National and international media news & headlines compiled by CLG

Breaking: Urgent manhunt for Arizona suspect who threatened to shoot Trump during visit to the border today –Threat comes six weeks after former president came within inches of being murdered | 22 Aug 2024 | Arizona authorities have launched an urgent manhunt for a suspect who allegedly threatened to shoot Donald Trump during a trip to the border on Thursday. Ronald Lee Syrvud, 66, is wanted in connection with an alleged assassination plot planned for the former president’s visit to a vulnerable stretch of the southern border in Cochise County, Arizona. It comes six weeks after an assassination attempt on Trump’s life saw a bullet hit the former president’s ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Police said Syrvud has several other warrants out for his arrest on separate charges, including for a DUI and failure to appear in court in Wisconsin, and for failure to register as a sex offender and felony hit and run in Arizona. Ahead of Trump’s speech at the border, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels told DailyMail dot com authorities have ramped up security “based on the threats made,” as he pointed out that the event is “in an open venue.

“Bombshell new video throws Trump shooter timeline into doubt | 20 Aug 2024 | Donald Trump assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks was spotted wandering through merch stalls less than two hours before he wounded the ex-president. Crooks grazed Trump in the right ear as he spoke at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, and killed supporter Corey Comperatore in the crowd. Trump was shot at 6:11 pm by the first of eight bullets Crooks fired from the roof of a nearby building until he was gunned down by a Secret Service counter-sniper. Joe Tomko, owner of Iron Clad USA, inadvertently filmed Crooks strolling past his booth outside the rally at 4:26 pm – the earliest known recording of him at the rally. This was exactly the same time a local police sniper texted his colleagues to say he had seen a man, believed to be Crooks, sitting at a picnic table nearby… He had none of the gear he brought to the Butler Farm Show grounds, including the backpack that was found later, along with a bike and rangefinder. Crooks was spotted by police and Secret Service agents several times before the shooting, but not stopped – a major security lapse that is [allegedly] under investigation. Group texts between snipers from Beaver, Butler, and Washington County put Crooks in a different location about the same time as the Iron Clad video.

Kamala Harris to Accept Nomination Without Giving a Press Conference or Providing Many Policy Details | 22 Aug 2024 | Kamala Harris will accept the Democrats’ nomination on Thursday without sitting for one interview, giving one press conference, or providing many policy details since joining the race 32 days ago — July 21, 2024. The strategy is notable for three reasons. First, it is a rinse and repeat of President [sic] Joe Biden’s 2020 “basement” strategy to avoid public scrutiny, which counters the multitude of exchanges the media typically conduct when presidential candidates enter races. Second, the strategy underscores the Democrats’ perceived worry about their candidate’s likability and ability to speak off the cuff about policies without delivering a devastating gaffe. More here on Harris’s word salads.

Robert Kennedy Jr.’s running mate suggests ticket may drop out, join forces with Trump to stop Harris –‘Is the risk of a Harris-Walz presidency worth us staying in?’ Nicole Shanahan asked | 20 Aug 2024 | Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan said their campaign is considering dropping out and supporting former President Trump to avoid a Kamala Harris presidency. “We are taking a very serious look at making sure that the people that have corrupted our fair and free democracy do not end up in office,” she said on an episode of the Impact Theory podcast posted Tuesday. The entrepreneur and attorney admitted there are two paths for the RFK campaign to go down, one being to stay in the race and create more legitimacy for independent presidential candidates, or to suspend its run and endorse Trump, which could give him the lift he needs to beat Harris in November. “Is the risk of a Harris-Walz presidency worth us staying in?” she asked podcast host Tom Bilyeu.

GOP senators kick off Trump campaign DNC counter-programming: Harris ‘doesn’t have a clue’ | 19 Aug 2024 | Former President Trump’s campaign launched a counter-programming effort in Chicago, Illinois, with two big-name surrogates who hammered Kamala Harris on inflation and the economy as the Democratic National Convention gets underway in the city. “You can tell right now by what very few proposals that Kamala Harris has put on the table,” began Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., “She doesn’t have a clue.” Johnson and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., stood in front of several charts that demonstrated rising prices on food and necessities at the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago on Monday. The senators slammed the current state of the economy, specifically hitting Harris and Joe Biden and their administration for facilitating inflation increases.

Supreme Court reinstates part of Arizona voter citizenship law –Individuals filling out voter registration forms for state elections must provide proof of U.S. citizenship, unlike those filling out the federal voter registration forms. | 22 Aug 2024 | The U.S. Supreme Court revived part of Arizona’s proof of voter citizenship law on Thursday, allowing for restrictions regarding the state voter registration form. Following a request from the Republican National Committee and Arizona Republicans, the Supreme Court reinstated a provision of the state law after federal courts blocked it, Reuters reported. Individuals filling out voter registration forms for state elections must provide proof of U.S. citizenship, unlike those filling out the federal voter registration forms. A provision of the law requiring that registrants demonstrate proof of citizenship when registering with the federal forms for the presidential election remains on ice.

Ohio state secretary says 100 non-US citizens voted in recent elections, begins process to prosecute | 22 Aug 2024 | The Ohio Secretary of State’s office referred 138 non-U.S. citizens who were found on registered voter rolls to the state’s attorney general on Thursday. The move comes as part of a months-long audit of the state’s voter rolls by Secretary Frank LaRose. Fox News Digital has previously reported on a purge of hundreds of other non-citizens from the state’s voter registration earlier this year. “I’m duty-bound to make sure people who haven’t yet earned citizenship in this country do not vote in our elections,” LaRose said in a statement. “We’ve so far identified 597 individuals who’ve registered to vote in Ohio despite not being citizens of the United States, as our state constitution requires. The evidence includes 138 individuals who appear to have cast a ballot in an Ohio election during the time state and federal records show they lacked citizenship status. The law requires me to refer these individuals to the attorney general, and that’s what we’re doing today,” he added.

Canada: Major Freight Railways Come to Full Stop, Leaving Food Rotting, After Trudeau Inaction | 22 Aug 2024 | Canada’s much-feared railroad stoppage began on Thursday after a last-ditch round of talks between railroad companies and the Canadian Teamsters Union failed to resolve their differences. Two of Canada’s largest rail freight networks have shut down, while tens of thousands of commuters in major cities were left without transportation. Canada’s two biggest freight lines, Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), made good on their threat to lock out over 9,300 railroad workers, conductors, and engineers on Thursday after the midnight deadline for a new contract passed. The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference simultaneously voted in favor of going on strike.

FDA approves updated Pfizer, Moderna Covid vaccines as virus surges; shots to be available within days | 22 Aug 2024 | The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday approved updated Covid vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna, putting the new [kill] shots on track to reach most Americans in the coming days amid a summer surge of the virus. The jabs target a strain called KP.2, a descendant of the highly contagious omicron subvariant JN.1 that began circulating widely in the U.S. earlier this year. KP.2 was the dominant Covid strain in May, but now only accounts for roughly 3% of all U.S. cases as of Saturday, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. Still, Pfizer and Moderna have said their KP.2 vaccines can produce stronger immune responses against other circulating subvariants of JN.1, such as KP.3 and LB.1, than last year’s round of shots targeting the omicron strain XBB.1.5 can.

U.S. economy created 818,000 fewer jobs than previously reported | 21 Aug 2024 | U.S. job growth during much of the past year was significantly weaker than previously reported, according to new data published Wednesday. The Bureau of Labor Statistics revised down its total tally of jobs created in the year through March by 818,000 as part of its preliminary annual benchmark review of payroll data. That suggests the economy added an average of 174,000 jobs per month during that time period – below the previous 242,000 estimate. On a monthly basis, that amounts to about 68,000 fewer jobs. It marks the largest downward revision since 2009.

Tesla Semi battery fire in California rages at 1,000 degrees, spews toxic fumes, shuts down interstate | 20 Aug 2024 | A Tesla Semi crashed in Northern California on Monday, triggering a hazardous materials incident after the battery ignited and sparked a raging fire that spewed toxic fumes, authorities said. Interstate 80 near Colfax was closed in both directions after Tesla’s electric big rig model crashed into trees off the shoulder of the roadway at around 3:15 a.m. Monday, California Highway Patrol (CHP) said. Officials said the semi driver walked away from the crash and was taken to a hospital. The Tesla’s battery burned at around 1,000 degrees, and firefighters used “thousands and thousands” of gallons of water in attempts to cool the wreckage, CHP Officer Jason Lyman told KCRA-TV.

PBS’s Judy Woodruff apologizes for falsely telling live audience Trump tried to talk Israel out of cease-fire deal | 21 Aug 2024 | A PBS senior correspondent apologized Wednesday after falsely telling her audience that former President Donald Trump tried to talk Israel out of a cease-fire amid its ongoing war in Gaza. Judy Woodruff [long-term Project Mockingbird troll] passed off blame for the blunder by “clarifying” that she based the flimsy scoop on outside reporting she had read before broadcasting from the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago on Monday. “The reporting is that former President Trump is on the phone with the prime minister of Israel, urging him not to cut a deal right now, because it’s believed that would help the Harris campaign,” Woodruff told a PBS roundtable.