J. Michael Cline, the founder of movie ticket firm Fandango, is dead after he jumped from the 20th floor at the Kimberly Hotel in Midtown Manhattan.
In a statement on Thursday from law enforcement, Cline appears to have jumped on his own and at this time there is no foul play suspected.
Cline, who was 64 years old, left behind a note saying, "So sorry. I can’t explain the pain of f— up this much. I love you all."
While this doesn't give much to go off of, we do know that Cline was an entrepreneur which means that there could have been any number of stressors that pushed him to the edge.
Cline leaves behind six children that he shared with his wife Pamela.
Cline had a long and distinguished career as he founded Fandango in 2000 and worked with that company until 2011 when he left.
Fandango was so successful that it was purchased by NBCUniversal and is now the go-to service for buying movie tickets.
The pandemic hit the company hard as the entire movie industry was shut down and theaters closed for months on end. While Cline wasn't working for Fandango at the time, it's likely he had a significant financial interest in the company that was adversely affected by the shutdowns.
Cline was well educated as he attended Cornell University and Harvard Business School and this set him up for success in his future business endeavors.
He founded the company Acumen, an outsourcer of lab operations for large hospitals, in 2010. He also founded Accolade, a vendor of health services for large employers and hospital systems, in 2007 and worked as founder and chairman through 2022.
He was deeply involved in medical services which would have benefited him greatly during the pandemic but all of this information is speculative and there is still no concrete evidence on what drove Cline to jump from the 20th floor of the Kimberly Hotel.
For now, answers on Cline's sudden suicide will have to wait as law enforcement continues their investigation into his death.
Anytime a significant figure who is as powerful as Cline suddenly dies it raises questions. It's clear he was under immense mental stress but the question is what was the exact cause of that stress.
While it could have simply been a matter of bad mental health, Cline left behind six children which indicates that it's possible there was something more to this tragedy.
An appeals court has blocked the implementation of President Joe Biden's SAVE student loan forgiveness plan while it considers the merits of a lawsuit by conservative states against the initiative.
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals was responding to a lawsuit against SAVE by Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma.
The suit argued that the Biden administration was "trying to impose an extraordinarily expensive and controversial policy" with the loan forgiveness and income-driven repayment options.
Federal judges in Kansas and Missouri had already blocked parts of the plan temporarily in June as other suits take place.
A total of $168.5 billion has so far been forgiven for 4.76 million borrowers.
Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told Axios in an emailed statement on Thursday that the borrowers impacted by the block would have their loans placed on an interest-free forbearance until the courts make a final decision on the plan.
Borrowers will be notified of the change, he said.
"Our administration will continue to aggressively defend the SAVE Plan," a spokesperson for the administration said.
On the same day the injunction was handed down, Biden canceled another $1.2 billion in loan debt for 35,000 public service workers using the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which it overhauled.
The program allows firefighters, teachers, police, and employees of nonprofits to get their loans forgiven after making 10 years of payments.
Before this addition, 946,000 borrowers have had $69.2 billion forgiven through the program.
Prior to Biden's election, only 7,000 borrowers had received forgiveness in the 13 years the program was in place.
Republicans have accused Biden of buying votes with student loan forgiveness programs, and have criticized them for shifting the student loan costs to taxpayers, some of whom have not attended college, had not taken student loans, or had paid off their balances before debt forgiveness was available.
A Wall Street Journal editorial in April noted that "the best way to buy votes is with other people's money," and the Biden administration is doing exactly that with the money you and I pay in taxes.
Following the breakdown in the most basic of security defenses, much of the nation has been awaiting an explanation of the events surrounding the shooting of former President Donald Trump.
Fox News reported that The Department of Homeland Security's inspector general has moved forward with an investigation into the Secret Service's security decisions surrounding the former President Trump's rally in Pennsylvania over the weekend.
After the shooter was identified, it was discovered that the shooter was an amateur. It was also found that his perch was one where such an amateur could pull off a kill shot, and was reportedly not within the Secret Service's perimeter.
Questions about how that could be considered sufficient security have coursed through a nation irate at the idea of what could have been the result of Saturday's shooting.
The agency stated in a brief notice posted to the inspector general's website that the purpose of the investigation is to "Evaluate the United States Secret Service’s (Secret Service) process for securing former President Trump’s July 13, 2024 campaign event," which was the site of an assassination attempt against Trump.
No specific date was offered for the start of the investigation. The notice was one of numerous ongoing cases that the inspector general's office is currently investigating.
An independent assessment of the security at the rally had already been directed by President Biden.
On Wednesday, there are still questions regarding the manner in which Thomas Matthew Crooks, the 20-year-old shooter, was able to ascend a building and fire at Trump and rally attendees in Butler, Pennsylvania.
In a Tuesday interview, Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle asserted that her agency was "solely responsible" for the security measures in the area.
Despite the fact that other events in the state necessitated Secret Service protection, Cheatle informed CNN that no assets from the rally were diverted on the day of Trump's shooting.
"At that particular site, we divided up areas of responsibility, but the Secret Service is totally responsible for the design and implementation and the execution of the site," Cheatle said.
Separately, Cheatle told ABC News that the agency knew about the building's security flaws when the shooter positioned himself to shoot at Trump.
"That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point. And so, you know, there's a safety factor that would be considered there that we wouldn't want to put somebody up on a sloped roof," the director said.
"And so, you know, the decision was made to secure the building, from inside."
In the latest example of aggressive pre-digestion of infomration by mainstream media, the editor of an unnamed major news outlet is calling one of the iconic photos of former President Donald Trump "propaganda," according to Fox News.
The news broke that the former president was shot in the side of the head almost simultaneous to the historic photos hitting the internet, thanks to the magic cellular service and other forms of communications at the site of the attack.
While no one is claiming that the photo is not entirely accurate and a correct depiction of the events of the day, one major editor doesn't want a photo of Trump with blood on his face, looking defiant, to make the rounds any longer.
According to a source, an unnamed picture editor at a major news organization believes that it is "dangerous" for the media to promote the historic photo.
The photo in question was of former President Trump standing up after the assassination attempt that occurred on Saturday. The photo editor also believed that the media group he works for would be providing "free PR" for the Trump campaign.
According to an Axios media trend assessment published on Tuesday, the iconic image's "overuse" can "pose risks."
The report cites unnamed photographers who allegedly told the outlet that promoting the viral photos could be a type of "photoganda" because the Trump campaign will make use of them to "further their agenda, despite the photographers' intent of capturing a news event."
Trump was battered to the ground at a rally on Saturday when a gunshot grazed his right ear, but the photograph recorded his defiant reaction seconds later.
As the Secret Service escorted the former president off the platform, an American flag flew over his head, and blood splattered across his face, he raised a fist to the cheering crowd.
Photojournalist Evan Vucci of the Associated Press shot the iconic shot that quickly became the talk of the internet and made headlines across the world.
A picture editor and photographer "from a major news outlet" reportedly told Axios that the media shouldn't use the shot "despite how good it is" because it would put the former president in a positive light.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Vucci has covered thousands of events like this for the AP since 2003. He told Fox News Digital that he knew he was witnessing a historic moment as shots were fired at the former president.
Vucci told Fox News Digital on Monday from Milwaukee, where he was preparing to photograph the Republican National Convention, "I was literally just thinking about doing the best possible job I could, because I knew that this was a moment in American history that I had to be at the top of my game for."
"The amount that publications have been using Evan's photo is kind of free PR for Trump in a way, and it's dangerous for media organizations to keep sharing that photo despite how good it is," the editor told the outlet.
The shot after the shot, which has been hailed as instantly iconic, is expected to appear on the cover of Time magazine's upcoming print edition.
One of the most divisive, admired, and hated political figures in American history, Trump, could be eternally altered in the eyes of some, according to some analysts.
According to Fox News, The Washington Post’s art critic, Phillip Kennicott, called it "a photograph that could change America forever."
The judge in a case prosecuted by Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis has been replaced and a new judge assigned after it was revealed that he met with a witness and prosecutors without the defense being present.
Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause ruled Monday to grant a defense motion to remove Judge Ural Glanville. The case, which has been going on since November, was reassigned almost immediately to Judge Shukura Ingram.
"This court has no doubt that Judge Glanville can and would continue presiding fairly over this matter it the recusal motions were denied," Krause wrote. "But the 'necessity of preserving the public's confidence in the judicial system' weighs in favor of excusing Judge Glanville from further handling of this case."
Grammy-winning rapper Young Thug, whose real name is Jeffrey Williams, and 27 other defendants were indicted on racketeering, drug, and gun charges for allegedly participating in the street gang Young Slime Life, or YSL, which is also the name of Williams' record label.
Williams claims the label stands for Young Stoner Life, and is not related to the gang, however.
The case blew apart when defense attorney Bryan Steel somehow found out that witness Lil Woody, whose real name is Kenneth Copeland, and prosecutors met with the judge on June 10 but excluded defense counsel.
The meeting concerned threats to jail Copeland if he continued to refuse to testify.
The judge then demanded to know how Steel found out about the meeting and held him in contempt when he refused to say. He sentenced Steel to 20 days in jail, but an appeals court threw out the jail sentence.
Willis is better known as the prosecutor who charged former President Donald Trump with similar racketeering charges as well as obstruction for allegedly trying to overturn election results in Georgia between November 2020 and January 2021.
That case is on hold while an appeal of a ruling against replacing Willis is heard. A hearing in that appeal was just scheduled for December, meaning the case won't move forward until after the election.
At issue then will be whether any of the charges can still go forward after the Supreme Court ruled former presidents have broad immunity from prosecution for official acts during their tenure.
Trump's team asked for Willis to be replaced after it was discovered that she was engaged in a sexual relationship with her lead prosecutor Nathan Wade.
The relationship is still being investigated, particularly the question of whether any funds were diverted to Wade that were then spent on vacations for the two of them.
Willis has denied all wrongdoing in the matter, and Wade stepped down from the case after a judge ruled that both of them could not stay on it.
A spokesperson for the Kremlin in Russia said the "atmosphere" put forward by President Joe Biden is responsible for the shooting of former President Donald Trump on Saturday.
"We do not think and do not believe that the attempt to eliminate presidential candidate Trump was organized by the current government," Dmitry Peskov said Sunday, according to Russian state news agency, Tass.
"But the atmosphere that was created by this administration during the political struggle, the atmosphere around candidate Trump, it is precisely this that provoked what America is facing today," Pescov added.
Pescov tied $53 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine to the shooting, saying that if the U.S. had spent some of that money on its own security, the shooting in essence wouldn't have happened.
Peskov said the current U.S. government prefers to "resolve all issues from a position of strength, including and primarily in world affairs."
"Now the violence has essentially been transferred inside the country," Peskov said. "After numerous attempts to remove candidate Trump from the political arena, first using legal instruments, courts, the prosecutor's office, attempts to politically discredit and compromise the candidate, it was obvious to all outside observers that his life was in danger."
Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry, said in agreement with Pescov that funds that supported Kyiv should be used to "finance the American police and other services that are supposed to ensure law and order inside the U.S."
Trump was shot in his right ear around 6:15 p.m. Eastern time in Butler, Pennslyvania while speaking to a crowd of several thousand people at a rally there.
He was whisked off the stage by the Secret Service, who along with local police apparently failed to notice a gunman 150 feet away on the roof of a nearby building until just before the shooting began.
Before he was taken off the stage, though, he put his fist in the air and told the crowd to "fight."
He was treated at a local hospital and released Saturday night. He is now in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention, where he is expected to emphasize unity among Americans.
President Joe Biden said in an address to the nation Sunday night that he condemned the shooting and also called for unity and for a cooling off of the rhetoric in the campaign.
He initiated a full investigation into the shooting and the failures of security around it.
Following Biden's remarks, Trump posted a two-word response on Truth Social: "UNITE AMERICA!"
Two suspects have been arrested in connection with a string of five shootings in and around Charlotte, North Carolina, one of whom has been identified as an illegal immigrant.
18-year-old Carlos Roberto Diaz and a 16-year-old juvenile were arrested in connection with the spree of shootings that have led to charges ranging from first-degree murder to shooting into an occupied dwelling.
The juvenile was charged with first-degree murder, and additional charges are expected to come in the coming days.
Diaz faces a host of charges including one count of first-degree murder, two counts of shooting into an occupied vehicle, one count of felony conspiracy to commit murder, five counts of attempted murder, two counts of shooting into an occupied dwelling, and one count of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury.
Diaz is in the U.S. illegally and immigrated from Honduras and had an encounter with Border Patrol when he crossed the border in 2019 at the age of 14.
The shootings that took place last week have become part of an increasingly overbearing nightmare for innocent Americans who are watching the country devolve into violence and chaos thanks to President Joe Biden's open borders.
Thousands upon thousands of unvetted immigrants, often young men, have poured into the United States causing violence and unrest thanks to Biden's refusal to close the border and order deportations.
Diaz and his 16-year-old accomplice are just two individuals who are a part of this growing problem and we know that Diaz should never have entered the United States.
What's worse is the motives for this event seem to be entirely random as the 16-year-old reportedly told police that he and Diaz decided to go on a crime spree after they went to a party together. The pair would go on to commit five different shootings which happened in about 30 minutes following that party.
Anthony Blocker, a neighbor, told the media "You got people now just going by and shooting because they don’t have anything to do. Yeah, that’s scary. That’s scary. I’m glad we no longer have that in our community."
While violent crime certainly existed prior to Biden throwing the borders open, things have gotten much worse since Biden stepped in and decided to let in thousands of unvetted young men.
Biden's border policies have been an abject failure and the American people are paying the price for it. Incidents of random violence committed at the hands of illegal immigrants are countless and Biden owes Americans an explanation.
Thankfully, a reckoning is coming as Americans have a chance to render a referendum on Biden's policies in November's presidential election.
Americans largely disapprove of Biden's border handling and it is a major issue that former President Donald Trump is running on. We can only hope this madness ends before more victims are terrorized by offenders who aren't even supposed to be here.
House Republicans failed to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in “inherent contempt” of Congress on Thursday thanks to four Representatives defecting and voting with Democrats.
Representatives David Joyce (R-OH), Michael Turner (R-OH), Tom McClintock (R-CA), and John Duarte (R-CA) all voted with Democrats against the resolution meaning Garland will face no legal consequences for refusing a Congressional subpoena.
This measure would have fined Garland $10,000 per day until he abided by congressional subpoenas to release the audio recordings.
Republicans in Congress are demanding that Garland hand over audio recordings of President Joe Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur who was investigating Biden's “handling of classified materials."
The transcript of the interview is already available but Garland refused to hand over the tapes because it would "chill cooperation with the department in future investigations."
Garland is refusing a lawful order from Congress to turn over the audio tapes and this is particularly relevant considering that two advisors to former President Donald Trump are in prison for the very same crime.
Peter Navarro, who advised Trump during his first term in the White House, is serving a prison sentence for refusing a subpoena from the January 6th select committee.
It was just recently discovered that the Jan. 6th committee, which was run by Democrats and anti-Trump Republicans, fabricated evidence in order to make a case against Trump. But Navarro is still serving time in prison for refusing what he claimed was an illegitimate subpoena.
Another key advisor to Trump, Steven Bannon, is also serving a prison sentence for refusing a subpoena from Democrats in Congress.
Democrats have made it clear that they will use their power against Republicans and that includes prison sentences for those who refuse to bow to questionable requests.
Punishing Garland is less about accountability and more about demonstrating to Democrats that Republicans will play by the same rules. Only, thanks to those four Representatives, Garland can continue to defy House Republicans.
Republicans have become painfully aware of the two-tier justice system in America today where conservatives face the full force of the law while Democrats skate by. However, Republicans have become willing participants in their handling of Garland.
Republicans hold the power to punish Garland but refuse to use it while Trump's advisors sit in prison for the same crime under much less clear-cut circumstances.
Where it can be argued that Navarro and Bannon are political prisoners, Garland's case is cut and dry. He's refusing to hand over an audio recording to Congress because of the political implications it poses for President Biden.
Furthermore, it's worth remembering that this audio recording stems from an investigation that found that President Biden mishandled classified documents but that he shouldn't be prosecuted.
The two-tier justice system is alive and well and Republicans refuse to take substantive measures to fight back.
The founder of David's Cookies, David Lieberman, died of a heart attack at age 75 on Thursday in a Mount Kisco, New York hospital, according to his wife Susan.
Lieberman was also being treated for myelofibrosis, a type of blood cancer, at the time of his death. The hospital was near his home in Katonah.
Lieberman founded David's Cookies in 1979 after getting a law degree and becoming a chef. He was the first baker in many decades to create chocolate chunk cookies by using chopped Swiss dark chocolate instead of chocolate chips, which were created in 1938 by Nestle.
Lieberman abandoned a law career to work in the kitchen at Troisgros in France, becoming the first American to work there.
“He was always trying to do something that no one else thought of,” his younger brother, William Liederman, said about his cooking.
Lieberman created a line of sauces that chefs could use instead of bullion in cooking, but while he was marketing those products, he visited a cookie store in San Francisco and was underwhelmed.
He joined the trend of opening cookie shops with his first David's Cookies store in Manhattan and eventually grew the brand to 100 stores around the U.S. and in Japan, making tens of millions of dollars annually.
He sold a variety of cookie types along with bread and other baked products until he sold the chain to Fairfield Foods in New Jersey in 2015 and retired.
He eventually decided David's Cookies no longer met his standards and was thinking of getting back into the cookie business at the time of his death.
But even as he built a veritable cookie empire, he also continued his work as a chef and owned several restaurants in New York City.
Lieberman struggled with his weight and was told by his doctor to lose weight if he wanted to live to see his grandchildren.
In 1990, he wrote a weight loss book but did not find the success he needed that way.
He gave up drinking despite being a wine connoisseur and did live to see two grandchildren.
His name will live on through the cookie company he founded and through other cooking ventures and restaurants.
The House of Representatives took what many would have previously considered a redundant step, and banned voting for non-citizens, as The Hill reported.
The bill, which passed the House by a vote of 221-198, was shockingly controversial, considering it is already legal for non-citizens to vote.
On Wednesday, a bill that has been advocated for by former President Trump was approved by a small number of Democrats and House Republicans.
The bill aims to impose voter register purge requirements on states and expand the proof-of-citizenship requirements for eligibility to vote in federal elections.
The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which is the formal name of the legislation, was approved, with five Democrats voting in favor.
It is now on its way to the Senate, where it is almost certain to be disregarded due to Democratic opposition.
President Joe Biden has promised that if the bill should reach his desk, he will veto it, giving every indication that he supports a lack of election security.
The bill's opponents contend that its fundamental concept, which is to declare noncitizen voting as unlawful, is redundant.
They also contend that its provisions are more likely to result in the denial of the right to vote to U.S. citizens than in the prevention of votes by foreign nationals.
On Wednesday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) argued on the House floor that the legislation is essential due to the fact that noncitizens have voted in U.S. elections despite the fact that it is unlawful to do so.
“Even though it’s already illegal, this is happening,” Johnson said.
In May, Johnson told reporters, “We all know, intuitively, that a lot of illegals are voting in federal elections. But it’s not been something that is easily provable. We don’t have that number.
“This legislation will allow us to do exactly that — it will prevent that from happening. And if someone tries to do it, it will now be unlawful within the states,” he added.
During a joint press conference with Trump in April, when the Speaker was attempting to rally GOP support in the face of a tiny group of Republican lawmakers threatening to remove him from office, the idea of a law preventing noncitizens from voting in U.S. elections was embraced by the Speaker.
The former president was vocal in pushing GOP lawmakers to approve the legislation in a Truth Social post, writing: “Republicans must pass the Save Act, or go home and cry yourself to sleep.”