Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024. I’m Bill Thomas, we have some really interesting stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s going on.
A federal jury hands some Trump supporters in Texas a win, a former presidential candidate wants his name back on the ballot in New York, and a social media post about cats has a couple of women in Ohio fearing for their safety.
Also, a popular messaging app is cooperating with French authorities, and all is not well with the nation’s manufacturing sector.
Federal Jury Rejects Charges Against Trump Supporters in Campaign Bus Case
So here’s what happened. A Biden–Harris campaign bus was traveling to Austin for an event when a caravan of vehicles with Trump flags, called the “Trump Train,” allegedly boxed it in. It happened on Oct. 30, 2020, as they traveled down Interstate 35 from San Antonio to Austin.Six Trump supporters were sued by people on board the bus, including former Texas Democrat lawmaker Wendy Davis. The bus passengers accused Trump’s supporters of violating the Ku Klux Klan Act and other laws.
You should know that while jurors cleared five of the six defendants, they found Texas resident Eliazar Cisneros responsible after his car brushed against another vehicle. He was ordered to pay the bus driver $10,000 in damages and an additional $30,000 in punitive damages.
Tim Holloway, the Biden–Harris campaign bus driver, says he hopes the verdict discourages people from doing things in the name of politics that endanger lives.
Meantime, Joeylynn Mesaros, one of the defendants who was cleared, said defendants were ready to feel like normal people again, while an attorney for Cisneros said his team would appeal.
By the way, the FBI investigated the situation, but prosecutors did not bring criminal charges.
Interesting to note, the Ku Klux Klan Act, which was signed into law in 1871, has rarely been invoked in recent years.
RFK Jr. Asks Supreme Court to Put His Name Back in New York
Kennedy’s campaign is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to put his name back on New York’s presidential ballot after a lower court disqualified him. Kennedy’s emergency application to the high court was filed last week. It states that his campaign gathered more than the required number of signatures from New York voters and that the New York State Board of Elections ordered his name placed on the ballot.To refresh your memory, Kennedy, who’s an independent, announced last month that he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump.
So, although he’s been trying to remove his name from swing state ballots since then, Kennedy has left his name on the ballot in other states. He said his goal is to secure a Trump win should the presidency end up in the hands of the U.S. House of Representatives in the event of an electoral college deadlock.
Kennedy explained the long-shot scenario this way: If people vote for him, and neither of the major candidates—Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris—wins 270 electoral votes, which is possible, he could conceivably still end up in the White House in what’s called a contingent election.
However, the New York State Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s ruling that found Kennedy falsely claimed he had a New York residence, and removed his name from the general election ballot.
Kennedy’s arguing that precedent is on his side due to earlier high court rulings. Those decisions have recognized the constitutional right of voters to have candidates of their choice placed on the ballot, as evidenced by the 100,000 New Yorkers who signed a now-invalidated petition.
One final note. We’ll know soon if Kennedy’s name will be on the ballot, as Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor has directed New York state officials to file a response to the application later today.
Facebook Post About Cat-Killing Claim in Springfield, Ohio, Leads to Threats
A backyard conversation between two neighbors in Ohio—followed by a misstated social media post—has led to a backlash that has both women fearing for their safety.Erika Lee and Kimberly Newton live next to each other in the City of Springfield, which is located between Dayton and Columbus in the southwest part of the state.
Earlier this month, after talking to Newton, Lee wrote a since-deleted Facebook post that stated her daughter’s friend had lost her cat. The post goes on to say that one day when she came home from work, she looked toward a neighbor’s house, where Haitians live, and saw her cat hanging from a branch.
Lee described the scene as though they were carving the cat up to eat. That story went viral and was seen by millions after it was posted to X earlier this month. Trump propelled it even further when he said during the debate, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
Newton says that, after a few media outlets used her photo with Lee’s name, she’s been called a racist and is now afraid to be out in the community. She says she’s even changed the color of her hair so she’s not recognized when she goes out.
You should know that Springfield, which was once a booming industrial community, has seen its population decline to around 60,000 as of 2020. However, in the past four years, the population has risen due to the influx of nearly 20,000 Haitian immigrants, with more arriving each day.
Interesting to note, a Haitian pastor and social media personality says there is an explanation for why the claims of eating pets could be true. He says that voodoo is part of Haitian culture and that sacrifices to their gods are required, “and those sacrifices have to be eaten because it is eating those sacrifices that they receive power, supposedly, from their gods.”
Meanwhile, the city’s mayor, the Springfield Police Department, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine have all said the story is not true. Springfield’s strategic engagement manager told The Epoch Times that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed within the immigrant community.
By the way, Newton told The Epoch Times that she is hopeful that attention will be directed away from that controversial Facebook post and shift to more important issues in Springfield as the Haitian population continues to grow.
Social Media Firm Agrees to Hand Numbers Over
Telegram CEO Pavel Durov—who was arrested last month in France and charged with offenses of complicity and refusing to cooperate—posted that the change to the terms of service “should discourage criminals.” He also said while 99.999 percent of Telegram users have nothing to do with crime, the .001 percent essentially put the interests of the almost 1 billion users of Telegram at risk.That’s a switch from earlier this month, when Durov released a statement saying the charges against him were misguided.
If you’re not familiar with Telegram, you should know that the app allows for one-on-one conversations, group chats, and “channels” that can involve hundreds of people.
For the time being, it’s not clear if Durov, who’s a resident of Dubai, made those concessions as a result of pressure from the French authorities.
On Monday, a French lawyer told The Epoch Times that Durov could wait 10 years for his trial because, she said, the Paris prosecutor’s office was attempting to get information from him. However, another Paris-based lawyer who specializes in information technology law disagreed, saying it won’t take that long.
So you know, while Telegram’s agreement to hand over IP addresses and phone numbers of drug dealers and those trading illegal photos depicting child abuse images may not be controversial, it remains to be seen whether the definition of “valid legal requests” includes investigations into controversial comments.
It’s widely known that Telegram has been used by extremists including ISIS, drug traffickers, and pedophiles, but the company says it follows all European Union laws and its content moderation is “within industry standards and constantly improving.”
US Manufacturing Hits 15-Month Low
This past month, America’s manufacturing sector saw its sharpest contraction in over a year, despite overall business activity growth remaining robust.The latest S&P Global U.S. Manufacturing PMI—a survey-based monthly overview of factory activity in the United States—fell deeper into recession territory in September. The manufacturing index dropped to 47.0 in September, which is down from last month’s number of 47.9, which is the lowest in 15 months.
You should know that readings below 50 represent a contraction in activity.
The decline points to a deterioration in business conditions within the manufacturing sector, which has been hit by weakening demand and the tumbling of new orders.
In fact, new orders in September fell at their fastest pace since December 2022, as manufacturers struggled with declining export demand and reduced domestic sales.
The report went on to say that job losses are also accelerating at a pace not seen since June 2020, and excluding the pandemic, the decline in factory jobs was the steepest since January 2010.
In fact, those cracks in the labor market are behind the Federal Reserve’s decision last week to deliver a large, 50-basis point interest rate cut. One Fed official even commented that he was surprised by the pace of the worsening employment conditions.
You should know that Monday’s S&P Global data also had bad news for consumers in the fight against high prices. The costs for goods and services rose at their fastest pace in six months.
And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re going to call it a wrap for the Wednesday edition of The Epoch Times News Brief.
*(Don’t forget the News Brief Motto): We’re portable, affordable, and always on-demand.
And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from entertainer Garth Brooks, who said: “You aren’t wealthy until you have something money can’t buy.”
Before we bail out, you should know that today is National One-Hit Wonder day. Examples include Sixpence None the Richer’s “Kiss Me,” “Don’t Worry Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin, and King Harvest’s “Dancing in the Moonlight.”
For all of us here at The Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.
The Epoch Times News Brief program was written today by Sharon Reardon.
Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.
Enjoy the remainder of your Wednesday, and we’ll see you right back here next time for another edition of the Epoch Times News Brief. For now, let’s all continue to watch out for one another, and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.
