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Robbins: Sorry Trump, First Amendment doesn’t cover coup

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

Donald Trump has boasted that he regards being indicted as “a badge of honor.” If so, he has racked up quite a pile of badges. Last week’s latest federal indictment brought the total number of criminal charges against him in New York State court and federal courts in Florida and in Washington, D.C. to nearly 80 and he is about to be awarded another batch of badges by a grand jury in Georgia. So it has been a bumper crop for Trump where badges are concerned, and things are about to get bumpier.In truth, Trump did not seem all that honored when he stopped at Reagan National Airport on Thursday to speak to reporters after being arraigned. He lashed out at trash collection in Washington before boarding his private plane.That Trump was not feeling quite as honored by the new criminal indictment was strongly suggested by his furious reaction to it. “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M GOING AFTER YOU” proclaimed our model citizen on his social media platform, which sounded an awful lot like a threat ...

Donald Trump’s lawyers claim First Amendment protects his attacks on Special Counsel

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

Cutting it awful close on Monday, Donald Trump’s response to the Justice Department’s request that the judge overseeing his most recent legal entanglements restrict what he can say in public and on social media arrived just 5 minutes before the court’s 5 p.m. deadline.In a 29-page filing seeking to narrow the government’s proposed protective order, attorneys for the former president told the court that their client’s legal woes are actually the result of a political calculation on the part of President Biden and his administration as the 2024 election draws closer and that the 45th president is protected by the First Amendment when he declares, a day after his arrest, that “if you go after me, I’m coming after you!”“In a trial about First Amendment rights, the government seeks to restrict First Amendment rights. Worse, it does so against its administration’s primary political opponent, during an election season in which the administration, prominent party mem...

Mets demote struggling Brett Baty to Triple-A Syracuse: ‘It’s in the best interest of his development’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

The overhaul of the Mets’ big league roster since the trade deadline continued on Monday. The Amazins’ optioned struggling third basemen Brett Baty to Triple-A Syracuse before the first of a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field.Baty, the club’s No. 2 prospect entering the season, has seen his rookie season flip on its head since the beginning of June owning a slash line of .198/.272/.287 in his last 49 games. The 23-year-old is being sent back to the farm to take a breather from what has been a tough rookie season.“Just a little timeout,” manager Buck Showalter said Monday. “Kind of a take a breath. Just let him kind of work on some things without the day-to-day [grind]. … But, I think with Brett it’s in the best interest of his development. I’ve had a lot of young players who have gone through this.“I think it’s in his best interest to go down and take a breath and get back to doing what he was do...

Trump lawyers urge judge to narrow proposed rules on evidence sharing in election subversion case

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

Donald Trump’s legal team told a judge overseeing the election conspiracy case against him on Monday that prosecutors’ proposed protective order aimed at preventing the public disclosure of evidence is too broad and would restrict his First Amendment rights. Lawyers for the early 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner said the judge should impose a more limited order that would bar the public release only of materials deemed “sensitive” — such as grand jury documents — rather than all evidence handed over by the government in the case accusing Trump of conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss. Prosecutors have said a protective order — not unusual in criminal cases — is particularly important in Trump’s case because of his penchant for using social media. They have expressed concern that Trump could improperly share sensitive case information online that could have a “harmful chilling effect on witnesses.” In their filing Friday seeking the order, p...

Niger coup leaders refuse to let senior US diplomat meet with nation’s president

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

NIAMEY, Niger (AP) — A senior U.S. diplomat said coup leaders in Niger refused to allow her to meet Monday with the West African country’s democratically elected president, whom she described as under “virtual house arrest.”Acting Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland also described the mutinous officers as unreceptive to U.S. pressure to return the country to civilian rule.“They were quite firm about how they want to proceed, and it is not in support of the constitution of Niger,” Nuland told reporters. She characterized the conversations as “extremely frank and at times quite difficult.”She spoke after a two-hour meeting in Niger’s capital, Niamey, with some leaders of the military takeover of a country that has been a vital counterterrorism partner of the United States.In speaking to junta leaders, Nuland said, she made “absolutely clear the kinds of support that we will legally have to cut off if democracy is not restored.”If the U.S. determines that a democratically elected...

Thousands of flight cancelations and power outages as strong storms move into DC area

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Thousands of U.S. flights were canceled or delayed Monday as forecasts warned of destructively strong storms, including tornadoes, hail and lightning, and residents were warned to stay indoors and prepare for the worst.Rain began falling in the Washington area shortly after 5 p.m., and the skies gradually turned an ominous dark gray, a precursor to the severe weather and mass power outages that were predicted. The National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the greater D.C. area, lasting until 9 p.m., as well as a flood warning extending through Tuesday morning. A special Weather Service statement warned, “There is a significant threat for damaging and locally destructive hurricane-force winds, along with the potential for large hail and tornadoes, even strong tornadoes.”The storms’ spread was massive, with tornado watches and warnings posted across 10 states from Tennessee to New York. The National Weather Service said the area of greatest concern ce...

B.C. festival evacuated due to wildfire, more properties on alert over long weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Organizers touted it as the “hottest music festival” of the summer, but attendees at the Under the Stars event near Princeton, B.C., this weekend likely didn’t take it literally before a fire erupted nearby.A wildfire sparked by an all-terrain vehicle forced the evacuation of the event’s 1,000 participants as flames spread in the village of Coalmont, a community of about 500 residents approximately 20 kilometres west of Princeton in the province’s interior. In a statement Monday, Princeton RCMP said a quartet were riding ATVs near Coalmont Sunday evening when one of the vehicles caught fire, and flames rapidly spread near the viallage. Emergency crews and Mounties, along with BC Wildfire Service personnel, showed up on the scene and said all festival-goers were safely evacuated, though no one was injured and no evacuation orders were issued. Elsewhere over the weekend, dozens more properties in the B.C. Interior have been placed on evac...

Carcinogens found at nuclear missile sites as reports of hundreds of cancers surface

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Air Force has detected unsafe levels of a likely carcinogen at underground launch control centers at a Montana nuclear missile base where a striking number of men and women have reported cancer diagnoses.A new cleanup effort has been ordered.The discovery “is the first from an extensive sampling of active U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile bases to address specific cancer concerns raised by missile community members,” Air Force Global Strike Command said in a release Monday. In those samples, two launch facilities at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana showed PCB levels higher than the thresholds recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.PCBs are oily or waxy substances that have been identified as a likely carcinogen by the EPA. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a blood cancer that uses the body’s infection-fighting lymph system to spread.In response, Gen. Thomas Bussiere, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, has directed “immediate measures to be...

Firearm count added against Indiana man charged in block party shooting that killed 1, injured 17

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — A prosecutor Monday filed a felony firearm sentencing enhancement against a Muncie man charged with two counts of aggravated battery in connection with a shooting that left one person dead and 17 others wounded in the central Indiana city.The sentencing enhancement filed against John L. Vance Jr., 36, can add an additional five to 20 years to his total sentence if he is convicted, Delaware County Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said.Vance also is charged with criminal recklessness and possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.Hoffman has acknowledged the charges against Vance don’t specifically refer to the July 30 shooting death of 30-year-old Joseph E. Bonner III of Muncie. The shooting unfolded at a block party in the city about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Indianapolis attended by hundreds of revelers as police were calling the venue’s owner to shut down the gathering, authorities have said. Bonner was among those attending, Muncie Police Chi...

Nearly all teens on Idaho YMCA camp bus that crashed have been released to their families

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 08:50:48 GMT

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Nearly all of the teenagers aboard an Idaho YMCA camp bus that rolled on a winding highway late last week have been released to their families, police said Monday.Troopers are continuing to investigate the cause of Friday’s crash, which sent all those on the bus to local hospitals, Idaho State Police said in a statement. Police said previously that 11 passengers were hospitalized, seven in critical condition, following the crash. The bus was carrying about 30 campers and staff back to Boise from the Treasure Valley YMCA’s camp at Horsethief Reservoir.Police said Monday that injury updates would not be provided. Troopers are working with the bus company to access pertinent information related to the crash, police said Monday. The bus driver was treated at a hospital and released, police said over the weekend.The YMCA had contracted with Caldwell Transportation for the bus service. The Associated Press left messages with the company on Monday seeking comment....