| Joe Biden, 76, says he has no plans to limit himself to one-term in the White House Posted: 26 Apr 2019 07:31 PM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden, who is looking to become the oldest candidate elected president, said Friday that he wasn't interested in pledging to serve only one term in office.
|
| Migrants protest after hundreds escape from Mexican detention center Posted: 26 Apr 2019 02:44 PM PDT  Tuxtla Gutiérrez (Mexico) (AFP) - Central American migrants at a detention center in southern Mexico protested against their captivity on Friday, a day after an escape involving around 1,300 mostly Cuban inmates. Dozens of migrants shouted on Friday morning: "We want to go," and "we're hungry" at the facility in Tapachula, in the southern state of Chiapas. At dinner time on Thursday, some 1,300 migrants escaped after threatening to set fire to the detention center to protest against overcrowding, witnesses said.
|
| Hundreds of migrants in southern Mexico board 'The Beast' heading north Posted: 26 Apr 2019 11:50 AM PDT  The risky move to board the train, known as "La Bestia" (The Beast), followed a mass breakout of migrants from a holding center in the southern border city of Tapachula on Thursday night. Men, women and children from various countries boarded the slow train as it pulled out of the town of Arriaga in the southern state of Chiapas, Mexican media reported. The large group descended from the train on Friday after it reached the town of Ixtepec to the northwest of Arriaga.
|
| The Latest: Military clashes with suspects in Sri Lanka Posted: 26 Apr 2019 12:16 PM PDT  COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — The Latest on the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka (all times local):
|
| San Diego synagogue shooting: Suspect John Earnest 'praised Christchurch shooter' before deadly attack Posted: 27 Apr 2019 10:00 PM PDT  A 19-year-old man armed with an assault-style rifle opened fire inside a synagogue near San Diego on Saturday, killing one woman inside and wounding three others in a "hate crime" on the last day of Passover. The suspect John Earnest fled in a car and called 911 shortly afterward to say he was involved in the shooting at Chabad of Poway, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said. When an officer reached him on a roadway, "the suspect pulled over, jumped out of his car with his hands up and was immediately taken into custody," Mr Nisleit said. The officer found an AR-type rifle in the front passenger seat. Poway Mayor Steve Vaus characterised the shooting as a "hate crime," saying his assessment was based on statements uttered by the gunman when he entered the synagogue. US President Donald Trump said the country stood in solidarity with the Jewish community after the attack, which came exactly six months since a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue killed 11 people in the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.. "Tonight, America's heart is with the victims of the horrific synagogue shooting in California, just happened," he told supporters at a rally in Wisconsin. Thoughts and prayers to all of those affected by the shooting at the Synagogue in Poway, California. God bless you all. Suspect apprehended. Law enforcement did outstanding job. Thank you!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 27, 2019 "Our entire nation mourns the loss of life, prays for the wounded and stands in solidarity with the Jewish community. We forcefully condemn the evil of anti-Semitism and hate which must be defeated." Friends told the San Diego Union-Tribune that the woman killed in the shooting was Lori Kaye, 60, of Poway. Witnesses said she jumped in front of the synagogue's founding rabbi, Yisroel Goldstein, who was wounded in the index fingers on both hands, the newspaper reported. Others injured were Noya Dahan, 8, hit with shrapnel in the face and leg, and Almong Peretz, 34, who was shot in the leg as he ushered children in a playroom to safety, the Union-Tribune reported. Authorities say they were reviewing copies of the suspect's social media posts. A San Diego Police officer keeps aim on the house thought to be the home of 19 year-old John T. Earnest, who is a suspect in the shooting of several people in a Poway synagogue Credit: AP San Diego County Sheriff William Gore said Earnest had no prior arrests. However, he said authorities were establishing the legitimacy of an anti-Semitic open letter he apparently published on a far-right message board hours before the attack. "We have copies of his social media posts and his open letter and we'll be reviewing those to determine the legitimacy of it and how it plays in to the investigation," he said. The manifesto is reportedly similar to one posted on the same message board by Brenton Tarrant, a white supremacist who was behind the March 15 mosque attacks in Christchurch, New Zealand, that left 50 people dead. The hate-filled letter lauds Tarrant's actions and that of the Pittsburgh shooter and claims responsibility for a fire at a mosque in California a week after the Christchurch shootings. There was no known threat after Earnest was detained, but authorities boosted patrols at places of worship as a precaution, Mr Nisleit said. Neighbours and media members gather outside of the Chabad of Poway Synagogue Credit: AP An off-duty Border Patrol agent inside the synagogue in the city of Poway, just over 20 miles north of San Diego, opened fire as the shooter fled but didn't hit him, Mr Gore said. Minoo Anvari told CNN that she's a member of Chabad of Poway and her husband was inside during the shooting. She said he called to tell her the shooter was shouting and cursing and she called the shooting "unbelievable" in a peaceful and tight-knit community. "We are strong, we are united, they can't break us," she said. Christopher Folts, a nearby resident, said on CNN he heard six to seven gunshots, then a man yelling, followed by six to seven more shots. A car, allegedly used by the gunman who killed one at the Congregation Chabad synagogue in Poway, is pictured, few hundred feet from the Interstate 15 off-ramp north of San Diego Credit: Reuters Cantor Caitlin Bromberg of Ner Tamid Synagogue, down the street from the shooting scene, said her congregation learned of the shooting at the end of their Passover services and that they were heading to Chabad of Poway to show support and help. "We are horrified and upset, and we want them to know we are thinking of them," Ms Bromberg told The Los Angeles Times, adding that she has not heard from Chabad of Poway leadership because they would not normally use the phone during the Sabbath. "They would only do that on emergency basis, if they do it at all," Ms Bromberg told the newspaper. Passover began on April 19 and was ending on Saturday. In Pittsburgh, a truck driver who authorities say expressed hatred of Jews has been charged in the October 27 rampage at the Tree of Life synagogue. He's pleaded not guilty. Saturday's Passover violence followed a recent spate of deadly attacks on houses of worship around the world. Suicide bombings during Easter Sunday services at several churches in Sri Lanka killed more than 250 people. Weeks earlier a gunman who opened fire at two mosques in New Zealand left 49 people dead and more than 40 wounded, some as they knelt in prayer.
|
| Snow in Chicago this close to May is unusual, but we're getting numb to abnormal weather Posted: 27 Apr 2019 01:46 PM PDT  Yes, it is snowing in Chicago and other parts of the Midwest. Yes, it is April 27 — a mere four days until May. Yes, people are heading to Twitter and social media to freak out. And finally, yes, we'll forget our shock as soon as the next extreme weather event happens. That's what a study from earlier in 2019 conducted by the UC Davis environmental science and policy researcher Frances Moore found after examining 2 billion tweets over a two-and-half year period. It found that we tweet about unusual weather because it stands out, but as it becomes more normal, we accept it as how it is and post about it less. In this way we slowly acclimate to extreme weather from climate change, the study asserts. So Saturday's late-April snowstorm in Chicago stands out now, but in the long-run it'll blend into the February heatwaves, torrential flooding, and other once-remarkable-but-now-not-so-notable weather we experience as the climate changes. SEE ALSO: This Twitter bot forecasts the weather with emoji In this particular situation, as more snow and cold temperatures strike later into spring, we're more likely to not notice the strangeness and bizarre patterns — and eventually accept May snowfall as a normal trend, even if it's not. Who says Chicago isn't a great place to live? Snow today! pic.twitter.com/OTetTgtdNz — michaelj (@mjc5169) April 27, 2019 Snow again here in Chicago... Chicago pic.twitter.com/Y0Uy3oFa0T — y2 (@y2_i) April 27, 2019 Enjoy the weather ��Let it snow again #Chicago April 27 ❄️#WeLoveChicago �� #Chicagoweather☃️There are parts of the city are expected to see 4 to 8 inches of snow. Yikes.☃️Chicago could receive latest snowfall in 30 yearshttps://t.co/JSKp02fyzv pic.twitter.com/Qt9Lwmo9TQ — ChiStock$��️ (@ChiStocks) April 27, 2019 Only in Chicago can @Skilling give you an allergy report and a snow total map in the same forecast pic.twitter.com/CuTmG1UStn — WGN TV News (@WGNNews) April 26, 2019 And while it seems outrageous for this much snow to accumulate in the middle of spring, it has happened in the past, and even later into the season. The probabilities of exceeding 6" of snow over the next 24 hours — through 1 a.m. Sunday CDT. Heavy snow can occur in the Upper Midwest into May. A couple memorable May events were May 1-3, 2013 and May 27-29, 1947. pic.twitter.com/pRADs7o0nb — NWS WPC (@NWSWPC) April 27, 2019 April showers? More like April snow. Get used to it. WATCH: Finally, a car umbrella to keep your vehicle cool in high temps
|
| College admissions scam: USC announces changes to student-athlete admissions process Posted: 26 Apr 2019 01:33 PM PDT  The University of Southern California announced a revamped admissions process for prospective student-athletes in the wake of the national college admissions scam.
|
| Trump reverses U.S. course on Arms Trade Treaty during speech at NRA in Indianapolis Posted: 26 Apr 2019 07:11 PM PDT  President Donald Trump announced Friday that he will revoke the United States' signature on the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.
|
| Two Shell oil workers kidnapped, police killed, in Nigeria's Delta -police Posted: 26 Apr 2019 03:12 PM PDT ![Two Shell oil workers kidnapped, police killed, in Nigeria's Delta -police]( "Two Shell oil workers kidnapped, police killed, in Nigeria's Delta -police") Two Royal Dutch Shell oil workers were kidnapped, and their police escorts killed, in Nigeria's restive Delta region, a police spokesman said on Friday. The workers were in Rivers State, returning from an official trip to Bayelsa state, when they were attacked. "The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited (SPDC) regrets to confirm the attack on its staff and government security escort at Rumuji, Rivers State, on the East/West road on Thursday, April 25, 2019 around 16:00 hours," an SPDC spokesman said.
|
| US imposes sanctions on Venezuelan foreign minister Posted: 26 Apr 2019 10:09 AM PDT  The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza as it tries to ramp up pressure to remove President Nicolas Maduro. "The United States will not stand by and watch as the illegitimate Maduro regime starves the Venezuelan people of their wealth, humanity and right to democracy," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement announcing that any US assets of Arreaza would be blocked. The sanctions are the latest slapped by the United States against senior figures in Venezuela as it seeks to install in power Juan Guaido, the opposition leader.
|
| She Went Through Hell: The Amazing Story of the Navy Aircraft Carrier USS Franklin Posted: 26 Apr 2019 06:00 PM PDT  The USS Franklin was not a lucky ship.In March 1945, off the Japanese mainland, the Essex-class aircraft carrier was hit by two 550-pound bombs that struck her flight deck and penetrated into the hangar deck. Less than six months earlier, a kamikaze had hit her off Leyte in the Philippines, killing or wounding 120 members of her crew.The second attack ignited the fuel tanks of 31 armed and fueled aircraft awaiting launch, as well as "Tiny Tim" air-to-surface rockets and other ordnance aboard the ship. Fires raged. Rockets whistled across the deck, and machine-gun ammunition clattered. In minutes, the Franklin was dead in the water with massive casualties, a 13-degree starboard list, and without any radio communications. Many of her damage control team members were dead and some of her water lines, needed to fight the fires, were severed. Flaming and wreathed in choking smoke, she was 52 miles from the Japanese mainland and drifting closer.The Franklin Would Endure"I saw guys flying through the air [and] saw men running around on fire, just flaming torches," a seaman on a nearby destroyer reported. Like most of the men who could see the Franklin, he though she was doomed.
|
| Correction: Confederate Monuments-North Carolina story Posted: 27 Apr 2019 04:28 PM PDT  HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) — In a story April 25 about the toppling of a Confederate monument, The Associated Press reported erroneously that 11 other people besides Raul Arce Jimenez and Shawn Birchfield-Finn have been convicted in connection with the August melee in which the statue was toppled. At least seven other people besides those two men have been convicted in connection with various protests over the statue. The Associated Press also reported erroneously that one of the defendants is named Shawn Birchfield-Finn Jimenez. His name is Shawn Birchfield-Finn.
|
| Russia's Vladimir Putin blasts U.S. sentencing of Marina Butina as a 'travesty of justice' Posted: 27 Apr 2019 10:47 AM PDT  Gun-rights activist Marina Butina was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Friday for her role in a Russian effort to infiltrate U.S. politics.
|
| Why Rear Passengers May Be Hurt More in Crashes, and What IIHS Wants Carmakers to Do about It Posted: 28 Apr 2019 07:31 AM PDT  Rear passengers in frontal collisions can fare worse than those in the front seats, according to a new study.
|
| Duke of Sussex makes surprise visit to London Marathon, suggesting Meghan is not expected to give birth today Posted: 28 Apr 2019 04:35 AM PDT  Read the latest updates from the London Marathon here Prince Harry has made a surprise visit to the London Marathon today, which suggests Meghan Markle is not yet due to give birth. The Duke of Sussex was seen laughing and joking as he presented medals to early Marathon finishers. The Prince also spent time talking to volunteers. He also presented medals to the marathon and wheelchair winners, including victors in the World Para Athletics World Championship Marathon. It is believed he always planned to go, but did not publicly commit to the event as it was so close to his wife's due date. He has previously attended the event for the mental health charity Heads Together, along with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Kenya's Brigid Kosgei celebrates winning the women's elite race with the trophy as she poses with Britain's Prince Harry Credit: REUTERS/Paul Childs The royal baby is due soon, however, as earlier this year nine-month pregnant Meghan let slip that she is due at the end of April or early May during an engagement in Birkenhead. The couple is keeping plans for the birth private, and have said they will be "celebrating privately as a new family" after the birth as a first priority. While photographs of the baby will be taken in the following days, the family of three will not greet members of the public in the same way as the Cambridges and other members of the Royal Family have done. Instead, they are likely to follow in the footsteps of the Queen with hopes for a home birth, expected to be at their new home in Windsor. The palace are expected to issue a short written announcement confirming the Duchess is in labour, with a second to follow upon the safe arrival of the baby, giving details of its sex, weight and time of birth. It is understood that photographs of the baby, taken in Windsor, will be issued later, when he or she is a few days old. The couple are also likely to utilise their Sussex Royal Instagram page to share news and images of their choice.
|
| Bernie Sanders v the Democratic establishment: what the battle is really about Posted: 28 Apr 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Sanders is sparking a debate within the Democratic party about whether courting big dollars is the only way to stay competitive Bernie Sanders speaks during a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday. Photograph: Vernon Bryant/AP In a crowded Democratic presidential primary field, there is one candidate who has drawn sustained opposition from party elites: Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders. The New York Times reports that major donors, party operatives, senior lawmakers and rival candidate and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg have been attending private meetings where they discuss, among other things, how to prevent a Sanders nomination. One explanation for why a party would try to stop the ascendancy of a certain candidate is electability. But that explanation is weak: Sanders has maintained high national favorability ratings, and is outperforming the incumbent Republican, Donald Trump, in polling. Another explanation would be that the dispute is interpersonal in nature. A dramatic New York Times anecdote noted that Sanders's campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, was once punched or shoved, depending on whose story you believe, by the then Hillary Clinton aide Neera Tanden during a dispute in 2008. Tanden is a known longtime critic of Sanders and the president of the Center for American Progress (Cap), a liberal thinktank that came under fire from Sanders when its weblog ThinkProgress produced a video drawing attention to his wealth. But is this just about residual bad blood between Clinton and Sanders factions? I don't think so. Between 2009 and 2012, I worked for both Shakir and Tanden at the Center for American Progress. Shakir was the editor-in-chief of ThinkProgress at the time and we both worked under Tanden. Shakir and Tanden frequently clashed during my time there, but not a single one of their disputes was about anything personal. Instead, they argued about the role of money in politics. Although Cap is a thinktank that produces policy papers – many of which are commendable – it is also serves as an important political unit allied to the Democratic party. It promotes its policy stances to Democratic party politicians and works to get its staff hired into Democratic administrations. But it does so in a climate where big donors – banks, healthcare firms and foreign governments make up its donor rolls – frequently pressured it to adopt certain stances. As one example, stories I reported for the Intercept showed that the UAE paid Cap $2.5m as its senior staff helped them lobby the Trump administration and influence the wider DC policy community. During my time at the thinktank, Shakir repeatedly and vigorously pushed back at attempts by Cap's donors to influence ThinkProgress's content, while Tanden argued that this was simply the cost of doing business in Washington. It is hardly any surprise that she boasted about recruiting a pro-Israel board member and donor, after her invitation to the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address her thinktank. In Tanden's mind, a thinktank like Cap can only maintain its influence through strong elite fundraising, so any cost in reputation it suffered by inviting Netanyahu was offset by the money. The Shakir-Tanden debate about money in politics at Cap is also the larger debate Sanders is sparking in the Democratic party. Joe Biden opened his presidential bid by allowing a Comcast executive to host a fundraiser for him at his home in Pennsylvania. Sanders, on the other hand, has written off such fundraisers and is insisting on relying on small donor funders, not corporate executives or lobbyists. It may sound like I am portraying Tanden, Biden and the Democratic establishment as corrupt and immoral – willing to sell policy and political communications to the highest bidder with no regard for the public interest. But social psychology research tells us that people who have different ideas about politics than us are not generally bad people – they're mostly good people with different convictions. In the eyes of the Democratic establishment, courting big dollars is the only way to stay politically competitive – and besides, corporations and wealthy individuals are major stakeholders in society, so why shouldn't they get a major say over policy? That's a coherent worldview, and it's one that the majority of Democratic and Republican powerbrokers hold. But increasingly, American voters are turning against what they see as a corrupting influence of money in our politics. Sanders believes that he can build a sort of politics where small donors and ordinary people drive political discussion rather than the large donors Cap and Biden are courting. Establishment voices will probably mock Sanders' view as naive or overly idealistic. But if you think about what Sanders is arguing, perhaps he is the realist. In 10 years of reporting about politics, almost every politician has told me their donors do not influence their behavior. If this were true, they would be the only individuals on planet Earth who are not tempted by money. What Sanders is arguing is the opposite – if he started doing big-ticket fundraisers with corporate executive and lobbyists, he would be influenced by their money. He is admitting his human flaws, and taking corrective action to make up for them. If anything, the establishment's argument is the idealistic one, and Sanders' is the pragmatic one.
|
| Trump fired his way to fame on TV, but shrinks from it in real life Posted: 26 Apr 2019 01:29 PM PDT  The president says he didn't tell White House counsel Don McGahn to fire Robert Mueller.
|
| 'Black sheep': The mastermind of Sri Lanka's Easter Sunday bombs Posted: 26 Apr 2019 11:01 AM PDT  "His father came and asked, 'Where can he go?'." The school would hear again of Mohamed Zahran. Sri Lankan officials have identified him as the suspected ringleader of a group that carried out a series of Easter Sunday suicide bombings in the country on April 21. Most of the attackers were well-educated and from wealthy families, with some having been abroad to study, according to Sri Lankan officials.
|
| Tesla CEO Musk strikes deal with market regulators over tweets Posted: 26 Apr 2019 06:01 PM PDT  Elon Musk and US stock market regulators told a US court on Friday that they have reached a deal to settle their differences over the Tesla chief executive's Twitter use. The settlement between Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission sets out clearer guidelines on topics Musk should avoid on Twitter or other social media, including statements about acquisitions, mergers, new products and production numbers. Musk would have to adhere to Tesla rules regarding potentially significant comments by executives, and have tweets or other social media posts pre-approved by "an experienced securities lawyer employed by the company," according to the proposed settlement.
|
| The Army's New Machine Gun Can Really Do Some Serious Damage Posted: 27 Apr 2019 07:00 PM PDT  A game changer or not? The U.S. Army has selected a new submachine gun for special security missions- and the winner of the procurement contest may surprise you.The Brügger & Thomet APC9K has been hailed the winner of the Sub Compact Weapon program, beating out well-seasoned military & police competitors such as the American Sig MPX and the Czech-made CZ Scorpion Evo.Made primarily of polymer and sporting translucent magazines, the APC9K SCW will be used for close protection duties and other situations where a 9mm submachine gun or carbine would be preferable to a 5.56 platform.According to Defence Blog, the U.S. Army Contracting command will be ordering around 350 of the SCWs, with a potential additional order of 1,000 more.The original competition, which began in May of 2018, had over ten companies providing options. One of the requirements was that the weapon had to be optimized to fire 147-grain 9mm ammunition.
|
| 'Terrifying': Crane falls on busy Seattle street, killing 4 Posted: 28 Apr 2019 07:38 AM PDT  SEATTLE (AP) — A construction crane fell from a building on Google's new Seattle campus during a storm that brought wind gusts, crashing down onto one of the city's busiest streets and killing four people.
|
| Driver in deadly Colorado 28-car-pileup charged with vehicular homicide Posted: 26 Apr 2019 11:46 AM PDT  Police say the suspect accused of causing a 28-car pileup in Lakewood, Colorado is cooperating after being charged with vehicular homicide.
|
| China urges UK not to discriminate against Huawei in 5G development Posted: 28 Apr 2019 01:02 AM PDT  China on Sunday warned Britain not to discriminate against companies involved in developing the 5G network and to resist pressure from other countries over whether it should work with Huawei Technologies. Huawei, the world's biggest telecoms equipment maker, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use the company's technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has denied this.
|
| Trump upbeat on potential for US-Japan trade deal Posted: 26 Apr 2019 09:34 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump expressed confidence Friday that a bilateral trade deal between the U.S. and Japan can be reached quickly despite ongoing differences over tariffs as he opened talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House.
|
| This is how NASA would respond to an asteroid impacting Earth Posted: 27 Apr 2019 10:09 AM PDT  If an asteroid were ever to be come hurtling towards Earth, what would be the plan to stop it from impacting the planet? That's the question NASA and its partners, including the European Space Agency and the U.S.'s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), are gathering at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in early May to investigate. SEE ALSO: Behold, the very bizarre Facebook auto-captions from NASA launch During the five day conference, NASA and its partners plan to engage in a "tabletop exercise" that simulates what would happen if scientists and authorities were to learn of a near-Earth Object (NEO) impact scenario. "A tabletop exercise of a simulated emergency commonly used in disaster management planning to help inform involved players of important aspects of a possible disaster and identify issues for accomplishing a successful response," says NASA. In the exercise (detailed by the ESA here), NASA and its partners have to respond to a "realistic — but fictional — scenario" involving a NEO named "2019 PDC," which has a 1 in 100 chance of impacting Earth in 2027. Each day of the #PlanetaryDefense Conference, a press release will be put out, updating participants on the hypothetical asteroid #2019PDC - now (hypothetically) hurtling towards Earth.��☄️More on this year's #ImpactScenario on the #rocketscience blog:https://t.co/kn9xsTABg2 pic.twitter.com/AAC5B9mzje — ESA Operations (@esaoperations) April 27, 2019 Armed with all of the hypothetical information about "2019 PDC," the exercise is intended to see how the various organizations and governments would handle the situation as it unfolds. "The first step in protecting our planet is knowing what's out there," said Rüdiger Jehn, the ESA's Head of Planetary Defence. "Only then, with enough warning, can we take the steps needed to prevent an asteroid strike altogether, or minimize the damage it does on the ground." In such a situation, the ESA says it would live tweet details "so you'll find out the 'news' as the experts do." And for the hypothetical 2019 PDC asteroid exercise at the conference, the agency will indeed live tweet the series of decided actions as if they are made. "These exercises have really helped us in the planetary defense community to understand what our colleagues on the disaster management side need to know," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's Planetary Defense Officer. "This exercise will help us develop more effective communications with each other and with our governments." Despite NASA having participated in six NEO impact exercises before, each scenario is different and the agency says it's learned that the focus is not always on the asteroid details, even though that's still crucial to creating a plan to either deflect it or reduce its impact. "What emergency managers want to know is when, where and how an asteroid would impact, and the type and extent of damage that could occur," said Leviticus Lewis of the Response Operations Division for FEMA. Well, you know what they say...it's better to be prepared. At the very least, NASA and friends won't be panicking as hard if an asteroid were ever to really hit Earth. WATCH: NASA's Administrator Jim Bridenstine warns India's anti-satellite test could be dangerous for the ISS
|
| US STOCKS-Wall St hits a lull after weak Intel results, mixed GDP report Posted: 26 Apr 2019 10:32 AM PDT ![US STOCKS-Wall St hits a lull after weak Intel results, mixed GDP report]( "US STOCKS-Wall St hits a lull after weak Intel results, mixed GDP report") U.S. stocks came under pressure on Friday, hit by weak results from Intel and Exxon Mobil, with mixed first-quarter GDP data adding to a somber mood. Semiconductor stocks took a beating, with the Philadelphia chip index falling 1.52%, while the broader technology sector declined 0.67%.
|
| Global software 'glitch' leaves Air India passengers stranded Posted: 27 Apr 2019 02:06 AM PDT ![Global software 'glitch' leaves Air India passengers stranded]( "Global software 'glitch' leaves Air India passengers stranded") Thousands of Air India passengers were stranded at airports across the world Saturday, after a software "glitch" left those travelling with the state-run airline unable to check in, officials said. "Our check-in software experienced a glitch following a routine software upgrade. It was resolved after six hours," Air India spokesman Praveen Bhatnagar told AFP.
|
| Air Force: Trading New F-15s for Stealth F-35s Is a "Bad Choice" Posted: 27 Apr 2019 12:00 PM PDT  "Ma'am, if we ever get to a point where we are trading F-15s for F-35s, that is a bad choice," Goldfein said. "The F-15 is not an F-35, it will never be an F-35."The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on March 4, 2019 questioned the U.S. Air Force's proposal to buy new F-15Xs from Boeing starting in 2020.(This first appeared in 2019.)Sen. Jim Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, and ranking member Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, asked how the Air Force could justify buying non-stealthy, fourth-generation F-15s when, for years, the flying branch categorically rejected the notion of buying anything but radar-evading, fifth-generation warplanes."It seems to me that we're getting back into the fourth generation that we're hoping to be out of," Inhofe said, according to Defense News reporter Joe Gould.Under pressure from the office of Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive, the Air Force proposed to buy as many as 144 F-15Xs through the mid-2020s in order to replace 1980s-vintage F-15Cs on a one-for-one basis in the nine active and Air National Guard squadrons that fly the older type on air-superiority and homeland-defense missions.
|
| Prosecutor: 'No basis' for Minneapolis cop to shoot woman Posted: 26 Apr 2019 04:06 PM PDT  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A prosecutor criticized a former Minneapolis police officer for his decision to shoot an unarmed woman who approached his squad car, suggesting Friday that he had "no basis" to believe she had a weapon when he couldn't see her hands.
|
| Iran warns could shut Hormuz Strait if tensions grow Posted: 28 Apr 2019 04:05 AM PDT  Iran's top general warned Sunday Tehran could close the strategic Strait of Hormuz shipping route if it faces more "hostility", news agency ISNA said, as the US tightens up sanctions. "We are not after closing the Strait of Hormuz but if the hostility of enemies increase, we will be able to do so," armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri told semi-official ISNA. The statement came after Washington said on Monday it would start imposing sanctions on countries such as India, China and Turkey that buy Iranian oil.
|
| Tesla's Musk agrees to new vetting rules for tweets in SEC deal Posted: 26 Apr 2019 04:07 PM PDT  Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk has reached a deal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a dispute over his use of Twitter, agreeing to submit his public statements about the company's finances and other topics to vetting by its legal counsel, according to a court filing on Friday. If it is approved by a judge, the deal means the Tesla founder no longer faces the prospect of being held in contempt for violating an earlier settlement with the agency, which had required him to submit statements "material" to investors for prior review. Shares of Tesla rose 1.4 percent to $238.50 in after hours trading.
|
| Pilots demand better training if Boeing wants to rebuild trust in 737 MAX Posted: 28 Apr 2019 08:20 AM PDT ![Pilots demand better training if Boeing wants to rebuild trust in 737 MAX]( "Pilots demand better training if Boeing wants to rebuild trust in 737 MAX") American Airlines pilots have warned that Boeing Co's draft training proposals for the troubled 737 MAX do not go far enough to address their concerns, according to written comments submitted to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and seen by Reuters. The comments were made by the Allied Pilots Association (APA), which represents pilots at American Airlines Group Inc , the world's largest airline and one of the biggest 737 MAX operators in the United States.
|
| The Eufy Genie is an Echo Dot, but it costs $19.99 instead of $50 Posted: 26 Apr 2019 10:47 AM PDT  The Echo Dot is Amazon's most affordable Alexa speaker, so it makes perfect sense that it's also Amazon's best-selling Alexa speaker. But if it's Amazon's best-selling Alexa speaker at $50, can you imagine how well it would sell if it only cost $19.99? Anker's Eufy brand doesn't have the same marketing muscle as Amazon, and that's why the Eufy Genie Smart Speaker with Hands-Free Amazon Alexa will never sell as well as the Echo Dot. But those in the know are aware that it's just as good as a Dot, making it the best and most affordable way to add Alexa to any room in your home.Here are the key details from the product page: * eufy Genie is a voice-controlled smart speaker with Amazon's intelligent Alexa voice assistant. Just say the wake word "Alexa" and Genie plays music, controls your smart home devices, answers your questions, sets calendars, reports the weather and news and more.(2.4GHz Wi-Fi Network Support Only, No Bluetooth) If you have more than one Eufy Genie or Echo in your home, Spatial Perception Technology intelligently selects the Eufy Genie or Echo closest to you to answer your request. * Built with a 2W speaker that delivers dynamic audio and room-filling sound, so you can truly enjoy your favorite playlists from streaming services like Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Pandora and iHeartRadio. Call or message almost anyone hands-free with your Eufy Genie and instantly connect to other Alexa-enabled devices in your home using just your voice. * Enables a true voice-controlled smart home experience. Use Genie to control all Alexa-compatible Eufy smart products, such as RoboVac 11c and Lumos LED Smart Bulbs, in addition to other brands that work with Alexa. * Easy setup with the free EufyHome app. Use the Amazon Alexa app to access 10000+ skills and services, such as Sirius XM, Domino's Pizza, Uber, ESPN, NPR News, and much more. Plus, Genie is always getting smarter. Future updates include: Alexa messaging and calling. (EufyHome requires a smartphone or tablet running iOS 8.0 (and above) or Android 4.3 (and above) to operate.) * What You Get: eufy Genie, AC power adapter (5ft/1.5m), AUX cable (5ft/1.5m), user manual, safety instruction card, our worry-free 12-month warranty and lifetime technical support.
|
| How Russia Got Its Hands on a 'Mini SR-71' Mach 3 Spy Drone (And Stole Its Secrets) Posted: 26 Apr 2019 11:00 PM PDT  In November 1969, the U.S. Air Force sent Russia an early Christmas gift.It was a sleek flying machine that bore an uncanny resemblance to the SR-71 Blackbird spy plane.The American generosity was purely unintentional. The aircraft was actually a cutting-edge drone dispatched on a mission to photograph Communist Chinese nuclear sites. And the drone did what it was supposed to until it failed to turn around, and kept on going north into Siberia before crashing.If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Russia paid the skilled aircraft designers at Lockheed the highest compliment: they tried to copy their work.The drone in question was the D-21. With its graceful delta wings, the D-21 resembled a miniature SR-71, which was no coincidence given that they were products of Lockheed's famed Skunk Works, the originator of many an amazing secret project. In fact, the D-21 was originally designed to be mounted and launched from the tail of an SR-71, itself famous for its Mach 3 speed and its 85,000-feet maximum altitude.The D-21 was conceived in the mid-1960s as a solution to the problem of spying on the Soviet Union. Soviet surface-to-air missiles, like the one that downed a U-2 over Russia in 1960, were making photo missions over Communist territory more hazardous. The SR-71 could fly high and fast enough to be safe, but why risk a manned aircraft and its pilot when a robot could do the job?
|
| The Latest: Defense rests in trial of Minneapolis officer Posted: 26 Apr 2019 02:36 PM PDT  MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Latest on the trial of a former Minneapolis police officer who fatally shot a woman who had called 911 to report a possible crime (all times local):
|
| Venezuelan government denounces regional OAS forum Posted: 27 Apr 2019 02:04 PM PDT  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday staged a rally to celebrate its split with a key regional forum, the Organization of American States.
|
| President Trump says he can 'easily' beat former Vice President Joe Biden in 2020 race Posted: 26 Apr 2019 10:11 AM PDT  'Outnumbered' panel debates the strengths and weaknesses of Joe Biden's presidential candidacy.
|
| Impeachment Would Be a Redundant Judgment Posted: 28 Apr 2019 02:30 AM PDT  The Mueller investigation was supposed to be a legal process concerned with crimes. Investigators identified no crimes to charge, and so it has, naturally, become something else: no longer a theory about a criminal conspiracy — only an irritable mood.An ordeal that had been conducted under the procedures of law in accordance with legal criteria is now an ordeal that is being conducted under the procedures of politics in accordance with political criteria — or, if you prefer, with moral criteria related to Donald Trump's character. For those who want to see President Trump impeached and who think of impeachment as a fundamentally political process in spite of its mock-trial aspect, that's just fine. They'll take their pound of flesh, however it is had.The problem with this point of view is that the question of Donald Trump's personal fitness for office already has been adjudicated as a political matter: That is what happened in the 2016 presidential election. Many critics, myself included, argued that Trump was unfit for the office, both morally and intellectually. We made our arguments, the voters consulted their own consciences, and, weighing these things however it is that voters weigh them, chose Trump. There wasn't some occult intermediary step in there. That's how things go in politics: The people behave just as if they had minds of their own! And, sometimes, they get to have their own way.In terms of Donald Trump's character and habits, there is practically nothing in the Mueller report — or in the public record since 2016 — that voters did not already know when they elected him. And that is really the fundamental argument against impeaching President Trump: The political judgment called for in an impeachment at this point and in this context properly ought to be understood as beside the point, if we take seriously the democratic assumption that the judgment of the people, rendered in the election, is sovereign.There isn't some shocking new thing, and, of course, some Democrats have been talking impeachment since before Trump was even sworn in. The Democrats do not propose to impeach Donald Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors, but simply for being Donald Trump. One may sympathize with that, but Donald Trump is the man the voters chose.And that goes to the real issue here: The Democrats cannot accept that they lost an election to Donald Trump. One sympathizes with that, too, but that is what actually happened, for several reasons: Trump focused on two issues — immigration and trade — that speak to a substantial bipartisan plurality with nationalistic and protectionist impulses rarely taken seriously by mainstream figures in either party; his opponent ran an inept campaign and has been questing after power for so long that both she and the voters are exhausted by it; the "elites" and Washingtonians against whom Trump & Co. inveigh were judged, not without some reason, to merit a trip to the woodshed; the so-called war on terror and the financial crisis of 2008–09 have destabilized formerly sturdy political coalitions. And, of course, it was Republicans' turn.Which is to say: The Democrats' talk of impeachment is partly about 2020, but it's mainly about 2016, and their adolescent psychic need to believe that the presidential election that brought Donald Trump to the White House was illegitimate rather than an opportunity they simply blew. The theory that the election was thrown by Russian trolls posting dank memes on Twitter is hard to take seriously. If we had a list of every voter whose mind was changed in 2016 by an anonymous social-media account with a Cyrillic bio, then disenfranchising those voters would be a good start on improving things for 2020. Alas and alack, we don't do that sort of thing. But the argument that bot-executed shenanigans nullified democracy in 2016 amounts to the Democrats protesting: "These trolls robbed us of the support of our natural base: morons!"There's no quality control in social media — and less quality control in ordinary news media than there used to be. Lies, distortions, exaggerations, and pure inventions are going to be out there in the intellectual marketplace, whether they originate in Moscow or in Brooklyn. That's a real problem, but it doesn't invalidate the outcome of the 2016 election.There are many reasons to oppose an impeachment at this time: One is that no one has made a very persuasive case for one, all of the Democrats' arguments up to this point having been transparently pretextual. Another is that the Republican majority in the Senate all but ensures that the process would be purely symbolic, an exercise in chaos for pleasure's sake. A third is that it normalizes the invocation of a procedure that should be reserved for extraordinary circumstances in the service of ordinary short-term partisan interests. For comparison, consider that there was no serious impeachment talk when Barack Obama authorized the assassination of U.S. citizens without so much as a by-your-leave from Congress — or when he took executive actions that he himself had described as unconstitutional only months before. That suggests a pretty high standard — and if "I think that guy is a fink!" ends up being a common rationale for impeachment, then you'd better make your peace with anarchy, because Washington is going to be a ghost town.But the most important reason for forbearance here is that a political judgment already has been rendered on Donald Trump's character — and, if you don't like how that came out, there's another chance right around the corner.
|
| The 9 best sales and deals you can get this weekend Posted: 28 Apr 2019 06:46 AM PDT ![The 9 best sales and deals you can get this weekend]( "The 9 best sales and deals you can get this weekend") Shop and save on the best products this weekend.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment