Briefs BREITBART DESCRIBES TRUMP SPEECH AS FLIP-FLOP
Stephen K. Bannon is back at Breitbart and, as promised, he’s not pulling any punches.
“Trump reverses course, will send more troops to Afghanistan,” read the headline on Breitbart’s homepage following President Trump’s prime time address on U.S. military strategy in Afghanistan. “Defends flip-flop in somber speech.”
Trump’s Monday night speech represented another clash between Trump and Bannon, who returned to Breitbart on Friday, the same day he was ousted as Trump’s chief strategist.
Bannon, who left Breitbart just a little over a year ago to join Trump’s presidential campaign, was rough on the president Monday night. A top architect of Trump’s nationalist agenda, Bannon has long opposed sending additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, which put him at odds with Trump’s national security adviser H.R. McMaster.
Commuter train crashes into parked train, injuring dozens.
PHILADELPHIA»
A one-car commuter train crashed into a parked train at a suburban Philadelphia terminal early Tuesday, buckling the floors of both cars and injuring more than 30 passengers, authorities said.
None of the injuries was considered life-threatening, said Heather Redfern, a spokeswoman for the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority.
The train operator, who was treated at a hospital and released midday, submitted samples for drug and alcohol tests, said Ruben Payan, lead investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.
City Council to shroud Confederate statues in black.
CHARLOTTESVILLE,
The City Council decided early Tuesday morning to shroud the statues of two Confederate generals in black, capping a long and emotional public meeting that erupted into chaos more than once as residents expressed their anger over a white supremacist rally last weekend. The vote to cover the statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson was unanimous and was meant to recognize the city’s mourning after a violent demonstration that left one woman dead and scores more injured, according to Paige Rice, clerk of the council. Two police officers were also killed when their helicopter crashed.
Republican committees have paid nearly $1.3 million to Trump-owned entities this year.
WASHINGTON»
The Republican National Committee paid the Trump International Hotel in Washington $122,000 last month after the party held a lavish fundraiser at the venue in June, the latest example of how GOP political committees are generating a steady income stream for President Trump’s private business, new Federal Election Commission records show.
The nearly $1.3 million spent by Republican political committees at Trump entities in 2017 has helped boost his company at a time when business is falling off at some core properties.
A Florida charity for children announced Tuesday that it was canceling plans to hold a fundraiser luncheon at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club next winter — adding to an exodus of its high-paying charity clients in the days after his comments about violent protests in Charlottesville. In all, 16 charities have now canceled events at Mar-aLago since Aug. 15.
Wahlberg tops list of highest-paid actors.
“Transformers: The Last Knight” star Mark Wahlberg has outmuscled Dwayne Johnson to become Hollywood’s highest-paid actor in the past year with a transforming income of $68 million, according to Forbes magazine.
The former rapper known as Marky Mark beat “Baywatch” star Johnson, with $65 million, and Johnson’s “The Fate of the Furious” co-star Vin Diesel, worth $54.5 million
The rest of the top five, released Tuesday, includes Adam Sandler, flush with a Netflix deal, at No. 4 with $50.5 million and Jackie Chan with $49 million.
The top 10 actors banked a cumulative $488.5 million — nearly three times the $172.5 million combined total of the 10 topearning women.
Clooneys donate $1 million to fight hate groups.
George and Amal Clooney are donating $1 million to fight hate groups.
The couple announced Tuesday that their Clooney Foundation for Justice is supporting the Southern Poverty Law Center with a $1 million grant to combat hate groups in the United States.
George Clooney said they wanted to add their voices and financial assistance to the fight for equality. Clooney said, “There are no two sides to bigotry and hate.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center monitors the activities of more than 1,600 extremist groups in the U.S. and has used litigation to win judgments against white supremacist organizations.
Cosby’s retrial delayed as new legal team joins case.
Bill Cosby’s retrial on sexual assault charges will be delayed until next year as his new legal team gets up to speed on the case, which pits the 80-year-old comedian against a woman who says he drugged and molested her more than a decade ago.
Judge Steven O’Neill on Tuesday granted a defense request to postpone the retrial, which had been scheduled to start in November, saying there’s no way that Cosby’s lawyers would be ready by then.