| 77-year-old murderer deemed too old for prison released early, kills again Posted: 19 Jul 2019 07:54 AM PDT  Albert Flick first landed in prison in 1979, when he was found guilty ofstabbing his wife to death in front of her young daughter
|
| Iran's Foreign Minister Zarif: We Can't "Discount" Possibility of War Posted: 18 Jul 2019 01:01 PM PDT  On Thursday, National Interest Editor Jacob Heilbrunn interviewed Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif in New York at the Ambassador's residence on the current state of U.S.-Iran relations. The transcript has been lightly edited for readability.Jacob Heilbrunn: With the American shooting down of an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz today, are we on a path of escalation?Mohammed Javad Zarif: I checked with Tehran, and we do not have any information about having lost a drone today. So, we don't know, as of now what has happened. We have the president saying that they shot a drone. We don't know whose drone it is, but we don't have that information. But we are certainly moving in the wrong direction. The fact that the United States has an increased presence in the Persian Gulf doesn't help security or stability in the area—it's a tiny body of water and you cannot have such congested traffic there without something happening.Heilbrunn: A lot of the tension is also focused on the tanker that went missing. Is Iran responsible for that?Zarif: All the information we have is that we confiscated a small tanker that was only carrying a million liters of smuggled oil products—not oil—and that happens quite often in the Persian Gulf because of heavily subsidized prices in Iran of oil products. There is a lot of smuggling from both sea and land borders and we interdict them on a regular basis. So if that is the tanker they're talking about, that is a smuggling tanker, not a shipping tanker.Heilbrunn: Another move that the Trump administration has announced is sending about five hundred more soldiers to Saudi Arabia. What is your response to that?
|
| Fox News Host to Geraldo Rivera: I Can Tell You to Go Back to Where You Came From Posted: 19 Jul 2019 08:52 AM PDT  Defending Donald Trump's repeated racist taunts at Democratic congresswomen of color, Fox News host Pete Hegseth told correspondent-at-large Geraldo Rivera on Friday morning that it would be perfectly fine for him to utilize the president's "go back to where you came from" message on him.A day after Trump sorta disavowed the racist "send her back!" chant his rally crowd launched at Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Rivera appeared on Fox & Friends and said he was "glad the president has said" he didn't like the chants. At the same time, Rivera noted that the president's original tweets targeting the "Squad" tapped into an "old racist trope," something the longtime Trump pal had criticized the president for days earlier."Geraldo, but you, like many, have accused him of racism," Hegseth replied. "But if you go back and look at that tweet, he's not talking about race, he's talking about whether or not you love this country and appreciate it. And if you don't appreciate it and don't love it, and don't want to work to make it better, then maybe you could consider going somewhere else. There's plenty of countries on Earth."How the Ilhan Omar Marriage Smear Went From Fever Swamp to TrumpRivera, who is of Puerto Rican heritage, shot back at his colleague, yelling "what the hell" before pointing out that all four congresswomen—Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) and Omar—are citizens of the United States. Hegseth, meanwhile, said he would have no problem if someone personally told him he could love it or leave it."Intolerable—you cannot say that," Rivera responded."You could totally say it," Hegseth, an informal adviser to Trump, asserted."You can't say it to me," Rivera fired back."Well, I could say it to you," the Fox & Friends host countered.Rivera went on to recount the number of "street fights" he had in his younger years because he's Puerto Rican, claiming he routinely heard people telling him to go back to where he came from even though he was born in New York. Hegseth brushed that off while continuing to insist that Trump is not referencing race but instead the lawmakers' "principles" and "lack of gratitude.""A lot of people aren't grateful to be here," Rivera declared. "Gratitude is not a requirement of citizenship."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Nancy Pelosi planning to meet one-on-one Posted: 17 Jul 2019 01:16 PM PDT  Earlier this month, Nancy Pelosi downplayed four votes from a group of progressive Democrats against a border funding bill.
|
| Navy warship sunk by German sub in WWII finally located Posted: 18 Jul 2019 03:15 PM PDT  A private dive team has located the last U.S. Navy warship to be sunk by a German submarine in World War II, just a few miles (kilometers) off the coast of Maine. The sinking of the USS Eagle PE-56 on April 23, 1945, was originally blamed on a boiler explosion. The patrol boat's precise location remained a mystery — until now.
|
| California city set to ban gendered words like 'manhole' and 'manpower' Posted: 18 Jul 2019 12:54 PM PDT  The City Council in Berkeley, Calif., votes to remove gender-specific words from its municipal code.
|
| S. Korean man kills himself as dispute with Japan escalates Posted: 19 Jul 2019 01:52 AM PDT  An elderly South Korean man died on Friday after setting himself on fire outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul as a bitter diplomatic dispute over wartime forced labour compensation took a fatal turn. The row has seen Tokyo restrict exports of chemicals vital to Seoul's world-leading chip and smartphone industry in an escalation of a decades-long dispute over Japanese forced labour during World War II.
|
| From Russia, No Love for EU's New Chief and her Hawkish Stance Posted: 18 Jul 2019 11:03 AM PDT ![From Russia, No Love for EU's New Chief and her Hawkish Stance]( "From Russia, No Love for EU's New Chief and her Hawkish Stance") (Bloomberg) -- Ursula von der Leyen won't be getting a bear hug from the Kremlin.Russia's top diplomat was asked during a visit to Germany about the incoming president of the European Commission and her "strict" view of his country. His frosty response was that the decision by the European Union's leaders and Parliament was one "we simply acknowledge.""Show me anyone who isn't critical of Russia nowadays," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told reporters on Thursday at a conference in the city of Koenigswinter. "We are pragmatists, we want to focus on practical matters, not on public statements."Von der Leyen takes over at the helm of the EU's executive arm in November and Chancellor Angela Merkel's defense minister staked out a hawkish stance on Russia. She's led calls for a common European military strategy since Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea and is a staunch backer of sanctions."The Kremlin doesn't forgive weakness," von der Leyen told Die Welt in an interview Thursday. "From a position of strength we should stand by Russian sanctions."Lavrov's language was calculatingly neutral, saying President Vladimir Putin will react to EU policy rather than dwell on verbal volleys."I hope that the new composition of the European Commission will conduct an inventory of relations with Russia, and when they express their position on the long-term development of relations with us, we will of course respond," Lavrov said.\--With assistance from Henry Meyer and Tony Halpin.To contact the reporter on this story: Patrick Donahue in Koenigswinter, Germany at pdonahue1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-Jackson, Richard BravoFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Cyprus detains 12 Israeli men over allegations of gang rape of British teenager Posted: 18 Jul 2019 09:58 AM PDT  Twelve Israeli tourists were remanded in custody for eight days by a court in Cyprus for the alleged gang rape of a 19-year-old British woman at a popular holiday resort on the island. The Israelis were arrested on Wednesday after the British teenager told police that she had been raped at the hotel where she was staying in the beach resort of Ayia Napa. Doctors who treated the woman said they found bruises and scratches on her body. The suspects, aged 16 to 18, were staying in the same hotel. The young men covered their faces with their t-shirts as they arrived handcuffed at the court in the nearby town of Paralimni, in the southeast of Cyprus. One broke down in tears. Some were accompanied by their parents. The hearing was held behind closed doors because some of the suspects are minors. The suspects covered their faces as they arrived at court Credit: Petros Karadjis/AP A judge accepted a request by Cypriot police to remand the men in custody for eight days while an investigation is launched into the rape allegation. They have not yet been charged with any offence. Three of the men allegedly raped the British tourist while others filmed the attack on their mobile phones, local media reports said. Ioannis Habaris, a lawyer representing four of the suspects, told The Associated Press it was unclear exactly how many of the men were implicated in the alleged rape. He said there was "some evidence" the British woman was involved in a "relationship" with one of the suspects. Tourists on a beach on the outskirts of the resort of Ayia Napa in Cyprus Credit: Amir Makar/AFP Nir Yaslovitzh, an Israeli lawyer representing three other suspects, said the 12 teenagers had arrived in Ayia Napa in three separate groups. Some were having a holiday prior to being drafted into the Israeli army for compulsory military service. He said police were trying to flush out the perpetrators among the group by arresting all 12 and having them detained. "I think it's a trick," Mr Yaslovitzh told AP. "They want to know how my clients will (react)." The Foreign Office said British authorities were "supporting a British woman who was assaulted in Cyprus and are in contact with local police". Cyprus's sandy beaches, bars and nightclubs attract around 1.3 million British tourists a year. Ayia Napa has a reputation for being a party town, with booze cruises and pub crawls.
|
| Marine Corps Tells Rep. Duncan Hunter He Can’t Use Trademarked Corps Material for His Campaign Posted: 18 Jul 2019 02:32 AM PDT  "It is personally disappointing to Congressman Hunter that he is now being told that he cannot use this motto or image that thousands of Marines like Congressman Hunter, who went to war under this banner, have used for tattoos, coins, and multiple other items of personal sentiment," Harrison told Task & Purpose.Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) has been told to stop using the Marine Corps' emblem and the 1st Marine Division's motto in his campaign literature, Corps officials confirmed.The Marine Corps Trademark Licensing Office has sent Hunter, a Marine veteran, a cease and desist letter telling him to quit using the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor emblem along with the phrase, "No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy," on a fundraising mailer that accuses his political opponent of having links to terrorism, NBC News first reported on Wednesday."Please be advised that you are more than welcome to simply and accurately state that you are a Marine Corps veteran, or provide other information about your service that is based on fact," according to the letter, which NBC News posted online. "As an alternative, we do offer a 'Marine Veteran' logo (Attachment B) for use by Marines to indicate their pride in service."Marine Corps spokesman Capt. Joseph Butterfield confirmed the Corps had "taken appropriate action" to address the campaign mailers cited in the NBC story.
|
| How Fox News Hosts Have Defended the Racist ‘Send Her Home’ Trump Rally Chant Posted: 18 Jul 2019 10:41 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos GettyOn Wednesday night, the crowd at President Trump's rally in Greenville, North Carolina, launched into a "Send Her Back!" chant after the president took aim at Ilhan Omar, the Somalian-American congresswoman who he has targeted—along with other congresswomen of color—with racist taunts for days now. The chants immediately sparked widespread backlash and outrage, including from some conservatives and Republicans. At the same time, however, hosts and personalities at Fox News quickly began formulating excuses and talking points to defend the president for basking in the racist chants he clearly fomented with his days of bigoted rhetoric.After many of the below defenses were issued, however, the president provided his Fox pals an easy out, telling reporters Thursday afternoon that he "wasn't happy" about the chant, saying that "it was quite a chant and I felt a little badly about it.""I was not happy with it, I disagree with it," he added of the chant that was based off his own repeated attacks on the four women of color. "I didn't say that, they did." GREG GUTFELDOne of the first ones to sound off Wednesday evening was Greg Gutfeld, co-host of weekday gabfest The Five and weekend show The Greg Gutfeld Show. Responding to conservative commentator Allahpundit, who said the chant was "pure mob insanity, led by the most powerful man on earth," Gutfeld tweeted: "pure mob insanity? apparently, you've never been to a sporting event." The likening of the racist chant to rallying cries heard at sporting events would be heard again from Fox News stars. LAURA INGRAHAMShortly after the president's rally, primetime host Laura Ingraham dismissed the chant as coming from a "small section of the crowd" before slamming the rest of the media for framing "the entire rally around this one section of the crowd's reaction." Complaining that this was similar to the media's coverage of the constant "Lock Her Up" chants at Trump rallies, she then asked: "Are the media and the Democrats missing how many Americans feel about what they're told about the way they should think from these four elected officials?" JILLIAN MELEMinutes after a segment Thursday morning outsourcing a defense of the chants to far-right media star Candace Owens, Fox & Friends First host Jillian Mele read from a top-notch propaganda script: "President Trump drawing cheers and chants, rallying a crowd of thousands in North Carolina. And the leftist media wasting no time slamming both him and the crowd." She continued after a few clips of CNN and MSNBC anchors slamming the racist chant: "But guess what? New poll numbers out show voters really do want to put America first." JESSE WATTERSGutfeld's comparison of the racist chant to a raucous sports crowd was picked up by his Five colleague Jesse Watters. Appearing Thursday morning on Fox & Friends, Watters said of the "Send her back!" chants: "They chant some pretty bad stuff at a football game. Politics is a tough sport." He added another astonishing comparison: "Some Republicans chanted some things; some Democrats framed Trump for treason. I think you guys see the difference." BRIAN KILMEADEDuring the same Fox & Friends broadcast that featured Watters comparing the chants to a football crowd, co-host Brian Kilmeade took a similar tack as Ingraham did the night before. "It gives MSNBC and CNN something to focus on as opposed to a raucous speech that not any of the 24 [Democratic candidates] could possibly have done," he huffed after guest Guy Benson said he "wasn't a fan" of the chants. TODD STARNESFox Nation host Todd Starnes—who has made a name for himself as a Christian conservative commentator—wrote on Fox's website that the "crowd's reaction was an appropriate response to the incessant un-American rage spewing from the mouth of Rep. Omar." He added: "Last night was a political rally—not a church service." Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| Satellite images ‘show US military buildup in Saudi Arabia’ amid Iran tensions Posted: 18 Jul 2019 11:04 AM PDT  The United States is preparing to send hundreds of troops to Saudi Arabia where satellite images appear to show a build up of American forces on the ground. Up to 500 soldiers are to be sent to the Prince Sultan Airbase in the desert to the east of the capital Riyadh, two officials told CNN, speaking on condition of anonymity. Preparations are also reportedly underway for a large missile installation from which Patriot surface-to-air missiles can be launched to protect the base from incoming threats. The moves would likely strengthen the US' controversial relationship with Saudi Arabia, while also responding to rising tensions with Iran which escalated dramatically in recent months. After the US unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal last year and reimposed tight sanctions, Iran announced in July that it had surpassed limits on enriched uranium imposed in the agreement. The country insists it is not trying to build nuclear weapons.A standoff has also ensued in the Gulf, with sabotage attacks on foreign tankers, blamed on Iran by the US. In the latest incident Tehran said it had seized a foreign-owned vessel suspected of being used for oil smuggling out of the country/ The Trump administration has long sought to base troops in the remote region, but the decision to send them to Saudi Arabia comes amid outrage over the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. A United Nations report concluded his death at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul was "an extrajudicial execution" sanctioned Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.The Trump administration has also been criticised for its response to the murder.Despite these issues, the US has said it is committed to helping protect Saudi Arabia from Iranian aggression, and last month said 1,000 troops were being sent to the middle east, but did not say which countries they were going to.Photographs taken by high-resolution commercial satellites, captured by satellite imagery company Planet Labs, show a deployment of US troops and support personnel who arrived at the air base in mid-June, according to Jeffrey Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Project at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, who has studied the new images.Pictures of the site taken in late June and early July show preparations being made for the arrival of troops, Mr Lewis told CNN."A small encampment and construction equipment appeared at the end of a runway by June 27, suggesting that improvements are already underway. The encampment to the east of the runway is typical of Air Force engineering squadrons deployed overseas," he said. The US is reportedly hoping to be able to fly stealth, fifth-generation F-22 jets and other fighter planes from the base.Commander Rebecca Rebarich, a Pentagon spokeswoman, told the New York Times there was "no official announcement" of the deployment to the Middle East but said the American military "continually works to manage our force posture in the region."Amid rising tensions between Iran and the US last month, Mr Trump said he was not seeking war with the country but warned, if pushed, the country would face "obliteration like you've never seen before".
|
| New Hampshire lawmaker Werner Horn: 'Owning slaves doesn't make you racist' Posted: 18 Jul 2019 09:13 PM PDT  A New Hampshire lawmaker came under fire this week for claiming American slavery was based on economics, not racism.
|
| Sen. Thom Tillis says the media should focus on the extreme views of the 'squad' Posted: 18 Jul 2019 06:44 AM PDT  North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis says Rep. Ilhan Omar's resolution that likens a boycott of Israel to that of Nazi Germany is the real problem.
|
| Hand signals and Post-its: The Hong Kong protester playbook Posted: 19 Jul 2019 02:05 AM PDT  Hong Kong's youth are no rookies when it comes to protests. Using a range of new tactics, they have helped rally hundreds of thousands of fellow Hong Kong residents to take to the streets over the past month. The Hong Kong-based web forum LIHKG and Telegram, the encrypted messaging app, have served as crucial organizing platforms for the largely leaderless protests.
|
| Surprise — The Future of Planned Parenthood Is Abortion Posted: 18 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Planned Parenthood's board has fired the organization's president, Leana Wen, after less than a year on the job. According to reports, Wen was dismissed because the board deemed her insufficiently dedicated to expanding Planned Parenthood's political advocacy, particularly on abortion.The news comes as a shock for a few reasons. For one thing, Wen was appointed just last fall to replace Cecile Richards, who resigned on good terms after leading the institution for twelve years.But it's surprising, too, if Wen's ouster was due to her reluctance to focus more on politics than on public health, as several reports suggest was the case. In June, after all, Planned Parenthood announced a six-figure ad campaign, "Bans Off My Body," to oppose recent state laws regulating abortion. Judging from Wen's Twitter account, she was perfectly comfortable promoting what the group frequently calls "reproductive rights."Why, then, was she forced to depart so unceremoniously, and what does her abrupt exit say about the future of Planned Parenthood?Wen's dismissal is perhaps best understood in light of the escalating national fight over abortion policy. As blue states have codified the right to abortion on demand, in many cases deeming it a "fundamental right," red states have passed limitations like heartbeat bills to protect unborn human beings earlier in pregnancy.Planned Parenthood has long sought to downplay its commitment to abortion, calling itself a health-care organization and spreading the lie that abortion is only 3 percent of its business, even as its clinics perform between one-third and half of all abortions in the U.S. annually. The group's leadership evidently believes this political moment demands more aggressive advocacy.And Wen wasn't up to the task. Considering her record thus far, she was hired for the "M.D." beside her name, and little else. She came across in interviews like a placid physician repeating rote talking points drilled into her on the drive to the studio. She consistently inserted the phrase "as a doctor" into her messaging to give the organization the gloss of medical legitimacy, and she never sounded like the polished, sure-footed political advocate Richards had.Plenty of turmoil, meanwhile, was taking place behind the scenes. "Wen had tried to refocus the organization's mission and image as a health provider offering a wide array of services, including abortions," sources told the Washington Post this week. "Those close to Wen said she was opposed by some board members and others who wanted to emphasize the organization's commitment to abortion rights."In January, Wen told BuzzFeed News she wanted to restructure the organization's goals, noting that people aren't going to Planned Parenthood to make a political statement. "What we will always be here to do is provide abortion access as part of the full spectrum of reproductive health care," Wen said. "But we also recognize that for so many of our patients we are their only source of health care."The day BuzzFeed published its profile, though, Wen backtracked. "I am always happy to do interviews, but these headlines completely misconstrue my vision for Planned Parenthood," Wen tweeted that morning. "Our core mission is providing, protecting and expanding access to abortion and reproductive health care. We will never back down from that fight."Wen's termination sheds some light on this quick reversal. It's easy to imagine that she faced internal backlash for appearing to have shied away from abortion advocacy, and that her public about-face was an effort to pacify critics within the organization.It didn't work. In February, top political staffers left Planned Parenthood, reportedly amid ongoing conflict over Wen's management style. Now that tension seems to have boiled over. Six sources told BuzzFeed this week that "significant management issues [were] part of the board's decision to oust Wen," and one "said her removal was accelerated by the intensifying battle over abortion rights, saying that she was not the right leader in this climate."Perhaps the most revealing detail from Buzzfeed's report? Two sources said Wen angered staffers by refusing to use "trans-inclusive" language, "for example saying 'people' instead of 'women' and telling staff that she believed talking about transgender issues would 'isolate people in the Midwest.'"This anecdote might well be the key to understanding what happened to Wen and where Planned Parenthood's leaders intend to go from here. Surely she wasn't fired for her recalcitrance on preferred pronouns. But with a national spotlight on the abortion debate, Planned Parenthood's leaders are ready to take off the kid gloves.Wen's firing suggests that, instead of claiming to be just a normal health-care organization, Planned Parenthood intends to capitalize on its status as an influential left-wing interest group. To do that, it must become a purveyor of the entire progressive agenda, to the point of embracing the "intersectional" language promoted by transgender activists. So the mild-mannered Wen had to go.Pro-lifers have long known what Planned Parenthood itself appears to be admitting: The group's ultimate goal is to wield its political influence within the progressive movement to continue profiting from abortion.
|
| Russia summons U.S. diplomat in Moscow in protest over visa row Posted: 18 Jul 2019 08:44 AM PDT ![Russia summons U.S. diplomat in Moscow in protest over visa row]( "Russia summons U.S. diplomat in Moscow in protest over visa row") Russia summoned a representative of the U.S. embassy in Moscow on Thursday to issue a protest after U.S. officials alleged Russia had refused visas to teachers at an international school in Moscow, the Russian foreign ministry said. The ministry said in a statement it had not denied the visas, but that teachers at the school were entering Russia under diplomatic visas, despite not being diplomats. It said Russia was ready to issue visas promptly to U.S. diplomatic personnel as soon as Washington started issuing visas promptly to Russian diplomats in the United States.
|
| Italy police deal blow to 'violent' Nigerian mafia Posted: 18 Jul 2019 07:31 AM PDT  Italian police said Thursday they had arrested 19 suspected members of a Nigerian mob, including the leaders of a clan which forged alliances with other mafias and violently punished anyone who rebelled. In an operation dubbed "Burning Flame", coordinated by police in Bologna and Turin, over 300 officers carried out arrests and searches in nine cities across northern Italy from Bergamo to Modena, Parma and Ravenna. A two-year probe -- aided significantly by a man on the inside who fed details to investigators -- "has allowed us to destroy much of what, within the Nigerian community, is known as the 'Maphite' cult," police said in a statement.
|
| The Navy's 6th Generation Fighter Could Put the F-35 in a Museum Posted: 19 Jul 2019 12:47 AM PDT  New much-longer range sensors and weapons, incorporating emerging iterations of AI, are expected to make warfare more disaggregated, and much less of a linear force on force type of engagement. Such a phenomenon, driven by new technology, underscores warfare reliance upon sensors and information networks. All of this, naturally, requires the expansive "embedded ISR" discussed by the paper. Network reliant warfare is of course potentially much more effective in improving targeting and reducing sensor-to-shooter time over long distances, yet it brings a significant need to organize and optimize the vast, yet crucial, flow of information.The Navy is currently analyzing air frames, targeting systems, AI-enabled sensors, new weapons and engine technologies to engineer a new 6th-Generation fighter to fly alongside the F-35 and ultimately replace the F/A-18.(This first appeared earlier in the year.)The Navy program, called Next-Generation Air Dominance, has moved beyond a purely conceptual phase and begun exploration of prototype systems and airframes as it pursues a new, carrier-launched 6th-Gen fighter to emerge in 2030 and beyond, service officials explained."Some important areas of consideration include derivative and developmental air vehicle designs, advanced engines, propulsion, weapons, mission systems, electronic warfare and other emerging technologies," Navy spokeswoman Lt. Lauren Chatmas told Warrior earlier this year.A formal Analysis of Alternatives, expected to complete this year, is weighing the advantages of leveraging nearer-term existing technologies such as new variants or upgrades to cutting edge weapons, sensors and stealth configurations - or allowing more time for leap-ahead developmental systems to emerge.
|
| Rand Paul Fires Back at Jon Stewart on Fox News: He’s ‘Not Using His Brain’ Posted: 18 Jul 2019 02:12 PM PDT  A day after former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and 9/11 responder John Feal came on Fox News and eviscerated him and fellow GOP Sen. Mike Lee for blocking the reauthorization of the 9/11 victims' compensation fund in the Senate, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) appeared on Fox to return fire.And not only did the Kentucky lawmaker toss a lot of insults Stewart's way, but Paul also claimed he should be lauded as a hero for holding up additional funding for 9/11 victims."I know Jon Stewart," Paul told Fox News host Neil Cavuto on Thursday. "Jon Stewart is sometimes funny, sometimes informed. In this case, he's not funny nor informed."Asserting that he always asks for "pay-fors" in all funding bills, even ones for disasters, the libertarian senator said Stewart's name-calling exposes him as a "left-winger" before accusing the 9/11 victims' advocate of being "part of the left-wing mob that is not using his brain.""It's really disgusting," he continued. "He pretended for years when he was on his comedy show to be somebody that could see both sides and see through the B.S., now he is the B.S. The B.S. meter is through the roof when you see him calling people names and calling people an abomination when I'm asking for something reasonable."Cavuto would go on to press Paul about his support for Trump's massive tax cut, asking him if it was OK to not pay for the tax breaks but not 9/11 funding. Paul brushed that off by noting he wanted a "paygo provision" added but his colleagues voted it out. He then went on to accuse Stewart of "telling a lie" about his support for deficits.Moments later, after saying he was one of the few people in Congress who cares about balancing the budget, Paul then demanded that he be celebrated for his principled stand."I'm trying to have a debate in our country about whether or not deficits matter and whether or not we should offset new spending," he exclaimed. "I think I should be commended and loudly cheered for being one of the few fiscally responsible people up here."Paul concluded: "And I think we ought to set the record straight. Because Jon Stewart can't just have a free pass to lie. He's a celebrity and thinks facts don't matter."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| ‘I am disgusted’: New Yorkers react to Trump telling congresswomen to ‘go back’ to their countries Posted: 18 Jul 2019 01:14 PM PDT  New Yorkers, like much of the country, have some strong opinions about the latest controversy engulfing President Trump. "I am disgusted at the Republicans," said Randi, of Manhattan. "I can't believe no one stands up to him. I thought of myself as independent, and I'm forced into being a Democrat."
|
| DNC tells 2020 presidential candidates to stop using FaceApp as Schumer calls for investigation Posted: 18 Jul 2019 11:28 AM PDT  Schumer asked the FBI to determine whether the data uploaded to FaceApp "may be finding its way into the hands of the Russian government."
|
| A Passenger Was Fined $105,000 and Banned for Life for 'Extremely Disruptive Behavior' on an Airplane Posted: 18 Jul 2019 10:36 PM PDT  She was also banned for life by British budget carrier Jet2
|
| Hong Kong Protesters Who Stormed Legco Seek Asylum in Taiwan: Report Posted: 19 Jul 2019 03:27 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Dozens of Hong Kong protesters involved in the ransacking of the city's Legislative Council this month have arrived in Taiwan to seek asylum, the Apple Daily newspaper reported.About 30 protesters have already landed in Taiwan, while as many as 30 others -- and possibly more -- are planning to try soon, the Hong Kong newspaper said, citing unidentified people who assisted them.The fleeing activists were part of the group that smashed into the legislature on July 1, the paper said. The people who assisted the protesters told the paper they had been in contact with Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which handles the island's relations with Beijing, to seek help.The council hasn't received any formal asylum applications from Taiwan's National Immigration Agency, its deputy minister Chiu Chui-cheng said in a text message. If Taiwan receives any applications, authorities will handle them appropriately based on existing regulations and the principle of protecting human rights, Chiu added.Read more: Pain From Hong Kong Protests Spreads as Luxury Names Get HitA flight to Taiwan by Hong Kong asylum seekers would be fraught with geopolitical risk. It threatens to raise tensions between the administration of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen, a China critic who's up for re-election in January, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has already faced embarrassment over the global attention paid to Hong Kong's anti-government protests.Hong Kong's historic demonstrations over legislation that would allow extraditions to the mainland for the first time have resonated widely in democratically run Taiwan, which China considers a wayward province.Seeking RefugeThe Taiwan Association for Human Rights, a top local non-governmental organization, wouldn't comment on the case. "We cannot divulge any information regarding any individual case," said Secretary-General, Chiu E-ling. "If there are individuals who approach us for help, we'll interview these people and help them get in touch with government officials if that is what they wish."Earlier: China Drafting Urgent Plan to Resolve Hong Kong Chaos, SCMP SaysProtesters used a metal cart as a battering ram to break their way into the legislative building on the anniversary of Hong Kong's return from British rule, spray-painting slogans on its chamber's walls and draping a Union Jack-emblazoned colonial flag across the dais.At the time, Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam condemned the "extreme use of violence and vandalism" and supported the police's decision to leave it undefended in the face of a small group of protesters.Emily Leung, a spokeswoman for Lam, referred queries on the report to the Hong Kong police, who declined to comment on Friday.who didn't immediately respond to a call and an email Friday for comment.(Updates with police comment in final paragraph.)\--With assistance from Ina Zhou, Kari Lindberg and Debby Wu.To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Adela Lin in Taipei at alin95@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Karen LeighFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| View Photos of the Lexus GXOR Concept Posted: 18 Jul 2019 09:59 AM PDT |
| Ukraine's president says he backs prisoner swap with Russia Posted: 19 Jul 2019 06:29 AM PDT  Ukraine's president on Friday outlined the details of an impending prisoner swap with Russia, saying that Kiev is willing to release a jailed Russian journalist in exchange for a Ukrainian film director. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's statement comes at the end of the week of shuttle diplomacy, with the Russian and Ukrainian human rights ombudswomen holding talks both in Moscow and in Kiev. The flurry of activity around imprisoned Russians and Ukrainians follows last week's first telephone call between Zelenskiy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
|
| Illinois man jailed for life over murder of Chinese graduate student Posted: 17 Jul 2019 09:59 PM PDT  An Illinois man described by prosecutors as obsessed with serial killers was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for the kidnapping and decapitation of a Chinese graduate student two years ago. A U.S. District Court jury in Peoria, Illinois found Brendt Christensen, 29, guilty last month of all charges in the murder of Yingying Zhang, a 26-year-old student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
|
| Students at Georgetown University slam Donald Trump over Obama immigration quote Posted: 19 Jul 2019 02:44 AM PDT  Campus Reform media director Cabot Phillips speaks with students about comments made by the former president.
|
| Squeezed by sanctions, Iranians seek day jobs in Kurdish Iraq Posted: 19 Jul 2019 02:51 AM PDT  When the car pulled up to the curb in Iraq's Arbil, a half-dozen Iranian labourers swarmed around it. Squeezed by US sanctions on Tehran, they were hunting for work across the border. Mostly Kurds themselves, they have sought day jobs in construction and other menial labour in Iraq's northern Kurdish region to make up for the deteriorating economic situation at home.
|
| Trump says he wasn't happy with his crowd chanting, 'Send her back!' Posted: 18 Jul 2019 10:23 AM PDT  The president says he "disagrees" with the chant spawned by his own attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar.
|
| 'Not what your mom sent you:' Teen takes legendary senior photos in a bathrobe Posted: 18 Jul 2019 09:25 AM PDT  Evan Dennison wanted to do something funny for his senior photos. No one believed he would actually do it. Now he is a "legend."
|
| Prime Day still hasn’t ended for Apple’s AirPods 2 Posted: 19 Jul 2019 05:27 AM PDT  AirPods are the hottest true wireless earbuds around, and popular Apple products never used to go on sale. Now that Amazon is an official Apple retail partner though, those days are over. Both the AirPods 2 and AirPods 2 with Wireless Charging Case went on sale for Prime Day, with the former dropping $15 to $144.99 and the latter getting a $20 price cut to $179.00. Did you miss those awesome deals? Don't worry... they're still available right now! AirPods 2 * Automatically on, automatically connected * Easy setup for all your Apple devices * Quick access to Siri by saying "Hey Siri" * Double-tap to play or skip forward * New Apple H1 headphone chip delivers faster wireless connection to your devices * Charges quickly in the case * Case can be charged using the Lightning connector AirPods 2 with Wireless Charging Case * Automatically on, automatically connected * Easy setup for all your Apple devices * Quick access to Siri by saying "Hey Siri" * Double-tap to play or skip forward * New Apple H1 headphone chip delivers faster wireless connection to your devices * Charges quickly in the case * Case can be charged either wirelessly using a Qi-compatible charging mat or using the Lightning connector
|
| Why the Air Force's F-15 EX Fighter Would Get Crushed by Russia In a War Posted: 17 Jul 2019 06:00 PM PDT  While an F-35 can carry 22,000 pounds of munitions to a ceiling of 50,000 feet and a distance of 670 miles at a top speed of Mach 1.6, the F-15EX can haul 29,500 pounds of weapons as high as 60,000 feet and as far as 1,100 miles at a top speed of Mach 2.5.The debate continues over the Pentagon's proposal to buy new F-15EX Eagle fighters from Boeing to complement Lockheed Martin-made F-35 stealth fighters.As lawmakers weigh the military's request, Air Force magazine has published an infographic comparing the two fighters.Both fighters cost roughly $80 million apiece, according to Air Force. But the similarity ends there. The F-35 is stealthier but the F-15 flies higher, farther and faster and carries more weaponry.(This first appeared in April 2019.)A Russian-made S-400 air-defense system could detect an F-35 at 20 miles, Air Force estimated. It could pick up an F-15EX 200 miles away.While an F-35 can carry 22,000 pounds of munitions to a ceiling of 50,000 feet and a distance of 670 miles at a top speed of Mach 1.6, the F-15EX can haul 29,500 pounds of weapons as high as 60,000 feet and as far as 1,100 miles at a top speed of Mach 2.5.An F-35 costs $35,000 per hour to operate. An F-15EX costs $27,000 per hour.The new Eagle's main advantage, however, is that existing F-15 squadrons quickly and cheaply can convert to the type, Air Force's John Tirpak explained."The F-15EX, USAF argues, is essentially an in-production aircraft. It has upward of 70-percent parts commonality with the F-15C and E already in USAF service and can use almost all the same ground equipment, hangars, simulators and other support gear as the Eagles now in service," according to Tirpak.
|
| Morocco: 3 sentenced to death in Scandinavian women slayings Posted: 18 Jul 2019 12:09 PM PDT  Three men were convicted of terrorism and sentenced to death by a Moroccan court Thursday for the brutal slaying of two Scandinavian women hiking in the Atlas Mountains. Maren Ueland, 28, from Norway, and Louisa Vesterager Jespersen, 24, from Denmark, were fatally stabbed in December. The main defendants, who asked Allah for forgiveness, were carpenters Jounes Ouzayed and Rashid Afatti, and street merchant Abdessamad Al Joud.
|
| UPDATE 1-Trump EPA allows use of controversial pesticide Posted: 18 Jul 2019 03:15 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Trump EPA allows use of controversial pesticide]( "UPDATE 1-Trump EPA allows use of controversial pesticide") The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday said it will not ban the use of the pesticide chlorpyrifos, which has been linked to health issues in children, from use on U.S.-grown fruits and vegetables. The agency denied the petition by a dozen environmental groups, led by Earthjustice, to ban the pesticide. The Obama administration's EPA had banned the use of chlorpyrifos in 2015 after it decided it could not be certain whether exposure to the chemical in food and water would be harmful.
|
| 'My entire world was gone': floods devastate northern Pakistan Posted: 19 Jul 2019 03:15 AM PDT  Now only jagged rocks and a few damaged homes remain after torrential rains wreaked havoc on the picturesque mountain village in the Laswa Valley. More than 270 people have been killed in recent days across South Asia as monsoon rains deluged large swathes of the subcontinent, flooding waterways and destroying communities. "I was holding the hand of my mother trying to save her, but unfortunately I lost her hand and she was swept away by the floodwater," says Amin Butt, who was visiting his family in Kashmir.
|
| Iran claims US shot down its own drone by mistake Posted: 19 Jul 2019 07:43 AM PDT  Iran and the US were locked in a bizarre war of words on Friday, after Tehran denied President Donald Trump's claim that a US Navy ship had "destroyed" an Iranian drone. Mr Trump said on Thursday that the drone had flown to within 1,000 yards of the USS Boxer and had ignored "multiple calls to stand down" in the latest episode to stir tensions in the Gulf. It was the first US military engagement with Iran following a series of increasingly serious incidents and the Trump administrator threatened more yesterday if Iranian planes flew too closely to its ships. "We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else. I am worried that USS Boxer has shot down their own UAS [Unmanned Aerial System] by mistake!," Abbas Araqchi, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister, responded in a tweet this morning. Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi, an Iranian armed forces spokesman, added: "Despite Trump's baseless and delusional claims, all of (Iran's) drones... have safely returned to their bases." US President Donald Trump meets with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte in Washington on July 18 Credit: REX Revolutionary Guards released footage from what it said was the downed drone. State TV, which broadcast it, claimed the timing notations showed it was still filming after Washington said it had been put out of action. The US said it had its own "clear evidence", but it was not forthcoming. Mr Trump announced that the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, "took defensive action" against the Iranian drone as it was "threatening the safety of the ship and the ship's crew." "The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, our facilities and interests and calls upon all nations to condemn Iran's attempts to disrupt freedom of navigation and global commerce," he said. A first-hand account from a journalist aboard the Boxer suggested that Iran had been harassing the navy ship before the drone was shot down. A Wall Street Journal reporter said that an unarmed Iranian navy Bell 212 helicopter flew alongside them, yards away from the deck, before it was chased away by a US helicopter. The convoy of six US warships passed numerous Iranian speedboats without incident, but was then tailed by a larger Iranian warship which closed to within 500 yards of the Boxer. An Iranian Y-12 surveillance plane was then pursued by US helicopters before a surveillance drone came even closer and was then brought down by electronic warfare jamming. A series of attacks on oil tankers near the Persian Gulf has ratcheted up tensions between the US and Iran Credit: AP It came as a court in Gibraltar extended for 30 days the detention of an Iranian supertanker suspected of breaching European Union sanctions. The fate of the Grace 1 has been at the centre of escalating tensions between the UK and Iran and seen as a pawn in the standoff between the Islamic Republic and the West. Gibraltar denies that it was ordered to detain the vessel, which was carrying up to 2.1 million barrels of oil, but several diplomatic sources said the US asked the UK to seize it. Tehran has threatened retaliation if its vessel was not released. The decision suggested talks between Jeremy Hunt, Foreign Secretary, and Mohammad Javad Zarif, his Iranian counterpart, were not progressing. Iran could decide to further disturb western shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, where a fifth of the world's crude is shipped through, if it feels Britain has not played "fair". Meanwhile, the Iraqi army said an unmanned aircraft dropped explosives on a base belonging to Iran-linked Shia paramilitary groups in northern Iraq on Friday morning, killing at least one person. It was reported that ballistic missiles were being stored at the base, located in Salahuddin province. No one claimed the hit, but the target suggested either Islamic State or Israel could be responsible. While Israel has carried out such strikes against Iranian arms depots in Syria, it would be the first time in Iraq.
|
| Uber drivers and other gig workers in California could see improved lifestyle under proposed law Posted: 18 Jul 2019 05:16 PM PDT  Uber, Lyft in the crosshairs as California lawmakers look to redefine part-time job rules to boost pay, benefits for drivers.
|
| Obama and Clinton’s bundlers are betting on these 3 candidates Posted: 18 Jul 2019 02:01 AM PDT ![Obama and Clinton's bundlers are betting on these 3 candidates]( "Obama and Clinton's bundlers are betting on these 3 candidates") The biggest fundraisers in the Democratic Party have identified early favorites as the 2020 candidates jockey for resources.
|
| America will roast for 4 days Posted: 18 Jul 2019 10:29 AM PDT  Tens of millions of Americans will feel triple-digit heat between Thursday and Sunday. The National Weather Service (NWS) noted that 20 to 30 high temperature records could fall between the Rockies and the East Coast. There will be little relief even at night: The weather agency expects 123 records for the warmest daily low temperature to be either broken or tied this week. The Midwest will see many of the highest extremes on Thursday and Friday, while the East Coast will feel its most intense heat on Saturday.The NWS labeled this excessive heat as "scorching." On Saturday in Washington D.C., the confluence of humidity and air temperatures are forecast to produce a heat index (or feeling) of around 110 F. Meteorologist Michael Ventrice called these forecasted conditions "dangerously hot." Indeed, heat waves kill more Americans than any other weather event.Although climate change doesn't produce weather -- like sprawling fronts of unusually warm air, hurricanes, or wildfire conditions -- it does make these events worse. Any heat wave today, for example, is sitting atop boosted global temperatures. These elevated temperatures are responsible for June 2019 being the warmest June in 139 years of record-keeping, and 18 of the 19 warmest years on record occurring since 2001.This added heat means more record hot weather becoming not just possible, but occurring more frequently. "A barely noticeable shift in the mean temperature from global warming can end up turning a 'once-per-decade' heatwave into a 'once-per-year heatwave' pretty easily," Patrick Brown, an assistant professor in the Department of Meteorology and Climate Science at San Jose State University, said over email. Shifting averages mean more heat.Image: Climate central / climatecentral.org> The likelihood of extreme heat, like what we are seeing in the US Midwest this week, increases nonlinearly with the warming of average temperatures (caused by increases in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations). pic.twitter.com/Q20frMvgVa> > -- Patrick T. Brown (@PatrickTBrown31) July 17, 2019"Heat waves are occurring more often than they used to in major cities across the United States, from an average of two heat waves per year during the 1960s to nearly six per year during the 2010s," noted the U.S. Global Change Research Program.SEE ALSO: Climate change will ruin train tracks and make travel hellBoosted temperatures translate to more heat records. In the last decade, for instance, twice as many daily high heat records have been set as daily low records in the U.S. > NYC has chance for hottest feels like temperature in the country on Saturday but DC and Philly will make a run at it also. pic.twitter.com/w6Hl31WhxK> > -- Bill Karins (@BillKarins) July 18, 2019The powerful driver of the increased frequency of extreme heat is clear. In the late 1850s, physicists like John Tyndall discovered that certain gases, like carbon dioxide, trap radiative heat on Earth -- meaning solar radiation reflected off the planet's surface and heat emitted from Earth itself. Today, atmospheric concentrations of the heat-trapping gas carbon dioxide are at their highest levels in at least 800,000 years, though likely millions of years. What's more, atmospheric CO2 levels are now increasing at rates that are unprecedented in both the historic and geologic record. "What's important to recognize is the changes humanity is driving at present are commensurate with the most significant events in the history of life on this planet," Matthew Long, an oceanographer at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, told Mashable in March. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
|
| The U.S. Marines Might Be Souring on Amphibious Assault Ships. Here's Why. Posted: 18 Jul 2019 01:55 PM PDT  The incoming commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps is backing away from the service's longstanding requirement for 38 dedicated amphibious assault ships.The move could signal the beginning of a new approach to amphibious warfare for the world's leading marine force.New commandant Gen. David Berger is "willing to shed some key tenets of the Marines' amphibious force-planning in recent years – including the demand for 38 amphibious warships to support a two Marine Expeditionary Brigade-sized forcible entry force," Megan Eckstein reported for the U.S. Naval Institute.Force-structure assessments in 2009 and 2016 affirmed the Marines' requirement for 38 assault ships including LHA and LHD big-deck vessels and small-deck LSDs and LPDs.The Navy in 2019 was short of the 38-amphib goal. The 32 ships currently in the fleet together can carry hundreds of jump jets, tiltrotors, helicopters, ACV armored vehicles, LCU landing craft and LCAC hovercraft as well as thousands of Marines."We will no longer use a '2.0 MEB requirement' as the foundation for our arguments regarding amphibious ship building, to determine the requisite capacity of vehicles or other capabilities, or as pertains to the Maritime Prepositioning Force," Berger wrote. "We will no longer reference the 38-ship requirement memo from 2009, or the 2016 Force Structure Assessment, as the basis for our arguments and force structure justifications."A new force-structure assessment due to end in 2019 could reduce the number of traditional assault ships in the Marines require and instead include alternative vessels in the tally of ships that can support a beach assault.
|
| How Nicaragua’s Sandinista Revolution Was Resurrected—and Betrayed Posted: 19 Jul 2019 01:45 AM PDT  Courtesy Bill GentileBill Gentile covered the Central American wars of the 1980s that haunt the United States to this day. In the first chapter of this series he wrote about the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua. In the second, he looked at the U.S.-backed counter-revolution. Here he looks at what has become of the region, and of journalism.* * *Return Trips* * *MANAGUA, Nicaragua—Journalists follow the news. So when peace came to Central America at the beginning of the 1990s, I knew it was time for me to leave. The story there that had dominated front pages and nightly news for more than a decade dissipated almost overnight. In any case, I was ready to expand my work from Latin America and the Caribbean to more distant frontiers and Claudia, my Nicaraguan wife, was glad to escape the pressure cooker of a country mired in perpetual crisis. So we moved to Miami, a blend of developed and developing countries, where I still could cover major national and international stories, where my experience in conflict reporting and fluency in Spanish would be assets, and from where I could cover not just the region but stories far beyond.Central America's Wars of the '80s Still Haunt the U.S.It was a difficult transition. The logistics made sense, but the profession itself faced growing threats. By the end of the 1980s and especially at the beginning of the 1990s, the craft of photojournalism was contracting. Digital photography was becoming accessible to everyone; social media began to compete with the old mainstream operations, and 24/7 cable meant legacy outlets like Newsweek, my employer, became the platforms of old news before they even hit the stands.A peasant walks past a cotton plantation in western Nicaragua.Courtesy Bill GentileI moved to Philadelphia and began working for Video News International (VNI), the first company in the nation to use the new digital "prosumer" cameras to generate television content. Claudia and I separated and eventually divorced. When VNI fell apart, I turned to freelancing with video. By the year 2000 I had begun teaching as my main gig and freelancing as much as time and energy would allow.But Nicaragua never left me. And I never left Nicaragua.* * *'The World Stopped Watching'* * *White Pine Pictures is a Canadian documentary film production company whose members in 1986 produced The World Is Watching, about the coverage of the Contra War in Nicaragua by Western media. I was one of the featured journalists. In 2002, some 16 years later, White Pine contacted me to ask whether I would be willing to return to Nicaragua to film a sequel."Absolutely."I proposed we scan a handful of images from my book, Nicaragua, and publish them in the country's newspapers. We'd ask people to contact our producer in Managua if anyone recognized the people in the pictures, then we'd follow up on their stories since the Sandinista victory on July 19, 1979. A peasant man and daughter make adobe blocks for building their new home.Courtesy Bill GentileIt worked. Sandinista soldiers. Contra fighters. Peasants. Workers. Our producer's phone rang off the hook. And in the end? I found myself trying to explain how terrible those days had been, in large part because they failed to advance the Sandinistas' plan for a more equitable Nicaragua than the one they inherited from the Somoza dictatorship.'Terrible and Glorious Days' Covering the Contra War of the 1980sCalling their sequel The World Stopped Watching, the White Pine filmmakers produced a documentary explaining how the absence of international media loosens the restraints on the bad guys, who can do whatever they want because we, the international observers and watchdogs, are not around to hold them accountable. And that's exactly what has happened.At their electoral defeat in 1990, the Sandinista government accepted the process and, with no small amount of urging by former President Jimmy Carter, handed over power to a new government. It was the first time in Nicaragua's history that a sitting government peacefully handed over power as the result of a legitimate, internationally recognized election.At a news conference recognizing their landslide loss, Sandinista leaders, including ousted President Daniel Ortega, showed up with pallid, drawn faces. Most of the international press corps was stunned by the results as well.A mural of famed guerrilla fighter and liberator Augusto Cesar Sandino in the northern mountains.Courtesy Bill Gentile"El cuadro esta pintado," one high-ranking Sandinista official declared just days before the vote. "The painting is finished," he said, assuring me with blind confidence that the Sandinistas would crush the opposition. The result was a measure of how deeply the Sandinista leadership was disconnected from the people.But at a rally not long after the vote, Ortega promised his followers that, "We will rule from below." In other words, the highly organized Sandinista party would flex its muscles and get its way no matter who was president.* * *Malign Neglect* * *Anthony Quainton is Distinguished Diplomat in Residence in the School of International Service (SIS) at American University in Washington, D.C. He spent 38 years in the U.S. foreign services as a diplomat in Nicaragua, Peru, Kuwait and the Central African Republic. He also served as Coordinator of the Office for Combating Terrorism. At a recent conference, Quainton delivered a keynote speech titled, "Managua and Washington in the Early Sandinista Revolution," calling his his assignment in Nicaragua in the early 1980s "Mission Impossible."He argued that had the United States made a major and long-term commitment to the social and economic development of the region and backed off its support for corrupt regimes, "some of the problems we are now encountering might have been avoided or at least ameliorated. Unfortunately when the Sandinistas were eventually voted out of power in 1990, the United States largely lost interest in the region. We are reaping the whirlwind of that neglect in the refugee and gang crises we are now facing," he said."Opportunities to create a more stable Central America existed four decades ago," said Quainton. "They were lost. Both sides could not see beyond their ideologies. Neither could escape from its history. The Sandinistas believed that they were a vanguard party and that history had entrusted them a revolutionary mission. … They could not escape from the troubled history of Yankee intervention. We could not escape from Vietnam and the experiences of the Cold War. Bridging the historical, ideological and emotional divide between us was more than I or my colleagues could do. Try as we could, the Mission was always impossible."Quainton's argument is balanced and cogent, but it presumes there was some kind of parity in 1979 between a little country devastated by earthquakes and wars with no tradition of good governance, and a stable, global, functional democracy and superpower some 200 years old. Prior to 1979 much of the Sandinista leadership lived in La Montaña and in clandestine cells. They had little or no institutional foundation to build on. No Harvard or Oxford background to draw from. No Jefferson, Washington or Lincoln to emulate.A young woman washes clothes in Lake Managua, which borders the capital, Managua.Courtesy Bill GentileInstead, they were forced to cope with political, economic and military aggression by the single most powerful nation on the planet. To justify that action, Ronald Reagan warned a group of conservative supporters that defeat of the contras would create "a privileged sanctuary for terrorists and subversives just two days' driving time from Harlingen, Texas." He warned that "feet people" trudging north would be "swarming into our country" to escape communism.But if, as the Trump administration claims, Central Americans are now headed north in huge numbers, it's because of the complete failure to address their hopes, their needs, and their safety.* * *Rule and Ruin* * *Yet none of this justifies what Sandinista rule has become.Today, most of the original Sandinista leadership has abandoned the Ortega regime, viewing it as a betrayal of the organization's original promises to the Nicaraguan people. Daniel Ortega has been president, once again, for the past 10 years. His wife, Rosario Murillo, is vice president.Facing Down the Death Squads of NicaraguaDuring anti-government protests in the spring of 2018, Sandinista police and Sandinista-backed armed thugs killed an estimated 300 people. Media outlets are constantly harassed and shut down. Even international non-governmental organizations whose only agenda is to help the poor and underprivileged have abandoned the country because of government restrictions and intervention. Nicaragua continues to be rated as the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere.So where do journalists and journalism fit into all this? How do we see our role? Four decades after my first arrival in Managua, have I helped bring about positive change? Did I do any good here?I certainly hope so. I hope the images I created and published via UPI, Newsweek magazine, my Nicaragua book and other outlets, have contributed to the visual record of that time and that place in history. It's important to remember that, at the time when I was covering the region, there was no Facebook, no Google, no Instagram, no email. There was no internet! Television was limited to ABC, CBS and NBC. CNN was just beginning. Fox did not exist. So most of the world relied on a handful of magazines including Newsweek, Time and U.S. News & World Report, Life and National Geographic, for its visual explanation of the globe. Major newspapers like The New York Times and The Washington Post published only black and white pictures back then.A tiny handful of women and men, including myself, were privileged to be part of a small cadre of photojournalists entrusted with the mission of providing the world with a visual explanation of itself. And we did so sometimes despite great peril.But there is another dimension to what we do, perhaps more important than our impact on the wider world. And that is the mere act of practicing our craft defines and validates us. Like La Montaña for the guerrillas, journalism is the anvil upon which we test, forge and mold ourselves into what we aspire to be.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| New Jersey officer charged with murder in death of three-month-old daughter Posted: 17 Jul 2019 06:24 PM PDT  A New Jersey police officer was arrested on Wednesday and charged with the murder of his three-month-old daughter, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.
|
| The Latest: Merkel: Britain will "find its way" on Brexit Posted: 19 Jul 2019 03:51 AM PDT  German Chancellor Angela Merkel says she trusts that Britain will "find its way" on Brexit under a new prime minister, but isn't saying whether she advocates a further delay to its exit from the European Union or a new referendum. Merkel said at her annual summer news conference Friday in Berlin that a declaration on future relations between Britain and the EU could be refined.
|
| Two killed, 12 missing after huge blast rocks China gas plant: state media Posted: 19 Jul 2019 07:38 AM PDT  A huge explosion rocked a gas plant in central China on Friday, killing at least two people and injuring another 18, state media said. Another twelve people were missing after the blast, said state broadcaster CCTV, which shattered windows and doors of buildings in a three-kilometre (1.9-mile) radius. Official news agency Xinhua had earlier said "many people" were injured by the explosion, which happened at 5:50 pm local time (0950 GMT).
|
| U.S. says Navy ship 'destroyed' Iranian drone in Gulf Posted: 18 Jul 2019 06:23 AM PDT  The United States said on Thursday that a U.S. Navy ship had "destroyed" an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after the aircraft threatened the vessel, but Iran said it had no information about losing a drone. "This is the latest of many provocative and hostile actions by Iran against vessels operating in international waters. The United States reserves the right to defend our personnel, facilities and interests," Trump said.
|
| France turns down citizenship for immigrant nurse because she 'works too much' Posted: 18 Jul 2019 06:27 AM PDT  France has rejected an immigrant nurse's application for citizenship on the grounds that she was working too many hours a week in breach of the statutory 35-hour week and strict limits on overtime. The nurse, whose name and nationality have not been made public, holds three jobs and averages 59 hours a week, which the authorities said placed her "in violation of regulations on working time in France". The 35-hour rule introduced under a Socialist government in 2000 gave France one of the world's shortest working weeks, but it has since been loosened and employees may be permitted to work up to 48 hours a week including overtime. The Préfecture in Val-de Marne, near Paris, said in a letter to the nurse that it was "postponing" her naturalisation application for two years. The letter was posted on social media by one of her friends, Nicolas Delage. "I find this scandalous," Mr Delage told the online newspaper 20 Minutes. "One reason for granting [French] nationality is work. She is not stealing anyone's work." Sanjay Navy, a lawyer, said immigrants were often denied naturalisation for working too many hours. "I've seen similar cases before this. This is not an isolated decision." Mr Navy said he had seen a number of naturalisation applications by security guards turned down because they had multiple employers and worked too many hours. According to the most recent official figures, some 63,000 immigrants were granted French citizenship in 2017. The French are bitterly divided over the 35-hour week, which became a campaign issue in the 2017 presidential election. The unsuccessful conservative candidate, François Fillon, promised to abolish it, arguing that it caused economic stagnation. Emmanuel Macron, the victorious centrist, has stopped short of scrapping it but has introduced greater flexibility for companies to negotiate longer hours with staff. An economy ministry report in April which revealed that more than 300,000 civil servants work less than 35 hours a week caused outrage among private-sector employees, many of whom say they regularly work longer hours to achieve their targets. A baker in northern France was fined €3,000 (£2,700) last year for breaching legal limits on work hours by opening his bakery seven days a week. Want the best of The Telegraph direct to your email and WhatsApp? Sign up to our free twice-daily Front Page newsletter and new audio briefings.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment