Scott

American football star Damar Hamlin is in a critical condition after collapsing during a primetime US National Football League game. The Buffalo Bills player, 24, fell to the ground after colliding with an opponent during the first quarter of a match against the Cincinnati Bengals. He was given CPR and taken to a local hospital, and the NFL suspended the game. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-64149300

As House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy has struggled to lock down the votes to become speaker, his top deputy has kept his head down. Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2 in the House GOP leadership, has made clear he supports McCarthy, and GOP sources say he has rejected pleas by hardliners to mount a challenge to the California Republican – all while taking steps to avoid being seen as plotting McCarthy’s demise. But what is less clear: What Scalise will do if the race continues to drag out on Tuesday and goes to multiple ballots – and whether the Louisiana Republican will seek to maneuver his way into the speaker’s office if the stalemate persists. https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/02/politics/mccarthy-floor-fight-steve-scalise/index.html

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Troll post reported and removed along with reply.

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Continued nonsensical trolling WILL earn a suspension.

Alleged Ukrainian strike appears to kill large number of Russian troops housed next to ammunition cache An apparent Ukrainian strike in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine appears to have killed a large number of Russian troops housed next to an ammunition cache, according to the Ukrainian military, pro-Russian military bloggers and former officials. According to both Ukrainian and pro-Russian accounts, the strike took place just after midnight on Sunday, New Year’s Day, on a vocational school housing Russian conscripts in Makiivka, in the Donetsk region. The attack has led to vocal criticism of the Russian military from pro-Russian military bloggers, who claimed that the troops lacked protection and were reportedly being quartered next to a large cache of ammunition, which is said to have exploded when Ukrainian HIMARS rockets hit the school. https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/russia-ukraine-war-news-1-2-23/h_5c2179bae75b6e96b0a655a557fe9c97

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Three New York City police officers were injured when they were attacked with a machete near New Year's Eve celebrations in Times Square, authorities said. The incident happened just after 10 p.m. ET at West 52nd Street and 8th Avenue, just outside the high-security zone where revelers are screened at checkpoints, officials said at a news conference early Sunday. The suspect approached an officer and tried to strike him over the head with the machete, Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/nypd-officers-injured-machete-attack-times-square-new-years-eve-rcna63855

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has been sworn in as the new president of Brazil - the third time he has held the country's highest office. The veteran left-wing politician, known widely as Lula, also led the country between 2003 and 2010 - and defeated Jair Bolsonaro in October's poll. In his first speech, Lula vowed to rebuild a country in "terrible ruins". https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-64138739

Former President Donald Trump has appeared to float the idea of running a third-party campaign if increasingly disgruntled Republican leaders don’t get behind his 2024 run for the presidency. Trump signaled the possibility by posting an article on Truth Social Wednesday ― “The Coming Split,” by Dan Gelernter, in the right-wing journal American Greatness ― promoting just such an option. Gelernter believes such a move would torpedo Trump’s chances of winning the White House. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-third-party-angry-at-gop_n_63afcfd9e4b0ae9de1b7140f

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As near as I can tell, he has not been released. I've removed posts suggesting he has. I guess we will just have to stay tuned!

Feel free to Google other links. Here's a few: https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022/nov/21/amy-coney-barrett-people-of-praise-lgbtq-303-creative-v-elenis https://nypost.com/2022/11/27/supreme-court-justice-amy-coney-barrett-faces-calls-to-recuse-herself-from-lgbtq-case-over-christian-faith/ https://www.newsweek.com/no-chance-amy-coney-barrett-will-recuse-herself-lgbt-rights-case-1761395

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On Monday, The Guardian reported that former members of Justice Amy Coney Barrett's controversial Christian organization, "People of Praise," are demanding that she recuse herself from an upcoming case which could create further exemptions for businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people on religious grounds. "The former members are part of a network of 'survivors' of the controversial charismatic group who say Barrett’s 'lifelong and continued' membership in the People of Praise make her too biased to fairly adjudicate an upcoming case that will decide whether private business owners have a right to decline services to potential clients based on their sexual orientation," reported Stephanie Kirchgaessner. "They point to Barrett’s former role on the board of Trinity Schools Inc, a private group of Christian schools that is affiliated with the People of Praise and, in effect, barred admission to children of same-sex parents from attending the school." https://www.rawstory.com/amy-coney-barrett-2658727784/?cx_testId=4&cx_testVariant=cx_undefined&cx_artPos=3&cx_experienceId=EXC93HV4HK4I#cxrecs_s

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Barbara Walters, one of the most famous American broadcast journalists, has died at the age of 93, according to ABC News, her former employer. A cause and time of death was not provided immediately. Though a celebrity as much as anyone she covered, Walters pursued serious subjects as well. https://www.npr.org/2022/12/30/172253629/barbara-walters-dead

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on Chinese officials to share more real-time information on Covid in the country. It comes as infections surge across China following its decision to lift many restrictions. During a meeting on Friday, WHO officials called for more data on hospitalisations, intensive care unit admissions and deaths. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-64131713

The UK is set to announce that passengers arriving from China will need a negative Covid test before they travel as cases surge in the country. Britain has become the latest nation to bring in screening for travellers from China after Beijing relaxed its zero-Covid policy. China has said it will fully reopen its borders next week for the first time since March 2020. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-64130655

A 28-year-old man, Bryan Kohberger, was arrested Friday morning in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains in connection with the murders of four University of Idaho students, law enforcement sources told ABC News. Sources said that authorities knew who they were looking for and had tracked Kohberger down to Pennsylvania. A SWAT team entered the location where he was staying in order to take him into custody Friday. https://abcnews.go.com/US/idaho-murders-police-hold-news-conference-friday-afternoon/story?id=95976902

Six years of Donald Trump’s federal tax returns released on Friday show the former president paid very little in federal income taxes the first and last year of his presidency, claiming huge losses that helped limit his tax bill, among other revelations. The returns, long shrouded in secrecy, were released to the public on Friday by the House Ways and Means Committee, the culmination of a battle over their disclosure that went to the Supreme Court. They confirm a report issued from the Joint Committee on Taxation that Trump claimed large losses before and throughout his presidency that he carried forward to reduce or practically eliminate his tax burden. https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/30/politics/donald-trump-tax-returns-released/index.html