Trump boasted of crowd size at Jan. 6 riot, new book says – ABC News
Trump boasted of crowd size at Jan. 6 riot, new book says – ABC News

While the Capitol was under attack on Jan. 6, former President Donald Trump remained out of sight from the public and watched TV in the White House private dining room, ABC News’ chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl revealed on ABC’s “This Week.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called Trump to ask him to tell the rioters to leave the Capitol, Karl reports in his new book, “Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show.”

McCarthy allegedly told Trump, “I just got evacuated from the Capitol! There were shots fired right off the House floor. You need to make this stop.”

A source familiar with the call between McCarthy and Trump said the former president pushed back, saying, “They are just more upset than you because they believe it more than you, Kevin,” referring to the lie that the election had been stolen.

The former president liked what he saw, boasted about the size of the crowd and argued with aides who wanted him to tell his supporters to stop rioting, according to Karl’s sources.

Two hours after the riot started, Trump finally acquiesced to recording a video statement. In the message posted to Twitter, he asked his supporters to go home but also praised them. “We love you. You are special,” Trump said in the video.

An aide present for the recording said, “Trump had to tape the message several times before they thought he got it right.”

In earlier versions he neglected to tell his supporters to leave the Capitol, according to Karl.

Last week, a Senate report documented alarming new details about the way Trump attempted to use the Justice Department to overturn the presidential election. Attorney General Bill Barr refused to go along, infuriating Trump when he said in early December there was no widespread fraud.

After Barr left office in mid-December, the report said Trump pressured Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to help steal the election but he too refused.

Rosen told senators he informed Trump that the Justice Department “can’t and won’t just flip a switch and change the election.”

In response, Trump asked that the DOJ “just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the [Republican] congressmen.”

In late December, Trump turned to Jeffrey Clark, a lawyer with no experience in election law, but who promised to declare without evidence that there was widespread voter fraud and to pressure contested states to reverse President Biden’s victory.

Clark also brought a new conspiracy theory to the cocktail of falsehoods. Two sources familiar with Clark’s actions said Trump “believed that wireless thermostats made in China for Google by a company called Nest Labs might have been used to manipulate voting machines in Georgia. The idea was nuts, but it intrigued Trump, who asked Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to look into it.”

At a dramatic, three-hour Oval Office meeting on Jan. 3, Trump said he wanted to make Clark acting attorney general, according to Karl.

“One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren’t going to do anything to overturn the election, Trump said, according to Rosen’s congressional testimony.

Trump was then told every senior DOJ official would resign if he went through with his plan, as well as White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who said Trump’s plan amounted to “murder-suicide pact,” according to Karl.

“Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show” will become available Nov. 16.

Source Article from https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-boasted-crowd-size-jan-riot-book/story?id=80504801

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Allen West, Texas gubernatorial candidate, hospitalized with Covid-19 – POLITICO
Allen West, Texas gubernatorial candidate, hospitalized with Covid-19 – POLITICO

Both Wests received monoclonal antibody treatments for Covid-19 and Angela, who was vaccinated against the virus, was released to go home, Allen West said on Twitter. The Republican candidate said he has not gotten a coronavirus vaccination and that doctors were worried Saturday about the lowered level of oxygen saturation in his blood.

West said on Twitteron Sunday that, if elected governor, he would “vehemently crush anyone forcing vaccine mandates” in Texas.

West is a former Texas Republican Party chair and Florida congressman. He announced in July that he would challenge Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who is running for a third term and has been endorsed by Donald Trump.

West’s announcement came a month after he resigned as chair of the Republican Party of Texas.

West won a U.S. House seat in Florida in 2010 and quickly became a tea party favorite and lightning rod, at one point accusing Democrats of having as many as 80 communists in their House caucus. He failed to win reelection in 2012.

He later moved to Texas and largely stayed out of the spotlight until running for chairman of the state GOP party last year.

West then began criticizing Republicans as much as Democrats, calling the GOP speaker of the Texas House a “traitor” for working across the aisle, then leading a protest outside Abbott’s mansion over coronavirus restrictions.

In October 2020, West took part in a protest outside Abbott’s home, criticizing the Republican governor’s executive orders — including a statewide mask mandate and lockdowns due to the coronavirus pandemic. Those restrictions are no longer in place.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/10/allen-west-texas-covid-515759

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Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen responds to Xi Jinping’s vow of peaceful reunification with China – The Washington Post
Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen responds to Xi Jinping’s vow of peaceful reunification with China – The Washington Post

The United States, like most countries, does not recognize Taiwan as an independent nation. It adheres to the one-China policy, which states that there is only one China, and which acknowledges the Chinese point of view that Taiwan is part of it.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/10/taiwan-china-reunification-tsai-ing-wen/

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Dr. Fauci Says to Enjoy Halloween – The New York Times
Dr. Fauci Says to Enjoy Halloween – The New York Times

Despite the wide availability of Covid-19 vaccines, not all Halloween parades have been safe from virus-related cancellations this year.

In Westchester County, New York, for example, the Tarrytown Halloween Parade was canceled out of concern, the organizers said, for “our most precious attendees, our children,” many of whom are not yet eligible for vaccines. And in nearby Rockland County, Nyack’s Halloween parade was canceled, too. The National Zoo also canceled its popular Boo at the Zoo because it didn’t feel it could keep visitors or animals safe from the virus.

But Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, came to the defense of the mask-friendly holiday during a CNN interview on Sunday, saying that outdoor trick-or-treating was perfectly safe.

“It’s a good time to reflect on why it’s important to get vaccinated,” he said, urging those who were eligible for coronavirus shots to get them before Halloween to protect themselves and their children. “But go out there and enjoy Halloween.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/10/science/virus-halloween-fauci.html

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In Ohio’s Senate race, a non-Trump Republican makes his case – CNN
In Ohio’s Senate race, a non-Trump Republican makes his case – CNN

By Michael Warren, CNN

Updated 8:55 AM ET, Sun October 10, 2021

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/10/politics/matt-dolan-senate-race/index.html

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Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen responds to Xi Jinping’s vow of peaceful reunification with China – The Washington Post
Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen responds to Xi Jinping’s vow of peaceful reunification with China – The Washington Post

The United States, like most countries, does not recognize Taiwan as an independent nation. It adheres to the one-China policy, which states that there is only one China, and which acknowledges the Chinese point of view that Taiwan is part of it.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2021/10/10/taiwan-china-reunification-tsai-ing-wen/

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DEVELOPING: More Than A Dozen Shot, One Dead After ‘Hellish’ Shooting In St. Paul Bar – CBS Minnesota
DEVELOPING: More Than A Dozen Shot, One Dead After ‘Hellish’ Shooting In St. Paul Bar – CBS Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — One person has died and more than a dozen others are hurt after a shootout inside a bar on the 200 block of West Seventh Street in St. Paul.

The shooting started just after midnight early Sunday morning at the Seventh Street Truck Park. Police said multiple 911 callers “frantically begged for help” moments after the attack.

(credit: CBS)

One woman who police said was in her 20s died. Fourteen other people were taken to area hospitals for treatment. All of them are expected to survive. Good Samaritans worked with police to help victims while paramedics made it to the scene.

“I can only describe it as hellish,” St. Paul police spokesperson Steve Linders said. “I think about the young woman who died. One minute she’s having a good time, the next minute she’s lying in her friends’ arms who are trying to save her life, and she didn’t make it. I can’t think of anything worse.”

WATCH: Full Police Press Conference On Shooting At St. Paul Bar

Police said early Sunday that no suspects have been arrested, but preliminary information indicates there were several shooters. A motive has yet to be determined.

“My heart breaks for the woman who was killed, her loved ones and everyone else who was in that bar this morning,” said St. Paul Chief of Police Todd Axtell. “In an instant, they found themselves caught in a hellish situation. I want them to know that we have the best investigators in the country, and we won’t stop until we find the people responsible for this madness. We will do our part to hold them accountable.”

Later, Axtell tweeted that he spoke with the family of the woman who was killed and they are “absolutely devastated.”

“We will bring justice to the victims,” he said.

Mayor Melvin Carter released a statement via Twitter.

“Our community is devastated by the shocking scenes from last night,” Carter said. “As our Saint Paul officers work to bring those responsible for these senseless acts into custody, our work to build more proactive and comprehensive public safety strategies is more urgent than ever. We will never accept violence in our community.”

Investigators have not yet publicly identified the woman who died. The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office will conduct an autopsy and release her name and cause of death.

Police would like anyone who has information about the shooting to call 651-266-5650.

Video from YouTube channel Minnesota News Now showed the aftermath outside of the Seventh Street Truck Park.

WARNING: This video from an eyewitness contains material that some viewers might find disturbing.

This is a developing story.

Source Article from https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2021/10/10/st-paul-bar-mass-shooting-1-dead-14-injured/

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‘Are we blowing this?’: McAuliffe and friends plead for online cash. – POLITICO
‘Are we blowing this?’: McAuliffe and friends plead for online cash. – POLITICO

Like other emails from Virginia Democrats, the Carville-signed missives have slammed on the panic button in recent weeks, as the race between McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin has tightened. Many of them are standard fare, trying to create a sense of urgency among grassroots donors.

But others highlight a greater concern: Carville’s hair. The famously bald strategist-turned-political celebrity told supporters of the former Virginia governor that he was “tearing my hair out” on both Sept. 1 and Sept. 2. By the end of the month, it was too late. “I’m not going to have much hair left,” was the subject line on Sept. 27.

Bombast and hyperbole are nothing new in online fundraising. But in Virginia, the messages have a particular weight, where Democrats have been on the wrong end of an enthusiasm gap for their voters and are struggling to keep pace financially with a wealthy, self-funding GOP candidate who has already given his campaign more than $16 million.

“Cook moved it to a tossup,” Carville said in an interview, referencing the well-known election forecasters at Cook Political Report. “And I think that the McAuliffe people were not upset at all. I think the electoral history is not good at all, for the party that wins the presidency.”

The emails from Carville have been successful, at least in raising money. Carville’s emails have raised half a million dollars, the campaign said. And outside of McAuliffe himself and Abrams, Carville is the top email signer fundraiser.

As for why he lent his name to dozens of fundraising messages for McAuliffe, his old pal in Clintonworld? “Because I’m an email-signing slut,” he said with a chuckle.

Democrats remain intensely focused on firing up their base in the home stretch. In most public polls, GOP voters have been more enthusiastic about the upcoming election. The most recent was a poll from the Wason Center at Christopher Newport University on Friday, which showed McAuliffe up by 4 points within the poll’s margin of error. But the survey also found that Republican voters were more enthusiastic about the race than Democratic voters, which has been consistent with other public polling in the race.

“It’s really, really important, and it’s especially damaging to Democrats,” said Ron Wright, a Republican state central committee member and a co-chair of the Northern Virginia Republican Business Forum. Wright said he believed that Youngkin’s recent focus on education, where the Republican campaign has been hammering away on McAuliffe in TV ads, would further energize Republican-leaning voters and independents.

Democrats are also grappling with Biden’s slipping poll numbers in the state. A late September Fox News poll in the state had Biden even among registered voters, with 49 percent both approving and disapproving, in a state he won by 10 points. And national polls have shown him underwater recently — something McAuliffe himself acknowledged last week.

“We are facing a lot of headwinds from Washington, as you know,” McAuliffe said on a video call with supporters, circulated by Republicans. “The president is unpopular today, unfortunately, here in Virginia, so we have got to plow through.”

All eyes are on early voting in the state, which started about two weeks ago, for any early signs about who will turn out between now and the rest of the election. It is the first gubernatorial election where any voter can choose to vote early, either via the mail or in person.

So far, over 255,000 people have voted early, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project. That is already more people who voted early than in the 2017 gubernatorial election, before the new election laws went into place.

Both campaigns have recently started dumping resourcing into encouraging voters to go to the polls or cast a mail ballot early, especially with many voters still unfamiliar with the process.

“Everyone is trying to alert people to this because we’ve always had an opportunity to vote early but you had to have an excuse and so it was not well utilized,” said Ben Tribbett, a longtime Virginia-based Democratic strategist. “So it is something that is a little bit new to the state.”

The two men have matched each other nearly blow for blow in fundraising throughout the campaign. However, in the most recent fundraising period, which covers July 1-Aug. 31, Youngkin brought in more: $15.7 million, buoyed by a $4 million personal loan, versus $11.5 million for McAuliffe, according to data from the Virginia Public Access Project. McAuliffe had double Youngkin’s cash on hand, $12.6 million versus $6 million, though the Republican nominee could write another check to close the gap at any time.

It is a significant reversal from 2013, when McAuliffe was able to swamp then-state Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, significantly outraising him and overrunning the Republican on television en route to becoming the first politician to win the Virginia gubernatorial race while his party controlled the White House in decades.

Both national parties are also spending extensively in the race. In that time period, the Republican Governors Association gave nearly $4 million million to Youngkin, while McAuliffe got $2.5 million from its Democratic counterpart.

Since the beginning of September, McAuliffe has outspent his opponent on advertising. Ad Impact, an ad tracking firm, has found nearly $12.1 million in spending from McAuliffe’s campaign, compared to $9.4 million. (These totals include digital ad spending.)

But that recent advantage only comes after Youngkin was on the airwaves largely unchallenged for months. Youngkin immediately launched a steady stream of television ads right after he won his party’s nomination in May and has not let up since. McAuliffe was dark, meanwhile, from when he won the party’s nomination in early June through his late July, but joined his Republican opponent in bombarding the state’s airwaves with TV ads.

Since the beginning of October, through Friday afternoon, the two have combined to air over 6,700 television spots, according to AdImpact data. That number is split almost exactly down the middle, with Youngkin holding a 92-ad lead.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/10/james-carville-terry-mcauliffe-virginia-ads-515737

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Could Brian Laundrie still be alive if he’s in Florida’s Carlton Reserve? Here’s what survival experts think – CNN
Could Brian Laundrie still be alive if he’s in Florida’s Carlton Reserve? Here’s what survival experts think – CNN
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    Newsom signs law to eventually ban gas-powered lawn equipment in California – KTLA Los Angeles
    Newsom signs law to eventually ban gas-powered lawn equipment in California – KTLA Los Angeles

    California will soon ban the sale of new gas-powered leaf blowers and lawn mowers, a move aimed at curbing emissions from a category of small engines on pace to produce more pollution each year than passenger vehicles.

    Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a new law on Saturday that orders state regulators to ban the sale of new gas-powered equipment using small off-road engines, a broad category that includes generators, lawn equipment and pressure washers.

    The California Air Resources Board has already started working on a rule to do this, a lengthy process scheduled to conclude early next year. But the law Newsom signed on Saturday removes any doubt, ordering the agency to apply the new rule by Jan. 1, 2024, or as soon as regulators determine is “feasible,” whichever date is later.

    “Gov. .Newsom signing (this law) really sets a strong course to not only his commitment to transitioning to zero emissions but also to cleaner air and healthier lungs,” said Will Barrett, director of clean air advocacy for the American Lung Association in California.

    The law, authored by Democratic Assemblyman Marc Berman, is part of an aggressive strategy to reduce pollution in the nation’s most populous state. California is the only state with the authority to regulate air quality this way, part of an exception carved out in federal law in the 1970s. While other states can’t enact their own regulations, they can choose to follow California’s lead.

    Last year, California regulators approved a first-of-its-kind rule to force automakers to sell more electric work trucks and delivery vans. Also last year, Newsom ordered regulators to ban the sale of all new gas-powered cars and trucks in California by 2035 — a date that has since been embraced by some of the world’s largest automakers.

    California has more than 16.7 million of these small engines in the state, about 3 million more than the number of passenger cars on the road. California was the first government in the world to adopt emission standards for these small engines in 1990. But since then, emissions in cars have vastly improved compared with smaller engines.

    Now, state officials say running a gas-powered leaf blower for one hour emits the same amount of pollution as driving a 2017 Toyota Camry from Los Angeles to Denver, a distance of about 1,100 miles (1,770 kilometers).

    The law Newsom signed also orders regulators to offer rebates for people to change out their equipment, a move aimed at landscaping businesses that use these machines more often. The state budget, approved earlier this year, includes $30 million to pay for this effort.

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    Source Article from https://ktla.com/news/local-news/newsom-signs-law-to-eventually-ban-gas-powered-lawn-equipment-in-california/

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    Who is Kyrsten Sinema? Friends and foes ponder an Arizona Senate enigma – The Guardian
    Who is Kyrsten Sinema? Friends and foes ponder an Arizona Senate enigma – The Guardian

    Moments after the Senate voted in an unusually bipartisan way to advance a $1tn infrastructure deal, Kyrsten Sinema hobbled on a broken foot to a press conference to mark the occasion. At the podium, the Arizona Democrat was greeted by Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio with whom she had led negotiations over how to repair ageing roads and bridges and broadband networks.

    “You go first,” Sinema whispered.

    “No, you go first,” Portman replied.

    “No, no,” Sinema insisted. “You go first. It shows bipartisanship. It’s the right thing to do.”

    Portman looked unsure. Sinema nodded firmly: “It is the right thing to do.” Portman stepped forward.

    Until this year, Sinema had spent her political career in the minority. Working with Republicans was her only option. Now, in a Senate divided 50-50, she has options – and power.

    In her new role, Sinema holds an effective veto over her party’s priorities. She is at the center of every major legislative battle, an enigma to many colleagues in Washington, to many who helped elect her she is an impediment to progress.

    With the fate of Joe Biden’s historic proposal to expand the social safety net hanging in the balance, Democrats are racing to solve the riddle: what does Kyrsten Sinema really want?

    Since arriving in the Senate, Sinema has emerged as one of her party’s most elusive and contentious figures. She has preached bipartisanship, even when it conflicts with Democratic goals. She has vowed to uphold the filibuster, a rule imposing a 60-vote threshold on most legislation.

    Though Sinema can stand out in the starchy chamber with her candy-colored wigs (her temporary solution to salon closures during the pandemic) and bold sartorial choices (she once presided over the chamber in a shirt that read “DANGEROUS CREATURE”), she lately prefers not engage publicly. She rarely sits for interviews with the national press and avoids questions from reporters on Capitol Hill.

    Earlier this summer, Sinema made clear that she would not support the $3.5tn price tag for Biden’s social policy and climate change bill. But unlike Joe Manchin, a three-term senator from West Virginia who is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, she has not publicly detailed her concerns with the legislation.

    “Senator Sinema’s position has been that she doesn’t ‘negotiate publicly’ and I don’t know what that means​,” Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive from Vermont, said this week, calling it “wrong” for her and Manchin to stand in the way of a bill supported by most of the party and the president.

    Sinema’s relative silence was even parodied on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live.

    “What do I want from this bill?” Cecily Strong asked, playing Sinema. “I’ll never tell.”

    Biden has invited Sinema to the White House on multiple occasions. According to her office, she has shared with the president and the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, “detailed concerns and priorities, including dollar figures”. But no deal has been reached and Democrats are growing exasperated.

    “Maybe she knows what she’s doing; maybe she’s got a strategy that she’s just not sharing with us; maybe her blueprint is the way to go,” said Yolanda Bejarano, the Phoenix-based national legislative and political field director for the Communications Workers of America, a major union.

    “But it’s getting more and more difficult to explain it away.”

    Allies and critics have long considered Sinema one of the savviest politicians in the state, in part because she understands the Arizona electorate better than anyone else.

    For years, Sinema has honed a brand of centrism that observers say better aligns with the politics of Arizona, a once Republican stronghold shaped by the conservatism of Barry Goldwater, a senator and nominee for president in 1964. Invoking the late senator John McCain as a hero, Sinema promised to be an “independent voice” and appealed to suburban women, independents and disaffected Republicans. In 2018, Arizona duly sent a Democrat to the Senate for the first time in 30 years.

    “Her ideological core is pragmatism,” said Chuck Coughlin, a Phoenix-based political consultant who left the Republican party after Donald Trump became president. “She understands that if she is to succeed in Arizona, she must succeed in this lane.”

    But she now faces a growing backlash among the party faithful in her home state, the progressive activists and Democratic voters who knocked on doors in brutal summer heat to help get her elected.

    A protester outside Sinema’s office in Phoenix. Photograph: Alexandra Buxbaum/REX/Shutterstock

    Activists with a grassroots organization, Lucha, disrupted a class Sinema was teaching at Arizona State University and followed her into a bathroom, demanding she support Biden’s social policy bill and pass immigration reform. She was confronted again on the plane as she returned to Washington. An online fundraiser to support a potential primary challenge raised more than $100,000 in a few days.

    In a scathing statement, Sinema denounced the bathroom incident “not legitimate protest”.

    Lucha defended its actions, accusing the senator of becoming “completely inaccessible”. “We’re sick of the political games, stop playing with our lives,” the groups said.

    Sinema’s office denied the accusation that she had become inaccessible. “The senator and her team meet regularly with individuals and groups from across Arizona on a consistent basis – including Lucha,” said spokesman John LaBombard, adding that they had met directly with activists from Lucha “at least a half-dozen times” since 2019.

    The state Democratic party has threatened a vote of no confidence. Garrick McFadden, a former vice-chair, called Sinema an “obstructionist” and predicted an exodus from the state party in support of a primary challenge in 2024.

    “She has betrayed her friends and the promise she made to the Arizona people,” he wrote on Twitter. “She wants to play games, well in 2023 we start playing games with her.”

    Sinema isn’t up for re-election until 2024. But there are early signs she may be vulnerable to a primary challenge. A recent poll by OH Predictive Insights, a Phoenix firm, found that just 56% of Arizona Democrats had a favorable view of Sinema. Nearly one in three had an unfavorable view

    Saundra Cole, a retired ATT telephone operator, is among them. She phone-banked for Sinema several times, first when she ran for the House and later for the Senate. Cole was drawn to her story of personal hardship, and believed she would be a champion for working families. Now the 72-year-old struggles to see how she could vote for her again.

    When Sinema delivered an emphatic thumbs-down to a proposal that would have raised the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, Cole was shocked.

    “It was like a slap in the face,” she said.

    Some speculated Sinema was channeling McCain, whose last major legislative act was to block his own party’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act with a dramatic thumbs-down. Cole rejected the comparison.

    “She’s not John McCain,” Cole said. “She’s not a maverick. I didn’t agree with him on many things but at least we knew where he stood.”

    In her telling, Sinema was born to a middle-class family in Tucson. When her father lost his job, the life they built began to unravel. After Sinema’s parents divorced, her mother and stepfather moved to the Florida Panhandle, where she has said they lived in an abandoned gas station for three years. Sinema describes her years living in poverty as formative, guiding her into a career in politics.

    “We got by thanks to help from family, church and, sometimes, even the government,” she said in a video that launched her Senate bid.

    After graduating from Brigham Young University in just two years, Sinema returned to Arizona, where she started working as a social worker. She first encountered politics as a Green Party activist working for Ralph Nader. She spent the early 2000s agitating against wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. At the time, she condemned capitalism and likened political donations to “bribery”. She ran twice for local office as an independent – and lost.

    In 2004, Sinema changed her affiliation to Democratic and won a seat in the state legislature. Her progressive credentials were unimpeachable.

    “People ask all the time whether she has changed her views on issues,” said David Lujan, who served with Sinema in the state capitol. “I honestly don’t know. I think only Kyrsten can answer that. What has changed is her approach.”

    In her book, Unite and Conquer: How to Build Coalitions That Win – and Last, Sinema details her metamorphosis from “bomb-thrower” to stubborn bipartisan. She recalls railing against bills in floor speeches and interviews, only to watch them pass with overwhelming support in the Republican-held chamber.

    “In short, my first legislative session was a bust,” she wrote, calling herself the “patron saint of lost causes”. She returned with a plan, to befriend colleagues, search from common ground and hopefully “be at least marginally more successful”.

    In 2006, she helped lead the opposition to a ballot initiative amending the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Lujan said she applied lessons learned in the legislature to the effort, centering the campaign on how the amendment would impact unwed, elderly straight couples. The strategy was not without its critics, notably from the LGBTQ+ community, in which she identified as a bisexual woman. But the proposal failed, making Arizona became the first state to defeat a same-sex marriage ban at the polls.

    “Everybody was shocked that they were able to do it,” Lujan said. The experience, he believes, helped validate her philosophy that “taking a different approach and forming different types of coalitions” could also deliver results.

    In 2012, Sinema ran for Congress in a newly drawn district encompassing parts of East Valley, in Phoenix. Republicans tried to use her activist past against her but the strategy failed. Sinema won narrowly, becoming the first openly bisexual member of Congress. She is now the first female senator from Arizona and the only lawmaker on Capitol Hill to claim no religious affiliation – she was sworn in on a copy of the US constitution.

    Friends and colleagues in both parties invariably describe her as disciplined and extremely intelligent. While in office, she earned a law degree and an MBA. Away from Washington, she runs Ironman triathlons and teaches college courses on social work.

    As Sinema climbed the ranks of Arizona politics, the state was changing. After Barack Obama’s election as president in 2008, anti-immigrant fervor sent Arizona lurching further right. Hope of turning the state blue faded as national Democrats and progressive groups effectively abandoned the state, recalled Josh Ulibarri, a Phoenix-based Democratic pollster.

    “Everybody left,” he said.

    In the vacuum, a liberal grassroots resistance emerged, led by young Latinos who were the targets of harsh immigration policies. They slowly built political clout. Their advocacy helped oust Sheriff Joe Arpaio in 2016, and to pass the largest minimum-wage increase in the country. Two years later, they helped send Sinema to the Senate.

    “She benefited from their work, their struggle – the sweat and the blood, the arrests and the deportations – all of it,” Ulibarri said. “So the way she’s become the public face of [resistance to Biden’s agenda], it’s not just a political betrayal, it’s a deep, personal betrayal.”

    Frustration reached a turning point this summer after Sinema doubled down in her support for the filibuster, which Republicans have used to block voting rights legislation. Two civil rights leaders, the Rev Jesse Jackson and the Rev William Barber, were arrested during a protest outside of her Phoenix office.

    Gilbert Romero, a prominent progressive activist in Phoenix who interned for Sinema in 2014, said he doesn’t see such anger abating anytime soon, especially if she continues to stand in the way of Democratic policy goals. In his view, Sinema underestimates the threat of a progressive primary challenge.

    “She thinks she’s like Teflon and nothing is going to stick to her – that’s misguided,” he said, adding: “We’ve [unseated] much more powerful people than Kyrsten Sinema.”

    What many activists find baffling is that Sinema has moved right as her state has moved left. In 2020, Biden narrowly won Arizona, as did Mark Kelly, who now serves alongside Sinema in the Senate. Democrats also hold five of the nine congressional seats. Manchin, the other key holdout, is the only Democrat left in the congressional delegation from West Virginia, a state that voted for Trump by nearly 40 points.

    “The Arizona that existed in 2012 when she first got elected to Congress is not the Arizona that exists in 2021,” Romero said. “It’s a completely different landscape now.”

    Independence is a prized quality in Arizona, where nearly a third of the electorate is unaffiliated with either major party. Sinema has it, said Danny Seiden, president and chief executive of the Arizona chamber of commerce, who believes it is the source of her broad appeal.

    Rob Portman and Sinema answer questions from the press. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images

    “It’s a willingness to listen and not just toe the party line on all issues,” he said. “I think that’s a rarity amongst both Democrats and Republicans these days.”

    His organization supports the bipartisan infrastructure deal but has concerns about the size of the spending package. Seiden had no guesses as to how Sinema will eventually vote, but expects she will “do what she thinks is right for Arizona”.

    How she chooses to proceed will almost certainly have long-reaching consequences for her party’s legislative ambitions, and possibly her own. It may also decide the fate of the infrastructure deal she negotiated, which risks becoming collateral damage if talks on the social policy package fail.

    According to her office, Sinema is engaged in “good-faith discussions with both President Biden and Senator Schumer to find common ground”, as Democrats work to trim the package and win her support.

    Finally in the majority, and holding the key to her party’s ambitious agenda, Sinema has an opportunity that she could​ only have dreamed of​ when she first ran for office, said David Lujan, her former colleague in the state legislature. ​He doesn’t believe she would squander it.

    “It would counter my entire understanding of why she changed her approach in the first place,” he said. “She wants to be seen as somebody who can get things done.”

    Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/10/kyrsten-sinema-arizona-senate-senator-infrastructure-spending-biden-democrats

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    Power returns to Lebanon after 24-hour blackout – BBC News
    Power returns to Lebanon after 24-hour blackout – BBC News

    Power has been restored in Lebanon, officials say, after a 24-hour shutdown of the country’s energy supply.

    Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-58861477

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    Taiwan won’t be forced to bow to China, President Tsai says during National Day celebrations – CNN
    Taiwan won’t be forced to bow to China, President Tsai says during National Day celebrations – CNN

    By Eric Cheung, CNN

    Updated 1:48 AM ET, Sun October 10, 2021

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/10/asia/taiwan-national-day-tsai-intl-hnk/index.html

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    Dog the Bounty Hunter says Brian Laundrie may turn on parents to save himself and they could face jail if… – The US Sun
    Dog the Bounty Hunter says Brian Laundrie may turn on parents to save himself and they could face jail if… – The US Sun

    DOG the Bounty Hunter said that Brian Laundrie’s parents could face prison if they’ve helped their son evade capture.

    In an exclusive interview with The Sun, Dog said of Chris and Roberta Laundrie: “You don’t know if he’s standing in the park across the street or behind the golf course.  

    Dog the Bounty Hunter said if Brian Laundrie’s parents helped- they could face consequencesCredit: John Chapple for The US Sun
    Dog said if they did help their fugitive son, they could wind up in prisonCredit: Social Media – Refer to source

    “But if you’re sending someone to take him some clothes and food.

    “Pretty soon,” Dog said, “the lies come back to bite you.” 

    There is no reason to believe that Brian’s parents have assisted their son in continuing to evade authorities, however Dog claimed that if they did, the fugitive could use any parental assistance he may have received to his own advantage.

    The reality TV star, who joined the hunt for Brian last month added: “You know what these guys do when they get caught? They got authors that come to them in prison and go ‘Listen you’re all done and you need commissary money. You’re going to tell us what really happened, we’re going to write your autobiography.” 

    “And 99.9% of these criminals, tell the truth. ‘Oh my mom and dad helped me out, but I made them.’” 

    Dog also claimed that if Brian was helped that “he’s gonna rat off Mom and Dad. If he’s going to kill his girlfriend, who he loves- he’s going to tell on mom and dad.”

    Chris and Roberta Laundrie have claimed that they do not know their son’s whereabouts, but Dog said that if they do, the FBI could strong arm that sort of information out of them.

    “One of these days the men in black are gonna knock on that door and say ‘Excuse me, Mr. Chris, but we have a United States warrant for your arrest.’” 

    “And if they don’t find him in a couple of days, that’s exactly what the feds are going to do.” 

    Dog alleged that the FBI could go to the parents and say: “When you guys can figure out where he might be- you give us a clue, we may be able to set you a bond and you get to go home.’

    “And I think that’s exactly what’s happening.”

    The FBI launched a million dollar search for 23-year-old Brian, after he vanished from his family home in Florida just days before Gabby was found dead. 

    On Thursday Brian’s dad Chris joined that search. 

    UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCES 

    But Dog – real name Duane Chapman- said he has “never heard of that in the 41 years” he has worked as a bounty hunter. 

    He added: “I have heard when they go get a parent… when the son is robbing a bank and they want to negotiate for the kid to come out, so they will get mom and mom talks to the kid. 

    “I’ve never heard of the police departments, and I’m sure it wasn’t the FBI, that take the father on the ride along. They must have some good friends.” 

    Brian had been weeks into a cross country trip with his fiancée when he returned home to his parent’s house without her on September 1. 

    Gabby’s parents reported her missing on September 11 and her remains were found a week later in a Wyoming national park. 

    Read our Brian Laundrie live blog for the very latest news and updates… 

    By that time, Brian himself had been reported missing by his parents.  

    PRESSURE ON 

    Speaking to The Sun Dog added: “Most of the guys that kill their wives and their family, they hide up for three or four days and then protesters start and the rumors start. 

    “So the people have put up enough pressure where the dad rode around in a golf cart, and showed the cops, what to do. ” 

    Dog said he had at first speculated on a scenario where Brian had killed Gabby by accident, and perhaps called his mom and dad immediately after her death, telling them he “put his hand over her mouth to stop her screaming.” 

    Dog added: “Now we have to remember that…Gabby and Brian lived with his mom and dad for almost two years in the house. 

    “I was there, it’s not a huge house, so I am sure the parents heard probably Gabby’s screaming.” 

    But Dog said the timeline seems to suggest that was not the case. 

    DAD JOINS SEARCH 

    Laundrie family attorney Steve Bertolino said Chris was asked to identify his son’s favorite trails and hiking spots. 

    Bertolino’s office said they had no comment when contacted about Dog’s comments. 

    Chris was seen leaving his North Port, Florida, home alone on Thursday morning. 

    Bertolino said: “Chris Laundrie is assisting Law Enforcement today in the search for Brian. Chris was asked to point out any favorite trails or spots that Brian may have used in the preserve. 

    “Although Chris and Roberta Laundrie provided this information verbally three weeks ago it is now thought that on-site assistance may be better. 

    “The preserve has been closed to the public and the Laundries as well but the parents have been cooperating since the search began.” 

    HUNT FOR BRIAN 

    Bertolino added: “As to yesterday, we were just asked to be on standby as they were focusing in on certain areas.” 

    Brian vanished just days before Gabby’s body was discovered on September 19 at Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, where the couple had been traveling together. 

    He drove back to his North Port home alone in Gabby’s van on September 1, a week and a half before her mother reported her missing. 

    Brian’s parents reported him missing on September 17 after they claimed he told them he was going for a hike in the Carlton Reserve. 

    The Laundrie family has drawn some scrutiny after appearing to change the timeline of events they originally shared with police. 

    According to a statement released by the family’s attorney Steven Bertolino, Brian actually “left to hike in the preserve” on Monday, September 13, not Tuesday, September 14 as his parents originally stated. 

    Bertolino told WFLA: “The Laundries were basing the date Brian left on their recollection of certain events. 

    “After consulting with the FBI and confirming the day Brian’s Mustang was found and returned to the Laundries’ home, we now believe the day Brian left to hike in the preserve was Monday September 13.” 

    ARREST WARRANT 

    The FBI issued an arrest warrant, accusing Brian of swiping a Capital One debit card between August 31 and September 1. 

    Brian remains at large but there have been a series of alleged sightings in parts of Florida, Mexico, Canada, and along the Appalachian Trail. Most potential leads have led to dead ends. 

    He is considered a person of interest in Gabby’s death but has yet to officially be named a suspect. 

    Exclusive footage obtained by The Sun on Thursday shows Dog as he was served with a $1.3million lawsuit accusing him of “racist and homophobic behavior.” 

    The lawsuit accuses him of “racist and homophobic behavior” before and after filming his axed reality show Dog Unleashed. 

    Footage shows as the reality star is approached with the court documents during his search for Laundrie in Florida. 

    Dog has vehemently denied the allegations. 

    Brian’s father Chris Laundrie joined the search for his son on Thursday alongside policeCredit: Splash
    Roberta and Chris Laundrie claim they don’t know where their son isCredit: Splash
    Gabby Petitio’sCredit: Social Media – Refer to source

    Do you have a story for The US Sun team?

    Source Article from https://www.the-sun.com/news/3820720/dog-bounty-hunter-brian-laundrie-flip-parents-jailed/

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    Taiwan won’t be forced to bow to China, President Tsai says during National Day celebrations – CNN
    Taiwan won’t be forced to bow to China, President Tsai says during National Day celebrations – CNN

    By Eric Cheung, CNN

    Updated 1:48 AM ET, Sun October 10, 2021

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/10/asia/taiwan-national-day-tsai-intl-hnk/index.html

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    Trump rallies in Iowa as he eyes 2022 and 2024 – Fox News
    Trump rallies in Iowa as he eyes 2022 and 2024 – Fox News
    Video

    Former President Trump holds ‘Save America’ rally in Iowa

    DES MOINES, IOWA – Former President Trump took aim at the massive spending bill that President Biden and congressional Democrats are trying to pass into law, charging it’s a “monstrosity” and “so dangerous for our country.”

    Trump’s attacks on the multitrillion-dollar human infrastructure, social spending and climate change package came as he held a rally in Iowa on Saturday. It was the former president’s first stop in the competitive Central Plains state since last year’s election.

    Iowa is also the state whose caucuses have kicked off the presidential nomination calendar for the past half-century, and Trump’s stop sparked more speculation he’ll make another White House run in 2024.

    TRUMP RETURNS TO IOWA TO BOOST 2022 REPUBLICANS, BUT LAYS DOWN 2024 MARKER 

    Iowa was once a key battleground state, but Trump comfortably won it during his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. 

    He arrived in the Hawkeye State days after scoring his best favorable ratings ever in the Des Moines Register poll, which is considered the gold standard in this neck of the woods.

    Fifty-three percent of Iowans had a favorable view of the former president and 45% hold an unfavorable view, according to the Des Moines Register/Mediacom survey released Monday. And among Republicans only, he was at a sky high 91% favorability.

    Trump touted the poll, saying “we’re at the highest we’ve ever been.” 

    He also spotlighted his victory in Iowa last November, adding “you proved why Iowa should vote first in the nation.”

    The former president took a few jabs at a small group of GOP senators, led by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, for earlier this week allowing the majority Democrats to temporarily lift the debt ceiling, which prevented the nation from defaulting.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “To think that we had 11 Republicans go along with an extension, headed up by Mitch McConnell,” Trump said, eliciting boos from the large crowd of supporters at the rally site at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. 

    Trump also repeatedly pilloried his successor in the White House for his handling of the rocky U.S. withdrawal and evacuation from Afghanistan. He also criticized Biden over the influx of migrants trying to cross the nation’s southern border with Mexico, and over the surge in COVID cases as the highly infectious delta variant spread across the country. 

    The former president charged that Biden and congressional Democrats were taking the nation to “the brink of ruin.”

    The Democratic National Committee slammed Trump’s stop in Iowa.  DNC spokesperson Ammar Moussa said Trump’s firm grip over the GOP “is the anvil around their necks going into 2022.”

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-rally-iowa-2022-2024

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    ‘SNL’ has the Facebook whistleblower help Congress understand social media – CNN
    ‘SNL’ has the Facebook whistleblower help Congress understand social media – CNN

    By Frank Pallotta, CNN Business

    Updated 3:30 AM ET, Sun October 10, 2021

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/10/media/snl-facebook-whistleblower-cold-open/index.html

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    The Taliban say they won’t work with the U.S. to contain the Islamic State – NPR
    The Taliban say they won’t work with the U.S. to contain the Islamic State – NPR

    Relatives and residents pray during a funeral ceremony for victims of a suicide attack at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, on Saturday. The mosque was packed with Shiite Muslim worshippers when an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked during Friday prayers, killing dozens in the latest security challenge to the Taliban as they transition from insurgency to governance.

    Abdullah Sahil/AP


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    Abdullah Sahil/AP

    Relatives and residents pray during a funeral ceremony for victims of a suicide attack at the Gozar-e-Sayed Abad Mosque in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan, on Saturday. The mosque was packed with Shiite Muslim worshippers when an Islamic State suicide bomber attacked during Friday prayers, killing dozens in the latest security challenge to the Taliban as they transition from insurgency to governance.

    Abdullah Sahil/AP

    ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban on Saturday ruled out cooperation with the United States to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan, staking out an uncompromising position on a key issue ahead of the first direct talks between the former foes since America withdrew from the country in August.

    Senior Taliban officials and U.S. representatives are meeting this weekend in Doha, the capital of Qatar. Officials from both sides have said issues include reining in extremist groups and the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country. The Taliban have signaled flexibility on evacuations.

    However, Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press there would be no cooperation with Washington on containing the increasingly active Islamic State group in Afghanistan. IS has taken responsibility for a number of recent attacks, including a suicide bombing Friday that killed 46 minority Shiite Muslims and wounded dozens as they prayed in a mosque in the northern city of Kunduz.

    “We are able to tackle Daesh independently,” Shaheen said, when asked whether the Taliban would work with the U.S. to contain the Islamic State affiliate. He used an Arabic acronym for IS.

    IS has carried out relentless assaults on the country’s Shiites since emerging in eastern Afghanistan in 2014. It is also seen as the terror group that poses the greatest threat to the United States for its potential to stage attacks on American targets.

    The weekend meetings in Doha are the first since U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan in late August, ending a 20-year military presence as the Taliban overran the country. The U.S. has made it clear the talks are not a preamble to recognition.

    The talks also come on the heels of two days of difficult discussions between Pakistani officials and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Islamabad that focused on Afghanistan. Pakistani officials urged the U.S. to engage with Afghanistan’s new rulers and release billions of dollars in international funds to stave off an economic meltdown.

    Pakistan also had a message for the Taliban, urging them to become more inclusive and pay attention to human rights and minority ethnic and religious groups.

    Later on Saturday, Doha-based Al-Jazeera English reported the talks had kicked off. The news outlet cited Ameer Khan Muttaqi, the Taliban-appointed foreign minister for Afghanistan, as saying the Taliban had asked the U.S. to lift its ban on the reserves of the Afghan central bank.

    There was no immediate word from Washington on the talks.

    Following Friday’s attack, Afghanistan’s Shiite clerics assailed the Taliban, demanding greater protection at their places of worship. The IS affiliate claimed responsibility and identified the bomber as a Uyghur Muslim. The claim said the attack targeted both Shiites and the Taliban for their purported willingness to expel Uyghurs to meet demands from China. It was the deadliest attack since U.S. and NATO troops left Afghanistan on Aug. 30.

    Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center, said Friday’s attack could be a harbinger of more violence. Most of the Uyghur militants belong to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, which has found a safe haven in the border regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan for decades.

    “If the (IS) claim is true, China’s concerns about terrorism in (Afghanistan)—to which the Taliban claims to be receptive—will increase,” he tweeted following the attack.

    Meanwhile, the Taliban on Saturday began busing Afghans who had fled from the insurgents’ blitz takeover in August and were living in tents in a Kabul park back to their homes in the country’s north, where threats from IS are mounting following the Kunduz attack.

    A Taliban official in charge of refugees, Mohammed Arsa Kharoti, said there are up to 1.3 million Afghans displaced from past wars and that the Taliban lack funds to organize the return home for all. He said the Taliban have organized the return of 1,005 displaced families to their homes so far.

    Shokria Khanm, who had spent several weeks in one of the tents in the park and was waiting Saturday to board the Taliban-organized bus back home to Kunduz, said she isn’t concerned about the growing IS threat in the northern province.

    “At least there we have four walls,” she said but added that she was nervous about the future after fighting between the Taliban and Afghan government troops had destroyed her house.

    “Winter is on the way. There is no firewood. We need water and food,” she said.

    During the Doha talks, U.S. officials will also seek to hold the Taliban to their commitment to allow Americans and other foreign nationals to leave Afghanistan, along with Afghans who once worked for the U.S. military or government and other Afghan allies, a U.S. official said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to speak on the record about the meetings.

    The Biden administration has fielded questions and complaints about the slow pace of U.S.-facilitated evacuations from Taliban-ruled Afghanistan since the U.S. withdrawal.

    Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/10/10/1044820387/the-taliban-say-they-wont-work-with-the-u-s-to-contain-the-islamic-state

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    Georgia police officer fatally shot on first day with new department; search for suspect underway – USA TODAY
    Georgia police officer fatally shot on first day with new department; search for suspect underway – USA TODAY

    Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/10/09/georgia-police-officer-killed-first-day-alamo-police-department/6076202001/

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    ‘God’s still in the miracle business’: Good Samaritan details how he found missing 3-year-old Christopher Ramirez – KPRC Click2Houston
    ‘God’s still in the miracle business’: Good Samaritan details how he found missing 3-year-old Christopher Ramirez – KPRC Click2Houston

    GRIMES COUNTY, Texas – Three-year-old Christopher Ramirez was found alive Saturday morning and reunited with his mother. The toddler vanished in Plantersville on Wednesday, Oct. 6.

    Around 1:30 pm on Wednesday, Christopher disappeared near his home in 10000 block of Deer Park Lane in Grimes County. The child’s family told deputies Christopher went missing moments after returning home with his mother and grandmother — the trio had been out running errands. As the women were unloading the car, the boy, who was wearing a bright green shirt and Mickey Mouse shoes, chased a neighbor’s puppy out of sight of the adults. When the dog returned and Christopher did not, the family and their neighbors began searching for him. After about 20 minutes with no luck, the family contacted the Grimes County Sheriff’s Office for assistance.

    RELATED: Search underway for 3-year-old boy who went missing while playing with dog outside Grimes County home, sheriff says

    Deputies, assisted by multiple K-9 units, responded and conducted a ground search through the evening and into the night. Several additional agencies (including the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation) and over a hundred volunteers soon joined the search. The large group canvassed the area multiple times over the proceeding days. Drones and helicopters were used to survey the wooded area from above. Deputies drained several ponds. Despite their efforts, Christopher remained missing — until Saturday morning, when a Good Samaritan named Tim found the boy near FM 1486, north of State Highway 249.

    Though Christopher went missing Wednesday, Tim said he first heard about the missing child Friday night during group Bible study.

    “Last night I was in a Bible study that we have every other Friday and there were a number of people talking about this little boys that’s been lost and it was news to me,” Tim said. “This is the first I’d heard of it. I’m not paying attention to news or anything, and, I was prompted then by the Spirit to say ‘you will go look for that boy. You will search the woods.’”

    “So, I got up this morning, did my bible study, devotional time, prayer time, like I try to do everyday and my wife came in and said ‘what are you going to do today?’ And I said ‘I’m going to go out in the woods and see if I can find that boy.’ And, and I did.”

    RELATED: 3-year-old Grimes County boy missing since Wednesday found safe, Texas EquuSearch confirms

    Tim said he left his home around 9:45 a.m. and found the boy about two hours later at around 11:30 a.m. He said he found the child near a pipeline.

    “He was probably about 10 yards into the woods,” Tim said. “I was walking up a pipeline and I heard a noise. But it sounded like it maybe could be an animal in distress. Sometimes deer will do that — They’ll kind of make noises like you think it’s maybe a human. So I’m walking a little bit further and I’m really listening hard. I’m wanting to hear a child, right? And so then I hear what sounds like a human child in distress. But I couldn’t understand the words. As it turns out, he only speaks Spanish and I couldn’t understand what he might’ve been saying. Every time I heard him I yelled out ‘Hello, hello!’ but I didn’t get a response.”

    As soon as Tim heard the noise again, he called authorities and told them the child might be there.

    “They came out and I told them where to go looking and they started looking and I heard the noise up the pipeline, a little further off to the right and they were doing their thing. They were yelling for Christopher and now I know his name.”

    “So as I’m walking back down the pipeline to come back home and I hear the noise and I thought ‘that’s odd,’” Tim said.

    That’s when Tim began calling out for Christopher.

    “This time, I got a response,” Tim said. “Prior to that I never got a response when I yelled out. But I called his name and he responded and he kept talking and talking and I just went through the thick of the woods and I found him.”

    Tim found the boy in a grassy area.

    “I picked him up and he was totally naked — No shoes, no clothing, nothing . . . Three days without food or water . . I picked him up and he wasn’t shaking, he wasn’t nervous,” Tim said. “He was calm.”

    “There have been a lot of people out in this community praying for this little boy. Many had given up hope and the story is don’t give up hope and God’s still in the miracle business,” Tim said. “He’s still answering prayer.”

    Grimes County Sheriff thanked the Good Samaritan Saturday evening in a post on social media.

    “The kind and humble citizen that found Christopher was indeed a special and Guardian Angel that was in the right place at the right time,” Sowell wrote. “He is a humble and kind man that did not want to his name mentioned. I had several good visits with him and thanked him for being there. He replied that God told him at Bible study yesterday evening to go look for him and he would find him. This morning the man did just that and the rest is a happy ending to this story.”

    View all KPRC 2′s coverage of the search for Christopher here.

    Source Article from https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2021/10/09/gods-still-in-the-miracle-business-good-samaritan-details-how-he-found-missing-3-year-old-christopher-ramirez/

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    Louisiana police officer found dead during search for suspect in several shootings – ABC News
    Louisiana police officer found dead during search for suspect in several shootings – ABC News

    A Louisiana State Police officer was found dead in Ascension Parish Saturday night as law enforcement authorities have swept across the region looking for a suspect in the murder of one person and the shooting of several others.

    The New Orleans branch of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it was assisting on scene where the officer was found dead and confirmed the death was tied to “a manhunt for a gunman tied to multiple shootings in several parishes this weekend.”

    The ATF did not release information on how the officer died or how the suspect was specifically tied to the officer’s death.

    Authorities have spent Saturday searching for Matthew Mire, 31, who is suspected of breaking into a home and shooting two people in Prairieville around 3 a.m. on Saturday, according to the Ascension Parish Sheriff’s Office.

    Joseph Schexnayder, 43, and Pamela Adair, 37, were both taken to the hospital where Adair later died. Schexnayder is in critical but stable condition, the sheriff’s office said.

    Just hours earlier, in nearby Livingston Parish, Mire is suspected of breaking into another home and shooting two other people. In that incident a woman was shot twice in the arm and leg and a man was shot once in the arm. Both are expected to recover, Livingston Parish Sheriff Jason Ard said.

    “The pair tells detectives that they heard a noise outside of their home. They then witnessed someone barging in through their front door and firing shots,” Ard said. “We do not believe this to be a random shooting. It’s believed Mire was familiar with the victims.”

    Mire is believed to have stolen a blue 2013 Chevrolet Silverado from that scene, authorities said.

    At 5 a.m., a Louisiana state trooper attempted to stop a pickup truck in East Baton Rouge Parish when they came under fire from the driver, authorities said. The officer was not struck, but law enforcement believes the driver was Mire.

    Mire is considered armed and dangerous, police said.

    Source Article from https://abcnews.go.com/US/louisiana-police-officer-found-dead-search-suspect-shootings/story?id=80501356

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