Lots of anger at the latest GOP debate. A South Carolina deputy loses his job. And the Royals win Game 2.
It’s Thursday, and here are five things to know for your new day.
GOP DEBATE
Political punch: Moderator: “What’s your plan to fix the economy?” Candidate: “I’m really tired of your nasty questions, and the mainstream media sucks.” And that’s pretty much how the Republican debate on CNBC went last night. Who won is debatable, but it’s abundantly clear who was on the receiving end: the media and the moderators. The candidates and their campaigns complained bitterly — both during the debate and after — about the moderators’ questions, and they each took great care to throw the media under the bus at every available opportunity. CNBC was roasted on social media, with a Politico writer joking that the financial network needed help from some debate pros.
S.C. SCHOOL ARREST
Deputy dismissed: Ben Fields was fired yesterday for slamming a student to the ground while arresting her at a South Carolina high school. But the deputy’s boss, while maintaining that Fields did wrong, said the student shouldered some of the blame for how things went down. So what’s next? Probably lawsuits. Fields’ attorney says the now-ex-deputy’s actions were “justified and lawful,” so you can imagine where he’s going with that. And the FBI and U.S. attorney’s office have opened civil rights investigations, so this won’t be the last we hear about this case.
UNDERWATER CABLES
Cutting the cord?: Has Russia declared war on the Internet? Not exactly, but the Russians seem to be showing a lot of interest in the undersea cables on the East Coast that carry Internet service as well as other vital communications between the U.S. and Europe. Last month, a Russian military ship set off alarm bells when it suddenly crossed the Atlantic and moved down the East Coast near the areas where some of the cables are located. Naval intelligence says the ship has the capability to cut the cables. So will the Russians do it? U.S. officials say no, the Russians only want to let us know that they could do it.
RUNAWAY BLIMP
Aerial spectacle: A NORAD blimp that’s supposed to alert us to airborne threats briefly turned into one yesterday. The blimp came untethered from its mooring in Maryland and floated north into Pennsylvania. Its cable dragged along the ground during its journey, hitting power lines and causing outages. Thousands of people were left without electricity in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. Two F-16s were even scrambled to watch over it. The blimp finally came down in a rural area. NORAD is trying to find out why it got loose.
WORLD SERIES
Royal comeback: Compared with Game 1, Game 2 was something of a letdown. The Mets and Royals only played nine innings; the power stayed on the entire time; there were no rare inside-the-park homers to cheer for. And it rained. Despite all that, it turned into a pretty decent baseball game anyway. The Royals came from behind to win 7-1 and take a 2-0 lead in the series, behind great pitching from Johnny Cueto. He pitched a complete game, giving up just two hits. (For you non-baseball fans out there, that’s pretty good.) Game 3 moves the action to the Big Apple on Friday, where the Mets will try to dig themselves out of a hole.