fiery crash The driver in a fiery Friday morning accident in New York City hailed a cab and fled the scene, leaving his passenger behind to burn to death in the blazing car, according to authorities. Police discovered the charred body of Harleen Grewel, 25, in the front passenger seat of the vehicle after fire fighters finally extinguished the flames.
Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo issued a scalding rebuttal to conspiracy theorists at his press conference on Friday before saying an emotional thank you to the members of his department and to the people of Las Vegas.
"Alt-right" conspiracy mongers have declared their belief that the U.S. government staged the massacre in Las Vegas in which gunman Stephen Paddock killed 59 people and injured more than 500. At a press conference on Monday, Lombardo batted aside the insistent questioning of "citizen journalist" Laura Loomer, who was arrested last summer for interrupting a performance of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar."
After Monday's outburst, individuals lacking press credentials were barred from press conferences, meaning Loomer was not allowed into the presentation on Friday. Lombardo, however, aimed a portion of his remarks at her and other conspiracy believers when he addressed discrepancies in the sheriff's department and the MGM Grand's timeline of Paddock's stay at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. Some accounts said he checked in on Sep. 25 and others said Sep. 28.
In fact, Paddock occupied the room for all of the days in question, but altered the name on his check-in on the 28th to include his girlfriend Marilou Danley's name, in spite of the fact that she was in the Philippines at the time.
"So that was the confusion with that, no matter what the perception is, whether we were being non-transparent or attempting to be subversive is false. I was acting on the information I had at the time I was provided it."
He said that "a great deal" of investigators' time went into establishing the timeline of events and if anyone wants to call the sheriff's department "incompetent," he said, "I am very offended with that characterization."
Thousands of people have coordinated to shed light on the investigation, Lombardo said, and "I still stand by" the teams' work.
"There is no conspiracy between the FBI, between LVMP and the MGM," he said emphatically. "Nobody is attempting to hide anything."
Later, he gave an emotional thank you for the acts of heroism performed by members of his department and the community. As tears welled in his eyes, a fellow officer placed a hand on Lombardo's shoulder, saying, "Take your time."
"So at this point, I want to thank the community," he said. "I want to thank you for letting me be your sheriff. And 'Vegas strong.'"
Watch Part One, embedded below:
Watch Part Two, embedded below:
University of Maryland professor Jason Nichols received a disgusting 8-minute racist rant from a caller after he appeared on Fox News earlier this week.
Nichols appeared on Tucker Carlson's nightly program to discuss Columbus Day and to explain to the Fox News audience why Christopher Columbus is maybe not the best person to celebrate.
Fellow UM professor Rashawn Ray shared video of Nichols playing back the message on his phone, which Nichols broadcast on Facebook Live.
"This message is for Jason Nicholas [sic], I've been listening to him on Fox," said the caller, a woman. "You know, this f*cking n**ger, you n**gers are not gonna be satisfied until you change every f*cking piece of sh*t holiday to 'N**ger Day.' Okay, you can have it. Let's change Martin Luther King N**ger Day, Christmas N**ger Day, Columbus N**ger Day."
She went on, "He's talking about Columbus killing 200,000 people, what about the camel n**gers that got the n**ger blood in them, the terrorists, the f*cking Syrian Muslim piece of sh*t n**ger terrorists..."
The caller continued in that vein for eight full minutes as Nichols looked silently at the camera and occasionally shook his head.
Watch the video, embedded below:
Watch Jason Nichols' appearance on Fox News, embedded below:
Late in September, Bloomberg News climate reporter Christopher Flavelle inadvertently received a series of emails meant for Pentagon employees -- emails that detailed the federal plan to spin President Donald Trump's bungling of the response to Hurricane Maria and to dismiss criticisms from San Juan's firebrand Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz.
According to Flavelle, when he notified Defense Department officials, he still continued to receive the bulletins for five days.
"Those messages, each of which was marked 'unclassified,' offer a glimpse into the federal government’s struggle to convince the public that the response effort was going well," Flavelle said Friday. "That struggle was compounded by the commander-in-chief, and eased only when public attention was pulled to a very different disaster."
He went on to list dates, the news events that took place and the Pentagon's response plan.
"Sept. 28: Eight days after Maria hit, coverage of the federal government’s response is getting more negative," Flavelle said. "The Government Message: Pentagon officials tell staff to emphasize 'coverage of life-saving/life-sustaining operations' and for spokespeople to avoid language about awaiting instructions from FEMA, 'as that goes against the teamwork top-line message.'”
On Sep. 30, Trump attacked Mayor Yulín Cruz as a "poor leader" and Pentagon officials fretted that the president's "lack of empathy" was becoming the front-page story, so the response was to hammer on the message that FEMA has been successful at reaching "all municipalities in Puerto Rico.”
Notably, FEMA has still not provided relief supplies to the furthest western reaches of the island, where people are dying of water-borne diseases and struggling to survive.
On Oct. 1, Trump called his critics "politically-motivated ingrates". On that day, the Pentagon's message was, "Defense staff admit that 'the perception of USG response continues to be negative.' Spokespeople are told to say, 'I am very proud of our DOD forces,” before conceding “there are some challenges to work through.'”
Actress Emma Thompson lit into Harvey Weinstein, President Donald Trump and the wider culture of "the crisis of extreme masculinity" and sexual harassment in the world at large in an interview with the BBC News.
When presented with new stories from accusers who said that producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed them, exposed himself to them or otherwise took uninvited personal liberties, Thompson said she wasn't surprised to hear the accounts.
"I don't know about those things but they don't surprise me at all," said Thompson, "and they're endemic to the system anyway."
"What I find sort of extraordinary is that this man is at the top of a very particular iceberg," she continued. Weinstein is not a "sex addict," she said. "He's a predator."
A predator, she said, who's at "the top of a ladder of harassment and belittling and bullying and interference and what my mother would have referred to in the old days as 'pestering.'"
What's clear, she said, is that there's a "crisis in masculinity and the crisis of extreme masculinity, which is this sort of behavior."
"Not only is it not okay, but it also is represented by the most powerful man in the world, at the moment," she said, referring to President Donald Trump.
She went on to say that yes, this sort of thing is going on all the time in Hollywood, that's baked into the system and while there are questions of degree, sexually harassing or bullying any woman, any time is wrong.
Thompson reportedly took Weinstein to task on the set of "Brideshead Revisited" in 2007 when he told British actress Heyley Atweall she looked like "a fat pig" in the morning rushes and should eat less for the remainder of the filming.
"When Atwell told her Oscar-winning co-star Emma Thompson that the Miramax head ordered her to go on a diet, Thompson flipped. She took Weinstein aside and threatened to quit if he forced Atwell or any other woman on set to go on a diet," said Page Six.
“Emma called Harvey out for being a misogynist and a bully and really gave him a hard time,” said a source familiar with the situation.
Multiple women -- including actresses Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow -- have come forward to reveal that Weinstein harassed them, touched them inappropriately or placed them in sexually charged situations without their consent.
At least 15 women have accused President Donald Trump of unwanted sexual advances. Trump has denied the allegations.
Watch the video, embedded below:
MSNBC anchor Craig Melvin spoke to Puerto Rico's former Gov. Alejandro García Padilla (D) on Thursday, who said that President Donald Trump's haphazard response to Hurricane Maria and his contemptuous attitude toward the people of Puerto Rico are because Trump is "just racist."
García Padilla reminded Melvin that Puerto Ricans did not ask to become U.S. citizens. "It was imposed by Congress just prior to the first World War so our young Puerto Ricans back then can go into military service. So it's the duty of the United States to put its boots on the ground here in Puerto Rico."
"It's not that we are begging," he said. "It's what we deserve."
Trump, said García Padilla, "is talking to his electoral base. He's not talking about law or about history. He's showing off the he's just racist. Let's call it by name."
"That's a pretty bold assertion, there," said Melvin, "to call the president of the United States a racist."
"It is the way it is," replied the governor. "I respect the institution, but the way he handled it just shows, I think, what he stands for."
Watch the video, embedded below:
San Juan's Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz blasted President Donald Trump on Thursday after the president threatened to withdraw federal aid from Puerto Rico in the wake of Hurricane Maria.
"@POTUS It is not that you do not get it; you are incapable of fulfilling the moral imperative to help the people of PR. Shame on you!" she wrote on Twitter.
She continued, "@POTUS your comments about Puerto Rico are unbecoming of a Commander in Chief they seem more to come from a 'Hater in Chief.'"
Earlier on Thursday, Trump went on a Twitter tirade against Puerto Rico, accusing the island territory of being mired in a financial mess "largely of their own making."
"We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!" the president said.
New York police said Thursday they have opened an investigation into allegations of a 2004 sexual assault by disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
An avalanche of claims of sexual harassment, assault and rape by the hugely influential Hollywood producer have surfaced since the publication last week of an explosive New York Times report alleging a history of abusive behavior dating back decades.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department confirmed to AFP it is investigating the 2004 case, but provided no details. New York state has no statute of limitations on most serious felonies, including rape.
The New York Daily News reported that the case involved aspiring actress Lucia Evans.
The New Yorker magazine reported Tuesday that Evans said Weinstein had forced her to perform oral sex on him. The magazine quotes two other women as accusing him of rape.
In 2015, the New York police opened an investigation into a complaint by Italian model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, who said Weinstein had sexually attacked her in a hotel room. Police had her make a secret recording, in which Weinstein could be heard repeatedly insisting that she come into his room, which she refused to do.
But prosecutor Cyrus Vance said there was insufficient proof to pursue charges.
- Hollywood shaken -
The allegations against one of cinema's titans -- a man whose studio has garnered more than 300 Oscar nominations -- have shaken Hollywood, which has long battled against a reputation for exploiting female actors, bypassing female directors and overlooking female-centered scripts.
Weinstein's accusers include such bold-named actresses as Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and actor/singer Ashley Judd.
Others actors as prominent as Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet said they had long heard rumors but never personally had problems with Weinstein.
"The behavior is inexcusable," wrote Streep, "but the abuse of power familiar."
With the allegations pouring in, Weinstein was fired by his own company, and his wife, Georgina Chapman, reportedly plans to divorce him.
Members of the Weinstein Company board have insisted they were unaware of payments he had made to women who complained, calling the allegations "an utter surprise."
But the Times quoted David Boies, a lawyer who represented Weinstein in contract talks, as saying the board was aware of three or four confidential settlements.
- 'A lot of pain' -
Another of his lawyers, Lisa Bloom, resigned, but only after saying on ABC that Weinstein had "behaved badly over the years."
The producer has apologized for his behavior and acknowledged having "caused a lot of pain," but denied specific charges and threatened to sue the Times.
He is said to be heading to a rehabilitation program in Europe, reportedly to be treated for sex addiction.
The allegations against a man who is a prominent liberal and major Democratic Party fundraiser sent tremors through the party, with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton accused of waiting too long to disavow Weinstein. Obama since said he was "disgusted" and Clinton that she was "appalled" by the alleged acts.
Weinstein and his brother Bob, co-founders of Miramax Films, burst onto the indie scene with "Sex, Lies and Videotape" in 1989 and turned relatively low-budget films like "Shakespeare in Love" and "Pulp Fiction" into huge box-office hits.
The avalanche of assault accusations against Harvey Weinstein grew as more actresses came forward with explosive charges against the movie mogul, whose lurid behavior has opened a Pandora's Box of Hollywood harassment and hypocrisy.
The new claims landed as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the Cannes film festival organization declared the abusive behavior repugnant, but also as film figures warned that such actions have gone virtually unchecked in an industry that for years has seen itself in a progressive light.
The Weinstein revelations are just "the tip of the iceberg," comedy actor and director Rob Schneider told TMZ.
"There's not one actress who doesn't have a story," he said, adding that he himself experienced sexual harassment by a male director when he was younger.
Amid the gravity of the situation, the Academy, which has awarded 81 Oscars to Weinstein films produced by Miramax and then the Weinstein Company, announced it would convene a meeting on Saturday to "discuss the allegations against Weinstein and any actions warranted by the Academy."
Weinstein, 65, has denied all charges, according to a statement from his spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister. On Wednesday she offered "no comment" when asked about reports Weinstein was heading to Europe to enter a rehabilitation facility.
His company, The Weinstein Company, has insisted it knew nothing of the mogul's alleged misconduct. But the New York Times reported Wednesday night that it was in fact aware as far back as 2015 of settlements paid to three or four women. The Times quoted a lawyer, David Boies, who represented Weinstein when his contract was up for renewal in 2015.
The Times also said that last week Weinstein sent members of the company board an email saying they knew about those payoffs. The paper quoted what it called people who spoke on condition of anonymity about the confidential communication.
The scandal has rocked Hollywood, with the list of the Oscar-winner's harassment victims also reportedly now including Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette and French actress Judith Godreche.
But a new angle to allegations emerged Tuesday when three women, including an Italian film star, claimed that Weinstein raped them.
The Weinstein Company board has sacked him, and his wife Georgina Chapman told celebrity magazine People she was leaving Weinstein, with whom she has two children.
- 'Everyone knew' -
"I am profoundly devastated. I have lost my wife and kids, whom I love more than anything else," Weinstein told The New York Post, adding that: "I hope one day we can reconcile."
The latest allegations portray Weinstein as a ruthless sexual predator, who on at least one occasion sought to engage an actress in a threesome with another woman.
"He asked us to kiss and she began some sort of advances upon his direction," actress Cara Delevingne, who is also a fashion model, said in an Instagram post detailing an encounter at a hotel.
When Delevingne got up to hurriedly leave, she wrote, "he walked me to the door and stood in front of it and tried to kiss me on the lips."
The bluntest accusation came from Lea Seydoux, an award-winning French film star who wrote a devastating first-person account of her run-ins with Weinstein and others in an industry that essentially turned a blind eye to the abuse.
"That's the most disgusting thing. Everyone knew what Harvey was up to and no one did anything," Seydoux wrote in The Guardian.
She said she quickly figured out Weinstein's motives when they met. "He had a lecherous look. He was using his power to get sex," she wrote.
"He's big and fat, so I had to be forceful to resist him. I left his room, thoroughly disgusted."
Some of the worst misconduct allegations emerged in a New Yorker magazine investigation published Tuesday, which details charges by Italian actress Asia Argento that Weinstein forced oral sex and intercourse on her 20 years ago.
She told the publication she had maintained her silence until now for fear that Weinstein would "crush" her.
Another instance involved model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, whom the New Yorker said Weinstein met in March 2015.
- Bunga bunga -
According to the New Yorker, Gutierrez says Weinstein "lunged at her, groping her breasts and attempting to put a hand up her skirt" at a meeting in his offices in Tribeca.
She reported the incident, and the New York Police Department asked her to wear a wire.
In the audio of their conversation which was released by the magazine, Weinstein can be heard apologizing for grabbing her breast and then repeatedly pressuring her to come into his hotel room.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance decided at the time not to press charges after it emerged the young woman had attended one of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's infamous "bunga bunga" sex parties.
Amid concerns about potential criminality, Vance appeared before reporters Wednesday to justify the decision.
"Our sex crimes prosecutors made a determination that this was not going to be a provable case, and so the decision was made not to go forward," Vance said.
"Obviously he has some serious issues, and the tape is terrible."
The abundance of charges have sent tremors through the Democratic Party, whose heavyweights Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama stand accused of having waited too long after the revelations broke to disavow their friend and party donor.
Republicans have launched withering accusations that liberal elites were protecting one of their own, as those in President Donald Trump's party demanded that Democrats jettison contributions by the movie mogul.
Since 1990, Weinstein and his wife have personally donated more than $1.4 million to various Democratic candidates or groups, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Right-wing talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh broke with President Donald Trump on Wednesday on the subject of athletes protesting during the national anthem.
"There's a part of this story that's making me nervous," Limbaugh told listeners, according to The Hill, "and it’s this: I am very uncomfortable with the president of the United States being able to dictate the behavior and power of anybody. That’s not where this should be coming from."
Limbaugh conceded that he believes Trump's motives are "pure," but that the president's constant barrage of antagonistic tweets aren't adding to the conversation.
"Trump is continually tweeting -- I know what he’s doing, and I understand why he’s doing it, and his motives are pure; don’t misunderstand. But I don’t think that it is useful or helpful for any employee anywhere to be forced to do something because the government says they must," Limbaugh said. "We don’t want the president being able to demand anybody that he’s unhappy with behave in a way he requires."
Limbaugh is not the ratings behemoth that he used to be, but he still speaks to a sizable audience of right-wing conservatives each day, a group that is crucial to Trump's base. Thus far, he has been largely fulsome in his praise of Trump, so these sentiments could be a critical turning point.
Trump long managed to hold on to his base of supporters regardless of the turbulence of the daily news cycle, but in recent weeks he has been bleeding support in the rural areas that were critical to his Electoral College victory in November of 2016.
Trump's presidency has come under siege in recent weeks from multiple sides including Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) who lambasted the president over the weekend, calling the White House "an adult day care" and suggesting that Trump has placed the country on "the path to World War III."
Even trusted advisers like fired White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon are now acknowledging that the wheels are coming off the Trump presidency. Bannon gave Trump a 30 percent chance of completing his term and close White House advisers are concerned that Trump is "unraveling."
Alarm is spreading at NBC over former Fox News host Megyn Kelly's dismal ratings, which have been so bad that they're now beginning to drag down other NBC shows.
According to the New York Post's Page Six, viewership for Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford's hour, which follows Kelly's show, has dramatically fallen as well.
“Not only are ratings plummeting since Megyn Kelly joined the ‘Today’ franchise, but the numbers show Kelly’s lead-in has also affected Kathie Lee [Gifford] and Hoda Kotb’s show, which follows straight afterwards,” said a source at the network. “They’ve taken a huge hit with Megyn as their lead-in," with a 26 percent ratings plunge.
“Too many people are tuning out NBC. Hoda and Kathie Lee had been a bright spot in the mornings. People are alarmed,” said the source.
The Daily Beast said that Kelly's morning show "Megyn Kelly Today" is attracting 32 percent fewer viewers than the same time slot a year ago.
A second NBC source told Page Six that "Today" show cast and personnel are alarmed by the drop, and that they feel the “format for Megyn’s show doesn’t make sense. Her show distracts from the ‘Today’ franchise.”
Kelly is reportedly the second-highest paid anchor at NBC at $23 million per year. Only Matt Lauer -- who has been with NBC for 25 years -- makes more at $25 million per year.
The network's contract with Kelly extends for three years and her exorbitant pay package has reportedly raised hackles among the executives who were not part of the push to lure Kelly away from her previous perch at Fox News. A report from Daily Mail TV quoted executives who said that Kelly's pay is "obscene" and a "slap in the face" to the network's veterans.
Reviews of Kelly's first week of programming have been brutal. Her interview with the stars of "Will and Grace" was so awkward that lead actress Debra Messing took to social media afterward to apologize to fans and say that had she known Kelly would be the host, she would have declined the interview.
An interview with Jane Fonda and Robert Redford became equally cringe-inducing when Kelly asked Fonda about her plastic surgery.
"We really want to talk about that now?" Fonda asked incredulously on the air.
Signs of trouble appeared early in Kelly's transition from Fox News to NBC, particularly around an interview with right-wing conspiracy monger Alex Jones, who has famously insisted that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a "false flag" operation staged by the U.S. government.
In spite of the rising wave of concern over Kelly's ratings and her inability to connect with the morning show demographic, NBC executives insist on the record that everything is fine.
"Megyn posted her highest ratings yet in the ‘key demographic’ on Monday," a network bigwig told Page Six, "and she had her biggest total viewer number since the premiere... Everyone knows that ratings fluctuate at the start of a new show, and there has been nothing but support for Megyn from all of the ‘Today’ show hosts. They have each taken her out to lunch -- Kathie Lee just took her to lunch today.”
Gentlemen, before you rush to correct a person on the Internet, you might want to double check your facts lest you end up like one social media user who attempted to correct a woman's point about Harrison Ford's costume in the classic film "Raiders of the Lost Ark."
On Saturday, Oct. 7, "Jeopardy" featured the following item, "Charlton Heston's wardrobe in 1954's 'Secret of the Incas' inspired the clothes worn by this adventurous character 27 years later."
The answer -- in question form as per "Jeopardy" rules -- is, "Who is Indiana Jones?"
However, one social media know-it-all insisted that the film in question was 1952's "The Greatest Show on Earth."
"No," replied "Raiders of the Lost Ark" costume designer Deborah Landis. "The question was exactly right because I provided it."
She explained that Heston wore the same gear in "Greatest Show," but that "Raiders" was based almost frame for frame on "Secret of the Incas."
Then came the mansplain.
"'Greatest Show' came out in 1952," he said incorrectly. "'Incas' came out in 1954. Spielberg acknowledges he was inspired by 'Greatest Show' in numerous interviews."
"Really, 'in interviews?'" Landis scoffed. "I was there. He and I watched 'Incas' together in an empty theater. Surely you have got to be kidding."
If you or someone you know is guilty of mansplaining, Lifehacker.com published a handy guide on Wednesday titled, "How to tell if you're mansplaining."
Russia on Monday threatened US media operating in the country with new legal restrictions after Kremlin-controlled broadcaster RT complained of persecution by Washington.
The Russian justice ministry sent letters to "a number of US media operating in Russia" warning them of the "unacceptability of breaching Russian law," its press service said in a statement quoted by Interfax news agency.
It said the letter was "a tit-for-tat measure in response to the persecution of Russian media in the United States."
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is US-funded, reported it received a letter warning its activities could fall under a controversial law that forces NGOs to register as "foreign agents".
This law, passed in 2012, has not so far been used against media.
It obliges groups with so-called "political" activities and international funding to call themselves "foreign agents", a term that recalls Stalin-era repression and Cold War espionage.
The rules have seen some organisations reject much-needed funding from abroad, while others have closed down.
A government source was quoted by Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti as confirming the existence of the letters.
The source said US media received "an official letter informing them of upcoming changes in Russian legislation about the broadening of the list of NGOs that can be named 'foreign agents.'"
The source said the letters had gone out to media including the Voice of America multimedia broadcaster and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and its regional websites, one of which specialises in news from Moscow-annexed Crimea.
The source stressed that "these actions concern only American media, and this is an exceptional measure in response to the possible assignment of 'foreign agent' status to RT in the US."
The warnings come after the Kremlin on Friday criticised "unprecedented pressure" on Russia's RT state-controlled broadcaster in the United States and warned of possible reciprocal action.
RT, which broadcasts in English and other languages, said last month that the US Justice Department had asked it to register as a "foreign agent."
According to RT, the channel has been given a deadline of October 17 to register under FARA, a law written in 1938 to blunt Nazi propaganda, which specifically exempts news organisations.
Copyright © 2026 Raw Story Media, Inc. PO Box 21050, Washington, D.C. 20009 |
Masthead
|
Privacy Policy
|
Manage Preferences
|
Debug Logs
For corrections contact
corrections@rawstory.com
, for support contact
support@rawstory.com
.
