U.S.Associated PressMississippi revises demands on Favre in welfare lawsuit
The Mississippi Department of Human Services on Monday changed its demands against retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre in a lawsuit that seeks repayment of misspent welfare money that was intended to help some of the poorest people in the U.S. The department dropped its demand of $1.1 million against Favre, acknowledging he has already repaid that money for an unfulfilled pledge of public speeches. But it made a new demand of up to $5 million against Favre and a university sports foundation, saying money from an anti-poverty program was improperly used to pay for a volleyball arena at the University of Southern Mississippi.
U.S.INSIDERAn Arizona cult leader accused of taking more than 20 women and girls as wives 'constantly' said he wanted to kiss and touch his underage daughter, FBI says
The FBI alleges he told the daughter "if his feelings were right, he would make her have a child." An Arizona cult leader from a polygamist sect accused of taking more than 20 women and girls as wives felt compelled to marry his underage daughter and "constantly" said he wanted to kiss and touch the teen, federal court documents allege. The FBI alleges in an affidavit filed last week in federal court in Washington and obtained by Insider that Samuel Rappylee Bateman, 46, first said that he wanted to take his daughter — born in 2005 — as his wife in 2019.
WorldUkrayinska PravdaUkrainian Air Force show results of attack on Russian airbase in Russia's Ryazan Oblast
The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has published photos that show the consequences of an attack on a Russian airbase where long-range strategic aircraft are stationed. Source: Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Details: Members of Ukraine's Air Force have published two photos showing the results of their attack on the Russian Diagilevo military airbase in Ryazan Oblast, and added a comment: "Ryazan. Rest in Peace."
U.S.ReutersNorth Carolina electric grid shooter 'knew exactly what they were doing,' sheriff says
(Reuters) -The orchestrator of gunfire attacks on power stations in North Carolina that left nearly an entire county without electricity for a second straight day knew "exactly" how to disable the stations, sheriff Ronnie Fields said on Monday. Fields' comments came as North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned of a "new level of threat" posed by the incident and called for hardening of critical infrastructure including the power grid. “Protecting critical infrastructure like our power system must be a top priority,” said Cooper, a Democrat, in a press briefing on Monday.
U.S.E! NewsCause of Death Revealed for Jack and Kristina Wagner's Son Harrison Wagner
The cause of death for Jack and Kristina Wagner's son, Harrison Wagner, has been determined. News that Harrison was found dead at a North Hollywood parking lot on the morning of June 6. At the time, officials said they did not suspect foul play, but his cause of death was deferred pending additional investigation.
U.S.Miami HeraldPeople scream as boat propeller kills woman retrieving sandals on Colombia vacation
A woman on vacation in Colombia was fatally struck by a boat propeller when she tried to retrieve her sandals, according to media reports. Natalia Andrea Larrañaga Fajardo, 26, visited San Andrés island's White Watta beach on vacation, Colombian news outlet La Razon reported. Fajardo jumped back into the water to retrieve some sandals when the boat propeller struck her, The Archipeilago Press and Radio Colombia Network reported.
WorldYahoo News UK'Insane' photo shows huge pile of used Russian rockets in Ukraine
A picture has emerged showing the scale of the recent bombardment on Ukraine wrought by Putin's forces. Retired US Army major John Spencer posted what he described as the "insane" photo showing two police officers looking at a fragment pile of Russian rockets that hit Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv. Considered an expert on urban warfare, Spencer has been outspoken on his opinion that the US should send more weapons to Ukraine to help the country defend invasion by the Russians.
U.S.The Daily BeastElementary School Principal Dead in Apparent Disneyland Suicide
An elementary school principal died in an apparent suicide after jumping from a multistory parking structure at Disneyland in California, officials said. Anaheim Police said they found a man dead when they were called to the amusement park just before 9 p.m. on Saturday. On Sunday, the Orange County coroner identified the man as 51-year-old Christopher Christensen, the principal of William T. Newland Elementary School in Huntington Beach.
U.S.INSIDERRudy Giuliani struggled to answer basic questions at his attorney misconduct hearing
Rudy Giuliani appeared as a witness in his attorney misconduct hearing Monday. Opposing counsel grew increasingly frustrated as Giuliani failed to answer straightforward questions, veered off course, and aired nonsense allegations of voter fraud. "I'm asking you what time it is, and you're telling me how to make a watch," the lawyer told Giuliani at one point.
WorldReutersRussia deploys defence missile system on Kuril island near Japan
Russia's defence ministry has said it has deployed mobile coastal defence missile systems on a northern Kuril island, part of a strategically located chain of islands that stretch between Japan and the Russian Kamchatka Peninsula. Japan lays claim to the Russian-held southern Kuril islands, which Tokyo calls the Northern Territories, a territorial row that dates to the end of World War Two, when Soviet troops seized them from Japan. The Russian Bastion systems, which have missiles with a flight range of up to 500 km (310 miles), were deployed on the island of Paramushir, the Russian defence ministry said on Monday.
U.S.JezebelHerschel Walker's Closing Message: 'I Don't Even Know What the Heck Is a Pronoun'
Herschel Walker, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Georgia, doesn't seem to know what a lot of things are. One of the women who says Walker was violent toward her also claimed she witnessed firsthand just how little control Walker has over his dissociative identity disorder in a Daily Beast report from last week.
BusinessBuzzFeedYou've Heard Of "Quiet Quitting," But Now Get Ready For "Shift Shock," The Trend That's Ruining Your New Job
Due to wages not keeping up with the rising costs of inflation and companies starting to end remote working opportunities, among other reasons, we've seen a lot of people jump ship. There's now a term to describe just how you and others may currently feel: shift shock. Kathryn Minshew, CEO and cofounder of The Muse, describes shift shock as “that feeling when you start a new job and realize, with either surprise or regret, that the position or company is very different from what you were led to believe.”
U.S.Associated PressUnmarked graves, an 'ugly history': W.Va. weighs mine safety
The forgotten burial ground is overrun by four-wheel tire tracks near a path strewn with discarded bottles and other trash. More than a century of overgrowth on this West Virginia hillside has erased any trace of the graveyard known locally as Little Egypt, the resting place for dozens of coal miners who died in a 1912 mine explosion. “There are 80 people here that nobody has said a prayer over in a long, long time,” said Ed Evans, a state lawmaker and retired public school teacher as he side-stepped a patch of sunken earth on a rainy summer day.
- PoliticsWashington Post
Republicans respond to Trump’s call to suspend Constitution
On Dec. 4, several Republicans responded to former president Donald Trump calling to suspend the Constitution in another attempt to discredit the 2020 election.
U.S.Miami Herald‘Dangerously defective’ pistol fires even if you don’t touch the trigger, lawsuit says
A gunmaker promised one of its pistols sold in the U.S. “won't fire unless you want it to” — but a new federal lawsuit argues that's a lie. The lives of experienced gun users, who are suing Sig Sauer, Inc., were “upended” by the company's “dangerously defective pistol,” a complaint filed Nov. 30 in federal court in New Hampshire states. Twenty plaintiffs named in the lawsuit became gunshot victims when their own Sig Sauer P320 Pistol fired unexpectedly, without the trigger ever being touched, according to the complaint representing the plaintiffs nationwide.
WorldReutersUkraine hails air defences after heavy Russian missile strikes
Russia rained long-range missiles on Ukraine on Monday, killing two people, destroying homes in the southeast and causing power outages, but Kyiv said its air defences had limited the damage. Air raid sirens blared across the country and men, women and children huddled in the capital's cavernous metro system to take cover during the latest big wave of missile strikes since Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has been targeting Ukraine's power grid in intense waves of attacks since October, and state energy company Ukrenergo, which operates the national power grid, said more infrastructure had been hit on Monday Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal later said energy facilities had been hit i...
WorldNextShark12 Asian countries ranked in top 25 deadliest popular travel destinations
In a list of the 50 most visited countries in the world ranked for their safety, 12 of the 25 deadliest destinations were Asian countries. Despite dominating various guides and lists of must-visit travel destinations, Asian countries did not fare well in a recent safety index published by insurance comparison website The Swiftest. The ranking was determined through seven factors: homicide rate, road traffic death rate, poisoning death rate, unsanitary conditions mortality rate, life years lost due to communicable diseases, life years lost due to injury and natural disaster risk.
BusinessFortuneStarbucks has rolled out a new tipping system and customers are freaking out
The world-famous coffee chain announced the initiative in May as a way for customers to “recognize their favorite baristas.” A Reddit thread about the tipping system has racked up more than 100 comments. Starting August 1, Starbucks increased the average pay for employees to nearly $17/hour in the U.S. Those hired before May 2 would receive either a 3% wage increase or $15/hour, whichever is higher, a spokesperson at Starbucks said.
PoliticsAssociated PressTrump faces peril in docs probe after decades of scrutiny
As a businessman and president, Donald Trump faced a litany of lawsuits and criminal investigations yet emerged from the legal scrutiny time and again with his public and political standing largely intact. The sense of vulnerability has been heightened in recent weeks not only by the Justice Department's appointment of a special counsel with a reputation for aggressiveness but also by the removal of a Trump-requested independent arbiter in the case and by judges' unequivocal rejection of his lawyers' arguments. It's impossible to predict how much longer the investigation will last or whether the Justice Department will take the unprecedented step of indicting a former president and current candidate.
PoliticsINSIDERIncoming House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries says there's 'a real risk' that the new GOP majority in the chamber will be 'hijacked by the extremists'
Hakeem Jeffries said there's "a real risk" the incoming House GOP majority is being "hijacked" by extremists. Jeffries, the incoming House Democratic leader, said Republicans have not laid out an economic plan. During his interview with CNN, Jeffries was relatively mum on his feelings about Kevin McCarthy.
U.S.Sacramento BeeBold coyote grabs toddler outside California home — then dad steps in, video shows
A California father's quick reaction saved his young daughter from being dragged away by a coyote on the sidewalk outside their home, security video shows. Ariel Eliyahuo was collecting his daughter's toys from his SUV while she played on the sidewalk after arriving home from her preschool on Friday, Dec. 2, in Woodland Hills he told KTLA. “I heard her screaming and crying and I thought she fell down and I saw the coyote was there,” Eliyahuo told KNBC.
BusinessTechCrunchSpaceX goes full defense contractor with national security-focused Starshield
SpaceX's launch services have already become an invaluable resource for the U.S. government, but the company is now jumping into the deep end of the pool it had heretofore only splashed around in. Starshield, a new vertical within SpaceX, will provide "government entities" (think three-letter agencies) with secure communications and bespoke satellite designs. The new brand (possibly a subsidiary) appeared as a new top-line category on SpaceX's website, alongside Dragon, Starlink and Starship, but beyond that has not received any visible promotion or discussion in the company's media channels.
U.S.NextShark'Go back to China': Massachusetts driver charged for ramming Asian man 200 yards into ditch
A motorist from Quincy, Massachusetts, has been arrested and charged after allegedly hitting an Asian man and dragging him for hundreds of yards before flinging him into a construction ditch while making anti-Chinese remarks. It all started when the victim — who was standing outside a local post office with his sister and her three children — called out the driver for speeding. The family stayed and collected the driver's information.
U.S.JezebelSamuel Alito 'Joked' About Black Kids Wearing KKK Robes During Oral Arguments
On Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that's framed as being about free speech but is actually a Trojan horse for upending civil rights protections. The case is related to 2018's Masterpiece Cakeshop, and it could not only affect the rights of LGBTQ people, but also open the door for even more legalized discrimination based on race, religion, or disability status. Alito later tried to use this as a jumping off point, suggesting that letting businesses refuse certain clients is good, actually, because that allows them not to serve groups like the KKK, seemingly thinking he'd delivered a stunning checkmate to the woke libs.
- U.S.Associated Press
Farmer: Georgia dog injured saving sheep from coyote attack
A Georgia sheepdog is recovering at home two days after killing a pack of coyotes that attacked his owner's flock of sheep, farmer John Wierwiller said. Casper, a 20-month old Great Pyrenees from Decatur, fought off a pack of coyotes who were threatening Wierwiller's sheep farm, he said. The fight lasted longer than half an hour, left eight coyotes dead and bloodied Casper, with skin and part of his tail torn off, Wierwiller told Atlanta's WAGA-TV.
“Democrats succeeded again in making the former President a central campaign issue, and Mr. Trump helped them do it.”
“If you work…to install a Supreme Court that will eliminate constitutional rights, prepare to live with the electoral consequences.”
“Trump pretty reliably put his thumb on the scale for the riskiest and most flawed candidates.”
“The Republicans should have done much better on inflation and the economy. They lacked an effective and transparent message.”
“Where does Trump end and the far-right begin?”