Sen. Ted Cruz heckled on 'The View,' blistered by hosts for Jan. 6 and kowtowing to Trump
WASHINGTON — Heckled on live television, Sen. Ted Cruz sparred Monday with the hosts of ABC’s "The View," who accused him of undermining democracy by trying to keep former President Donald Trump in power when he lost the 2020 election.
Viewers were left to wonder what exactly got shouted. Whatever it was prompted the network to cut audio. “I’ve been very vocal and very critical of you. I’m sorry that this has happened in our house,” co-host Ana Navarro told the senator after an abrupt commercial break, though she and other co-hosts quickly resumed a pile-on, questioning Cruz’s character and judgment for allying himself with Trump and attempting to overturn the election.
“We may not like when Republicans win, but … we don’t storm (the Capitol). We don’t try to change” the outcome of an election, co-host Whoopi Goldberg told him in one testy exchange.
Cruz compared “antifa” protests over police brutality to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress, when a mob encouraged by Trump interrupted the electoral certification. Cruz led a group of senators who challenged the state-certified results from Pennsylvania and Arizona that day.
—The Dallas Morning News
Leaked racist audio recording could push LA City Hall further left in Nov. 8 election
LOS ANGELES — Dissatisfaction with Los Angeles City Hall has been simmering for years, with residents growing exasperated over the protracted homelessness crisis, anxious over crime and exhausted by a string of corruption indictments targeting various city leaders.
But publication of an incendiary leaked audio recording less than a month before election day provided yet another damning argument against the city's political establishment — and perhaps the most explosive.
Angelenos who rarely thought about municipal government turned their eyes toward City Hall in disgust. Residents who were already frustrated are now breathing fire.
Amid the collective fury, left-wing political organizers see a potential tipping point ahead of the Nov. 8 election. Their grassroots movement already had tremendous momentum, with many of their candidates placing first in the June primary election.
—Los Angeles Times
LGBT+ Center Orlando cancels drag queen story hour after Nazi threats, director says
ORLANDO, Fla. — The LGBT+ Center Orlando canceled Monday a weekend drag queen story hour for children after receiving online threats from Nazis and other extremist groups, according to the organization’s executive director.
Seventy-five children and their parents bought tickets to the “Drag Queen Story Hour” event with Bridgette Galore Oct. 29 at the Center off Mills Avenue, said George Wallace, the center’s executive director.
“It was sold out,” Wallace said. “But again, safety is first in mind. We don’t want to put anyone in harm’s way, especially kids. ... They don’t need to be subjected to yelling and seeing that type of behavior.”
Wallace said local public officials and the Anti-Defamation League alerted him to online posts where extremist groups planned for 40 to 50 protesters at the event. While the LGBT+ Center has had protesters at other drag queen storytime events, Wallace said he was concerned by the escalating threats.
—Orlando Sentinel
Putin’s threats worry Ukraine’s NATO allies as sign of Russian desperation
Ukraine’s allies are increasingly concerned that desperation in the Kremlin over an unrelenting string of battlefield failures may lead Russia to escalate its war, possibly using a massive attack on a target like a dam or even a weapon of mass destruction.
For the moment, there’s no sign Moscow is actually making preparations for such a strike, even as it ratchets up the rhetoric, according to officials from North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.
U.S. and European defense ministers rejected allegations from Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu in a rare round robin of phone calls Sunday alleging Kyiv is preparing to use a “dirty bomb.”
Instead, the view among Ukraine’s allies is that the Kremlin is trying to scare them with the talk of such “unthinkable” weapons — along with strikes on the country’s civilian power grid — into reducing their supplies of weapons and other support for Kyiv. So far, the intimidation campaign hasn’t worked.
—Bloomberg News
