The Biggest Stories You Missed During the Last 100 Days of the Election
Believe it or not, the world kept turning during the 2016 election. Here are some of the major stories you missed while Trumpkins were flooding your newsfeeds.
While “Pussygate” and political mayhem was clogging up your newsfeed, you may have missed some of the big stories that broke in the past three months.
1. Chris Christie’s Allies Convicted on All Bridgegate Charges
Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni Jr. were found guilty of all charges related to their participation in the 2013 orchestration of lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. Kelly, Christie’s deputy chief of staff, sent the infamous text, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
2. A 6.6-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Central Italy
Italy has been shaken recently by a series of big earthquakes. A report published by Legambiente, an Italian environmentalist organization, found that over 90 percent of Italian schools “not been built with modern anti-seismic criteria.”
3. AT&T Is Spying on Americans for Profit
New documents reveal that the American telecom company has been conducting NSA-style snooping for the U.S. Justice Department using the corporation’s metadata to extract information about its customers without a warrant—and earning a major payoff.
4. Wife of the Pulse Nightclub Shooter Speaks Out
For the first time, Pulse nightclub shooter Omar Mateen’s wife, Noor Salman, spoke out about her relationship with Mateen and the days leading up to the massacre that killed 49 people.
5. D.C. Passes Terminally Ill Suicide Bill
The “Death with Dignity Act” was passed by the Washington, D.C. Council by 11-2. The legislation was modeled after a similar law in Oregon, enacted in 1997.
6. Filipino President Duterte Conducts a “Dirty” War on Drugs
The president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, has been engaged in a large-scale war on drugs. The movement has led to the imprisonment of thousands and the murder of hundreds.
7. First Private Moon Mission Approved
The U.S. government—five agencies, including Defense, State, NSA, NOAA, and the FCC had to sign off—granted a private company called Moon Express approval to fly commercial missions to the moon.
8. Footage Shows Silicon Valley Mogul Abusing Girlfriend
New surveillance footage shows Gurbaksh Chahal assaulting his former girlfriend. The abuse could send him to jail.
9. Gene Wilder Dies of Alzheimer’s at Age 83
Best known for his performances in Young Frankenstein, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, The Producers, and Blazing Saddles, Wilder was famed for his particular brand of strange humor.
10. Top Pentagon Aide Used Pentagon Card at Strip Clubs
Then-Lt. General Ron Lewis used a government credit card to pay for his visit to a strip club in Rome.
11. Pickup Artists on Trial for Rape Ring
Two San Diego “pickup artists” raped a woman and wrote about it on their blog. Their victim then fought to take them to court.
12. French Police Enforce Burkini Ban
Ignoring a ruling from the French court, police in Nice continued to enforce the controversial ban on burkinis, even after a controversial photo showed a Muslim woman being forced to remove her swimsuit.
13. Derrick Rose Acquitted at $21 Million Rape Trial
Text messages from the NBA star and two friends were used as evidence of consent to acquit Rose of rape charges brought against him in court.
14. The U.S. Didn’t Know the Chelsea Bomber Went to Pakistan
Ahmad Khan Rahami, the man arrested for the bombings in New York and New Jersey, traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan several times without being detected by the U.S. government.
The debut of China’s new “J-20” warplanes signals that the U.S. may not be the leader in stealth military technology for much longer.
16. Turkey Shuts Down 15 Media Outlets and Arrests Opposition Editor
A recent crackdown led to the arrest of one newspaper editor and the closing of more than a dozen media outlets. Similar detainments have occurred with some frequency since the failed coup in July.
17. Pentagon Found Paying for Fake ‘Al Qaeda’ Videos
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism found that the government paid a controversial U.K. PR firm over half a billion dollars to run a top secret propaganda program in Iraq.
18. New Details from the Nate Parker Rape Case
The writer, director, and star of Birth of a Nation was put on trial for raping a young woman while he was a student at Penn State.
19. LeBron James Signs $100M Deal
The basketball all-star signed a three-year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers that would make him the highest-paid NBA player.
20. FBI Arrests NSA Contractor
The FBI arrested a National Security Agency (NSA) contractor accused of stealing and disseminating classified computer codes developed to hack the networks of foreign governments.
21. ISIS Propaganda Chief Killed in Airstrike
One of the terror group’s “most senior leaders,” Wa’il Adil Hasan al-Fayad, was killed by an airstrike in September.
22. Former Israeli President Shimon Peres Dies at 93
The former president and advocate of peace between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East died on Sept. 28.
23. Trans Woman Stopped Predator
A transgender woman in Alabama told the cops about being held at gunpoint, despite her attacker’s claim that no one would care about a black, “tranny” prostitute.
24. Fertility Doc was Secretly the Father
An Indianapolis fertility doctor secretly used his own sperm to get as many as 50 patients pregnant in the ’70s and ’80s.
25. Ruth Bader Ginsburg Calls Kaepernick Protest ‘Dumb’—and Apologizes
Despite her reputation as a liberal Supreme Court justice, the “Notorious RBG” described Colin Kaepernick’s National Anthem protest as “dumb and disrespectful.” She later said that she “shouldn’t have answered” the Kaepernick question.
26. The ‘Church’ Taking on the Law to Smoke Pot
A small congregation in Rhode Island claims that they’re getting high for religious purposes—and is willing to take their case to court.