Tropical Depression Nine has formed in the southwestern Gulf and is forecast to become a hurricane, potentially bringing significant flooding rain and strong winds to parts of the northern Gulf Coast and South late this week. The system is expected to become Tropical Storm Isaias soon and strengthen into a hurricane on Thursday. That will make Isaias the first hurricane of an Atlantic season squashed by El Nio.
... On Thursday Gov. Kathy Hochul announced that she was appointing Letitia James as a special prosecutor to investigate the alleged 2024 gang rape at Cornell University. In her statement announcing the appointment, Ms. Hochul said that she had "lost faith in the Tompkins County DA's ability to fairly oversee" the case and that "the young woman at the center of this case deserves to know that every fact will be examined and justice pursued." The signal she is sending couldn't be clearer and goes well beyond the usual efforts of a politician to please her constituents: There is only one acceptable outcome here, and I expect Attorney General James to find it
Democratic US Senator Chris Murphy said the US Department of Defense denied him access to a key US military base in Qatar during a visit to the Middle East, describing it as part of a US government effort to conceal the impact of the Iran war.
The Trump administration says none of this is happening. "DHS is NOT arresting U.S. citizens by mistake." "There are no indiscriminate' stops." Allegations of "racial profiling are disgusting, reckless and categorically FALSE." "The pattern is NOT of law enforcement using force." "ICE does not zip tie or restrain children." But that is precisely what is happening, and at a far larger scale than previously reported. We know because we have once again done what the government hasn't: We have tallied and cataloged every case we can find of an immigration agent holding a citizen during the current administration. More than 500 cases.
A Chicago teacher who was shot five times by an immigration agent last year is suing the federal government for damages. The federal government had originally charged Marimar Martinez with assault after she was shot by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum in October, saying she was a "domestic terrorist" who "ambushed" law enforcement agents and rammed them with her vehicle.
For the first time in 74 years, CBC did not broadcast NHL hockey on Saturday night, instead filling its traditional Hockey Night in Canada window with cricket. The change follows the end of CBC's agreement with Sportsnet, with the two sides unable to reach a new deal after Rogers secured a new 12-year, $11-billion NHL rights agreement. CBC says it will continue broadcasting hockey, including women's PWHL games, but the end of Saturday-night NHL coverage marks a major break from one of the broadcaster's most iconic traditions. Read more
A long list of prominent conservatives have referred to leftists and Democrats as dumb, stupid, incompetent, crazy, and insane. In 2007, Ann Coulter wrote the book "If Democrats Had Any Brains, They'd Be Republicans." Both Rush Limbaugh and President Trump regularly referred to Democrats as "Dumbocrats." More recently, the leader of the House Freedom Caucus called Democrats "the crazy party," and JD Vance framed the contrast between the parties as "common sense vs. crazy." Matt Margolis titled a piece in PJ Media this year "Democrats Are Too Stupid to Heed This Warning," and posited that somewhere between the 1990s and today, the Democratic Party lost its mind. Some of this stuff gets a chuckle, but conservatives need to be careful with this narrative. Read more
President Donald Trump suggested letting Iran attack Los Angeles and San Diego while speaking at a midterm campaign event in Nebraska on Monday, sparking outrage from California political leaders. Read more
Jim Bakker, the pioneering TV evangelist who became a symbol of the glitz and greed of the 1980s when his PTL empire near Charlotte collapsed amid sex and money scandals, landing him in prison for fraud, died Monday.
The Palm Beach County Republican Party endorsed Mike Caruso, who was suspended from his post as Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts after he was arrested for molesting a young family member in August, in a voter guide distributed online Monday, The Miami Herald reported. Read more
Pennsylvania has surpassed 1,000 measles cases this year, state health officials said Monday, making it the largest state outbreak in more than three decades. The U.S. is enduring its worst year for measles since 1991, with nearly 3,900 reported cases, according to the CDC. The nation has seen eight reported measles-associated deaths in the past two years " more than the combined total of reported deaths over the previous three decades. Since the beginning of last year, large outbreaks have been reported in several states, including Texas and Utah, as well as South Carolina, which had the largest with 997 cases reported.
Suspended Palm Beach County Clerk of Courts Mike Caruso said he still "intend[s] to win" the November election and has not abandoned his campaign " nor has the local Republican Party abandoned him " even after his August arrest on allegations he molested a small child. Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed Caruso, 68, a Republican former state legislator who was approaching term limits, to the clerk's post exactly one year before his arrest. A staunch DeSantis ally in the past, the governor immediately suspended him after his arrest by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Caruso pleaded not guilty to charges of lewd or lascivious molestation, kidnapping, lewd or lascivious exhibition, child abuse and luring or enticing a child. The case centers on allegations made by a male relative who was under the age of 5 at the time.
President Donald Trump casually offered up two U.S. cities for Iran to "take out" while rambling about how the deadly war he launched is a "small price to pay." The 80-year-old president floated the disturbing proposition Monday while speaking at a rally in Grand Island, Nebraska, where Republicans are facing an unexpectedly tough fight to hold onto their Senate seat. "It's a small price to pay for keeping the world safe, keeping our country safe," the billionaire president continued, before chillingly appearing to suggest that he would accept the destruction of two U.S. cities home to millions of Americans. "They can take out a city"let 'em take, let 'em take out Los Angeles, let 'em take out San Diego. That's"this is a very small price to pay," he said, naming the two Democrat-led cities in California. The MAGA crowd in Nebraska cheered.
Nine months ago, regime change in Cuba appeared imminent. Then reality set in. Read more
President Donald Trump signed an executive order late Monday aimed at bringing down near-record diesel prices by waiving restrictions on cheaper red-dyed diesel. Speaking at a campaign event in Nebraska, a state hit hard by the spike in diesel prices, Trump said the order will "allow anyone to purchase tax-free red-dyed diesel for any reason." Read more
City police say they were not aware that a white supremacist group was demonstrating outside their department Saturday night until after they were gone.
