News Daypop Archives

Vice President Mike Pence swore in Robert Wilkie as secretary of Veterans Affairs on Monday. Wilkie served as acting secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs after former secretary David Shulkin resigned in March and Trump’s previous nominee, his physician Ronny Jackson, withdrew himself from consideration. Before Trump nominated Wilkie for the position at Veterans Affairs he worked for the Department of Defense as under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness.  “Since day one my administration has been focused on serving the men and women who make freedom possible, our great veterans, these heroes deserve on the best and they will have it under Robert Wilkie – I have no doubt about it,” President Donald Trump said during the ceremony. ...Read more

President Donald Trump said Monday he would be willing to meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani without preconditions to discuss how to improve ties after he pulled the United States out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, saying, “If they want to meet, we’ll meet.”  Trump’s remarks represented a marked softening in rhetoric from a week ago, when he lashed out at Rouhani in a tweet, saying “Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.” But when asked at a White House news conference whether he was willing to meet with President Rouhani, Trump said: “I’d meet with anybody. I believe in meetings,” especially in cases where war is at stake. Trump added that he had “no preconditions” for a meeting with the Iranians. ...Read more

Two armed individuals walked up to a crowd gathered Saturday evening outside a strip mall in New Orleans and opened fire, killing three people and wounding seven more, the police chief said. The shooting happened on a busy thoroughfare about 3 miles from the French Quarter. Police chief Michael Harrison, said the two suspects believed to be wearing hoodies had a rifle and a handgun. He said they appeared to have fired indiscriminately into the crowd, striking ten people. Police responding to the shooting found three victims – two men and one woman – who were pronounced dead at the scene. Seven other victims – five men and two women – were taken to two separate hospitals.  “This was an extremely tragic incident. A lot of people were out here tonight. A lot of people, we know, saw what happened, heard what happened. And we need more than anything for people to come forward to help the NOPD right now solve this case,” Harrison said. Police do not know whether it was gang-related. ...Read more

Fire crews facing several weather uncertainties Sunday struggled to corral Northern California’s Carr Fire, a blaze that has left thousands evacuated. At least six people were killed by the fire, authorities said. Officials say there are more than 150 more engines on the way from out of state to help. Firefighters endured hot temperatures worried about gusty winds, said Anthony Romero, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The National Weather Service forecast hot and dry conditions in the area Sunday, with wind gusts expected late in the afternoon. The blaze grew slightly Sunday to 139 square miles, and is the largest fire burning in California. More than 5,000 structures were threatened, and the fire was just 5 percent contained. The latest tally showed 517 destroyed structures and another 135 damaged ...Read more

Jimmy Eat World fans received a history lesson on Friday night (July 27) when drummer Zach Lind offered some insight into how the band came up with their name. In a series of tweets, Lind recalled how he and his bandmates settled on Jimmy Eat World, and how they definitely didn’t consider its acronym for merchandise and visuals at the time. Lind revisited how the band started playing under the moniker in the first place.  You can see the humorous series of tweets in the linked article below. ...Read more

Facebook lost about $119 billion of its value on Thursday, marking the biggest one-day loss in U.S. market history.  The company’s shares plunged $41.24, or almost 19 percent, to $176.26 a day after the social media giant reported disappointing results. The slide is the largest decline in market capitalization in history, exceeding Intel’s $91 billion single-day loss in September 2000. Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg saw his fortune drop by $15.9 billion to roughly $71 billion. Investors were influenced by Facebook’s forecast showing that its number of active users is growing less quickly than expected. The report, which marked Facebook’s first full quarter since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, startled investors with a bevy of red flags about setbacks to its revenue and user growth.  The share collapse merely returned Facebook shares to a level last seen in early May. At that time, the stock was still recovering from an earlier battering over a major privacy scandal.  ...Read more

The White House took issue with reports that they banned CNN’s Kaitlan Collins from covering a White House event Wednesday after the White House informed her that she was not welcome to attend. White House deputy chief of staff for communications Bill Shine challenged reporters on Thursday over the word “ban.” On Wednesday, Collins was representing the television networks in an Oval Office event where she shouted several questions to the president related to his former lawyer Michael Cohen and about a White House invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Shine refuted that Collins was banned, but repeatedly declined to tell reporters what word he would use to characterize the White House’s decision to block her from attending the event. The White House Correspondents’ Association issued a statement condemning the White House’s decision. ...Read more

Republican House members introduced articles of impeachment Wednesday evening against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, accusing him of trying to stymie congressional oversight of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged interference in the 2016 presidential campaign. The resolution alleges that Rosenstein has withheld documents from and made misleading statements to Congress. Conservative lawmakers have accused the Justice Department of trying both to tar President Donald Trump with the Russia investigation and to downplay the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server when she was secretary of state. ...Read more

A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment guarantees a right to openly carry a gun in public for self-defense.  The ruling on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, makes the San Francisco-based court the sixth U.S. circuit court to interpret the Second Amendment that way and could set the issue on a path toward the U.S. Supreme Court. In a 2-1 decision on Tuesday, the panel found Hawaii infringed on the rights of plaintiff George Young when it twice denied him a permit the state requires to openly carry a gun in public.  ...Read more

The Trump administration announced Tuesday it will provide $12 billion in emergency relief to ease the pain of American farmers affected by President Donald Trump’s trade disputes with China and other countries. The Agriculture Department said it would tap an existing program to provide billions in direct payments to farmers and ranchers hurt by foreign retaliation to Trump’s tariffs.  The administration said the program was just temporary. “This is a short-term solution that will give President Trump and his administration the time to work on long-term trade deals,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue as administration officials argued that the plan was not a “bailout” of the nation’s farmers. ...Read more