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U.S. Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle: “That building in particular has a sloped roof, at its highest point. And so, there’s a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof.”

In short:The Wall Street Journal faces criticism for sacking a journalist who was elected head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association. - Chinese state media celebrated Selina Cheng's sacking, calling the Hong Kong media union "a malignant tumour". -What's next?Cheng told the ABC she intended to take legal action against the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong. The Wall Street Journal faces widespread criticism over its decision to sack a Hong Kong journalist who refused to withdraw from the election for a leadership post in the city's largest media union. Selina Cheng, who worked in the Journal's Hong Kong bureau...

Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio called on President Joe Biden to end his re-election campaign Friday, becoming the fourth Democrat in the chamber to ask Biden to drop out of the race. Brown, according to his campaign, will not weigh in on the process to choose a new Democratic nominee and believes Biden should serve the rest of his term. Brown’s Trump-endorsed Republican opponent, businessman Bernie Moreno, has been linking him closely to Biden’s struggles for weeks. “Sherrod and Joe have been friends and political allies for many years,” said Moreno in a campaign statement earlier this month, “so does...

This is just a glimpse. Want to receive every issue of Cannabis Wire Daily, our newsletter that is sent to subscribers each weekday morning? Subscribe today. Drug Policy Alliance and Human Rights Watch released a new report this week titled “Disrupt and Vilify” The War on Immigrants Inside the US War on Drugs. The report highlights that while state cannabis laws have evolved, federal immigration law as it relates to drugs “stagnates.” “State and federal drug policy is most often overridden by federal immigration law, depriving immigrants of reforms that only benefit citizens. Conviction of even the most minor drug...

The Kremlin said on Thursday that pledges by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to create "a true European Defence Union" if she won a second term spoke to the mood in Europe towards militarisation and confrontation. In a document setting out her programme ahead of a European Parliament vote on granting her another term, Von der Leyen said the effort would include flagship projects on air and cyber defence over the next five years. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the document reflected von der Leyen's "changing priorities" and said her proposals gave a "military colouring" to the European...

A tourist in Florence, Italy has sparked outrage and criticism recently after she was filmed simulating an insulting sexual act with a Roman statue. The statue was that of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and excess, the equivalent to the Greek god Dionysus. This incident, totally insulting to the Italians and to everyone who admires the Roman world, took place near the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge of the beautiful Italian metropolis. Florence statue incident condemned as insulting act of tourist Images of the woman who allegedly committed the insulting act on the statue in Florence have been circulating on...

A horrific crash that killed six high school girls in Oklahoma two years ago has the head of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board urging parents to warn teenagers about the risk of driving after using marijuana. Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy made the appeal to parents Thursday as her agency released the final report on the March 22, 2022 collision between a tiny Chevrolet Spark hatchback and a gravel-hauling semi in the small town of Tishomingo. The board, after an investigation by its staff, determined that the crash was caused by the 16-year-old driver slowing for an intersection, then accelerating through...

Billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates recently backed a California-based startup called Savor that created a new type of butter made from air instead of cows. The developers of this innovative creation claim that their unique product tastes just like real butter. They also claim it comes with a significantly lower carbon footprint which is fundamentally important for the battle against climate change. One might wonder how anyone can make butter without milk. Savor claims its process involves using heat to combine carbon dioxide, hydrogen, and oxygen. By doing this, they say that they manage to create chains that mimic the...

Although Ukrainian forces are being slowly pushed back in some places along the front, the country's overall military strategy is a good one, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO's top general, said during the Aspen Security Forum. “The Ukrainians right now for these past few months have been focused on defending what they have in the east, denying Russia the free use of Crimea and southern Ukraine to attack the rest of Ukraine, preserving their access to the Black Sea and generating force,” the U.S. general said. “I think that they’ve got a great strategy. It is just a matter of prosecuting...

Dr. Jebra Faushay @JebraFaushay This cartoon is from another country. Around the world, people know something is weird with this whole thing.

The discovery of butchered bones belonging to a glyptodont, a giant relative of the armadillo, suggests that humans were living in Argentina 20,000 years ago. Ancient humans may have butchered and eaten a giant armadillo-like creature around 20,000 years ago in what is now Argentina, a new study finds. The discovery of the butchered bones supports a growing body of evidence that people spread throughout the Americas much earlier than previously assumed. During the Late Pleistocene epoch (129,000 to 11,700 years ago), ice sheets and glaciers covered much of the planet, particularly during the Last Glacial Maximum, a period around...

Hard to believe but this weekend it will be 25 years since I joined Free Republic. Time sure flies when you're having fun.

Utah Governor Spencer Cox has seemingly changed his mind about the 2024 presidential election. Cox, a notorious RINO who has always publicly opposed Trump and the MAGA movement, announced his intention to support the Republican nominee during his monthly press conference on Friday. “My commitment to him was that I would help him try to lower the temperature in this country, and I sincerely hope — from what I’ve heard from people around him — that he’s committed to that,” Cox explained. He added that he would “do everything I can to help” Trump win the election and unify America....

THE HAGUE, July 19 (Reuters) - The United Nations' highest court said on Friday that Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements there are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible, in its strongest findings to date on the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The advisory opinion by judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), known as the World Court, was not binding but carries weight under international law and may weaken support for Israel. "Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the regime associated with them, have been established and are being maintained in violation of...

Local actress Ya Hui has been cast as a single mum with an eight-year-old son in upcoming Mediacorp drama Uniquely Ours, despite not having kids of her own. In a recent interview with 8World, the 37-year-old revealed that she used her experience as an aunt and learnt from her friends who are mums to play Lin Minchen. "It's really hard to be a modern mother. You can't scold your kids too harshly and have to consider their feelings and worry about mental trauma," she said. In contrast, she suggested that mums in the past didn't have the luxury of "thinking...

The Hill is citing “well-connected Democratic Party insiders” in reporting that Beshear is among several “serious” candidates to be considered for the vice president nominee if President Biden withdraws from the race. The Hill reports his name is on a shortlist to be Kamala Harris’s vice presidential pick. Other names mentioned include Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper. In recent days, there have been an increasing number of calls from major Democratic Party officials for President Biden to withdraw from the race. Despite these calls, Biden has remained adamant that he is staying in the campaign.

Vice President Kamala Harris will make a hastily organized address to Democratic donors on a call Friday afternoon as leaders of the party urge President Biden to step aside, according to a report. The precise purpose of the call is unknown, though Harris, 59, has publicly stood by Biden — as other Democrats say she’s the most likely candidate to replace him if he drops out before the Nov. 5 election. The call was promoted by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, a top donor to Democrats, who invited other Silicon Valley titans to join, the New York Times reports. “We continue...

If you want to understand the pain and anguish that Democrat Party voters are feeling right now then visit the website democraticunderground.com. They are enraged over the efforts of the donor class to jettison Biden like a piece of moldy fruit. If you look try not to overload your system with schadenfreude. 😎

The Boss is officially a billionaire. Bruce Springsteen, who, with songs like “Badlands,” “Hungry Heart” and “My Hometown” became rock ‘n’ roll’s voice of the working class, is now worth $1.1 billion, according to a “conservative” Forbes estimate. Much of his net worth has been solidified in the past few years. In 2021, Springsteen sold his music catalog to Sony for an estimated $500-$550 million, marking the biggest transaction ever struck for a single artist’s body of work. Pollstar reported that in 2023, The Boss sold more than 1.6 million concert tickets, generating $380 million in revenue. With more than...

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), national co-chair of President Biden’s reelection campaign, said Friday that Biden is “weighing” who would be the best Democratic nominee to defeat former President Trump in November, indicating Biden is carefully evaluating the option of stepping aside for another candidate. But Coons also emphasized he thinks Biden would be the strongest choice to challenge Trump in the general election, and he later posted a statement on social media declaring Biden is “in it to win it.” “This is an internal party matter and a matter of the campaign that is playing out very publicly. I think...