https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/technology/LaCorte-edition-news.html

An investigation found that a former Fox News executive hired Macedonians to write culturally and politically divisive content for his websites.

By Nicole Perlroth
Nov. 21, 2019, 11:34 a.m. ET

SAN FRANCISCO — At first glance, the websites Conservative Edition News and Liberal Edition News have only one thing in common: Both have been carefully curated to inflame America’s culture wars.

Conservative Edition News is a repository of stories guaranteed to infuriate the American right. Its recent headlines include “Austin sex-ed curriculum teaches kids how to obtain an abortion” and “HuffPost writer considers Christianity ‘dangerous.’”

On Liberal Edition News, readers are fed a steady diet of content guaranteed to drive liberal voters further left or to wring a visceral response from moderates. One recent story singled out an Italian youth soccer coach who called Greta Thunberg, the teenage climate activist, a “whore.”

The sites are the work of Ken LaCorte, the former Fox News executive who was accused of killing a story about President Trump’s affair with Stormy Daniels, the pornographic film actress, before the 2016 election.

Their content is written by a network of young Macedonians in Veles, a sleepy riverside town that was home to a collection of writers who churned out disinformation during the 2016 presidential election in the United States. Among Mr. LaCorte’s network was one writer who helped peddle a conspiracy theory that Hillary Clinton had ties to a pedophile ring.

Until now, it was unclear who was behind the sites. But an investigation by The New York Times and researchers at Nisos, a security firm in Virginia, found that they are among several sites owned by Mr. LaCorte that push inflammatory items — stories, petitions and the occasional conspiracy theory — to the American public.

</snip>

https://twitter.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1197556576372056064
Chris Murphy ✔ @ChrisMurphyCT

It's equal parts frightening and heartbreaking that Russia's primary agent of propaganda dissemination is the President of the United States.

Here is Trump's e-mail today pushing the Russia created story that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election.



11:45 AM - Nov 21, 2019

https://twitter.com/SpeakerPelosi/status/1197538150211563521
Nancy Pelosi ✔ @SpeakerPelosi

Tune in as I speak with reporters live from the U.S. Capitol at 10:45 am ET. https://www.facebook.com/NancyPelosi/

10:31 AM - Nov 21, 2019

https://twitter.com/ThePlumLineGS/status/1197534563389587456

Greg Sargent ✔ @ThePlumLineGS

· 3m
Fiona Hill just said that the message coming from Trump and much of the Republican Party right now constitutes trafficking in Russian propaganda about a U.S. election.

Greg Sargent ✔ @ThePlumLineGS

Actually, it's even worse than this.

Fiona Hill is now saying that the message coming from Trump and much of the GOP right now constitutes trafficking in Russian propaganda and disinformation designed to weaken the United States.

10:17 AM - Nov 21, 2019

https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/1197517079257075712
David Frum ✔ @davidfrum

Remember, ranking member Devin Nunes signed a 2018 "memo" that circulated disinformation into US politics

https://www.lawfareblog.com/irony-nunes-memo …



9:08 AM - Nov 21, 2019

https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/nysp-investigating-2-bodies-found-in-allegany-county-fire/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter_News_8

Posted: Nov 21, 2019 / 07:09 AM EST / Updated: Nov 21, 2019 / 07:38 AM EST

Clarksville, N.Y. (WROC) — New York State Police are investigating what they are calling a suspicious death after a structure fire in Clarksville, Allegany County.

Police responded to the fire — on Courtney Hallow Road — around 12:45 a.m. on Thursday. The fire was contained and at least two bodies were located in the residence.

According to state police, it appears the two people did not die from the fire. There is a person of interest and the investigation is ongoing.

Residents of Cuba have been asked to shelter in place and not answer the door.

Area schools Cuba-Rushford Central Schools, Portville Central Schools and Bolivar-Richburg Central School have been closed for the day.



</snip>

https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/21/us/colorado-school-district-closed-virus-outbreak/index.html

Konstantin Toropin
By Christina Walker and Konstantin Toropin

Updated 2:51 AM ET, Thu November 21, 2019

(CNN)A school district in Colorado has closed more than 40 schools for two days after a virus outbreak rapidly spread through the student population, according to school officials.

It's the first time the Mesa County Valley School District 51 has had to close all schools due to illness, the district said Wednesday.

"We are taking this highly unusual action because this virus is extremely contagious and spreading quickly across our schools," Nursing Coordinator Tanya Marvin said in the statement.

More than a dozen schools in the state's 14th largest district reported increased absences "due to illness and several incidences of vomiting in public areas of the schools," according to the Mesa County Public Health Department.

A second, related virus has also been affecting students in recent weeks, the district said. "The combination of the two has created an unprecedented spread of illness."

"Onset of symptoms for both types of viruses, including vomiting, is incredibly fast. The second version also causes fever in several cases," the district statement said.

The health department says it is working to identify the illness, which is "acting a lot like norovirus" and lasts between 12-24 hours.

</snip>

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Grand_fire



The MGM Grand fire occurred on Friday, November 21, 1980 at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (now Bally's Las Vegas) in Paradise, Nevada. The fire killed 85 people, most through smoke inhalation. The tragedy remains the worst disaster in Nevada history, and the third-worst hotel fire in modern U.S. history, after the 1946 Winecoff Hotel fire in Atlanta that killed 119 people and the San Juan (Puerto Rico) Dupont Plaza Hotel fire on December 31, 1986, in which 97 perished.

Fire
At the time of the fire, about 5,000 people were in the hotel and casino, a 26-story luxury resort with more than 2,000 hotel rooms. At approximately 7:07 a.m. on Friday, November 21, 1980, a fire broke out in a restaurant known as The Deli. The fire was discovered during an inspection of the restaurant by a tile crew. A crew supervisor noticed a flickering light, which turned out to be a wall of flames. An employee of the hotel's bakery recounted how just after 7 a.m. he saw smoke coming from the ceiling vents and the lights went out. MGM Security was immediately advised of the situation, and alerted the Clark County Fire Department which was the first agency to respond. CCFD received a call reporting the fire at 7:17 am, with the first engine arriving on site at 7:19 am. A third alarm was called at 7:22 am, and a Metro Police Helicopter pilot requested all available helicopters at 7:30 am.

Other agencies included the North Las Vegas Fire Department, Las Vegas Fire & Rescue, and the Henderson Fire Department. A massive helicopter rescue effort from Nellis Air Force Base pulled 1,000 people from the roof of the MGM Grand, involving both U.S. Air Force UH-1N (Hueys) from the 57th Wing based in Indian Springs and CH-3E (Jolly Green Giants) from the 1st Special Operations Wing based in Hurlburt Field, Florida (which were in Nevada to participate in Red Flag '80).

The fire spread to the lobby, fed by wallpaper, PVC piping, glue, and plastic mirrors, racing through the casino floor at a speed of 15–19 ft/s (4.6–5.8 m/s; 10–13 mph; 16–21 km/h) until a massive fireball blew out the main entrance along The Strip. From the time the fire was noticed, it took six minutes for the entire building to be fully engulfed. It spread across the areas of the casino in which no fire sprinklers were installed. Eighteen people died in the casino level of the hotel.

The burning material created toxic fumes and smoke, which ascended throughout the hotel tower via vertical shafts (elevators and stairwells) and seismic joints and caused the majority of the deaths. Firefighters reported having to crawl through the dark and over "mounds of stuff" trying to extinguish the fire, it was later determined that the "mounds" were deceased guests and staff near an elevator bank. Proper evacuation of the hotel guests was hindered as there was no automatic means of returning elevators to the main floor during a fire, causing 10 deceased victims to be found in an elevator. Survivors recounted how some in the hotel had tied bedsheets together and hung them on balconies in an attempt to escape upper floor rooms and alert first responders.

Victims
A total of 85 people were killed (including seven employees) and 650 injured, including guests, employees, and 14 firefighters. While the fire primarily damaged the second-floor casino and adjacent restaurants, 61 deaths were on the upper floors of the hotel (19th - 24th floors), mostly in the stairwells, where all doors except on the roof and ground floor were locked and the smoke concentration was the highest. Some guests died in their sleep.

Seventy-five people died from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning; four from smoke inhalation alone; three from burns and smoke inhalation; one from burns alone; one from massive skull trauma, caused by jumping from a high window; and one of myocarditis. The disaster led to the general publicizing of the fact that during a building fire, smoke inhalation is a more serious threat than flames.

Aftermath
The hotel (originally built in 1973) was repaired and improved, including the addition of fire sprinklers and an automatic fire alarm system throughout the property.

The hotel was sold to Bally's Entertainment, which changed the name to Bally's Las Vegas. Similar upgrades were also made to the nearly identical property (now the Grand Sierra Resort) in Reno, Nevada. The tower in which most of the deaths occurred is still operating as part of the hotel today. A second tower opened in 1981. The present MGM Grand hotel-casino was built to the south, near the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.

Code changes
On February 10, 1981, just 81 days after the MGM fire, another fire broke out at the Las Vegas Hilton, killing at least five people. Due to the two incidents, there was a major reformation of fire safety guidelines and codes. All buildings open to the public in Nevada were required to have fire sprinklers, smoke detectors in rooms and elevators, and exit maps in all hotel rooms. This law went into effect in 1981 and made Nevada a leader in fire safety regulation.

</snip>

https://www.thedailybeast.com/lev-parnas-helped-rep-devin-nunes-investigations

The indicted Giuliani associate helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe for the Republican congressman in 2018.

Betsy Swan
Political Reporter
Published Nov. 20, 2019 7:58PM ET

Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, helped arrange meetings and calls in Europe for Rep. Devin Nunes in 2018, Parnas’ lawyer Ed MacMahon told The Daily Beast.

Nunes aide Derek Harvey participated in the meetings, the lawyer said, which were arranged to help Nunes’ investigative work. MacMahon didn’t specify what those investigations entailed.

Nunes is the top Republican on the House committee handling the impeachment hearings—hearings where Parnas’s name has repeatedly come up.

Congressional records show Nunes traveled to Europe from Nov. 30 to Dec. 3, 2018. Three of his aides—Harvey, Scott Glabe, and George Pappas—traveled with him, per the records. U.S. government funds paid for the group’s four-day trip, which cost just over $63,000.

The travel came as Nunes, in his role on the House Intelligence Committee, was working to investigate the origins of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian election meddling.

Parnas’ assistance to Nunes’ team has not been previously reported. A spokesperson for Nunes did not respond to requests for comment.

</snip>