Christine Blasey Ford has agreed to testify on Thursday about Brett Kavanaugh’s alleged assault
After days of negotiating the terms of her testimony, Ford has agreed to appear in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the end of this week.
Ford alleged that she was sexually assaulted decades ago by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. She has received death threats after coming forward. Kavanaugh has denied the allegations.
An important note: The Republican members of the Judiciary Committee are all white men, so they have considered hiring a woman lawyer to question Ford.
Having avoided commenting on the allegations for many days, President Donald Trump questioned the validity of Ford’s accusations.
A new allegation
Meanwhile, another woman has accused Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct. Deborah Ramirez, who attended Yale with Kavanaugh in the 1980s, told the New Yorker that then-18-year-old Kavanaugh exposed his penis to her at a college dormitory party.
Ramirez said she hesitated to come forward because of the gaps in her memory, the New Yorker reported, but she and her attorney now believe her recollection should be investigated by the FBI.
A proposed new rule would penalize green card applicants for using food stamps
Immigrants who use — or are likely to use — public benefits, such as food stamps and housing vouchers, could be denied green cards or entry into the United States. That’s the new proposal from the Trump administration.
The government estimates the rule would affect 382,000 people per year.
The proposal falls in line with other administration attempts to further restrict immigration. Immigration advocates believe the plan will make families less likely to seek needed government assistance.
The regulation will be published in the Federal Register in the next few weeks and will have a 60-day public comment period.
SNAPSHOTS
Toxic coal ash may be entering a North Carolina river after Florence floodwaters breached a dam. The dam was holding back a reservoir at a power plant. Duke Energy acknowledged that it could not rule out the possibility of toxic coal ash leaking into the Cape Fear River, but maintained there was no significant environmental threat. A spokesperson said that “based on our visual inspections we don’t see evidence of coal ash.”
A Minnesota lawmaker dropped his reelection bid after his daughter alleged he inappropriately touched her for most of her life. Laura Knoblach, daughter of Republican state Rep. Jim Knoblach, reportedly told friends, family, and adults at her school and church about her dad’s behavior for more than a decade. Rep. Knoblach denied the allegations but said he was “not willing to spend six weeks fighting with [his] daughter in the media” as Minnesota Public Radio prepared to publish a detailed account of the accusations.
The owner of an animal rescue shelter was arrested for giving animals medicine after sheltering them during Hurricane Florence. Tammie Hedges took in more than 25 cats and dogs at a warehouse that was in the process of being converted to a shelter. When Animal Services officers inspected the place, they “developed serious concerns” about Hedges administering medicine to animals and turned the case over to the police. Hedges was charged with 12 counts of practicing veterinary medicine without a license and one count of solicitation of a controlled substance.
Some tickets for Michelle Obama’s speaking tour are going for $1,000 and many people are priced out. Obama is releasing her memoir, Becoming, on Nov. 13 and then will go on a speaking tour around the country. After just a few hours of ticket sales, Ticketmaster sold out all of the standard tickets for many tour dates, which start at $29.95. Many people who had planned on going to see the former first lady said on social media they could not afford the tickets that are left, which range in price from $500 to $2,000.
Meghan Markle’s “something blue” was a memento from her first date with Prince Harry. The Duchess of Sussex revealed that she had a piece of the blue dress she wore for the date sewn inside her wedding dress. Yes, I agree, that is incredibly sweet.
The Labour Party can’t agree on its Brexit position, and it has exposed a power struggle
This week in Britain, the Labour Party is supposed to arrive at a unified position over Brexit during its annual conference.
The problem is, deep divisions inside the party have made this conference one of the most fraught in Labour’s history. It all comes to a head this week.
How these dynamics play out could have a major impact on the final few months of Britain’s withdrawal process from the European Union.
Read our deep dive into the tensions within the Labour Party.
This college student sent her teacher a paper with a hilariously brutal mistake and now they’ve both gone viral
When Zoey Oxley started writing her paper, she couldn’t remember the name of her teacher. So she did what many of us do, and put a placeholder name.
Oxley typed “Professor whats his nuts.” If you’re cringing already, it’s because, yes, she forgot to substitute the placeholder with the guy’s actual name.
I won’t spoil what happened, but now both the student and the teacher have gone viral, and everything turned out okay in the end.