Eight Democratic U.S. senators signed letters on Friday to the chief executives of Google, Amazon and eBay demanding they close the loopholes allowing the sale of firearm accessories on the sites, after a rash of carnage by armed gunmen.
The senators, led by New Jersey’s Robert Menendez, were responding to media reports, including in The Washington Post, that demonstrated how shoppers could easily find ammunition, rifle magazines and other firearm components, in violation of the companies’ own policies. After being contacted by The Post, Google and Amazon removed some of the listings. A Los Angeles Times investigation this week found multiple gun components for sale on eBay, including ones compatible with the AR-15 and AK-47 assault rifles.

The suspect accused of killing 22 people at an El Paso Walmart told authorities that he was targeting “Mexicans” and confessed to carrying out the shooting rampage when he surrendered to authorities, according to police.
Law enforcement officials responding to the scene on Saturday spotted a car stopped at an intersection not far from the Walmart, an El Paso police detective wrote in an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by The Washington Post. They then saw a man – identified as Patrick Crusius, the 21-year-old charged with capital murder in the case – get out of the car with his hands in the air, the affidavit said.
He told them, “I’m the shooter,” Det. Adrian Garcia said in the affidavit, which was filed to a judge on Sunday, the day after the shooting.

Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz reacts to Democrats’ claiming there’s ‘blood on Trump’s hands’ in wake of mass shootings.
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President Trump on Friday said he received a “beautiful” letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the country continues to test ballistic missiles, alarming U.S. allies in the region.
Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a fundraiser in the Hamptons that the two men could meet again in the future to discuss denuclearization.
Trump and Kim have held three face-to-face meetings that have yet to yield concrete plan to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}

President Trump on Thursday said no one is authorized to speak to Iran on behalf of the United States, and he accused French President Emmanuel Macron of sending “mixed signals” to Tehran over possible talks.
“I know Emmanuel means well, as do all others, but nobody speaks for the United States but the United States itself,” Trump said in a series of tweets.
It was not immediately clear what Trump was referring to and the White House declined to comment, but a report earlier this week said Macron had invited Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to this month’s G7 summit to meet Trump. A French diplomat denied the report on Wednesday.

Weeks-long disruptions to GPS signals in Israel’s airspace have ended, officials said on Friday, declining comment on an Army Radio report that Russian electronic warfare – possibly coming from Syria – was to blame.
The disruptions were noted in early June by civilian pilots and confirmed by the Israel Airports Authority (IAA), which said the matter was under investigation and that alternative navigation tools meant there was no safety risk.
An IAA spokesman said the problem had been resolved this week, but declined to elaborate on when or how.

Heavily redacted FBI memos released Thursday show that while the FBI formally cut ties with a former British intelligence officer who supplied some early information in the investigation of Russian election interference, agents quietly sought to reestablish contact as the case heated up.
The released documents are formal FBI interview memos of agents’ conversations with Bruce Ohr, a senior Justice Department official who has drawn the ire of President Donald Trump for his connections to Christopher Steele, a former British spy with an expertise in Russia who wrote a dossier of allegations against Trump in 2016. The general thrust of Steele’s allegations was that then-candidate Trump was secretly aligned with Russian officials and could be manipulated by them.

A man carrying a “tactical rifle” and clad in body armor sparked chaos when he walked into a Missouri Walmart on Thursday, police said — less than a week after a gunman stormed a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
The man, who is in his 20s, sent terrified shoppers running from the Springfield store when he showed up around 4 p.m.
He was detained by an armed off-duty firefighter and later placed under arrest, according to police. No shots were fired and no injuries were reported.
Read more at THE NY POST.
{Matzav.com}

U.S.-based Chase Bank is forgiving all outstanding debt owed by users of its two Canadian credit cards: the Amazon.ca Rewards Visa and the Marriott Rewards Premier Visa. The bank retired both cards last year and said it’s wiping out cardholders’ debt to complete its exit from the Canadian credit card market.
Affected customers can’t believe their luck.
“I was sort of over the moon all last night, with a smile on my face,” said Douglas Turner of Coe Hill, Ont., after learning he’s off the hook for the $6,157 still owing on his now-defunct Amazon Visa. “I couldn’t believe it.”
After 13 years in the Canadian market, Chase decided to fold its two Visa cards in March 2018.

Two top-dollar fundraisers set to take place Friday in the Hamptons are reportedly expected to raise an estimated $10 million for President Trump’s reelection campaign and the GOP.
Republican officials told The Washington Post on Thursday that the fundraisers are expected to go on as planned, despite facing backlash, and Trump is set to make an appearance.
According to the Post, several senior officials within the Trump administration, campaign and GOP are scheduled to attend the fundraisers. Members of Trump’s family are also reportedly scheduled to attend.
Read more at The Hill.
{Matzav.com}