwide record of $6.00 per gallon.

“Diesel is one of trucking’s largest operating expenses, so an increase of this magnitude creates immediate pressure on motor carriers, who run on tight margins,” American Trucking Association chief advocacy and public affairs officer, Henry Hanscom, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

“It also tells us something about the broader economy. When families spend more at the pump, they have less to spend elsewhere, and that can translate into weaker demand for the goods trucks move,”

High diesel prices mean Americans can end up paying more for groceries, fertilizer and other goods moved by the trucking industry, even if they never personally fill up a diesel-powered vehicle, according to an April American Enterprise Institute analysis in April.

Food prices have also continued to climb, rising 2.7% from a year earlier in August, while grocery prices climbed 2.2%, fruits and vegetables jumped 3.2% and nonalcoholic beverages rose 3.7%, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. (Read more from “If That Grocery Store Receipt Was Already Making Your Eyes Water … Just Wait” HERE)

Photo credit: Flickr

Russia’s Undersea War Games Expose Nightmare Scenario For Global Internet

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Russian submarines allegedly rehearsed deploying technology designed to disable critical undersea communications cables in the Arctic this spring, raising questions about how much of modern civilization would keep functioning if a global war turned the internet’s physical backbone into a battlefield.

British, Norwegian and American forces tracked and confronted the Russian vessels near Norway’s Svalbard archipelago and prevented them from completing the exercise, Reuters reported Thursday, citing two anonymous Western officials. The alleged operation involved Russia’s Main Directorate for Deep Sea Research, known as GUGI, a secretive military organization specializing in deep-sea operations.

The alleged Russian operation adds to growing concern over how vulnerable critical infrastructure on the ocean floor could be during a wider conflict, following the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in 2022. The pipeline explosions demonstrated the potential for underwater infrastructure to be severely damaged by sabotage, though the incident has not been attributed to Russia and investigations have increasingly focused on individuals linked to Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing German prosecutors.

An internet infrastructure expert whose research focuses on internet routing told the DCNF that the Domain Name System, or DNS, the system that translates website names into the numerical IP addresses computers use to locate one another online, is the glue holding the global information infrastructure together.

“The DNS, the name system, is dependent on the network, and while caching features heavily in the DNS, as the caches age out a connectivity cut would mean that expired data would not be refreshed and the DNS would slowly dim out and turn dark,” Geoff Huston, chief scientist at the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre, or APNIC, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. (Read more from “Russia’s Undersea War Games Expose Nightmare Scenario For Global Internet” HERE)

Putin Warns Europe: Send Troops to Ukraine, Get ‘War with Russia’

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President Vladimir Putin warned Europe on Friday that sending any troops to help Ukraine would mean an escalation of the conflict and “war with Russia.”

UPI reports Putin laid out his stark warning while speaking to reporters at the BRICS summit in New Delhi.

“Now, they say they are thinking of how to deploy troops to Ukraine,” he told reporters, as quoted by state-run news agency TASS as seen by UPI. “This would mean a war with Russia.”

The outlet notes Moscow’s caution to the rest of Europe follows French President Emmanuel Macron who one week ago said 26 countries including the UK had pledged to support sending troops to Ukraine in a peacekeeping mission to provide postwar guarantees.

“The day the conflict stops, the security guarantees will be deployed,” Macron told the media. (Read more from “Putin Warns Europe: Send Troops to Ukraine, Get ‘War with Russia’” HERE)

Netanyahu Faces Israel Election Defeat Amid Claims He Ignored Oct. 7 Warning

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By Newsweek. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected claims he ignored warnings that could have prevented the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, as polls and prediction markets forecast he faces a bruising election next month.

Excerpts from a book, which were published by the newspaper Haaretz, described how Netanyahu had been told by Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the president of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), that Palestinian militants were planning a major operation.

“One should not engage in electoral prediction, but the heat is definitely up for Netanyahu,” Vuk Vuksanović, associate at the London School of Economics think tank, LSE IDEAS, told Newsweek. . .

After the release of the book’s revelations on Tuesday, Netanyahu’s chances of remaining prime minister after the election on October 27 slipped from 30 percent to 28 percent, according to the platform Polymarket. (Read more from “Netanyahu Faces Israel Election Defeat Amid Claims He Ignored Oct. 7 Warning” HERE)

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Netanyahu faces storm over report he ignored warning ahead of Oct. 7 attacks

By NBC News. TEL AVIV — It dropped like a political bombshell into next month’s parliamentary election: a news report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warning about the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks and chose not to alert senior security officials.

(Read more from “Netanyahu faces storm over report he ignored warning ahead of Oct. 7 attacks” HERE)

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Norway’s Foreign Minister warns Netanyahu’s government driving Israel into a ‘very dangerous place’

By Yahoo News. Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide has told Europe Today that Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has driven Israel into a “very dangerous place”.

Describing it as “the most far-right government in Israel’s history”, Eide said he hoped that, regardless of the outcome of Israel’s October elections, the country would eventually recognise it had been on a “very dangerous track”.

Eide spoke to Euronews’ EU Editor Maria Tadeo in Riga, Latvia, days after Norway joined 11 other countries in sanctioning trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

He said that the West had “undermined its credibility” with its “wobbly, unclear and unprincipled” position on conflicts in the Middle East.

“The problem has been that too many countries have been careful in criticising Israel because you were so easily attacked for being anti-Semitic,” Eide said, arguing this had led the international community to take “less daring positions”. (Read more from “Norway’s Foreign Minister warns Netanyahu’s government driving Israel into a ‘very dangerous place’” HERE)

Lindsay Clancy Male Holdout Juror has History of Domestic Violence Allegations, Active Restraining Order: Report

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The holdout juror who caused Lindsay Clancy’s mistrial has a history of alleged domestic violence such as grabbing his wife by the throat and punching his nephew, according to a report.

The still-unnamed juror, only described as a black man in his 30s, faced a criminal charge in September 2021 for allegedly assaulting his wife, NBC10 Boston reported.

A 13-year-old nephew of the man called 911, stating that his uncle grabbed his wife by the throat and threw her into a dresser, according to a police report obtained by the outlet.

The juror’s own mom repeatedly screamed, “You’re evil!” as he was cuffed during the incident, the report said.

The juror recently ended up singlehandedly thwarting a verdict in Clancy’s sensational trial by refusing to agree with the 11 other jurors who found her not guilty by reason of temporary insanity after she fatally strangled her three young children in the family’s Duxbury, Mass., home. (Read more from “Lindsay Clancy Male Holdout Juror has History of Domestic Violence Allegations, Active Restraining Order: Report” HERE)

9/11 Family Members Demand Trump Admin Release Docs ‘Deep State Has Hidden’ During Memorial

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Two family members of 9/11 victims demanded during a 25th anniversary memorial Friday that the Trump administration release files that could potentially shed more light on Saudi Arabia’s role in the terrorist attack.

During a ceremony at the National 9/11 Memorial in New York City, family members of 9/11 victims called for the Trump administration to tell Saudi Arabia, home to Osama bin Laden and most of the hijackers, to “stop lying” about its alleged role in the attacks and demanded that the federal government release related documents. Saudi Arabia has long been accused of playing a part in the terrorist attacks, with allegations ranging from direct Saudi involvement, to theories that the CIA used Saudi assets as cover to obtain human intelligence from two of the hijackers.

Terry Strada slammed Saudi Arabia during the ceremony after reading the name of her deceased husband Tom Strada’s name, saying: “How can it be 25 years and still we have no justice for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder?,” Fox 5 New York reported.

“Yes, we finally made it into a court and proved that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fomented a rancid culture of anti-American terrorism around the globe and then sent its agents to support the radical Islamic hijackers so they could attack you and all of our loved ones,” Strada added.

Strada went on to criticize the U.S. government, suggesting that previous presidential administrations chose to “protect the Saudis.” (Read more from “9/11 Family Members Demand Trump Admin Release Docs ‘Deep State Has Hidden’ During Memorial” HERE)