Is a Ukrainian Oligarch Helping Trump Smear Biden to Evade U.S. Corruption Charges?

The conspiracy to reelect the president by misleading the American people about Joe Biden’s work in Ukraine continues, despite the impeachment inquiry triggered by revelations that Donald Trump and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, tried to coerce Ukraine’s government into investigating the former vice president.

Trump’s acting chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, openly admitted on Thursday that Trump withheld military aid to Ukraine to press Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to open investigations requested by the White House.

Donald Trump's Flurry of Lie's

In two press appearances on the same day, Donald Trump made several lies, false claims and distorted the facts on issues ranging from Syria to trade:

• Trump claimed that former GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan “would never issue a subpoena,” because of his “respect for our country.” But subpoenas were issued under Ryan’s watch. “Our committee alone issued more than 100 subpoenas,” a former GOP House oversight staffer has said.
• Trump said “the FBI never got” the DNC server that was hacked during the 2016 election, and that the server is now held by a company co-owned by someone “from Ukraine.” But the company — which is based in the U.S. — gave the FBI an exact copy of the DNC hard drives. It also has said it never possessed the server and that its owners are not from Ukraine.
• Trump exaggerated his influence when he boasted that “nobody else but me” would have gotten a U.S. win in a World Trade Organization case involving European Union subsidies to Airbus. A string of WTO decisions since 2011 had already established that the subsidies broke trade rules.
• The president repeated his lie's that the U.S. military was originally supposed to be in Syria for only “30 days.” He also ignored the progress made against the Islamic State by the Obama administration, saying “when I came in under President Obama, ISIS was a disaster all over that area. I was the one that got them.”
• Trump again distorted the facts about the whistleblower report’s account of his July 25 phone call with the president of Ukraine. The White House-released rough transcript of the call supported what the whistleblower said.
• He said he was able to secure the release of a U.S. pastor detained by Turkey “very quickly,” while the previous administration failed. It’s worth noting the pastor was detained less than four months before Trump took office and released nearly 21 months after.
• While boasting about the performance of the stock market, Trump repeated the false claim that “all people own in the stock markets.” Only about half of Americans own stock, directly or indirectly.
• The president greatly exaggerated the trade deficit with the European Union, claiming it “could even be $178 billion.” It was $114.6 billion in 2018.

Film Review: ‘The Captain’

This Chinese answer to 'Sully' charts the heroics of a passenger jet pilot who pulled off a high-altitude miracle in 2018.

Tense and exciting when it finally gets airborne, the Chinese disaster movie “The Captain” is an effective tribute to those who saved the day when the cockpit window of a Sichuan Airlines flight shattered over the Tibetan Plateau on May 14, 2018. Though riddled with wobbly dialogue and wafer-thin characters, this patriotic thriller is easy enough to enjoy if you don’t look too closely. Capably assembled by Hong Kong director Andrew Lau (the “Infernal Affairs” trilogy), “The Captain” has gone stratospheric at the Chinese box office, grossing $373 million in its first 18 days. The business has been brisk in foreign territories including Australia and the U.K., all of which bodes well for the film’s North American release on Oct. 18.

Trump Letter Threatens to Sue CNN; Network Calls It ‘Desperate PR Stunt’

An attorney for Donald Trump has sent a letter to CNN that threatens to sue the AT&T-owned cable-news network for violating the Lanham Act and making misrepresentations to the public and advertisers about its content, but the network says the missive isn’t worth discussing.

“This is nothing more than a desperate PR stunt and doesn’t merit a response, CNN said in a statement.

Charles Harder, a noted attorney who played a large role in the downfall of the snarky news site Gawker, sent a letter Friday to Jeff Zucker, the WarnerMedia executive who oversees CNN and a company attorney, as well as Randall Stephenson, the CEO of AT&T. In the letter, the attorney bemoans CNN’s coverage of Trump. “Never in the history of this country has a President been the subject of such a sustained barrage of unfair, unfounded, unethical and unlawful attacks by so-called ‘mainstream’ news, as the current situation,” Harder wrote.

‘Maude’ Star Bill Macy Dies at 97

Bill Macy, who played Bea Arthur’s husband Walter Findlay on the “All in the Family” spinoff, “Maude,” died on Thursday. He was 97.

Crimson Tide Cross Country Split for Princeton, Pre-National Invitationals on Saturday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Crimson Tide men's and women's cross country team will split up Saturday, sending the men to the Princeton Invitational in Princeton, N.J., and women to the Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind.

Auburn University at Montgomery's Mendez Makes History In 4-1 Loss To Montevallo

Montgomery, Ala. – Ruby Mendez moved into third place all-time in goals scored in Auburn University at Montgomery women's soccer team's 4-1 home defeat to Gulf South Conference foe Montevallo on Thursday night.

Montevallo had three different goal scorers contribute to the winning effort. AUM sees their record fall to 1-10 on the year, and now have a conference record of 1-6.  Montevallo sees their record rise to 7-2-3 with a GSC mark of 5-1-1. 

Senior forward Ruby Mendez moved into third place in program history in goals scored with her mark in the 59' minute of the game. Brianna Yurkovich and Milian Mollison both hit the crossbar during the match with the Falcons. Hannah Waki scored the game-winning goal for the Falcons in the 48' minute. 

Wallace Selma Volleyball Hosts Southern Union Friday on 'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' Sport Network

THIS WEEK: WALLACE SELMA (7-16, 0-11 ACCC) VS. SOUTHERN UNION (5-20, 2-10 ACCC)

• Friday, Oct. 18 – 5 p.m. CT
• www.TalkToAlabama.com
• Selma, Ala. – Wallace Gymnasium