10 things you need to know today: July 23, 2016
Hillary Clinton selects Tim Kaine as her running mate, Munich lone gunman dead after killing 10, and more
- 1. Hillary Clinton selects Tim Kaine as her running mate
- 2. Munich gunman dead after killing 10, had no known ISIS ties
- 3. Heavy rains and flooding kill more than 130 in China
- 4. Donald Trump leaves Cleveland with bizarre Cruz-centered rant
- 5. Leaked DNC emails reveal bias against Bernie Sanders
- 6. Britain is not ready to go through with Brexit, but France is
- 7. Florida man arrested in record $1 billion Medicare fraud scam
- 8. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke announces Senate run in Louisiana
- 9. Obama vetoes legislation to trim ex-presidents’ pay
- 10. Russian priest sets world record for solo air balloon circumnavigation
1. Hillary Clinton selects Tim Kaine as her running mate
Hillary Clinton has officially selected Sen. Tim Kaine, a Spanish-speaking former governor from the battleground state of Virginia, as her 2016 running mate. "I'm thrilled to announce my running mate, Tim Kaine, a man who's devoted his life to fighting for others," she tweeted Friday night. "Tim Kaine is a relentless optimist who believes no problem is unsolvable if you put in the work to solve it." The two are expected to appear together Saturday at a public rally held at Miami's Florida International University.
2. Munich gunman dead after killing 10, had no known ISIS ties
A mass shooting at the Munich shopping center Olympia Einkaufszentrum Friday evening left 10 people dead, including the gunman, who has since been identified as an 18-year-old German-Iranian whom authorities say had no apparent ties to an outside terrorist organization. "Based on the searches, there are no indications whatsoever that there is a connection to Islamic State," said Munich Police Chief Hubertus Andrae in a press conference Saturday, noting that his officers had not found evidence tying the shooter to refugee communities either — but did uncover a history of psychiatric care and an obsession with mass murder. Another 16 people were wounded before the attacker killed himself and three remain in a life-threatening condition.
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3. Heavy rains and flooding kill more than 130 in China
At least 130 people have died and dozens more remain missing after torrential rains caused flooding and landslides throughout China since the extreme weather began on Monday. Hit hardest is Hebei Province, located near the capital city of Beijing in the northeast of the country, where 300,000 people have been evacuated and about 80 of the deaths occurred. Meteorologists say additional rainstorms are expected in coming days, and authorities estimate some 8 million people have been affected already.
Los Angeles Times Associated Press
4. Donald Trump leaves Cleveland with bizarre Cruz-centered rant
The day after formally accepting the Republican presidential nomination, Donald Trump on Friday spent his first address of the general election re-hashing the assassination of former President John F. Kennedy — and whether Sen. Ted Cruz's father Rafael was involved in the plot. Cruz pointedly refused to endorse Trump in his Wednesday address to the Republican National Convention, and in part said the decision was because Trump had repeatedly attacked his family during the primaries. "All I did is point out the fact that on the cover of the National Enquirer, there was a picture of [Rafael] and crazy Lee Harvey Oswald having breakfast," Trump said during his final speech in Cleveland. "What did I do?" Trump also mentioned that if Cruz were to in fact offer his endorsement, he "will not accept it."
5. Leaked DNC emails reveal bias against Bernie Sanders
A massive leak of Democratic National Committee internal emails Friday revealed DNC Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall considered using Bernie Sanders' religious beliefs against him. Long presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton's primary rival, Sanders is Jewish, but he never made faith a central issue of his campaign. The leaked emails show Marshall asking several DNC officials to "get someone to ask [Sanders] his belief," thinking that question could hurt Sanders because "I think I read he is an atheist." The DNC was suspected of tilting the primary toward Clinton given the odd debate schedule and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's known support for the former secretary of state.
The Intercept The Washington Post
6. Britain is not ready to go through with Brexit, but France is
The United Kingdom isn't ready to go through with the exit from the European Union its voters endorsed in the Brexit referendum in June — but other EU members prefer that the process not drag on. "Britain needed a bit of time to organize itself and reflect on the way it should respond," said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin on Saturday. "But the time should not be indefinite. Uncertainty is damaging, also economically, and in particular for Great Britain. So one needs to engage in negotiations as soon as possible." The president of France and prime minister of Ireland have likewise urged all reasonable speed.
7. Florida man arrested in record $1 billion Medicare fraud scam
Federal agents representing the Justice Department, the FBI, and Health and Human Services arrested a Florida man Friday on charges of perpetrating the largest Medicare scam in U.S. history. Philip Esformes of Miami Beach is accused of defrauding taxpayers of $1 billion through his 20 skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities in the Miami-Dade area. "The magnitude of alleged false claims in this scheme is staggering and outrageous, even by South Florida healthcare fraud standards," said U.S. attorney Wifredo Ferrer.
8. Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke announces Senate run in Louisiana
Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke announced Friday he is running for Senate in the state of Louisiana. A Holocaust denier and white nationalist, Duke served one term as a state representative in Louisiana over 20 years ago, representing a suburb of New Orleans. "I believe in equal rights for all," Duke said in his video announcement. "However, what makes me different is I also demand respect for the rights and the heritage of European-Americans." He also praised Donald Trump, saying he was "overjoyed" to see Trump "embrace" his viewpoints. The National Republican Senatorial Committee immediately condemned Duke's candidacy.
9. Obama vetoes legislation to trim ex-presidents’ pay
In just the 11th veto of his time in office, President Obama on Friday rejected the "Presidential Allowance Modernization Act of 2016," a bill which would have capped former presidents' expense accounts at $200,000 a year and phased out presidential pensions for former executives who independently make at least $400,000 annually. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the veto was issued out of concern that the bill would "immediately terminate salaries and all benefits to staffers carrying out the official duties of former Presidents" and require the government to "immediately terminate leases, and remove furniture." Earnest indicated that Obama would consider signing a revised version of the legislation.
10. Russian priest sets world record for solo air balloon circumnavigation
A 64-year-old Russian adventurer and Orthodox priest named Fedor Konyukhov landed in Australia Saturday and in doing so completed his record-setting hot air balloon circumnavigation. Konyukhov began his journey July 12 and traveled around the globe in just 11 days, 6 hours, living in a gondola measuring around 6 feet in each direction. "He's landed, he's safe, he's sound, he's happy," said Konyukhov 's flight coordinator, John Wallington. "It's just amazing." The previous record, held by an American named Steve Fossett, was 13 days, 8 hours.
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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
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