Year: 2019

Press Herald – by Randy Billings

Portland City Manager Jon Jennings said Monday that the flow of African asylum seekers coming to Maine’s largest city appears to be slowing and city officials are turning their attention to finding temporary and permanent housing for the more than 200 people now sheltered at the Portland Expo.

Jennings said only four people presented themselves at the Expo on Monday, bringing the total number since June 9 to 223 people. He said 60 families, totaling 212 people, stayed at the shelter Sunday night. Dozens of people were showing up each day last week, prompting the city to convert the sports arena into an emergency shelter Wednesday. Continue reading “Portland looks to house African migrants as councilors discuss aid”

Free Beacon – by David Rutz

The Broadway production of a play about Bill and Hillary Clinton talking frankly about her 2008 presidential campaign will close a month ahead of schedule, due to low ticket sales.

Starring Laurie Metcalf and John Lithgow, Hillary and Clinton was set to close on July 21 but will instead close June 23. It cost $4.2 million to produce.  Continue reading “Broadway Play About Clintons to Close One Month Early”

Yahoo News

President Trump issued a public warning Monday night, by tweet, of a mass deportation effort by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), to start next week.

“Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States,” he tweeted.  Continue reading “Ex-ICE officials criticize Trump’s tweet about upcoming deportation sweep”

AOL

Patrick Shanahan, the acting secretary of defense who President Donald Trump said would be tapped to take over the job permanently, is stepping down and withdrawing from consideration, Trump said Tuesday.

“Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who has done a wonderful job, has decided not to go forward with his confirmation process so that he can devote more time to his family,” Trump tweeted.  Continue reading “Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan steps down, withdraws from Cabinet consideration”

New York Post

They were dead wrong.

Cops and medics were so duped by a diapered doll made to look like a baby’s decomposing body near a Queens park on Tuesday that they pronounced it “dead” and spent hours at the scene before figuring out it was just a toy.  Continue reading “‘Dead baby’ found in Queens park appears to be hoax”

RT

US President Donald Trump has cryptically suggested he knows who is responsible for the 9/11 attacks, but would not name the names.

Speaking to ABC’s George Stephanopoulos in the Rose Garden of the White House this weekend, the president digressed from the subject of the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the infamous terrorist attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York and Washington in 2001.  Continue reading “Trump ‘thinks he knows’ who was behind 9/11”

RT

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus says “the technology for autonomous flying” is already here, and the only obstacles to progress are regulators – and “the traveling public,” understandably wary of pilotless planes.

Ever since two Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft went down within six months of each other due to a glitch in the plane’s computerized flight control system, killing everyone onboard, airline passengers have had good reason to be leery of placing their lives in the hands of computers. News that Boeing was aware of the problems with its MCAS system and packaged the software “fix” as an add-on to extract more money from its customers only adds to fliers’ distrust of the company. But what about Airbus, its main competitor?  Continue reading “Airbus attempts to sell the world on pilotless planes – or would you rather fly Boeing?”

The Appeal – by Katie Rose Quandt

In October 2017, Derek Benefield was driving in the Florida Panhandle’s Jackson County when he was pulled over for allegedly swerving into the opposite lane. Once at the car, sheriff’s deputy Zachary Wester claimed to smell marijuana and conducted a search of the vehicle, which, he reported, turned up methamphetamine and marijuana. Despite insisting the drugs weren’t his, Benefield, who was already on probation, was arrested, charged $1,100 in fines and court fees, and sentenced to one year in county jail.  Continue reading “Floridians Are Suing A Cop Fired For Planting Drugs In Their Vehicles”

New York Post

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday night signed legislation granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants — shortly after the controversial measure passed the state Senate.

Cuomo’s action came despite throwing supporters a last minute curveball by asking the state’s top civil attorney, Solicitor General Barbara Underwood, to review the measure for possible safety concerns — threatening to veto it if he didn’t like her assessment. Continue reading “Cuomo signs bill granting driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants”

The Great Recession

The US deficit this year is already over three-quarters of a trillion dollars, putting the first eight months of the fiscal year almost equal with the entire past fiscal year. It is also $200 billion above the previous record for this portion of the year, and this May’s deficit alone was 40% higher than last May’s.

The previous deficit record was set in the middle of the last recession, which means the government is already spending more than it did to try to pull us out of the last financial crisis. In spite of all of this fiscal stimulus, the economy appears to be receding on many fronts.  Continue reading “Is the Fed Dead?”

Army News Service

WASHINGTON — The Army is accelerating its efforts to field a directed-energy prototype system by fiscal year 2022, and hypersonic weapon prototype by fiscal 2023.

For starters, the Army is fast-tracking the development and procurement of the Multi-Mission High Energy Laser, or MMHEL system, said Lt. Gen L. Neil Thurgood, director of hypersonics, directed energy, space, and rapid acquisition.  Continue reading “Army accelerates delivery of directed energy, hypersonic weapon prototypes”

Yahoo News

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Monday it is easing previously announced cuts in hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to the Central American nations of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala but will not allow new funding until those countries do more to reduce migrant flows to the United States.

The State Department said that after a review of more than $615 million in assistance that President Donald Trump ordered in March to be cut entirely, it would go ahead with $432 million in projects and grants that had been previously approved. The remaining amount will be held in escrow pending consultations with Congress, it said. Continue reading “US restores some aid to El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala”

NBC News

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan announced Monday that President Donald Trump’s administration will send a thousand troops to the Middle East amid increased tensions with Iran.

Shanahan said that the increased forces were in response to a request from U.S. Central Command for defensive purposes to address air, naval and ground-based threats in the Middle East. U.S authorities accused Iran of attacks on two tankers last week, though the country’s foreign minister has denied the accusations.  Continue reading “U.S. sending 1,000 troops to Middle East amid heightened tension with Iran”

BBC

Egypt’s former President Mohammed Morsi, ousted by the military in 2013 after one year in office, has collapsed in a courtroom and died, officials say.

A top figure in the now-banned Islamist movement Muslim Brotherhood, Morsi had just spoken from a cage at a hearing on charges of espionage. State TV said the cause of death was a heart attack.  Continue reading “Egypt’s ousted president Mohammed Morsi dies during trial”