September sizzled to records and was so much warmer than average scientists call it 'mind-blowing'

After a summer of record-smashing heat, warming somehow got even worse in September as Earth set a new mark for how far above normal temperatures were, the European climate agency reported Thursday.

Last month’s average temperature was 0.93 degrees Celsius (1.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1991-2020 average for September. That's the warmest margin above average for a month in 83 years of records kept by the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

“It’s just mind-blowing really,” said Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo. “Never seen anything like that in any month in our records.”

While July and August had hotter raw temperatures because they are warmer months on the calendar, September had what scientists call the biggest anomaly, or departure from normal. Temperature anomalies are crucial pieces of data in a warming world.

“This is not a fancy weather statistic,” Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto said in an email. “It’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems. It destroys assets, infrastructure, harvest.”

Copernicus calculated that the average temperature for September was 16.38 degrees Celsius (61.48 degrees Fahrenheit), which broke the old record set in September 2020 by a whopping half-degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit). That's a huge margin in climate records.

The hot temperatures stretched across the globe but they were chiefly driven by persistent and unusual warmth in the world’s oceans, which didn’t cool off as much in September as normal and have been record hot since spring, said Buontempo.

Earth is on track for its hottest year on record, about 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Samantha Burgess, Copernicus’ deputy director.

This past September was 1.75 degrees Celsius (3.15 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the mid-1800s, Copernicus reported. The world agreed in 2015 to try to limit future warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warming since pre-industrial times.

The global threshold goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius is for long-term temperature averages, not a single month or year. But scientists still expressed grave concern at the records being set.

“What we’re seeing right now is the backdrop of rapid global warming at a pace that the Earth has not seen in eons coupled with El Nino, natural climate cycle” that’s a temporary warming of parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide, said U.S. climate scientist Jessica Moerman, who is also president of the Evangelical Environmental Network. “This double whammy together is where things get dangerous.”

Though El Nino is playing a part, climate change has a bigger footprint in this warmth, Buontempo said.

“There really is no end in sight given new oil and gas reserves are still being opened for exploitation,” Otto said. “If you have more record hot events, there is no respite for humans and nature, no time to recover."

Buontempo said El Nino is likely to get warmer and cause even higher temperatures next year.

“This month was, in my professional opinion as a climate scientist – absolutely gobsmackingly bananas,” climate scientist Zeke Hausfather said on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/Climate

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Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears

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Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Seth Borenstein, The Associated Press

California workers will get five sick days instead of three under law signed by Gov. Newsom


SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Workers in California will soon receive a minimum of five days of paid sick leave annually, instead of three, under a new law Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Wednesday.

The law, which takes effect in January, also increases the amount of sick leave workers can carry over into the following year. Newsom said it demonstrates that prioritizing the health and well-being of workers “is of the utmost importance for California’s future."

“Too many folks are still having to choose between skipping a day’s pay and taking care of themselves or their family members when they get sick,” Newsom said in a statement announcing his action.

It was one of more than a dozen bills the Democratic governor signed Wednesday. He has until mid-October to act on all the legislation sent to him this year. He can sign, veto or let bills become law without his signature.

Beyond preventing workers from choosing between taking a day off or getting paid, proponents of the sick day legislation argue it will help curb the spread of diseases and make sure employees can be productive at work. But the California Chamber of Commerce, which represents businesses across the state, said it will be burdensome for small businesses.

“Far too many small employers simply cannot absorb this new cost, especially when viewed in context of all of California’s other leaves and paid benefits, and they will have to reduce jobs, cut wages, or raise consumer prices to deal with this mandate,” Jennifer Barrera, the group's president, said in a statement.

The law was among several major labor initiatives in the Legislature this year, including proposals to raise the wages of health care workers and allow legislative staffers to unionize. Newsom already signed a law to raise the minimum wage for fast food workers to $20 an hour. But he vetoed a bill Saturday that would have given unemployment benefits to striking workers, saying the fund the state would use is approaching nearly $20 billion in debt.

The United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council, which supported the sick day legislation, said the law will help prevent the spread of deadly diseases.

“Five paid sick days is a step in the right direction and workers will be less likely forced to risk their livelihoods to do the right thing and stay home when they’re sick because of this bill,” Andrea Zinder, president of the group's Local 324 chapter, said in a statement.

Newsom also signed a law Wednesday to ban local government from manually counting ballots in most cases, a direct response to a rural Northern California county’s plan to stop using machines to count votes.

Shasta County’s board of supervisors, controlled by a conservative majority, voted earlier this year to end its contract with Dominion Voting Systems, a company that has been subject to unfounded allegations of fraud pushed by former Republican President Donald Trump and his allies. County leaders said there was a loss of public confidence in the company's machines.

At the time, local leaders did not have a plan for how the county would conduct future elections for its 111,000 registered voters. The county had been preparing to count ballots by hand for its next election on Nov. 7, 2023, to fill seats on the school board and fire district board and decide the fate of two ballot measures.

The new law, which takes effect immediately, halts Shasta County officials’ plans. The only exceptions under the law are for regularly scheduled elections with fewer than 1,000 eligible registered voters and special elections where there are fewer than 5,000 eligible voters.

Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, a Democrat from Santa Cruz who authored the law and is a former local elections official, said the law creates necessary guardrails around elections. The law also requires local government use state-certified voting machines.

The legislation “ensures that no California voter will be disenfranchised by the actions and decisions of ill-informed political actors,” she said in a statement.

The legislation has divided the rural county. Shasta County Clerk Cathy Darling Allen, a Democrat, called the law a “commonsense protection for all California voters.”

Despite the county getting rid of its Dominion voting machines, local leaders gave her permission to purchase equipment needed to comply with federal laws for voters with disabilities. The system that was purchased, made by Hart InterCivic, includes scanners capable of tabulating votes electronically. The equipment will be used to tabulate votes in upcoming elections, Darling Allen said.

Shasta County Board of Supervisors chair Patrick Henry Jones told The Associated Press in September the county would sue to block the law, adding that state officials “cannot guarantee that these machines haven’t been manipulated.” Jones didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Newsom signing the bill into law.

While hand counts of ballots occur in parts of the United States, this typically happens in small jurisdictions with small numbers of registered voters. Hand counts, however, are commonly used as part of post-election tests to check that machines are counting ballots correctly, but only a small portion of the ballots are counted manually.

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Sophie Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter: @sophieadanna

Sophie Austin And Trân Nguyễn, The Associated Press

Putin Pulls Out Prized Black Sea Fleet as Russia Faces 'Functional Defeat'

Story by Samyarup Chowdhury •19h

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reportedly withdrawn Russia's prized Black Sea fleet from the occupied Crimean region as a result of relentless attacks by Ukraine.

Knewz.com has learned that Russia has moved three attack submarines and two frigates from Sevastopol to other ports in Russia and Crimea.


Putin had to withdraw his prized Black Sea fleet from Crimea. By: MEGA, X© Knewz (CA)

The Black Sea fleet was a significant strategic hub for the Russian offensive, as it was used to launch numerous missile attacks on Ukraine and essentially create a blockade around Kyiv's grain export ports.

However, the Ukrainian counteroffensive had been relentlessly targeting the fleet over the past few weeks.

It was reported on Friday, September 22 that Ukraine attacked the Russian Black Sea fleet headquarters in Sevastopol. While the deployment of air defense systems successfully intercepted and neutralized 10 incoming missiles, the French-made Storm Shadow missile breached these defenses and devastated the headquarters.



A Russian naval vessel painted dark blue. By: X/Glasnost Gone© Knewz (CA)

Furthermore, it was claimed that the attack also resulted in the death of Russian Black Sea fleet commander Admiral Viktor Sokolov, along with 33 other officers, as the attack was intentionally timed to coincide with a meeting of naval officials.

According to The Sun, a second strike hit the already-burning building in Sevastopol on Saturday, September 23.

Related video: Russia's Black Sea Fleet Is Fleeing Crimea, Satellite Photos Show (Newsweek)  Duration 1:08   View on Watch

Ukrainian special forces provided an estimate of the damages suffered by Russia in the attack, saying, "After the strike on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet, 34 officers died, including the commander of the Russian Black Sea fleet. Another 105 occupiers were wounded. The headquarters building cannot be restored."

Smoke rising above the headquarters in the harbor city of Sevastopol. By: East2West© Knewz (CA)

As of now, the fleet has resorted to a WWI strategy in order to protect itself from the growing threat of Ukrainian attacks.

Russia has taken the unconventional approach of painting five of its fleet's ships, including the flagship Admiral Makarov, in navy blue or black to visually distract Ukrainian threats, as well as hide key features, like helipads. Analysts believe this is an attempt to protect the fleet and to make the vessels appear smaller.

The Independent reported that UK's Minister of State for the Armed Forces James Heappey commented on Russia's withdrawal of the fleet while talking about the overall state of the Ukrainian counteroffensive at the Warsaw Security Forum on October 3.

Heappey told delegates that although the Ukrainian counteroffensive has seen slow progress, it would be wrong to assume there has not been any progress at all.


Ukrainian missiles destroyed the Black Sea fleet headquarters. By: East2West© Knewz (CA)

He also said that comparing Kyiv’s relatively minor current gains to those achieved last year "diminishes the importance of what has happened in the Black Sea over the last couple of weeks, where a Russian submarine and a Russian ship have been put out of action, and the headquarters of the Black Sea fleet has been put out of action too."

"The functional defeat of the Black Sea fleet – and I would argue that is what it is because it has been forced to disperse to ports from which it cannot have an effect on Ukraine – is an enormous credit. And [it is] every bit as important – every bit as much progress – as what was happening in the Kharkiv Oblast last year," the Armed Forces Minister said.

However, NATO’s most senior military official, Admiral Rob Bauer, along with Heappey, warned that Kyiv’s allies are running out of ammunition, and the Armed Forces Minister stated that "the bottom of the barrel is now visible."

He also urged nations to "ramp up production in a much higher tempo," the Independent reported.

"We need large volumes... The just-in-time, just-enough economy we built together in 30 years in our liberal economies is fine for a lot of things – but not the armed forces when there is a war ongoing," Admiral Bauer commented.

Google changes user data practices to end German antitrust probe

Logo is pictured at Google's European Engineering Center in Zurich

© Thomson Reuters

By Friederike Heine

BERLIN (Reuters) -Alphabet unit Google has agreed to change its user data practices to end a German antitrust investigation aimed at curbing its data-driven market power, the German cartel office said on Thursday.

The German antitrust watchdog in January issued a charge sheet known as a statement of objections to Google over its data processing terms, saying that users were not given sufficient choice as to whether and to what extent they agree to the far-reaching processing of their data across the company's services.

Tech giants rely on selling targeted advertising based on the massive amounts of data they gather about users, a lucrative business model now in regulators' crosshairs around the world.

The German regulator said Google's commitments would give users more choice on how their data is used across the company's platforms.

Related video: Google's latest hardware 'completely designed' around AI, says Google's Rick Osterloh (CNBC)   Duration 4:39   View on Watch

"In the future users of Google services will have a much better choice as to what happens to their data, how Google can use them and whether their data may be used across services," Andreas Mundt, president of the cartel office, said in a statement.

"This not only protects the users' right to determine the use of their data, but also curbs Google's data-driven market power," he said.

Google's commitment covers more than 25 other services including Gmail, Google News, Assistant, Contacts and Google TV.

It does not apply to Google Shopping, Google Play, Google Maps, Google Search, YouTube, Google Android, Google Chrome and Google's online advertising services, all of which are subject to a new EU legislation called the Digital Markets Act which has similar obligations.

The German competition authority has ramped up its scrutiny of Big Tech since it acquired sweeping powers called Section 19a GWB in 2021 which allows it to investigate and ban certain types of practices by companies considered to have to have paramount significance and cross-market power.

That has triggered investigations into Amazon, Meta Platforms and Apple.

(Writing by Matthias Williams and Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Friederike Heine and Mark Potter)

Polar bears may struggle to produce milk for their cubs as climate change melts sea ice

Story by Louise Archer, Postdoctoral Fellow, Biological Sciences, University of Toronto 

•THE CONVERSATION

During their time onshore, polar bear mothers may risk their survival by continuing to nurse when food is not available.© (Shutterstock)

When sea ice melts, polar bears must move onto land for several months without access to food. This fasting period is challenging for all bears, but particularly for polar bear mothers who are nursing cubs.

Our research, published in Marine Ecology Progress Series, found that polar bear lactation is negatively affected by increased time spent on land when sea ice melts.

Impaired lactation has likely played a role in the recent decline of several polar bear populations. This research also indicates how polar bear families might be impacted in the future by continued sea-ice loss caused by climate warming.
Challenges of rearing cubs

While sea ice might appear as a vast and perhaps vacant ecosystem, the frozen Arctic waters provide an essential platform for polar bears to hunt energy-rich seals — the bread and butter of their diet.

Sea ice is a dynamic environment that can vary through time and in different regions of the Arctic. Polar bears in Canada’s western Hudson Bay area experience seasonal sea ice, which melts in the warmer summer months, forcing the polar bears to move onto land until cooler winter temperatures cause the sea ice to refreeze.


On shore, polar bears often remain in a fasting state, using their body stores of fat for fuel.© (Shutterstock)

While on shore, hunting opportunities are rare and polar bears generally spend their time in a fasting state. Polar bears rely on their immense body fat stores to fuel them during these leaner months, with some individuals measuring almost 50 per cent body fat when they come onshore in early summer

While on land, polar bears can lose around a kilogram of body mass per day, so making it to the end of the ice-free season requires them to carefully manage their energy. For most polar bears, this means reducing activity levels and conserving energy until the sea ice returns and seal hunting can resume.

Females with cubs must also factor in the additional burden of lactation. Polar bears produce high-energy milk, which — at up to 35 per cent fat — is like whipping cream. This high-fat milk allows cubs to grow quickly, increasing from just 600 grams at birth to well over 100 kilograms by the time they are around two-and-a-half years old and leave their mothers to become independent.

During the onshore fasting period, polar bear mothers face a difficult trade-off: Stop lactating and risk the health of her growing cubs or continue nursing and risk her own survival as her energy reserves are depleted.


Polar bear cubs remain with their mothers for up to two-and-a-half years.© (Shutterstock)
Moderating lactation

Although lactation is important to both mothers and cubs, studies on polar bear lactation are relatively rare.

To better understand how females manage their lactation investment, our research team revisited a data set of polar bear milk samples collected in the late 1980s and early 1990s from polar bears on land during the ice-free period.

We estimated how long each polar bear mom had been fasting based on annual sea-ice breakup dates and found that the energy content of their milk declined the more days spent onshore. Some bears had stopped producing milk entirely. Both milk energy content and lactation probability were negatively related to the mother’s body condition, meaning females in poor body condition had to prioritize their own energetic needs over their cubs.

The bears who reduced their investment in lactation benefited by using up less of their body reserves, meaning they could fast for longer. Yet the cubs who received lower energy milk grew more slowly than offspring of females that maintained their lactation effort. In the long term, this may reduce cub survival and, ultimately, negatively affect population dynamics.

Climate change and population declines

After around three months on land, the probability of a female with cubs lactating was 53 per cent. This dropped to 35 per cent for a female with yearlings (older cubs from the previous year).

The data in our study were collected around three decades ago. Since then, climate warming has meant that the ice-free season in western Hudson Bay has been extending by around seven days per decade. Polar bears are now regularly forced to spend more than four months on land.

As the ice-free season has increased and polar bears must go for longer without food, their average body condition has declined. The ability of female polar bears to nurse their cubs has probably also become increasingly impaired.

This may have contributed to the 50 per cent decline in the population size of the western Hudson Bay population over the last four decades, and is likely to contribute to further declines if climate warming and sea-ice declines continue as projected without mitigation.

This research adds another piece to our understanding of polar bear resilience to climate change. Without action to halt climate warming and sea-ice loss, survival of cubs will be at risk across the Arctic.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
Polar bears: climate change is a bigger threat than trophy hunting
Polar bears eating reindeer: normal behaviour or result of climate change?

Louise Archer receives funding from Mitacs Canada and Polar Bears International. She is affiliated with University of Toronto Scarborough and Polar Bears International.

 House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), who’s rumored to be in the running for speaker of the House, once described himself to  “David Duke without the baggage,”.

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana speaking at the Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2011, Gage Skidmore© provided by AlterNet

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), who’s rumored to be in the running for speaker of the House, once described himself to Louisiana politics reporter Stephanie Grace as “David Duke without the baggage,” the Guardian reports.

In a 2014 New York Times article, Grace “recalled her first meeting” with Scalise.

“He was explaining his politics and we were in this getting-to-know-each-other stage,” Grace told the paper. “He told me he was like David Duke without the baggage.”

"I think he meant he supported the same policy ideas as David Duke, but he wasn’t David Duke, that he didn’t have the same feelings about certain people as David Duke did,” Grace added.

In 2002, Scalise also attended — and spoke at — “a white supremacist conference organized by Duke,” a former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, the Guardian reports.

When the “scandal” of Scalise’s participation at the 2002 conference resurfaced in 2014, Scalise released a statement distancing himself from the group, Politico reports.

“Twelve years ago, I spoke to many different Louisiana groups as a state representative, trying to build support for legislation that focused on cutting wasteful state spending, eliminating government corruption, and stopping tax hikes,” Scalise said.

READ MORE: Acting House speaker orders Pelosi to vacate Capitol hideaway office in 'sharp departure from tradition'

Scalise added that he “wholeheartedly [condemns] the group’s views and “emphatically [opposes] the divisive racial and religious views groups like these hold.”

“I am very disappointed that anyone would try to infer otherwise for political gain,” Scalise added. “As a Catholic, these groups hold views that are vehemently opposed to my own personal faith, and I reject that kind of hateful bigotry.”

Duke, however, told the Washington Post Scalise was “friendly” with Kenny Knight, Duke’s “longtime political adviser.”

“Scalise would communicate a lot with my campaign manager, Kenny Knight,” Duke told the Post. “That is why he was invited and why he would come. Kenny knew Scalise, Scalise knew Kenny. They were friendly.

As the Guardian reports, “Scalise did not comment on Grace’s” claim that Scalise once related himself to Duke.

Read the full report at the Guardian

Media entrepreneur unites young activists with power brokers for fight to make social media safe

 NEW YORK (AP) — A media entrepreneur is trying to connect young people disturbed by the impact of social media on mental health with older power players to fight for change in how tech companies do business.

The newly-formed Sustainable Media Center is intent on stopping companies from using algorithms to push damaging information to vulnerable youths, dark things like suicide methods. Venture capitalist and trustee Bradley Tusk has seen it personally; he believes his daughter's eating disorder was made worse by what she saw online.

It's a long way from initial hopes that the internet would connect the world for more positive uses, said founder Steven Rosenbaum, former producer of “MTV News: Unfiltered, ” several documentaries and ex-leader of the NYC Media Lab.

“When you find that what you helped build is causing more harm than good, there's no way you can get up in the morning and not do anything about it,” Rosenbaum said.

U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy in May called for immediate action to protect young people, noting that social media use is near universal but its impact on mental health is not fully understood.

The Sustainable Media Center is not alone in this effort. The organization Fairplay lobbies to stop tactics that manipulate children into spending too much time online. Waituntil8th.org urges parents to not give children smartphones until they reach the eighth grade, and to keep them off social media until they're at least 16.

Josh Golin, executive director of Fairplay, said there's room for Sustainable Media Center's approach, particularly in empowering more young people to share their own experiences.

“From my perspective, the more the merrier,” Golin said. “We are going up against one of the most powerful and well-resourced industries in the world.”

Besides Tusk, prominent Sustainable Media Center backers include veteran media executive and YES network founder Leo Hindery Jr.; Roger McNamee, investor and author of “Zucked: Waking Up to the Facebook Catastrophe”; Eric Gertler, executive chairman of U.S. News and World Report; and David Hornik, a Silicon Valley-based venture capitalist.

Rosenbaum has also gotten young people with large online followings involved, such as Emma Lembke, founder of Log Off, an organization founded by teenagers to address social media use; Zamaan Qureshi, co-chairman of Design it For Us, another activist group in social media; and Aidan Kohn-Murphy, founder of the progressive activists Gen-Z For Change.

In the past month, U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat, held a Zoom roundtable for young activists and expressed support for their goals.

“If had a child and they were 14, 15, I would do everything I could to keep them off of these platforms," Booker said at the session. “We would all probably say that’s worse than cigarette smoking.”

Tusk, in an interview, said that he's involved with the Sustainable Media Center in part because he wants to mobilize young people in support of another cause he supports, voting by mobile phone.

He said he hoped the group could take some dramatic action to give the social media issue greater visibility.

The Sustainable Media Center is working with Columbia University to do a comprehensive review of research on the issue, Rosenbaum said. He wants to convene a summit of Gen Z leaders to plan strategy. The organization has an initial operating budget of $1.5 million, although only a quarter of that has been collected or pledged, he said.

Like Golin, Tusk said he recognizes it's an uphill battle for organizers.

“I don't think that anybody would put the odds in our favor,” Tusk said. “But I do know, that if we don't try, it's only going to get worse.”

David Bauder, The Associated Press

Poor Donald Trump kicked off rich list because he's only worth $2,600,000,000

Story by Jessica Kwong • METRO USA

Former President Donald Trump dropped off The Forbes 400 ranking while appearing in his New York civil fraud trial (Picture: AP)© Provided by Metro

Prepare the world’s smallest violin for Donald Trump is no longer among the richest 400 Americans.

The one-time president dropped off the Forbes 400 with a fortune of just $2.6 billion – £300 million shy of making the ranking.

His net worth has fallen by more than $600 million over the last year, in part because of the fall in value of his office buildings.

The publication said on Tuesday: ‘Donald Trump is no longer rich enough for the country’s most exclusive club’.



Former President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he attends trial in a civil fraud case brought by state Attorney General Letitia James against him, his adult sons, the Trump Organization and company executives (Picture: Reuters)© Provided by Metro

In New York City, Trump has a 30% stake in 1290 Avenue of the Americas, which is controlled by publicly traded Vornado Realty Trust and is down about $60 million, according to Forbes. The building is close to 100% occupancy but its biggest tenant, Equitable Holdings, is moving next year.

Trump also holds a 30% stake in 555 California Street in San Francisco, and leases making up more than half of the office building’s rent are due to expire at the end of 2026.

The bigger contributor to Trump’s net worth falling is his Truth Social platform, which has roughly 6.5million users, about 1% of the numbers X (formerly Twitter) has. Trump’s 90% stake in the social media platform has slashed in value from about $730million to less than $100million.

Forbes said: ‘If Trump’s platform were thriving, he would probably have no trouble finding alternate financing. But it’s not, and there is little reason to be optimistic about Truth Social’s future.

Related video: What the Trump fraud trial may mean for his businesses (The Washington Post (Video))   Duration 3:18   View on Watch

Former President Donald Trump (middle) sits in a court room during his civil fraud trial at New York Supreme Court (Picture: Reuters)© Provided by Metro

‘After all, if people are not logging on to Trump’s platform to hear what he has to say now – while he is simultaneously facing a series of indictments and steamrolling the Republican presidential primary – they probably never will.’

Trump is currently appearing in a civil fraud trial that threatens to end his business career in New York.

On the first day of the trial around New York Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million lawsuit, prosecutor Kevin Wallace argued that Trump’s financial statements fraudulently caused banks to assume hidden risk ‘to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars’.

Wallace said: ‘While it may be one thing to exaggerate for Forbes magazine… you cannot do it while conducting business in the state of New York.

‘Year after year, loan after loan, the defendants misrepresented Mr Trump’s net worth to maintain those favorable interest rates.’

Trump’s rare voluntary appearances in court on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday turned the trial into a campaign stop of sorts. Trump left the trial after the Wednesday lunch break and James stated: ‘This was nothing more than a political stunt, a fundraising stop.’

Former President Donald Trump addresses the press during a lunch break on the third day of his civil fraud trial at New York Supreme Court (Picture: Getty Images)© Provided by Metro

The Trump campaign hours later on Wednesday evening announced that Trump raised more than $45.5million in the third quarter of the year and has more than $37.5million cash on hand.

Trump’s lawyers on Wednesday filed an appeal to Judge Arthur Engoron’s ruling last week that he, his sons and the Trump Organization and its executives committed ‘persistent and repeated’ fraud.

The former president was knocked off The Forbes 400 for the first time in 25 years in October 2021. At the time, Trump’s wealth was estimated at $2.5million, which was $400million shy of the cutoff for the list that year. His net worth diminished every year while serving as president, and the coronavirus pandemic also had an impact on his real estate empire.

OUCH

Sabrina Maddeaux: Manitoba PCs offer case study in how not to run an election campaign
Opinion by Sabrina Maddeaux•1d

Former Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson speaks to party members after her party lost the election on Tuesday.

It’s somewhat comforting that, in the age of big data and laser-focused analytics, political campaigns can still go so disastrously haywire. The quest to govern is still influenced by ungovernable human factors from charisma, to hubris, to reading the room so poorly one might as well be in the wrong house. Manitoba’s Progressive Conservatives have provided the latest example of a campaign that was driven terribly (and avoidably) off course by poor judgment and a fundamental inability to connect with voters.

The New Democrats ousted the Tories from office on Tuesday with a historic majority win that will see Wab Kinew become the first elected Indigenous premier of a province. The downfall of the PCs should be closely studied, and diligently avoided, by other Conservative party leaders across the country.

Sometimes a campaign is unable to overcome the glaring flaws of its own candidate. Such as in the case of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose ability to interact with other humans as he seeks the Republican nomination in the United States approximates that of a malfunctioning Disney World animatronic.

Outgoing Manitoba premier Heather Stefanson, who announced she’ll step down as PC leader, also suffered from some automatron tendencies of her own. Her campaign kicked off with the now-infamous “draw the line” video, which went viral in all the wrong ways.

In it, Stefanson opens by looking deadpan in a closeup shot, saying, “I’d like to say yes to everything, but sometimes the answer just has to be no.” She went on to accuse the Manitoba Government and General Employees’ Union of playing politics by striking, and vowed to “draw the line” against their demands. The first time I watched it, I thought it was intended to be satirical.

It can be a Conservative tendency to confuse a strong leader who stands up for voters with a joyless Cylon straight out of “Battlestar Galactica.” Empathy and relatable emotion are musts for anyone seeking elected office. This is even more true in an internet era that’s obsessed with “authenticity.” Even hard-line policies require a human touch during campaigns.

Related video: Manitobans elect NDP majority, 1st Nations premier (cbc.ca)

Duration 2:35   View on Watch

The choice to actively attack and alienate union workers when Conservatives across the country are winning them over also exposed a critical misread of the political moment. The new conservatism is pro-labour and, while strikes are always contentious, understands the importance of the right to collectively bargain as a fundamental worker freedom.

But most confounding was the PC’s choice to campaign on their opposition to a landfill search for the remains of two First Nations women. To hold this stance is one matter, but placing billboard and newspaper ads proudly trumpeting the tagline “Stand Firm” betrayed both a disturbing callousness and a lack of more substantive policy on issues ranging from housing to the economy.

In a bad economy, Conservatives are primed to win— essentially all they have to do is not screw up. Choosing to forgo one’s bread-and-butter issues in favour of sideline controversies with no upside is a temptation that must be resisted at all costs.

In a final masterstroke, the PCs took out ads just before election day that undermined all their previous campaign messaging, however flawed it was to begin with. “During an election it’s OK to disagree on issues without the fear of being judged, so vote like no one is watching because no one is,” the ad said.

Suggesting it’s shameful or socially taboo to vote for your own party isn’t a conventional political tactic for good reason. Especially at a time when conservatism is experiencing a resurgence. The federal Tories are even selling merchandise, and there’s no social currency more valuable among supporters than a photo with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre to post online.

Modern conservatives want to proud to be part of a community, not to have to hide their involvement in a movement that lurks in the shadows. Right-wing candidates at any level would be crazy to not play into this political and cultural moment, let alone advertise against it.

Stefanson’s loss should serve as an important reminder to Conservatives across Canada that, even with all the winds blowing in their favour, victory is never guaranteed. It can be easily thwarted — not just by one’s opponents, but by one’s own campaign choices.

National Post

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THESE ARE ANTISEMITIC TROPES

Jews murder Christians, traffic children, shares former US congresswoman

Story by By DANIELLE GREYMAN-KENNARD • J-POST

Former US Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney© (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney shared a number of antisemitic posts on X throughout the beginning of October.

One of the posts that McKinney shared claimed that "Jews promised to murder Xtians...they boast that they murdered Christ...so Christ followers no biggy to Jews. World, we have a problem!"


Screenshot taken from Cynthia McKinney's X account (credit: screenshot)© Provided by The Jerusalem PostScreenshot taken from Cynthia McKinney's X account (credit: screenshot)

In another repost by McKinney, it was claimed that "Jews and Israel love trafficking organs, children and women, murderers, slavery black and white, genocide Muslims and other countries worldwide, lies, manipulations, pedophilia and sex offenders, funding training azoz nazis and al-Qaida…."



Screenshot taken from Cynthia McKinney's X account (credit: screenshot)© Provided by The Jerusalem PostScreenshot taken from Cynthia McKinney's X account (credit: screenshot)


The images accompanying the post are headlines used by Israeli media reporting on sex crimes that Israelis or diasporic Jews were accused of committing. Many of the articles also reported on Jewish pedophiles using Israel as an escape haven from prosecution in their countries of origin.

Another of the posts that McKinney shared, on October 4, included images of alleged Jewish involvement in the African slave trade.


Screenshot taken from Cynthia McKinney's X account (credit: screenshot)© Provided by The Jerusalem PostScreenshot taken from Cynthia McKinney's X account (credit: screenshot)

Cynthia McKinney's history of antisemitism

McKinney has previously made headlines for antisemitic posting on X.

In September 2023, the Jerusalem Post reported on McKinney sharing an invitation to a KKK event entitled, "“CAN BLACK PEOPLE AND WHITE PEOPLE WORK TOGETHER DEFEAT OUR COMMON ENEMY?” with a Star of David under the word “ENEMY.”

In other posts from the former Democrat, she shared an article claiming that “The Zionist regime was the prime force behind the 9/11 attacks, and that Israeli spies working for Mossad were celebrating the burning Twin Towers.” 

McKinney made similar claims about Jewish involvement in the September 11 attacks, the Post reported in 2021.