Yahoo News

WASHINGTON — Friday will be controversial White House chief Strategist Steve Bannon’s final day working in the West Wing. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders issued a statement to the press pool describing the move as a mutual decision between Bannon and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly on Friday.

“White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Steve Bannon have mutually agreed today would be Steve’s last day. We are grateful for his service and wish him the best,” Sanders said.   Continue reading “Steve Bannon is leaving the White House”

Yahoo News

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — A white van jumped the sidewalk Thursday in Barcelona’s historic Las Ramblas district, injuring several people as it plowed into a summer crowd of tourists and residents, police said. The El Pais newspaper said police were treating the crash as a terror attack.

Quoting unnamed police sources, El Pais said the two perpetrators of the crash were holed up in a bar in Tallers Street. There was no immediate police confirmation of the report.   Continue reading “Van plows into crowd in Barcelona; police view it as terror”

Fox News

President Trump on Thursday refused to back down from critics who’ve ripped him for failing to condemn protests surrounding the removal of Confederate monuments, doubling down on his belief the statues should stay and questioning if the progressive movement would turn on America’s Founding Fathers next.

In the aftermath of a deadly car attack Saturday — following clashes at a largely white nationalist rally protesting the University of Virginia’s plan to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee — Trump bemoaned the accelerated effort by many on the left to take down other symbols of the Confederacy.

Continue reading “Trump: ‘Country being ripped apart’ by monument removals”

Fox News

Don Hall and his girlfriend were sitting in their living room earlier this year when they noticed police lights flashing outside the couple’s upstate New York home.

When the 70-year-old Army veteran greeted Oneida County sheriff’s deputies he was given a document saying that Hall had to hand over his six guns – four long guns and two pistols — to law enforcement because he had been deemed “mentally defective.”

Shocked, Hall told the police he had no history of mental issues. The deputies asserted that he must have triggered the order under New York state’s Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act, and then the officers left with his guns.   Continue reading “NY police seize veteran’s guns after order deems him, wrongfully, as ‘mentally defective’”

MassLive – by  Scott J. Croteau

Those constant robocalls are always annoying, but sometimes getting one pays off….you just have to wait for a class action lawsuit.

A class-action lawsuit against Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruise Lines could net people $900 if they received a robocall stating they won a free cruise.    Continue reading “You can claim $900 if this free cruise robocall contacted you”

Washington Post

Crews removed Baltimore’s Confederate statues early Wednesday, days after the deadly unrest in Charlottesville instigated by white nationalists rallying to defend a downtown Confederate monument.

The quiet and sudden removal of four monuments, with little fanfare and no advance notice, marks an attempt by the city to avoid a long, bruising conflict that has embroiled Charlottesville and other communities rethinking how they honor figures who fought to preserve slavery.   Continue reading “Baltimore hauls away four Confederate monuments after overnight removal”

Idaho Statesman – by Ken Ritter, AP

LAS VEGAS – In a dramatic end to a contentious trial, defense attorneys declined Tuesday to make closing arguments on behalf of four men accused of wielding assault weapons against federal agents in a 2014 standoff near Nevada anti-government figure Cliven Bundy’s ranch.

The move left defendants Eric Parker, Steven Stewart and Ricky Lovelien of Montana and Oklahoma essentially mute in answer to 10 felony charges including conspiracy, weapon possession and assault on a federal officer.

Defendant Scott Drexler of Idaho testified in his defense on Monday.
Continue reading “Drama closes US trial: Bundy case defense lawyers stay mute”

WSAZ 3 News

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) — More than 150 people came out to the West Virginia Capitol Sunday, standing in solidarity with Charlottesville and also voicing concerns over the statue of a confederate general on the capitol grounds.

In addition to holding a vigil for the victims and city of Charlottesville, the group called on West Virginia Governor Jim Justice to take down the statue of Confederate General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.   Continue reading “Calls to remove W.Va. Confederate statue in wake of Va. unrest”

Reuters

Undeterred by the violence over the planned removal of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia, municipal leaders in cities across the United States said they would step up efforts to pull such monuments from public spaces.

The mayors of Baltimore and Lexington, Kentucky, said they would push ahead with plans to remove statues caught up in a renewed national debate over whether monuments to the U.S. Civil War’s pro-slavery Confederacy are symbols of heritage or hate.   Continue reading “U.S. cities ramp up removal of Confederate statues”

The Hill – by Morgan Chalfant

The Department of Justice has requested information on visitors to a website used to organize protests against President Trump, the Los Angeles-based Dreamhost said in a blog post published on Monday.

Dreamhost, a web hosting provider, said that it has been working with the Department of Justice for several months on the request, which believes goes too far under the Constitution.   Continue reading “Justice demands 1.3M IP addresses related to Trump resistance site”

Mercury News – by Ken Ritter

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Restrictions placed by a federal judge on what defendants can say about being at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in April 2014 are leading to tense moments in the Las Vegas retrial of four men accused of wielding assault-style weapons to stop federal agents from rounding up cattle belonging to the anti-government figure.

Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro refused Monday to order a mistrial sought by the defense attorney for Eric Parker. Navarro had ordered Parker off the witness stand last week and told the jury to disregard his testimony.   Continue reading “Bundy ranch case: Judge issues list of things defendants can’t say”

The Hill – by Rafael Bernal

The Trump administration is stuck between a rock and a hard place as a deadline approaches for Texas and nine other states to file suit against the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

Neither the White House nor the Justice Department have said whether they’ll defend the Obama-era program that’s set to be challenged in court unless the administration rescinds it by Sept. 5.

That puts the administration in difficult territory, particularly given President Trump’s vow to protect recipients of the program, known as Dreamers.  Continue reading “‘Dreamers’ deadline looms for Trump”

NOLA – Associated Press

CARTAGENA, Colombia — Demonstrating the delicate balancing act that has come to define his vice presidency, Mike Pence tried to strike a balance Sunday in Colombia between Latin American opposition to possible U.S. military intervention in neighboring Venezuela, and President Donald Trump’s surprising refusal to rule out that option.

Speaking during a joint news conference with Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos shortly after his arrival in Latin America, Pence also declined to rule out possible military action against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose efforts to consolidate power in the country have drawn alarm. Still, Pence stressed the U.S. would much prefer what he called a “peaceable” solution to the growing political and humanitarian crisis.   Continue reading “In Colombia, VP Mike Pence calls for ‘peaceable means’ to restore democracy in Venezuela”

UTNE – by Craig Cox, May, 2003

U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld served on the board of a Swiss company that in 2000 sold light water nuclear reactors to the government of North Korea, which critics, including Pentagon hardliners, say could be used to produce nuclear weapons.

Rumsfeld’s involvement in the $200 million deal with the Zurich-based engineering company ABB is seen as an embarrassment to the Bush administration, which vehemently opposed the deal during the 2000 presidential campaign, reports the London-based Guardian. “One could draw the conclusion that economic and personal interests took precedent over non-proliferation,” said Steve LaMontagne of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.   Continue reading “Remember When: Rumsfeld Company Sold Nuclear Weapon Equipment to North Korea”

ABC News

A hospital in Exeter, New Hampshire, was partially evacuated Friday following detection of an unknown odor and complaints of nausea, according to ABC affiliate WMUR in Manchester.

A hospital spokesperson told WMUR that an unknown odor was detected at Exeter Hospital around 11:15 a.m. ET, with staff and patients complaining of nausea and dizziness. Fire crews were dispatched to the hospital, and both the emergency room and operating room areas were evacuated and closed.   Continue reading “New Hampshire hospital evacuates emergency and operating rooms due to mysterious odor”

AZ Central – by Robert Anglen

A Las Vegas courtroom erupted in drama Thursday when a federal judge ordered a defendant in the Bundy Ranch standoff trial to get off the stand, struck his testimony, dismissed jurors and abruptly left the bench.

Jurors looked stunned as Eric Parker returned to the defense table with his head hung and then buried his face in his hands, according to lawyers in the case.

“He put his head down on the counsel table and appeared to be crying,” defense lawyer Shawn Perez said. “My observation of the jury was they were looking at everybody in the courtroom and going, ‘What just happened?’ ”   Continue reading “Drama erupts at Bundy retrial as judge scolds defendant, orders him off stand”