Country legend Loretta Lynn has a massive, global fan following, so it's not a surprise that those fans were distraught upon learning of a heartbreaking development in the late country singer's family.
According to Fox News, Lynn's eldest granddaughter, Lynn Massey, died after a "long and difficult" health-related battle. She was 59.
Massey was Betty Sue Lynn's eldest daughter, and the first of six that she had with husband Oliver "Doolittle" Lynn. The two married at 15.
Details regarding Massey's health battle were not immediately available.
News of the saddening death was posted to Lynn's various social media pages. The family released a statement announcing her death.
Betty Sue’s daughter Lynn Massey, Loretta’s first grandchild, passed away this week after a long and difficult health battle. Our family is so grateful for the prayers and love continually shown to us. pic.twitter.com/KMjmun09g3
— Loretta Lynn (@LorettaLynn) August 22, 2024
"Betty Sue's daughter Lynn Massey, Loretta’s first grandchild, passed away this week after a long and difficult health battle," the family's announcement said. "Our family is so grateful for the prayers and love continually shown to us."
The family also confirmed the news to Fox News, providing more details in the statement to the network.
"We can confirm that Lynn, the daughter of Loretta’s oldest daughter Betty passed away this past week. Lynn was the eldest grandchild. She was only 11 months younger than Loretta’s twin daughters."
USA Today noted:
Loretta Lynn, a coal miner's daughter who married at 15, was famously a mother of four when she launched her career back in the 1960s. She was one of the first female music stars to write her own hits and challenged long-held notions about gender roles in hits like "Rated 'X' " and "Don’t Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)."
Given Massey's relation to one of the legends in the business, well wishes and condolences poured in across social media over the weekend.
"Prayers for your family, and best wishes in this time," one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "May her soul rest in peace, and her family be comforted during their distress."
"Praying for your family, God bless you and your family. She is home now with Jesus praise his most holy name! Rest in peace my sister in Christ!" another user wrote.
With Vice President Kamala Harris the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump will soon face her in at least one debate, if not more.
There's probably no better debate coach out there for someone who's facing Harris than former presidential candidate and Hawaii lawmaker Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard absolutely destroyed Harris in the 2019 Democratic Primary debate. Some believe Gabbard's dominance over Harris was one of the reasons Harris eventually dropped out of the race before even one vote was cast nationwide.
Recently, Gabbard provided an update on how Trump was doing on the debate prep front, and the news sounded good.
Gabbard, in a Fox News interview, revealed that Trump is dialed in on the issues and how he'll likely come at Harris.
"He knows the issues. He is very honed in on her [Kamala Harris'] record in reminding voters… ‘what have you done for the last three and a half years?'" the former Hawaii lawmaker said.
She added, "You can paint this rosy picture about what you're going to do, but we're paying attention to what you've already done and how her policies have destroyed our economy, made us less safe, both here at home and abroad," Gabbard said.
Trump is set to debate Harris on Sept. 19, and it will likely be one of the most anticipated debates in recent history.
The former president's debate with President Joe Biden ultimately led to him dropping out of the presidential race. Given that Harris is also not a strong debater, there's no telling what could happen.
She also weighed in on Robert F. Kennedy's rumored endorsement of Trump right before it actually happened.
Gabbard said:
"His supporters are independent-minded people who value freedom, who are concerned about what President Biden and Vice President Harris have done to our country and leading us onto the brink of multiple regime change wars, the brink of World War III and nuclear war. They're concerned about this broken health care system and the deep rot of corruption that is entrenched in almost every agency in our government."
News that Gabbard was brought in by Trump to prepare for Harris was widely celebrated by his supporters on social media.
"She absolutely WIPED THE FLOOR with Kamala in their last meeting. This should be good!" one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "This is a SAVAGE move that no doubt is giving the Harris campaign violent flashbacks."
Multi-millionaire Michelle Obama put her foot in her mouth with a hypocritical speech blasting greed at the Democratic National Convention.
The Former First Lady, who owns three mansions with her husband Barack, told the audience that she was raised with a "suspicion" of those who "take more than they need."
Obama made no mention of her fortune of $70 million, which she and her husband acquired through their careers in politics.
Cost of living is one of the key issues in the presidential race, and polls show voters trust Republican Donald Trump more to tackle this problem than his opponent, vice president Kamala Harris.
Despite this disparity, Michelle and Barack Obama gave back-to-back speeches Tuesday night in which they touted Harris as a champion of ordinary people. Describing her own upbringing, Michelle Obama credited her late mother with teaching her to be humble and generous toward others.
"She and my father didn’t aspire to be wealthy… in fact, they were suspicious of those who took more than they needed," she said.
"They understood that it wasn’t enough for their kids to thrive if everyone else around us was drowning."
Obama is an in-demand speaker, known for drawing exorbitant fees for her racially charged, accusatory talks.
She incorporated her lecture about greed into a blistering attack on Trump, whom she accused of benefiting from the "affirmative action of generational wealth."
Despite her own good fortune, she struck an aggrieved tone as she accused Trump of feeling "threatened" by successful black people.
"His limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hardworking, highly educated, successful people who also happened to be black," she said, referring to herself and her husband.
Comparing Harris' campaign to her husband's 2008 run for president, Obama said "hope" is coming back to America - despite widespread discontent with high prices that Democrats have blamed on "corporate greed."
Despite the dawning of "hope," Obama warned that Harris still faces opposition from people "who will continue to prioritize building their wealth over ensuring everyone has enough."
Obama didn't give any clear signal that she intends to share her wealth. Instead, she'll carry on collecting huge checks for her bitter, inflammatory rants - and pretending she's a victim all the way.
Longtime House Democrat Bill Pascrell Jr., of New Jersey, has died. He was 87.
The second oldest member of the House, Paterson had been in and out of the hospital over the last month.
The Democrat launched his political career later in life, winning his first House race in 1996, just shy of 60 years old.
Pascrell was in his 14th term and was planning to run again before he was hospitalized with an illness in July.
"It is with deep sadness that we announce that Bill Pascrell Jr., our beloved husband, father, and grandfather, passed away this morning. As our United States Representative, Bill fought to his last breath to return to the job he cherished and to the people he loved," his X account said.
"Bill lived his entire life in Paterson and had an unwavering love for the city he grew up in and served. He is now at peace after a lifetime devoted to our great nation America."
Born to a family of Italian American Catholics, Pascrell started out in politics as mayor of his native Paterson, a former mill town west of New York City. Before politics, Pascrell was a high school history teacher and Army Veteran.
Joe Biden called Pascrell "a devoted patriot, a gentleman, and an exemplary leader.”
Like Biden, Pascrell moved leftward with his party over the course of his career.
Pascrell voted for the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003, but when the Supreme Court ended Roe v. Wade, Pascrell embraced the party's radical new position of treating abortion like a fundamental right.
Known for his blunt, pugilistic style, the New Jersey native called for Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to refuse to seat Republicans who supported "dictator" Donald Trump's legal challenges to the 2020 election. Pascrell claimed that Republicans who backed Trump's lawsuits were engaged in "rebellion."
The Democrat served on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, which controls tax policy.
He helped to have the Great Falls, on the Passaic River in Paterson. designated a National Park and led passage of the Firefighter Investment and Response Enhancement Act, which steers grant money to fire departments nationwide.
New Jersey governor Phil Murphy (D) said Pascrell was an exemplary leader of "tireless work ethic" and a champion of the state's growing diversity.
"He was a unifier in every sense of the word- and always sought to bring the people of New Jersey together around our shared principles."
The Supreme Court of Arizona has given the greenlight for voters to decide whether abortion is a fundamental right this fall.
The ruling could help Democrats in their efforts to put abortion front and center in the presidential election, in which Arizona will once again be an important battleground.
The ballot measure, if adopted, would codify a right to abortion until 24 weeks, which is considered to be the point when a fetus is viable outside the womb. The amendment also legalizes abortions beyond viability to protect a mother's life or physical or mental health.
Arizona Right to Life challenged the language of the proposed amendment as misleading. They said the amendment does not make clear that it would overturn existing law, which allows abortion until 15 weeks with exceptions for medical emergencies after that point.
The Arizona Supreme Court disagreed, finding "reasonable" people would understand that laws in conflict with the amendment would be nullified. The court said it does not have the role of resolving disputes between "reasonable people" over phrasing.
"We have noted that '(r)easonable people can differ about the best way to describe a principal provision, but a court should not enmesh itself in such quarrels," the court wrote in its ruling.
Abortion advocates gathered 577,971 signatures to put the amendment on the ballot. The left-wing group behind the Arizona measure, Arizona For Abortion Access, praised the ruling.
"We are confident that this fall, Arizona voters will make history by establishing a fundamental right to abortion in our state, once and for all," the group said in a statement.
Democrats also won a push Tuesday to put an abortion amendment on the ballot in Montana, which will play a role in deciding control of the U.S. Senate.
The Supreme Court clarified in 2022 that there is no constitutional right to an abortion, sending the issue back to the states. Democrats have capitalized on the return of abortion restrictions in some states to galvanize opposition to Republicans.
Kamala Harris' presidential campaign has emphasized protecting abortion as an essential American "freedom." Republicans are trusted more on the top issues of immigration and the economy, with a slowing jobs market, steep housing costs and record border crossings dampening the national mood.
Arizona, a border state, has been inundated with illegal immigrants over the past four years.
The state's deadline for printing ballots falls Thursday.
The federal judge in Hunter Biden's tax trial has rejected a last-ditch effort to toss the charges, all but ending any chance that he can avoid trial in September.
Biden has sought to have the charges thrown out a number of ways. He has even claimed he is being targeted politically by his father's Justice Department, echoing Donald Trump.
Biden's lawyers redoubled an effort to disqualify the prosecutor in charge, Special Counsel David Weiss, after Trump's classified documents case was tossed in July. The judge in that case, Aileen Cannon, ruled that Special Counsel Jack Smith wasn't appointed legally.
In a ruling Monday, California judge Mark Scarsi dismissed Biden's latest attempt to dismiss the charges as a rehash of matters that the court already ruled on.
"As he concedes in his notice of the motion, Mr. Biden plainly seeks reconsideration of issues already decided upon his February motion," Scarsi wrote, adding, "there is no valid basis for reconsideration of the court's [prior] order denying Mr. Biden's motion to dismiss the indictment."
Scarsi had threatened to sanction Biden's lawyers for lying about important differences between the Trump and Biden cases. Unlike Smith, Weiss was a Senate-confirmed U.S. Attorney before he was named Special Counsel, and he filed charges before his promotion.
The judge backed away from sanctions Monday but warned Biden's lawyers that "candor is paramount" after they admitted their argument was "inartfully" expressed.
Scarsi's latest ruling all but guarantees that Biden will stand trial in September for evading taxes on $1.4 million in foreign income from 2016 to 2019.
Prosecutors recently introduced evidence that Hunter tried to influence the U.S. government on behalf of a Romanian client during Joe Biden's vice presidency.
Hunter Biden's lawyers have accused Weiss of adding "irrelevant" claims to the tax case to levy broader "politically charged" accusations against the Biden family.
"The Special Counsel's unnecessary change of tactic merely echoes the baseless and false allegations of foreign wrongdoing which have been touted by House Republicans to use Mr. Biden's proper business activities in Romania and elsewhere to attack him and his father," attorneys wrote.
In November, Hunter Biden will be sentenced in his separate felony gun case. Biden was convicted in June for lying about his drug addiction when purchasing a firearm.
A retired NFL star was arrested for a disgusting act on an overnight flight that forced his plane to turn around.
Haitian native Gosder Cherilus, 40, urinated on another passenger on a Delta Airlines flight to Ireland. The plane returned to Boston around 2 a.m. Sunday and Cherilus was hauled away in handcuffs.
Trouble began before takeoff, when Cherilus argued with another passenger about seating arrangements, the police report said.
About an hour into the flight, he exposed himself in front of an elderly woman and "emptied his entire bladder for approximately 20 seconds." The incident left the passengers and crew in fear for their safety.
Cherilus also struck an elderly man with his hand, prompting the crew to turn the plane around and request assistance from state police.
When the plane landed at Boston Logan International Airport, Cherilus appeared to be drunk, the police report said. He refused the commands of officers, prompting them to escort him off the plane in handcuffs.
"Troopers verbally commanded Cherilus to leave the plane, but he became irate and uncooperative. Eventually, Troopers escorted Cherilus to the jet bridge and placed him under arrest for Disorderly Conduct and Disturbing a Flight Crew," police said.
The other passengers were rebooked onto a different flight to Dublin that was due to arrive Monday morning.
"Delta flight 154 from Boston to Dublin on August 17 returned to Boston Logan due to an unruly customer and was met by law enforcement," a Delta spokesperson said.
"Delta has zero tolerance for unlawful behavior and will cooperate with law enforcement to that end. We apologize to our customers for the delay in their travel."
The former offensive tackle, of Wakefield, Massachusetts, was released on $2,500 bail, pleading not guilty at his arraignment Monday to interfering with the operation of an aircraft, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He ignored questions from reporters while leaving court in Boston.
Former NFL lineman Gosder Cherilus leaving East Boston District Court today after allegedly urinating on another passenger during a Delta Airlines flight to Dublin. He is out on a $2,500 bail. @wbz @CBSNews pic.twitter.com/rhnjD7dWtT
— Penny Kmitt (@pennylikeacoin) August 19, 2024
The former Boston College football star retired from the NFL in 2017 after stints with the Detroit Lions, the Indianapolis Colts, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
While Special Counsel Jack Smith has had an unbelievably bad stretch in his pursuance of former President Donald Trump on the legal front, it appears he's up to something big.
According to Law & Crime, the judge overseeing the Jan. 6 election interference case against Trump made an eye-raising move this week.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan reportedly entered a "completely classified and redacted one-page order onto the docket," making many wonder why the sudden secrecy in the case.
The case has only recently been revived by Smith in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling that granted Trump a high level of immunity in being persecuted.
The outlet speculated that the classified filing could be related to pretrial evidence.
Law & Crime noted:
While impossible to know for certain at this juncture, it seems all too likely that the order’s contents include key pretrial evidence ordered to be kept under wraps in light of guidelines Chutkan set down in August 2023.
The outlet continued:
Significantly, prosecutors have long said that there is only a small amount of classified information underlying the Jan. 6 criminal case against Trump. When special counsel Jack Smith‘s legal team raised concerns last year that Trump’s public commentary on the case may intimidate witnesses or that he would disseminate grand jury materials to do the same, Chutkan set down a nuanced protective order governing discovery and grand jury materials following an Aug. 11, 2023 hearing.
While court observers are dying to know exactly what was entered by the judge, the outlet noted that Chutkan is a huge advocate of transparency and will only redact the most necessary elements of evidence.
It said that's especially true when it comes to such information being sensitive enough that it would protect the courtroom or witnesses tied to the case.
While Special Counsel Jack Smith is obviously up to something, two days ago, Newsweek reported that Trump and his lawyers are seeking to use classified documents for his defense.
In a boon to Trump's defense, the judge granted the use of some classified documents for his defense.
It was not made clear to what degree or what the contents of the documents were.
Clearly, both sides are once again gearing up for a major legal battle. Only time will tell who emerges victorious.
President Joe Biden and his administration took a massive hit this week at the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court regarding a Title IX rule established earlier this year.
According to JustTheNews, the Biden administration asked the high court to enforce "new protections for LGBTQ students that have been blocked in multiple conservative states."
The fairly new rule, which was established under Title IX and aims to "protect students LGBTQ students from discrimination "based on sexual orientation and gender identity."
The new rule only took effect in some states in August, while many conservative-leaning states blocked it or have refused to enforce it.
In a 5--4 decision at the hands of the Supreme Court, the Biden administration's request that the protections be enforced was shot down.
Not surprisingly, the three liberal justices on the court dissented in the unsigned ruling, with conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joining them in disagreeing.
🚨BREAKING: In a 5-4 decision, SCOTUS has struck down the Biden-Harris administration's rewrite of Title IX, which would have allowed men in women’s sports, bathrooms, locker rooms, dorms, and compelled speech.
HUGE win. Onward! pic.twitter.com/MwOmRYpgg3
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) August 16, 2024
The high court's order made it clear how it feels about the issue at this point in time.
"On this limited record and in its emergency applications, the Government has not provided this Court a sufficient basis to disturb the lower courts’ interim conclusions that the three provisions found likely to be unlawful are intertwined with and affect other provisions of the rule," the decision read.
The new order will remain on "hold" in the following states: "Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia."
Users across social media immediately reacted to news of the high court blocking the Biden administration's request.
"Finally, some common sense. Protecting the integrity of women's spaces and sports is crucial. Onward indeed!" one X user wrote.
Another X user wrote, "It’s crazy we need the Supreme Court to step in on an issue that should be common sense."
"No, they didn’t strike down the law. They simply kept an injunction in place. So it’s a win, but not the final win we want. Also, keep doing what you’re doing. We need your voice," another user wrote.
Las Vegas police scrambled to secure a local hospital for Joe Biden before he abruptly cut his presidential campaign short, according to radio transmissions.
The shocking details suggest that Biden may have had a serious emergency days before he dropped out of the race. At the time, Biden's staff said he had a mild case of COVID.
A local hospital in Las Vegas received unspecified reports of a medical emergency at 2:15 p.m. on July 17, which proved to be Biden's last day on the campaign trail.
"We stood ready," Mason Van Houweling, CEO of Valley Hospital, said. "We knew we were dealing with more of a medical issue - definitely trauma and any accidents were off the table."
At the time, Biden was meeting with supporters at a local Mexican restaurant and had plans to give a speech to UnidosUS, a Latino group. The speech was cancelled, and Biden flew home to Delaware later that evening.
Secret Service made a "code three" request, which is police code for a "lights and sirens" emergency response.
“Meet at the Valley Hospital ER parking lot. We’re going to meet behind the ER entrances, where the ambulances go,” one of the officers said over radio.
Biden was never seen at the hospital, but the emergency response is sure to raise questions about whether the White House was truthful.
“Earlier today following his first event in Las Vegas, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19," his press secretary, Karine-Jean Pierre, said at the time. "He is vaccinated and boosted and he is experiencing mild symptoms."
"He will be returning to Delaware where he will self-isolate and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time."
Biden would remain out of the public eye for several days before formally announcing the end of his re-election campaign from the Oval Office. He had initially shared the news three days earlier in a letter posted online, which raised eyebrows.
While he has not resigned, Biden has mostly faded into the background since he ended his campaign and passed the torch to vice president Kamala Harris. The two put on a united front at an event Thursday in Maryland.
"Folks, I have an incredible partner," Biden said of Harris. "The progress we have made. She's going to make one hell of a president."