News N Things
Death toll rises in Waukesha tragedy; Some Biden admin officials miscalculated inflation; NASA's first mission sending a spaceship at an asteroid.
Top 3 Stories:
1) Death Toll Rises in Waukesha Parade Tragedy:
“An 8-year-old boy became the sixth person to die Tuesday as a result of a man driving his SUV into a suburban Milwaukee Christmas parade, with a criminal complaint alleging that the suspect in the case steered side-to-side with the intent of striking marchers and spectators. Darrell Brooks Jr., 39, was charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide, a charge that carries a mandatory life sentence if convicted. He rocked back and forth in his seat and cried throughout his court hearing on Tuesday, his attorney’s arm on his back, as the charges against him were detailed. His bail was set at $5 million, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Jan. 14. “The nature of this offense is shocking,” said Waukesha Court Commissioner Kevin Costello. Additional charges related to the sixth death and the more than 60 people injured will be coming later this week or next, said Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper. The criminal complaint said 62 people were injured, up from the 48 previously announced by police. Brooks is accused of speeding away from police and entering the Waukesha Christmas parade on Sunday night, refusing to stop even as an officer banged on the hood of his SUV. Another officer fired three shots into the vehicle, but it did not stop.” (ASSOCIATED PRESS)
2) The Biden Admin’s Inflation Miscalculation:
“President Biden’s top economists have worried from the beginning of his administration that rising inflation could hamstring the economy’s recovery from recession, along with his presidency. Last spring, Mr. Biden’s advisers made a forecasting error that helped turn their fears into reality, a calculation that spread to this week’s decision to renominate the Federal Reserve chair. Administration officials overestimated how quickly Americans would start spending money in restaurants and theme parks, and they underestimated how many people wanted to order new cars and couches. Mr. Biden’s advisers, along with economists and some scientists, believed that widespread availability of coronavirus vaccinations would speed the return to prepandemic life, one in which people dined out and filled hotel rooms for conferences, weddings and other in-person events. Instead, the emergence of the Delta variant of the virus over the summer and fall slowed that return to normalcy. Americans stayed at home, where they continued to buy goods online, straining global supply chains and sending the price of almost everything in the economy skyward.” (NEW YORK TIMES)
3) NASA’s First Asteroid Destroyer Mission:
“The first planetary defense mission got under way early Wednesday, when the National Aeronautics and Space Administration launched a space probe designed to deflect a distant asteroid in a test of technology that might one day save the world. The $324 million Double Asteroid Redirection Test, or DART, mission—a practice run for future efforts to protect Earth from collisions with asteroids and comets—launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 1:21 a.m. EST from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Next fall, after a journey of more than 6 million miles, the probe will crash at 15,000 miles an hour into Dimorphos, a tiny moonlet that orbits a larger asteroid called Didymos. Mission planners expect the high-speed impact to alter the trajectory of the binary asteroid, which isn’t believed to pose a threat. “For the first time, humanity will change the motion of a natural celestial body in space,” said DART program scientist Tom Statler of NASA. The project is managed for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.” (WALL STREET JOURNAL)
Daily Verse:
Titus 3:4-7 NIV But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
The President’s Schedule:
The President will remain in Nantucket, Massachusetts through Sunday, November 28. There are no public events scheduled.
This Day in History
“On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, a groundbreaking scientific work by British naturalist Charles Darwin, is published in England on November 24, 1859. Darwin’s theory argued that organisms gradually evolve through a process he called “natural selection.” In natural selection, organisms with genetic variations that suit their environment tend to propagate more descendants than organisms of the same species that lack the variation, thus influencing the overall genetic makeup of the species.” (HISTORY)
Daily Quote:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent." - John Donne
Daily Joke:
I told my doctor "yoga is the best antidepressant available". "Sounds like a bit of a stretch", he replied.
Environment:
ROYAL AVENUE OPENS IN EGYPT AFTER YEARS OF EXCAVATION: “After more than seven decades of stop-start attempts to excavate a nearly 2-mile ancient walkway in the southern city of Luxor, Egypt will finally open the 3,000-year-old Avenue of Sphinxes to the public Thursday in a glitzy ceremony. The full stretches of the 1.7 mile long and about 250 feet wide avenue, which connects Karnak Temple with Luxor Temple, have been uncovered in the ancient city of Thebes, with its distinctive sphinxes and ram-headed statues lined up on both flanks. In recent years, Egypt has stepped up its efforts to promote its archeological discoveries as it strives to revive its ailing tourism industry, which took a fresh battering during the COVID-19 pandemic. One element of this approach has been recreating ancient settings in flamboyant ceremonies, which were first introduced when Egypt held what was dubbed a "royal procession" to parade 22 mummies through the streets of Cairo as they were being conveyed to a newly inaugurated museum last April. Construction of the Avenue of Sphinxes began during the New Kingdom era and was completed during the reign of 30th Dynasty ruler Nectanebo I (380-362 B.C.), but the road was buried under layers of sand over the centuries.” (ABC NEWS)
Culture:
THE IMMORTAL ABERCROMBIE & FITCH: “If you walk into an Abercrombie & Fitch, the first thing you’ll notice is this: It smells exactly the way you remember. It smells like a hot upperclassman leaning up against your locker, toying with his puka shell necklace, asking to “borrow” your algebra homework. It smells like popping the collar of not one but two polo shirts, worn one on top of the other. It smells like a ripped miniskirt that costs $98. Most of the identifying features of Abercrombie that shoppers recall from the early 2000s have been vanquished like so many other badly-aging artifacts of the era. But the Fierce fragrance has endured, still spritzed judiciously among the racks and now infused into the gel hand sanitizer available for use while you shop. Fierce has been around since 2002 and will probably outlast us all, but the sameness of the scent only throws into relief the fact that almost everything else about Abercrombie & Fitch has changed beyond recognition. The stores, once dark and loud, are light and airy. The A&F brand and its mascot, the moose, were once emblazoned across nearly every garment, but no more; save for a few vintage-looking tees, the name “Abercrombie” is nowhere to be found, and their best-selling tops are logoless. Men’s jeans, once exclusively button-fly, have zippers now. Black clothes, formerly verboten, are all over the racks.” (WASHINGTON POST)
Sports:
SOCCER STAR BENZEMA CHARGED WITH SEX TAPE BLACKMAIL: “France and Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema was found guilty of complicity in the attempted blackmail of a former international team mate over a sex tape on Wednesday and sentenced to a one-year suspended jail term. The Versailles court also fined him 75,000 euros ($84,170) and ordered him to pay former team mate Mathieu Valbuena 80,000 euros to cover legal costs and 150,000 euros in damages together with his three other co-accused. Benzema's lawyer said he would appeal against the verdict. Benzema, who had denied any wrongdoing, was not in court. He is due to play for Real Madrid against Moldovan side Sheriff Tiraspol later in the day. "This outcome in no way corresponds with the reality of events," lawyer Antoine Vey told reporters afterwards. Real Madrid declined to comment. Earlier this month, the president of the French Football Federation, Noel Le Graet, said Benzema would not be excluded from the national team were he to be convicted and given the suspended sentence prosecutors wanted.” (REUTERS)
Health:
HOLMES ADMITS TO SWAPPING LABELS: “Theranos founder and former CEO Elizabeth Holmes returned to the witness stand Tuesday, confirming key aspects of the prosecutor’s allegations behind the 11 counts of fraud she faces, but asserting that there was nothing wrong in what she did. The prosecution has repeatedly shown jurors lab reports emblazoned with logos of the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Schering-Plough. Witnesses from those companies who worked with Theranos testified that the use of the logos was unauthorized and they were unaware of it at the time. Holmes admitted that she was the one who had added the logos to Theranos lab reports and sent them to Walgreens as she pursued a deal to put her blood-testing startup's diagnostic machines in the pharmacy's retail stores. Holmes acknowledged that in some cases, Theranos used third-party devices, rather than its own equipment. “This work was done in partnership with those companies and I was trying to convey that,” she said by way of explanation. "I wish I had done it differently,” she added.” (NBC NEWS)