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Monday, August 15, 2022

Wake-Up Call: DHS Warns Of Threats To Federal Law Enforcement

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warned in a joint bulletin Friday about an increase in threats to federal law enforcement after the FBI's execution of a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida residence last week. The bulletin said threats are coming from social media, web forums, video sharing platforms and image boards, and warned about a potential "dirty bomb" threat at FBI headquarters and other threats that called for a "civil war" and "armed rebellion," with the threats possibly including specific "targets, tactics, and weaponry," according to The Hill. There are also threats against judicial, law enforcement and government officials associated with the Mar-a-Lago search, including the federal judge who approved the warrant.


➤MAN KILLS HIMSELF AFTER DRIVING INTO U.S. CAPITOL BARRICADE: A 29-year-old man fatally shot himself early yesterday morning after driving his car into a barricade near the U.S. Capitol. Police said the man, identified as Richard A. York III of Delaware, didn't seem to be targeting any member of Congress in the incident that took place just before 4 a.m. Authorities said that as the man was getting out of the car following the crash, his vehicle became engulfed in flames. He then fired several shots into the air indiscriminately as police approached before shooting himself. Police are investigating if he set the car on fire himself, as the crash didn't appear to cause the fire. Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said York had a criminal history, but had no links to the Capitol and his motive remains unclear.

➤FIVE U.S. LAWMAKERS VISIT TAIWAN 12 DAYS AFTER PELOSI TRIP THAT INFURIATED CHINA: A delegation of five U.S. lawmakers led by Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts arrived in Taiwan Sunday for a visit, 12 days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi infuriated China by visiting there, leading Beijing to carry out days of threatening military drills around the self-governing island. The delegation, which also included Democratic Reps. John Garamendi, Alan Lowenthal and Don Beyer, and Republican Rep. Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen, a delegate from American Samoa, was to meet with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and other officials. China charges the U.S. encourages those who want independence in Taiwan by selling military equipment to the island and engaging with its officials, but the U.S. says it doesn't support Taiwan's independence.

➤BIDEN GOT 'VIBE SHIFT' -- WILL IT HELP DEMS IN NOVEMBER AND BIDEN IN 2024? A CNN report yesterday says that President Biden got, quote, "the vibe shift he needed" over the past couple of weeks, but asks if it's enough and in time to help Democrats in the midterms in November and to help boost his dismal approval ratings as he readies to run for re-election, which by all reports he is planning to do.

President Biden
A big part of the "vibe shift" was the surprise agreement between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and fellow Democratic Senator Joe Manchin that led to the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping health care, tax and climate bill that includes the largest-ever federal effort on climate change, and among its major provisions it lets Medicare negotiate what it pays for drugs and caps out-of-pocket drug costs for seniors on Medicare to $2,000 a year.

Also passed recently were the CHIPS legislation to bring more semiconductor chip manufacturing to the U.S., the expansion of federal health care services for veterans suffering from chronic illnesses they blame on exposure to toxic smoke from burn pits at military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan, and gun legislation in the wake of the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting. Gas prices have fallen below $4 right before midterm campaigning picks up, and there was also the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

But is it enough, especially as Republicans will be pounding Biden and the Democrats with still high inflation rates? One adviser told CNN that all this happening wasn't by accident, saying Biden, quote, "plays the long game and really does have the ability to look ahead and know you're going to go through the rocky periods to get there." Along the same lines, a senior Senate Democratic aide said, "This President, by not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, helped make so many of these things happen." But CNN lays clear the challenge Biden's team faces, saying they are now, quote, "rushing to reset the image they allowed to settle in of a doddering president wiling away his days in the Oval Office."


Salman Rushdie
➤SALMAN RUSHDIE 'ON THE ROAD TO RECOVERY': Salman Rushdie is "on the road to recovery," his agent Andrew Wylie said Sunday, two days after the author was attacked at a lecture in western New York. However, Wylie said the 75-year-old's recovery would be long, after his liver was damaged and he suffered severed nerves in an arm and in an eye that he will likely lose. Rushdie's son, Zafar Rushdie, said in a statement yesterday, "Though his life changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty & defiant sense of humor remains intact." The 24-year-old alleged attacker, Hadi Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, pled not guilty Saturday to attempted murder and assault. Iran's then-Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a "fatwa" calling for Rushdie's death in 1989 after some Muslims claimed his 1988 book, The Satanic Verses, was blasphemous against Islam. Khomeini died in 1989, but the fatwa remains in effect, and a prosecutor alluded to it as a possible motive. Iran’s state-run newspaper, Iran Daily, praised the attack Sunday. Matar was born in the U.S. to parents who emigrated from Lebanon.

➤THREAT TO J.K. ROWLING INVESTIGATED: Police in Scotland are investigating an online death threat against the author of the Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowling, who lives in Edinburgh, received the death threat via a Twitter post after she posted her best wishes for a fellow author. Novelist Salman Rushdie was seriously injured by a knife-wielding assailant while onstage for a speaking event in western New York last week.


➤FIVE AMERICANS AMONG WOUNDED IN JERUSALEM ATTACK: Five Americans were among at least eight people who were wounded in a shooting that targeted a bus early Sunday morning in Jerusalem. At least two of the Americans were tourists. A police statement said that a "terrorist armed with weapons shot at a bus and vehicles in a parking lot." The attacker fled the scene, but later turned himself in to police, with CNN citing a security source as saying he's an Israeli citizen from East Jerusalem, while Israeli media described him as a Palestinian who holds Israeli citizenship. CNN's source said the suspect wasn't known for any terrorism-related offenses, but had a criminal record and had spent time in prison.
 
➤41 KILLED IN FIRE AT COPTIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH IN EGYPT: There were 41 people killed Sunday, at least 15 of them children, when a fire broke out at a Coptic Christian church in Cairo, Egypt, during morning services. Sixteen people were injured, including four policemen trying to rescue worshippers from the packed Martyr Abu Sefein church. The cause of the fire wasn't immediately known, but a police statement said an initial investigation pointed to an electrical short-circuit. Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population.

➤TEACHERS ARE IN HOT DEMAND ACROSS THE U.S.: With a new school year looming, school districts across the U.S. are desperate for teachers, and they’re coughing up incentives to entice them. Des Moines public schools are offering $50,000 to teachers and administrators nearing retirement age to stay for another year, according to Axios. Dallas schools have set aside $51 million for salary increases and another $52 million for retention bonuses. The shortage of teachers is attributed to burnout, low pay and greater job demands, all of which got worse during the pandemic.
 

➤GO GREEN, GET A TAX BREAK: The Inflation Reduction Act just passed by the U.S. Congress has some big benefits for consumers who buy electric vehicles, install solar panels, or make other energy-efficient upgrades to their homes, according to CNBC. Electric vehicle buyers can get a tax credit worth up to $7,500. Other tax credits will lower the cost of installing solar panels or other renewable energy systems. Taxpayers who install Energy Star appliances or upgrades can get up to a 30% tax credit.

➤THE IRS IS GOING FOR RICH TAX CHEATS: The IRS just got an $80 billion infusion of cash from Congress, and most of that money is going to go towards auditing rich people who cheat on their taxes. IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig says the agency won’t be targeting any taxpayers who make less than $400,000 a year. The goal is to collect some of the estimated $600 billion in income that goes underreported every year.

🎥‘BULLET TRAIN’ HOLDS NO. 1 SPOT AT THE BOX OFFICE DURING SUMMER SLOWDOWN: Bullet Train held on to the top spot at the domestic box office during its second weekend, pulling in $13.4 million. The film saw a 55% decline from a week ago. Deadline reports that this past weekend was the slowest yet this summer, with the box office seeing just $66.8 million for all movies.

Box Office Numbers from Friday through Sunday:

1. Bullet Train, $13.4 million
2. DC League of Super-Pets, $7.17 million
3. Top Gun: Maverick, $7.15 million
4. Thor: Love and Thunder, $5.311 million
5. Nope, $5.3 million
6. Minions: Rise of Gru, $4.9 million
7. Where the Crawdads Sing, $4 million
8. Bodies Bodies Bodies, $3.25 million
9. Elvis, $2.585 million
10. Fall, $2.5 million

🛫NEW SUPERSONIC PLANE READY TO FLY: It has been nearly 20 years since the supersonic Concorde was grounded, but now a new, quieter, and more environmentally friendly model is ready to take to the skies. Overture, developed by Denver-based Boom Supersonic, can fly from New York to London in three and a half hours, half the usual flight time. The company already has pre-orders from two commercial airlines and the U.S. Air Force, according to Fox Weather.

⚾RAYS' RASMUSSEN LOSES PERFECT GAME IN 9TH INNING: Tampa Bay Rays pitcher Drew Rasmussen lost a perfect game bid in the ninth inning yesterday when the Baltimore Orioles' Jorge Mateo hit a leadoff double on the first pitch of the inning. Rasmussen got a standing ovation from the Florida crowd after Mateo's hit, and then again after he was pulled from the game with one out. The Rays went on to win 4-1. There hasn’t been a perfect game since the Seattle Mariners' Felix Hernandez had one against the Rays in August 2012.


🏈JETS QB WILSON TO HAVE KNEE SURGERY: New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson will have knee surgery Tuesday after suffering a torn meniscus and a bone bruise during the Jets' preseason opener Friday against the Philadelphia Eagles. Wilson is currently expected to be out two to four weeks, but he could potentially be out longer depending on the condition of his knee when the surgery is done to repair his meniscus. Head coach Robert Saleh said Sunday, "We’re optimistic. But he’s not out of the woods until they get in there and make the decision."

⚾PUJOLS HOMERS TWICE, MOVES CLOSER TO A-ROD ON ALL-TIME LIST: St. Louis' Albert Pujols homered twice in the Cardinals' 6-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers yesterday. Pujols had a solo homer in the second inning and a three-run shot in the eighth, putting his career tally at 689, closing in on Alex Rodriguez on the all-time list, who's in fourth place with 696. It was also the 42-year-old's 63rd career multi-homer game, tying him with Willie Mays for fifth all time.

⚾DODGERS' 12-GAME WIN STREAK ENDS: The Los Angeles Dodgers' 12-game win streak came to an end yesterday (August 14th) in a 4-0 shutout loss to the Kansas City Royals. The Dodgers, who were trying to match their longest winning streak since moving to Los Angeles in 1958, having won 13 straight in 1962 and 1965, managed just two hits.



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