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In The News:
Chicago Official Who Used to Help Trump with Taxes Has His Office Raided
Chicago Finance Committee Chairman Ed Burke had his office raided by federal officials on Thursday. It’s a notable move, since Burke previously did tax work for President Donald Trump.
The federal agents removed everyone from Burke’s city hall office while conducting the morning raid.
They then covered the office’s floor-to-ceiling windows with brown paper, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. An official in the office reportedly declined to comment at the time.
Dershowitz Slams CNN’s ‘Absolute Bigot’ After Anti-Semitic Comments
Speaking Thursday morning on “The Laura Ingraham Show,” Harvard Law school professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz was blunt about CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill’s remarks in a speech at the U.N. on Wednesday, in which Hill essentially called for Israel’s elimination as a sovereign entity.
“[He] is an absolute bigot, anti-Semite, un-American, anti-American. He’s just a despicable human being who has now gone beyond the point of acceptability for any network in the United States,” said Dershowitz.
Dershowitz, a Jewish man, has debated Hill previously on CNN.
On Thursday afternoon, CNN severed ties with Hill following his reprehensible remarks, according to Mediaite.
Philadelphia police arrest two suspects in quadruple execution-style killing
Two people doing renovations in a Philadelphia basement stumbled upon a stash of drugs — and were gunned down execution-style last week alongside two others during a failed bid to sell the illicit substance, cops said Thursday as they announced the arrest of two suspects.
“Sadly, all four of these individuals were executed, there’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it,” Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Ross said last week after each of the victims were found with a single gunshot wound to the back of the head.
“This is an absolutely evil thing to do. There is no way in the world people should have met their demise this way.”
The alarming chart that shows what’s killing Americans more than guns or AIDS ever did
What killed more people in recent years — those struggling under urban overpasses or snug in their suburban beds — than guns did at the early-1990s peak in U.S. homicides?
Drug-overdose deaths skyrocketed between 2015 and 2017, particularly for adults between ages 25 and 54, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released Thursday.
Deaths from synthetic opioids rose 45% in 2017, while the death rate from heroin, which had risen sharply after 2010, was flat. The main culprit was fentanyl and other synthetic opioids that became pervasive in illicit drug supplies in the U.S. around that time.
Face transplant recipient shows remarkable progress 11 months after surgery
More than two years after Cameron Underwood attempted to end his life, the 26-year-old has gotten a second chance, which was partly made possible by his face transplant team at New York University Langone Medical Center.
Underwood, who grew up in Yuba City, Calif., struggled with depression and attempted to cope with alcohol, according to PEOPLE.
In June 2016, he attempted to kill himself with a gunshot under his chin, but he survived and spent the next five weeks heavily sedated. In total, he spent five months in the hospital as he recovered from the bullet wound, which cost him his nose, jaw and teeth, and badly damaged his eye sockets.
Woman’s allergic reaction to hair dye causes head to swell to massive size: ‘I almost died’
The woman, identified only as Estelle, claims a chemical in the dye called Paraphenylenediamine (PPD) caused her allergic reaction, she told French publication Le Parisien, according to Yahoo Lifestyle’s translation.
Though the 19-year-old claims she only tested a small amount of the product, her scalp almost “immediately” became irritated after application, she reportedly told the publication. The swelling began shortly after.
Suspected gunman in Thanksgiving Alabama mall shooting arrested, officials say
The suspected gunman who opened fire inside an Alabama mall on Thanksgiving night — injuring two people and leading police to kill another man who they initially thought was the shooter — was arrested in Georgia on Thursday, officials said.
Erron Brown, 20, was arrested in connection with the shooting at Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, about 10 miles south of Birmingham, FOX5 Atlanta reported, citing officials.
Woman found dead in sleeping bag, wrapped in carpet along Utah road identified after 20 years
Reyes-Geddes’ body was found in southeastern Utah near Lake Powell on April 20, 1998, by a passing motorist.
Officials said she had a fatal gunshot wound to the head. Her body was found covered with plastic bags, wrapped in duct tape, tied with a rope and placed inside a sleeping bag before being wrapped in carpet.
Reyes-Geddes was 37-years-old the last time she was seen alive, according to the Charley Project, which compiles information about missing persons. She was supposed to travel in April 1998 to Dallas and then to Laredo, Texas, but it was never clear if she ever arrived there, according to the group.
Missouri mom working extra shifts to buy Christmas presents for kids killed in car accident
Ahead of Christmas, Sara Shepard, a nurse and mother of two, picked up extra shifts at the St. Louis University Hospital in Missouri in the hopes her hard work would result in a present-filled holiday season for her kids.
But on her way to work Saturday, the 31-year-old was tragically killed in a car accident.
Shepard was killed Saturday around 6:30 p.m when a pickup truck collided into her vehicle, causing Shepard to drive off the road and strike a nearby guardrail.
2 California teens killed execution-style in triple slaying in Mexico, reports say
Two California teens and their Mexican friend were reportedly tortured, stripped to their underwear and killed execution-style early Sunday at an apartment complex in Mexico — and authorities have no idea why.
Christopher Alexis Gomez, 17, and Juan Suarez-Ojeda, along with their unidentified 18-year-old friend, were found dead at the Lomas Verdes housing complex in Tijuana, The San Diego-Union Tribune reported.
Local Mexican reports stated police found the three teens’ bodies in front of an apartment door after shots were reported to have been fired around 5 a.m. Sunday.
Facebook – New Revealing Documents Show Zuckerberg Considered Selling Private Data
Internal emails submitted in UK court filings provided an interesting window into heavily redacted internal Facebook documents. A British lawmaker plans to release the documents next week.
The technology giant was at the time apparently looking into the possibility of asking advertisers for more money in exchange for access to additional information about users (as evidenced by the content of said e-mails). If true, that would have been a radical break with the policy never to resell user data.
The internal e-mails are part of a series of internal communications intercepted by British parliamentarians.
Politics:
FACT CHECK: DID ILHAN OMAR VOTE AGAINST A BILL MAKING FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION A FELONY?
Many people said on Twitter recently that Democrat Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota state representative newly elected to the U.S. House, voted against a Minnesota bill that would have imposed stiffer penalties for female genital mutilation (FGM).
People claimed that Omar voted against a bill addressing FGM after Twitter suspended conservative activist Laura Loomer Nov. 21 for a tweet that said that Omar supported the practice.
Verdict: False
Trump judicial nominees stall on Hill, as Flake digs in over Mueller plan
Confirmation proceedings for President Trump’s judicial nominees have partially stalled on Capitol Hill, as outgoing Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake is standing firm in his vow to oppose all Trump nominations until the Senate votes on legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
Flake, a frequent Trump critic who opted against running for re-election this year, followed through on his threat Wednesday afternoon and joined Democrats in opposing a bid to advance Thomas Farr’s nomination to serve on the federal bench for the Eastern District of North Carolina.
Vice President Pence was then forced to break a tie on a procedural vote, in a rare Senate intervention.
Financial industry braces for Maxine Waters’ ascent on key committee
The banking and financial sectors are anxiously bracing for firebrand California Rep. Maxine Waters to claim the chairmanship of the House Financial Services Committee, unsure of what her leadership on the key panel will mean.
“I don’t know what Chairwoman Waters will be thinking,” Richard Hunt, president of the banking industry trade group the Consumer Bankers Association, told Fox News. “We’re prepared to defend the good work that we’re doing but we’re also willing to work with Chairwoman Waters to make sure we get smart, well-balanced policy.”
While the country’s major banks have expressed their willingness to work with Waters, they are all preparing for a very different House Financial Services Committee than the one currently being headed by Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas.
CALIFORNIA DEM CHAIR LOOKING INTO ALCOHOLISM TREATMENT AFTER NUMEROUS SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATIONS
California Democratic Party Chair Eric Bauman is planning to get alcoholism treatment after he was accused of multiple sexual misconduct allegations.
At least 10 staffers accused Bauman, who is openly gay, of unwanted touching and harassment, the Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday. One female staffer recalled obscene comments made to her at a dinner in 2007, while a gay male staffer said Bauman asked about his sex life with his partner during professional interactions.
“In the interest of allowing the [California Democratic Party] CDP’s independent investigation to move forward, I do not wish to respond to any of the specific allegations,” Bauman said, the LA Times reported.
World News:
Trump cancels meeting at G20 with Putin over Ukraine tensions
“Based on the fact that the ships and sailors have not been returned to Ukraine from Russia, I have decided it would be best for all parties concerned to cancel my previously scheduled meeting in Argentina with President Vladimir Putin,” he tweeted Thursday.
President Trump announced he is nixing a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit in Argentina on Saturday, in the wake of the seizure of Ukrainian ships and crews in the Black Sea by Russia.
Plane carrying Angela Merkel to G20 forced to make unscheduled landing
A plane carrying the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, to the G20 summit in Argentina has been forced to make an unscheduled landing after developing technical problems.
The German news agency DPA reported late on Thursday that the government Airbus, which was en route to Buenos Aires, turned around over the Netherlands about an hour into the flight.
China is using ‘economic espionage’ and ‘theft’ to grab US technology
A new report issued by several prominent experts on Chinese and American foreign policy claims that China is using a range of methods to misappropriate U.S. technology.
“In the technology sector, China is engaged in a multifaceted effort to misappropriate technologies it deems critical to its economic and military success,” experts explain, in a statement accompanying the report.
“Beyond economic espionage, theft, and the forced technology transfers that are required of many joint venture partnerships, China also captures much valuable new technology through its investments in U.S. high-tech companies and through its exploitation of the openness of American university labs.”
$3.8 million-a-day drug trafficking business contributing to rising knife crimes in UK: report
An epidemic of knife attacks is overwhelming police forces across the United Kingdom, and a $3.8 million-a-day drug trafficking business is partially responsible for the rising crime rate, a new report says.
An investigation by Sky News published Thursday into the drug business in the U.K. shows dealers are operating upwards of 2,000 “county lines” – when gangs and organized crime networks exploit children to sell drugs – from big cities like London or Manchester into small towns and the countryside.
Trump, Congress may penalize Airbnb in wake of anti-Israel boycott
The Washington Free Beacon reports that the Trump administration and pro-Israel leaders on Capitol Hill have expressed anger at Airbnb after it announced last week that it would remove listings of Jewish-owned apartment rentals in Judea and Samaria from its website.
The Free Beacon quoted a State Department official who said, “The administration’s strong opposition to boycotts, divestitures, and sanctions is well-known.”
Commentary/Opinion:
Tammy Bruce: Streisand accuses Trump of misogyny while liberals turn on their own
Singer and actor Barbra Streisand is following on the heels of her hero Hillary Clinton by condemning women who voted for Trump as mindless sheeple.
While promoting her new album, she told the Daily Mail, “A lot of women vote the way their husbands vote; they don’t believe enough in their own thoughts. Maybe that woman who’s so articulate, so experienced and so fit for the presidency [Hillary] was too intimidating.”
Sure, Barbra, sure.
Mrs. Clinton shocked liberals and conservatives alike when she first lobbed this sexist bomb at women who dared to not conform, during a speech in India in March 2018. On foreign soil, she insulted American women as dumb and controlled, and everyone else who didn’t vote for her as racist, petty and malevolent.
Is Obama trying to reposition and rebrand his presidency?
Obama breaking tradition of former presidents and criticizes Trump during a public appearance; reaction from panel on ‘The Ingraham Angle.’
Ingraham: Obama’s failed reset
Comparing Obama and Trump’s economic records.
In The News Feed. 