Something Fishy, Conservative Flamethrower
Thursday, August 18, 2016
Vol. 5, No. 230
Stranger Things: Two American Olympic swimmers were pulled off their flight home last night in a deepening investigation into the claim by four swimmers that they were robbed at gunpoint in Rio by men posing as police officers.
The report of the robbery was a national embarrassment to Brazil, but now investigators question the veracity of the athletes’ claim that they were robbed. The driver of the taxi in which the four said they were riding hasn’t been found.
“We can confirm that Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were removed from their flight to the United States by Brazilian authorities,” a spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee said. The two were being questioned last night. Police were also looking for James Feigen, who had checked into the flight online, but didn’t show at the airport. The biggest name of the four, gold medalist Ryan Lochte, is already back in the US.
A security video of the swimmers arriving back in the Olympic village that night has fed official doubts. The four still have their watches and cellphones. “You can see the supposed victims arriving without signs of being physically or psychologically shaken, even joking amongst themselves,” Judge Keyla Blanc de Cnop said in a statement.
Under New Management: Donald Trump’s new campaign chief, his third, is a far right-winger who’s been described as a conservative flamethrower. It’s a thumb in the eye to mainstream Republicans who have been hoping Trump would come into the fold. The new guy, Stephen Bannon, was chairman of Breitbart News and was recently behind the unsuccessful effort to unseat House Speaker Paul Ryan for a more conservative candidate in his Wisconsin primary.
Under Bannon, Breitbart News has been a cheerleader for Trump. Bannon made a documentary that fawned over Sarah Palin and another called “Clinton Cash” that assailed Hillary Clinton. The headlines on Breitbart immediately praised Trump’s appointment of Bannon. That’s the kind of press Trump likes.
Read Her Lips: Speaking in Cleveland yesterday, Hillary Clinton made the politically unpopular promise that as president she would raise taxes. “We’re going to tax the wealthy who have made all of the income gains in the last 15 years,” she said. “The super-wealthy, corporations, Wall Street, they’re going to have to invest in education, in skills training, in infrastructure.”
The Fix: The NY Times reports that before Donald Trump’s friend Chris Christie became governor of New Jersey, the state was suing the casinos founded by Trump for $30 million in back taxes and interest. The state, a year after Christie took office, settled for just $5 million. Trump once said on Fox News, Fox News that only “a stupid person, a really stupid person, is paying a lot of taxes.”
Nation: A wildfire in the mountains east of Los Angeles has grown to 40,000 acres and is still burning out of control.
World: The Turkish government announced that it is releasing 38,000 criminal prisoners to accommodate the thousands of people arrested in the wake of the July 15 attempted coup. Thousands of people have been arrested, and tens of thousands fired from their jobs on suspicion of supporting the coup.
The Games: Three American women swept the 100-meter hurdles in Rio: Brianna Rollins, gold; Nia Ali, silver; Kristi Castlin, bronze.
— Kerri Walsh Jennings and April Ross have won the bronze in beach volleyball after losing their first set. Walsh Jennings suffered her first Olympic loss Tuesday night, denying her a fourth gold medal.
Headline Trophy: From the The Daily Beast: “Bella Hadid Poses Nude for Vogue Paris, Internet Remains Intact.”
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