Democrats refuse to fold over shutdown as Republican outrage builds

Party sticks to its guns on healthcare and says it’s willing to hold out – much to the delight of its progressive supporters

When he sat down to talk about the US government shutdown with reporters from a closely read political newsletter this week, Chuck Schumer sounded as if he was relishing his standoff with the Republicans.

“Every day gets better for us,” he told Punchbowl News. As the shutdown got under way, Schumer explained, the Republicans believed that Democrats would quickly fold and vote to reopen the government, but instead they had stuck to their guns for a week and a half, demanding an array of concessions on healthcare and other issues.

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New Orleans archbishop testifies under oath for first time in church bankruptcy case

Gregory Aymond gave confidential testimony as church closes in on $230m settlement with clergy abuse survivors

As New Orleans’ Roman Catholic archdiocese closes in on a proposed settlement with clergy abuse survivors worth at least $230m, its outgoing archbishop, Gregory Aymond, testified under oath for the first time in the church’s bankruptcy case during a confidential court session on Friday.

Aymond’s sworn testimony was given under a protective order, and those who attended the session were barred from discussing it. But Billy Gibbens, a high-profile criminal defense and civil lawyer, confirmed in an interview with WWL Louisiana that he was there representing the archbishop as his personal attorney.

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‘Reckless’ behavior and dystopian AI: disturbing picture of suspect in Pacific Palisades fire emerges

Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, allegedly used ChatGPT to create scenes of a city burning and to confide an obsession with fires

Just after midnight on New Year’s Day, a 29-year-old Uber driver named Jonathan Rinderknecht allegedly ignited what became the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history.

Nearly 10 months after the disaster, Rinderknecht’s arrest this week brought some closure to residents. Investigators say he was a troubled young man obsessed with fire, who tried to hide his role after setting a small blaze that reignited days later into a deadly inferno.

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‘Page one of the authoritarian playbook’: how Trump and allies are exploiting Kirk’s killing

The president and his Maga allies have used the rightwing influencer’s killing to justify attacks on critics, experts say

Donald Trump and Maga allies have capitalized on the killing of rightwing influencer Charlie Kirk to expand attacks on liberal groups, donors, Democrats, and others by tarring many critics as the “enemy within” and “radical left” in a move that legal scholars and historians call authoritarian and anti-democratic.

Kirk’s killing by a lone gunman spurred Trump and top allies to quickly launch conspiratorial charges against a bevy of political foes and an investigation of billionaire liberal donor George Soros. They also threatened legal action against TV network ABC after their late-night star Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension over clumsy comments about Kirk ended.

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Tony Blair met Jeffrey Epstein in No 10 on advice of Peter Mandelson, documents reveal

National Archives papers show how then MP pushed for 2002 meeting between PM and ‘young and vibrant’ financier

Sir Tony Blair met Jeffrey Epstein in Downing Street while he was prime minister after a recommendation by Peter Mandelson, newly released papers from the National Archives show.

Epstein visited Blair on 14 May 2002, after the suggestion by Lord Mandelson to the prime minister’s then chief of staff, Jonathan Powell.

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A Memo in a Bunker, Intercepted Communications and Hamas’s Oct. 7 Plans – The New York Times

  1. A Memo in a Bunker, Intercepted Communications and Hamas’s Oct. 7 Plans  The New York Times
  2. Burn towns, slaughter, broadcast: 2022 Sinwar memo said to detail Hamas plan for Oct. 7  The Times of Israel
  3. Live updates: Israel names Palestinians to be released  The Jerusalem Post
  4. Israel recovers Sinwar memo ordering attacks on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, report says  Haaretz
  5. Sinwar Memo Obtained By IDF Reveals Hamas Chief Ordered 'shocking' Violence On Oct. 7  i24NEWS
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Pope Leo meets with group of Italian hermits in Rome for Jubilee – Vatican News

  1. Pope Leo meets with group of Italian hermits in Rome for Jubilee  Vatican News
  2. Pope tells consecrated men, women to continue path of synodality  Crux
  3. Pope Leo XIV urges consecrated persons to be ‘hungry for holiness’  Catholic News Agency
  4. Jubilee of Consacrated Life at at the Vatican  Reuters Connect
  5. Church of Jerusalem Celebrates Jubilee of Consecrated Life : "A Vocation of Presence"  Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem
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Widow of man conned out of pension savings to lose half the compensation to tax

Robert Dewar’s widow, Susan, is a leading campaigner over multimillion-pound Norton Motorcycles fraud

The family of a deceased man, who was conned out of his retirement savings after investing in the Norton Motorcycles pension scam, is to lose almost half the subsequent compensation award because of a little-known tax rule.

A long-running battle to win an award from the Fraud Compensation Fund (FCF) meant that Robert Dewar’s pension was not reimbursed until 2024, five years after his death at the age of 64.

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Man will plead guilty to threatening Pride event after Charlie Kirk’s death

Joshua Wayne Cole to admit in court to making online posts about shooting people at an LGBTQ+ parade in Texas

A Texas man has agreed to plead guilty to going on social media and threatening to shoot people at an LGBTQ+ parade as vengeance for the murder of conservative political activist Charlie Kirk.

Joshua Wayne Cole signed federal court filings indicating that he planned to plead guilty to a charge of interstate threatening communications at a hearing tentatively set for 16 October, about a month after he was arrested in connection with online posts threatening to open fire on a Pride parade in Abilene, Texas.

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