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Boy admits he didn't actually go to heaven; publisher pulls his book
January 16, 2015 -
Founder of right-wing group says man killed in Portland was a 'supporter'
2:17 p.m. -
Jacob Blake's attorney says family has received no word from Trump
1:11 p.m. -
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may have a lot to do with Joe Kennedy's primary struggles
11:28 a.m. -
Austrian law extends citizenship to descendants of Jewish refugees
10:38 a.m. -
Hong Kong's pro-democracy camp is resisting the city's universal coronavirus testing plan
8:08 a.m. -
1 person shot and killed amid clashing Portland protests
7:26 a.m. -
Many uninsured coronavirus patients reportedly don't qualify for Trump's coverage program because of other illnesses
August 29, 2020
Alex Malarkey, co-author of the best-selling Christian book The Boy Who Came back from Heaven, has admitted he made the story up.
The book, billed as a true story, described Malarkey's alleged visit with angels in heaven after being paralyzed in a car crash and spending two months in a coma.
Malarkey, who is now a teenager, wrote an open letter published on the Pulpit and Pen website that the story was fabricated. The book's publisher, Tyndale House, has pulled the book out of print following the announcement.
"I did not die. I did not go to Heaven," Malarkey wrote in the open letter. "I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible." Meghan DeMaria
There's still a lack of clarity about the deadly shooting in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday night, but the founder of the right-wing group Patriot Prayer said that the man who was killed was a supporter, The Associated Press reports. Earlier reports indicated the victim was wearing a hat with the group's insignia.
Joey Gibson, who leads the Washington state-based group, said he couldn't say much "right now" but he was able to "verify that [the victim] was a good friend and supporter of Patriot Prayer." He told AP he would make a more complete statement later on Sunday. Gibson was also in Portland on Saturday night and arrived at the scene of the shooting shortly after it took place, although it was not immediately clear why he did so, AP reports.
Police still have not released any information on the potential shooter, and while there was fighting between a caravan of Trump supporters and Black Lives Matter protesters throughout the night, there's nothing that has definitively linked the fatal incident to the clashes.
Patriot Prayer, AP Notes, has a history of crossing the Oregon-Washington border for rallies and marches in Portland, where — along with other far-right groups like the Proud Boys — they have faced off with counterprotesters. Read more at The Associated Press. Tim O'Donnell
Ben Crump, an attorney for Jacob Blake, said during an appearance on Sunday's Face the Nation that Blake's family has not yet heard from President Trump, a week after Blake was shot by a police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Trump, who did speak with George Floyd's family after he was killed by police earlier this year, is scheduled to visit Kenosha next week as protests grip the city. While there, he plans to meet with law enforcement. It appears as if the president is making it clear which side he stands on regarding the protests sparked by the shooting, but it's at least possible the White House will reach out to Blake's family then. Crump suggested Blake's family would be open to a conversation since they respect "all elected officials." He added that the Democratic presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), have already spent time talking with the family.
.@AttorneyCrump says #JacobBlake family hasn't been contacted to meet @realDonaldTrump says @JoeBiden, @KamalaHarris spoke to them "for about an hour"
"They're focused on trying to march for their son because he'll never be able to stand up for himself unless a miracle happens" pic.twitter.com/Yxu5bs925g
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) August 30, 2020
Ultimately, though, Crump said their focus isn't on which politicians and officials they've heard from. Rather, they're "trying to march for their son because he'll never be able to stand up for himself, unless some miracle happens," Crump said, referring to the spinal injuries and paralysis from the waist down Blake suffered as a result of the shooting. Tim O'Donnell
Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) could soon be out of politics, and an unlikely colleague may have something to do with it, Politico reports.
Kennedy is challenging Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) in the statewide Democratic primary for Markey's seat, which he's held since 2013. Politico notes that Kennedy tries to hit the 74-year-old Markey by criticizing his support for the 1994 crime bill and the Iraq War when he was in the House, both of which would seemingly put him in trouble with the progressive left. But the incumbent has maintained a lead over his 39-year-old challenger in large part thanks to an army of young voters, who, with a push from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), view Markey as key to the climate change movement.
Mary Ann Marsh, a Boston-based Democratic consultant, told Politico that Ocasio-Cortez, the Sunrise Movement, and Justice Democrats have "allowed this remarkable makeover" of the veteran lawmaker who has been in Congress for 44 years, turning him into the "darling of the climate change warriors." Without Ocasio-Cortez, she said, "I think it would've been a much harder effort to make him into the Ed Markey people see in this race, which is very different from the Ed Markey people in Massachusetts have seen in 44 years." Read more at Politico. Tim O'Donnell
Descendants of Jewish refugees expelled from Austria under Nazi rule can apply for Austrian citizenship under a new law that goes into effect Tuesday.
About 120,000 Jews living in Austria fled persecution after Nazi Germany annexed its neighbor in 1938, with many going to the United States and the United Kingdom. Most refugees, The Observer notes, became naturalized citizens in their new countries, but post-war Austria banned dual citizenship, meaning those who left were considered foreigners in their homeland. Eventually, in 1993, former refugees were able to reclaim their Austrian citizenship, but descendants were left out, preventing the country from restoring its pre-war Jewish community, which numbered 200,000. That's unlikely to happen even now since the applicants will be dual citizens and won't necessarily reside in Austria. For instance, a major factor for eligible U.K. citizens, per the Observer, will likely be the desire to regain European Union citizenship post-Brexit through the program.
Still, campaigners believe the law represents both historic justice and could potentially help sway change in Austria, where some citizens believe anti-minority sentiment is on the rise. Bini Guttman, the Austrian president of the European Union of Jewish Students, said the law can "help deliver justice" for the applicants' "successors here and for the future" if they exercise their voting rights.
Hannah Lessing, secretary general of the National Fund of the Republic of Austria for Victims of National Socialism, applauded the law, but said "it can never truly make amends for the Holocaust." Read more at The Observer. Tim O'Donnell
Pro-democracy activists, including a health care workers union, in Hong Kong on Sunday called for a boycott of the city's universal coronavirus testing plan, Reuters reports.
The opposition is not unconcerned with the virus, but is instead worried by the fact that medical staff from mainland China are supposed to assist with carrying out the plan at a time when many Hong Kong residents believe Beijing is stripping away their freedoms and enhancing its already strong grasp on the city, especially after the passing of a controversial national security law earlier this year and the postponement of September's legislative elections.
The union, the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance, was formed during last year's pro-democracy protests and has 20,000 members. It believes universal testing is not an efficient use of resources, arguing that focused testing is the better play for Hong Kong at this point during the pandemic, prompting suspicions about ulterior motives. Union leader Winnie Yu said it's "clear to see the government has one and only one goal," which is "to use the pandemic to achieve their own political aims" of doing "whatever they can to please the central government of China."
Well-known activist Joshua Wong supports the boycott and agreed that the government's plan is faulty. Per Reuters, Wong believes a full border closure would be more effective.
Neither the Beijing-backed city government, nor the Chinese Communist Party, took the criticism well. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said it's an attempt to "smear the central government," while Chinese state media considers the critics ungrateful. Read more at Reuters. Tim O'Donnell
One person was shot and killed in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday evening. There is little clarity beyond that — the shooting occurred as a large caravan of President Trump supporters and Black Lives Matters demonstrators clashed in the city in the wake of the Jacob Blake shooting, but law enforcement has not confirmed if the incident was directly linked to the confrontation, The Associated Press reports.
Per AP, the Portland Police Bureau said officers responded quickly to the victim after getting word of gunfire shortly before 9 p.m., but the man, who police said was shot in the chest, did not survive.
The police have not released any information about a possible shooter, although AP reports the victim appeared to be a white man wearing a hat with the insignia of Patriot Prayer, a far-right group that has a history of fighting with protesters.
Images and video purportedly depicting the shooting have been posted online, and homicide detectives are looking for more evidence. Read more at The New York Times and The Associated Press. Tim O'Donnell
Official news release out, not much new info. pic.twitter.com/hMN2pXarLK
— mila mimica (@MilaMimica1) August 30, 2020
President Trump's stopgap program that covers many medical costs for uninsured coronavirus patients has found favor with some hospital executives, The New York Times reports. Dr. Shareef Elnahal, the chief executive of Newark, New Jersey's, University Hospital called it a "really progressive policy we were really surprised by." The hospital received $8.2 million for treating nearly 800 uninsured COVID-19 patients who accounted for about a third of its coronavirus patients, but the process hasn't been so smooth everywhere.
While New Jersey providers have received $72 million in coronavirus treatment claims, the Times reports, those in New York have received about half that, and the variance continues throughout the U.S. There just doesn't seem to be an explanation as to why. "It's just not clear to me what's going on," said Jennifer Tolbert, director of state health reform at the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Molly Smith, vice president for coverage and state issues forum at the American Hospital Association, said claims have been low in part because of "serious backlogs and delays," but she also noted that many patients likely aren't getting into the system at all because they don't qualify.
The association says some hospitals have reported not submitting anywhere between 40 and 70 percent of claims for uninsured patients. That's because many hospitalized coronavirus patients suffer from other serious medical conditions that are registered as their primary diagnosis instead of the virus. Harris Health, a public system in Houston, Texas, for example, did not bill the federal fund for 80 percent of the roughly 1,300 uninsured COVID-19 patients it had treated through mid-July because many of them had other medical problems, the Times reports. Read more at The New York Times. Tim O'Donnell