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The man accused of killing 10 Black people in a racist attack at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, at the weekend was called a coward by a loved one of one of the victims when he made a fresh appearance in court on Thursday.

Payton Gendron, 18, who is white, was not required to speak – his court-appointed lawyer had already entered a plea of not guilty to one count of first-degree murder – but it was the first time families of the victims who had come to the courthouse came face to face with him.

“Peyton, you’re a coward,” shouted one, as Gendron, who was shackled and dressed in orange Erie county jail clothes, was led out of court to return to custody after the short hearing.

Journalists were told by court officials not to approach the 12 family members of victims who attended the court hearing. The identity of the young woman who called out could not immediately be established.

Prosecutor Gary Hackbush, the chief of Buffalo’s homicide unit, said that a grand jury had convened on Wednesday and voted for an indictment against Gendron. The suspect had waived his right to a psychiatric evaluation, the court heard.

With Gendron’s next court appearance scheduled for 9 June, authorities continue to investigate the options of hate crime or terrorism charges.

Under New York criminal statutes, prosecutors can charge a defendant with first-degree murder only under special circumstances, including when multiple people are killed in a single incident. The single count covers all 10 deaths at the supermarket.

The Erie county district attorney, John Flynn, issued the following statement after the felony hearing was adjourned: “The defendant continues to remain held without bail. There will be no further comment from our office until there is a report following an investigation by the grand jury.”

The investigation includes hundreds of pages of writings by the suspect, detailing his plans for the assault and his racist motivations that he posted to a small group on the social media platform Discord 30 minutes before the shootings began. It is not yet clear if anyone who had access to the screed tried to alert police.

New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul, announced state legislation, citing “an intersection of two crises: the mainstreaming of hate speech – including white nationalism, racism and white supremacy – and the easy access to military-style weapons”.

The House of Representatives passed a bill dealing with domestic terrorism that has previously languished in Congress after failing in the Senate.

Hochul also authorized the state’s attorney general, Letitia James, to investigate social media platforms used before the attack, to determine if they were liable for “providing a platform to plan and promote violence”.

The suspect wrote in the online forum that he planned the attack after becoming obsessed with white supremacist ideology he had found online. He wrote that he planned his attack in secret, with no outside help.

On 15 April he wrote: “I literally can’t wait any longer, my parents know something is wrong.”

Two months earlier, he wrote: “My parents know little about me.” “They don’t know about … the hundreds of dollars I’ve spent on ammo. They don’t know that I spent close to $1,000 on random military shit. They don’t even know I own a shotgun or an AR-15, or illegal magazines.”

In the messages, he wrote about tensions with Black students at school during childhood. In sixth grade, he wrote, he was suspended for a day after a Black student accused him of using a racist slur against her. In his posts, Gendron wrote he did not think of himself a true racist until 2020 when he began reading 4chan, the online message board.

Thursday’s hearing came after it was revealed that an emergency services dispatcher could lose her job after allegedly shouting at the employee at Tops Friendly grocery store who called 911 during the assault on the supermarket.

A Tops employee, who was hiding and terrified that the gunman might hear them, alleges the dispatcher asked why she was whispering – then hung up. The employee said she had to call her boyfriend and tell him to dial 911 and report the shooting.

The dispatcher, who has not been identified, is facing a disciplinary hearing next week where “termination will be sought”, according to NBC News.

Funeral services for the victims of the mass shooting, which included elderly customers and a retired Buffalo police officer, will begin on Friday in Buffalo with Deacon Heyward Patterson.

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/19/buffalo-shooting-suspect-court-hearing-new-york

Right above a red “register” button on the page, the site includes a short disclaimer, informing attendees that “by clicking register below, you are acknowledging that an inherent risk of exposure to COVID-19 exists in any public place where people are present.”

The disclaimer goes on to warn that by attending the rally, attendees and their guests “voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to COVID-19” and agree not to hold the campaign, Tulsa’s BOK Center or a slew of other related parties “liable for any illness or injury.”

The page makes no mention of any social-distancing requirements or other safety precautions that will be in place at the rally, nor does it note the CDC’s recommendation that Americans wear face coverings while indoors in situations where social distancing might be difficult.

Trump had taken baby steps toward resuming rallies in recent weeks, as he began to venture outside the White House to visit manufacturing plants related to the pandemic, convening roundtables and speaking to workers in settings that mirrored the political rallies on a smaller scale — down to the playlist.

The president’s decision to restart his campaign rallies, first reported by POLITICO last week, raised eyebrows as the coronavirus continues to rage throughout the country.

Some in Trump’s circle maintain that “if he’s telling the world it’s OK to get back to your life, at some point he has to get back to his life,” while others point out that Democrats’ lack of objection to recent mass nationwide protests over police brutality make it more difficult to criticize the rallies. But the resumption comes as a raft of recent polling shows the president falling behind former Vice President Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, just five months out from the election.

Still, this week has seen spikes in coronavirus cases in more than a dozen states — with more increases possible over the next few weeks after the protests — while more governors continue to push forward with plans to reopen the economy after months of virus-related shutdowns. Cases in Oklahoma began to spike earlier this month, though health officials there told local media the increase was within the range of expectation as the state began to reopen.

“President Trump is fired up and ready to rebuild, restore, and renew the American Dream. There’s no doubt that the Great American Comeback is here,” Glassner, the campaign executive, said in a statement announcing next week’s rally in Tulsa. “We are looking forward to the tremendous crowds and enthusiasm behind President Trump.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/11/trump-rally-sue-campaign-coronavirus-exposure-314353

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/03/08/derek-chauvin-trial-starts-confusion-jury-selection-delayed/4632851001/

Source Article from https://www.10tv.com/article/families-mourn-funerals-begin-dayton-shooting-victims-2019-aug

Roughly three months ago, it was business as usual for the U.S. economy. Today, though, the U.S. economy and labor market are shells of what they once were due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The unemployment rate has rocketed higher to 14.7% — a level not seen since the Great Depression — with over 33 million people filing initial unemployment benefit claims within the past seven weeks.

Knowing full well what sort of havoc the shutdown of nonessential businesses would wreak on the economy and labor market, lawmakers passed and the president signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law on March 27. This $2.2 trillion stimulus package is the largest relief bill in history, and it ultimately provided funding for hospitals, small business loans, distressed industries, and an expansion of the unemployment benefits program.

Image source: Getty Images.

Over 150 million Americans will qualify for an Economic Impact Payment

If there’s one thing most Americans instantly think of when they hear the CARES Act mentioned, it’s the $300 billion set aside for direct stimulus payments to the American public. Using a combination of adjusted gross income (AGI), tax-filing status, and citizenship status, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can quickly determine a person’s eligibility for an Economic Impact Payment (as these stimulus payouts are officially known), as well as how much they’ll receive.

As some of you are likely aware, the maximum stimulus payment is $1,200 per individual taxpayer or $2,400 for a married couple filing jointly. Additionally, qualifying dependent children under the age of 17 can add $500 per child to what a parent or household will receive. To net this maximum Economic Impact Payment, single, married, or head-of-household filers would need to have respective AGIs below $75,000, $150,000, and $112,500 in their most recent tax filings.

On the flip side, tens of millions of Americans won’t receive a dime. This includes high-income earners, dependents aged 17 and older, and non-citizens without a Social Security number who have no legal pathway citizenship. What’s a high-income earner? In the case of Economic Impact Payments, it’s a single, married, or head-of-household filer with a respective AGI above $99,000, $198,000, and $136,500. Folks whose incomes fall between these upper and lower bounds are eligible for a reduced payout.

Image source: Getty Images.

Want your stimulus money faster? Then you’d better act quickly

All told, the Treasury Department has already paid out close to 130 million eligible Economic Impact Payment recipients, totaling around $218 billion, through May 8, 2020. However, this means at least 20 million-plus recipients are still waiting to receive their payments. 

One thing the IRS and Treasury Department have strongly encouraged eligible individuals and couples to do to expedite the receipt of their payouts is to enter their bank account information online via the IRS’s “Get My Payment” tool. Direct deposit payments, once processed, can reach an eligible recipients’ bank account within a matter days.

By comparison, paper checks can take up to two weeks to reach their intended destination, and the IRS is doling out paper checks from the bottom up, in terms of earnings. In other words, folks with less than $10,000 in AGI will receive their payouts first, followed by tax filers with AGIs of up to $20,000, and so on. In total, it could take multiple months before all of the paper stimulus checks have been mailed out.

However, the time frame for eligible recipients to expedite the receipt of their Economic Impact Payment is waning. On Friday, May 8, the IRS announced that your last chance to enter your bank account information online in order to receive your stimulus money via direct deposit, rather than by paper check, will be at 12 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, May 13. That means there’s just one more day (or perhaps even less by the time you’re reading this) to visit the Get My Payment tool and enter your information. 

Said IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig:

We’re working had to get more payments quickly to taxpayers. We want people to visit Get My Payment before the noon Wednesday deadline so they can provide their direct deposit information. Time is running out for a chance to get these payments several weeks earlier through direct deposit.

Image source: Getty Images.

My bank account info is correct, but I still don’t have my stimulus payout

For those of you who have provided your bank account info and are still waiting for your stimulus money, this can be equally infuriating. Here are a handful of reasons you might still be waiting for your payout.

First of all, it could come down to something as simple as when you entered your bank account information online with the IRS. If you provide your bank account info for direct deposit prior to 12 p.m. EDT on a Tuesday, you’ll be able to use the Get My Payment tool to check your payment date by the coming Saturday. Meanwhile, if you entered this information after noon EDT on Tuesday, then you’ll have to wait until the following Saturday to find out your payment date. 

Another consideration to make — especially if you’re receiving Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, or Veterans Affairs benefits — is that your stimulus money will be received the same way these governmental benefits are paid out. Thus, if you’re used to receiving a paper check, that’s how these payments will be doled out. In many instances, your payment is likely on its way, but it could take an additional two weeks to arrive.

Perhaps the most common reason you haven’t received your Economic Impact Payment yet is because you’ve used a tax-preparation service in recent years. Tax-prep services often create a temporary landing account for your tax refund, which allows them to pull out any fees and interest you might owe. They then forward what remains of your refund onto your bank account. There’s a real possibility that millions of Americans’ payouts could wind up in these temporary accounts. It happened to approximately 20 million people when stimulus checks were issued in 2008, and it may happen again this year.

Source Article from https://www.fool.com/taxes/2020/05/12/want-your-stimulus-money-faster-you-only-have-1-da.aspx

Fumaça e chamas são vistas no palco do Tomorrowland Unite, em Barcelona, na noite de sábado (29), em imagem retirada de vídeo (Foto: Alex Prim Lopez via Reuters)

Source Article from http://g1.globo.com/mundo/noticia/incendio-atinge-palco-do-festival-tomorrowland-em-barcelona.ghtml

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden acknowledged Wednesday that the pandemic has left Americans exhausted and demoralized but insisted at a news conference marking his first year in office that he has “outperformed” expectations in dealing with it.

Facing sagging poll numbers and a stalled legislative agenda, Biden conceded he would likely have to pare back his “build back better” recovery package and instead settle for “big chunks” of his signature economic plan. He promised to further attack inflation and the pandemic and blamed Republicans for uniting in opposition to his proposals rather than offering ideas of their own.

This is a perilous time for Biden: The nation is gripped by a disruptive new surge of virus cases, and inflation is at a level not seen in a generation. Democrats are bracing for a potential midterm rout if he can’t turn things around.

Biden insisted that voters will come to embrace a more positive view of his tenure — and of his beleaguered party — in time. His appeal to voters for patience came with a pledge to spend more time outside of Washington to make the case to them directly.

Biden also addressed the brewing crisis on the Ukraine border, where Russia has massed some 100,000 troops and raised concerns that Moscow is ready to launch a further invasion.

The president said his “guess” is Russia may move further but he believes President Vladimir Putin doesn’t want full-blown war. He declared Russia would pay a “dear price” if Putin launches a military incursion.

“He has to do something,” Biden said of Putin. “He is trying to find his place in the world between China and the West.”

Biden suggested a “minor incursion” might elicit a lesser response than a full-scale invasion of the country, a comment that drew immediate condemnation from some corners.

“President Biden basically gave Putin a green light to invade Ukraine by yammering about the supposed insignificance of a ‘minor incursion,’” said Republican Sen. Ben Sasse.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki indicated in a subsequent statement that that wasn’t necessarily about tanks and troops.

“President Biden also knows from long experience that the Russians have an extensive playbook of aggression short of military action, including cyberattacks and paramilitary tactics. And he affirmed today that those acts of Russian aggression will be met with a decisive, reciprocal, and united response,” she said.

Biden held forth for 1 hour 50 minutes in the East Room of the White House, appearing to relish the opportunity to parry questions from two dozen journalists with doses of wit and a few flashes of anger. At several points, he looked at his watch, smiled and kept calling on reporters.

He fielded questions about inflation, nuclear talks with Iran, voting rights, political division, Vice President Kamala Harris’ place on the 2024 ticket, trade with China and the competency of government. Those questions showed the multitude of challenges confronting the president, each of them as much a risk as an opportunity to prove himself.

The president began by reeling off early progress in fighting the virus and showcasing quick passage of an ambitious bipartisan roads-and-bridges infrastructure deal. But his economic, voting rights, police reform and immigration agenda have all been thwarted in a barely Democratic-controlled Senate, while inflation has emerged as an economic threat to the nation and a political risk for Biden.

Despite his faltering approval numbers, Biden claimed to have “probably outperformed what anybody thought would happen” in a country still coping with the coronavirus.

“After almost two years of physical, emotional and psychological impact of this pandemic, for many of us, it’s been too much to bear,” Biden said.

“Some people may call what’s happening now ’the new normal,″ he added, his voice rising. “I call it a job not yet finished. It will get better.”

On his nearly $2 trillion economic agenda that West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has blocked from moving forward, Biden said he’ll pass the parts of the package that can net sufficient votes. This likely means not extending the expanded child tax credit or providing financial support to community colleges, Biden said.

“I think we can break the package up, get as much as we can now, come back and fight for the rest,” he said, later adding that he would apply the same strategy to his voting reform agenda.

The social spending bill was once viewed as a catch-all home for various progressive priorities, but now Democrats are sensing a need to deliver a solid accomplishment to voters in the midterm year and are beginning to come to terms with a slimmed-down package that can overcome Manchin’s reticence.

The White House and congressional Democratic leaders are expected to refocus their attention on it beginning next week, after the all-but-certain collapse of the Democrats’ push on voting rights legislation. Talks to craft a new bill that meets Manchin’s demands and can garner the virtually unanimous Democratic support needed to pass Congress will likely take weeks.

The Democrats’ goal is to have a package — or be on the cusp of one — that Biden can highlight in his March 1 State of the Union address.

If Biden seemed to have one set of regrets so far, it was his inability because of the coronavirus to connect with more Americans outside the capital. He noted that this challenge was most acutely felt by Black voters who wanted him to push more aggressively on expanding access to voting.

“I don’t get a chance to look people in the eye because of both COVID and things that are happening in Washington,” he said.

Speaking as Democrats were mounting a doomed effort to change Senate rules to pass the voting measure, Biden said he still hoped that it would pass in some form and wasn’t prepared yet to discuss possible executive actions on the issue. The vote spotlighted the constraints on Biden’s influence barely a week after he delivered an impassioned speech in Atlanta suggesting opponents of the measures were taking a historical stance alongside segregationists and exhorting senators to action.

Still, he said he understood that civil rights groups were anxious and frustrated about the lack of action, particularly Black voters who question why he didn’t press the issue harder and earlier.

There are at least 19 Republican-backed laws in states that make it harder to vote, and Jan. 6 insurrection supporters are filling local election posts and running for office.

It was Biden’s seventh solo news conferences as president. The ongoing threat from the coronavirus was evident in the setup of Wednesday’s gathering: A limited number of reporters were allowed to attend and all had to have been tested for the virus and wear masks.

The president used the event to pay heed to growing anxiety about rising prices. Staring down an inflation rate that has gone from 1.7% at his inauguration to 7%, he called on the Federal Reserve to lessen its monetary boosting of the economy by raising interest rates, which would in theory help to reduce inflation.

“Given the strength of our economy, and the pace of recent price increases, it’s important to recalibrate the support that is now necessary,” Biden said. “Now, we need to get inflation under control.”

Despite it all, Biden said he’s convinced the country is still with him — even if they don’t tell that to pollsters.

“I don’t believe the polls,” he said.

___

AP Congressional Correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://apnews.com/article/coronavirus-pandemic-joe-biden-health-business-economy-6f49a98b7d04d41a4e9eb975c24fddc2

A spokesperson for the Biden transition declined to comment. A spokesperson for Rice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In her position, Rice, 56, will play a large role in implementing Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, a wide-ranging set of policy proposals that would invest trillions of dollars in American infrastructure and manufacturing, clean energy, caregiving, education and racial equity.

A person familiar with Biden’s thinking said he chose Rice for the role because of her deep experience in crisis management and interagency processes. The person said Biden does not see foreign, economic and diplomatic realms as separate and discrete and her deep knowledge of how the federal government works will be an asset to implementing his domestic policy agenda.

Biden officially announced Rice’s appointment Thursday morning, along with his nominations of Marcia Fudge to run the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Tom Vilsack as Agriculture secretary, Katherine Tai as U.S. trade representative and Denis McDonough as secretary of Veterans Affairs.

“The roles they will take on are where the rubber meets the road — where competent and crisis-tested governance can make a meaningful difference in people’s lives, enhancing the dignity, equity, security, and prosperity of the day-to-day lives of Americans,” Biden said in a statement.

Rice’s decision to take the domestic policy job also signals that she still harbors political ambitions. She floated the possibility of running for Senate in Maine against Susan Collins and was a finalist to serve as Biden’s running mate. The top domestic policy job will fill out her foreign policy-heavy resume.

Though Rice’s job does not require Senate confirmation, the Biden administration will need the support of Republicans to implement its far-reaching domestic policy agenda. Rice, however, has long been the target of the GOP because of her comments after the attack on a U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi and unmasking requests related to Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and foreign interference. Rice has never been charged with doing anything improper, but she has been the subject of withering criticism from Republicans, which could complicate the administration’s efforts to pass policies in Congress.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2020/12/10/biden-taps-susan-rice-for-top-white-house-domestic-policy-job-444231

KEENE, N.H. — Actor Michael J. Fox referred to Pete ButtigiegPeter (Pete) Paul ButtigiegFive takeaways: Fear of Trump hangs over Democratic debate Klobuchar raises million since start of debate Buttigieg after debate: I would be ‘most progressive’ nominee in party’s history MORE on Saturday as a “very stable Rhodes scholar,” poking fun at President TrumpDonald John TrumpFive takeaways: Fear of Trump hangs over Democratic debate Klobuchar raises million since start of debate Buttigieg, Sanders aim to build momentum from New Hampshire debate MORE‘s self-description as a “very stable genius.”

“We have a very stable Rhodes scholar,” Fox, who is backing Buttigieg, told a large crowd rallying for the Democratic presidential hopeful at Keene State College in New Hampshire. “That’s better than a very stable genius.”

“That’s what the J stands for,” he added to laughter, joking that the “J” in Donald J. Trump stood for “genius.”

Fox told the crowd that he was reminded of former President Obama when he first met Buttigieg, who served as the mayor of South Bend, Ind. 

“I just met the next president of the United States, and I felt the same way when I saw Pete,” Fox said.

The rally drew upward of 1,000 people, Buttigieg’s campaign said, citing the local fire department, and comes days before candidates compete in the New Hampshire primary.

Buttigieg attended a fundraiser with Fox last week in New York City, with tickets ranging from “supporter” level at $500 to “champion” level at $2,800.

A number of other celebrities have endorsed Buttigieg, including actress Gwyneth Paltrow and actor Bradley Whitford, who fundraised for Buttigieg in April.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/482172-michael-j-fox-on-buttigieg-endorsement-we-have-a-very-stable-rhodes-scholar

Earlier this year, BJP’s efforts to return to power looked to be on shaky grounds, especially after the party lost three key state elections in December. People across India have had mixed reactions to some of Modi’s landmark economic reforms and policies. They include the introduction of the Goods and Services Tax and demonetization — where the government unexpectedly withdrew all its 500 and 1,000-rupee notes, and replaced them with 500 and 2,000-rupee denomination currencies.

Then, a terrorist attack in Kashmir, and India’s subsequent response to it, shifted the momentum in Modi’s favor.

“That reinvigorated the campaign and took the attention away from, quite frankly, the not-so-great economic record,” Bery told CNBC’s “Squawk Box ” on Thursday.

“You had a slowing economy and also the leaked jobs report, which showed that India’s unemployment rate was at a 45-year high. By shifting to national security, Prime Minister Modi was able to take attention away from those negative stories, ” he added.

Still, Modi’s government will likely have its work cut out: India’s economy is slowing down, its shadow banking sector is in crisis, credit lending from banks is still relatively weak. More needs to be done to spur private investments so that the country doesn’t only rely on consumption to grow, according to analysts.

“Modi 2.0 will inhabit the roles of both economic moderniser and economic populist, contrary to his supporters and critics who have often sought to characterise him as either one or the other,” Control Risks’ Rao wrote.

He added that Modi will likely continue with his efforts to streamline the GST while continuing to empower India’s insolvency and bankruptcy code to tame the massive amounts of debts sitting in the banking sector — but he would not carry out a wholesale privatization of state-owned banks or loosen political control over lending decisions.

“At the same time, increased pressure over rural distress and unemployment will stoke Modi’s economic populist instincts, which will likely see an increased focus on rural spending and handouts aimed at supporting small and medium-sized enterprises,” Rao said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/23/india-lok-sabha-elections-results.html