News of the World

[kyonides]

Former College Professor Charged With Starting 4 California Wildfires

A former criminal justice professor was charged by a federal grand jury for allegedly starting four California wildfires in Northern California earlier in 2021.
Gary Stephen Maynard, 47, faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California a statement Thursday.
But “any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables,” according to a news release from the Depatment of Justice.
Maynard allegedly started fires behind fire crews battling the sprawling Dixie Fire, which destroyed hundreds of structures in July and August, prosecutors said in court papers, according to media reports.
Maynard, a resident of San Jose, is alleged to have set the Cascade and Everitt fires in July, and he’s alleged to have started the Ranch and Conard fires on Aug. 7. The fires, prosecutors said, threatened to trap firefighters as they battled the larger Dixie Fire nearby.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Anderson said in an August detention memo that he started “setting fires behind the first responders fighting the Dixie Fire,” which “increased the danger to the first responders” on the scene, reported CBS News.
U.S. Forest Service began investigating Maynard on July 20 after the Cascade Fire was reported near Mount Shasta. Before he was arrested, officials said that he was living out of his car and traveling alone across Northern California, according to court papers.

Kyle Rittenhouse Acquitted on All Counts

KENOSHA, Wisconsin—Jurors acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on all counts on Friday.
The jury reached the verdict just after 12:10 p.m. local time and the foreman read it aloud in the Kenosha County Courthouse shortly afterwards.
Rittenhouse, 18, sat quietly before the verdict was read. Afterwards, he started shaking and breathing heavily. He hugged his lawyer.
“You were a wonderful jury to work with,” Kenosha County Circuit Judge Bruce Schroeder told jurors.
Schroeder also told the court not to react, “no matter how strongly” they feel about the decision.
Rittenhouse faced up to life in prison for five charges, including first-degree reckless homicide. A sixth charge was dropped on Monday.
...
Rosenbaum and Huber died from their wounds. Grosskreutz survived with a gunshot wound to his right bicep.
Defense lawyers and Rittenhouse said all three shootings were in self-defense. Prosecutors said Rittenhouse was negligent and reckless in his handling of the weapon and should have surrendered to those attacking him.
Wisconsin National Guard troops were stationed earlier this week about 60 miles outside of Kenosha in case riots started in response to the verdict.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, a Democrat, had called for peace no matter what the jury decided.

 So how exactly do the prosecutors expect Rittenhouse to survive the attack? By getting murdered by his very own attackers!?
Besides there are peaceful ways to protest on the streets, they had no justification for attacking bypassers nor point anybody out for defending themselves. Blame police or the National Guard for not doing their job!  Yet, we all need the police, like it or not, for criminals won't stop robbing, beating and killing people if there's no authority around willing to arrest them. So defunding police departments defeats the purpose of protecting the people from evil.

Biden briefly transfers power to Vice President Harris
while he undergoes routine colonoscopy

President Joe Biden transferred power to Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday for the brief period of time when he was under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy, the White House said.
The temporary delegation of power to Harris made her, for a time, the first female acting president in U.S. history. Biden resumed his role as president before noon, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Psaki had noted in a press statement that the same process was followed in 2002 and 2007, when then-President George W. Bush underwent the same medical procedure.
“The Vice President will work from her office in the West Wing during this time,” Psaki said Friday morning.
Former President Donald Trump, 75, reportedly refused anesthesia for a medical procedure, precisely because he did not want to hand power to then-Vice President Mike Pence, according to a book from his third press secretary, Stephanie Grisham.
The White House said it will publicly share a written summary of the 78-year-old Biden’s physical later Friday afternoon. Biden, the oldest president to take office, turns 79 on Saturday.

I dunno what might have happened if she had retained those presidential powers any longer.  Just kidding.