3 Things To Know Today

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1 Other Defendants Make Legal Moves, Trump Rivals Weigh In On His Latest Indictment

Motions are being made by some of the defendants, and candidates for the Republican nomination for president are weighing in on Monday night’s indictment of former President Donald Trump and 18 others. One of those others, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, filed court documents yesterday looking to move the Fulton County case to federal court. The motion cited a federal law that allows civil actions or criminal prosecutions from state court to federal court if the case involves alleged actions taken “under color” of their offices. In a Truth Social post yesterday, Trump said that none of the four indictments he’s facing should go to trial until after next year’s election, saying that starting the proceedings before then would amount to election interference. Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani reminded people of his record through a spokesman and said that “justice will prevail.” Reaction from Republicans was mixed yesterday. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said yesterday that the Georgia charges against Trump are an example of the “criminalization of politics.” Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said yesterday that Trump is responsible for his actions in the 2020 election, and that they should disqualify him from being president again. Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp took the opportunity yesterday to repeat on X (formerly Twitter) that “The 2020 election in Georgia was not stolen.”

2 Retail Sales Rose Last Month In A Sign Of A Recovering Economy

While Americans discuss the effects of inflation on their lives, retail sales didn’t seem to show those effects in July. According to a report yesterday from the Commerce Department, retail sales rose 0.7% in July from June, which was a higher gain than was expected. The increase in spending outpaced the 0.2% increase in consumer prices last month, meaning that the increase isn’t just because of higher prices. If automobile and gas sales are excluded from the figures, sales rose 1% from June, which was the biggest single-month jump in six months. A breakdown in the report showed the changes from June to July in different areas: Department store sales increased 0.9%, Clothing and accessories store sales increased 1%, Sporting goods and hobby store sales increased 1.5%, Restaurant sales increased 1.4%, Online sales increased 1.9%. There were decreases in areas dependent on credit, including homes, vehicles, furniture, and electronics.

3 Online Conspiracy Theories Running Wild About Maui Fire As Search And Relief Efforts Continue

As local and federal resources work to help the victims of the deadly wildfire in Maui, the internet has quickly filled with various conspiracy theories about how the fires began. The Associated Press has posted several articles debunking several of the theories that have been floated online, including: Cars and buildings are badly damaged, but trees and poles are still standing. Theories have been posted online that this means a wildfire didn’t cause the devastation, but AP says that experts say that’s common in wildfires, with the water content in trees keeping them from being completely destroyed. Several old photos from other events are being used to supposedly show that directed energy weapons were responsible for the wildfire in Maui. Two of the pictures being represented as showing an energy beam coming from above and striking the ground have been found to show the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California in 2018, and the other shows a flare from a controlled burn at an oil refinery in Ohio that same year. A video that posters are saying shows a supposed laser beam shooting from the sky and starting the fire actually shows a transformer explosion in Chile earlier this year. Another video supposedly showing a directed energy weapon in use to start a fire is an edited version of a nine-year-old video that added the beam to a video of an explosion at a gas station in Russia in 2014. Then there's Iain Boyd. The director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told the AP that “Modern lasers with power that is high enough to start any kind of fire operate in the infrared and so cannot be seen by the naked eye.”


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