Kamala slurs her words and says, "No future HURM would occur,” while blaming Trump for Laken Riley's death.
This was right after Bret Baier informed Kamala to her face that the illegal immigrant who murdered Riley came on her watch and BEFORE any bill negotiations.
Kamala is a disgusting human being.
Israel's foreign minister says Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed in Gaza.
Sinwar is believed to be a key figure in the planning and execution of the 7 October attacks on Israel last year.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz added, "This is a significant military and moral achievement for Israel and a victory for the entire free world against the axis of evil of radical Islam led by Iran.
"The elimination of Sinwar opens the possibility for the immediate release of the hostages and paves the way for a change that will lead to a new reality in Gaza—without Hamas and without Iranian control."
I left the Democratic Party and I hope others will see what is really going on. They should join me and walk away from the Democrats before it is too late. By Jamie Garsa of Apollo Beach, FL.
I was raised by conservative parents, but being rebellious by nature, I chose a more liberal path and assumptions I made about the Left were wrong.
I voted for Obama but being middle class during his era totally sucked. My taxes increased, my health insurance became unaffordable, my house was broken into multiple times by illegal immigrants, and I saw people divided by race-baiting identity politics.
One reason I jumped on the Trump Train in 2016 was because our nation needed someone who was not a career politician and stood up for working and middle class families.
When I began to voice my support for Trump, I received the wrath of all my liberal friends. I also saw bias and dishonesty in the media.
I have continued to support Donald Trump which means I have seen nothing but hate spewing from the Left. I think it is a matter of good against evil.
Our freedom, prosperity, safety and the future of our children is all at stake. I will never vote Democrat again, and I pray every day the rest of the country wakes up and realizes what is really happening.
According to registered dietitian Nichole Andrews, when it comes to foods that significantly increase cancer risk, there are only two major offenders to focus on: processed meats and alcohol. Despite the overwhelming information available on other foods, Andrews emphasizes that these two are the only ones consistently linked to cancer.
1. Alcohol
All types of alcohol, including red wine, can raise cancer risk due to the way the body processes it. When alcohol breaks down, it converts into acetaldehyde, a toxic substance that can damage DNA and impair cell repair mechanisms. This DNA damage increases the risk of mutations, which may eventually lead to cancer. Additionally, alcohol acts as a solvent, facilitating harmful chemicals’ access to cells, particularly in the digestive tract. For women, even moderate alcohol consumption has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer due to its effect on estrogen levels.
2. Processed Meats
Processed meats—like hot dogs, bacon, sausages, and deli meats—are preserved using methods such as curing or smoking, which can create carcinogenic chemicals like nitrates and nitrites. These compounds can turn into cancer-causing agents in the body. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified processed meats as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there's substantial evidence of their link to cancer, particularly colorectal cancer.
Bottom Line
Andrews reassures that other commonly demonized foods, such as artificial sweeteners, red dyes, or plant oils, do not pose the same cancer risks as alcohol and processed meats. While it’s always beneficial to maintain a balanced, health-conscious diet, cutting back on alcohol and processed meats is key for reducing cancer risk.
Kamala flips the script from “the border is secure” to the border has been insecure for a long time, and it started with Trump.
Okay. That's weird.
Bret Baier then reminded her that there were “90-plus executive orders that were rescinded in the first days. Many of those were Trump border policies.”
Kamala didn't know how to respond and was left speechless.
Eric Chu, husband of death row property tycoon Truong My Lan, was sentenced to two years in prison for helping her launder VND30 billion (US$1.19 million).
The court found Lan, chairwoman of the property development company Van Thinh Phat, guilty of laundering VND445 trillion, which she embezzled from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) and defrauding bond investors.
Lan is guilty of fraudulent asset appropriation, money laundering, and illegal cross-border money transfers, the judges said at the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City. She was given a life sentence on the financial fraud charges.
During the trial, Chu admitted to using credit cards paid for by Lan but claimed he was unaware the funds came from illegal sources.
He said his family has turned in VND19 billion to pay for the losses caused to SCB.
Chu, who was the chairman of property developer Times Square Vietnam, earlier this year received 9 years prison time for abetting Lan in embezzling VND677 trillion from SCB.
In a separate trial in April, Lan was given the death sentence. Both have appealed the verdicts.
Kamala Harris, in the heat of the U.S. presidential campaign, targeted her rival Donald Trump's mental fitness and state of health during a televised town hall event that took a bizarre turn. Three weeks before the election, Harris's campaign increasingly emphasized concerns about Trump's stability, particularly after his unusual behavior during an event in Oaks, near Philadelphia, where Trump abruptly shifted focus from a standard Q&A to an impromptu music session.
During the town hall, two medical emergencies in the crowd led to a strange 39-minute stretch in which Trump played nine songs, danced awkwardly on stage, and stood staring into the audience. Harris quickly responded on social media platform X, commenting, "Hope he's okay," while underscoring her concerns about his mental and physical condition.
Trump's behavior, including his usual habit of closing rallies with the Village People's "YMCA," escalated in this event, sparking further criticism. Despite these incidents, Trump continued his campaign, holding another rally in Atlanta the next day, where he ignored the previous night’s unusual spectacle and stuck to familiar topics like immigration, albeit with similarly disjointed remarks.
Harris and Trump are currently neck-and-neck in polls, with the race likely hinging on key swing states. Trump's age, 78, has come under increasing scrutiny, particularly as he has not released a recent comprehensive health report. Harris, at 59, has focused her campaign’s messaging on contrasting her vitality with Trump's mental sharpness, leveraging these concerns in interviews, including a sit-down with radio host Charlamagne tha God to connect with Black male voters.
As the election approaches, both candidates are sharpening their focus on each other’s weaknesses, with Harris honing in on Trump's unpredictability and age as central themes in her bid to secure key votes.
China has sentenced 15 individuals to prison for their roles in the collapse of a commercial building in Changsha in April 2022, which resulted in the deaths of over 50 people and nine injuries. The incident, which highlighted issues of corruption and lax construction standards, sparked public outrage after it was revealed that the building had been constructed illegally.
Among those sentenced, Wu Zhiyong, a resident of the building deemed partly responsible, received an 11-year prison term. Other sentences included 12 years for the former deputy chief of a state-backed municipal water company, convicted of dereliction of duty and bribery. Additionally, a local structural testing firm was fined one million yuan (US$140,000), and several employees were jailed for providing false safety documentation.
The court found that Wu and others lacked the necessary construction qualifications but still built and rented the property to catering and accommodation companies, despite major structural hazards. No corrective measures were taken, leading to the eventual collapse, which caused significant casualties and financial losses.
Building collapses in China are not uncommon, often due to corruption and inadequate enforcement of safety standards. Similar incidents, such as the collapse of a park pavilion in Changzhou in August, which killed six people, continue to raise concerns about the construction industry's safety oversight.
Truong My Lan, the property tycoon and former chairwoman of Van Thinh Phat Group, has been sentenced to life in prison for financial fraud, following her death sentence in a separate trial in April. The People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City found her guilty of fraudulent asset appropriation, money laundering, and illegal cross-border money transfers. Lan and her accomplices were involved in the illegal issuance of VND30 trillion ($1.2 billion) worth of bonds, purchased by 35,800 investors, primarily customers of Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB).
The court ruled that Lan laundered VND445 trillion, embezzled from SCB, and defrauded bond investors. Additionally, she was convicted of sending and receiving $4.5 billion illegally from overseas. Despite her legal team’s argument that she unknowingly committed the crimes, the court concluded that the nature of her actions demonstrated intent to defraud.
This trial marks the second major legal case against Lan this year. In her first trial in April, she was sentenced to death for embezzling VND677 trillion from SCB, a verdict she is currently appealing. During her second trial, Lan acknowledged the charges but maintained she did not mastermind the bond issuance and did not intend to defraud investors. She promised to use her assets to compensate victims and reflected on the trial as a personal and professional downfall.
Final Battle: ‘This November Election Could Be the Last.' Please watch these videos before casting vote.
Megyn Kelly begins the show by discussing how terribly VP Kamala Harris did during the 60 Minutes interview, the "nice guy" CBS host Bill Whitaker who didn't press her hard enough, her total inability to answer questions because she appears not to actually know anything, Harris' rambling and incoherent answer about Israel and Netanyahu, and more.
'Fright' in Kamala Harris' eyes after tough questioning
Sky News Australia
Black young men and women aren’t fooled by you anymore, madam!
Why Kamala Harris Will Not Do Any Press Conferences | Victor Davis Hanson
In rural Vietnam, parents are increasingly prioritizing their children's English education despite the financial burden, reflecting a nationwide shift in attitudes toward language learning. Kim Thai, a father from Vinh Phuc Province, travels over 10 kilometers to bring his children to English classes in the provincial capital, having spent more than VND240 million ($9,663) so far. He, like many other parents, is determined to ensure his children have access to quality English education, seeing it as essential for their future success.
Similarly, Thanh Thanh from Nghe An Province has enrolled her 4-year-old in an English center with foreign teachers, despite the high costs. She believes foreign instructors will help her child develop proper pronunciation. Thanh and her husband are willing to take on extra work to support this investment, emphasizing the growing belief that early exposure to English will offer significant advantages.
The demand for English education in rural areas has sparked a rise in the number of English centers. A FiinGroup Vietnam survey highlights a nationwide increase in educational spending, with families in major cities allocating 47% of their budgets to education. Extra English classes are now a common focus, with 54% of children attending supplementary sessions, according to Q&Me.
Pham Thi Minh Phuong, admissions director of Ocean Edu English International School in Vinh Phuc, noted that English learning is no longer limited to wealthier families; even those with modest incomes are prioritizing it. The trend has opened up opportunities for teachers like Hoang Chau, who has seen her income multiply by offering extra English classes in Lang Son Province.
For many parents, the drive to invest in English education stems from personal experiences. Thanh shared how her own lack of English proficiency once cost her a well-paying job. Both she and Thai emphasize that in today’s world, knowing multiple languages is crucial for children to succeed, not just in Vietnam but globally.
This shift in mindset is further supported by educators like Phuong, who points out that English is increasingly seen as a practical life skill rather than just an academic requirement. "Parents understand that English is a tool for life, careers, and future opportunities, which is why they are investing early," she said.
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is proposing to retain all revenue surpluses beyond its annual budget targets from 2026-2030 to finance its metro rail network, according to a report submitted to the Ministry of Finance. The city needs an estimated $37.45 billion by 2035 to complete six metro routes covering 183 kilometers, but it faces insufficient budget allocations under the current system.
Public funding in Vietnam is distributed based on factors like population and infrastructure needs, with the Ministry of Finance ensuring balanced growth by prioritizing less developed regions. HCMC, which often surpasses its revenue targets, currently shares its surpluses with the central government. For example, in 2022, the city collected 121.99% of its target, contributing significantly to the national budget. Now, HCMC wants to retain these surpluses to support its metro development, particularly from revenues it currently shares with the government, such as corporate income tax.
Additionally, HCMC is exploring other funding channels, including issuing "metro bonds." City chairman Phan Van Mai has encouraged the public to invest in these bonds, with assurances that careful planning of land use and economic returns along metro routes will offer lucrative investment opportunities.
Currently, only two metro lines (Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien and Ben Thanh – Tham Luong) are under construction, funded by official development assistance loans. The rest remain in the planning stages, with Line No.1 expected to start operations later this year. The city’s metro master plan envisions eight routes and three monorail lines covering around 220 kilometers in total.
Hanoi is set to trial a low-emission zone (LEZ) model from 2025 in a bid to combat rising air pollution. The plan will restrict high-polluting vehicles in densely populated areas, targeting air pollution hotspots across the city. Le Thanh Nam, director of the city's Department of Natural Resources and Environment, pointed to the city's heavy consumption of resources, including 80 million kWh of electricity and millions of liters of gasoline daily, as significant contributors to pollution.
The city is undertaking several measures to improve air quality, such as expanding public transport, developing green spaces, utilizing green energy, and monitoring environmental quality through automated systems. Specific efforts include introducing routes exclusively for electric buses and low-emission vehicles.
Hanoi’s transport infrastructure is under growing pressure due to the rapid increase in personal vehicle ownership, with personal vehicle numbers rising by 4-5% annually, while car numbers increase by 10% each year. In contrast, the city's infrastructure expands by only 0.28% per year, and only 12% of land is allocated for traffic, below the targeted 16%. This has led to 33 traffic congestion hotspots.
Urban railways have been proposed as a long-term solution to the city's traffic and pollution challenges. Plans now include the construction of 14 railway routes spanning 600 km, although it could take 15-20 years to complete and cost around $50 billion.
Pollution statistics from 2018-2020 show that PM2.5 levels in Hanoi were double the national standard, with transportation contributing between 50-70% of PM2.5 emissions, making traffic one of the largest contributors to the city’s air pollution problem.
Vietnam has increased teachers' basic salaries by 30% as of July, raising their monthly income to as much as VND30 million ($1,203), a significant improvement of up to VND7 million from previous levels. In some areas, additional policies allow for even higher earnings. For example, Ho Chi Minh City adjusts the salary coefficients for government workers, including teachers, by 1.8 times, enabling some teachers to earn up to VND40 million ($1,610) per month.
Vietnam has more than 1.05 million teachers who benefit from the national budget. Many educators have expressed their relief at the increase. Nguyen Cong, a middle school teacher in Hanoi, reported his new salary at around VND9.5 million ($382), an increase of VND1.5 million, while Doan Ngoc, a primary school teacher from Phu Tho, saw her salary exceed VND6 million ($241) for the first time. Ha Thu, a kindergarten teacher in Hai Duong, now earns VND8.4 million ($338), also a VND1.5 million increase.
Although the salary increase has improved the financial situation for many, some teachers still find their incomes insufficient. Vu Minh Duc, head of the Department of Teachers and Education Managers, acknowledged that despite the improvements, teacher salaries are still not fully meeting expectations or needs. Currently, new teachers earn between VND6.6-7.4 million ($265-$297) per month, which is lower than the average income of Vietnamese workers.
Teacher attrition remains an issue, with 61% of teachers who quit their jobs being under 35. Many leave due to financial burdens and the demands of the job. Thu, a kindergarten teacher, pointed out that her workload remains heavy, with long hours and additional tasks, such as preparing study materials.
To further support teachers, a draft for a new Law on Teaching proposes waiving tuition fees for the children of teachers from kindergarten through university. This policy would require around VND9.2 trillion ($369 million) in annual government spending. The goal is to create better policies to retain teachers and attract more talent to the profession.
Canada has introduced new regulations for international students seeking post-graduation work permits (PGWP), significantly tightening eligibility criteria based on fields of study linked to long-term labor shortages. The Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) announced that, starting November 1, 2024, international students must choose study programs in high-demand sectors like agriculture, healthcare, STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), skilled trades, and transportation to qualify for the PGWP.
The changes affect those applying for a study permit on or after November 1, while students with existing permits or those applying before the cut-off date will still be eligible under the previous criteria. University students pursuing bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degrees are largely unaffected by the new rules. However, for college graduates and students in non-degree programs, only those studying in the five designated areas will qualify for the PGWP.
A new language proficiency requirement is also being introduced for PGWP applicants, with university students needing to achieve a Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) level 7 and college students a CLB level 5. Accepted tests include CELPIP, IELTS, PTE for English, and TEF and TCF for French, with results valid for up to two years.
The changes have caused concern among educators. Programs outside the specified fields, such as tourism, hospitality, and business, are no longer eligible for the PGWP, raising fears that this could harm rural communities and international student recruitment. Karen Dancy of Olds College and Larissa Bezo of the Canadian Bureau for International Education (CBIE) warned that excluding these programs could hurt local economies and labor markets that rely on international students.
In 2023, over 70% of international students in Canada intended to apply for a PGWP. The restrictions are part of broader efforts by the Canadian government to manage immigration levels and maintain the integrity of the student visa system. Other recent policy changes include reducing student visa numbers, increasing financial requirements, and stricter rules on work permits for spouses of students.
Despite the new restrictions, Canada continues to attract a growing number of international students, with over 1 million active study permits in 2023, primarily from India and China.
At least four cities and a county are still waiting to be reimbursed for costs associated with local law enforcement and first responders during Trump's visits.
By Megan Lebowitz and Corky Siemaszko
Former President Donald Trump held a third rally last month in Erie, Pennsylvania, which sits in the northwest corner of a swing state that could decide who wins the White House.
Like the two other times Trump has been to Erie to rev up his supporters, he left without paying the bill.
City officials haven't yet tallied up what the Trump campaign owes Erie for public safety costs for his most recent rally in September.
But according to a city official, Trump owes the city more than $40,000 for the rallies he held there in 2018 and 2023.
Erie, whose bills were previously reported by the Erie Times-News, isn't the only city that has hosted Trump rallies and not been paid by the campaign.
Including Erie, four cities and a county confirmed to NBC News that they're still waiting for the Trump campaign to pay bills often associated with reimbursements for the costs of local law enforcement and other first responder personnel.
The final price tag is more than $750,000 for those five jurisdictions, with some bills dating back eight years.
At the same time, it's not always clear cut whose legal responsibility it is to foot the bill.
Reached for comment, a Trump campaign official said in a text message that “questions related to local law enforcement and first responder costs should be directed to secret service.”
At least two municipalities seeking reimbursements said they didn't have formal agreements with the Trump campaign about costs before the events.
Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told NBC News that it's the agency, not the campaign, that typically requests local assistance for such campaign activities.
However, the Secret Service "lacks a mechanism to reimburse local governments for their support during protective events," he said.
Guglielmi added that the agency has "identified this as a critical need" and is working with Congress to make it possible in the future.
Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign declined to comment on how it handles costs for police and fire department personnel, as well as additional security measures provided by local governments.
The five localities that spoke to NBC News have sent their bills to the Trump campaign. One of the largest unpaid bills comes in at more than half a million dollars.
El Paso, Texas, is seeking more than $569,200 in expenses from 2019, according to an invoice provided by city spokesperson Laura Cruz Acosta. The initial bill for more than $470,000 ballooned when the city charged the campaign a late fee for nonpayment.
In 2020, the El Paso City Council hired a law firm to “advocate in the City’s interest in the collection of the outstanding invoices,” Cruz Acosta said. Four years later, the Trump campaign hasn't paid.
The unpaid bills go back even further for Spokane, Washington, which wants the Trump campaign to pay for costs incurred in a May 2016 visit, before Trump officially became the Republican nominee for president. That bill amounts to more than $65,000, according to an invoice provided by city spokesperson Erin Hut.
Hut said the Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns also still owe the city money from invoices that were issued in May 2016. The Sanders campaign owes about $33,000, and the Clinton camp owes a little less than $3,000, she said.
Representatives who previously worked with the campaigns didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
In Missoula County, Montana, government officials are seeking almost $13,000 for a Trump rally in 2018, according to an invoice the county provided to NBC News. The bulk of the bill — nearly $12,000 — is for police officers and 911 dispatchers, according to the invoice. County spokesperson Allison Franz confirmed that the county didn't have an agreement with the campaign about the anticipated costs before the event.
In the crucial swing state Arizona, the city of Mesa is still waiting for the campaign to pay local law enforcement around $65,000 for Trump's visit in October 2018 to Mesa-Gateway Airport, a city spokesperson confirmed.
The bill is for the Mesa Police Department's work in providing officers for crowd control and traffic control, as well as the department's rentals for barricades, towing and more, according to a 2018 letter to the campaign from attorney Nancy Sorensen on behalf of the city.
Ana Pereira, a city spokesperson, told NBC News in a statement that when the city "learned about the event and the conditions surrounding the venue, City officials took it upon themselves to implement any measures necessary to keep the public safe without first entering into an agreement with the campaign."
However, she said that "the City calculated the public safety costs incurred from the campaign event the President attended."
She said that while the campaign isn't legally obligated to cover those costs, "[w]e believe the Trump 2020 campaign should reimburse our City for those taxpayer dollars, and we have invoiced the campaign accordingly."
Similarly, Erie's bills were to cover police, fire and public works personnel overtime, according to city spokesperson Rob Lee.
Trump addressed overtime pay during his latest Erie stop, just not in the way city officials may have hoped. Instead, he highlighted his no-taxes-on-overtime-pay proposal before he pivoted to his personal views on paying workers.
"I hated to give overtime. I hated it. I’d get other people," Trump said. "I shouldn’t say this, but I’d get other people in. I wouldn’t pay."
At a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, October 9, 2024, Trump said: "We had over 100,000 people...100,000 people on Saturday night."
In an interview on Andrew Schulz's Flagrant podcast, posted on October 9, 2024, Trump said: "We had 100,000, more than 100,000 people."
By Tom Norton
Donald Trump's return to the site of his first assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, was met with a huge crowd over the weekend, a fact the former president has been sharing repeatedly since.
The former president was at the same site where Thomas Matthew Crooks attempted to assassinate him on July 13. The gunman killed former volunteer fireman Cory Comperatore.
During a recent podcast interview and at another rally in Pennsylvania this week, Trump claimed that as many as 100,000 people turned up to see him, a figure that Newsweek has examined in detail.
The Butler rally was held at the Butler Farm Showgrounds. While security precautions changed between the event in October and the assassination attempt in July, the site structure did not seem to differ between the two events.
A site map presented by the House Task Force on the Attempted Assassination of Donald Trump showed the physical size of the event in July was about the same as that last weekend. While that hearing did not mention the site's capacity in July, it stated an attendee estimate of about 15,000 people.
Multiple aerial site photos show a railed security screening area on the east side, with the stage, seating, and other infrastructure on the west. The stage was in front of three warehouse buildings.
Attendance estimates ranged from 24,000 to 80,000, the latter according to some attendees. Author and Trump supporter Nick Adams suggested the night before that event would attract 100,000 "patriots," but did not explain how.
Donald Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung told Newsweek that 105,000 people "showed up," but did not say how the figures were verified.
Based on photos from the site, crowd-mapping software, and expert analysis, there appears to be no evidence there were 100,000 people on the site. The exact number is likely to have been tens of thousands fewer.
Using the website, MapChecking.com, Newsweek plotted the Butler rally perimeter and estimated the crowd size. The plot includes sections that were not filled with crowds, such as the stands behind Trump's stage, the stage itself, vehicles, and infrastructure on the site.
Using this estimate, only around 94,000 would fit if every part of it were packed in, with four people per square meter, or just over 10 square feet..
However, photos and videos from the event showed that was not the case. Apart from the obstructions already mentioned, the area around the stage was seated, further limiting the capacity. Tents, engineering infrastructure, and space for people to enter and exit the crowd would have further limited the size.
Professor Steve Doig of Arizona State University, a data journalist with decades of experience in crowd estimations, told Newsweek that four people per square meter was "scary mosh pit density." The seated areas alone, Doig said, would have limited density there to "at most" two people per square meter.
Although Newsweek has been unable to find aerial photos of when Trump spoke, Doig said his estimate was about closer to 30,000, a figure near to reporting from CBS.
"If your [MapChecking.com] polygon of about 24,000 square meters is filled at two persons per square meter, then that gets you to a max capacity of at most about 50,000," Doig said.
"However, crowds tend to thin the farther away the outliers are from the action, and the aerial doesn't show seating being set up past the bank of speakers.
"With all that considered, my reality-based estimate would be closer to 30,000."
While photos taken when Trump took the stage show a packed crowd, the same issues with crowd density and obstructions still exist.
Newsweek contacted the U.S. Secret Service, Pennsylvania State Police, and Butler County Sheriff's Office for estimates. Only the Secret Service replied, saying it did not "do crowd estimates."
Based on a crowd density average of about 2.5 people per square meter, which experts say is a "good estimate for public events such as parades," MapChecking.com estimates the total site capacity is 57,000.
That number, again, does not account for site infrastructure, moving vs. static crowd density (i.e. the amount of space a person takes up moving compared to someone standing still), or how crowd densities loosen the farther they are from the stage. Therefore, the actual figure was likely to have been much lower.
In any case, there is insufficient evidence that 100,000 people attended the rally. Newsweek has contacted a Trump media representative via email for further comment.
Trump's reputation for overestimating his crowd sizes has become a running feature of his political campaigning. Last month, Newsweek's Fact Check team debunked three back-to-back claims he made during a rally in Michigan.
False.
There is no evidence that there were 100,000 people when Trump returned to Butler, the site of his first assassination attempt in July.
Newsweek's estimates based on site and aerial photos show that even if attendees were packed in, without obstructions, at "scary mosh pit density," the total site capacity would still have been less than 100,000.
The figure was almost certainly less than 57,000, based on estimates calculated using crowd density software.
The moves are the latest example of Trump’s long-held resistance to being called to account for his falsehoods.
By Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey
Donald Trump and his campaign have waged an aggressive campaign against fact-checking in recent months, pushing TV networks, journalism organizations and others to abandon the practice if they hope to interact with Trump.
Trump nearly backed out of an August interview with a group of Black journalists after learning they planned to fact-check his claims. The following month, he and his allies repeatedly complained about the fact-checking that occurred during his debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, berating journalists and news executives in the middle of the televised debate.
And this month, Trump declined to sit down for an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” because he objected to the show’s practice of fact-checking, according to the show.
Campaign advisers also expressly asked CBS News to forgo fact checking in its vice-presidential debate with Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance — who then complained on air when a moderator corrected him.
The moves are the latest example of Trump’s long-held resistance to being called to account for his falsehoods, which have formed the bedrock of his political message for years. Just in recent weeks, for example, Trump has seized on fabricated tales of migrants eating pets and Venezuelan gangs overtaking cities in pushing his anti-immigration message as he seeks a second term in office.
Lucas Graves, a journalism and mass communications professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, said that publicly chafing at fact-checking has become a form of tribalism among some Republicans.
“Within the political establishment on the right, it is now considered quite legitimate — and quite legitimate to say publicly and openly — that you disapprove of fact-checking,” said Lucas, author of “Deciding What’s True: The Rise of Political Fact-Checking in American Journalism. “Precisely because of Trump’s unusual relationship with the truth — even for a politician — it’s hardly surprising that he would object to it so volubly and so forcefully.”
The Washington Post Fact Checker team tallied that by the end of Trump’s presidency, he had made 30,573 false or misleading claims — an average of about 21 false, erroneous or misleading claims a day.
In August, Trump had agreed to appear at a National Association of Black Journalists gathering, where three of the group’s members would interview him. But upon realizing that he would be fact-checked in real time, Trump’s team said he would not be taking the stage.
NABJ president Ken Lemon described a tense scene backstage as Trump’s team objected to any fact-checking of the interview, with the discussions lasting more than an hour. “If you guys are going to fact check, he’s not going to take the stage,” Lemon said a Trump aide told him. “They were just totally insistent that he was not going to take the stage if we fact-checked.”
Lemon said he spoke with three Trump aides — who at one point called to confer with someone not at the event — about their objections to fact-checking as the audience waited.
At one point, Lemon said he became convinced Trump was ultimately going to back out of the interview over his fact-checking concerns, so Lemon prepared remarks to go out and explain the cancellation to the crowd. But in the end, Trump took part in the interview, making headlines by falsely suggesting that Vice President Kamala Harris had only recently decided to identify as Black.
“It was a very revealing moment where we got to hear him answer questions, and we were shocked at what some of the answers were,” Lemon said.
Trump officials blamed the delay in taking the stage on technical audio issues.
“Here’s the truth: President Trump initially couldn’t take the stage because there were audio issues. Once the audio issues were resolved, President Trump took the stage and participated in the discussion, and the fact-checks still occurred,” Karoline Leavitt, a Trump spokeswoman, said in a statement.
Harris, too, has taken a cautious approach to interviews, largely eschewing rigorous policy questioners for lower-stakes venues and having her advisers, at times, try to prescreen questions. Her blitz this week of unscripted media settings hewed to friendly questioners, including Howard Stern of Sirius XM, CBS’s “Late Night with Stephen Colbert” and the popular “Call Her Daddy” podcast. During Harris’s NABJ forum, the interviewers pressed less contentiously than they did Trump, and during the ABC presidential debate with Trump, the moderators did not fact check her in the same manner.
One Trump adviser, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the campaign’s thinking, argued that Trump is treated more harshly than others. “Every candidate is opposed to fact checking on some degree, but if you’re Trump, you know they are always going to go after you harder,” the adviser said.
But Harris does not misstate the truth regularly, as Trump does, and she has also not protested being fact-checked. And unlike Trump, she sat down for a wide-ranging interview with “60 Minutes” that aired last week.
As part of Harris’s interview, the show took the extraordinary step of explaining why it was not airing a similar segment with Trump, who had initially agreed to an interview before changing his mind.
“A week ago, Trump backed out,” CBS correspondent Scott Pelley explained. “The campaign offered shifting explanations. First, it complained that we would fact-check the interview. We fact-check every story. Later, Trump said he needed an apology for his interview in 2020.”
Pelley went on to explain that the 2020 incident for which Trump requested an apology had never occurred.
Campaign advisers acknowledged there were discussions with CBS over fact-checking, and the campaign objected to the network wanting to cut into the interview to fact-check.
The two debates — first with President Joe Biden and then with Harris after Biden dropped out — proved another point of contention. Trump’s team repeatedly raised objections in negotiations that it did not want a fact-checking element during the debates, and continued to ask networks about the issue in the weeks leading up to the events, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private negotiations.
During the debate between Trump and Biden, CNN publicly stated in advance that the moderators would not fact-check, instead leaving that to the candidates.
Before the second debate, Jason Miller, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, said the team was told by an ABC journalist that similar to the CNN debate, there would be no fact checks from the moderators. However, a copy of the ABC News debate rules, obtained by The Post, did not put any limitations on fact checking.
Nonetheless, Trump and his allies were furious with ABC for pointedly fact-checking Trump live during his debate with Harris. At one point, after Trump falsely claimed that some Democrats support executing babies after birth, moderator Linsey Davis noted, “There is no state in this country where it is legal to kill a baby after it’s born.”
At another point — after Trump repeated the false and baseless claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were abducting and eating their neighbors’ cats and dogs — moderator David Muir interjected to say that ABC News had reached out to the city manager, who “told us there have been no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”
Trump’s advisers — including Chris LaCivita and Miller — erupted at ABC executives and journalists in the middle of the debate, according to the people familiar with the situation. They implored the network to stop fact-checking for the rest of the event and said it had breached its promise, and a call was even lodged to the president of ABC News by Susie Wiles, the campaign’s top aide. At least one Trump adviser demanded to talk to the moderators during the debate.
The network declined to comment.
“Everyone who watched the ABC debate agreed that it was a 3-on-1 fight with 2 moderators who wrongly ‘fact-checked’ President Trump multiple times, but did not fact check Kamala Harris ONCE, even though she spewed multiple lies on the debate stage,” Leavitt said in her statement. “The ABC debate was widely viewed as one of the worst moderated debates in history, yet President Trump still won.”
Harris spokesman Kevin Munoz responded: “You have to lie to be fact-checked, and only one person on that stage was telling lie after lie.”
By the time Vance was preparing for a CBS debate with Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the issue of fact-checking was ever-present. During Vance’s debate preparations, Trump advisers had former Fox News contributor Monica Crowley play the role of a fact-checking journalist, according to people familiar with the discussions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe deliberations.
In meetings with network executives, Vance’s team insisted there would be no fact-checking, and CBS officials said they did not expect moderators to jump in and correct candidates, leaving it up to the candidates themselves, the people said.
However, at one point, moderator Margaret Brennan corrected a comment Vance had made about the “illegal immigrants” that he claimed where overwhelming Springfield, Ohio, noting that the city’s large population of Haitian immigrants in fact have “legal status — temporary protected status.”
“Margaret, the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact check,” Vance said. Behind the scenes, his team also raised strenuous objections with the network, arguing that such a moment was not supposed to have occurred. CBS declined to comment.
The exchange was brief, but by then, the Trump-Vance ticket’s desire to eschew fact-checking had so penetrated the public consciousness that “Saturday Night Live” poked fun at it in their next episode, when Bowen Yang, playing Vance, uttered a series of falsehoods while repeatedly muttering for the moderators not to check his facts.
“You know, Nora, it’s rich to say that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy when he peacefully gave over power — we said no fact checking — and willingly, and willingly — don’t check that — got on his plane without incident — don’t — right after saving Obamacare — don’t check that,” Yang-as-Vance said as the audience laughed.
The Ministry of Transport (MOT) in Vietnam is currently gathering public feedback on a draft revision of the Railway Law, which proposes significant changes aimed at modernizing the railway sector. The key areas of focus in this draft include incentives and support for the railway industry, investment and management of railway infrastructure, integration of railway transport with other modes of transport, and general railway transport operations.
Key Revisions and Additions
The draft law proposes substantial changes compared to the 2017 Railway Law, retaining only 14 of the original 80 articles, while amending or supplementing 59, adding seven new articles, and annulling 12 articles.
Incentives for Railway Enterprises
The draft introduces specific incentives for both domestic and foreign enterprises involved in railway activities. In addition to existing incentives under the 2017 law, the new provisions would offer a reduced corporate income tax rate of 10%—the maximum incentive under current tax laws—for railway infrastructure and industry-related businesses. Import duties on critical machinery, equipment, spare parts, and materials necessary for railway infrastructure and operations would also be exempt.
Furthermore, state-owned enterprises could increase their capital when investing in new railway equipment and technology under certain conditions.
Railway Infrastructure Investment and Management
A significant provision in the draft is the restriction that public-private partnership (PPP) projects in railway investment should not receive more than 80% of their funding from the state. Provincial authorities would also play a more active role in allocating land near railway stations for urban development, such as commercial zones and office buildings, with proceeds from land use rights supporting reinvestment in railway infrastructure.
To speed up the implementation of high-speed and urban railway projects, the draft allows the use of front-end engineering designs instead of more detailed basic designs when presenting feasibility studies for projects that require approval from the National Assembly.
Local authorities could take on greater responsibility for regional railway projects, including infrastructure investments, after government approval. Collaboration between provinces will be key for railways that cross multiple regions, with the involved provinces needing to agree on budget allocations and project responsibilities.
Enhancing Railway Connections
The draft also emphasizes the need for stronger integration between railway and other transport modes. Railways would be required to connect to major airports (handling at least 30 million passengers annually), special seaports, and grade-I seaports, facilitating easier movement of cargo and passengers. Owners of transport-related projects would need to set aside land for railway connections, and land reserved for railway infrastructure would be exempt from rental fees.
In urban areas, passenger terminals on national railway routes would be located in city centers to improve accessibility. For new railways that cross roads, project developers would need to build non-level crossings and install safety measures, such as railway fences, to ensure safety.
Conclusion
The proposed changes in the draft Railway Law aim to modernize Vietnam’s railway system by providing greater financial incentives for investment, streamlining project approval processes, and ensuring better integration with other transport modes. The public and stakeholders are being invited to provide feedback on these important legislative reforms.
Diễn Đàn Người Việt Hải Ngoại. Tự do ngôn luận, an toàn và uy tín. Vì một tương lai tươi đẹp cho các thế hệ Việt Nam hãy ghé thăm chúng tôi, hãy tâm sự với chúng tôi mỗi ngày, mỗi giờ và mỗi giây phút có thể. VietBF.Com Xin cám ơn các bạn, chúc tất cả các bạn vui vẻ và gặp nhiều may mắn.
Welcome to Vietnamese American Community, Vietnamese European, Canadian, Australian Forum, Vietnamese Overseas Forum. Freedom of speech, safety and prestige. For a beautiful future for Vietnamese generations, please visit us, talk to us every day, every hour and every moment possible. VietBF.Com Thank you all and good luck.
