News from the note…

A round up of the day’s news that might be of interest to you.

This is an OPEN THREAD,  folks. Chat about any of the stories listed, share links to stories that caught your eye today, and generally have a good time discussing whatever you want.

House majority leader deletes tweet saying Soros, Bloomberg, Steyer are trying to ‘buy’ election

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy posted and later deleted a tweet last week that suggested three Jewish, billionaire Democratic donors were attempting to “buy” the 2018 midterm elections.

“We cannot allow Soros, Steyer, and Bloomberg to BUY this election! Get out and vote Republican November 6th. #MAGA,” McCarthy wrote in the tweet posted Tuesday and deleted a day later, a reference to top donors to Democratic causes George Soros and Tom Steyer and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Twitter users quickly condemned McCarthy’s claim, saying it was insensitive given the fact that it came just one day after authorities intercepted what appeared to be a pipe bomb sent to Soros’ New York home.

On Friday, a suspicious package addressed to Steyer, a hedge fund manager who is leading a campaign to impeach President Donald Trump, was discovered in Burlingame, California, making him one of more than a dozen prominent political figures and critics of the President who were the intended recipients of suspicious packages, some carrying pipe bombs, including former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

CNN

Pipe bomb suspect had list of more than 100 targets: report

The man accused of sending pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and CNN last week had a list of over 100 people he planned to target, NBC News reported.

Law enforcement will be warning those targeted, including politicians, entertainers, and members of the media, of his alleged intention to mail them crude pipe bombs, a senior law enforcement official told NBC.

Cesar Sayoc Jr. was charged last Friday with mailing the bombs to more than a dozen targets, including various high-profile Democrats like former President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

If convicted on all charges, Sayoc would face over 50 years in prison, according to authorities. 

Sayoc has a lengthy criminal history and has been previously arrested for making bomb threats and other incidents dating back to the 1990s.

The Hill

Indonesia Lion Air flight crashes en route from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang

A Lion Air flight capable of carrying up to 189 passengers has crashed during a short flight from the Indonesian capital Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang, according to Indonesia’s National Search and Rescue Agency.

A spokesman for the low-cost carrier confirmed to CNN affiliate CNN Indonesia that it had lost contact with Lion Air flight JT 610 Monday morning, local time.

The plane took off from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Greater Jakarta,and had been due to land at around 7:30 a.m. local time in Pangkal Pinan, the largest city on the Indonesian island of Bangka.

CNN

Rosenstein announces new hate crimes reporting website

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced Monday that the Justice Department would launch a website consolidating information for reporting hate crimes.

Rosenstein made the announcement during a roundtable discussion with law enforcement officials following the deadly shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The man arrested in connection to the shooting appeared to have a history of anti-Semetic rhetoric on social media and is being charged with federal hate crimes.

The new website will be a “one-stop portal” with information for law enforcement, prosecutors and the general public to learn about all the resources available to report hate crimes, Rosenstein said. The new site is part of an ongoing effort within the Department of Justice to expand protections against hate crimes and to bridge gaps in hate crime reporting.

Politico

At a small US factory, Trump’s trade war forces hard changes

Sitting in his office beside photos of grandchildren decked in Philadelphia Flyers jerseys, Christopher Scott shakes his head. Another email has comhttps://apnews.com/4b6e4aca628c4c00a750a1294b991450e in from another supplier. It wants to raise prices to cover the cost of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

For weeks, emails and letters have been arriving in a steady stream at Howard McCray, the small Philadelphia factory Scott runs with about 85 workers. It’s mostly bad news. One supplier is charging more for shelving brackets, another for electrical switches, a third for wheeled castors. McCray needs those parts for the refrigerated display cases it produces for convenience stores and restaurants.

Since Trump imposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum and on Chinese products, Scott, like many other American manufacturers, has had to rapidly switch gears.

He had been optimistic about 2018, with plans for hiring and investment in new machinery. He had hoped, for example, to replace two 30-year old machines that cut holes in stainless steel sheets with a newer version that uses lasers and works twice as fast.

All that’s now on hold. This year, McCray has slashed in half its spending on large equipment. Scott is also leaving four jobs unfilled and instead adding more overtime for his current staff.

“That’s what the tariffs are doing to us,” Scott, 59, said while giving a visitor a tour this month of the factory floor, straining to be heard above the pneumatic drills and hydraulic equipment. “We’re just going to delay it until they come off.”

AP

Avenatti quietly builds 2020 machine

Michael Avenatti has assembled a team of Democratic political veterans who are helping him coordinate meetings with donors, connect with national and state party officials, craft messaging and build out a digital fundraising apparatus designed to enable a 2020 presidential bid.

Avenatti’s already long prospects suffered a blow Thursday after he was quoted in Time magazine as saying the Democratic presidential nominee who will battle President Donald Trump “better be a white male” —remarks he contends were taken out of context. The same day, the Senate Judiciary Committee referred Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick to the Justice Department for an investigation over accusations she leveled last month against Brett Kavanaugh, then a Supreme Court nominee.

But the Los Angeles-based attorney most famous for representing porn actress Stormy Daniels fought back aggressively against Time magazine and Grassley, and said Sunday he intends to move forward in his preparations with a team of 12 core political advisers, some on an informal or part-time basis.

Politico