Trump says he’ll ‘protect women’ whether they ‘like it or not’

NEW YORK — Former President Donald Trump has stirred fresh controversy by vowing to “protect women” whether they “like it or not” as a wide gender gap looms in the White House race with Kamala Harris.

Admitting his own advisers warned him to avoid the insensitive language, Trump insisted at a rally that he won’t back down on his offensive rhetoric about women or his policy stances on issues like immigration or abortion rights.

“They said, ‘It’s just inapppropriate for you to say,'” Trump told a rally in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Wednesday night. “I said, ‘Well, I’m gonna do it whether the women like it or not. I’m gonna protect them.’”

Harris hit back Thursday by reminding female voters that Trump supports bans on abortion, a key issue that the Democratic campaign believes is driving her support among women.

—New York Daily News

There’s a giant statue of a naked Trump in Philadelphia's Juniata Park

PHILADELPHIA — Another statue of former President Donald Trump appeared in Philadelphia Thursday — the second in as many days — except larger and more obscene.

The detailed 40-foot naked Trump effigy hung by crane on Kensington Avenue to the curiosity, disgust, and delight of passersby.

The statue looks like one that went up in Madison, which was part of a “Crooked and Obscene Tour,” the Capital Times reported. In the past month, the statue has made appearances in Las Vegas, Detroit and Phoenix.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the statue is made of foam and rebar and weighs about 6,000 pounds.

—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Urban legends or urban wildlife? Creepy creature sightings might just be thriving Chicago animals

CHICAGO — Over the last decade, hundreds of reports have cropped up across the Chicago area of people’s horrifying encounters with a large, winged creature with glowing red eyes.

Last month, Park Ridge residents looked out their windows to the creepy sight of a hairless, dog-sized creature crawling around the suburb. Earlier in the summer, visitors flocked to Lincoln Park’s North Pond trying to find a mysterious creature lurking under the water.

Some may think these were sightings of the Mothman, a chupacabra and maybe a Nessie-like monster — which like Bigfoot — are mythic, improbable creatures at the center of urban legends and folklore. In most cases, Chicago’s urban wildlife might offer a simpler explanation. But residents might not be familiar with the variety of animals that thrive in the region. And humans tend to want to make sense of what they don’t readily understand.

“A lot of people just may be completely unaware of how much mammalian diversity we have throughout Chicago,” said Mason Fidino, a quantitative ecologist at the Lincoln Park Zoo’s Urban Wildlife Institute. “But also some species that people may not think of as adaptable to urban environments.”

—Chicago Tribune

Biden envoys set to head to Israel to discuss Lebanon truce plan

Israel is considering a U.S.-led proposal to end the conflict in Lebanon and keep Hezbollah fighters away from the countries’ frontier.

It is set to host White House mediators in what appears to be a push by Washington to make progress before the American presidential election on Tuesday.

Six weeks after launching a campaign of sabotage, air barrages and ground incursions against Hezbollah, Israel says it has driven back and cut down the Iranian-backed faction, whose cross-border rocket and drone launches persist but at a reduced rate.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met top aides late Tuesday to discuss a fresh proposal, his spokesperson said. On Thursday, he was to meet U.S. President Joe Biden’s most senior Middle East envoys, Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, as part of the talks, another Israeli official said.

The new plan, which faces plenty of obstacles, would lead to a 60-day suspension of hostilities. In that period, the parties would test an enforcement mechanism to ensure Hezbollah doesn’t receive any more arms from Iran and withdraws north of Lebanon’s Litani River, according to a separate person familiar with the negotiations. That would be in line with a long-standing United Nations Security Council resolution named 1701.

Israeli troops would maintain positions along the border and be able to strike Hezbollah if they saw infractions, the person added.

The Lebanese army would have a role in reining in Hezbollah, including seizing its weapons and dismantling its infrastructure, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

—Bloomberg News

_____