Thursday, October 3, 2024
It is Thursday, October 3. Here are today’s top stories.
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New allegations on Trump 2020 election actions
On Wednesday, special counsel Jack Smith made a new court filing that provided new information on former President Donald Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Smith said when Trump lost, he “resorted to crimes to try to stay in office.” Smith said when these attempts failed, Trump caused an angry crowd to march to the Capitol.
Smith said Trump allegedly told his family that “it doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election. You still have to fight like hell.”
Smith said Trump put great pressure on former VP Mike Pence to take actions to change the election results. When Pence refused, Trump decided to target him and make false claims that he could block Congress’ certification of the election.
Smith said when the Jan. 6 riot was going on, Trump was scrolling on Twitter and watching television while Pence was being evacuated from the Capitol.
A spokesperson for the Trump presidential campaign said the new court filing was an attempt to interfere with the upcoming election and that it’s a witch hunt.
Some of the information seems to be a repeat of what Smith has already shared in the past. Why the new filing? The Supreme Court, a few months ago, said Trump is immune from criminal prosecution for official actions undertaken while in office. So Smith is now framing Trump’s actions as a private presidential candidate / “office-seeker” in 2020 rather than as a president.
It is up to federal judge Tanya Chutkan to decide whether the things that Smith brought up can be considered separate from presidential immunity and whether Trump can face criminal charges over the 2020 efforts to overturn the election.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/bombshell-special-counsel-filing-includes-new-allegations-trumps/story
https://abcnews.go.com/US/5-key-takeaways-special-counsels-bombshell-filing-trumps/story
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American killed in Israeli airstrike in Lebanon
ABC News reported that an American from Michigan was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Lebanon. ABC News said this is according to the American’s family but it cannot independently verify it. His name is Hajj Kamel Ahmad Jawad.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Michigan) said one of her constituents was killed in an Israeli airstrike. It is probably the same person.
Jawad’s family said they are grieving and remember their father as someone who stood with the oppressed and was calm in his final moments despite seeing missiles fall around him and destroying things.
The White House said it was deeply saddened by the death of Jawad.
https://abcnews.go.com/International/american-killed-israeli-airstrike-lebanon-family/story
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“Baby Reindeer” defamation lawsuit against Netflix can proceed
A federal judge said a woman from Scotland who is accused of stalking Richard Gadd, the creator and actor of the Netflix series, “Baby Reindeer,” can proceed with her defamation lawsuit because the series appears to present itself as fact rather than as a representation of Gadd’s opinion.
The series is about Gadd suffering from being constantly stalked by a woman who is portrayed as “Martha Scott,” which is based on a real-life woman named Fiona Harvey.
Gadd wrote and acted in the story based on his own experiences. The series said it was a “true story,” but not everything in the Netflix series actually happened.
One major difference is that the Netflix series said the woman was convicted of stalking and spent five years in prison, but in real life, Harvey got a warning for harassment.
Netflix tried to argue in court that Harvey “could” have been convicted of stalking but the judge did not accept, saying there is a major difference.
In real life, Harvey did send countless messages to Gadd and touched him without his consent — and received the harassment warning notice. The judge in the case agreed that her conduct was bad, but said the way she was portrayed in “Baby Reindeer” made her look worse.
There may be a trial over this because the lawsuit was allowed to proceed.
https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/30/entertainment/baby-reindeer-lawsuit-intl-scli/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/arts/television/fiona-harvey-baby-reindeer-netflix-lawsuit.html
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Man jailed for creating giant hybrid sheep for hunting
“The Guardian” reported that an 81-year-old Montana man was sentenced to six months in federal prison for illegally using tissue and semen from large sheep hunted in Central Asia and the U.S. to create hybrid sheep for trophy hunting in Texas and Minnesota. The man’s name is Arthur Schubarth. In addition to jail time, he was ordered to pay about $24,000 in fines and fees. Arthur owns a large ranch with various kinds of mountain sheep and goats and allows people to shoot them for a fee. He somehow managed to clone giant sheep and named it “Montana Mountain King,” or MMK for short. He sold the animals to others. Federal authorities said what Arthur did endangered the health of other wildlife.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/01/sheep-cloning-montana-hunting-prison
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Report: Maui wildfire came from single blaze
USAToday reported that authorities in Maui, Hawaii and federal investigators said the devastating Maui wildfire that killed 102 people last year in Lahaina came from a single blaze in vegetation around broken power lines.
The report said the fire started around 6:34 a.m. Fire crews were at the scene to extinguish the blaze and remained at the scene for more than five hours. They were confident that the fire was out, but just before 3:00 p.m., the fire reignited and quickly spread. Investigators said there could have been a piece of smoldering material that blew into a nearby area and caused a rekindling. That fire spread rapidly due to very strong winds on that day and trapped many residents, who were between the mountains and the ocean.
USAToday said local residents put some blame on Hawaii’s largest utility, Hawaiian Electric Industries, for failing to shut off power lines after there were warnings that high winds might blow down power lines and spark wildfires. The company agreed to pay about half of a $4 billion settlement to compensate victims.
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That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.