NATION/WORLD Friday, September 7, 2018 East Oregonian Trump officials cry ‘Not me!’ as he fumes over column in The New York Times WASHINGTON (AP) — One after another, President Donald Trump’s top lieu- tenants stepped forward Thursday to declare, “Not me.” They lined up to deny writing an incendiary New York Times opinion piece that was pur- portedly submitted by a member of an admin- istration “resistance” movement straining to thwart Trump’s most dangerous impulses. By email, by tweet and on camera, the denials paraded in from Cabinet-level offi- cials — and even Vice President Mike Pence — apparently crafted for an audience of one, seated in the Oval Office. Senior officials in key national security and economic policy roles charged the article’s writer with cow- ardice, disloyalty and acting against Ameri- ca’s interests in harsh terms that mimicked the president’s own words. Trump was incensed about the column, calling around to confidants to vent about the author, solicit guesses as to his or her identity and fume that a “deep state” within the admin- istration was conspiring against him. He ordered aides to unmask the writer, and issued an extraordinary demand that the newspaper reveal the author to the government. As striking as the essay was the long list of officials who plausibly could have been its author. Many have privately shared some of the article’s same concerns about Trump with colleagues, friends and reporters. Twitter permanently bans Alex Jones, Infowars, citing abusive behavior online NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter perma- nently banned right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars show for abu- sive behavior, a day after CEO Jack Dorsey testified before Congress about alleged bias against conservatives on the platform. The company said Jones won’t be able to create new accounts on Twitter or take over any existing ones. In a tweet, it said it would continue to monitor reports about other accounts potentially associated with Jones or Infowars, and will “take action” if it finds any attempts to circumvent the ban. Twitter said Jones posted a video on Wednesday that violates the company’s pol- icy against “abusive behavior.” That video showed Jones berating CNN journalist Oli- ver Darcy for some 10 minutes in between two congressional hearings on social media. Dorsey testified at both hearings, but did not appear to witness the confrontation. Jones had about 900,000 followers on Twitter. Infowars had about 430,000. Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment. AP Photo/Noah Berger A scorched VW Beetle rests in a clearing after the Delta Fire burned through the Lamoine community in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Calif., on Thursday. New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pal- lone praised Twitter’s action in a tweet. “Glad Twitter is taking steps to put an end to the abu- sive behavior from Alex Jones & Infowars,” the tweet stated. “Tweets designed to threaten, belittle, demean and silence individuals have no place on this platform.” Mexican prosecutors find 166 skulls in mass graves MEXICO CITY (AP) — Investigators said Thursday they have found 166 skulls in clan- destine burial pits in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, one of the biggest mass graves dis- covered so far in Mexico. Veracruz state prosecutor Jorge Winck- ler said that for security reasons he would not reveal the location of the site. Mexican drug cartels frequently use clan- destine pits to dispose of their victims. Winckler said the bodies were buried at least two years ago and did not rule out find- ing more remains. He said investigators had found 114 ID cards in the field, which held about 32 burial pits. Clothes, personal possession and other parts of skeletons also were recovered, but investigators focused on the skulls in count- ing, because each corresponds to one person. California takes financial wallop from wildfires SHASTA-TRINITY NATIONAL FOR- EST, Calif. (AP) — California is taking a financial wallop from unrelenting wildfires that have drained its firefighting budget and prompted nearly $1 billion in property claims even before the start of the dangerous fall fire season, officials said Thursday. The disclosures came as a roaring blaze in a rural area near the Oregon border closed 45 miles (72 kilometers) of heavily traveled Interstate 5, the main highway from Mexico to Canada. Fierce orange flames forced panicked truckers to abandon big-rigs and brought screams from motorists as they watched the advancing fire in Shasta-Trinity National Forest. A decision was expected Friday on when to reopen the highway. The wildfire flared just weeks after a blaze in the Redding area killed eight people and burned about 1,100 homes. Democrats make final attempt to block Kavanaugh confirmation to High Court WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Demo- crats mounted a last, ferocious attempt Thurs- day to paint Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh as a foe of abortion rights and a likely defender of President Donald Trump if he makes it to the high court. But their chances of blocking Trump’s nominee seemed to fade away by the end of a second marathon day of testimony in his confirmation hearing. Questioning of the 53-year-old appellate judge wound down without him revealing much about his judicial stances or making any serious mistakes that might jeopardize his con- firmation. In what almost seemed like a cele- bration, Kavanaugh’s two daughters returned to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing room for the final hours of testimony, accom- panied by teammates on Catholic school bas- ketball teams their father has coached. Page 7A The hearing pivoted during the day to Roe v. Wade, the high court’s landmark abortion case. The Democrats’ best hope of stopping Kavanaugh — who could swing the court further to the right for decades — would be branding him as a justice who might vote to overturn the ruling, attracting the votes of two Republican senators who support abortion rights. A newly disclosed email suggested he once indicated the abortion case was not settled law, though Kavanaugh denied in the hear- ing that he had been expressing his personal views on the issue. The tone in the email from 2003 contrasted with his responses to questions on Wednesday when he stressed how difficult it is to over- turn precedents like Roe. In the email, Kava- naugh was reviewing a potential op-ed arti- cle in support of two judicial nominees while he was working at the George W. Bush White House. The document had been held by the committee as confidential, but was made pub- lic Thursday. Film academy president says popular Oscar proposal was ‘misunderstood’ LOS ANGELES (AP) — The idea to hand out a popular film Oscar has been shelved for now following widespread backlash, but film academy president John Bailey says that the new category was well-intentioned in its efforts to reflect a changing industry and mis- understood by its critics. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Thursday that it will further study plans for the category, citing the fact that implementing a new award three quarters of the way into the year would create challenges for films that have already been released. The academy announced the new cate- gory for “outstanding achievement in pop- ular film” last month without parameters, spawning immediate questions about the cri- teria and how it would impact critically and commercially films such as “Black Panther,” which has been cited as a possible best pic- ture contender. Bailey told The Associated Press he was surprised by the negative reaction to the new category and feels that that people did not understand its goal to give recognition to the kinds of films that are being made today. “The idea of this award was not about try- ing to make sure that certain kinds of big mass market pictures get recognized. To my mind, it’s more about the kind of pictures that are so difficult to get made,” Bailey said, citing films that he worked on like “The Big Chill” and “Ordinary People” as the kind of “mid- dle pictures” that major studios don’t make as many of and, when they do, aren’t often rec- ognized with the film industry’s most presti- gious award. 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