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No major poll has her topping 2% — but, as far as the viewing audience of Tuesday night’s Democratic primary debate is concerned, no one walked away a bigger winner than Marianne Williamson. The spiritual guru and self-help author captivated viewers by proclaiming a “dark psychic force” is emanating from the White House and invoking “Seinfeld” catchphrase “yada, yada, yada,” making her the most Googled candidate during the debate, according to the search engine. The hype carried over to social media, where fans posted appreciation of the political outsider’s left-field, stream-of-consciousness style. “Just donated to Marianne Williamson’s campaign by tossing three precious gems into a koi pond,” tweeted comedian Tim Duffy. In a crack that also mocked CNN’s ham-fisted presentation of the debate, user @RoederTeagan tweeted of Williamson, “The Moderators only cut her off because they fear her.” Even if Williamson’s White House bid falls short, writer @JayJurden saw a Washington post...

The Yankees seemed to take a step back in the race to win a championship on Wednesday, as they failed to add anyone at the trade deadline and Houston picked up another potential ace and some solid bullpen arms. But don’t tell that to Zack Britton. “I think we’re good enough to win a World Series with what we have in-house,’’ Britton said after the Yankees topped the Diamondbacks, 7-5, in The Bronx. “This is by far the best team I’ve seen [the Yankees] put together since I’ve been in the big leagues.” The left-hander acknowledged their recent performance hasn’t been championship-caliber, but he remains confident the Yankees can knock off Houston in the postseason, if it comes to that — even with an Astros rotation that now includes Zack Greinke, Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole. Britton used his own experience to explain why. “I remember being in Baltimore, playing the Detroit Tigers in the ALDS,” Britton said of the 2014 series. “We had to face [Max] Scherzer, Verlander and David...

Council Speaker Corey Johnson said on Wednesday that the NYPD officer who killed Eric Garner while trying to detain him on a Staten Island street should have been fired “years ago.” Johnson tweeted the statement about officer Daniel Pantaleo during the 2019 Democratic presidential debate on CNN, while Mayor Bill de Blasio and former vice president Joe Biden were spatting about the incident. “Pantaleo should have been fired years ago. Period,” Johnson, a Democrat, wrote. Multiple democratic candidates, including Sen. Kirsten Gillbrand (D-NY), said during the debate that the cop should have been fired. De Blasio blamed the federal government for dragging their heels. Pantaleo wrestled Garner to the concrete during an arrest for selling loose cigarettes in Tompkinsville in July 2014. Despite the fact that a medical examiner called Garner’s death a homicide as result of pressure placed on his neck, former Staten Island district attorney Dan Donovan did not indict the officer for a c...

The way things are supposed to work, the Federal Reserve shouldn’t have seen the job figures for July that will be reported Friday. Those numbers are supposed to be secret until late Thursday, when the head of the Federal Reserve is given a sneak peek. But considering that the Fed was contemplating what to do about rates at meetings earlier this week, I wouldn’t be surprised if the sneak peek became a wink and nod about the numbers earlier than was allowed. And I’m OK with that. Because if Friday’s figures are too strong, the Fed is going to have a lot of explaining to do over why it decided to cut interest rates this week even though the economy seems to be doing well enough. The nation’s unemployment rate — which is a widely followed, albeit lousy, economic indicator — is at its lowest level in 50 years. And the economy is growing at an acceptable 2.6 percent annual rate so far this year. Those aren’t the sort of numbers that would cause the Fed to urgently act. And if Friday...

DETROIT, Mich. — Mayor Bill de Blasio touted New York’s $15 minimum wage during Wednesday night’s Democratic debate — but a top aide for Gov. Andrew Cuomo wasn’t going to let him steal all the glory. “When I became the mayor of the nation’s largest city I set us on a path of bold change,” de Blasio said during his opening statement. “They said it couldn’t be done but we gave pre-k to every child for free. We got rid of stop and frisk and we lowered crime. We raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Yes it can be done.” That statement sparked a fight over $15 — with Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to Gov. Cuomo snapping back. “Since this is likely the last time he’ll likely be on stage, I’m going fact check: de Blasio had 0 to do with the statewide $15 min wage win…& raised min wage for NYC muni workers to $15 only AFTER statewide fast food workers & the cities of Rochester, Buffalo, and Syracuse,” DeRosa tweeted . In response, de Blasio press secretary Freddi Goldstein tweeted a...

Here’s the ironic thing about next year’s presidential election: The economy will be boosted by the flood of campaign money being spent at a time when the 26 Democrats running for president want the economy to look lousy so they can defeat President Trump. And the economy will be the major issue during the 2020 election because it always is during a presidential election. Think about it. Those 26 candidates, plus Trump, are projected to spend nearly $10 billion on advertising alone. And there will be, of course, a ripple effect from all that spending. By that I mean that people at the advertising companies and media organizations will be richer because of those ads and they will make purchases with their newfound wealth. They’ll buy shoes. And the shoe salesman will feel wealthier and, say, go out and buy a nice dinner. And the waiter at the shoe salesman’s restaurant will go to Subway for a hero sandwich. And each dollar of that $10 billion will trickle down the line until mult...

The privileged San Francisco teenager accused of fatally stabbing a police officer in Rome once pummeled a classmate at a party, causing a severe brain injury, according to a recent report. Finnegan Lee Elder — who allegedly knifed undercover cop Mario Cerciello Rega to death last week — was 16 when he punched one of his high school football teammates during a late-night bash in Stern Grove park in Oct. 2016, sources told the San Francisco Chronicle. The victim, who was also 16, struck his head when he fell and was hospitalized with “life-threatening injuries,” police said at the time. It took a long time for the teen to recover, but he has since graduated high school and is attending college, the article said. Elder turned himself in after the incident and was arrested on suspicion of battery involving serious bodily injury. His case was adjudicated in juvenile court, which found that he committed a felony offense, the sources said. It’s unclear what, if any, punishment he faced...

A woman busted for leaving her infant in the car as she allegedly downed two shots at a Texas bar could be seen beaming a bright smile in her mugshot. Samantha Grace Vaughan was grinning and sporting a gash on her forehead after her 2 a.m. arrest on Sunday for child endangerment charges outside of Trackside Night Club in Copperas Cove. Authorities had been dispatched to the nightspot when somebody called about a 1-year-old child left inside a running car, according to an arrest affidavit. Police found Vaughan’s infant sleeping in a safety seat in the back of the unlocked Buick, the records said. Copperas Cove police then found the child’s mom inside the bar. At first Vaughan told cops she simply stopped inside to go the bathroom, despite reeking of booze, the affidavit said. Vaughan then admitted to drinking two shots, and then spewed a racial epithet, prompting cops to cuff her. The mother again changed her story, telling cops she went to the bathroom, found her husband and the...

This trade deadline was Knicks’ free agency — a lot of noise, tons of anticipation and a payoff of Julius Randle and Bobby Portis. Yeah, Zack Greinke was traded, but Madison Bumgarner, Noah Syndergaard, Zack Wheeler, Mike Minor, Robbie Ray, Felipe Vazquez, Kirby Yates, Will Smith and Ken Giles weren’t. There were rumors of a great deadline. But Fyre Festival attendees got a better payoff than baseball fans anticipating July 31 blockbusters — at least baseball fans outside of Houston, which landed Greinke. What happened? Ownership matters The Wilpons do not spend commensurate to their market size. But they also don’t ever want to rebuild. They see any glimmer of hope as a chance to, at minimum, keep attention on the Mets and fans in the seats over the final two months. So they added Marcus Stroman and retained Syndergaard and Wheeler. The Reds, with a worse record than the Mets, obtained Trevor Bauer because, like the Wilpons, owner Bob Castellini hates surrender. His attendance i...

Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to unveil a plan he’ll tout as the “most aggressive wealth tax” during Wednesday night’s Democratic debate. In fact, De Blasio, in his opening statement said, “When I am president, we will even up the score, and we will tax the hell out of the wealthy.” Hizzoner’s proposal would bring in an additional $1 trillion a year, according to his spokeswoman Jaclyn Rothenberg. As part of his long-shot presidential bid, de Blasio has tried to pitch himself as a candidate looking out for working people — but he hasn’t been getting much attention. “There’s plenty of money in this country – it’s just in the wrong hands,” de Blasio has repeated through his quixotic campaign. His plan would lob a 1% wealth tax on people who have $10 million or more, 2% on those with more than $25 million and 3 percent for folks with more than $100 million. De Blasio’s plans also adds a “Turncoat Tax” that would punish Americans who try to skip out on taxes by moving assets overseas. ...

CHICAGO — Remember Toonces the Driving Cat? For some inexplicable reason, in this recurring “Saturday Night Live” sketch, Toonces’ human owners thought it would be a good idea to let the enthusiastic feline take command of an automobile. The gambit typically concluded with Toonces driving the entire family over a cliff. Most important, the hijinks never failed to entertain. For some inexplicable reason, the Mets’ owners thought it would be a good idea to let Brodie Van Wagenen run their baseball operations. They continued this gambit even after Van Wagenen’s initial decisions took the team over a cliff. And so form held on Wednesday with the passing of the trade deadline putting the Mets in the extremely unlikely position of go-for-it buyers. Was this the smart play? Of course not. But if you can’t be smart, you might as well be entertaining, right? “We’re gonna make a run at this thing,” Mets manager Mickey Callaway said Wednesday, before the Mets continued their series with the ...

Hecklers shouting “Fire Pantaleo” interrupted both Mayor Bill de Blasio and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker during Wednesday night’s Democratic debate. One protester could be heard chiming in during de Blasio’s opening statement, calling on Hizzoner to boot NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, the cop who put Eric Garner in a deadly chokehold five years ago. Then, during Booker’s statement, a loud chorus erupted in the same cries. Booker was forced to stop until the agitators were silenced. A Booker staffer tweeted : “To the folks who were standing up to Mayor de Blasio a few minutes ago — good for you. That’s how change is made. #DemDebate” About seven to 10 people were removed from Detroit’s historic Fox Theater, a source said. The mayor has refused to say whether Pantaleo should be fired over Garner’s death. But earlier Wednesday, a surrogate for his long-shot presidential campaign told The Post the mayor would have fired Pantaleo “immediately” if he could have. “But unfortunately, the...

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman came away from Wednesday’s trade deadline empty-handed. There was no last-minute surprise, like Houston pulled with Zack Greinke, or an early move, as Cincinnati made to get Trevor Bauer on Tuesday. Instead, the Yankees decided to try to win their first title in a decade with the group — and the rotation — they had leading up to the deadline. “This is a damn good roster and it can compete, we feel, with anybody in the game,’’ Cashman said. So far, it has. With Wednesday’s 7-5 win over Arizona in The Bronx, the Yankees maintained their sizeable lead in the AL East, but they also saw one of their main challengers for the AL pennant, the Astros, make significant additions, with Greinke now part of their rotation and Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini joining the bullpen from the Blue Jays. If the Yankees were disappointed by the turn of events, they didn’t show it. “I think we’ve got a real good shot,’’ Zack Britton said. “We’ve got to play better ...

Former Vice President Joe Biden asked Sen. Kamala Harris to do him a favor as the Democratic debates got underway on Wednesday night. “Go easy on me, kid,” he could be heard telling the California lawmaker while greeting her on stage. The two of them took several shots at each other during the first debate, and were expected to do the same on Wednesday night. Biden’s advisers have reportedly suggested that he be “more aggressive” for the second event and fight back more. Many experts and pundits feel Harris got the better of him at the last debate. Credit: Source link The post ‘Go easy on me, kid’ appeared first on Fox USA Live . from Fox USA Live https://ift.tt/2K8XVzW

CHICAGO — For as many calls as general manager Brodie Van Wagenen took heading into Wednesday’s trade deadline, he ultimately couldn’t part with his big guns. Noah Syndergaard and Zack Wheeler, welcome back to the Mets — not that they ever left. Edwin Diaz, your place in the Mets bullpen is secure. Rebuilding is for disasters, and it’s clear Van Wagenen doesn’t view the Mets in such a category. “We wanted to make sure we only considered moves that were going to improve our club and keep us on mission,” Van Wagenen said. “And anything short of that ultimately was not going to be something we were willing to entertain.” In total, the Mets subbed Marcus Stroman — acquired from the Blue Jays last weekend for two minor league pitching prospects — for Jason Vargas, who was dealt to the Phillies for Double-A catcher Austin Bossart. Wheeler remained the strongest possibility to depart in the waning hours of the deadline (the Rays and Astros were most heavily interested), but Van Wagenen ...

President Trump on Wednesday tweeted a  video clip that shows Rep. Elijah Cummings describing his hometown of Baltimore as a “drug-infested area” during a Congressional hearing 20 years ago. “The Radical Left Dems went after me for using the words ‘drug-infested’ concerning Baltimore. Take a look at Elijah C.,” Trump wrote. On the 30-second clip, the Maryland Democrat says, “This morning, I left my community of Baltimore, a drug-infested area where a lot of the drugs that we’re talking about today have already taken the lives of so many children.” “The same children that I watched 14 or 15 years ago as they grew up, now walking around like zombies. This is only 40 miles away from here,” he adds. The clip was also posted earlier Wednesday by the Trump presidential campaign’s @TrumpWarRoom account. It was taken from a four-hour-plus hearing on the “narcotics threat from Columbia” that was held by a House government reform subcommittee and shown live on the C-SPAN2 cable channe...

Our daily practice report from Giants training camp: Good Eli Manning was 9-for-12 in 11-on-11 drills. Golden Tate was a big target for Manning, as the two continue to develop their chemistry on the field. Bad Manning might have had a solid day, but a pick from safety Antoine Bethea ended the veteran quarterback’s day on a sour note. Caught my eye Jabrill Peppers is a menace on kick returns. He’s noticeably one of the smallest guys on the field and that translates into his ability to weave in and out of traffic down field. His creativity during individual drills are also worth taking note of. Keeping up with the Jones Daniel Jones went 4-for-5 during the blitz period and 11-for-18 in the 11-on-11 drills. He had only one deflection and one throw away all practice. He ended with a touchdown pass to Alonzo Russell in the two-minute drills. Medical report Sam Beal looked completely healthy after sustaining a groin injury earlier in the week. He was running full speed and didn’t ...

A 22-year-old Iowa man drowned on his Florida honeymoon Tuesday when he went swimming in the ocean for the first time, according to reports. Dalton Cottrell and his newlywed wife Cheyenne, both 22, were in the water at a beach near St. Augustine when the couple got swept 100 yards out to sea by a strong rip current, according to CNN. “Cheyenne advised he began to struggle and she attempted to assist him but was unable to help due to him pulling her under,” police said in a statement obtained by KCRG. “She advised at one point after him being under the water for approximately for a minute he came back up, and his eyes were rolled in the back of his head.” A nearby beachgoer joined the lifeguard in a rescue effort and used a paddleboard to guide Cottrell back to shore, CNN reported. The lifeguard tried to revive Cottrell, who went into cardiac arrest before dying at a nearby hospital. Cheyenne later told authorities that it was her husband’s first time in the ocean. The widow sha...

CHICAGO — For two days, Marcus Stroman existed in a sort of limbo, staying away physically from his new team as he packed his many belongings in Toronto and wasn’t exactly sure what sort of group he’d be joining. Then came Wednesday, and Stroman threw on a Mets uniform for the first time. And to his delight, no one else removed his Mets uniform as the trade deadline passed. “I was praying we didn’t trade any of those guys that were being rumored about, [Zack] Wheeler and [Noah] Syndergaard,” Stroman said Wednesday, after the deadline and before the Mets continued their series with the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field (worst ballpark name ever). “Because I actually think we can have the best staff in all of baseball.” Stroman, who last pitched for the Blue Jays on July 24, threw an extended bullpen session Wednesday and will make his Mets debut Saturday night in Pittsburgh. “It’s tough,” he said of the unusually long layoff. “But it’ll be good. I’m not worried about it. I go out ...

Five Ohio police officers have been hit with departmental charges in connection with the 2018 arrest of porn star Stormy Daniels, the department announced Wednesday. Columbus police said a department commander, a lieutenant, a sergeant and two officers from the now-disbanded VICE squad could face discipline ranging from suspension to termination for the July 2018 arrest of Daniels at Sirens Gentleman’s Club. None of the officers were identified. “Chief Tom Quinlan made this decision because these officers violated the Columbus Division of Police rules of conduct,” the department’s statement said. “The director of public safety will make the final decision based on Chief Quinlan’s recommendations following a hearing with each officer unless the discipline is a reprimand. If the discipline is a reprimand then the chief’s decision is final.” Daniels and two other women were accused of touching three undercover detectives, but the charges were later dropped. The arrest helped prompt...