| Democrats vow to accelerate Trump probe after Mueller 'victory' Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:16 PM PDT  Claiming "victory" in two high-profile hearings on Wednesday with former U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives vowed to push forward with their investigations of President Donald Trump. Court action could come as soon as Thursday or Friday, with the Democrats' determination pointing to many more months of digging by lawmakers into Trump, his presidency and private business interests. Shortly after Mueller testified to two House committees on his investigation of Trump and Russian meddling in U.S. politics, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said his panel would go to court in the next two days.
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| China defends air patrol with Russia after S. Korea, Japan fury Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:30 AM PDT  China on Wednesday defended a joint air force exercise with Russia that triggered a furious response from regional US allies South Korea and Japan over a perceived airspace violation. The incident erupted on Tuesday when a Russian A-50 early warning and control plane violated airspace over the Dokdo islands, Seoul said. South Korea scrambled fighter jets, which fired nearly 400 warning shots at the alleged intruder.
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| When ICE Tried to Arrest an Undocumented Man in Tennessee, Neighbors and a Network of Volunteers Formed a Human Chain to Protect Him Posted: 23 Jul 2019 02:37 PM PDT  The man was with his 12-year-old son
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| DNA put him behind bars for a 1997 rape. Then his old girlfriend saw a photo that set him free Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:15 AM PDT  James Clay had begun serving a 25 - 50 year prison sentence for rape based on DNA. He was released following a Free Press investigation into his case.
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| Home Depot Employee Dies After Dry Wall Falls on Him Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:43 AM PDT  A 60-year-old man died overnight following an accident at the Missouri Home Depot where he worked.
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| Far-Right Groups Embrace ‘Straight Pride Parades’ to Win Recruits, Media Attention Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:14 AM PDT  Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/ReutersFar-right groups looking to put a friendlier face on their politics are increasingly organizing so-called "Straight Pride Parades" in an attempt to both garner media attention and new recruits. The "Straight Pride" trend kicked off in Boston last month, when a group calling itself Super Happy Fun America announced plans for a Straight Pride Parade at the end of August. News reports and Twitter chatter focused on the novelty and strangeness of a parade celebrating "straight pride," imagining a group of particularly aggrieved heterosexual men in cargo shorts. Much of that coverage missed the fact that Super Happy Fun America's goals aren't so innocent—its lead organizer has been involved in far-right group Resist Marxism, and praised a Chilean dictator for executing liberals. Rather than representing any sort of "straight pride," the Boston Straight Pride parade turned out to be just another attempt at right-wing trolling. Now another set of far-right activists thousands of miles away are trying the same tactic. An explicitly anti-gay group calling itself the "National Straight Pride Coalition" announced plans this week for a Straight Pride Parade in Modesto, CA on August 24 to defend "Western Civilization." While the Boston Straight Pride Parade at least pretended not to be an attack on gay rights, with openly gay anti-Muslim activist Milo Yiannopoulos as its grand marshal, the Modesto event is clearly a vehicle for racial and homophobic hate. On its website, the group describes homosexuality as "evil," and adds that it was created in part to defend "whiteness." Still, participants in the Modesto parade were quick to paint criticism of the event as an attack on straight people. The event permit request describes it as merely a "cultural celebration event." "The moment you have a straight pride parade, everyone goes crazy," said Ryan Schambers, who describes himself as a member of the National Straight Pride Coalition. Mark Ricci, the head of Modesto Progressive Democrats, said the Straight Pride Parade is just a cover for organizers' extremist politics."It's like a front for what their real intentions are," said Ricci, whose group plans to participate in a counterprotest to the Modesto event. The Modesto Straight Pride event hasn't received a permit yet. Thomas Reeves, a spokesman for the city of Modesto, said the permitting process should be settled by the end of the week. "The city of Modesto cannot deny a permit based on an organization's values, the content of speeches, or the views of speakers," Reeves said in a statement. "The approval of the permit would not be an endorsement or sponsorship of any particular message by the city, but a recognition of the free speech rights enshrined in the First Amendment." The National Straight Pride Coalition is the creation of Don J. Grundmann, a longtime anti-gay activist and perennial failed Senate candidate in California. Grundmann said presenting his event as a "Straight Pride Parade" has earned it more attention that it would have received if he had billed it as another right-wing rally."It can be publicity, naturally," Grundmann said. "Straight pride—it shouldn't be a term which is controversial." Super Happy Fun America did not respond to a request for comment on the Modesto event. But Grundmann said his group doesn't have anything to do with the Boston Straight Pride march, and criticized their comparative openness to gay rights, which he described as "completely opposite from what we would do." Grundmann then proceeded to go on an anti-Semitic rant about a secretive, wealthy cabal controlling world events, down to the counterprotest to his own event. Asked if he was attacking Jewish people, Grundmann said, "you can figure it out."The Straight Pride Parade in Modesto has already attracted support from at least one local Republican official. Schambers is listed as a member of the local Stanislaus County GOP's central committee leadership on its website, although he insists he's no longer a county Republican official. The Stanislaus County GOP didn't respond to a request for comment.Schambers' involvement in the parade was first noted by a left-wing "digital community center" called It's Going Down. In an interview with The Daily Beast, he vaguely criticized the anti-gay language on the National Straight Pride Coalition, but then said he's participating in the event in part because he thinks it'd "probably be better" if gay people were instead straight. Ricci said Modestans aren't fooled by Grundmann posing as a support of "straight rights" and pointed out that Grundmann is a resident of the Bay Area—nearly 100 miles away from the planned site of the Straight Pride Parade. "We're just deeply disappointed that there are people out there who continue to use this thinly veiled hate speech under the guise of equality," Ricci said. 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.
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| ‘A level of chaos not seen in Britain since the war’: US TV presenter delivers devastating assessment of Boris Johnson Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:39 AM PDT  A leading US television news host has delivered a brutal assessment of the new prime minister Boris Johnson, saying Britain now faces a "level of chaos … not seen since World War II."Lawrence O'Donnell, host of the MSNBC network's The Last Word, could barely contain his astonishment at the "crazy" process that allowed the Tory MP to take power after "just over one-tenth of one per cent of the British population" voted in the leadership contest.The veteran anchor attacked Mr Johnson for offering "impossible" promises and said he was someone who did not "distinguish between fact and fiction".Explaining the prime minister's Brexit strategy to US viewers, he said: "Boris Johnson says he will simple lead the United Kingdom out of the European Union without any exit deal at all, which would instantaneously bring a level of chaos to Britain not seen since World War II."British viewers who shared the clip on social media expressed their surprise at such honesty. "Quite remarkable views of our new PM from American news media," wrote one."If you think the [US] electoral college is crazy, the United Kingdom has just outdone it," said Mr O'Donnell at the beginning of his segment."Boris Johnson just become the British prime minister without even having an election," he added, describing the leadership contest – which allowed teenagers as young as 15 to take part – as a "private vote" of Tory party members."Voters included children, because there are no real laws about this kind of private voting within a party, and the voters were obviously dominated by people who, like Boris Johnson, do not distinguish between fact and fiction."Referring to the "gloom" greeting Mr Johnson's arrival at No 10, he added: "No British prime minister has even been more unpopular on his very first day in office than Boris Johnson."Like his predecessor Boris Johnson is promising to do the impossible and negotiate a new exit deal with the European Union, but unlike his predecessor he is also promising to do the impossible when he fails to negotiate a new exit deal."Comparing Mr Johnson to Donald Trump, Mr O'Donnell's guest Brian Klaas, a political scientist and columnist, said there was "disbelief" in London at Mr Johnson's arrival at No 10."You now have on both sides of the Atlantic a narcissistic, serial liar who has larger than life hair, who was born in New York [and] who has made racist statements," he said.
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| Trump administration's own study shows food stamp move may hurt poor Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:19 PM PDT  A Trump administration proposal to tighten eligibility for food stamps could undercut access to basic nutrition for millions of Americans and hurt some low-cost retailers, according to an analysis conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which runs the program. The study clashes with the administration's defense of the proposed rule change, unveiled on Tuesday, which it said would end widespread abuse of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by Americans with sufficient resources. "The proposed rule may also negatively impact food security and reduce the savings rates among those individuals who do not meet the income and resource eligibility requirements for SNAP," the Agriculture Department said in the text of the rule published in the federal registry.
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| US plans new Russia sanctions over support for Venezuela's Maduro Posted: 25 Jul 2019 12:54 AM PDT  The United States is considering imposing new sanctions on Russia over its support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the White House representative for the South American nation said Wednesday. President Donald Trump's administration has continued to increase punitive measures against Venezuela since January, when Washington -- along with 50 other countries -- recognized opposition leader Juan Guido as the crisis-ridden country's interim leader. Russia, North Korea and Cuba continue to support Maduro.
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| A Violent Turn in Hong Kong Protests Marks a Dangerous New Phase Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:23 AM PDT  Sparked by a proposed bill that would allow suspected criminals to face trial in China, protests in Hong Kong have turned violent.
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| Border Patrol Chief Asks Congress for New Laws for Migrant Kids Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:03 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The head of U.S. Border Patrol told lawmakers that supplemental funding is a temporary solution for the crisis at the southern border, which will only be solved when Congress passes legislation to address how children and families are detained and processed."To make a lasting impact Congress must make the changes to the legal framework that we have outlined time and time again," said Carla Provost, the Border Patrol chief. "A Band-Aid is simply not enough."At Wednesday's hearing, Provost told the House Appropriations Committee that by the time Customs and Border Patrol could access the $4.6 billion in supplemental funding approved by Congress last month, the agency had been dealing with an influx of migrants for eight months.She said that while the additional money has helped, Congress has to change the legal agreement, known as the Flores Settlement, that sets conditions for how migrant children are to be handled while in custody,Part of that court settlement says migrant children can't be held in CBP custody for more than 20 days. Provost said smugglers are convincing more families to cross the border with children because the CBP can't hold a child for more than 20 days, and they cannot separate a family unit."We need to be able to hold families together, not in a border patrol facility let me be very clear, in a family residential center throughout an expedited immigration process if we are truly going to address this issue," Provost said.Family SeparationRepublicans on the committee supported Provost's demand for a change to the Flores settlement while Democrats questioned the treatment of children in custody and the continued separation of migrant families since President Donald Trump's "Zero Tolerance" policy that ended more than a year ago.Provost said children are separated from the relatives they're traveling with if those family members are neither a parent nor a legal guardian."We do have many children that are either coming with other siblings, some are coming with other siblings that are minors, aunts, uncles," Provost said. "By law, I cannot keep those individuals together."Members of the committee also questioned Provost's membership in a Border Patrol Facebook group where agents mocked migrants and made crude comments about members of Congress.Provost said she did not realize she was a member of the group, as she was added to several groups when she first became the chief. She said she never saw the comments from the Facebook group until they were exposed by ProPublica but, she does not support the comments and she does support the continuing investigation into the members involved.To contact the reporter on this story: Jarrell Dillard in Washington at jdillard11@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Fake Tweets Put Israel in Bed With Iranian Exile ‘Terrorists’ Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:14 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyTEL AVIV—It was already late afternoon Tuesday local time when a call came in from a contact several time zones away. "A strange story is making the rounds in the Iranian press," said the contact, who tracks such things. The leader of the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian exile group often described by critics as a cult, had secretly traveled to Israel last week for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen. Rudy Giuliani, a long-time supporter of the group, had apparently been a go-between.A Shady Facebook Campaign Is Stoking the Iran-U.S. ConflictEven stranger was the source for the report: the French consul general in Jerusalem, Pierre Cochard, who had publicized the news a few days prior via his personal Twitter account, citing a former colleague whom he had worked with in Tehran. In a long five-tweet thread, Cochard lamented the fact that the MEK leader, Maryam Rajavi, a political refugee in France, had not received official approval from Paris for such sensitive talks with the Israeli government. "You may want to look into this on your end," my contact said.The intriguing report hadn't really gained traction yet, although a few Iran-focused journalists and analysts on Twitter had begun credibly highlighting the consul's tweets and bombshell revelations. The news value was obvious. A quasi-Marxist group that fell afoul of the Islamic Republic after the 1979 revolution, the MEK has been in exile for most of the last four decades. Both the U.S. and European Union used to consider the group a terrorist organization, a designation lifted just a few years ago after a high-profile lobbying campaign by many allegedly well-paid supporters like former CIA chief James Woolsey, Howard Dean, and, yes, Giuliani. More to the point the MEK was simply weird, with a cult of personality reportedly built around its husband-wife leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. While their actual base of support inside Iran is extremely suspect, the MEK does on occasion deliver. In the early 2000s they were the source for several major revelations regarding Iran's nuclear weapons program. Which is where Israel may come in. According to a 2017 report likely attributable to the Obama administration, Israel had teamed up with the MEK to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists. More recently, an Iranian terror plot out of Austria and Belgium in 2018 reportedly was foiled by the Mossad. The alleged target? An MEK rally in Paris. In short, there were plausible reasons for Rajavi to make a trip to Jerusalem, although such a move would be hugely controversial—sending a message, as it was sure to do, that the MEK is an Israeli partner in the service of regime change in Iran. "The Iranians always suspect a hidden hand supporting any of the anti-regime groups, inside or outside the country, rightly or wrongly," one U.S-based analyst that covers Iran told The Daily Beast. The French consul in Jerusalem would surely have known all of this when he went public. The Cochard profile, on the face of it, looked like a legitimate French diplomat's personal account. It retweeted the French foreign ministry, it issued official-sounding platitudes about Bastille Day and the Franco-Israel relationship, it spotlighted highlights from French President Emanuel Macron. Established in 2013, the account had over 2,000 followers, including the verified profiles of several prominent Israeli journalists, the French ambassador in Israel, and the French embassy in Tel Aviv. A picture of the consul general visiting a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem was tweeted out around the same time as the MEK thread; a cursory search on Google brought up no other hits for the image, lending further credence to the account's legitimacy. An initial inquiry made to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office for comment dished up what often is a classic non-denial denial. Responding to the question of whether Ms. Rajavi indeed visited Israel last week to meet with Netanyahu, a spokesman told The Daily Beast that "[I] have not seen those media reports and have nothing to offer on query." When pressed on the fact that these weren't media reports, but rather (ostensibly) the online postings of a senior European diplomat working across town in Jerusalem, the spokesman declined to comment further. Intriguing. And yet, going back further in the account's timeline, things began to look very different. The consul was in the past apparently a major fan of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. Homages to Lebron James were interspersed with ruminations about NBA basketball generally. Following the patois of modern social media there were purposeful spelling mistakes and online American slang. Not exactly the public profile of a pedigreed French diplomat and graduate of the prestigious École Nationale d'Administration. At a certain point earlier this year, it turned out, the account was re-branded—or bought, or potentially hacked. Gone were the references to the Razorbacks and King James. In their place, under the profile of Pierre Cochard, the account was now churning out, in fluent French, tweets about high diplomacy and French foreign policy hyperspecific to what a real consul general sitting in Jerusalem would be occupied with. Until, at the height of an escalating standoff between Tehran and Washington (and Jerusalem), it tweets out an elaborate story regarding the MEK, Rudy Giuliani, secrets flights from Talinn, the Mossad, and more. The story did succeed in gaining some traction online before this reporter finally reached the French consulate for comment, bringing L'affaire Rajavi to its attention. A spokesman rejected the veracity of the profile, telling The Daily Beast it was a fake and that they were contacting Twitter about the matter. The consulate added that Cochard had been the victim of an identity theft on the popular social media platform. Twitter took down the Pierre Cochard account a few hours later. Giuliani to Speak Beside Leader of Accused Iranian 'Cult'The story, a classic case of fake news and disinformation, was luckily stopped before it was able to travel halfway around the world—although the Iranian media is likely still flogging the "report." Yet the real moral is just how much time, effort, and resources were invested to make this particular profile seem like the real personal account of the French consul general in Jerusalem. This is the new face of psy-ops and cyber-ops in our hyperconnected, digitized world, and it all too often resembles the real thing. As if on cue, on Wednesday the Israeli intelligence services said they had scuttled a wide-ranging Iranian online recruitment campaign targeting Israeli nationals, primarily via the use of fake social media profiles on Facebook."The Consulate General of France in Jerusalem calls internet users to remain vigilant," read the conclusion of the official statement issued Tuesday. 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.
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| 'Daddy, I’m scared': Police smash car window, drag man out while baby sits in back then hand him over to ICE Posted: 25 Jul 2019 05:34 AM PDT  A video showing police officers smashing a man's car window before dragging him from his vehicle in front of his terrified children has sparked outrage in the US.The footage of Florencio Millan-Vazquez being hauled from his car and dumped onto the pavement in Kansas City, Missouri, was live streamed on Facebook.In it, his11-year-old son and seven-month-old daughter can be heard crying in the back as officers wrestle the unresisting chef from the vehicle and onto the pavement."Daddy," the boy says at one point. "I'm scared."The incident happened as Mr Millan-Vazquez, aMexican national, and his girlfriend Cheyenne Hoyt were preparing to take the baby, who is disabled, to a doctor's appointment.Immigration agents, apparently acting on intelligence, swooped on the family as they were set to drive out of their apartment complex.The officials ask to see proof that Mr Millan-Vazquez is in the country legally. When he and Ms Hoyt reply by asking to see a warrant for his arrest, the agents tell the couple they do not need one.After 25 minutes of Mr Millan-Vazquez refusing to leave his vehicle, city police officers arrive, smash the window and drag him out.Mr Millan-Vazquez can later be heard asking to say goodbye to his son – a request that is denied."I'm still in shock," Ms Hoyt said following the incident on Monday. "You think that it's not going to happen to my family, like I never thought this was going to happen."You hear the things Trump says, but [Mr Millan-Vazquez] is not a rapist, he's not a murderer, or a drug dealer. And the way they did it in front of the kids – they didn't care."Ms Hoyt, who shot and posted the video, added: "It was like something you saw on a movie."Emanuel Cleaver, US congressman for Missouri, called the video "very concerning as to the traumatization of children and the reasonable use of force".He said it was "heart-breaking and gut-wrenching".US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials later defended their actions saying that Mr Millan-Vazquez has twice re-entered the US illegally since being voluntarily deported in 2011 and that he had misdemeanours on his record.Shawn Neudauer, ICE spokesman, said: "Millan-Vazquez was uncooperative and refused to exit his vehicle or follow lawfully issued commands issued by ICE and local police."After attempting to negotiate with Millan-Vazquez for about 25 minutes, the ICE officers were left with no other choice than make the arrest by physically removing him from the vehicle."The arrest occurred on the same day Donald Trump's administration announced it was to allow immigrants to be deported without going before a judge if they had been in the US for less than two years. Previously that time span was just two weeks.
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| Dr. Leana Wen's departure from Planned Parenthood exposes the organization's true identity Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Leana Wen's firing captures what pro-life activists have been arguing for years, that Planned Parenthood cares only about maintaining abortion clinics
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| POLL-U.S. Democrats and Republicans can’t even agree on the weather Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:00 AM PDT ![POLL-U.S. Democrats and Republicans can't even agree on the weather]( "POLL-U.S. Democrats and Republicans can't even agree on the weather") Only 200 miles separate Michael Tilden and Miranda Garcia in rain-soaked Iowa. Garcia, a 38-year-old former journalist and Democrat from Des Moines, thinks flooding has been getting worse in the state, which just came out of its wettest 12-months on record. The divergence shows how years of political squabbling over global warming - including disputes over its existence - have grown deep roots, distorting the way Americans view the world around them.
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| US judge blocks Trump administration's new asylum rule Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:59 PM PDT  A federal judge in California on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration's new rule barring most immigrants from obtaining asylum in the US if they transit through Mexico. US District Judge Jon Tigar handed down his decision, which takes effect immediately, following a hearing on the controversial policy that the government argued was necessary to stem the flow of migrants into the US. The policy would have effectively prevented most asylum seekers from Central America from gaining entry into the United States at the southern border as the majority come through Mexico.
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| Indonesia pardons woman sentenced to jail for exposing lewd boss Posted: 25 Jul 2019 01:57 AM PDT  An Indonesian woman sentenced to six months in jail for exposing her lecherous boss won a parliamentary pardon Thursday after the case sparked an outcry over victim's rights. Loud applause broke out in the House of Representatives as lawmakers unanimously voted to quash the prison sentence handed to Baiq Nuril Maknun over a recording she made of her former employer's sexual harassment. Rights groups had condemned the sentence and the high-profile case sparked fears it would discourage victims of sexual harassment from speaking out in the conservative Muslim majority nation.
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| NAACP calls for Trump's impeachment saying he's 'unfit to serve as the president' Posted: 23 Jul 2019 04:33 PM PDT  Leaders at the NAACP convention in Detroit voted Tuesday to call for President Donald Trump's impeachment.
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| Gowdy: Democrats are applying a political standard to Trump, not a legal one Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:29 PM PDT  Fox News contributor and former congressman Trey Gowdy and former prosecutor Andy McCarthy reacts to Robert Mueller's testimony on Capitol Hill.
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| As mood sours, Syrians report forced deportations from Turkey Posted: 25 Jul 2019 05:09 AM PDT ![As mood sours, Syrians report forced deportations from Turkey]( "As mood sours, Syrians report forced deportations from Turkey") AL-BAB, Syria/ISTANBUL, July 25 (Reuters) - When Syrian real estate worker Abu Ahmad was stopped by police in Istanbul he expected a ritual ticking-off for his expired documents, before being allowed on his way. Instead he says he was bundled into a bus packed with 50 men and deported to Syria.
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| UPDATE 5-U.S. warship sails through Taiwan Strait, stirs tensions with China Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:17 PM PDT ![UPDATE 5-U.S. warship sails through Taiwan Strait, stirs tensions with China]( "UPDATE 5-U.S. warship sails through Taiwan Strait, stirs tensions with China") BEIJING/WASHINGTON, July 25 (Reuters) - China expressed "deep concerns" on Thursday over a U.S. Navy warship sailing through the Taiwan Strait, a day after Beijing warned that it was ready for war if Taiwan moved toward independence. Taiwan is among a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and China's increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing said China had "expressed deep concerns to the U.S. side" over its latest action in the strait separating China from Taiwan.
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| Two teen suspects sought in Canada murders of US-Australian couple Posted: 23 Jul 2019 03:02 PM PDT  Canadian police on Tuesday named two suspects wanted in connection with three murders, including the killings of an American woman and Australian man whose bodies were found in rural British Columbia. Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, had been reported missing in British Columbia but are now believed to be on the run. Both suspects are considered to be dangerous, police said in a warning to the public.
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| Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, at 86, dreams of serving many more years Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:43 AM PDT  Supreme Court Associate Justice and liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg has a message for friends and foes alike: She hopes to serve many more years.
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| 40+ Easy-To-Make Halloween Cookies That Taste Scary Good Too Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:52 PM PDT |
| Pelosi Battles Progressives, Thirst to Impeach Trump, and Time Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:09 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Two hundred days into her second stint U.S. House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi is waging battles on her right and her left as well as against the calendar.She's the Democratic Party's lead combatant with President Donald Trump, and will remain so until the party's presidential nominating convention picks a nominee.In the House, Pelosi is trying to keep her party's ideological fissures from becoming yawning chasms that will hobble Democrats in the 2020 election, including throttling back growing demands among Democratic members to begin impeachment proceedings against the president -- which she regards as a losing issue politically.Pelosi's ability to walk that high wire is on display this week.She got a measure of vindication for her go-slow approach on impeaching Trump despite pressure from a growing number of Democrats agitating to begin proceedings. More than five hours of testimony from Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday didn't supply the blockbuster sound bites that supporters of impeachment might have hoped. Pelosi, as she's argued repeatedly in the past, said Democrats must build their own case if they're going to send articles impeachment to the Republican-controlled Senate."If we have a case for impeachment, that's the place we will have to go," she said at a news conference. "The stronger our case is, the worse the Senate will look for just letting the president off the hook."On Thursday, the House takes up the deal she negotiated with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to set government spending levels for the next two years and suspend the nation's debt ceiling. Progressive Democrats complain that it gives too much to the Pentagon and not enough to domestic programs, while the party's more moderate members are wary of adding to yearly budget deficits that are already on track to top $1 trillion.But no one doubts Pelosi has the votes to get it through the House.Her strategy is focused on keeping her party in control of the House and electing a Democrat as president in 2020. By passing legislation, even if it languishes in the Republican- controlled Senate, and minimizing conflicts, Pelosi is trying to demonstrate that Democrats can govern and set up a clear contrast with the perpetual drama of Trump's White House. Also in the background is 2022. By the end of that year, Pelosi has promised to step down as House Democratic leader to make way for younger party leaders."As we cross the 200-day threshold, and House Democrats are going into the August recess, they can tout a strong list of accomplishments on issues important to the American people," said a Pelosi spokesman, Drew Hammill. "And they will be holding Republicans accountable for their opposition and obstruction."But that won't solve the strife within Pelosi's Democratic caucus, which has overshadowed her legislative agenda at times.Party FrictionMuch of that is driven by the high profiles and sweeping demands of a small group of progressive newcomers in the House led by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, of New York. She and Ayanna Pressley, 45, of Massachusetts, Ilhan Omar, 36, of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib, 43, of Michigan, have agitated for sweeping policies favored by the left, such as Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. Their challenges to Pelosi mirror the early wrestling among Democratic presidential hopefuls over the direction of the partyPelosi, 79, a San Francisco liberal and fundraising dynamo who has herself long been a favorite villain for Republicans, has both defended and admonished them.Still, the self-described squad of progressives are creating angst among senior Democrats as well as some of their colleagues who represent more conservative districts and are responsible for Democrats regaining the House majority in 2018."They're acting in my opinion like they are in the minority," Representative Alcee Hastings, a senior House Democrat from Florida, said. "That's how you do when you are in the minority -- you raise a lot of hell."Republican TargetsTheir stances and provocative pronouncements have made them favorite targets of Republicans and Trump, who are trying to make them the face of the Democratic Party heading into the election."A vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American dream," said Trump at a rally in Orlando last week. He's kept targeting Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib and Pressley at rallies and on Twitter.Pelosi said Trump and Republicans won't define the House Democrats's agenda. Yet Democrats such as Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois have concerns."Look, I'm a racial, ethnic and religious minority. And I'm an immigrant," said Krishnamoorthi, who represents a safe Democratic district northwest of Chicago. "I have a lot of small business people in my district. So, when you say socialism? They say things like, look I really dislike Donald Trump --but I dislike socialism a lot more -- that's why I left Eastern Europe. That's why I left India in the 1960s. That's why I left this or that country because I wanted to come here and work hard and enjoy the fruits of my labor and share."A face-to-face meeting between Pelosi and Ocasio-Cortez originally set for Thursday was rescheduled for Friday to talk over differences. That includes tensions exacerbated last month after the four freshmen women voted against a border bill supported by Pelosi they did not believe adequately set standards for the treatment of migrants.Impeachment FrictionThe progressives also have been leading the charge to impeach Trump. With little public sentiment for such a divisive process, Pelosi and her political strategists see impeachment as politically perilous for Democrats seeking re-election in districts flipped from Republican control last November. Pelosi knows getting a second, two-year term as speaker hinges on protecting those members and keeping their seats Democratic in 2020.She's publicly deferred to six committee probes to look into allegations of presidential abuse and obstruction, as well as pursuing court cases over the testimony of administration officials and for Trump's tax returns."This isn't endless," Pelosi said after the Mueller hearings ended. "It's based on the facts and the law. That's what matters."Another source of frustration among House Democrats is that many of their initiatives never make into law. Pelosi has managed to pass a array of legislation, including some in bipartisan fashion, such as a minimum-wage increase and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.But of the 191 total bills passed by the House, just 16 cleared the Republican-led Senate. And only 15 of those have been signed into law. By comparison, 11 Senate bills have been signed into law of the 48 passed there.Pelosi's promise to step aside at the end of 2022 -- which was given to consolidate support for her second round as speaker of the House -- has already led to backroom maneuvering to succeed her."We have about 25 people who see themselves as speaker," Hastings joked.Yet a person familiar with Pelosi's thinking said the speaker finds that liberating. With her departure set, she can focus less on palace intrigue and more on the agenda she's set to keep Democrats in power."Every day that the House is in session Nancy Pelosi combines the best qualities of a lion tamer and a clinical psychologist," said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey. "She is a good and sympathetic listener but won't be intimidated -- least of all by the least-experienced members who don't have the responsibility of maintaining a majority."\--With assistance from Steven T. Dennis.To contact the reporter on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| American Airlines passenger smashes laptop on partner's head in viral clip Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:13 AM PDT  An unruly passenger was removed from an American Airlines plane at MiamiInternational Airport Sunday after she smashed a laptop over her partner'shead for allegedly looking at another woman
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| Maine Confirmed Its First Case of a Rare Tick-Borne Virus in Years. Here's What to Know About Powassan Posted: 25 Jul 2019 05:24 AM PDT  What to know about the tick-borne illness
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| This Is the Battle That Made the F-15 Strike Eagle Feared Around the World Posted: 23 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT  A Strike Eagle team, led by then Maj. Christopher M. Short, flew overhead during the early part of the Battle Robert's Ridge.The national recognition of the survivors of the Battle of Robert's Ridge in August 2018 has begun to have an effect on the way Air Force members pause to reflect on the history and heritage of the service.As told by Tech. Sgt. Daryl Knee, Air Combat Command Public Affairs, in the article Evolution of Combat: Strike Eagle hits turning point in armed overwatch mission set, one snapshot reflection focuses on the integration of the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter aircraft as a valued contributor to the close-air-support mission set.
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| Putin allies' oil feud spills into public view Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:03 PM PDT  The blame game over a contamination scandal in Russia's oil industry has breached President Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft, the world's biggest publicly-traded oil company, and Nikolai Tokarev, the boss of Transneft, the world's largest pipeline network, are embroiled in an unusually public and rancorous dispute over their companies' responses to the contamination of Russia's Druzhba ("Friendship") pipeline, an episode that disrupted exports and tarnished Moscow's image as a reliable energy supplier.
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| Sudan's army chief among several arrested in new coup plot Posted: 24 Jul 2019 11:08 AM PDT  Sudan's army chief was among several people arrested in a coup plot, the country's military said Wednesday, shortly after reports emerged of at least a dozen high-ranking army officers and Islamists being taken into custody in the conspiracy. This was the second coup plot reported this month in Sudan, where talks between the military and the country's pro-democracy movement have dragged out over the final and crucial part of a power-sharing deal for the nation's transitional period. Earlier in July, the military council that took over the country after ousting longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir in April, said it arrested at least 16 active and retired military officers over an attempted coup.
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| The 'American Dream' of many migrants becoming a Mexican one Posted: 23 Jul 2019 06:52 PM PDT  Honduran Rolando Rodrigo arrived last week in the Mexican city of Tapachula with his family, just one stop on the long route to the United States and the dream of a new life free from the poverty and gang violence that wracks their homeland. Just hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard exchanged congratulations on "significant progress" in a deal to slow down the wave of undocumented migrants heading for US soil, Rodrigo wandered about Tapachula's central square with his three-year-old son Gadiel asking for money to feed his family.
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| A note left in a Domino's Pizza box led to rescue of a kidnapped woman, police say Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:22 PM PDT  A woman who was allegedly bound, gagged and beaten was rescued after leaving a note asking for help at a Domino's Pizza in Anthony, Texas.
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| US sanctions Venezuela emergency food 'corruption network' Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:59 AM PDT  The US Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions against three of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's stepsons, a Colombian businessman and six others for running a "corruption network" that profited from emergency food imports. The US has in recent months escalated sanctions against Venezuela, which is struggling with a political and economic crisis that the United Nations says has left a quarter of its 30 million people in need of humanitarian aid. The new restrictions target Maduro's stepsons Walter Jacob Gavidia Flores, Yosser Daniel Gavidia and Yoswal Alexander Gavidia Flores, whom the US says collaborated with Colombian businessman Alex Nain Saab Moran to profit off importing emergency food into the country as it struggled with rising malnutrition.
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| Mueller Tells Congress: FBI ‘Currently’ Looking Into Issues of Trump Team Blackmail Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:06 PM PDT  REUTERSTowards the end of Robert Mueller's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the former special counsel indicated that the FBI is currently investigating matters of blackmail and compromise involving those who were in President Donald Trump's orbit.During his allotted time, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) noted that because it was outside the Mueller investigation's purview, the final report did not reach any counterintelligence conclusions regarding "any Trump administration officials who may be vulnerable to compromise or blackmail by Russia.""Those decisions were probably made in the FBI," Mueller, himself a former head of the FBI, replied. "We referred to the counterintelligence goals of our investigation which were secondary to any criminal wrongdoing we could find." Krishnamoorthi, meanwhile, pointed out that the report also did not address whether Russian oligarchs engaged in money laundering through the president's businesses. "And, of course, your office did not obtain the president's tax returns, which could otherwise show foreign financial services, correct?" Krishnamoorthi asked."I'm not going to get into that," Mueller responded.The Illinois lawmaker then noted that Mueller had charged former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn with making false statements about his conversations with Russian officials. "Since it was outside the purview of your investigation, your report did not address how Flynn's false statements could pose a national security risk, because the Russians knew the falsity of those statements, right?" Krishnamoorthi wondered."I cannot get into that, mainly because there are many elements that the FBI are looking into different aspects of that issue," Mueller said in response."Currently?" Krishnamoorthi quizzically replied."Currently," the one-time FBI chief confirmed. Following the hearing, the Democratic congressman told The Daily Beast that he was surprised when Mueller told him that there are such ongoing investigations into Trumpworld."Yes, that was news," said Krishnamoorthi. "I didn't anticipate that.""He said that there's an ongoing FBI investigation into the counter-intelligence risk associated with Flynn, and so I presume it's others as well," the congressman continued. "We know that others have some very questionable ties and dealings with Russia such as Jared Kushner. I'd be very curious whether the counterintelligence investigations extend to his risks, as well."—With additional reporting by Sam Brodey.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.
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| India's $10 Billion Foreign Debt Sale Mired in Confusion Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- India's plan for its maiden overseas bond offering is becoming mired in confusion.The office of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is opposed to selling debt in foreign currencies, ET Now television channel reported Thursday, citing Cogencis news agency. The report comes a day after the top finance ministry official overseeing the $10 billion debt sale was transferred to another department.Yields on India's benchmark 10-year debt jumped 12 basis points, the most since January, to 6.55%, on concern the plan will be changed. The sale was announced at the July 5 budget, and had spurred a bond rally on expectation that the government will sell less debt locally."The market was expecting a sizable dollar issuance to replace domestic borrowing," said Badrish Kulhalli, head of fixed income at HDFC Life Insurance in Mumbai. There's now less clarity over the size and nature of the bond sale, he said.The plan ran into opposition from the start, with former central bank officials and a key political ally of Modi arguing that India wasn't ready for an overseas sales given its budget deficit and current-account shortfall. Emerging-market investors though had cheered the announcement as they sought returns with global yields tumbling this year.Instead of auctioning debt in foreign currencies, the prime minister's office would favor selling rupee-denominated bonds overseas after receiving feedback, the Cogencis report said, citing officials it didn't identify.The developments come just a day after officials had said the government was looking to sell $10 billion of foreign debt, preferably denominated in yen or euros, at one go in October.Casting DoubtsIf India abandons a bond issuance in foreign currency, "that means that less investors are likely to participate versus the vast majority of EM debt investors who tend to invest in dollar-denominated sovereign bonds, said Manu George, director of fixed income in Singapore at Schroder Investment Management Ltd. Subhash Chandra Garg, the top finance ministry official overseeing the bond sale, is seeking early retirement after he was abruptly moved out of the role three weeks after the sale was announced, according to people with knowledge of the matter.Shifting Garg "will likely put in disarray the plan to launch in October this year," said Prakash Sakpal, economist at ING Bank NV in Singapore. "His sudden departure at this juncture may not go down well with the market."Garg didn't answer multiple calls and a text message to his mobile phone. D.S. Malik, a finance ministry spokesman, said it is "not a subject matter concerning my ministry." Sitanshu Kar, the government's principal spokesman, couldn't comment.The Indian rupee swung to a loss, trading 0.1% down to 69.01 to a dollar.(Updates with details from Cogencis report in sixth paragraph, money manager comment in eighth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Vrishti Beniwal.To contact the reporters on this story: Kartik Goyal in Mumbai at kgoyal@bloomberg.net;Subhadip Sircar in Mumbai at ssircar3@bloomberg.net;Siddhartha Singh in New Delhi at ssingh283@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tan Hwee Ann at hatan@bloomberg.net, ;Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Nicholas ReynoldsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iowa couple receives 3-year probation after dehydrated infant found with cocaine in system Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:15 PM PDT  An Iowa couple was sentenced to three years of probation last Thursday aftertheir then-3-month-old baby girl tested positive for cocaine, according to theDes Moines Register
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| America’s New B-21 Stealth Bomber Is Just Two Years Away Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:36 PM PDT  The U.S. Air Force's new B-21 stealth bomber could fly as early as December 2021, Air Force vice chief of staff Gen. Stephen Wilson said at an event in Washington, D.C. on July 24, 2019.Air Force magazine broke the news.Wilson told the audience he in recent weeks visited Northrop Grumman's facilities in Melbourne, Florida, where he was "looking at the B-21." Northrop is "moving out on that pretty fast." Wilson said, adding he has an app on his phone "counting down the days … and don't hold me to it, but it's something like 863 days to first flight.""That would put the first flight of the B-21 in December 2021," Air Force editor John Tirpack noted. "The Air Force has said from the beginning that the first B-21 would be a 'useable asset' but has also said it doesn't expect an initial operating capability with the B-21 before the 'mid-2020s.'"The Air Force still is mulling how many B-21s to buy. "We're exploring the force structure between the B-1, the B-2 and the B-52," Wilson said.Wilson stressed that the service needs "at least 100" B-21s.The Air Force repeatedly has said that, in the 2030s, it will retire its 62 1980s-vintage B-1 bombers and, a few years later, also will retire all 20 '90s-vintage B-2 stealth bombers.Meanwhile, the service would upgrade 76 B-52s that first flew in the early 1960s and buy at least 100 new B-21 stealth bombers. The result in the 2040s would be a force of around 175 bombers composed of factory-fresh B-21s and 80-year-old B-52s.
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| China, Malaysia restart massive 'Belt and Road' project after hiccups Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:07 PM PDT ![China, Malaysia restart massive 'Belt and Road' project after hiccups]( "China, Malaysia restart massive 'Belt and Road' project after hiccups") China and Malaysia resumed construction on a massive "Belt and Road" train project in northern Malaysia on Thursday, after a year-long suspension and following a rare agreement to cut its cost by nearly a third to about $11 billion. The project was initially canceled by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who came to power after a shock election victory in May last year, as he followed through a pledge to renegotiate or cancel "unfair" Chinese mega-projects approved by his predecessor, Najib Razak. The 640 km line (398 miles), with China Communications Construction Co Ltd as the lead contractor, will connect Port Klang on the Straits of Malacca with the city of Kota Bharu in northeast peninsular Malaysia.
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| Indian celebrities protest attacks on dissent, minorities Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:12 AM PDT  Dozens of Indian celebrities have asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and stop rising incidents of attacks on minorities, misuse of religion by Hindu hard-liners and intolerance against dissent in the country. In a joint letter of protest to Modi released on Wednesday, the celebrities said critics of his government are being branded anti-national and punished with imprisonment. The protest comes less than two months after a massive victory by Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, in national elections, suggesting that his supporters are feeling emboldened by the defeat of opposition parties.
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