Trump says he directed Pence to walk out of game if 49ers protested during national anthem

The plan had been for Vice President Mike Pence to attend the Indianapolis Colts game at which Peyton Manning’s number is to be retired, a gala celebration of the former Colts quarterback’s contributions to Pence’s home state.

The former governor of Indiana and his wife, wearing a Manning No. 18 jersey, left Lucas Oil Stadium after the national anthem, following instructions from President Trump after a number of San Francisco 49ers players took a knee during the anthem.

“I asked @VP Pence to leave stadium if any players kneeled,” Trump posted on Twitter. “I am proud of him and @SecondLady Karen.”

Pence said he chose to leave because “we should rally around our Flag.”

“I left today’s Colts game because President Trump and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem. At a time when so many Americans are inspiring our nation with their courage, resolve, and resilience, now, more than ever, we should rally around our Flag and everything that unites us,” he said in a statement. “While everyone is entitled to their own opinions, I don’t think it’s too much to ask NFL players to respect the Flag and our National Anthem. I stand with President Trump, I stand with our soldiers, and I will always stand for our Flag and our National Anthem.”

Pence’s response appears to have been triggered by the decision of between 15 to 23 members of the 49ers to take a knee during the anthem, as many NFL players have done to raise awareness of social injustice and racial inequality. Members of the Colts stood for the anthem with arms linked.

Pence’s decision also comes at a time when Kaepernick has reiterated that, should an NFL team sign him, he would now stand for the anthem. Kaepernick, the former quarterback for the 49ers, had said as much when he became a free agent in March, explaining he did not want his protest to detract from the positive change he believes has been created, ESPN reported then. He added that the national conversation that ensued last year, as well as the support he received from NFL and NBA players, among others, affirmed his message.

Although players have stressed that the demonstrations are not meant to disparage military members of the anthem, Pence’s decision to leave revives the story of players protesting social injustice and racial inequality this season.

Pence’s press schedule for Sunday showed him attending the Colts game from 1-4 p.m. EDT. But given Trump’s instructions, an early departure seemed likely. At least one member of the 49ers has protested during the national anthem at every game this season, a practice that originated with the team in 2016. Protests by the 49ers, and from players across the NFL, intensified after Trump called upon league owners to fire or suspend players who did not stand for the anthem last month.

NBC’s Vaughn Hillyard reported from Indianapolis that the media pool was kept in vans ahead of the game, instead of being led inside with Pence. A staffer told the pool there was a chance Pence may depart from the game early, but did not mention how early.

Throughout this season, players have taken a knee. They have linked arms. Some have raised a defiant fist to the sky in the face of presidential directives to the owners of their teams to fire or suspend them. And as their season settles into the critical second quarter, they have sought to pivot toward taking positive action and refining their message.


Member of the San Francisco 49ers kneel during the playing of the national anthem before an NFL football game against the Indianapolis Colts, Sunday. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

Away from Indianapolis, other players around the league, like Olivier Vernon of the New York Giants, continued to kneel Sunday, but most stood and linked arms as many have acknowledged that that their message was becoming misinterpreted, co-opted by some who were claiming it was aimed at military members rather than police brutality. So players, who had urged Commissioner Roger Goodell to designate a month to raise awareness, have taken a new approach over the last few weeks, in part because they were hearing boos from fans during the anthem. In Green Bay, players heard it loud and clear late last month after asking fans to join them in linking arms. Not many did and there were boos during the song.

“Beauty is, it’s a free country so they can choose to do it or not. The messaging towards this unfortunately needs to continue to be redirected, I think. It’s never been about the national anthem. It’s never been about the military.” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “We’re all patriotic in the locker room. We love our troops. This is about something bigger than that — an invitation to show unity in the face of some divisiveness from the top in this country and I’m proud of our guys.”

The message was muddled over the first month of the season, with President Trump calling for NFL owners to suspend or fire players who took a knee for the anthem, calling any who do, in a veiled reference to Kaepernick, a “son of a bitch.” A false, Photoshopped image of the Seattle Seahawks’ Michael Bennett burning a flag in the locker room became a widely shared meme designed to stir up passions. The Seahawks took the next step in their activism, announcing the creation of an educational fund.

“In an effort to create lasting change and build a more compassionate and inclusive society, we are launching the Seahawks Players Equality Justice for All Action Fund to support education and leadership programs addressing equality and justice,” the team tweeted Sept. 29. “We invite you to join us in donating and taking action.”

The efforts may not have led to results that are more conversational than nationally tangible, but the players pledge that their activism will not end and it’s likely to become an issue again after Pence’s early exit. In their memo to Goodell, Bennett, Philadelphia Eagles Torrey Smith and Malcolm Jenkins and retired player Anquan Boldin requested that the NFL designate a month, as it does for Breast Cancer awareness in October, to highlight player activism and community engagement.

“To counter the vast amount of press attention being referred to as the ‘national anthem protests’ versus the large amount of grass roots work that many players around the league have invested their time and resources, we would like to request a league wide initiative that would include a month dedicated to a campaign initiative and related events,” the memo stated. “Similarly to what the league already implements for breast cancer awareness, honoring military, etc., we would like November to serve as a month of Unity for individual teams to engage and impact the community in their market.”

Their activism has taken root, down to the high school level and over to the NBA, where players have traditionally been more vocal because, among other reasons, their contracts are guaranteed. Although Trump cited declining TV ratings for the NFL, those have improved as the games have and as areas in Texas and Florida have begun to recover from hurricane damage. Players are not backing down, even though the question has always been how to use their platform. Stick to sports? That’s not going to happen, no matter the consequences.

“I’ve heard people say that my colleagues and I are un-American and unpatriotic,” Jenkins wrote in a Washington Post essay. “Well, we want to make America great. We want to help make our country safe and prosperous. We want a land of justice and equality. True patriotism is loving your country and countrymen enough to want to make it better.”

Read more from The Post:

Jerry Brewer: Anthem protests put the NFL in a difficult spot. Good.

Baltimore finds itself at the center of the anthem debate

NBA memo reinforces anthem rule and encourages community engagement

Vegas police say there was ‘reasonable suspicion’ to detain Seahawks’ Bennett

After NFL protests, high school teams weigh decision to demonstrate

Players’ protests, Trump’s response both receive low marks in new poll

 

Kim Jong Un praises nuclear program, promotes sister to center of power

SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un said his nuclear weapons were a “powerful deterrent” that guaranteed its sovereignty, state media reported on Sunday, hours after U.S. President Donald Trump said “only one thing will work” in dealing with the isolated country.

Trump did not make clear to what he was referring, but his comments seemed to be a further suggestion that military action was on his mind.

In a speech to a meeting of the powerful Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party on Saturday, a day before Trump’s most recent comments, state media said Kim had addressed the “complicated international situation”.

North Korea’s nuclear weapons are a “powerful deterrent firmly safeguarding the peace and security in the Korean peninsula and Northeast Asia,” Kim said, referring to the “protracted nuclear threats of the U.S. imperialists.”

In recent weeks, North Korea has launched two missiles over Japan and conducted its sixth nuclear test, and may be fast advancing toward its goal of developing a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

North Korea is preparing to test-launch such a missile, a Russian lawmaker who had just returned from a visit to Pyongyang was quoted as saying on Friday.

Donald Trump has previously said the United States would “totally destroy” North Korea if necessary to protect itself and its allies.

The situation proved that North Korea’s policy of “byungjin”, meaning the parallel development of nuclear weapons and the economy was “absolutely right”, Kim Jong Un said in the speech.

“The national economy has grown on their strength this year, despite the escalating sanctions,” said Kim, referring to U.N. Security Council resolutions put in place to curb Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile program.

SISTER PROMOTION

The meeting also handled some personnel changes inside North Korea’s secretive and opaque ruling center of power, state media said.

Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, was made an alternate member of the politburo – the top decision-making body over which Kim Jong Un presides.

Alongside Kim Jong Un himself, the promotion makes Kim Yo Jong the only other millennial member of the influential body.

Her new position indicates the 28-year-old has become a replacement for Kim Jong Un’s aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, who had been a key decision maker when former leader Kim Jong Il was alive.

“It shows that her portfolio and writ is far more substantive than previously believed and it is a further consolidation of the Kim family’s power,” said Michael Madden, a North Korea expert at Johns Hopkins University’s 38 North website.

In January, the U.S. Treasury blacklisted Kim Yo Jong along with other North Korean officials over “severe human rights abuses”.

Kim Jong Sik and Ri Pyong Chol, two of the three men behind Kim’s banned rocket program, were also promoted.

State media announced that several other high ranking cadres were promoted to the Central Committee in what the South Korean unification ministry said could be an attempt by North Korea to navigate a way through its increasing isolation.

“The large-scale personnel reshuffle reflects that Kim Jong Un is taking the current situation seriously, and that he’s looking for a breakthrough by promoting a new generation of politicians,” the ministry said in a statement.

North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho, who named Donald Trump “President Evil” in a bombastic speech to the U.N. General Assembly last month, was promoted to full vote-carrying member of the politburo.

“Ri can now be safely identified as one of North Korea’s top policy makers,” said Madden.

“Even if he has informal or off the record meetings, Ri’s interlocutors can be assured that whatever proposals they proffer will be taken directly to the top,” he said.

Additional reporting by Yuna Park in SEOUL; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and John Stonestreet

Trump Goes After Senator Bob Corker, Who Bites Back

To some extent, however, the rift between the two men had been building for months, as Mr. Corker raised doubts about Mr. Trump’s character and fitness for office. Once a campaign supporter of the president, the senator has become openly derisive of his leadership.

After a report last week that Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson had once referred to Mr. Trump as a “moron,” Mr. Corker told reporters at the Capitol that Mr. Tillerson was one of three officials helping to “separate our country from chaos.” Those remarks were repeated on “Fox News Sunday,” which may have prompted Mr. Trump’s outburst.

In August, after Mr. Trump’s equivocal response to the deadly clashes in Charlottesville, Va., Mr. Corker told reporters that the president “has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful.”

Mr. Trump’s feud with Mr. Corker is particularly perilous given that the president has little margin for error as he tries to pass a landmark overhaul of the tax code — his best hope of producing a major legislative achievement in the coming months.

If Senate Democrats end up unified in opposition to the promised tax bill, Mr. Trump would be able to lose the support of only two of the Senate’s 52 Republicans in order to pass it. That is the same challenging math that Mr. Trump and Senate Republican leaders faced in their failed effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Corker, who is outspoken about the nation’s mounting debt, has already signaled deep reservations about the Republican effort to pass a tax overhaul, saying he would not vote for a tax bill that adds to the deficit.

In addition, Mr. Corker, who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, could play a key role if Mr. Trump follows through on his threat to “decertify” the Iran nuclear deal, kicking to Congress the issue of whether to restore sanctions on Tehran and effectively scuttle the pact.

Republicans could opt to hold off on sanctions but use the threat of them to force Iran back to the negotiating table — a strategy being advocated by Senator Tom Cotton, the Arkansas Republican who is a leading hard-liner on Iran. But that approach could leave the United States isolated, since European allies have made it clear they would rather stick with the deal.

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Beyond the Iran deal, Mr. Corker’s committee holds confirmation hearings on Mr. Trump’s ambassadorial appointments. Were the president to push out Mr. Tillerson secretary of state — as some expect — Mr. Corker would lead the hearings on Mr. Trump’s nominee for the post.

Mr. Trump’s clash with Mr. Corker is somewhat analogous to his rancorous relationship with Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who, like Mr. Corker, is winding down his senate career and twice opposed Republican efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. Trump’s budget chief, Mick Mulvaney, alluded to Mr. Corker’s political liberation, saying on “Meet the Press” that his decision not to run “sort of unleashes him to do whatever and say whatever he wants.”

A former mayor of Chattanooga, Mr. Corker, 65, has carved out a reputation over two terms in the Senate as a reliable, not overly partisan, Republican, who helped maneuver President Barack Obama’s divisive nuclear deal with Iran to a vote on the Senate floor. That exposed him to fierce fire from conservatives, who blame him for not blocking the agreement.

Mr. Corker was briefly a candidate to be Mr. Trump’s running mate in 2016, but he withdrew his name from consideration and later expressed ambivalence about Mr. Trump’s campaign, in part because he said he found it frustrating to discuss foreign policy with him.

“I don’t know that I really have a lot to say,” he said to a reporter in June, adding that he had tried to advise Mr. Trump and was “discouraged by the results.”

For much of Mr. Trump’s byzantine selection process for secretary of state, Mr. Corker was a dark horse. Though he met with Mr. Trump, he drew little of the attention of Mitt Romney, who dined with the president-elect at an expensive Manhattan restaurant and became the object of a very public tug of war between Mr. Trump’s aides.

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Known for his easygoing and affable manner, Mr. Corker’s positions on foreign policy issues are generally middle-of-the-road for a Republican. But he has shown occasional flashes of vehemence, particularly on subjects that concern him, like human trafficking.

In September 2016, Mr. Corker joined a small group of lawmakers at the residence of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for breakfast with Myanmar’s pro-democracy figure and government leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Afterward, he bluntly faulted her for her reluctance to condemn the mistreatment of Myanmar’s Muslim Rohingya minority.

“While we certainly appreciate the work Aung San Suu Kyi has done to ensure a democratic transition in Burma,” he said, “I am somewhat appalled by her dismissive reaction to concerns I raised this morning about the problem of human trafficking in her country.”

But Mr. Corker is remembered most — and vilified by critics — for his role in advancing the Iran nuclear deal. Though not a fan of the agreement — he once accused former Secretary of State John Kerry of having been “fleeced” in the negotiations with the Iranians — he was instrumental in winning an up-and-down vote on it.

In the end, Republicans — including Mr. Corker himself, who voted against the deal — fell two votes short of the 60-vote threshold needed to pass a resolution killing the six-nation accord.

Republicans are less likely to do that this time, with a fellow Republican in the White House, but Mr. Corker’s voice will be important to framing how the Senate decides to handle the agreement.


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Harvey Weinstein Smiles While Leaving NYC Townhouse After Bombshell Sexual Harassment Claims

Harvey Weinstein appeared to be in good spirits while leaving his West Village townhouse in New York City on Friday, a day after apologizing for his “bad behavior” in the wake of the New York Times bombshell report about allegations of sexual harassment made against him.

The 65-year-old powerhouse film executive was photographed smiling in a black T-shirt and blue jeans as he walked from his home while carrying a stack of papers and what looked to be an iPad. His wife, Marchesa fashion designer Georgina Chapman, was also spotted leaving the townhouse separately.

On Thursday, The New York Times published a revealing exposé in which eight women, including actress Ashley Judd, spoke out against Weinstein, accusing him of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior.

Weinstein responded to the allegations in the report, saying he was working with a therapist to address his issues head-on. “I appreciate the way I’ve behaved with colleagues in the past has caused a lot of pain, and I sincerely apologize for it,” he said. “Though I’m trying to do better, I know I have a long way to go.”

Georgina Chapman
William Farrington/Polaris

 

Though Weinstein’s attorney Lisa Bloom said in a statement that her client “denies many of the accusations as patently false” including Judd’s, he still said that he “bear[s] responsibility for my actions” in an interview to The New York Post on Friday.

Harvey Weinstein
William Farrington/Polaris

He told the post that his wife —who presented her brand’s bridal collection as the story dropped — is supporting him.

“She stands 100 percent behind me. Georgina and I have talked about this at length,” Weinstein said. “We went out with Lisa Bloom last night when we knew the article was coming out. Georgina will be with Lisa and others kicking my ass to be a better human being and to apologize to people for my bad behavior, to say I’m sorry, and to absolutely mean it.”

Weinstein also said he’s had several “tough conversations” with his family and that he’s working to prove he’s still “worthy” of them.

“I have had tough conversations with my family, really tough ones but my family is standing with me,” he later told the Daily Mail. “I have a journey and I have to prove to every person that’s out there that I’m worthy of them and I have to prove to my family the same thing,”

Harvey Weinstien
Bennett Raglin/WireImage

The Weinstein Company said Friday they had hired an independent law firm to investigate the allegations of sexual harassment against Weinstein at the company. In the meantime, the Shakespeare in Love producer will be taking an “indefinite leave of absence” from all business.

Weinstein appeared in support of the decision. “I also have the worst temper known to mankind, my system is all wrong, and sometimes I create too much tension. I lose it, and I am emotional, that’s why I’ve got to spend more time with a therapist and go away,” Weinstein told the Post about his leave of absence.

“My temper makes people feel intimidated, but I don’t even know when I’m doing it. In the past I used to compliment people, and some took it as me being sexual, I won’t do that again. I admit to a whole way of behavior that is not good. I can’t talk specifics, but I put myself in positions that were stupid, I want to respect women and do things better,” the Oscar-winning film producer added.

Harvey Weinstien and Ashley Judd
Jim Spellman/WireImage; CJ Rivera/Getty

Weinstein didn’t directly address the veracity of Judd’s claims but did discuss reading Judd’s memoir, All That Is Bitter and Sweet, in which she opened up about being a victim of sexual abuse and depression as a child.

“I never laid a glove on her,” Weinstein told the Post. “I know Ashley Judd is going through a tough time right now, I read her book. Her life story was brutal, and I have to respect her. In a year from now I am going to reach out to her.”

He also told the Daily Mail that he needs to “earn her forgiveness.”

RELATED VIDEO: Ashley Judd and Multiple Women Accuse Movie Mogul Harvey Weinstein of Sexual Harassment as He Announces Leave of Absence

Weinstein did not mention actress Rose McGowan, who was also named in the NYT piece as one of the women he had reached a settlement with.

McGowan reportedly reached a $100,000 settlement with Weinstein after an encounter in a hotel room with the executive producer in 1997 during the Sundance Film Festival.

The $100,000 payout was “not to be construed as an admission” by Weinstein, but intended to “avoid litigation and buy peace,” according to a legal document reportedly reviewed by the NYT.

Harvey Weinstein and Rose McGowan
Jeff Vespa/WireImage

While he is making some apologies, the Hollywood heavyweight still plans to sue the NYT for $50 million. Along with Bloom, Weinstein is also being represented by lawyer Charles Harder. In May 2016, Harder won a $140 million settlement for Hulk Hogan against Gawker.

Weinstein told the Post he is suing “because of the Times’ inability to be honest with me, and their reckless reporting. They told me lies. They made assumptions.”

Meanwhile on Friday, another woman stepped forward to accuse Weinstein of misconduct.

Lauren Sivan told the Huffington Post that Weinstein allegedly masturbated in front of her at Cafe Socialista, a Cuban-themed club and restaurant that Weinstein was an investor in about a decade ago, when she was a TV anchor at the time.

Sivan claims Weinstein took her to the restaurant’s kitchen, where the Hollywood producer and studio co-chairman proceeded to dismiss two staffers and attempted to kiss her, causing her to pull away and tell him she was in a relationship.

She told the outlet Weinstein answered with, “Well, can you just stand there and shut up.” She added Weinstein was blocking her exit through the kitchen, saying she was “trapped by [his] body and was intimidated.”

After the incident, Sivan claimed that Weinstein called her office the next day to tell her he “had a great time last night.” She said he invited her to meet with him again, but she reiterated her earlier statement of being in a relationship and ended the call.

Sivan claims she has had no further contact with Weinstein since the incident.

PEOPLE has reached out to Bloom and Harder regarding Sivan’s claims.

Natural History Museum crash ‘not terror-related’

Media captionVideo shows a man being pinned to the ground near the Natural History Museum

A crash outside a London museum that injured 11 people was not terror-related, police say.

A car mounted the pavement outside the Natural History Museum in Exhibition Road, South Kensington, at 14:20 BST.

The Metropolitan Police earlier said one person had been arrested and video footage that emerged on Twitter showed a man being restrained on the ground.

An update from the force said the incident was now being treated as “a road traffic collision”.

London Ambulance said the people it treated – including the detained man – had mostly sustained head and leg injuries. Nine were taken to hospital.

The Met said none of the injuries were believed to be life-threatening or life changing.

The man is being held in custody at a north London police station.

Prime Minister Theresa May tweeted her thanks to first responders and members of the public, adding: “My thoughts are with the injured.”

Image copyright
AFP/Getty Images

Image caption

A picture of the car at the scene on Exhibition Road

London Mayor Sadiq Khan also tweeted his thanks and hopes for a “swift recovery” for those injured.

“For Londoners and visitors planning to visit our excellent museums and attractions in the area, please be assured they will be open as usual tomorrow.”

It took the Met almost four hours to confirm the circumstances around the incident.

The current terror threat in the UK is at “severe” – the second highest level – meaning an attack is highly likely.

Exhibition Road is an area popular with tourists as it is home to the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

BBC reporter Chloe Hayward, who was leaving the Natural History Museum as the crash happened, said she saw a car “diagonally across the road”, looking like it had hit a bollard, before armed officers arrived.


At the scene

By Dominic Casciani, BBC home affairs correspondent

Image copyright
Reuters

We have been to the south end of Exhibition Road nearest the Tube and the area, normally a busy destination for Saturday afternoon dining by locals and tourists, is deserted.

Eyewitnesses told us that police came rushing into each bar and restaurant and told people to get out.

We can see coats on chairs – some knocked over – half-eaten meals and half-drunk glasses of wine.

Police helped one restaurant owner to recover staff belongings, like house keys, because it’s unclear when the area will reopen.


An eyewitness who was walking to the Science Museum said: “When waiting for the light, we heard what I thought was gunshots and saw a car drive over the pavement. We just ran. My friend dived on the floor and cut her hands.”

The woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “When it calmed down we walked back to where we’d been and saw a gentleman on the floor being restrained by police.”

Media captionEllie Mackay, who lives opposite South Kensington tube station, said she heard “a couple of loud bangs”

Connor Honeyman, from Essex, who was in the queue for the museum, said: “We heard a horrible thudding noise and a car engine. Everyone started running and screaming inside.

“We ran in, everyone was following us, and then all the security guards ran out and they closed the main entrance. There was much confusion before the police got there.”

Media captionThe BBC’s Chloe Hayward said she saw a car diagonally across the road

Did you witness what happened? If it is safe to do so please let us know about your experiences. Email

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Hurricane Nate is strengthening as it heads toward landfall on the northern Gulf Coast


NHC Saturday morning advisory and track forecast for Hurricane Nate. (NWS)

Hurricane Nate is headed toward landfall in the northern Gulf Coast. Upgraded to hurricane strength just before midnight Friday, the storm is now packing maximum sustained winds of 90 mph. It is moving speedily to the north at 26 mph.

Hurricane warnings are in place from Grand Isle, La., to the Alabama border with Florida. This includes the city of New Orleans, which has prompted the mayor of the Crescent City to issue mandatory evacuations for parts of the area.

Nate is expected to make landfall Saturday night, now as a Category 2 storm with 105 mph sustained winds. Rain had already begun along the northern Gulf Coast Saturday morning, and conditions will go downhill further through the afternoon and Saturday night.

In the region under a hurricane warning, a dangerous combination of damaging winds, gusting over 100 mph at times, severe coastal flooding, and torrential rain are likely.

Nate is the ninth hurricane to form in the Atlantic this season, which is the highest total since the infamous 2012 season featuring Hurricane Sandy.

Nate, which started forming earlier this week in the southwestern Caribbean, reportedly killed 25 people as it passed along Central America.

Since Friday, Nate has steadily become better organized over the warm waters of the Caribbean and southern Gulf of Mexico. While some wind shear is preventing the storm from explosively intensifying, Nate is expected to strengthen right up until landfall.

The inner bands of the storm are still located offshore, but with Nate’s fast forward motion, wind speeds and rain intensity will increase throughout Saturday. While landfall is expected to occur Saturday night, tropical storm force are likely to move into the Louisiana coast by midafternoon. They should be impacting Mississippi and Alabama near or shortly after sunset.


Most likely arrival time of tropical force winds via the NHC. (NWS)

Storm surge and damaging wind gusts are the most pressing hazards

Nate is expected to make landfall as a Category 2. Sustained hurricane-force winds and gusts over 100 mph likely to affect some locations from Southeast Louisiana to the near the Alabama-Florida border. These winds could cause widespread downed trees and power outages, as well as some structural damage. The most severe damage will tend to be concentrated in a relatively narrow zone near and just to the east of the storm center. Hurricane-force winds extend about 35 miles from the center, mainly on the east side.

But wind may not be the most dangerous hazard from Nate.

The most immediate threat for the coast will be storm surge generated from the hurricane. Storm surge is best thought of as a general rise in the water level at the coast as the storm comes ashore. It does not include waves on top of it. Water levels as high as 7 to 11 feet above normally dry ground are expected in the hardest hit parts, which the National Hurricane Center expects to be from roughly from the mouth of the Mississippi River to the Mississippi-Alabama border. Around that — as far west as Morgan City, La., and as far east as the Okaloosa-Walton County line in Florida, less severe but still problematic water rises are anticipated — and this whole zone is under a storm surge warning.

“Unfortunately, locations from Grand Isle, La., to Panama City, Fla., will have high tide around midnight, coinciding with landfall and peak storm surge, maximizing coastal inundation anywhere east of the landfall point,” said Brian McNoldy, Capital Weather Gang’s tropical weather expert

On top of the surge, there are giant waves. Nate is already generating wave heights upward of 24 feet in the Gulf of Mexico. While heights seen in open water are unlikely to make it to shore, battering waves are likely to accompany surge along the coast, especially to the east of the center.


Forecast trending to the east of New Orleans

The first round of model runs this morning showed a bit of an eastward shift in Nate’s forecast. If this occurs, it would keep New Orleans on the west, and generally less intense, side of the storm. Given Nate’s fast movement and imminent arrival of bad weather, there’s no reason to let any guard down in these areas, even if the worst misses.

In New Orleans itself, the city’s pumping system is still reeling from several heavy rain events over the summer, with 11 of the 109 city wide pumps still out of service as of earlier this week. Rain from the outer edges of Nate has already reached the area Saturday morning.


8 a.m. simulations from the American GFS model show landfall along the Alabama coast as the most likely scenario.

After landfall

Nate will also be carrying a lot of moisture and promises to drop a large amount of rainfall, despite the fact that the storm is moving quite fast.

A widespread 2 to 6 inches of rain is expected to fall along its track through Sunday. Higher amounts are likely in spots. All of this rain will fall in under 24 hours, so flash flooding will be a concern.


Upward of 10 inches of rain may fall just to the north of Nate’s landfall location. Via WPC

Because the storm is moving so fast, tropical storm-force winds, which could down trees and cause power outages, may extend fairly far inland — through much of Alabama. The National Hurricane Center predicts it could sustain tropical storm strength into Sunday evening, when it should be passing through Tennessee.

Both the “cone of uncertainty” for Nate’s future path and the rainfall forecast for the system include the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast as well. What’s left of Nate will pass west of Washington on Sunday, but we will still be close enough to tap into some much needed rain.

Capital Weather Gang’s Jason Samenow contributed to this story.

Who Was Stephen Paddock? The Mystery of a Nondescript ‘Numbers Guy’

When it came to guns, Mr. Michel said, “he was not a novice.”

The son of a bank robber and a secretary, Mr. Paddock grew up lower middle class in Southern California in the 1960s. From an early age, he focused on gaining complete control over his life and not having to rely on anyone. He cycled through a series of jobs he thought would make him rich, Eric Paddock said.

“He went to work for the I.R.S. because he thought that’s where the money was, but it turned out the money wasn’t there,” the younger Mr. Paddock said. “He went to the aerospace industry but the money wasn’t there either. He went to real estate and that’s where the money was.”

Stephen Paddock began buying and refurbishing properties in economically depressed areas around Los Angeles, teaching himself how to put in plumbing and install air-conditioning. By the late 1980s, “we had cash flow,” said Eric Paddock, who added that he had given his life savings to his older brother to invest and eventually became a partner in his company, because “that’s the kind of guy he was. I knew he would succeed.”

“He helped make my mother and I affluent enough to be retired in comfort,” he said.

With success came a rigidity and uncompromising attitude, along with two failed marriages, both short and childless. Stephen Paddock started gambling. Some who met him described him as arrogant, with a strong sense of superiority. People in his life bent to his will, even his mother and brother. He went out of his way for no one.

“He acted like everybody worked for him and that he was above others,” said John Weinreich, 48, a former executive casino host at the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, where he saw Mr. Paddock frequently from 2012 to 2014. When Mr. Paddock wanted food while he was gambling, he wanted it immediately and would order with more than one server if the meal did not arrive quickly enough.

Mr. Weinreich said he would get irritated and “uppity about it.”

Mr. Paddock was uncompromising but he was also smart.

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“I would liken him to a chess player: very analytical and a numbers guy,” Mr. Weinreich said. “He seemed to be working at a higher level mentally than most people I run into in gambling.”

Mr. Paddock cherished his solitude, his brother said. In 2003, he got his pilot’s license, eventually taking the extra step to get an instrument rating so that he could legally fly in cloudy conditions with limited visibility. He bought cookie-cutter houses in Texas and Nevada towns with small airports so that he could park his planes. He was utterly unremarkable.

“This guy paid on time every time and did not cause any problems at any time,” said Lt. Brian Parrish, the spokesman for the Police Department in Mesquite, Tex., where he rented a hangar for $285 a month from 2007 through 2009. He also stored planes at the small airport in Henderson, Nev., from 2002 to 2010, an airport spokesman said, though it is not clear he ever lived at the local addresses to which they had been registered.

Even in death, Mr. Paddock seemed to stay true to his ways. He remained in control, answerable to no one but himself. He was ensconced in a carpeted hotel suite. He was wearing gloves, as he often did to protect his sensitive skin. He shot himself before the police broke into his room. A piece of paper with numbers written on it lay on a table near his body.

“If Steve decided it was time for Steve to go, Steve got up and left,” Eric Paddock said. “He did what he wanted to do when he wanted to do it.”

The ‘Most Boring’ Son

Mr. Paddock was the oldest, and least angry, of four boys growing up in the 1950s, said another brother, Patrick Benjamin Paddock II, 60, an engineer in Tucson. Stephen Paddock was born in Iowa, the home state of their mother, Irene Hudson.

“My brother was the most boring one in the family,” Patrick Paddock said. “He was the least violent one in the family, over a 30-year history, so it’s like, who?”

Their father, Patrick Benjamin Paddock, also known as Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, was mostly absent, living a life of crime even before the boys were born. A 1969 newspaper story described him as a “glib, smooth talking ‘confidence man,’ who is egotistic and arrogant.”

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Mr. Paddock’s father, Patrick Benjamin Paddock (also known as Benjamin Hoskins Paddock), in 1979.

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Charlie Nye/The Register-Guard, via Associated Press

His rap sheet was long and included writing bad checks, stealing cars and robbing banks. He was on the F.B.I.’s most wanted list. The agency described him as an avid bridge player, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 245 pounds, who “has been diagnosed as being psychopathic, with possible suicidal tendencies.”

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Stephen Paddock learned resourcefulness and self-reliance from an early age. In 1960, when he was 7, his father went to prison for a series of bank robberies and the family moved to Southern California.

The boys’ mother raised them alone on a secretary’s salary, the younger Patrick Paddock said. The brothers would fight over who would get the whole milk. Powdered milk, less tasty but cheaper, was the norm. Their mother never explained where their father was.

“She kept that secret from the family,” Patrick Paddock said.

Stephen Paddock graduated from John H. Francis Polytechnic Senior High School in the Sun Valley neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1971, according to a Los Angeles Unified School District official. Richard Alarcon, a former Los Angeles city councilman, who lived near the Paddocks, said their neighborhood was working class, with a Japanese community center and tidy ranch houses bought with money from the G.I. Bill.

Mr. Alarcon took a science class with Mr. Paddock and remembered him as smart but with “a kind of irreverence. He didn’t always stay between the lines.”

He recalled a competition to build a bridge of balsa wood, without staples or glue. Mr. Paddock cheated, he said, using glue and extra wood.

“Everybody could see that he had cheated, but he just sort of laughed it off,” Mr. Alarcon said. “He had that funny quirky smile on his face like he didn’t care. He wanted to have the strongest bridge and he didn’t care what it took.”

A Knack for Making Money

Mr. Paddock spent his 20s and 30s trying to escape the unpredictability of poverty. He worked nights at an airport while going to the California State University, Northridge, his brother Eric said, and then at jobs with the Internal Revenue Service and as an auditor of defense contracts. But it was real estate that ultimately lifted Mr. Paddock to financial freedom.

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In 1987, he bought a 30-unit building at 1256 W. 29th Street in Los Angeles, near the University of Southern California, according to property records. His brother Eric Paddock said the buildings they bought were not “Taj Mahals, but they were nice safe places.”

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One of Stephen Paddock’s properties, on 29th Street in Los Angeles.

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Google

Crucially, they were excellent investments: Stephen Paddock more than doubled his money on his California holdings, which included at least six multifamily residences, according to property records. He made money in Texas, too. In 2012, he sold a 110-unit building in Mesquite, outside Dallas, for $8.3 million.

He was a good landlord. He kept the rents low, responded promptly to his tenants’ complaints, learned all their names and made sure they were happy. When one reliable tenant complained about a rent increase, he took half off the difference. He designed the ownership structure so his family would profit and installed his mother in a tidy house just behind the apartment complex in Mesquite, Tex.

Mr. Paddock had an apartment in the complex, but he mostly lived elsewhere. He had been married twice, but the apartment looked like a bachelor pad, said Todd Franks, a real estate broker with SVN Investment Sales Group in Dallas. “What you would expect from a 25-year-old single guy.”

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To Mr. Franks, Mr. Paddock stood out because it was unusual for the landlord of a property that size to pay such close attention to the day-to-day running of his complex.

“He was frustrated by people who did stupid things,” Mr. Franks said.

He was also willing to fight to defend what was his. During the riots in Los Angeles in the 1990s, he went to the roof of an apartment complex he owned in a flak jacket and armed with a gun, waiting for the rioters, Mr. Franks said.

Though Mr. Paddock might have adopted an accommodating attitude toward his tenants and dressed casually — Mr. Franks remembered him regularly wearing sandals and a sweatsuit — Mr. Paddock was focused and astute when he made deals.

“He was a tough negotiator,” Mr. Franks said. “He wanted his price. His terms. He was a very savvy businessman.”

The House Advantage

By the 2000s, with both of his marriages long over, casinos became Mr. Paddock’s habitat. He liked being waited on, seeing shows and eating good food.

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“He likes it when people go, ‘Oh, Mr. Paddock, can I get you a big bowl of the best shrimp anybody had ever eaten on the planet and a big glass of our best port?” Eric Paddock said.

Gambling made him feel important, if not social.

“You could tell that being in that high-limit gambling environment would lift him up,’’ said Mr. Weinreich, the Atlantis casino host in Reno. “He liked everyone doting on him.”

He sometimes called for company, inviting his brother Eric and his children for a free weekend in a luxury suite. But mostly he stayed alone.

A couple of years ago, Mr. Paddock stayed in one Las Vegas hotel gambling for four months straight, said a gaming industry analyst here who was briefed on Mr. Paddock’s gambling history.

The analyst described him as a midlevel high roller, capable of losing $100,000 in one session, which could extend over several days. He said Mr. Paddock may have lost that amount at the Red Rock Casino in Las Vegas within the last few months.

Playing a slot machine can be mindless and is usually a guaranteed win for the casino. That is not what Mr. Paddock played. His game, video poker, requires some skill. Players have to know the history of a particular machine. They can do that by reading a pay table, which tells them what each possible winning hand pays out.

One of the ways that video poker players get an advantage is to play casino promotions, which essentially pay out bonuses to winners, said Richard Munchkin, author of “Gambling Wizards: Conversations With the World’s Greatest Gamblers.” A gambler like Mr. Paddock will often “lock” a machine, meaning he or she monopolizes it and makes sure no one else uses it during a gambling session.

For one casino promotion, Mr. Paddock showed up two hours early, locked two machines and played them for 14 hours straight, Mr. Munchkin said, based on information he had compiled from other gamblers who were there at the time. The promotion lasted 12 hours, he said, “but he wanted to play for two hours before anybody got those machines. He knew they were the best machines based on pay tables.”

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Mr. Paddock “knew the house advantage down to a tenth of a percent,” he said.

As for the mystery of why Mr. Paddock would go on a shooting rampage at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and then kill himself, most in the gambling industry do not believe it had anything to do with money.

He was in good standing with MGM Properties, the owner of the Mandalay and the Bellagio, according to a person familiar with his gambling history. He had a $100,000 credit limit, the person said, but never used the full amount.

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Along Las Vegas Boulevard this week.

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Jim Wilson/The New York Times

The Absent Neighbor

Mr. Paddock spent so much time in casinos that he was mostly a ghost in the neighborhoods where he had homes.

Colleen Maas, a neighbor of Mr. Paddock’s in Reno, said she had not seen him once in a year and a half, despite walking her dog three times a day and going to line dancing events with his girlfriend, Ms. Danley, at the community center.

He did travel. On his 60th birthday, April 9, 2013, he flew to the Philippines on Japan Airlines and stayed for five days, according to a spokeswoman for the Philippine Bureau of Immigration. The family of Ms. Danley, his girlfriend, lived there and she was visiting the country at the time. The couple went again for his birthday the following year.

When he did appear at his Reno home, he could be curt. Another neighbor, John McKay, recalled a day when he was hanging Christmas lights on a railing in his front yard when Mr. Paddock walked by. Mr. McKay said hello and yelled out, “Merry Christmas!” Mr. Paddock kept walking. “He said nothing,” Mr. McKay said. “Not a word. No eye contact.”

Even more baffling, when Mr. McKay tried to strike up a conversation with Mr. Paddock about Donald Trump during the election campaign, he got no response.

“Almost everyone has a reaction to Trump,” said Mr. McKay’s wife, Darlene.

Ms. McKay said that she would usually get up early each morning to watch the sunrise and, when Mr. Paddock was at his home, she would see him dressed in his gym clothes walking to the community center for a workout. Ms. McKay recalled something peculiar: “He always walked across the street and would never pass in front of our house.”

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Mr. McKay said that he rarely saw a window or a door open at the house. One day he saw Mr. Paddock’s garage door open, and noticed a large safe inside.

It is not clear what set Mr. Paddock on his path to destruction. As early as 2010, he could no longer fly his planes. His medical certificate expired, according to Federal Aviation Administration records, and there are no indications that he renewed it.

Mr. Paddock bought his last house in Mesquite, Nev., a retirement community of 18,000 people about 90 minutes from Las Vegas that attracts golfers and gamblers from around the country. He seems to have paid in cash, according to property records, and, as he did with other houses, spent very little time there.

His neighbors added personal touches to their yards — decorative pots, plants of all colors and sizes. Mr. Paddock’s house was unadorned. One of the few things neighbors remembered about him was the solid-panel fence he erected. The message was clear: Mr. Paddock was a man who did not want to be seen. On Thursday, investigators had left. A tiny paint-splattered easel, its brush drawer open and empty, stood in the back yard.

Ms. Danley worked in Mesquite. She took a job booking sports bets at a local casino called the Virgin River, where gamblers sat together in rows watching horse races and waitresses circled in tight black skirts.

Several days a week, she attended morning mass at a local Catholic church, said Leo McGinty, 80, a fellow parishioner who knew her from the casino.

Ms. Danley dressed smartly and modestly, he said. She usually sat alone.

Reporting was contributed by Stephanie Saul, Vivian Yee and Susan Beachy from New York; Adam Goldman from Washington; Kitty Bennett from St. Petersburg, Fla.; Miriam Jordan from Los Angeles; Sheryl Kornman from Tucson; and Richard C. Paddock from Manila.


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Trump says he called Schumer to broker deal with Democrats for ‘a great HealthCare Bill’


President Trump meets Sept. 6 with Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other congressional leaders in the Oval Office. (Evan Vucci/AP)

This post has been updated.

Frustrated by Republican inaction on health care, President Trump tweeted Saturday that he had reached out to the Senate Democratic leader in hopes of brokering a deal for a “great HealthCare Bill.”

Trump said that he had called Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Friday to ask whether Democrats would work with him on health care — and Trump indicated that he had not been entirely rebuffed.

In a Saturday morning tweet, Trump wrote, “I called Chuck Schumer yesterday to see if the Dems want to do a great HealthCare Bill. ObamaCare is badly broken, big premiums. Who knows!”

Schumer responded, saying he was willing to work with Trump to “improve the existing health care system” but not to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, former president Barack Obama’s signature 2010 health-care law.

“The president wanted to make another run at repeal and replace and I told the president that’s off the table,” Schumer said in a statement. “If he wants to work together to improve the existing health care system, we Democrats are open to his suggestions. A good place to start might be the Alexander-Murray negotiations that would stabilize the system and lower costs.”

Schumer was referring to a bipartisan health-care proposal by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.).

On Friday, Democratic lawmakers condemned new rules issued by the Trump administration that widen the range of employers and insurers that can avoid the ACA requirement that birth control pills and other contraceptives be covered by insurance as part of preventive care because of religious beliefs.

“Particularly after the birth control decision yesterday, the administration has to stop sabotaging the law before anything real can happen,” a Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the aide was not authorized to be quoted by name, said Saturday.

Trump’s outreach to Schumer comes after the president infuriated fellow Republicans by negotiating a deal last month with Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to raise the debt ceiling and fund the government.

Trump’s dealings with “Chuck and Nancy,” as he affectionately called them, was seen by some congressional Republicans as an act of betrayal but have earned the president plaudits and framed him as the bipartisan dealmaker he said he would be.

Republicans control the House and Senate but have repeatedly failed to pass their health-care bill through the upper chamber. Their efforts to “repeal and replace Obamacare,” which for years has been the GOP’s campaign mantra, so far have garnered no Democratic support.

But Schumer and other Democrats have said they would be open to discussions with Trump and other Republicans to consider selective changes to the ACA. This summer, Schumer publicly offered to negotiate with Trump if Republicans were willing to drop what he called a “fundamentally flawed approach.”

“Let’s start over,” the Democratic leader said in June, challenging the president to invite Senate Democrats to Blair House for a meeting. “You think we’re not serious? Try us. Democrats are ready to turn the page on health care.”

Hurricanes Harvey, Irma sink US payrolls in September

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. employment fell in September for the first time in seven years as Hurricanes Harvey and Irma left displaced workers temporarily unemployed and delayed hiring, the latest indication that the storms undercut economic activity in the third quarter.

The Labor Department said on Friday nonfarm payrolls decreased by 33,000 jobs last month amid a record drop in employment in the leisure and hospitality sector.

The decline in payrolls was the first since September 2010. The Department said its analysis suggested that the net effect of Harvey and Irma, which wreaked havoc in Texas and Florida in late August and early September, was to “reduce the estimate of total nonfarm payroll employment for September.”

“While nonfarm payrolls declined last month, investors will find solace in a whole host of other labor market indicators that reveal an underlying labor market that continues to show evidence of resilience and continued tightening,” said Scott Anderson, chief U.S. economist at Bank of the West in San Francisco.

Economists had forecast payrolls increasing by 90,000 jobs last month. Payrolls are calculated from a survey of employers, which treats any worker who was not paid for any part of the pay period that includes the 12th of the month as unemployed.

Many of the dislocated people will probably return to work. That, together with rebuilding and clean-up is expected to boost job growth in the coming months. Leisure and hospitality payrolls dived 111,000, the most since records started in 1939, after being unchanged in August.

There were also decreases in retail and manufacturing employment last month. Stripping out the effects of the hurricanes, the labor market remains strong. The government revised data for August to show 169,000 jobs created that month instead of the previously reported 156,000.

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Harvey and Irma did not have an impact on the unemployment rate, which fell two-tenths of a percentage point to 4.2 percent, the lowest since February 2001. The smaller survey of households from which the jobless rate is derived treats a person as employed regardless of whether they missed work during the reference week and were unpaid as result.

The decrease in the unemployment rate reflected a 906,000 surge in household employment, which offset a 575,000 increase in the labor force.

The dollar was trading higher against a basket of currencies after the data, while prices for U.S. Treasuries fell. Stocks on Wall Street fell marginally.

DISRUPTIONS BOOST WAGES

Underscoring the disruptive impact of the hurricanes, the household survey showed 1.5 million people stayed at home in September because of the bad weather, the most since January 1996. About 2.9 million people worked part-time, the largest number since February 2014.

The length of the average workweek was unchanged at 34.4 hours. With the hurricane-driven temporary unemployment concentrated in low-paying industries like retail and leisure and hospitality, average hourly earnings increased 12 cents or 0.5 percent in September after rising 0.2 percent in August.

That pushed the annual increase in wages to 2.9 percent, the largest gain since December 2016, from 2.7 percent in August.

The mixed employment report should not change views the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December. Fed Chair Janet Yellen cautioned last month that the hurricanes could “substantially” weigh on September job growth, but expected the effects would “unwind relatively quickly.”

“The Fed has been hyper-focused on wage growth, so the above-average increase will be a welcome relief, even if there is some storm impact embedded in the number,” said Marvin Loh, senior global markets strategist at BNY Mellon in Boston. “We think that the report strengthens the Fed’s December hike hand.”

The U.S. central bank said last month it expected “labor market conditions will strengthen somewhat further.” The Fed left interest rates unchanged in September, but signaled it expected one more hike by the end of the year. It has increased borrowing costs twice this year.

Annual wage growth of at least 3.0 percent is need to raise inflation to the Fed’s 2 percent target, analysts say.

The employment report added to August consumer spending, industrial production, homebuilding and home sales data in suggesting that the hurricanes will dent economic growth in the third quarter.

Economists estimate that the back-to-back storms, including Hurricane Maria which destroyed infrastructure in Puerto Rico last month, could shave at least six-tenths of a percentage point from third-quarter gross domestic product.

Growth estimates for the July-September period are as low as a 1.8 percent annualized rate. The economy grew at a 3.1 percent rate in the second quarter.

Private payrolls fell by 40,000 jobs, the biggest drop since February 2010. Manufacturing employment slipped by 1,000 jobs pulled down by declines at motor vehicle assembly and chemical plants as well as textile mills.

Retail employment fell by 2,900 jobs as food stores payrolls tumbled 6,900. There were also declines in employment at department stores. Construction payrolls rose 8,000 in September as a 3,900 drop in jobs at homebuilding sites was offset by increases elsewhere.

Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Andrea Ricci