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Just In | The Hill
Ashli Babbitt’s mother was arrested outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday afternoon, as she demonstrated with a larger group on the two-year anniversary of her daughter’s death during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
Micki Witthoeft, 58, was arrested on two traffic violations for failing to obey an order from Capitol Police and illegally blocking traffic, police said in a press release.
Witthoeft’s daughter, Babbitt, was part of the mob that forced their way into the Capitol on Jan. 6. Babbitt was fatally shot by Capitol Police as she tried to climb through a barricaded door near the House Chamber, where members of Congress were still being evacuated at the time.
On Friday, two years after the attack, her mother and other demonstrators illegally blocked traffic near the Capitol, according to police. Witthoeft was arrested after she refused multiple requests to move out of the road and onto the open sidewalk, they said.
“You’re not obeying the traffic laws,” one Capitol Police officer can be seen saying to Witthoeft in a livestream of the incident. “You can either move to the sidewalk or you can be placed under arrest.”
Witthoeft responded by turning around with her hands behind her back.
She and her fellow demonstrators had earlier been blocked from moving closer to the Capitol, as they did not have a permit to demonstrate on Capitol Grounds, according to police.
Blog Briefing Room, Blogs, Ashli Babbitt, Capitol Police, Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Micki Witthoeft Read More
Just In | The Hill
Racial tensions have spilled into public view amid the battle for House Speaker after Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) called Rep. Byron Donalds, a Black Republican from Florida, a “prop” for the far right.
The controversy began after Donalds, a former businessman and state representative who was first elected to Congress in 2020, was nominated on Wednesday by fellow Republican Rep. Chip Roy (Texas) to serve as Speaker amid Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R) fraught effort to win the gavel.
“[For] the first time in history there have been two Black Americans placed into the nomination for Speaker of the House,” Roy said, referring also to Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), the Democratic nominee for Speaker.
But the move didn’t sit well with Bush, a progressive Democrat representing St. Louis, who promptly blasted Donalds the following day on Twitter.
“FWIW, @ByronDonalds is not a historic candidate for Speaker. He is a prop,” Bush wrote. “Despite being Black, he supports a policy agenda intent on upholding and perpetuating white supremacy.”
The tweet sparked backlash from the GOP and spurred Donalds, one of two Black Republicans in the House, to tweet his own reply, writing that “nobody asked” Bush for her opinion.
In the process, the back-and-forth put a renewed spotlight on the issue of race inside Congress as the Speaker battle stretches into Friday night.
It’s not the first time Donalds has been at the center of the debate. An outspoken anti-abortion proponent and avid supporter of gun rights, Donalds describes himself on his website as “a Trump supporting, liberty loving, pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment black man.” The 44-year-old lawmaker, who’s heading into his second term, was denied membership in the Congressional Black Caucus in 2021; he claimed at the time it was because of his conservative views.
Republicans have rushed to Donalds’s side following Bush’s tweet. Rep.-elect Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) on Thursday said Donalds’ “ain’t no prop.”
“This is the tired, old, grotesquely racist rhetoric that we’ve seen far too long!” Bishop added.
Still, the feud has underscored the negative perception that many Black Americans have of the GOP.
Roy, in his speech to nominate Donalds, quoted Martin Luher King Jr., saying Republicans “do not seek to judge people by the color of their skin but rather the content of their character.”
Yet despite a midterm cycle that saw record-breaking numbers of Black Republican candidates run in the 2022 midterms, including Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, Republicans continue to fail at courting support from Black voters.
“[Black voters] are offended that the Republican Party is attempting to impose their version of what a Black leader should be on the Black community,” Adrianne Shropshire, executive director of Black PAC told The Hill last month.
“It insults the intelligence of Black people when you think that you can just throw any old person up and that Black people will just vote for them because they’re Black.”
Bush, in an interview with The Hill on Friday, said she has nothing personal against Donalds.
“There are great Black Republicans, and I’m not saying he is not a great person,” Bush said. “But he is part of that MAGA crowd that we don’t need in leadership here in the House of Representatives, that we don’t need leading our country in any way.”
Donalds’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.
“The thing is, there is always a racial component,” Bush added. “This country is made up of people who are from different races, different ethnicities, different backgrounds, so it’s going to come into play. We need you to recognize that that’s an actual thing.”
Bush said she doesn’t believe Republicans would have nominated Donalds if Democrats weren’t united behind Jeffries.
“As if we’re ignorant enough to say, ‘oh, well, we’re gonna have to support him because he’s another Black man,’” said Bush. “We want to see the first Black person but not just because he’s Black. Jeffries led this caucus, people have seen his leadership. Regardless of who takes the seat, we need it to be someone who will prioritize the needs of all people in this country, but in a way where they see the disparities, where they see the racism. That can’t happen when you have bad folks leading.”
Donalds, who voted for himself Wednesday, cast his vote twice for speaker for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Friday.
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Latest & Breaking News on Fox News
Israel’s ambassador to the U.N. lambasted the organization for calling a meeting to discuss an Israeli official’s visit to a Jerusalem holy site.
“Minister Ben-Gvir’s recent visit to the Temple Mount was not an incursion into al-Aqsa or any other fabrication that the Palestinians branded his visit as,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan said during a blistering speech to the U.N. Security Council, Thrusday. “Minister Ben-Gvir’s visit was in line with the status quo, and whoever claims otherwise is only enflaming the situation.”
Erdan also proclaimed that “Jews are allowed to visit the Temple Mount. Every Jew!”
Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount or Haram al Sharif, a sacred place for both Jewish and Muslim peoples, respectively. His visit, recorded by video, included a pointed moment in which he stared into the camera and said, “We don’t give in. We don’t surrender. We don’t blink” – a reference to the Jewish claim to the site – according to the Washington Post.
One Israeli lawmaker accused Ben Gvir of “goading the entire world” with his actions, which stirred protests across the Arab world and raised concerns among Western nations that Israel might not abide by long-held understandings about access to such sites.
Ben-Gvir broke no laws, but Jewish people hold that it is forbidden to go to the Temple Mount, also known as “the place of the Holy of Holies.”
DOZENS OF CHRISTIAN GRAVES TOPPLED, DEFACED IN HISTORIC JERUSALEM CEMETARY: ‘CLEAR HATE CRIME’
The visit prompted representatives of the United Arab Emirates to call for a U.N. Security Council urgent session over the visit, which quickly grew heated as Israeli and Palestinian representatives verbally sparred.
U.N. Assistant Secretary–General Khaled Khiari called the visit “particularly inflammatory” given Ben-Gvir’s “past advocacy for changes to the status quo.” The need to maintain the current understanding of shared ownership over the site remains key to many policymakers regarding Jerusalem.
BLINKEN REMINDS ISRAEL BIDEN ADMIN COMMITTED TO ‘TWO-STATE SOLUTION’ FOLLOWING NETANYAHU APPOINTMENT
“At this sensitive moment, all efforts to lower tensions should be encouraged, while provocations, inflammatory steps, unilateral actions and threats of violence must be categorically rejected,” Khiari said.
France’s representative to the U.N. Nicolas de Riviere, who serves as a permanent member to the Security Council, urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “ensure that the status quo of the Holy Places is respected.”
U.S. deputy ambassador to the U.N. Robert Wood similarly stressed the understanding that “Netanyahu’s governing platform calls for preservation of the status quo with relation to the holy places.”
UKRAINE DECRIES ISRAEL, RUSSIA CHAT AND SUGGESTS ‘CHANGE OF POLICY’ AMID NEW NETANYAHU ADMIN
“We expect the Government of Israel to follow through on that commitment,” Wood said.
The status quo allows for Muslims alone to worship at the site, where the Al-Aqsa mosque stands. Ben Gvir’s supporters insist that the minister never stepped on the actual believed location of the Holy of Holies and never prayed, therefore avoiding any violations.
The Palestinian representative to the world body, Riyad Mansour, called Ben-Gvir “an extremist minister of an extremist state” who was convicted of incitement and is known for his “racist views.” Mansour said that Ben Gvir was committed to allowing Jews to pray at the site and urged nations “to uphold international law and the historic status quo” and warned that “if they don’t, our Palestinian people will.”
Erdan called the session a “waste” that would show “nothing,” stressing that tens of thousands of Jewish travelers visit the site as long as they enter from “one specific entrance, on specific days, at limited hours, in small groups and under heavy security detail.”
“When this council dedicates its valuable time to “shows about nothing,” it legitimizes the poisonous lies of the Palestinians, and as a result, empowers terrorists to continue in their murderous ways,” Erdan said.
“While the Temple Mount is sadly not yet a house of prayer for all nations, it is still the right of every Jew – no matter what title they hold – to at least, at least visit this holiest of holy spots,” he added. “Jews will continue visiting the Temple Mount, and whoever believes in tolerance and coexistence should support that.”
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
CNN
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Officials in Albuquerque, New Mexico, are investigating a fifth shooting that may be connected to a string of shootings involving the homes and offices of local Democratic elected leaders as targets.
The New Mexico Attorney General, two state senators, a current county commissioner, and a former commissioner have been affected by the five separate shootings, the Albuquerque Police Department said in a press release.
Nobody was injured, and detectives are working to determine if the shootings are related.
“Our elected officials have chosen to serve, they should never be made to feel in danger in the comfort of their own homes,” Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said. “I have personally spoken with each of the victims, and we are working with them, and other elected officials (to) help provide any information about these incidents and also help them feel safe and be safe.”
The latest shooting to be reported occurred in the early morning hours of December 10 at the former campaign office of Democrat Raul Torrez, who was elected as New Mexico Attorney General, APD said in a news release Thursday.
APD’s ShotSpotter system “detected multiple gunshots in the area of the building,” but Torrez had already moved out of the office and was not injured in the shooting, police said.
Evidence was collected at the scene and “is now being evaluated in connection with the shootings related to four other local, elected officials in Albuquerque,” police said.
The first shooting occurred on December 4 when eight rounds were shot at the home of Bernalillo County Commissioner Adriann Barboa in southeast Albuquerque, police said.
“In early December, I returned from Christmas shopping to my home being shot up,” Barboa said in a statement posted on social media. “It was terrifying. My house had four shots through the front door and windows, where just hours before my grandbaby and I were playing in the living room.”
Days later, on December 11, more than a dozen “gunshot impacts were identified on walls and the house” of then-Bernalillo County Commissioner Debbie O’Malley in the North Valley, according to police.
On January 3, at least eight shots were fired at the home of state Sen. Linda Lopez in southwest Albuquerque, police said.
“Myself and my children were awakened by some loud noises. Initially I thought they were fireworks,” Lopez told CNN affiliate KOAT. “It’s very scary. You know, as a mom, it’s something you never want to experience.”
Three of the gunshots made it into her daughter’s bedroom and two were fired into Lopez’s bedroom, KOAT reported.
A fourth shooting took place on January 5 when police received reports “of gunshots heard in the area of a downtown law office” where state Sen. Antonio Moe Maestas works.
“APD’s ShotSpotter system registered three shots fired at the same location at 11:41 a.m.,” police said. “Officers did not find any damage to the building.”
Maestas’ “family is safe and sound,” he said on Twitter.
Police Chief Harold Medina said his department is working with state and federal partners on this case.
“Fortunately, nobody has been injured by these shootings,” Medina said. “But every time someone fires a gun into a home or business, there is a potential for tragedy. Our detectives are working overtime to track down the offender or offenders and hold them responsible.”
Barboa, who is currently raising her family in the same home that she grew up in, told CNN the experience is “terrifying and traumatizing.”
“It reminds me how deeply impactful gun violence is in our country, and particularly (in my) home state of New Mexico,” she said. “And really what I am experiencing, too many of my neighbors experience on a regular basis.”
Latest & Breaking News on Fox News
Researchers say that the Viking Age left an imprint on the genetics of present-day Scandinavians.
In an international study published Thursday in the journal Cell, scientists found that DNA from archeological remains shows exceptional immigration to Scandinavia during that era.
The authors analyzed 297 ancient Scandinavian genomes dating back two millennia with the genomic data of 16,638 present-day Scandinavians.
“As the geographical origin and the datings were known for all these individuals, it was possible to resolve the development of the gene pool to a level never realized previously,” the University of Stockholm, where many authors were listed, said in a press release.
CALIFORNIA WHALE WATCHERS EXPERIENCE ‘ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME SIGHTING’ OF GRAY WHALE, NEWBORN CALF
The university noted that the analysis found a surprising increase of variation during the Viking period that indicates gene flow into Scandinavia was especially intense during this period.
Women from the east Baltic region and, to a lesser extent, the British and Irish isles contributed more to the gene pool of Scandinavia than the men from those regions during that time.
“With this level of resolution, we not only confirm the Viking Age migration. We are also able to trace it to the east Baltic region, the British-Irish Isles and southern Europe,” Ricardo Rodríguez-Varela of the Centre for Palaeogenetics said in a statement.
“But not all parts of Scandinavia received the same amounts of gene flow from these areas. For example, while British-Irish ancestry became widespread in Scandinavia, the eastern Baltic ancestry mainly reached Gotland and central Sweden.”
He told Reuters there was no way to know the number of women involved or if the women with east Baltic and British-Irish ancestries were in Scandinavia voluntarily.
The study also found that British-Irish ancestry was widespread in Scandinavia starting during the Viking Age, which extended from about 750 to 1050 A.D.
The authors said that eastern Baltic ancestry was found to be more localized to Gotland, Sweden’s largest island, and central Sweden.
OLDEST KNOWN DNA PAINTS STUNNING PICTURE OF LIFE 2 MILLION YEARS AGO
“The increase of eastern Baltic ancestry in these regions during the Viking Age is consistent with historical sources attesting to contacts such as tributary relations and treaties,” Rodriguez-Varela, one of the study’s leaders, said. “Therefore, we don’t see any evidence with the present data to support that women were abducted and brought back during raids.”
While ancestry from southern European locations like Sardinia was concentrated in people in southern Scandinavia, the group determined that modern Scandinavians have less non-local ancestry than Viking Age samples.
The university said it was surprised to find that the gene pool had bounced back in the direction of what it looked like before the Viking migration.
A new discovery was the history of the northern Scandinavian gene pool with the study finding that a genetic component there is rare in central and western Europe.
“We suspected that there was a chronology to the northern Scandinavian gene pool, and it did indeed prove that a more recent influx of Uralic ancestry into Scandinavia define much of the northern gene pool,” Rodríguez-Varela said in the university’s release. “But if it is recent, it is comparatively so. For example, we know that this Uralic ancestry was present in northern Scandinavia as early as during the late Viking period.”
The study was based on a number of well-known Swedish archeological sites, including genomes from the 17th-century warship Kronan, which was sunk in a 1676 battle.
Others came from Sanby borg on Öland, the second-largest Swedish island.
“We were working on a number of smaller studies on different archeological sites. And, at some point, it just made sense to combine them into a larger study on the development of the Scandinavian gene pool,” professor Anders Götherström, a senior scientist on the study, said.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Business Insider
Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American Conservative Union, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on February 29, 2020. (Photo by
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
A staffer for Herschel Walker’s Senate campaign has accused CPAC head Matt Schlapp of groping him, per NBC and the Daily Beast.
The staffer says Schlapp “grabbed my junk and pummeled it at length.”
“The whole thing makes me physically ill,” a Walker campaign official who confirmed the account told NBC.
A mid-level staffer for Herschel Walker’s ill-fated Senate campaign is accusing Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union and organizer of the Conservative Political Action Conference, of “groping” him.
According to texts, audio, video, and screenshots shared with both The Daily Beast and NBC News, Schlapp made unwanted advances upon the staffer after an October 19 event in Georgia.
Additionally, a high-level official with Walker’s campaign confirmed the account to both outlets, saying that top campaign aides met in order to prevent the staffer from having to pick up Schlapp after they became aware of what happened.
“I was made aware of the incident the morning after,” the unnamed Walker official told NBC. He added: “The whole thing makes me physically ill.”
Insider has reached out to Schlapp’s lawyer, Charlie Spies, for comment. Spies has denied the allegations on behalf of Schlapp telling The Daily Beast that the “attack is false and Mr. Schlapp denies any improper behavior. We are evaluating legal options for response.”
According to accounts that the staffer gave to both NBC and The Daily Beast, Schlapp — who’s married to former White House aide Mercedes Schlapp — began “intruding into my personal space” after the two went to two bars following the event. The staffer, in his late 30s, was serving as Schlapp’s driver and was aware of a “power dynamic” between the two of them.
“From Manuel’s Tavern to the Hilton Garden Inn there at the Atlanta airport, he literally had his hands on me,” the staffer said in a video recorded two hours after the alleged incident, the audio of which was shared with NBC News. “Matt Schlapp of the CPAC grabbed my junk and pummeled it at length.”
“He reached in between my legs and fondled me,” the staffer also told NBC News, telling The Daily Beast that the incident was “scarring” and “humiliating.”
Schlapp later invited the staffer to his room, but he declined, according to the reports. The next morning, Schlapp texted the staffer, who was set to also drive him that following day.
“I did want to say I was uncomfortable with what happened last night,” the staffer texted Schlapp.
“Pls give me a call,” Schlapp replied, later trying to call the staffer 3 different times in the span of 20 minutes.
“If you could see it in your heart to call me at the end of day. I would appreciate it,” Schlapp later texted the staffer, according to The Daily Beast. “If not I wish you luck on the campaign and hope you keep up the good work.”
“If he had made a polite pass at me and left it that,” the staffer told NBC News. “Only me, Matt and God would know about that.”
On Friday, Insider asked Republican Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and someone who’s attended a number of CPAC events, for his reaction to the allegations.
“I haven’t read the story,” he replied multiple times.
Carscoops
We haven’t heard much from Automobili Estrema since the company unveiled the 2,012 hp (1,500 kW / 2,040 PS) Fulminea in 2021.
However, the model is back in the spotlight as the brand has provided an update and revealed the first production model will be unveiled this June. Shortly thereafter in September, Automobili Estrema will travel to the Nürburgring and attempt to set a new lap record for electric sports cars on the Nordschleife.
Interestingly and somewhat unreassuringly, Automobili Estrema has launched a Kickstarter campaign to “support the costs involved with such an attempt.” The campaign is seeking to raise $104,197 (£86,154 / €97,863) and it has already garnered $12,040 (£9,955 / €11,308) from 39 backers as of this writing.
Also: Estrema’s Fulminea Electric Hypercar Revealed With Solid State Battery, $2 Million Price Tag
The company also plans to produce a documentary that covers the “entire journey from inception until the race at [the] Nordschleife.” Viewers will also be able to “follow the making of Fulminea” in nine episodes that are set to roll out between February and October.
Needless to say, there’s plenty of risk involved and the Kickstarter campaign notes “As a start-up company, we know that we might not be able to complete the Fulminea prototype and (or) miss the record attempt … but we also know that with our passion, experience, know-how and talent, the chance of being successful is bigger.” That remains to be seen and the company finished up by saying, “We don’t know yet if our story will have a happy ending, let’s find it out together.”
With all that being said, the Fulminea is slated to be a revolutionary electric hypercar that features ultra-capacitors as well as a ‘hybrid’ battery pack that combines traditional lithium-ion battery cells with solid-state cells produced by Avesta Battery Energy Engineering. This is slated to give the car a combined battery capacity of at least 100 kWh and a record energy density of 500 Wh/kg. The company also noted the batteries are only slated to weigh 661 lbs (300 kg), while the car itself should come in at 3,307 lbs (1,500 kg).
If everything pans out, the four motor Fulminea will be able to rocket from 0-199 mph (0-320 km/h) in less than ten seconds and travel approximately 323 miles (520 km) in the WLTP cycle. The company also says the car should be able to go from a 10% to 80% charge in less than 15 minutes.
Automobili Estrema added “initial production is underway” and they’ll only build 61 units that start at €1,961,000 ($2,087,396 / £1,725,827).
The Points Guy
The future is looking bright for train travel in Orlando. Brightline, the fast eco-friendly rail service expanding through Southern Florida, is headed to the country’s theme park capital later this year. Now, Universal has announced it will invest in a commuter rail station at Orlando’s Convention Center near the park’s Epic Universe expansion. This development means a public rail stop will be available to guests; in other words, they can visit one of the major theme parks without having to drive or use a car service.
What gives this news an interesting twist? A previously announced Brightline stop at Disney Springs was ultimately nixed last year.
Here’s what we know about the new rail development so far:
UNIVERSAL ORLANDO RESORT
Orlando’s Right Rail coalition and Universal Orlando Resort announced the creation of the Shingle Creek Transit Utility Community Development District on Thursday. It’s a limited-purpose public entity that will “plan, finance, construct, operate, own and maintain” a new Orange County Convention Center SunRail station.
This station will be part of a commuter rail line that is expected to link Orlando International Airport (MCO) with Orange County Convention Center, Universal Orlando Resort and the International Drive corridor. According to the Orlando Sentinel, the train service may come as soon as 2030.
“We are one step closer to creating a multi-directional commuter rail system that benefits our entire region,” John Sprouls, executive vice president and chief administrative officer of Universal Parks & Resorts, said. “The new SunRail corridor and convention center station will make it easier for residents to get to work, the airport and to the places they love. And it will enable business growth within the International Drive area and across the region.”
Under the community development district plan, Universal will provide $125 million in financing for the project through bonds and contribute $2 million annually for station maintenance and operation. Additionally, the resort will contribute 13 acres of land to create the station. Along with a coalition of business owners along International Drive, it will contribute to the district’s guarantee of $13 million in annual ticket sales for the Sunshine Corridor — the estimated annual cost to operate the rail line.
BBC News world
A severe cold wave has gripped many parts of northern India, with temperatures plummeting to -6C (21F) in Indian-administered Kashmir. The famous Dal Lake, as seen in the picture above, has partially frozen, making it hard for boatmen to ferry passengers and tourists.
Water pipelines have frozen in some parts of Kashmir, road transport has been severely affected and supply chains have been disrupted, making it hard for local communities to meet their daily needs.
India’s capital Delhi has also been reeling under a severe cold wave. Some areas of Delhi have recorded temperatures as low as 2.2C. The cold snap has been particularly hard for Delhi’s homeless people who mostly sleep on pavements.
Dropping temperatures and dense fog have also disrupted train schedules. India Railways carries some 23 million passengers daily and it’s considered the backbone of the country’s transport system. Several trains have been running late – sometimes by six to 10 hours – in northern India, throwing people’s travel plans into chaos.
The cold wave has also been causing serious health issues, especially in Delhi which also sees severe pollution levels during winter months.
The north-western state of Rajasthan has also been witnessing a severe drop in temperatures. Farmers there say it has affected their work and harvests.
The holy city of Amritsar has also been engulfed in dese fog in the past few days. Transport services, including trains and buses, have been badly hit.
All photos copyright
