New report highlights severe intelligence failures on Jan. 6

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Senate investigators have outlined a spectacular series of intelligence and communication failures leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in a new report that paints the picture of a horrific scene that left lawmakers and staff scrambling for safety. 

The 127-page report, which includes a transcript of former President Trump’s speech to rallygoers, is the first full congressional committee review of the deadly attack on Congress as it moved to certify President Biden’s election victory. 

It pieces together multiple warnings of violence that were poorly circulated and largely went unheeded by top leaders in several agencies. That left Capitol Police forces unprepared for clashes with hundreds of protesters outside and inside the building. Continue reading.

Supreme Court Rules Against Immigrants Seeking Green Cards

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The justices said immigrants with “temporary protected status” who entered the country without authorization may not apply for lawful permanent residency.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that immigrants allowed to stay in the United States temporarily for humanitarian reasons may not apply for green cards if they had entered the country unlawfully.

The case, Sanchez v. Mayorkas, No. 20-315, could affect tens of thousands of immigrants. It was brought by Jose Sanchez and Sonia Gonzalez, natives of El Salvador who entered the United States unlawfully in the late 1990s.

In 2001, after earthquakes devastated El Salvador, the United States made that country’s nationals eligible for the “temporary protected status” program. The program shields immigrants from parts of the world undergoing armed conflicts and natural disasters from deportation and allows them to work in the United States. Continue reading.

LaMettry’s Collision Donates Car To Veteran

LaMettry’s Collision, a Minnesota-based auto body business, donated a newly refurbished vehicle to a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, according to a press release. 

“It is a privilege and honor to be part of a company and an industry that is willing to invest time and dollars to make this happen. It is humbling that people from various industry entities work in harmony for what is ultimately for the common good of our community,” LaMettry’s president of operations Darrell Amberson says in the release.

Teri, a Marine veteran from Minnesota, received a Honda Odyssey that was donated by American Family, and fully restored by LaMettry’s Collision and its industry partners.  Continue reading.

Antisemitism Spikes, And Many Jews Wonder: Where Are Our Allies?

For Alex Zeldin, it began as a normal Friday.

He was headed to Trader Joe’s on New York City’s Upper West Side to pick up some food for the Jewish Sabbath.

As usual, he was wearing his yarmulke, or skullcap. When he turned a corner, he realized that a couple of teenagers had started to follow him, spewing antisemitic insults. Continue reading.

Poll: 51 percent of Americans support Trump’s 2-year Facebook ban

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Facebook announced last week that Trump’s account will be suspended until at least 2023.

While the majority of Americans have heard about former President Donald Trump’s Facebook suspension, just over half support the platform’s two-year ban, according to a new POLITICO/ Morning Consult poll released Monday. 

71 percent of voters have heard “a lot” or “some” about Trump’s suspension from the social media platform, while 51 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat support Facebook’s move.

While the majority of Americans have heard about former President Donald Trump’s Facebook suspension, just over half support the platform’s two-year ban, according to a new POLITICO/ Morning Consult poll released Monday. 

71 percent of voters have heard “a lot” or “some” about Trump’s suspension from the social media platform, while 51 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat support Facebook’s move. Continue reading.

Exclusive: New audio of 2019 phone call reveals how Giuliani pressured Ukraine to investigate baseless Biden conspiracies

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Never-before-heard audio, obtained exclusively by CNN, shows how former President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Rudy Giuliani relentlessly pressured and coaxed the Ukrainian government in 2019 to investigate baseless conspiracies about then-candidate Joe Biden. 

The audio is of a July 2019 phone call between Giuliani, US diplomat Kurt Volker, and Andriy Yermak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The call was a precursor to Trump’s infamous call with Zelensky, and both conversations later became a central part of Trump’s first impeachment, where he was accused of soliciting Ukrainian help for his campaign.

During the roughly 40-minute call, Giuliani repeatedly told Yermak that Zelensky should publicly announce investigations into possible corruption by Biden in Ukraine, and into claims that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election to hurt Trump. (These separate claims are both untrue.) Continue reading.

Justice Department proposes policies to address mass shootings

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Administration focuses on stabilizing braces and red flag laws

The Justice Department proposed a new rule Monday to more closely regulate pistols that have “stabilizing braces” to allow them to be fired from the shoulder, which it said has been used in at least two mass shootings in the past three years.

Companies now sell accessories that make it easy for people to convert pistols into more dangerous weapons known as short-barreled rifles, which have heightened regulations because they are easy to conceal, can cause great damage and are more likely to be used to commit crimes, the DOJ said. 

Those accessories mean the owners can get a short-barreled rifle without going through the National Firearms Act’s background check and registration requirements, the proposed rule states. Congress passed the law in 1934 to regulate certain “gangster” type weapons by taxing them, the DOJ said. Continue reading.

U.S. recovers millions in cryptocurrency paid to Colonial Pipeline hackers

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U.S. investigators have recovered $2.3 million worth of cryptocurrency paid as a ransom to the cybercrime group responsible for the attack that shut down Colonial Pipeline last month, the Justice Department announced Monday.

Driving the news: Colonial Pipeline CEO Joseph Blount told the Wall Street Journal he authorized a $4.4 million ransom payment to the DarkSide cybercrime group on May 7th in an attempt to restore service of the largest refined fuel pipeline in the U.S.

  • The company, however, had notified the FBI and followed instructions to help U.S. investigators track the payment, CNN reported. Continue reading.

Trump calls on US to stop using computers: The solution to cyberattacks is to ‘go back’ to ‘paper’

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Former President Donald Trump suggested on Monday that the solution to cyberattacks is to stop using computers.

During an interview on Fox Business, host Stuart Varney asked Trump about how the United States should respond to cyberattacks like the one that recently shut down the Colonial Pipeline.

“The way you stop it is you go back to a much more old-fashioned form of accounting and things,” Trump said. “You know, I have a son who is so good with computers. He’s a young person and he can make these things sing and when you put everything on internet and on all of these machines — you never see a piece of paper — I really think that you have to go back to a different form of accounting, a different form of compiling information.” Continue reading.

GOP governors are cutting unemployment aid. Some have ties to businesses that may benefit.

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In West Virginia, the governor announced he was ending extra federal pandemic jobless benefits. Soon after, the resort he owns saw an uptick in job applications.

When West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice (R) announced his decision last month to cut federal unemployment benefits for his state’s jobless residents, he pointed to what he said was a plethora of openings for those who needed work.

“West Virginians have access to thousands of jobs right now. We need everybody back to work,” he said on May 14. “We’ve got to have you back to work. America is all about work. That’s what has made this great country.”

Justice didn’t need to look far for examples of companies struggling to hire workers. The storied West Virginia resort he owns, the Greenbrier, has been looking for dozens of new employees in recent weeks and until recently had received far fewer applications than normal. But after Justice announced his decision, that started to change, said Kathy Miller, vice president of human resources at the luxury hotel. Continue reading.