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Friday, September 8, 2023

9/8 WAKE-UP CALL: Trump Calls Exclusion Attempt 'Trick'


Donald Trump’s next legal drama is a post-Civil War constitutional amendment barring insurrectionists from office. A left-leaning legal watchdog filed suit yesterday demanding that Colorado’s primary ballot exclude him under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment; other such attempts are expected. Trump, in a Truth Social post Monday, called the disqualification effort a trick to steal the election and said that “almost all legal scholars” doubt the legal basis. Some judicial thinkers question whether state election authorities can enforce Section 3 against a presidential candidate, whether it can be applied to a former president and whether Trump violated the clause.

➤TRUMP AIDE FOUND GUILTY OF CONTEMPT: A jury on Thursday quickly convicted former President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, of contempt of Congress charges for defying a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, deliberating for about four hours before returning the guilty verdict. Navarro stood at the edge of the courtroom with his arms crossed when the jury foreperson read the verdict on the two charges. Navarro’s defense lawyers acknowledged he refused to provide information to the panel seeking information about his efforts to overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss, and they called no witnesses to testify on his behalf during the trial that opened Wednesday. But they argued Trump had told Navarro not to cooperate and that his few interactions with committee staffers showed his refusal to comply wasn’t willful, as prosecutors were required to prove.

➤BIDEN TOO OLD TO CUT THE MUSTARD: CNN political commentator Van Jones said on Thursday that voters are worried about Joe Biden's age, saying that people asked if the 80-year-old can handle another four years of a 'high stress job.' Jones said that Biden's low approval rating of just 39 percent was a reflection of concerns about his advancing years. A new CNN poll puts Biden neck-and-neck with all the Republican challengers except Nikki Haley, who is beating him, 49 to 43 percent. Biden is tied with Florida governor Ron DeSantis at 47; trails former Vice President Mike Pence 46 to 44; and trails Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina 46 to 44.


➤NO MASK FOR BIDEN: The maskless commander-in-chief didn't take questions from the press as he boarded Air Force One through the smaller steps. His trip begins just 24 hours after the Department of Justice warned they would seek to indict his son Hunter on gun charges by the end of the month , and he faced criticism from 9/11 families for marking Monday's 22nd anniversary of the attacks in Alaska. And more poll results released by CNN on Thursday morning show the majority of voters - including Democrats - think he is too old to run, and he is barely beating Republican primary candidates . While press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that there were no 'contingency plans' being made if Biden had to skip, the White House didn't reveal too much of Biden's schedule either. He's expected to meet with the G20's host, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after Air Force One lands Friday and then attend G20 sessions Saturday and Sunday before jetting off to Vietnam.

➤POWER EMERGENCY IN TEXAS: The Biden administration declared a power emergency in Texas amid soaring electricity demand sparked by a brutal heatwave. The order issued by the Energy Department on Thursday allows the state’s grid operator to waive some air- pollution limits so generators can produce more power. It is in affect until 9 pm local time Friday. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, which oversees the grid serving 90% of Lone Star State customers, requested the emergency order “to preserve the reliability of the bulk electric power system.” Suring energy demand “threatens to cause loss of power to homes and local businesses in the areas that may be affected by curtailments, presenting a risk to public health and safety,” the Energy Department said in its order.

➤ABBOTT RIPS ADAMS: Texas Governor Greg Abbott's press secretary tore into Adams' complaints about the migrant crisis, branding him a 'hypocrite' after the mayor previously welcomed refugees. Last August, Adams said he was 'proud' that New York was a sanctuary state as buses of migrants began arriving from the southern border. But the buses never stopped, and the mayor grew emotional on Wednesday as he admitted he 'doesn't see an ending' to the issue that is set to cost the city $12 billion over three years. Over 13,000 of the migrants that have stretched the city's resources have been sent by Texas Governor Greg Abbott , who began shuttling refugees last August to bring the crisis in his state into the national spotlight. When questioned before about his aggressive approach to the migrant crisis, Abbott has previously contended that he is filling 'dangerous gaps created by the Biden administration's refusal to secure the border.'

➤PA. MANHUNT CONTINUES: The manhunt for an escaped Pennsylvania inmate entered its second week as law-enforcement officials continued their search while urging residents to remain vigilant. Pennsylvania State Police said Danelo Cavalcante, who escaped on Aug. 31 from Chester County Prison, was possibly spotted Thursday just before noon in the vicinity of Longwood Gardens, a botanical garden in the Philadelphia suburb of Kennett Square, Pa. The Gardens was evacuated by authorities. Police searched that area and continued their sweep Thursday afternoon. Hundreds of law-enforcement officials are searching a 10-square-mile perimeter in Chester County, said Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police.

➤DISNEY DROPS CLAIMS VS. DeSANTIS: While the fight over Disney World’s special district near Orlando, Florida, continues, the scope of the dispute has narrowed. In a complaint filed Tuesday, Disney has dropped all claims against Gov. Ron DeSantis except those that allege First Amendment violations. Gone now from the filing are Contracts Clause, Takings Clause and Due Process Clause violations. The suit will now focus chiefly around the Florida governor and what they see as retaliatory measures that were enacted against the company following their response to DeSantis’ so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

➤RETAIL WORKERS FACING INCREASED ANXIETIES: To be a US retail worker in 2023 means fielding an onslaught of growing American anxieties about everything from high prices to politics. Increasingly, some workers say the job isn’t worth the wages. Low pay, erratic schedules and monotonous tasks have long been a challenge for the nearly 8 million Americans working in retail, but the pandemic years have added a host of taxing new duties. Employees must cope with an uptick in shoplifting and customer orneriness. They manage online orders and run up and down the aisles to unlock items as quotidian as toothpaste.  A 2022 McKinsey study found that the quit rate for retail workers is more than 70% higher than in other US industries. And the Covid years made the problem worse. Before 2020, turnover for part-time retail employees — who make up the bulk of the in-store work force — hovered around 75%, according to data from Korn Ferry. Since then it’s shot up to 95% and hasn’t budged, which has at times led to understaffed stores. 

➤ACTOR DANNY MASTERSON SENTENCED: Two decades ago, "That '70s Show" star Danny Masterson raped two women. On Thursday, he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison for the crimes, the maximum allowed by law. A jury on May 31 found Masterson guilty of the attacks, which took place in Masterson's Hollywood-area home in 2003 when he was at the height of his sitcom fame. Prosecutors say he used his prominence in the Church of Scientology − where all three women were also members at the time − to avoid consequences for decades.

➤COUNTRY ARTIST ARRESTED: Zach Bryan was arrested Thursday in northeast Oklahoma, The Post can confirm — and the country star admitted he was “out of line in the things I said.” The 27-year-old country star was arrested in Vinita, and booked on an obstruction of investigation charge at the Craig County Jail at 6:42 p.m., according to online jail records. His face is expressionless in his mug shot. It is unclear what led to Bryan’s arrest, but the Sooner State native said his “emotions got the best of me” in a statement posted on social media. “Today I had an incident with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. Emotions got the best of me and I was out of line in the things I said,” he wrote.

🏈NFL LIONS 21 CHIEFS 20: Patrick Mahomes had an interception returned for a touchdown and fizzled down the stretch against the hungry, young Detroit Lions as the defending-champion Chiefs dropped the 2023 season opener, 21-20, on Thursday night in Kansas City.  'We expected to win this game,' Lions coach Dan Campbell said. 'We came in here, knew what we needed to do, knew it wasn't going to be easy, and we did that. We won.'  

Mahomes & Co. fell behind early on Thursday at Arrowhead Stadium after Detroit's Jared Goff found impressive second-year receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown for the first touchdown of the 2023 season.

⚾MLB BRAVES 8 CARDINALS 5: Matt Olson homered for the fourth straight game and Ronald Acuna Jr. added a pair of solo home runs to help the Atlanta Braves beat the visiting St. Louis Cardinals 8-5 on Thursday to end a three-game skid and salvage a game from the three-game series. Olson broke a 3-3 tie in the fifth inning with a 410-foot shot to center field. Olson's league-leading 47th homer leaves him four away from matching the team record set by Andruw Jones in 2005.

⚾MLB TIGERS 10 YANKEES 3: Spencer Torkelson hit a two-run homer in the first inning off a struggling Carlos Rodon and another two-run shot in the fourth off Randy Vasquez as the visiting Detroit Tigers rolled to a 10-3 victory over the New York Yankees on Thursday night. The Yankees (70-70) dropped back to .500 and had their winning streak stopped at five, which matched their longest of the season. Trying to avoid its first losing season since 1992, New York has just 22 games left and is seven games back of Toronto for the AL's final wild card, also trailing Texas and Boston.

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Mariners 1 Rays 0
  • Dodgers 10 Marlins 0
  • D-backs 6 Cubs 2
  • Angels 3 Guardians 2

🎾COCO REACHES FINALS: Second seed Aryna Sabalenka staged a Grand Slam fight back for the ages to rock Madison Keys 0-6 7-6(1) 7-6(5) on Thursday to deny the home crowd the all-American U.S. Open women's final they had been dreaming of. Sabalenka will now try to heap even more disappointment on U.S. tennis fans in Saturday's final when she takes on Coco Gauff, who beat Karolina Muchova 6-4 7-5 in a match halted for nearly an hour when an environmental activist glued his feet to the floor of Arthur Ashe Stadium. 

American Coco Gauff said she held no animosity toward the protesters who interrupted her U.S. Open semi-final match against Karolina Muchova on Thursday, though she did think their timing could have been a lot better. The sixth seed beat Czech Muchova 6-4 7-5 at Arthur Ashe Stadium to reach the championship match at Flushing Meadows for the first time and continue her terrific season. After winning the first set and taking the opening game of the second, the match was halted when four protesters began shouting from the stands.


➤LEE GROWING THREAT: As the peak of Atlantic hurricane season, Sept. 10, draws near, so too could the next tropical threat to the United States. Hurricane Lee, which developed in the central Atlantic on Tuesday, was located about 700 miles to the east of the Leeward Islands of the eastern Caribbean late Thursday evening. The Category 5 storm was packing winds of 160 mph as of 11 p.m. EDT, which is up from 80 mph from 5 a.m. EDT on Thursday. Lee rapidly intensified through the day to become the Atlantic basin’s first Category 5 hurricane of the season. AccuWeather forecasters say that the long-lasting storm could bring impacts all the way from the Caribbean to the United States and Atlantic Canada.



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