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The man accused of attacking Nancy Pelosi's husband allegedly planned to kidnap her and break her kneecaps
A federal indictment on Monday revealed new information about the man accused of breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home in San Francisco and beating her husband with a hammer.
According to the indictment, David DePape entered Paul Pelosi's bedroom in the middle of the night and "stated he wanted to talk to 'Nancy.'" The speaker's husband was able to call 911 from the bathroom. Police arrived at the home less than 10 minutes later, and found the suspect holding Pelosi’s arm in one hand and both men holding the hammer. When officers asked DePape to drop the hammer, he allegedly "pulled the hammer from Pelosi’s hand and swung the hammer, striking Pelosi in the head."
In an interview with the FBI, DePape allegedly said that he "viewed Nancy as the 'leader of the pack' of lies told by the Democratic Party." CNN reported that DePape had shared social media posts espousing debunked conspiracy theories, including that COVID vaccines are deadly, the 2020 election was stolen, and that police did not murder George Floyd. Two blogs — apparently written by a person named David DePape — were filled with racist, antisemitic, and other bigoted statements, and pushed conspiracy theories about how "the elites/ruling class" censor information.
DePape is now facing both state and federal charges for the attack, and could face decades in prison. He is expected to appear in court on Tuesday to be arraigned on the state's charges.
Fed up with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a billionaire gives up his citizenship
- Russian billionaire Oleg Tinkov renounced his citizenship to protest the war in Ukraine, becoming one of the first Russian business tycoons to publicly criticize the Kremlin's actions. According to BBC, Tinkov said, "I hope more prominent Russian businessmen will follow me, so it weakens Putin's regime and his economy, and put him eventually to defeat."
SNAPSHOTS
Migos rapper Takeoff has been reportedly shot dead in Houston. Police confirmed that Takeoff and fellow group member Quavo were at the event where a man was shot and killed, but would not confirm the identity of the deceased until his family is notified.
These are some of the victims of the Halloween crowd crush disaster in Seoul. The victims, who were mostly women in their 20s as well as teenagers and foreigners, leave behind grieving family and friends in South Korea and around the world.
A man has been arrested more than five years after the Delphi murders of two girls. Police have been famously tight-lipped about the investigation from the outset, declining to reveal how the girls died and sharing very few details about the crime scene. And despite the suspect's arrest, they still refused to share that and other information Monday.
Actor Kit Connor came out as bisexual after being accused of queerbaiting. Fans of the Heartstopper star raced to his defense on Monday, welcoming him to the LGBTQ community while admonishing those who had pressured him to come out.
Dr. Oz used to be a good doctor. What happened to him?
Much of the media discourse following the Pennsylvania Senate candidate debate last week focused on whether Democrat John Fetterman did a good job (Fetterman had a stroke earlier this year that left him with some speech and communication impairments). But the discussion around Fetterman’s recovery threatened to upstage the fact that Oz said a number of alarming things:
When asked whether abortion should be banned, he said, “I want women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our nation to thrive to put the best ideas forward so states can decide for themselves.” It’s a position at odds with many of his fellow doctors: Both the American Medical Association and Physicians for Reproductive Health believe abortion should be legal nationwide. Oz also evaded questions about how he spent the last several years hawking shoddy supplements on TV — and how he was once called to testify about his “false and deceptive advertising of weight loss products” by the Senate.
Yet the debate was a reminder of what Oz has always done best: speak onscreen to an anonymous audience. His performance, coupled with the public hand-wringing over Fetterman’s health, made the race between them even tighter (as of this publication, FiveThirtyEight had Oz polling just 1.4 points behind Fetterman). And with just a week before midterms, Oz’s history as a daytime TV host prescribing outlandish medical solutions may actually be a political advantage.
IMAGE OF THE DAY
These carved pumpkins are all treat, no trick
There are many tales that claim to be the origin story behind Halloween's “jack-o’-lanterns.” The practice of carving faces into fruits or vegetables is a Celtic tradition dating back thousands of years, and historically, jack-o’-lantern referred to Ignis fatuus, known in Irish folklore as “will-o’-the-wisp.” According to legend, these mysterious illuminations, often near marshes, were thought of as souls rejected from hell.
Another popular story is that the name “Jack” in England was often used for someone whose name you didn’t know. So in the 17th century, if you saw a stranger carrying a lantern at night, that person would be referred to as a “Jack of the lantern,” which was eventually shortened to “jack-o’-lantern.”
Making jack-o’-lanterns has become more intricate over time and has spawned a variety of competitions all over the US. This past weekend, BuzzFeed News attended three pumpkin-carving competitions in New York City: Manhattan’s Pumpkitecture and Washington Market Park competitions, and the “Flight of the Gourds” carving competition in Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens. Here’s what we saw:
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