A congressional candidate who said he was tricked by Democrats into running as a spoiler in a competitive House race in Minnesota suspended his campaign Thursday and endorsed his Republican rival.

Thomas Bowman, an independent running in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District, said he’d come to the realization that he was a “pawn” for Democrats deceptively working to split the conservative vote.

Bowman was among several candidates recruited by the Patriots Run Project, which worked to install pro-Trump conservatives as independent candidates in at least eight key House and Senate races.

An AP investigation found an array of Democratic consulting firms and donors are secretly driving the effort, which used deceptive Facebook pages and websites to recruit candidates and funded efforts to qualify for the ballot.

Bowman said he would suspend his campaign and endorse Republican Joe Teirab, who is seeking to unseat Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in the suburban Minneapolis district. His name will remain on the ballot.

“I certainly spent a lot of time and effort influencing the race as a pawn in this scheme here,” said Bowman, 71, a retiree who had been campaigning as a constitutional conservative.

In an interview with AP last month, Bowman said he suspected he may have been recruited by Democratic operatives hoping to reelect Craig and that he received nearly $20,000 in donations to gather signatures for ballot access. At that time, he said he saw nothing wrong with the arrangement.

Bowman said he changed his mind in part after learning one of the donors, Elizabeth Steinglass, had also given to Craig’s campaign.

Steinglass and her husband, David, have given millions to Democratic political candidates and groups, and both have given the maximum this cycle to Craig’s campaign.

“Thomas is a true patriot for his willingness to boldly call out the dirty tricks that Angie Craig’s allies pulled in an attempt to interfere in the election,” Teirab said in a statement.

The Craig campaign said it had no involvement “with Mr. Bowman’s effort to get on the ballot.”

The Steinglass family, which has declined comment, and a number of other Democratic donors have given to other candidates recruited by the Patriots Run Project.

Some of the group’s recruits did not make the ballot, and Bowman is the second to drop out after realizing they had been manipulated.

In Iowa, the Division of Criminal Investigation has opened an election fraud inquiry after independent candidate Joe Wiederien said he’d been tricked and withdrew his name from the ballot in a competitive House race.

A complaint has also been filed with the Federal Election Commission alleging the group failed to register as a political committee, which would likely reveal the identity of its management and donors. Facebook has taken down the group’s pages, and its websites have been deleted.

In Wisconsin, “America First” candidate Thomas Leager announced Monday that he would stay in the race against Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin and her Republican challenger Eric Hovde. He said he had “made the mistake of trusting the Patriots Run Project” but was undaunted.

“At the end of the day, I’m grateful and blessed to have the chance to try and serve the state and country I love to the best of my ability,” he said.

After a decade of unfulfilled promises about driverless vehicles, Tesla CEO Elon Musk hyped the company’s Cybercab concept on Thursday night, showing off a low, silver two-seater with no steering wheels or pedals.

Rolling up to the stage in a Cybercab almost an hour after the company’s “We, Robot” event was supposed to begin, Musk said the company had 21 of these vehicles, and a total of 50 “autonomous” cars on-location at the Warner Bros. studio in Burbank, California where Tesla hosted its invitation-only event.

Musk offered no details about exactly where Tesla plans to produce the cars, but said consumers would be able to buy a Tesla Cybercab for below $30,000. He said the company hopes to be producing the Cybercab before 2027.

He also said he expects Tesla to have “unsupervised FSD” up and running in Texas and California next year in the company’s Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles.

FSD, which stands for Full Self-Driving, is Tesla’s premium driver assistance system, available today in a “supervised” version for Tesla electric vehicles. FSD currently requires a human driver at the wheel, ready to steer or brake at any time. Earlier this year, Tesla tacked “supervised” onto the product name.

“It’s going to be a glorious future,” Musk said on Thursday night.

Musk also revealed plans to produce an autonomous, electric Robovan that can carry up to 20 people, or be used to transport goods. He said it will “solve for high density,” transporting a sports team, for example.

He said the Cybercab and Robovan would employ inductive charging, meaning these autonomous vehicles could roll up to a station to recharge, with no plugging in required.

Musk has spent years touting Tesla’s work in autonomous cars and promising that they would hit the market. Along the way, he’s repeatedly woven a fantastical vision for shareholders, setting and missing his own deadlines.

In 2015, Musk told shareholders that Tesla cars would achieve “full autonomy” within three years. They didn’t. In 2016, Musk said a Tesla car would be able to make a cross-country drive without requiring any human intervention before the end of 2017. That never happened. And in 2019, on a call with institutional investors that would help him raise more than $2 billion, Musk said Tesla would have 1 million robotaxi-ready vehicles on the road in 2020, able to complete 100 hours of driving work per week each, making money for their owners.

In April this year, Musk was still telling investors autonomy is the company’s future.

“If somebody doesn’t believe Tesla’s going to solve autonomy, I think they should not be an investor in the company,” he said on a call with analysts. “We will, and we are.”

At Thursday night’s event, which he previously characterized as a “product launch,” Musk welcomed attendees to “party,” and said they would be able to take test rides in the autonomous vehicles on location, in the closed environment of the movie studio lots.

Toward the end of his approximately 23 minutes on stage, the CEO said Tesla wanted to show its humanoid robot now in development, dubbed Optimus, was not just for “a canned video.”

Musk said, “The Optimus robots will walk among you,” then asked attendees to “be nice” to the robots, which would be serving drinks at a bar on site. The presentation ended with Musk saying “let’s party,” and the livestream showing a group of Optimus robots dancing to club hits.

The event was Tesla’s first product unveiling since the company showed off the design for its Cybertruck in 2019. The angular steel pickup began shipping to customers in late 2023, and has been the subject of five voluntary recalls since then in the U.S.

Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Republican candidate Kari Lake faced off in their only debate in the Arizona Senate race Wednesday, and the two contenders frequently traded barbs.

Gallego and Lake, who are vying for retiring Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s (I) seat, participated in a debate hosted by Arizona’s Citizens Clean Elections Commission and the Arizona Media Association. While immigration and the border were a clear focus, the two offered their takes on other key issues such as the economy, inflation and abortion.

The debate comes at a pivotal time for both candidates, less than a month out from Election Day, with Arizona set to play a key role in who takes control of the White House and the Senate majority.

Though an aggregate of Arizona surveys compiled by Decision Desk HQ shows a tighter race at the presidential level — with former President Trump at 49 percent and Vice President Harris at 48 percent — its aggregate of Arizona Senate polls shows Gallego enjoying a wider lead against Lake, 50 percent to 42 percent.

Here are five takeaways from the Arizona Senate debate:

Debate quickly turns feisty

The debate grew personal quickly as both candidates lobbed attacks at each other within the first few minutes.

Gallego in his opening remarks mentioned his biography serving in Iraq, saying he learned that “in war, there are no Democrats, no Republicans — just young men and women trying to live one more day and be better Americans,” before moments later attacking Lake.

“By contrast, we’re going to see and talk to somebody who has really failed the basic test of honesty. She has lied to Arizonans about the 2022 election. She has said that she still is the rightful governor of Arizona,” Gallego said, referring to Lake’s refusal to concede her 2022 loss when she ran for Arizona governor.

Lake used her opening statement to go after Gallego, too, accusing him of having “undergone an extreme makeover” politically.

“We’re going to watch as somebody tries to reinvent himself, somebody who used to be a member of the Progressive Caucus, somebody who has destroyed the very congressional district that he has served for the past 10 years where homelessness is on the rise,” Lake said, noting Gallego’s past membership with the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Border, immigration take center stage

Immigration was a clear focus of the night, with roughly 20 minutes of the debate delving into issues related to the topic.

Lake attacked Gallego on the issue, referencing remarks he made in 2017, for example, in which he called Trump’s border wall “stupid” and “dumb.” She also sought to tie Gallego to President Biden and Harris over the issue, while aligning herself closely to Trump.

“We need somebody who understands the threat on the border, and I do, and President Trump does, and on Day 1, we’re going to get busy undoing the damage caused by Kamala Harris, Joe Biden and Ruben Gallego, who’s voted with them 100 percent of the time,” Lake said.

Meanwhile, Gallego sought to position himself as a problem-solver, saying he had championed efforts in Congress to tackle the issue while criticizing Lake for opposing the bipartisan border bill.

He also notably pressed Lake several times on whether she was in favor of deporting “Dreamers,” people who crossed into the country illegally as children and have since lived in the U.S.

“Will you deport Dreamers? Just be honest — yes or no,” Gallego pressed Lake, who replied, “No.”

“President Trump wanted to make a deal when it came to Dreamers. You said no,” she said. “Unfortunately, the radical Democrats, like my opponent, would rather use people as political pawns. I want to secure the border.”

Lake ties Gallego to Biden, Harris

Lake sought to tie Gallego to Biden and Harris, saying he had voted with the current administration 100 percent of the time. Harris and Trump are largely polling neck and neck in the state.

“He’s voted with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. Arizona, you gotta know this,” Lake said.

“He’s voted with Kamala Harris and Joe Biden 100 percent of the time. He wants to act like he’s bipartisan. He was the leader of the Progressive Caucus.”

Gallego has been pressed about his more moderate political stance in the Senate race, given he’s previously touted himself as a progressive and was a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

The Arizona Democrat explained to NBC News in April that he had let his caucus membership expire because the group “actually increased their dues tremendously, and that comes out of my staff pay, and so, you know, we have to make decisions,” while also acknowledging the political terrain of his state.

Meanwhile, Gallego largely made no mention of Harris during his remarks and occasionally brought up Trump. Instead, Gallego leaned on his experience in Congress while making his case to voters.

“We’ve passed legislation that mandates that our government negotiates the prices of prescription drugs. We’ve capped insulin at $35. Next year’s seniors, they’re going to have their prescription drugs capped at a total of $2,000,” Gallego said at one point in a response about how he would make life more affordable.

Gallego targets Lake over election, abortion stances

Gallego used the debate to take jabs at Lake over her previous remarks on past election results and her stance on abortion. Lake gained national attention for disputing the 2020 election results while running for Arizona governor in 2022, and she has refused to concede her 2022 race.

Gallego mentioned at one point that Lake was “in denial” about climate change, adding later she was also in denial about the 2022 election.

“Now, I give you one minute. Will you finally tell the people of Arizona: Did you win or lose that election?” Gallego asked Lake.

“Can I talk about water really quickly?” she responded, during a portion of the debate that centered on energy and water supply.

The Arizona congressman also attacked Lake for previously praising a 1864 law that has since been repealed that would have jailed doctors who performed abortions.

“Do we want politicians like Kari Lake to be involved in these very, very difficult decisions when they should be left to the woman, the doctor and the family?” Gallego said.

Lake maintained that abortion access should be left to the states and said she would not support federal legislation limiting abortion access. She suggested women were having abortions because they couldn’t financially shoulder the costs of having children.

“I don’t want any woman out there to make that choice because she can’t afford to live because of the votes that people like Ruben Gallego have made that have made our economy practically collapse,” she said. “It’s on life support right now. So I want to go to the U.S. Senate and pass the most pro-family legislation.”

Candidates’ last opportunity to make their pitch

The debate offered Arizona voters a rare opportunity to see both candidates onstage as they sought to offer contrasting visions of their campaigns.

The debate between Gallego and Lake was a departure from 2022, when Katie Hobbs (D) declined opportunities to debate Lake during their race for Arizona governorship. Hobbs narrowly won that election.

The debate also coincided with the start of early voting in Arizona, as ballots began to be mailed out Wednesday.

Overall, Wednesday night’s event was perhaps Lake and Gallego’s last opportunity to make their pitch to voters, with less than 30 days until Election Day.

During a pre-campaign-rally stop in Pittsburgh on Thursday, former President Barack Obama appeared to admonish Black Americans who have not been as fervent in their support for Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid as they were for his in 2008 and 2012.

Obama stopped at a campaign office in the Steel City before taking the stage with Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr., D-Pa., later in the afternoon.

The prominent Democrat said he has noticed a difference in the excitement surrounding the current Democratic nominee, particularly among African-Americans.

“We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all corners of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running,” Obama began.

“Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothers. So if you don’t mind — just for a second, I’ve got to speak to y’all and say that when you have a choice that is this clean: When on the one hand, you have somebody who grew up like you, went to college with you understands the struggles [and the] pain and joy that comes from those experiences…”

According to several reports, Obama then went on to contrast that vision – presumably of Harris – to that of former President Trump.

Appearing to continue to address Black Americans, Obama said the real estate mogul-turned-politician is someone who “has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person – And you are thinking about sitting out?”

The 44th president went on to say many people apprehensive of Harris are coming up with “all kinds of reasons and excuses” to either sit home or support another candidate.

“[P]art of it makes me think, and I’m speaking to men directly… that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”

Reacting to the comments on Fox News Channel, “Jesse Watters Primetime” host Jesse Watters said Obama’s remarks are evidence Obama believes Harris “has officially plateaued” in popularity.

Have no fear, @BarackObama is here…. to mansplain @KamalaHarris to the country. Obama thinks Kamala’s “plateaued” and behind the scenes, he’s saying Kamala’s losing the black vote. After Harris couldn’t hit a single pitch in any of her softball interviews, the Obamas and the… pic.twitter.com/pCwkH8rmPV

— Jesse Watters (@JesseBWatters) October 11, 2024

“He was just caught saying this moments ago in Pittsburgh,” Watters said, before playing a clip of Obama.

In addition, former DeKalb County, Georgia Executive Vernon Jones – a longtime Democrat who joined the GOP in 2021 – reacted on X by saying Obama was being dispatched by “White liberals” to “Blackman-splain” why fellow African-Americans should vote for Harris.

“No thanks, BO – Blacks had enough of you and Kamala Harris,” Jones said in part.

BREAKING NEWS: @BarackObama sent out by White liberals to “Blackman-splain” to get Black men to vote for @KamalaHarris. Wait, his mother and Kamala’s mother are both “WHITE.”

Obama doesn’t even have Black neighbors, and 99% of his handlers are White.

I don’t have anything in… pic.twitter.com/0cb5WEr0hs

— Vernon Jones (@VernonForGA) October 11, 2024

Conservative commentator Benny Arthur Johnson called the comments “sickening.”

“Obama descend[ed] into end-stage race hatred politics,” he said.

For his part, President Biden also made waves when he similarly admonished Black Americans who were waffling ahead of the 2020 election.

During a May 2020 interview from his Greenville, Del. home studio with the New York City radio program “The Breakfast Club,” Biden remarked that his wife Jill soon needed to use the same studio.

“You’ve got more questions?” he responded to host Charlamagne Tha God on the matter. “Well I tell you what – If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.”

After the exchange went viral, Biden said he “shouldn’t have been such a wise guy” at the time.

In response to Obama’s Pittsburgh visit writ large, Pennsylvania Team Trump spokesman Kush Desai said things can’t be going well for Democrats if they have to “fly in Barack Obama from his $12 million Martha’s Vineyard estate…”

“While it’ll probably be a slightly less unhinged affair than what other Kamala surrogates are doing to move the needle, an Obama visit isn’t going to convince Pennsylvanians to vote for another four years of open borders, rising prices, and disaster at home and abroad.”

In a statement following publication of Obama’s remarks, Desai said Obama should “stick with proselytizing America through his … Netflix grift instead of condescending Pennsylvanians to their faces.”

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sparked disgust and anger on social media after she fed a Dorito to a kneeling podcaster in a video that went viral online.

The Michigan governor participated in an interview with feminist podcaster Liz Plank, but also published a short video of her feeding Nacho cheese Doritos to her as she knelt in front of the Michigan governor.

Plank runs a feature called ‘Chip Chat,’ where hosts talk about their favorite snacks and talk about issues they care about.

But the chip delivery video went too far for many Catholics, who expressed their outrage as it appeared to be a mockery of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.

Whitmer gazes at the camera while wearing a camo designed Kamala Harris hat, after feeding a kneeling Plank a Nacho Cheese Dorito, frequently described by Harris as her favorite snack.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Liz Plank (@feministabulous)

It can only be described as a ‘mockery of Catholics and the sacrament of Holy Communion’ said the organization CatholicVote, adding ‘not to mention the distasteful pornographic innuendo?’

The group’s president reacted by demanding an apology from Whitmer in a statement to DailyMail.com.

‘Catholics demand an immediate apology for Gretchen Whitmer’s offensive display that mocks what is most sacred to Catholics,’ said Brian Burch.

‘She has continued the Democrats’ hateful tradition of mocking Catholics and people of faith who will not support their left-wing agenda to usher in a culture of death.’

The familiar scene of a Catholic kneeing and receiving a host made of bread, believed to be the body of Christ, is a sacred ritual in the Catholic Church.

‘Democrat Gov Gretchen Whitmer blasphemes the Eucharist, feeding a Dorito to a leftist podcaster as if it’s Holy Communion,’ wrote conservative podcaster Liz Wheeler on X. ‘Wearing a Kamala hat.’

‘More decadent-empire behavior from Democrats, this time via Governor Nero of Michigan,’ wrote Daily Wire podcaster Michael Knowles.

‘Am I mistaken, or is this mocking Catholic communion? I can’t imagine any politician being that stupid … but then again, I can’t imagine any other interpretation,’ wrote conservative blogger Ed Morrissey.

Others on social media found the video bizarre.

‘What is happening here. What is Gretchen doing. I have so many questions,’ wrote Libs of TikTok on X.

‘Remember when Gretchen Whitmer called JD Vance weird?’ asked X user Bonchie, a writer for the conservative website RedState.

An Afghan migrant accused of planning to launch an ISIS-inspired Election Day terrorist attack in America used to work for the CIA, a bombshell report reveals.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, whose arrest in the U.S. was announced earlier this week by the Justice Department, had been a security guard for the intelligence agency in Afghanistan, NBC News reported.

The Justice Department said Tawhedi ‘conspired and attempted to provide material support to ISIS and obtained firearms and ammunition to conduct a violent attack on U.S. soil in the name of ISIS.’

He is accused of plotting to purchase automatic assault riffles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and several magazines but was stopped after authorities broke up the deal.

Tawhedi entered the U.S. on September 9, 2021 on a special immigrant visa.

He was arrested on Monday with an unnamed alleged co-conspirator, who is a juvenile relative.

Before his arrest he had liquidated his family’s assets and bought one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.

‘Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people,’ FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement on Tuesday.

After he was arrested, the Justice Department said, Tawhedi told investigators he had planned an attack for Election Day that would target large gatherings of people.

Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to ISIS.

He faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years for providing support to ISIS, and 15 years for obtaining a firearm to commit a felony or a federal crime of terrorism.

‘Following the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, more than 77K Afghans were given humanitarian parole, with little to no vetting and no intent to know their whereabouts,’ Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote earlier this week when the arrest was announced.

‘Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi -the terrorist plotting an election day attack – was one of them.’

‘Whether it’s their open border policies or failed foreign policy, this administration continues to risk American lives by allowing terrorists, murders, rapists, and other violent criminals into our homeland.’

In congressional testimony about the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan many witnesses have decried the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to leave the country.

The U.S. surrendered Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan where scores of ISIS prisoners were being kept.

That base also reportedly had sensitive areas used by the CIA.

After the evacuation, the Bagram prisoners were freed and the U.S. military equipment and intelligence left behind at the site.

An FBI affidavit does not reveal precisely how Tawhedi came onto investigators’ radar, but cites what it says is evidence from recent months showing his determination in planning an attack.

A photograph from July included in the affidavit depicts a man investigators identified as Tawhedi reading to two young children, including his daughter, ‘a text that describes the rewards a martyr receives in the afterlife.’

Attorney General Merrick Garland said: ‘As charged, the Justice Department foiled the defendant’s plot to acquire semi-automatic weapons and commit a violent attack in the name of ISIS on U.S. soil on Election Day.

‘We will continue to combat the ongoing threat that ISIS and its supporters pose to America’s national security, and we will identify, investigate, and prosecute the individuals who seek to terrorize the American people.’

He added: ‘I am deeply grateful to the public servants of the FBI, National Security Division, and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Oklahoma for their work to disrupt this attack and for the work they do every day to protect our country.’

According to the criminal complaint, Tawhedi entered the United States on September 9, 2021 on a special immigrant visa.

It said an FBI ‘confidential human source’ contacted Tawhedi after he recently advertised the sale of his family’s personal property on Facebook.

The FBI source said he needed a computer for a gun business he was starting and Tawhedi expressed interest in purchasing two AK-47 assault rifles and ammunition, according to the complaint.

On Monday, Tawhedi and the juvenile met with ‘FBI assets’ at a rural location in Oklahoma and purchased two AK-47 assault rifles, 10 magazines, and 500 rounds of ammunition, it said.

Donald Trump’s “God Bless the USA” Bibles were printed in China, records show.

Global trade records reviewed by news agency The Associated Press show a printing company in China’s eastern city of Hangzhou shipped close to 120,000 of the Bibles to the United States between early February and late March.

The estimated value of the three separate shipments was $342,000, or less than $3 per Bible, according to databases using customs data to track exports and imports.

The minimum price for the Trump-backed Bible is $59.99, putting the potential sales revenue at about $7 million.

The Trump Bible’s connections to the Asian country appear to be at odds with the former president’s harsh anti-China rhetoric.

The largest and most recent shipment of 70,000 copies of Trump’s Bible arrived by container vessel at the Port of Los Angeles on March 28, two days after Trump announced in a video posted on his Truth Social platform that he had partnered with country singer Lee Greenwood on the Bibles.

The religious books were inspired by Greenwood’s ballad “God Bless the USA”.

A photo posted on the website shows Trump sitting at his desk in the Oval Office with Greenwood standing beside him.

In another photo, the former president smiles broadly while holding a copy of the Bible.

The Bible includes copies of the US Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Pledge of Allegiance.

“This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back in America, and to make America great again, is our religion,” Trump said.

Judeo-Christian values, he added, were “under attack, perhaps as never before”.

Trump didn’t say where the “God Bless the USA” Bibles are printed, or what they cost.

A copy hand-signed by the former president sells for $1,000. Trump also has not disclosed how much he earns per sale.

One version of the $59.99 Bible memorializes the July 13 assassination attempt on the former president in Pennsylvania. Trump’s name is on the cover above the phrase, “The Day God Intervened.” The wording appears to have been stamped on after the Bible was produced, AP reported.

Trump said on Saturday his would-be assassin did not succeed “by the hand of providence and the grace of God”.

The Bibles are sold exclusively through a website that states it is not affiliated with any political campaign or owned or controlled by Trump.

The website states that Trump’s name and image are used under a paid license from CIC Ventures, a company Trump reported owning in his most recent financial disclosure.

CIC Ventures earned $300,000 in Bible sales royalties, according to the disclosure.

It is unclear what period that covers or how much Trump received in additional payments since the disclosure was released in August.

Twelve tourists who were trapped inside a Colorado gold mine for several hours were rescued on Thursday after an elevator malfunctioned during a tour that killed one person, officials said.

The group was trapped after the elevator inside the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine – a family-owned business that offers tours to the public – experienced a mechanical issue at 500 feet deep around noon, Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said during a press conference streamed by FOX21 News.

“I am relieved that 12 of the people trapped in the Mollie Kathleen Mine have been safely rescued. Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the individual lost in this incident,” Governor Jared Polis said in a statement, also praising the swift response by state and local first responders and law enforcement.

“Thanks to this collaborative effort, each of these individuals will return home safely”

One person died, and four people suffered minor injuries during the elevator issue, the sheriff said.

Officials have not released details about the person killed, including their identity or how they died.

Authorities rescued 11 people — including two children — from the elevator earlier in the day, while the 11 tourists and one mine staffer were stuck 1,000 feet underground.

The trapped group was provided drinking water, chairs and blankets as rescuers worked to get the elevator back up to working conditions to bring the tourists to safety, according to the sheriff.

The gold mine located in Cripple Creek, about 20 miles southwest of Colorado Springs, closed operations in the 1960s but remains open as a tourist attraction.

Ethel Kennedy, matriarch of the Kennedy dynasty and widow of former United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, has died at the age of 96.

The sister-in-law of the late President John F. Kennedy had suffered a stroke in her sleep last week and was rushed to hospital.

She was one of the last links to the ‘Camelot’ era of JFK’s presidency.

The third of her 11 children – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – ran a high-profile campaign for president in 2024 as an independent candidate, before endorsing Donald Trump in August.

His campaign, and his views on vaccines, led to division in the Kennedy clan. Some other members denounced him and threw their support behind the Democratic nominee.

However, Ethel Kennedy never commented publicly on her son’s actions.

Ethel Kennedy was widowed at the age of 40 when Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated.

She was by her husband’s side when he was fatally shot in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles on June 5, 1968, just after winning the Democratic presidential primary in California.

She was pregnant with their youngest child at the time.

It was among a series of devastating tragedies for her family.

Ethel’s brother-in-law, President John F. Kennedy, had been assassinated in Dallas less than five years earlier.

Her parents were killed in a plane crash in 1955, and her brother died in a 1966 crash. Her son David Kennedy later died of a drug overdose, son Michael Kennedy in a skiing accident, and nephew John F. Kennedy Jr. in a plane crash.

Following her husband’s assassination she never remarried and dedicated the rest of her life to philanthropy and issues including gun control.

She founded the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and worked tirelessly for world peace.

She spent her summers on Cape Cod in the family’s storied compound in Hyannis Port, but largely stayed out of public life.

Her death was announced by former Rep. Joe Kennedy III – a grandchild – who now serves as the U.S. Special Envoy for Northern Ireland under President Joe Biden.

‘It is with our hearts full of love that we announce the passing of our amazing grandmother, Ethel Kennedy,’ Joe Kennedy said on X. ‘She died this morning from complications related to a stroke suffered last week.’

‘Along with a lifetime’s work in social justice and human rights, our mother leaves behind nine children, 34 grandchildren, and 24 great-grandchildren, along with numerous nieces and nephews, all of whom love her dearly,’ he said.

‘She was a devout Catholic and a daily communicant, and we are comforted in knowing she is reunited with the love of her life, our father, Robert F. Kennedy; her children David and Michael; her daughter-in-law Mary; her grandchildren Maeve and Saoirse; and her great-grandchildren Gideon and Josie,’ Joe Kennedy said. ‘Please keep her in your hearts and prayers.’

It was in 1945 when a 17-year-old Ethel became friends and roommates with Jean Kennedy at the Manhattanville College of the Sacred Heart.

The same year, she was introduced to Jean’s brother Robert during a skiing trip in Quebec, Canada.

At the time, Robert was dating Ethel’s sister Patricia. But when that relationship came to an end, she and Robert started seeing each other.

In 2012, she appeared in a documentary about her life directed by her youngest child, Rory.

In 2014, then-President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the United States for ‘advancing the cause of social justice, human rights, environmental protection, and poverty reduction.’

During the ceremony, he said she has ‘touched the lives of countless people around the world with her generosity and grace.’

In 2021, she released a rare public statement opposing the release of her husband’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan.

The California parole board recommended he be freed, but the move was blocked by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

In April, Ethel Kennedy celebrated her 96th birthday surrounded by her family including children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

As the presidential election heated up the public row between Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and some of her other children also gathered steam.

When he endorsed the Republican nominee, Trump, in August he was denounced in a statement by five of his siblings.

They wrote: ‘Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear. It is a sad ending to a sad story.’

Hurricane Milton barreled into the Atlantic Ocean on Thursday after plowing across Florida, where it knocked out power to more than 3 million customers and whipped up 150 tornadoes. The storm caused at least four deaths and compounded the misery wrought by Helene while sparing Tampa a direct hit.

The system tracked to the south in the final hours and made landfall late Wednesday as a Category 3 storm in Siesta Key, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Tampa. Damage was widespread, and water levels may continue to rise for days, but Gov. Ron DeSantis said it was not “the worst-case scenario.”

The deadly storm surge feared for Tampa never materialized, though the storm dumped up to 18 inches (45 centimeters) of rain in some areas, the governor said. The worst storm surge appeared to be in Sarasota County, where it was 8 to 10 feet (2.5 to 3 meters) — lower than in the worst place during Helene.

“We will better understand the extent of the damage as the day progresses,” DeSantis said. “We’ve got more to do, but we will absolutely get through this.”

As dawn broke Thursday, storm-surge warnings were still posted for much of the east-central Florida coast and north into Georgia. Tropical storm warnings were in place along the coast into South Carolina. Officials in the hard-hit Florida counties of Hillsborough, Pinellas, Sarasota and Lee urged people to stay home, warning of downed power lines, trees in roads, blocked bridges and flooding.

“We’ll let you know when it’s safe to come out,” Sheriff Chad Chronister of Hillsborough County, home to Tampa, said on Facebook.

Just inland from Tampa, the flooding in Plant City was “absolutely staggering,” according to City Manager Bill McDaniel. Emergency crews rescued 35 people overnight, said McDaniel, who estimated the city received 13.5 inches (34 cm) of rain.

“We have flooding in places and to levels that I’ve never seen, and I’ve lived in this community for my entire life,” he said in a video posted online Thursday morning.

The tiny barrier island of Matlacha, just off Fort Myers, got hit by both a tornado and a surge, with many of the colorful buildings in the fishing and tourist village sustaining serious damage. Tom Reynolds, 90, spent the morning sweeping out four feet of mud and water and collecting chunks of aluminum siding torn off by a twister that also picked up a car and threw it across the road.

Elsewhere on the island, a house was blown into a street, temporarily blocking it. Some structures caught fire. Reynolds said he planned to repair the home he built three decades ago.

“What else am I going to do?” he said.

In contrast, city workers on Anna Maria Island were grateful not to be wading through floodwaters as they picked up debris Thursday morning, two weeks after Helene battered buildings and blew in piles of sand up to 6 feet (1.8 m) high. Those piles may have helped shield homes from further damage, said Jeremi Roberts of the State Emergency Response Team.

“I’m shocked it’s not more,” city worker Kati Sands said as she cleared the streets of siding and broken lights. “We lost so much with Helene, there wasn’t much left.”

The storm knocked out power across a large section of Florida, with more than 3.4 million homes and businesses without electricity, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.

The fabric that serves as the roof of Tropicana Field — home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team in St. Petersburg — was ripped to shreds by fierce winds. Debris littered the field, but no injuries were reported. Before the storm hit, first responders were moved from a staging area there.

St. Petersburg residents could no longer get water from their household taps because a water main break led the city to shut down service. Mayor Ken Welch had told residents to expect long power outages and the possible shutdown of the sewer system.

State officials said they completed more than 40 rescues overnight and crews would be going door to door in some areas Thursday. In Tampa, police said they rescued 15 people from a single-story home damaged by a fallen tree.

“We are laser-focused on search-and-rescue operations today,” said Col. Mark Thieme, executive director of the Florida State Guard.

Among the scores of tornadoes, one twister touched down in the lightly populated Everglades and crossed Interstate 75. Another apparent tornado hit in Fort Myers, snapping tree limbs and tearing a gas station’s canopy to shreds.

The Spanish Lakes Country Club near Fort Pierce, on Florida’s Atlantic Coast, was hit particularly hard, with homes destroyed and at least four people killed in tornadoes, the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office said.

Before the hurricane arrived, about 125 homes were destroyed, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

About 90 minutes after making landfall, Milton was downgraded to a Category 2 storm. By early Thursday, the hurricane was a Category 1 storm with maximum sustained winds of about 85 mph (135 kph) and leaving the state near Cape Canaveral.

The storm slammed into a region still reeling two weeks after Hurricane Helene flooded streets and homes in western Florida and left at least 230 people dead across the South. In many places along the coast, municipalities raced to collect and dispose of debris before Milton’s winds and storm surge could toss it around and compound any damage.

Officials had issued dire warnings to flee or face grim odds of survival.

Jackie Curnick said she wrestled with her decision to stay at home in Sarasota, just north of where the storm made landfall. She and her husband started packing Monday to evacuate, but they struggled to find available hotel rooms, and the few they came by were too expensive.

With a 2-year-old son and a baby girl due Oct. 29, Curnick said there were too many unanswered questions if they got in the car and left: Where would they sleep? Would they be able to fill their gas tank? And could they even find a safe route out of the state?

“The thing is it’s so difficult to evacuate in a peninsula,” she said ahead of the storm. “In most other states, you can go in any direction to get out. In Florida, there are only so many roads that take you north or south.”

Video taken during the storm showed howling winds and sheets of rain lashing their glass-enclosed swimming pool as their son and dog watched. Trees shook violently.

On Thursday morning, she reported that the family was without power but safe.

About 80,000 people spent the night in shelters and thousands of others fled after authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders across 15 Florida counties with a total population of about 7.2 million people.

In Orlando, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and Sea World remained closed Thursday. The Tampa airport, which took minimal damage, was expected to reopen no later than Friday, DeSantis said.

Crossing the bridge from the mainland to Anna Maria Island early Thursday, Police Chief John Cosby breathed a sigh of relief. Nearly all residents had evacuated, there were no injuries or deaths and the projected storm surge never happened. After fearing that his police department would be under water, it remained dry.

“It’s nice to have a place to come back to,” he said.

Arizona State University student Kaci Sloan, who is accused of stabbing a fellow student twice in a Glendale classroom last month in an apparently random attack, entered a not-guilty plea in Maricopa County on Wednesday after two of her four charges were dismissed last week.

Maricopa County authorities initially charged Sloan, 19, with four counts, including first-degree attempted murder, in connection with the attack against student Mara Daffron. After a preliminary hearing on Sept. 30, Sloan now faces charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and disorderly conduct, according to court records.

Judge Ashley Rahaman also gave Sloan a cash bail of $250,000 and listed the conditions of her release should she be able to post bail in full.

Sloan allegedly walked up to her classmate, Daffron, on Sept. 19 and stabbed her “multiple times,” according to an affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital citing multiple witness accounts.

Matthew McCormick, a student who witnessed the attack unfolding in the classroom, took swift action to stop the alleged stabbing, potentially saving Daffron’s life, according to FOX 10 Phoenix.

“In that moment, I didn’t really have a thought going through my head, I just knew that I felt compelled to do something,” McCormick told the outlet.

Approximately 13 witnesses present during the attack, including a professor, recounted the incident to police, who wrote in a probable cause affidavit obtained by Fox News Digital that the stabbing occurred “without any provocation or any words spoken.”

Police corroborated McCormick’s account in their report, stating that one of the witnesses “was able to disarm the defendant by pulling the knife away from the defendant’s right hand and threw it away from them.” Another witness then “kicked the knife to the back of the classroom.”

“Another witness described the defendant was sitting in the classroom at a desk and suddenly got up and ran at the victim as the victim entered the classroom and stabbed her multiple times,” the affidavit states.

Detectives found a handwritten note inside Sloan’s backpack that apparently referenced an act she was “about to commit,” but it did “not specifically state what she was referring to.”

Sloan also allegedly expressed the desire to “hurt somebody” in class that day in an interview with detectives after the incident and targeted Daffron because she was “an easier target” than the other person she apparently considered attacking, who she referred to as “a veteran.”

Authorities quickly arrived at the scene and took Daffron to a nearby hospital, where she received treatment.

“ASU Police continue to investigate a Sept. 19 on-campus stabbing of a student. Kaci Sloan was immediately detained and arrested on suspicion of first-degree attempted murder; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; interfering with an educational institution; and disorderly conduct. She is being held on a $250,000 cash only bond,” an ASU spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement. “ASU and the entire ASU West Valley community are deeply saddened by what happened. ASU West Valley is a close-knit campus of students, faculty and staff. Counseling support is available to all.”

Sloan has an initial pretrial conference scheduled for Nov. 21.

Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to make his first appearance before the judge who is expected to preside over the hip-hop powerbroker’s trial on sex trafficking charges.

Combs will be brought to Manhattan federal court from a Brooklyn jail for a Thursday afternoon appearance before Judge Arun Subramanian.

The hearing is expected to result in deadlines being set for lawyers on each side to submit arguments that will establish the boundaries for a trial that Combs’ lawyers want to start in April or May. Prosecutors have not expressed a preference for when the trial might occur.

The judge was assigned to the case after another judge recused himself based on his past associations with lawyers in the case.

Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to charges lodged against him last month. Those charges included racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking based on allegations that go back to 2008.

An indictment alleges Combs coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violent acts including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

His lawyers have been trying unsuccessfully to get the founder of Bad Boy Records freed on bail since his Sept. 16 arrest.

Two judges have concluded that Combs is a danger to the community if he is freed. At a bail hearing three weeks ago, a judge rejected a $50 million bail package, including home detention and electronic monitoring, after concluding that Combs was a threat to tamper with witnesses and obstruct a continuing investigation.

In an appeal of the bail rulings to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for Combs on Tuesday asked a panel of judges to reverse the bail findings, saying the proposed bail package “would plainly stop him from posing a danger to anyone or contacting any witnesses.”

They urged the appeals court to reject the findings of a lower-court judge who they said had “endorsed the government’s exaggerated rhetoric and ordered Mr. Combs detained.”

A crumbling economy and porous border, or the scary Project 2025 and loss of “reproductive rights”; those are the messages both parties are inundating Americans with as election day rapidly approaches.

But if Republicans hope to reach the estimated 10 million gun owners not registered to vote, hunting and pro-gun organizations alike know traditional messaging won’t do it. A coalition of pro-gun organizations believe those non-voters could swing the election, and are using hunting and firearm influencers, social media and messaging catered specifically towards gun owners to engage them.

“Bill Clinton acknowledged, as did Clinton’s campaign, the White House spokesman Joel Lockhart admitted, that the gun vote cost Al Gore the White House. It cost John Kerry the White House. It cost the Democrats control of Congress in 1994 after they passed the Clinton gun ban, and we believe it can be a determinative factor in this election in places where there’s high gun ownership, in places like Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Montana, Arizona, Nevada,” Larry Keane, senior vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told the Daily Caller.

“We believe [gun owners] will be a determinant factor, particularly when the contrast is so stark. You have a candidate on the Democrat side who was coronated and wants to literally, wants to send the police to your home to see how you store your guns, and wants to confiscate firearms,” Keane added.

Former President Donald Trump himself believes gun owners can sway the election. Speaking at a recent rally, he said that the National Rifle Association had shown him numbers about how infrequently gun owners vote.

“If you would vote, nobody would beat us,” Trump said.

No matter your reason for owning a firearm — whether for hunting, self-defense, or just as an exercise of your Constitutional right — law-abiding gun owners have a clear choice this fall if they hope to preserve their Second Amendment rights. https://t.co/IisqXxUbb5

— NRA (@NRA) October 4, 2024

According to Vote4America, more than 10 million gun owners across the country are not registered to vote. 515,277 are in Pennsylvania and about 370,000 each are in Michigan and North Carolina, according to data obtained by the New York Post.

In Georgia, Wisconsin, Missouri and Virginia, more than half a million gun owners are not registered to vote, and another 133,000 are not registered in Arizona.

For Republicans, these figures can be perplexing, but gun owners explained to the Caller that there is skepticism towards voting and politics as a whole in the community. Some believe that because they don’t want the government in their business, then they shouldn’t get involved by voting.

“I think that we as conservatives and gun owners rest on our laurels because we feel like we have the Constitution and we have the truth on our side, and that we don’t really see the threat for what it is. If you even peek behind the curtain of the gun control lobby, you’ll see that it’s starting to expose itself now that they are willing to usurp or destroy the Constitution in order to get their New World way. So I just think it’s a little bit of ignorance and a little bit of apathy that they don’t think that it’s going to happen here,” Dianna Muller, founder of Women for Gun Rights, told the Caller.

Muller explained that she believes many gun owners don’t trust the integrity of the election process, which also may drive some away from voting.

To combat this skepticism, pro-gun organizations have recognized that their messaging can’t mirror traditional political ads. At Hunter Nation, Keith Mark, a self-described traditional Democrat, told the Caller that it starts with identifying gun owners that have the “traditional, conservative values of God, family, country, the Constitution and the hunting lifestyle” and focusing on them ahead of the election. But the secret, he said, are the platforms the organization uses to carry its message to those voters.

“It’s not only the message, it’s how we deliver it and who delivers it, and so we rely very heavily on hunting influencers and hunting celebrities,” Mark told the Caller.

“Instead of selling a product, we’re selling freedom. We’re selling their lifestyle. We’re selling the ability to be independent and not hassled by your government, because these people that hunt when we poll them, it’s just like, ‘hey, I don’t want the government in my business, and so I’m not going to go get in their business.’ Well, we figured out how to message them and let them know that, ‘hey, listen, they’re going to come into your business. They’re going to take over your business if you don’t go vote once a year.’”

“So it’s like, basically, guys, you need to get off your tree stands and out of the duck marshes, and out of the deer woods and pheasant fields and go vote,” Mark said, adding that the group never pushes the demographic to vote for a specific candidate.

Kick your fellow real American hunters to vote!
Go to https://t.co/MLcuQUPzNG

Join me for full on truth logic and commonsense on my @realamericasvoice Spirit Campfire:https://t.co/3xSbZaP8SB#truth #logic #commonsense pic.twitter.com/TNj3J4SBxV

— Ted Nugent (@TedNugent) October 7, 2024

To carry its message, Hunter Nation, alongside the NRA, has partnered with celebrities such as Ted Nugent, Donald Trump Jr. (a prominent hunting enthusiast) and the Duck Dynasty organization, Mark told the Caller. Similarly, Vote4America has teamed up with pro-gun personalities like Brooke Ence, Shawn Ryan, Andy Stumpf, Andy Frisella, Dan Hollaway, Shermichael Singleton, and Jason Alden to encourage gun owners to vote, senior adviser Baker Leavitt told the Caller.

Mark expects these types of partnerships to pay off in a big way.

In Wisconsin, according to Hunter Nation’s data, 416,085 gun owners are low-propensity, at risk or newly-registered voters. Of that total, the organization expects to turn out 54,196, Mark said. Biden won the state in 2020 by 20,600 votes.

In Michigan, the number of those potential voters is 452,471. The organization is estimating that it will turn out 70,142 in the 2024 election. Biden won the state in 2020 by 154,000 votes.

The organization also expects to have a big impact in Georgia, where Biden won by about 11,000 votes in 2020. Hunter Nation hopes to turn out 122,913 of the state’s more than 825,000 low-propensity or newly-registered gun owners, Mark said.

In perhaps the election’s most critical state, Pennsylvania, which Biden previously won by about 80,000 votes, the hunting group says their campaign projects to turn out at least 58,000 low-propensity gun owners.

Are you registered to vote?
.
John Bingaman, PA state director, was out with his kiddos on Sunday. We want to make sure you and your friends,family, and everyone you know get out and vote in less than 40 days! 40% of hunters don’t vote.

Register here https://t.co/dPQkJGvGTi pic.twitter.com/ZJdiAPtOIC

— Hunter Nation (@HunterNation) September 27, 2024

“What people miss about firearm ownership, and gun owners specifically, is they’re not super partisan, and they’re not necessarily overly political. I think we have a tendency in the political space, as pundits or as operatives to think of this being like a really polarizing, divisive issue, and the reality is it just isn’t for a majority of gun owners. They own firearms. They have them in their house. They grow up with them. They hunt with them. They have them for self-defense, and it’s just a part in a way of life,” Katie Pointer Baney, the executive director for the United States Concealed Carry Association for Saving Lives Action Fund told the Caller of their GOTV efforts. She added that as a part of the group’s messaging they are telling gun owners to keep exercising their freedoms, they need to be involved in the political process.

Hunter Nation is not alone in its work in Pennsylvania. Scott Presler and his organization Early Vote Action are barnstorming gun shows and ranges across the state to register gun owners to vote.

“This year, I can tell you, we went to the great American Outdoor Show, and then that week, we registered 319 voters just at that show alone. We’ve also been to the Monroeville gun show several times. We’ve been to the Philly Expo Center several times, and I can confidently say that we have registered thousands of second amendment-supporting folks at these gun shows just this year alone,” Presler told the Caller. Presler previously told the Caller that his organization is in communication with the Republican National Committee and Trump campaign regarding their get-out-the-vote efforts in the state.

While some organizations are hitting gun shows and utilizing hunting personalities, others are banking on their large membership and resources to help mobilize more pro-gun voters.

“We are working to reach unregistered gun owners in the battleground states that will decide the outcome of the election, and we have reached eight figures, let’s say, in unregistered voters with messages urging them to get registered to vote, helping to provide them with information to our gunvote.org website, to find out where they can get registered, how they get registered, where their polling place is, and then we try to communicate information to those individuals and others,” Keane told the Caller.

And while most groups are barred from working with the campaign because of nonprofit laws, a senior Trump campaign official told the Caller that they have been doing outreach with Gun Owners of America. Erich Pratt, the senior vice president of Gun Owner of America, told the Caller that they have a network of nearly two million gun owners who they are targeting ahead of the election through newsletters and their national convention.

On its own, the senior Trump official told the Caller that the campaign is focusing on using mail and text campaigns to target gun owners through state parties to help “highlight what a gun-grabber Harris has been throughout her entire career.” In May, the Trump team launched a “Gun Owners for Trump” coalition that is led by over 50 Olympic athletes, firearm industry leaders and public advocates.

The groups’ efforts could all come down to one thing: whether gun owners trust the election process.

Almost all the gun organizations the Caller spoke to said that the gun owning demographic’s low propensity to vote can, in part, be attributed to their lack of trust in the voting process. It’s a problem the Trump campaign is directly trying to address with its election integrity efforts.

A senior Trump campaign official explained to the Caller that the GOP has heavily focused on election integrity in the 2024 cycle, filing more than 100 lawsuits, securing many legal wins in swing states and hiring a coalition of tens of thousands of poll watchers to help be a “giant human intelligence operation” that will identify any issues and notify the party of such. The party was previously under a consent decree for nearly 40 years, until 2018, that prohibited them from truly launching an election integrity effort.

“The voter roles are much cleaner broadly, and we just have a much bigger, organizational effort that knows what to look for and is prepared. There’s many less drop boxes. There’s cameras on drop boxes, things that didn’t exist four years ago,” the official told the Caller.

“All of that should give people a great degree of confidence that what happened last time is not going to happen this time. And there’s the whole eyes of the world on it this time as well,” they added.

Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz said on Tuesday that the “Electoral College needs to go,” forcing the Kamala Harris campaign to release a statement saying it does not support abolishing the Constitutional mechanism for presidential elections.

At two campaign fundraisers on the West Coast, Walz called for abolishing the Electoral College, arguing that it forces candidates to focus too much attention on a handful of battleground states, The New York Times reported.

“I think all of us know, the Electoral College needs to go. We need a national popular vote,” Walz told donors at California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s home in Sacramento. “So we need to win Beaver County, Pennsylvania. We need to be able to go into York, Pennsylvania, and win. We need to be in western Wisconsin and win. We need to be in Reno, Nevada, and win.”

At an event earlier on Tuesday, Walz told supporters that he is “a national popular vote guy, but that’s not the world we live in.”

Following the Minnesota governor’s call for the Electoral College to be abolished, the the Harris campaign said in a statement, “Governor Walz believes that every vote matters in the Electoral College and he is honored to be traveling the country and battleground states working to earn support for the Harris-Walz ticket.”

“He was commenting to a crowd of strong supporters about how the campaign is built to win 270 electoral votes. And, he was thanking them for their support that is helping fund those efforts,” the statement added.

The Electoral College was established in Article II and the 12th Amendment of the Constitution, which calls for “Electors” to “meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President.” The system requires presidential candidates to gain support from voters across the U.S. instead of focusing on states and cities with the largest populations.

As governor, Walz has pushed for presidents to be elected by popular vote instead of through the Electoral College. In May of 2023, Walz signed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact into law, making Minnesota the 17th state to agree to award its electoral votes to the candidate who wins the national popular vote.

Walz is not the only Democrat pushing for the end of the Electoral College. After losing the 2016 election to former President Donald Trump, Democrat Hillary Clinton argued for electing presidents through a national popular vote. While Clinton won the popular vote against Trump, she lost to the Republican nominee in the Electoral College 227 to 304.

During the 2020 Democratic presidential campaign, candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) all called for abolishing the Electoral College while on the campaign trail. Harris said in 2019 that she was “open to the discussion” of abolishing the Electoral College.

“I mean, there’s no question that the popular vote has been diminished in terms of making the final decision about who’s the president of the United States and we need to deal with that,” Harris said.

Hillary Clinton can’t catch a break, the poor thing. It’s been almost eight years since the hot-sauce-in-the-purse lady hosted a “victory” party under a giant glass ceiling and primed confetti cannons to blast out shards of symbolism to celebrate her historic election as president. Instead we got her longtime goon John Podesta fighting back tears and telling everyone to go home for the night.

As a consolation prize, the powers that be touted the hell out of the memoir Hillary wrote after that disastrous and terribly funny occasion. Her publisher bragged rather pathetically that the 2017 book, What Happened, sold more copies in its first week (167,000) than any “hardcover nonfiction title published since 2012.”

Knowing the Clintons, there were presumably a lot of shady Democratic donors with warehouses full of those books, at least until they could sell them at a modest discount to some third-world orphanage.

Hillary has just written another memoir about how unfair it was that she lost to Donald Trump and why you still owe her an apology for being right about everything.

Released last month, Something Lost, Something Gained: Lessons on Life, Love, and Liberty is a tedious slog through familiar grievances and blatant lies about her “thicker skin” and “stiffer spine.” She lauds herself as “the first woman to win a presidential primary, the nomination of a major party, and the national popular vote.”

She remembers the good times when she “flew on Air Force One, dined with kings and queens, and was constantly surrounded by armed guards.” She refuses to go away or accept the fact that no one cares.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that sales of her second angsty screed about losing the 2016 election are much lower this time around.

Something Lost, Something Gained sold just 27,000 copies in its first week, according to an industry source. That’s less than 20 percent of her “record-breaking” haul during the Trump administration, when trauma-brained MSNBC viewers were particularly ravenous for #Resistance slop.

That’s still an alarming number of copies—more than eight times the week-one sales for Extremely Online (2023), the fawning history of teen influencers by disgraced reporter Taylor Lorenz. But the trend line is promising.

The pace of price increases over the past year was higher than forecast in September while jobless claims posted an unexpected jump following Hurricane Helene and the Boeing strike, the Labor Department reported Thursday.

The consumer price index, a broad gauge measuring the costs of goods and services across the U.S. economy, increased a seasonally adjusted 0.2% for the month, putting the annual inflation rate at 2.4%. Both readings were 0.1 percentage point above the Dow Jones consensus.

The annual inflation rate was 0.1 percentage point lower than August and is the lowest since February 2021.

Excluding food and energy, core prices increased 0.3% on the month, putting the annual rate at 3.3%. Both core readings also were 0.1 percentage point above forecast.

A separate report Thursday showed weekly jobless claims hitting a 14-month high, indicating potential softness in the labor market despite the big jump in nonfarm payrolls in September. However, most the surge could be tied to the hurricane and strike.

Much of the inflation increase — more than three-quarter of the move higher — came from a 0.4% jump in food prices and a 0.2% gain in shelter costs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in the release. That offset a 1.9% fall in energy prices.

Other items contributing to the gain included a 0.3% increase in used vehicle costs and a 0.2% rise in new vehicles. Medical care services were up 0.7% and apparel prices surged 1.1%.

Stock market futures moved lower following the report while Treasury yields were mixed.

The release comes as the Federal Reserve has begun to lower benchmark interest rates. After a half percentage point reduction in September, the central bank is expected to continue cutting, though the pace and degree remain in question.

Fed officials have become more confident that inflation is easing back toward their 2% goal while expressing some concern over the state of the labor market.

“The overall trend is what’s important, not the day to day fluctuations,” Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” following the release. “The overall trend over 12, 18 months is clearly that inflation has come down a lot, and the job market has cooled to a level which is around where we think full employment is.”

While the CPI is not the Fed’s official inflation barometer, it is part of the dashboard central bank policymakers use when making decisions. Several of its key components filter directly into the Fed’s key personal consumption expenditures price index.

Though the inflation reading was higher than expected, traders in futures markets increased their bets that the Fed would lower rates by a quarter percentage point at their Nov. 6-7 policy meeting, to about 86%, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch gauge.

Goolsbee said the data is largely in line with Fed expectations and shouldn’t be viewed in isolation as having an outsized influence on policy.

“I just want to caution everybody, let’s settle down when one one month numbers come in,” he said. “That’s not what we should be basing the monetary policy on. We should be basing it on the long part.”

In recent days, policymakers have said they see rising risks in the labor market, and another data point Thursday helped buttress that point.

Initial filings for unemployment benefits took an unexpected turn higher, hitting as seasonally adjusted 258,000 for the week ended Oct. 5. That was the highest total since Aug. 5, 2023, a gain of 33,000 from the previous week and well above the forecast for 230,000.

Continuing claims, which run a week behind, rose to 1.861 million, a rise of 42,000.

The jobless claims figures follow the damage from Hurricane Helene, which struck Sept. 26 and impacted a large swath of the Southeast. Florida and North Carolina, two of the hardest-hit states, posted a combined increase of 12,376, according to unadjusted data.

A strike by 33,000 Boeing workers also could be hitting the numbers. Michigan had the largest gain in claims, up 9,490 on the week.

On the inflation side, rising prices across a variety of food categories showed that it is proving sticky.

Egg prices leaped 8.4% higher, putting the 12-month unadjusted gain at 39.6%. Butter was up 2.8% on the month and 7.8% from a year ago.

However, shelter costs, which have held higher than Fed officials anticipated this year, were up 4.9% year over year, a step down that could indicate an easing of broader price pressures ahead. The category makes up more than one-third of the total weighting in calculating the CPI.

PENNSYLVANIA: Harris 49%, Trump 46%, other candidates 2%

MICHIGAN: Trump 50%, Harris 47%, other candidates 2%

WISCONSIN: Trump 48%, Harris 46%, other candidates 2%

Less than a month until Election Day, the so-called Blue Wall battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin show a tight presidential race where neither Vice President Kamala Harris nor former President Donald Trump is winning as all three states are too close to call, according to Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh- pea-ack) University polls of likely voters in each of the states released today.

In Quinnipiac University’s September 18 poll, Harris held a lead in Pennsylvania, a slight lead in Michigan, and the race was essentially tied in Wisconsin.

Harris vs. Trump: The Issues

Likely voters were asked who they think would do a better job handling seven issues…

The economy:

PA: 49 percent say Trump, while 47 percent say Harris;
MI: 53 percent say Trump, while 45 percent say Harris;
WI: 53 percent say Trump, while 44 percent say Harris.

Immigration:

PA: 50 percent say Trump, while 46 percent say Harris;
MI: 53 percent say Trump, while 44 percent say Harris;
WI: 52 percent say Trump, while 44 percent say Harris.

Preserving democracy in the United States:

PA: 44 percent say Trump, while 50 percent say Harris;
MI: 49 percent say Trump, while 48 percent say Harris;
WI: 47 percent say Trump, while 48 percent say Harris.

Abortion:

PA: 37 percent say Trump, while 55 percent say Harris;
MI: 40 percent say Trump, while 52 percent say Harris;
WI: 39 percent say Trump, while 53 percent say Harris.

The conflict in the Middle East:

PA: 47 percent say Trump, while 46 percent say Harris;
MI: 53 percent say Trump, while 43 percent say Harris;
WI: 51 percent say Trump, while 44 percent say Harris.

As Commander in Chief of the U.S. military:

PA: 48 percent say Trump, while 48 percent say Harris;
MI: 52 percent say Trump, while 46 percent say Harris;
WI: 51 percent say Trump, while 45 percent say Harris.

A crisis that put the country at great risk:

PA: 46 percent say Trump, while 49 percent say Harris;
MI: 52 percent say Trump, while 46 percent say Harris;
WI: 49 percent say Trump, while 47 percent say Harris.

Pennsylvania: Presidential Race

In Pennsylvania, 49 percent of likely voters support Harris, 46 percent support Trump, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver each receive 1 percent support.

This compares to September when Harris led with 51 percent support, Trump received 45 percent support, and Stein and Oliver each received 1 percent support.

In today’s poll, Democrats 94 – 4 percent support Harris, while Republicans 90 – 9 percent support Trump. Among independents, 47 percent support Trump, 43 percent support Harris, and 3 percent support third- party candidates (2 percent support Stein and 1 percent support Oliver).

In a hypothetical two-way race, Harris receives 49 percent support and Trump receives 47 percent support.

Michigan: Presidential Race

In Michigan, 50 percent of likely voters support Trump, 47 percent support Harris, and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver and independent candidate Cornel West each receive 1 percent support.

This compares to September when Harris received 50 percent support, Trump received 45 percent support, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein received 2 percent support.

In today’s poll, Republicans 96 – 3 percent back Trump, while Democrats 98 – 1 percent back Harris. Independents are divided, with 48 percent supporting Trump, 46 percent supporting Harris, and 3 percent supporting independent or third-party candidates (2 percent support West and 1 percent support Oliver).

In a hypothetical two-way race, Trump receives 51 percent support and Harris receives 47 percent support.

Wisconsin: Presidential Race

In Wisconsin, 48 percent of likely voters support Trump, 46 percent support Harris, and Green Party candidate Jill Stein and Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver each receive 1 percent support.

This compares to September when Harris received 48 percent support, Trump received 47 percent support, and Stein received 1 percent support.

In today’s poll, Republicans 95 – 4 percent support Trump, while Democrats 98 – 2 percent support Harris. Independents are split, with 47 percent supporting Trump, 43 percent supporting Harris, and 3 percent supporting third-party candidates (2 percent support Stein and 1 percent support Oliver).

In a hypothetical two-way race, Trump receives 49 percent support and Harris receives 47 percent support.

From October 3rd – 7th, the Quinnipiac University Poll surveyed:

• 1,412 likely voters in Pennsylvania with a margin of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points;
• 1,007 likely voters in Michigan with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percentage points;
• 1,073 likely voters in Wisconsin with a margin of error of +/- 3.0 percentage points.

Hurricane Milton is expected to be a “dangerous major hurricane” when it reaches Florida’s west-central coast Wednesday night as the storm remains on track for a potentially calamitous landfall near or just south of Tampa Bay.

The storm track is looking likely to slip just south of Tampa Bay to a point between there and Sarasota. Where the peak surge hits will cause widespread, potentially “catastrophic” destruction, the National Weather Service warned.

The National Hurricane Center has lowered Tampa Bay’s storm surge projections slightly, to a still-record-setting 8- to 12-foot surge above ground level.

As of Wednesday afternoon, the National Hurricane Center forecast would bring the full wrath of the storm ashore near or just north of Sarasota, Siesta Key and Punta Gorda, with a “catastrophic” 9- to 13-foot surge. This forecast may still be adjusted slightly.

The storm will also bring flooding rains and punishing winds along and to the north of its track. These rains could total 6 to 12 inches, with as much as 18 inches in some spots.

The Weather Prediction Center has issued a rare “High Risk” of excessive rainfall from Tampa through Orlando.

In addition, Hurricane Milton is expected to bring hurricane-force wind gusts well inland, across the peninsula to the east coast as it exits over the Atlantic on Thursday, according to NHC.

Winds will be particularly strong on the northwestern, or back, side of the storm, NHC warned.

Tropical storm-force winds have already started overspreading the west coast of Florida, with a wind gust in St. Petersburg to 55 mph.

Multiple tornadoes have already occurred in southern Florida, with the tornado outbreak likely to spread north today into central Florida.

While the storm lost some of its record-setting intensity from Monday night and again Tuesday night, it still had 125 mph maximum sustained winds as of late Wednesday morning, making it a Category 3 storm.

Milton was moving northeast at 17 mph from a position of about 100 miles southwest of Tampa.

“Weather conditions will steadily deteriorate across portions of the Florida Gulf Coast throughout the day,” NHC said, with landfall sometime on Wednesday night or early Thursday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared an emergency for 51 counties.

“The time to prepare, including evacuate if told to do so, is quickly coming to an end along the Florida west coast,” NHC warned Wednesday at 11am ET.

Milton twice entered the top 5 list of strongest Atlantic hurricanes as measured by their minimum central air pressure readings.

It took second place, behind Hurricane Wilma, for the strongest storm so late in the season.

Hurricane Milton is expected to be a large and intense Category 3 or borderline Category 4 storm at landfall.

The NHC noted Wednesday its wind field is expanding in size as it closes in on the coast. This would increase the storm surge magnitude and area.

It will also increase the storm’s reach. Hurricane and tropical storm warnings are in effect for portions of the east coast of Florida, all the way to Georgia.

Human-caused climate change is among several factors that conspired to propel Hurricane Milton’s rarely seen “explosive” intensification.

Sea level rise tied to climate change makes this storm potentially more destructive today than it would have been even a few decades ago.

Global warming is leading to more instances of rapid intensification. The trend was seen as recently as two weeks ago, when Hurricane Helene rapidly intensified before hitting Florida’s less-populated Big Bend region.

Milton was over record-warm waters for this time of year when it intensified so quickly.

Climate change made those ocean temperatures up to 800 times more likely today than in a preindustrial climate with lower greenhouse gases in the air, according to Climate Central, a research nonprofit.

It will pass more extremely warm waters prior to making landfall, but another round of rapid intensification is not expected.

“There is high confidence that Milton will remain a very dangerous hurricane when it reaches Florida, and maintain hurricane status as it moves across the state,” NHC stated Wednesday morning.

“Milton has the potential to be one of the most destructive hurricanes on record for west-central Florida,” NHC stated.

The storm is locked in on a landfall between Tampa Bay and Sarasota, but a track difference of just a few miles will make a vast difference in impacts, particularly storm surge heights.

A sprawling investigation into the online fundraising platform ActBlue has expanded into 19 states, as attorneys general across the country press the company on its security practices and whether Democrats might be using the platform to cheat on election donations.

An investigation that began with a few states and a House committee has now spread across nearly half the country as chief state investigators are endeavoring to determine whether Democrats have used the ActBlue to launder foreign money or craft donations in people’s names without their permission, a practice known as “straw donations.”

In a letter sent last week to ActBlue CEO and President Regina Wallace-Jones, the state attorneys general highlighted potential security issues with the online fundraising platform that could be allowing donations made in people’s names who didn’t donate.

“Recent reporting suggests that that [sic] there may be donors across the country who are identified in filings with the Federal Election Commission as having donated to candidates through ActBlue (and other affiliated entities), but who did not actually make those donations,” the attorneys general wrote.

“Smurfing”

“That raises a host of concerns about whether ActBlue’s platform is being used to facilitate ‘smurfing’––a type of money laundering in which donors break up large donations and submit them under different names to disguise who the money comes from and thereby skirt contribution limits in violation of state and federal law,” the letter continued.

“Independent investigations have shown that there are donors across the country who show up on FEC filings as having donated to candidates through ActBlue (and other affiliated entities) but deny having made those donations. Given the prominent role it plays in our elections, it is incumbent on ActBlue to address the serious questions created by apparent irregularities in ActBlue’s FEC filings,” the attorneys general added.

“ActBlue is one of the largest fundraising platforms for election-related donations. Already during the 2024 election cycle ActBlue has raised billions of dollars. But there are concerns about where those dollars came from. It is essential that we know whether political donations—particularly in such large volumes—are being solicited, made, and processed consistent with campaign finance, consumer protection, and other state and federal laws.”

ActBlue has denied any wrongdoing but said it is cooperating with investigators.

The letter from the attorneys general comes as other investigations are developing on both the civil and criminal side. Just the News has confirmed some Americans who believe their names have been misused to make donations for others are contemplating a private lawsuit while Congress is trying to determine whether federally regulating financial institutions have reported any suspicious transactions flowing through ActBlue’s platform or its clients.

Security protocols

The states’ top law enforcement officials asked Wallace-Jones to verify ActBlue’s security protocols and ensure that donors are who they claim to be.

The state attorneys general for Iowa and Indiana led the letter, which also included attorneys general from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. The attorneys general asked Wallace-Jones to respond by Oct. 23.

Following the release of the letter, an ActBlue spokesperson told The Des Moines Register that it has been a trusted digital fundraising platform for the last two decades and legally contributes donations to candidates and organizations.

“We rigorously protect donors’ information by maintaining a robust security program and strict fraud prevention measures — often beyond what is required by law,” the spokesperson’s statement said. “We are aware of recent attempts to spread misinformation about our platform. Facts are essential so that voters and donors are not misled. For accurate information, please visit actblue.com.”

Amid his investigation into ActBlue, House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., made referrals last month to the attorneys general in Arkansas, Missouri, Texas, Virginia, and Florida regarding the fundraising platform. Steil said a massive computer analysis conducted by his committee uncovered a suspicious pattern of donations from individuals with net worths too small to donate what has been credited to them via ActBlue reports to the Federal Election Commission.

“This investigation focused on potential unlawful exploitation of unwitting ‘straw donors,’ whose identities may have been used to channel illicit funds into campaigns in your state,” Steil wrote to the state officials.

“The final analysis produced a set of anomalous donor profiles, ranked by the severity of the inconsistencies. In reviewing this analysis, it became clear there is suspicious activity occurring that warrants further review,” he added.

“Straw donors” are donors who are either given money by others to donate to federal candidates or whose identity is misused by others to make donations to evade federal campaign contribution limits.

Last December, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) opened an investigation into ActBlue after alleging that the organization was conducting fraudulent activity regarding donations. In August of this year, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) also demanded answers from ActBlue after allegations of fraud were impacting Virginia.

In August, Paxton announced he reached an agreement in which ActBlue would begin using CVV codes when accepting all donations. CVVs are the three-digit security number on the back of credit and debit cards, and are key security provisions for preventing fraud.

Steil has been pushing H.R. 9488, called the SHIELD Act, which would require the disclosure of the card verification value and increase safeguards for online campaign donations.

The legislation also prohibits “aiding or abetting” making campaign contributions in the name of someone else.

Steil told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show in August, “The real big concern here is that because these donations are made online, they could be coming from anywhere across the globe. Gone are the days where individuals would engage in illegal behavior with cash. Now we can do this online.

“My concern is that individuals are outside the jurisdiction of the United States who may be engaged in this,” he added.

Private Harris campaign polling shows Vice President Kamala Harris is in a lot of trouble, political analyst Mark Halperin said on The Morning Meeting with Sean Spicer and Dan Turrentine.

Despite Harris being up three points nationally according to the New York Times poll, Halperin said he sees her support as precarious.

While highlighting key states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, where Harris’s polling deteriorated, Halperin explained that the Wall Street Journal reported that Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-WI) campaign shared negative polling with the paper, indicating broader implications for Democratic candidates in Senate races linked to Harris’s performance.

The consensus was that Harris faces significant risks in multiple battleground states, complicating her path to victory, Halperin explained:

Can you win a short campaign with an untested candidate? And what I’m telling you is happening in private polling is she’s got a problem … So the new New York Times poll shows her up three nationally. We all know that three is like the bubble point, right? If she’s up three, she’s got a chance to win the Electoral College, but they’d rather be at four, and they don’t want to be at two. So three is right at the bubble. I’m not saying this Times poll’s right. But it’s in line with international polls … Wall Street Journal has a story about Democrats really worried about the three Rust Belt states. We all know from our contacts in both campaigns that Pennsylvania is tough for her right now. And with that Pennsylvania, there are paths, but there aren’t many. There’s no path with that Wisconsin. So you see here, Tammy Baldwin’s Senate campaign poll shows Harris down three in Wisconsin. We all said yesterday, Wisconsin and Michigan are looking worse for Harris than before. Baldwin has Harris down three … Why is the Baldwin campaign sharing its polling with the Wall Street Journal? Good question.

…

If you want to go watch MSNBC primetime and hear how great things are going for the Harris campaign, you’re welcome to do that. But if you want to understand what’s actually happening, we’re here to tell you. I just saw some new private polling today that’s very robust private polling. She’s in a lot of trouble. Here’s how I framed it this morning in my newsletter: The conversation I’m having with with Trump people and Democrats with data are extremely bullish on Trump’s chances in the last 48 hours, extremely bullish. You think of the seven battleground states, which ones is Harris in danger of losing? I would say Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, North Carolina and Georgia. I’m not saying she’ll lose all six, but she’s in danger. The only one that the Democrats say she’s not in danger of losing is the one I never say the name of because I can’t pronounce it, but it’s where Las Vegas is, right? You guys agree with me. She could lose any of those six, right? I mean, she could lose all seven, but Democrats will tell you they’re worried about those six, they’re less worried about the seventh. I don’t know any Trump person who says they’re worried about losing any of the seven. They don’t think they’re the favorite in Michigan and Wisconsin, but they’re not worried about losing them. You don’t hear from them, ‘Oh my goodness.’ What you hear is we’re moving up. What the three of us are hearing, we’re moving up in those two and we’re going to win. We’re going to win at the three sunbelt states. And we’re stronger in Pennsylvania than she is. That to me, if the whole thing’s about the Electoral College, you take any of the — any of the Sun or the Rust Belt states away from her, it’s very difficult for her to win, very difficult. It’s not mathematically impossible, but it probably won’t happen if she loses any of them. Could she replace Pennsylvania with either Georgia or North Carolina and then one other of the Sunbelt state? If she wins, if she loses Pennsylvania and she wins either Georgia or North Carolina, then she just needs one of the other three and that’s not impossible. But what I’m telling you today is, things are not moving right for her.

HALPERIN: Private polling shows Kamala Harris is in a lot of trouble

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— Election Wizard (@ElectionWiz) October 9, 2024