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Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Wake-Up Call: DOJ Wants Trump Affidavit To Remain Sealed

The Justice Department yesterday opposed court filings by several news organizations to make the affidavit submitted when it asked for the search warrant granted for former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort public. The government said the investigation, quote, "implicates highly classified material" and the document contains sensitive information about witnesses. The Justice Department's court filng says making the affidavit public would, quote, "cause significant and irreparable damage to this ongoing criminal investigation." A property receipt unsealed Friday showed the FBI seized from Mar-a-Lago 11 sets of classified documents, some marked "sensitive compartmented information," a special category for the nation’s most important secrets that could cause "exceptionally grave" damage to U.S. interests if released.


➤GIULIANI IS TARGET OF ATLANTA ELECTION PROBE: Lawyers for Rudy Giuliani were told by Atlanta prosecutors Monday that the former New York City mayor is a target of their criminal investigation into possible illegal efforts by then-President Donald Trump and others to interfere in the 2020 election in Georgia, the New York Times first reported. Giuliani, who is a lawyer for Trump, spread false claims of election fraud in Atlanta's Fulton County as he led efforts to overturn the state's election results. He is set to testify Wednesday before a special grand jury that's part of the Fulton County district attorney's investigation.

Meanwhile, in another development in the probe, a federal judge said Monday that Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina must testify before the grand jury. Prosecutors want to question him about phone calls they say he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his staff in the weeks after the 2020 election. Graham's attorneys had argued that him being a U.S. senator gives him immunity from having to appear. His office said he plans to appeal.
 

➤CHINA ANNOUNCES MORE MILITARY DRILLS AFTER U.S. DELEGATION VISITS TAIWAN: China announced Monday that it would carry out more military drills around Taiwan, that news coming after a five-member U.S. congressional delegation led by Democratic Senator Ed Markey arrived on the self-governing island for a visit on Sunday and met with Taiwan's president on Monday. China carried out nearly two weeks of threatening military exercises around Taiwan after a recent visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island, the highest-level U.S. government member to go to Taiwan in 25 years. China claims Taiwan as its own, and accuses the U.S. of encouraging its independence through the sale of weapons and engagement between U.S. politicians and the island’s government. The U.S. says it doesn't support Taiwan's independence.

➤UKRAINE SAYS HAS HIT BASE USED BY WAGNER PARAMILITARY GROUP: Ukraine has says it struck a base in the eastern Luhansk region used by the Wagner Russian paramilitary group. The governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said the base was , quote, "destroyed by a precision strike," with the Ukrainian news website Ukrainska Pravda saying the base's location was revealed when a Russian military correspondent visited it on August 8th and posted a photo on Telegram showing a nearby address. The Guardian reports that the Wagner group has been linked by western intelligence agencies to Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is a close associate of President Vladimir Putin.

➤TWO FORMER OFFICERS CHARGED IN GEORGE FLOYD'S DEATH REJECT PLEA DEALS: Former Minneapolis police officers Tou Thao and J. Alexander Keung, who are facing charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in George Floyd's death, told a judge yesterday that they've rejected plea deals that would have led to them getting three-year sentences. The two were among three officers with Derek Chauvin when he kneeled on Floyd's death for more than nine minutes, leading to his death. Thao and Keung rejecting the plea deals sets the stage for their state trials in October. Both were convicted in February in federal court of violating Floyd's civil rights.

➤IRAN DENIES INVOLVEMENT IN ATTACK ON RUSHDIE: The spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry yesterday denied Iran was involved in the attack on author Salman Rushdie in New York on Friday, the first public comments on the stabbing from Tehran. However, the spokesman, Nasser Kanaani, sought to justify the attack on Rushdie, the author of the 1988 book, The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims consider blasphemous. Iran's then-supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa in 1989 calling for Rushdie's death. Kanaani said, "Salman Rushdie exposed himself to popular anger and fury through insulting the sacredness of Islam and crossing the red lines of over 1.5 billion Muslims and also red lines of followers of all divine religions." The 24-year-old suspect in the attack, Hadi Matar, was born to parents who emigrated to the U.S. from Lebanon. He has pled not guilty to attempted murder and assault. Rushdie's agent has said the 75-year-old, who suffered serious 
injuries, is "on the road to recovery."


👼BABY SWINGS AND ROCKERS RECALLED: Two million baby swings and 220,000 baby rockers are being recalled by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the manufacturer because they can cause a strangulation hazard to infants. The recall includes the 4moms MamaRoo Baby Swing, versions 1.0 through 4.0, and RockaRoo Baby Rockers. There has been one report of an infant who died from asphyxiation after crawling under the swing and getting caught in a strap that can be left dangling.

☕STUDY..FOOD COMPASS SHOWS CHEERIOS ARE BETTER THAN EGGS FOR BREAKFAST: A new study from Boston researchers suggests a bowl of Cheerios could be a better breakfast than eggs and coffee. Researchers studied how various foods were linked to chronic disease and gave foods a ranking between 0-100. Healthier foods had higher scores. Surprisingly, Cheerios came in at 95. An egg omelet? 51. "Cereals aren’t inherently bad. In fact, if they have a high whole grain content then they will get a good score for that, and if they don’t have added sugar, they won’t lose any points,’ said Professor Jeffrey Blumberg.

Raspberries and vegetable curry both had perfect 100 scores. A McDonald's Cheeseburger scored an 8.

🛬BLAME FLORIDA: It’s time to blame somebody or something for the flight cancellations and delays that have made travel miserable for months. So, here it is: It’s Florida’s fault, according to the New York Post. Federal data show that all four major Florida airports (Orlando, Miami, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale) are in the top five “worst list” for flight delays. Airline staff shortages are part of the problem, but it’s complicated by Florida’s very crowded airspace, which includes everything from Disneyworld visitors to military aircraft and rocket launches.

☔RAINWATER IS NOW UNSAFE: It’s no longer safe to drink rainwater anywhere in the world, according to research published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Rainwater has been contaminated with so-called “forever chemicals.” These are human-made chemicals used in everything from food packaging to waterproof clothing and they don’t disintegrate. Exposure has serious health consequences including cancer, pregnancy complications and even increased cholesterol

🏀GRINER APPEALS NINE-YEAR PRISON SENTENCE IN RUSSIA: WNBA star Brittney Griner has appealed the nine-year prison sentence she was given in Russia for drug possession, according to Russian media reports yesterday (August 15th). Griner admitted that she had vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage that were found at a Moscow airport in mid-February, but has said she inadvertently packed them and had no criminal intent. That news came after a senior Russian diplomat said Sunday that talks about a prisoner swap had been conducted. It's been reported that the U.S. has offered to free Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who's serving a 25-year sentence in the U.S., in exchange for Griner and another American being held by Russia, Paul Whelan.

⚾DODGERS' BUEHLER TO HAVE ELBOW SURGERY, OUT FOR SEASON: The L.A. Dodgers announced Monday that pitcher Walker Buehler will have season-ending surgery next week for the elbow injury that has kept him from pitching for the last two months. The two-time All-Star last pitched on July 10th, leaving the game after four innings when his elbow problems began. At the time, the Dodgers said he'd be out for six to eight weeks with a flexor strain.

⚾RANGERS FIRE MANAGER WOODWARD: The Texas Rangers fired manager Chris Woodward yesterday, just two games before he was to have hit the mark of managing 500 games for the franchise. Woodward's firing comes as the Rangers are on track for a sixth consecutive losing season and the fourth since he became manager. The 46-year-old Woodward, who was in his first managerial job, ends his time with Texas with a 211-287 record. Third base coach Tony Beasley was named interim manager.

🏈BENGALS QB BURROW EYEING BEING READY FOR SEASON OPENER: Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is now fully participating in training camp, three weeks after his appendectomy, and AP reports he's eyeing being ready for the regular-season opener next month. Head coach Zac Taylor said of the practice schedule for Burrow, "We’ve got a good plan in place now. . . . For him, it’s [about getting ready for] Pittsburgh. Be ready for Week 1 of the season."

⚾WORLD SERIES TO START ON FRIDAY, COULD HAVE LATEST-EVER END: MLB revealed Monday that the World Series is scheduled to start on a Friday for the first time in more than 100 years, since 1915, and could end on its latest date ever, November 5th, because of the lockout that delayed Opening Day. The World Series will begin on Friday, October 28th, matching its latest start in 2009. The latest a World Series game has been played is November 4th, in 2001 and 2009. The expanded postseason has a new wild card series, and has 12 teams in the playoffs, up from the 10 it was from 2012 to 2021, except for 16 in the Covid-shortened 2020 season.

🌞‘EXTREME HEAT BELT’ WILL COVER ONE-QUARTER OF THE U.S.: One-quarter of the U.S. will soon fall under the Extreme Heat Belt with temperatures that can exceed 125 degrees, according to researchers at the nonprofit First Street Foundation. The study predicts that these unlivable temperatures will occur by the year 2053. There are about 100 million people living in the area, which stretches from Texas and Louisiana to Illinois, Indiana and parts of Wisconsin.

CHECK IT OUT: The research firm has an online lookup for identifying risks by zip code or address.



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