List of All Articles with Tag 'eric'

The 2023 offseason promises plenty of chaos and drama. Keep up with every signing in our NBA Free Agency and see how we grade each deal.Many of the biggest lingering questions of the 2023 offseason will be answered on the trade market but NBA Free Agency still holds the potential to dramatically...

Donald Trump is now suing E Jean Carroll for defamation, one month after he was found liable for sexually abusing her in a Manhattan department store and then defaming her by denying the attack took place. The former president filed a counterclaim on Tuesday claiming that she defamed him when she stood by her rape accusation in an interview with CNN one day after the jury verdict. The counterclaim was in response to the first of two lawsuits the magazine columnist brought against Mr Trump. In a civil trial in the second lawsuit last month, a jury awarded Ms Carroll $5m in damages. Meanwhile, Rudy Giuliani has confirmed that he recently spoke to federal investigators as part of their probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Mr Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, was part of Mr Trump’s legal team who made false claims of election fraud. In other news relating to the former president’s legal troubles, Mr Trump’s new defence regarding the recording of him talking about classified military plans at his Bedminster golf club in 2021 was that it was “bravado” and there were no secret papers present among his other documents. Read More Kevin McCarthy knows he crossed the line with Donald Trump Trump's GOP support dips slightly after his indictment over classified documents, AP-NORC poll finds ‘Any Republican not named Trump’: Paul Ryan says former president is only candidate who would lose to Biden

The CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev, the parent company of Bud Light, said the beer should be about bringing people together after it faced months of backlash following its brief partnership with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. In an appearance Wednesday on the programme CBS This Morning, CEO Brendan Whitworth said the company has become entangled in “divisive” conversations it should not be a part of. “I think the conversation surrounding Bud Light has moved away from beer, and the conversation has become divisive,” Mr Whitworth said. “And Bud Light really doesn’t belong there. Bud Light should be all about bringing people together.” At the moment, that is not what’s happening. Bud Light last month lost its spot at the top of the beer sales charts to Modelo as some conservative customers continue to boycott the beer following the advertisements featuring Ms Mulvaney. Mr Whitworth declined to answer directly when asked whether the campaign featuring Ms Mulvaney was a mistake. “There’s a big social conversation taking place right now, and big brands are right in the middle of it and it’s not just our industry or Bud Light,” Mr Whitworth said. “It’s happening in retail, happening in fast food. And so for us what we need to understand — deeply understand and appreciate — is the consumer and what they want, what they care about, and what they expect from big brands.” Despite being given ample opportunity to do so, Mr Whitworth did not directly defend the corporation’s decision to partner with a trans influencer or to support the trans community more broadly at a time when that community is facing a barrage of legislation targeting its rights in states across the country. “Bud Light has supported LGBTQ since 1998, so that’s 25 years,” Mr Whitworth said. “And as we’ve said from the beginning, we’ll continue to support the communities and organisations we’ve supported for decades. But as we move forward, we want to focus on what we do best: which is brewing great beer for everyone.” The controversy over corporations’ politics is not limited to Bud Light. Disney, Target, Nike and a number of other brands have also been the target of the right’s ire in recent years for taking stances on social issues at odds with conservatives. Target recently announced its decision to remove some Pride month merchandise from its stores after facing criticism from conservatives for its relative support of the LGBTQ+ community. The Starbucks Workers Union, meanwhile, accused Starbucks of restricting Pride decorations from certain stores. Read More I came out as a teen in the 90s — there’s still a long road ahead for LGBT+ youth Starbucks workers at 150 stores to strike over alleged ban on Pride decor

Gov Ron DeSantis of Florida said in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday morning that he supports eliminating multiple federal government agencies including the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Mr DeSantis, who has struggled to gain traction since launching his presidential campaign in the spring, didn’t hestitate when the network’s Martha MacCallum asked him if he is in favour of eliminating any government agencies. “So we would do Education, we would do Commerce, we would do Energy, and we would do the IRS,” Mr DeSantis said. “And so if Congress will work with me on doing that, we will be able to reduce the size and scope of government.” A number of Republican presidential candidates over the years have said they would like to eliminate various federal agencies, without any success. As Mr DeSantis indicated, it is Congress that establishes departments and agencies and Congress that would have to vote to eliminate them. But Mr DeSantis said that if Congress doesn’t allow him to cut agencies like the IRS — a move that could plunge the country’s tax collection system into chaos and hamper federal oversight — he is prepared to use those agencies to advance his political aims. “What I’m also going to do, Martha, is be prepared, if Congress won’t go that far, I’m going to use those agencies to push back against woke ideology and against the leftism that we see creeping into all institutions of American life,” Mr DeSantis said. Mr DeSantis, who talks frequently about “woke ideology” on the campaign trail, pointed to his record in Florida as an example of how he would like to use federal agencies as president. “For instance, with the Department of Education, we reversed all the transgender sports stuff — women’s sports should be protected,” Mr DeSantis said. “We reversed policies trying to inject the curriculum into our schools. That will all be gone. We will make sure we have an accreditation system for higher ed, which is not trying to foment more things like DEI and CRT. So we will be prepared to do both. Either way, it will be a win for conservatives.” Under Mr DeSantis’ leadership, Florida has curtailed free speech in schools, radically changed its tenure system, and passed abortion and gender-affirming care bans. Mr DeSantis himself has sparred with Disney over its social stances and endorsed violence against immigrants. All that has not made Mr DeSantis a particularly popular national figure. An average of recent polls from FiveThirtyEight shows that just over 36 per cent of Americans view Mr DeSantis favourably, while more than 45 per cent view him unfavourably. He’s currently trailing former President Donald Trump by a wide margin in the Republican primary race. Read More DeSantis proposes Disney trial schedule that puts start date in 2025, after elections DeSantis supporter blames Trump camp for leaking racist and antisemitic messages Watch as LA immigrant groups hold solidarity rally in protest of Florida law DeSantis proposes Disney trial schedule that puts start date in 2025, after elections DeSantis supporter blames Trump camp for leaking racist and antisemitic messages

Joe Biden suffers from sleep apnea, and has begun use of a medicial CPAP device at night to treat the condition, the White House said on Wednesday. Sleep apnea, which is a relatively common sleep disorder, refers to the condition that inhibits oxygen intake during sleep, often causing snoring. A CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) device is sometimes used in more aggressive cases to ensure proper oxygen flow overnight. The president’s press team made the revelation shortly after reporters noticed a set of indentations on Mr Biden’s face as he spoke to the press line — the indentations were a residual souvenir of the mask worn over one’s face while sleeping during use of a CPAP device. “Since 2008, the president has disclosed his history with sleep apnea in thorough medical reports. He used a CPAP machine last night, which is common for people with that history,” a White House spokesman said on Wednesday. Though many of the president’s supporters chafed at media reports disclosing the president’s use of the device, it’s commonly accepted that any medical condition which affects the US commander-in-chief takes on an importance which other politicians are often spared. Though sleep apnea is not a condition which could reasonably be considered likely to affect the presidency in any way, Mr Biden’s use of the device was nevertheless instantly picked up on by experts who were eager for a presidential light to be shown on sleep disorders. In fact, the White House’s statement only shortly followed an educated guess floated by the National Sleep Foundation, which this morning blasted out a press release to DC-area reporters in which a medical expert on sleep hypothesised that Mr Biden had CPAP-device indentations on his face. "It looks like the sort of indentation one would expect from a CPAP mask. If you look at photos of popular CPAP mask styles you can see how the strap would leave a similar mark as the one we see on President Biden. Sleep apnea is very common and the risk increases with age. As the oldest U.S. President ever, it would not be surprising if President Biden was being treated for sleep apnea,” said Dr Joseph Krainin, a sleep expert with SleepApnea.org and the National Sleep Foundation. Dr Krainin added: “We also know that President Biden has a history of a ruptured brain aneurysm which could predispose him to a certain type of sleep apnea where his brain forgets to breath during sleep." Mr Biden’s health has been closely watched by reporters since he took office in 2021, and with particularly renewed interest in 2023 following the official launch of his 2024 campaign for reelection. The president has attended a handful of campaign events since that announcement so far, but is due to see that ramp up as the election nears. In 2020, Mr Biden won election to office following a campaign season where many events changed from live to virtual venues as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Read More ‘Any Republican not named Trump’: Paul Ryan says former president is only candidate who would lose to Biden What next for Biden’s billion dollar broadband expansion? Kevin McCarthy knows he crossed the line with Donald Trump Biden touts his economic record in fiery speech: ‘Guess what – Bidenomics is working’ US public debt is projected to reach 181% of American economic activity in 30 years Biden urged to declare climate emergency as millions under heat wave warnings and air quality alerts — live

A federal judge in Kentucky has issued a preliminary injunction that partially blocks a sweeping state law banning gender-affirming healthcare for transgender youth, joining several other federal court decisions that have temporarily blocked or struck down a wave of similar laws. The decision from US District Judge David J Hale on 28 June – one day before the law was set to go into effect – follows a legal challenge from a group of seven trans children and their families arguing that the law unconstitutionally singles out trans kids from the healthcare they can receive. They also argued that the law unconstitutionally restricts a parent’s right to make medical decisions for their children. Senate Bill 150 prohibits doctors from providing hormone therapies and puberty blockers to trans minors – treatments that Judge Hale notes “are medically appropriate and necessary for some transgender children under the evidence-based standard of care accepted by all major medical organizations in the United States.” “These drugs have a long history of safe use in minors for various conditions. It is undisputed that puberty-blockers and hormones are not given to prepubertal children with gender dysphoria,” he wrote. Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said the decision is a “huge relief” for the families at the centre of the lawsuit. “We are grateful that the court carefully considered all of the evidence and recognized that there is no support for this dangerous and unprecedented law,” she added. The law, denounced as one of the most far-reaching state-level measures targeting LGBT+ people amid an explosion of similar proposals across the US, was initially struck down by Democratic Governor Andy Beshear. A week later, lawmakers in the state’s Republican-controlled legislature voted to override his veto. The law also determines which bathrooms and locker rooms students can use and prohibits students from using pronouns and names other than those assigned at birth. It also prohibits discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, adopting elements of what critics have called “Don’t Say Gay” language introduced in similar legislation across the US. Those elements of the law are preserved; the lawsuit solely focused on provisions of the law impacting healthcare. State senator Karen Berg – whose trans son died by suicide weeks before this year’s legislative session – drove opposition to the bill over the last several months. During legislative debate, she denounced the “absolute willful, intentional hate for a small group of people, who are the weakest and the most vulnerable among us.” By the end of May, state lawmakers this year had introduced more than 500 bills impacting LGBT+ people, including 220 bills specifically targeting trans and nonbinary Americans, according to an analysis from the Human Rights Campaign. More than a dozen states have enacted laws or policies banning affirming healthcare for young trans people. But federal judges in several states have struck down or temporarily blocked similar laws with a series of rulings that refute evidence from Republican officials and their arguments against widely accepted medical guidance. Last week, a federal judge in Arkansas permanently struck down the state’s first-in-the-nation ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth, finding that the law violates the constitutional rights of trans patients, their families and health providers. Read More She lost her transgender son to suicide. She isn’t giving up fighting for him Transgender teen defends trans rights in Senate testimony: ‘These are human rights hanging in the balance’

A Rhode Island state senator was arrested in Cranston last week for allegedly keying a car with a “Biden sucks” bumper sticker, local police said in a statement. State Sen Joshua Miller, a Democrat who has served in the state senate for nearly two decades, was captured on surveillance footage allegedly keying the vehicle in the parking lot of the Garden City Center. According to the police statement, the vehicle’s passenger said he heard a scratching noise and saw Miller with his keys in his hands while walking back to their car. When police caught up with Mr Miller several hours after the incident, he denied keying the car and he believed the vehicle owner was a conservative activist who had been stalking him at the statehouse for his role in promoting gun safety legislation. Mr Miller in February sponsored a bill to ban the purchase, sale, and transfer of assault weapons in the state. “Is this maniac who yelled at me in the car next to me?” Mr Miller asked the police officer who detained him in a body camera footage released by the Cranston Police Department. Mr Miller then offered his explanation of events, telling the officer that the vehicle owner called out his name. “He was blocking my way, saying that I scratched his car, I didn’t scratch his car,” Mr Miller said. “I’m a state senator, I think he recognized me. I think he’s one of the gun nuts.” Mr Miller then told the officer that Colonel Michael Winquist was aware that he has been stalked in recent months by people opposed to his political activities. In a statement on the incident, however, the Cranston Police Department wrote that “Mr Miller never reported any threats to Colonel Winquist or any member of the Cranston Police Department.” After police officers viewed the surveillance footage, Mr Miller was arrested for vandalism/malicious injury to property and charged with a misdemeanor. When questioned again, the police statement said, Mr Miller said the vehicle owner was “daring me” to key the car. He was later arraigned and released on a $1,000 bond. He is due back in court on July 18 for a rearraignment. “Nobody is above the law, including those who make and enforce the laws,” Mr Winquist said in a statement. “The Officers who handled this investigation did so with fairness, integrity, and without preferential treatment. I would expect no less from the fine men and women of the Cranston Police Department.” The Independent has reached out to Mr Miller’s office for comment. Read More Man's death awaiting trial on charges he killed his mother at sea was not suspicious, autopsy says The Great Grift: More than $200 billion in COVID-19 aid may have been stolen, federal watchdog says LOCALIZE IT: E-cigarettes are pouring into the US despite FDA crackdown

A Florida man who has been on the run for almost four decades for a 1984 murder has been caught in California and extradited back to Florida, the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said in a news release.

Who can the Dallas Mavericks add in the offseason other than Kyrie Irving or Draymond Green?The Dallas Mavericks' first order of business when free agency opens on June 30 will be negotiating the terms of Kyrie Irving's next contract. Irving could always balk at the last second, but al...

Kyrie Irving free agency destinations.

Former President Donald Trump’s legal team suffered a setback on Tuesday as a federal judge commented that his argument for moving a trial on 34 counts of falsifying business records out of state court was “far-fetched”. The comments from Judge Alvin Hellerstein were reported by NBC 4; the criminal prosecution is one of two the former president is now embroiled in as his legal entanglements continue to worsen. Mr Trump is accused in New York of falsifying business records dozens of times with the purpose of hiding a well-reported hush money scheme in which he supposedly paid his former attorney to recompense payments that the attorney, Michael Cohen, made to adult film star Stormy Daniels and other women with tales of alleged extramarital affairs with his boss. The former president has denied both the allegations of extramarital affairs as well as his own supposed role in covering them up; his ex-attorney Cohen, however, has explained his boss’s role in the scheme. Mr Trump’s attorneys had sought to see the case moved from court in New York state to a federal jurisdiction, as part of an effort to see the case dismissed on grounds that he supposedly made the payments in 2017 as part of his work as president. On Tuesday, Mr Hellerstein appeared to scoff at that argument. “It sounds a little far fetched, but that's the argument,” Mr Hellerstein reportedly said. He is set to make a final ruling on this matter within two weeks. He also added that as of yet, the Trump attorneys had provided “no reason to believe that an equal measure of justice could not be rendered by the state court”, and given no convincing evidence or arguments to support the idea that there was a “relationship to any official act of the president” and the payments. Mr Trump’s attorneys are defending him from more than 60 felony counts over two indictments; the ex-president is also accused of illegally retaining classified materials and other presidential documents at his resort at Mar-a-Lago. The ex-president continues to insist that the prosecutions are part of a political effort against him even as that argument appears to be losing traction among some establishment Republicans. Read More Biden touts his economic record in fiery speech: ‘Guess what – Bidenomics is working’ Trump’s latest defence in the classified documents case: ‘Bravado’ Chris Christie attacks Trump for diverting campaign funds to legal battles: ‘Cheapest SOB I’ve ever met’ DeSantis supporter blames Trump camp for leaking racist and antisemitic messages ‘Any Republican not named Trump’: Paul Ryan says former president is only candidate who would lose to Biden Liz Cheney lays out damning problem with US politics: ‘We’re electing idiots’

The Republican-controlled North Carolina General Assembly made several last-minute changes to the 12-week abortion ban it passed earlier this year in an effort to stave off a legal challenge. The state’s abortion ban, which is set to take effect on 1 July, is being challenged in court. That lawsuit, attorneys said, was the main factor behind the Republican majority’s decision to introduce an amendment to an unrelated Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) bill that effectively amends the abortion ban. ”The General Assembly is working to pass and enact, with or without the Governor’s signature, a technical and conforming bill to make changes to clarify and address most, if not all, aspects of Plaintiffs’ claims about the Act,” W Ellis Boyle, an attorney for House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger, wrote in a legal filing on Tuesday. The amendment to the DHHS bill, House Bill 190, directly addresses a number of the concerns outlined in the lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood of the South Atlantic and a number of other organisations. For instance, the lawsuit argues that a provision of the abortion ban stating that it is illegal “after the twelfth week of a woman’s pregnancy to advise, procure, or cause a miscarriage or abortion” violates the Constitution by preventing people from legally providing information about how a person could get legal abortion care in another state. In response, the amendment to HB 190 removes the word “advise” from the text of the abortion ban. The amendment also seeks to clean up a section on the regulation of medication abortion — which is banned after 10 weeks, not 12 — by deleting language that physicians prescribing medication abortions would have to verify that a pregnancy is no more than “70 days” old. Backers of the lawsuit, who are seeking a Temporary Restraining Order to prevent the abortion ban from taking effect on 1 July, do not believe that the changes to the ban proposed amendment to HB 190 go so far as to eliminate the need for the restraining order. “If those amendments are passed, they may remedy some of the constitutional violations that Plaintiffs allege,” North Carolina attorney general Josh Stein, nominally the defendant in the suit, wrote in a court filing reported by CNN. “But unless and until the current law is repealed or significantly amended, immediate injunctive relief is necessary to avoid a due-process violation.” Mr Stein, a Democrat, has said he does not intend to defend parts of the abortion ban his office believes are unconstitutional. Mr Stein wrote that even if the amendments pass, they would still “fail to make clear that doctors in North Carolina can help their patients obtain abortions out of state.” It is not yet clear whether Gov Roy Cooper, also a Democrat, intends to sign HB 190 or not. Mr Cooper vetoed the abortion ban, but saw his veto overriden by Republican supermajorities in the legislature. The fact that North Carolina is in the position of dealing with a 12-week abortion ban at all is a surprise: when the legislative session started, the Republicans did not have the votes needed to override a veto of an abotion bill. That changed, however, when Rep Tricia Cotham — a Democrat representing a heavily Democratic seat in the Charlotte area — suddenly switched her party affiliation and gave the Republicans the final vote needed to override Mr Cooper’s veto. Read More North Carolina Republicans censure Sen Thom Tillis for backing LGBT+ rights One year after Roe v Wade fell, anti-abortion laws threaten millions. The battle for access is far from over