| At an Iowa rally, progressive voters already talk about an Ocasio-Cortez presidency Posted: 11 Nov 2019 06:18 AM PST  As she took the stage in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez noted it was her "first time" in the key presidential primary state. But many of the thousands of people who came to see her campaign for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were confident it wouldn't be her last visit.
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| PHOTOS: Venice flooded from rising tides and rain Posted: 12 Nov 2019 08:33 AM PST  Tourists and Venetians alike have donned high boots and taken to temporary raised walkways to slosh through the high water that has hit much of the lagoon city.
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| Will televised Trump impeachment hearings convince Americans that he should be removed from office? Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:07 AM PST  After weeks of closed-door testimony, public impeachment proceedings against President Trump will begin Wednesday. But will they change public opinion?
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| Swedish police set up task force to combat gang violence Posted: 11 Nov 2019 04:12 AM PST ![Swedish police set up task force to combat gang violence]( "Swedish police set up task force to combat gang violence") Swedish police said on Monday they would set up a special task force to deal with a wave of shootings and bombings linked to criminal gangs following the fatal shooting of a 15-year old in the city of Malmo at the weekend. Sweden has long held a reputation as being one of the safest countries in the world and while overall crime and murder rates remain low, gang wars in major cities have claimed an increasing number of victims in recent years. On Saturday, two 15-year-olds were shot outside a pizza restaurant in Malmo in what police said appeared to be a gang conflict over control of the drug trade in the area.
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| Mulvaney’s OMB Held Up Lethal Ukraine Aid in 2017 for Fear of Russian Reaction Posted: 11 Nov 2019 03:02 PM PST  Leah Millis/ReutersUnder Mick Mulvaney's leadership, the Office of Management and Budget temporarily put a hold on the delivery of anti-tank missiles to Ukraine in 2017 because of concerns their arrival would upset Russia, according to former White House official Catherine Croft. She described OMB's objection as "highly unusual."Croft's testimony indicates that concerns about the U.S. relationship with Russia had a direct—though short-lived—impact on U.S./Ukraine policy in the first year of Trump's presidency.Croft told congressional impeachment investigators that after the Trump administration greenlit the delivery of Javelin missiles to Ukraine in late 2017—the first delivery of lethal aid to the country since Russian separatists seized territory in its Eastern region in 2014—Mulvaney's office held it up. "Did you understand why?" asked the congressional staffer questioning her. "I understood the reason to be a policy one," she replied. "What was the policy one?" "In a briefing with Mick Mulvaney, the question centered around the Russian reaction," she continued. "What was the concern about the Russian reaction?" asked the staffer. "That Russia would react negatively to the provision of Javelins to Ukraine," she said. The Daily Beast first reported last month that OMB held up the 2017 shipment of Javelins to Ukraine. Croft said the hold lasted "about a week or two," and that "all of the policy agencies" wanted the aid to go to Ukraine. She said OMB's interest in the decision about whether to send Javelins to Ukraine was abnormal. Key Impeachment Witnesses Finger Mulvaney In the Quid Pro Quo"[It] was rather unusual to have OMB expressing concerns that were purely policy-based and not budget-oriented," she said. "At the beginning of the Ukrainian Javelin process, I had been told that OMB was taking a policy interest," she continued. "And OMB began sending working level officials to attend meetings... which was very unusual at the time." She noted that OMB staff also started attending meetings regarding aid to countries besides Ukraine and that the increase in their involvement was "quite taxing on a very small organization."Mulvaney and several other OMB officials have refused to participate in the congressional impeachment inquiry. 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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| Briton who helped found Syria's White Helmets dies in Turkey Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:14 AM PST  A former British army officer who helped found the White Helmets volunteer organization in Syria was found dead in Istanbul early Monday, Turkish officials and the group said. James Le Mesurier's body was found near his home in the Beyoglu district by worshippers on their way to a mosque, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. The Istanbul governor's office said "comprehensive administrative and judicial investigations" had been initiated into Le Mesurier's death.
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| A black man was put in handcuffs after a police officer stopped him on a train platform because he was eating Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:06 PM PST  Bay Area Rapid Transit police said Steve Foster, of Concord, California, violated state law by eating a sandwich on a BART station's platform.
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| South Korea President’s Biggest Headache Is Prosecutor He Picked Posted: 11 Nov 2019 06:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- swept into office on a vow to clean up government after his predecessor was ousted for graft -- wanted a prosecutor who wouldn't hesitate to go after the most powerful.Problem is, Moon may have gotten what he wished for in Yoon Seok-youl.Almost immediately after being appointed as the nation's chief prosecutor in July, Yoon launched a series of probes that have rocked Moon's two-year-old administration. The scandal has forced one justice minister to resign and helped push Moon's approval rating to a record low -- just as he girds for an April parliamentary election that will shape the second half of his term.The investigations are only the latest in string of high-profile cases brought by Yoon, 58, over the years, including probes of two former presidents, a chief justice and the heads of Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor Co. After then-President Park Geun-hye demoted Yoon, he joined the special prosecutor's team whose findings laid the groundwork for her impeachment and removal."I'm not loyal to anyone," he famously told lawmakers when asked about one such probe in 2013.Adding to the intrigue is the fact that Yoon's latest case involves a man whom Moon once predicted would make a "fantastic duo" with the chief prosecutor: Former Justice Minster Cho Kuk. Last month, Cho was forced to resign after just five weeks on the job amid investigations into whether members of his family inflated college admission applications and improperly benefited from investments in a private equity fund.While Cho has denied wrongdoing and hasn't been accused of any crimes, his wife and nephew have been indicted on various charges while his brother has been detained for questioning. Any expansion of Yoon's probe to implicate him personally would pose problems for Moon, who decided to force through Cho's appointment even after the investigations began. "I don't know what allegations I'll be charged with but it seems like the indictment against me has already been planned," Cho wrote on his Facebook page late Monday."Moon's presidency was empowered by high public expectations for clean government," said Park Sung-min, head of MIN Consulting, a political consulting firm in Seoul. If Cho "faces additional allegations related to his duty as part of the prosecutor's probe into his family, Moon and the ruling party will receive a megablow," he said.The investigations add a new worry for Moon on top of a slowing economy and a North Korean regime that has mocked his efforts to play a mediating role in nuclear talks with the U.S. The opposition Liberty Korea Party has drawn almost even with the ruling Democratic Party in some polls, raising the prospect that it could gain control of the National Assembly in April and stymie Moon's agenda.Moon's office declined to comment Monday, referring to remarks he made in Yoon's presence Friday praising the prosecutor's progress toward "political neutrality." Moon said it was important to establish a fair anti-corruption system that could endure after "Yoon leaves office and regardless of who replaces him."When announcing Yoon's appointment, Moon praised him as "a man of integrity who's not swayed by pressure from power." Still, the Yonhap News Agency quoted a Moon administration official in September as saying that the investigation was on a scale that would only be necessary for "probing a conspiracy of a rebellion or completely mopping up the mafia."The Supreme Prosecutors' Office declined a request for comment. When asked about the investigation during a parliamentary hearing last month, Yoon vowed to follow the facts: "We prosecutors are not swayed by circumstances. We process the case only in accordance with principles and that's what we'll continue to do."Yoon's reputation for challenging authority goes back at least to his time in law school when he was forced to flee Seoul after participating in a mock trial in which he sought the death penalty against former coup-leader-turned-president Chun Doo-hwan. Back then, Yoon was known for belting out "Ave Maria" and "American Pie" in karaoke sessions, according to a person who has known him for more than 40 years.Yoon became a prosecutor at the relatively late age of 33 after failing the now-defunct annual bar exam eight times. His age and penchant for making bold speeches against powerful elites earned him the nickname "Big Brother" among his fellow prosecutors.In 2006, Yoon displayed characteristic bravado in seeking the arrest of Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo -- one of the country's most powerful corporate titans, who was later convicted and pardoned. Yoon is someone who wouldn't let a friend get away with wrongdoing, according to the person who has known him for more than 40 years.The investigations into Cho's family have dealt a blow to Moon's plans to overhaul a prosecutorial system that long been seen in South Korea as a tool for the country's political elite to suppress dissent. While Moon had hoped Yoon would help push through legislation to weaken his own office, the chief prosecutor has publicly disagreed with a key part of the plan: delegating more investigative decisions to the police.Shortly after Yoon took office, the welcome note on the Supreme Prosecutors' website was revised to include a pledge to "always serve the public by sternly holding those who wield power accountable for their abuses and violence."In remarks that take on new significance in light of Yoon's subsequent investigations, Moon urged the incoming chief prosecutor in July not to shy away from inquiries involving his own administration."I want you to be really strict, even should there be influence-peddling and corruption within my office, government or the ruling party," he told Yoon. "Thankfully, unlike the past, there hasn't been a big, contemptible corruption case within my office, government or the ruling party yet."(Adds comment from Cho in seventh paragraph.)\--With assistance from Jihye Lee.To contact the reporter on this story: Kanga Kong in Seoul at kkong50@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Pae at ppae1@bloomberg.net;Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Republican Rep. Will Hurd breaks with Trump, insists whistleblower remain anonymous Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:56 AM PST  A Republican lawmaker on Sunday broke with the President Trump and fellow party members to reject the idea that the whistleblower whose complaint prompted an impeachment inquiry into the president should have to testify publicly.
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| See Photos of the 2020 Jeep Wrangler EcoDiesel Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:01 PM PST |
| Democrats need to stop being such babies about Barack Obama Posted: 12 Nov 2019 02:50 AM PST ![Democrats need to stop being such babies about Barack Obama]( "Democrats need to stop being such babies about Barack Obama") Pete Buttigieg got in hot water with many loyal Democrats on Sunday when the Los Angeles Times reported that he cited the "failures of the Obama era" as part of why Trump's election happened. This inspired furious outrage from liberal partisans and party apparatchiks -- only soothed (and tweets deleted) when the reporter said he had misquoted Buttigieg, who was then quick to lavish praise on the ex-president.But as it turns out, Buttigieg previously said almost the exact same thing in a recent interview with Showtime's The Circus. "I don't think there's going back to Obama... the American political world we've been in from the day I was born, has been blown up," he explained, "[thanks to] its own failures which culminated in Trump. Look, if the old way worked, something like Trump would never have been possible."So this recent flap sure looks like another flip-flop from Payola Pete, mayor of Indiana's fourth largest city. But at least in his beta release form, I have to admit that Buttigieg was completely correct. Democrats really need to get over this worshipful reverence of Barack Obama.For one thing, it is simply beyond question that the Obama years were a political disaster. From having commanding majorities in both the House and the Senate, Democrats lost first the former, then the latter, and finally the presidency, as the candidate running as Obama's successor bobbled perhaps the easiest lay-up election in American history. Meanwhile, the party all but collapsed in many states, as devastating national defeats translated into the loss of over 1,000 state legislative seats.As I have written before, the primary reason for the Obama-era Democrats' initial crushing loss in 2010, which locked in Republican gains for a decade at least through their ensuing control of the state gerrymandering process, was policy error -- undershooting the size of the economic stimulus in response to the Great Recession on the one hand, and secretly using homeowner assistance money to bail out the banks on the other. The former was not entirely Obama's fault, as he had to get congressional approval for the stimulus, but the latter was entirely under his control. Millions were left out of work, and about 10 million people losing their homes wreaked further economic devastation. As any historian could tell you, being in power during a huge economic disaster is the surest possible way to get blown out of the water in the next election.If you take Obama out of the equation, what Buttigieg was saying before it looks like folks might stop sending those fat campaign checks is all but conventional wisdom even among liberals. Obama himself reportedly has grave doubts about what Trump means for his legacy. Clearly if the party could lose to the most unpopular major party nominee in the history of polling, whatever was happening before 2016 was not exactly working out.And from the other side of the fence, Obama has shown no inclination to fulfill the sort of leadership role loyal Democrats clearly crave. Despite the shattering national crisis that Trump presents, he has not gone on to a different office -- unlike, say, John Quincy Adams, who returned to the House after his presidency and fought slavery literally until his dying breath. Obama is not out there mobilizing day and night against Trump's migrant concentration camps, or his Muslim ban, or his blatant abuses of power.Only occasionally will Obama pop up to endorse candidates, often centrist or center-right white men like Emmanuel Macron or Justin Trudeau. He largely avoided campaigning in 2018 until the last few weeks before the election. He's mainly keeping to himself, hanging out with rich tycoons and celebrities, and making eye-popping sums giving paid speeches before big corporations and banks.He appears in public only occasionally -- and when he does, he has a tendency to indulge in get-off-my-lawn youth scolding that, as Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote back in 2013, was offensive and out of date when he did it as president. "This idea of purity and you're never compromised and you're always politically 'woke' and all that stuff," he said at a recent Obama Foundation summit. "You should get over that quickly. The world is messy, there are ambiguities." Just like the time when "we tortured some folks," but it was still important to "look forward as opposed to backwards" instead of enforcing the law, I suppose.Jokes aside, this almost beggars belief. President Trump is flagrantly stealing money from the American state, attempting to get foreign countries to gin up political persecutions of Obama's own vice president, and Obama is out here raising worries about exaggerated nonsense from America's most dimwitted and gullible columnists, and earning praise from loathsome trolls:> Good for Obama. (Not sarcastic!) https://t.co/cwq5mcDc7V> > -- Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) October 30, 2019Now, let me be clear: All this is, of course, Obama's complete right as a private citizen. It is, at least for the moment, still a free country. But Democrats should not follow the advice of the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin, who argues that "it is unheard of for a party following a two-term president not to run on his achievements," in part because "Republicans did that with former president Ronald Reagan for 30 years." She would know, from her previous incarnation as a prolific and absolutely shameless propagandist for Mitt Romney. But the grim fate of the GOP is precisely the problem.We see today what you get when a party loses the ability to think critically about its history, and treats its leaders as infallible saints no matter what they do: Donald Trump.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com The coming death of just about every rock legend The president has already confessed to his crimes Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?
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| Former U.S. top diplomat Rice concerned by shadow diplomacy on Ukraine Posted: 11 Nov 2019 11:09 AM PST  Rice was critical of President Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential run but has been more restrained since the Republican took office. State Department officials have testified in the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry about an "irregular channel" of people involved in Ukraine policy, including Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer.
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| FBI: Hate crime murders hit record; anti-transgender crimes soar Posted: 12 Nov 2019 02:29 AM PST  The report is compiled by using data submitted by 16,039 law enforcement agencies around the U.S.
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| EU unveils sanctions plan to hit Turkey over Cyprus drilling Posted: 11 Nov 2019 11:28 AM PST  The European Union on Monday unveiled a system for imposing sanctions on Turkey over its unauthorized gas drilling in Mediterranean waters off Cyprus but no Turkish companies or officials have yet been targeted. EU member countries can now come forward with names of those they think should be listed. Turkish warship-escorted drillships began exploratory drilling this summer in waters where EU-member Cyprus has exclusive economic rights, including areas where European energy companies are licensed to conduct a hydrocarbons search.
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| Thousands join French march against Islamophobia Posted: 10 Nov 2019 12:22 PM PST  Over 10,000 people turned out north of Paris on Sunday for a march against Islamophobia that drew criticism from both the government and the far right. The march was called by a number of individuals and organisations, including the Collective against Islamophobia in France (CCIF). It also came as the debate over the veil has been revived in France and against a background of several jihadist attacks in France in recent years.
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| Now's Your Chance To Own A 2019 Petty’s Garage Warrior Mustang Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:17 AM PST  Just in time for Veteran's Day, Non-Military personnel have the opportunity to own one of these Special Edition Mustangs for the first time!Two years ago, Military Auto Source (MAS) teamed up with Petty's Garage to offer performance enthusiasts an exclusive opportunity – a new custom-built Warrior Edition Ford Mustang. The highly successful collaboration continued on for the 2018 model year, with a 2018 Petty's Garage Warrior Mustang and F-150.These limited-edition Warrior vehicles were exclusively available only to troops deployed overseas, but due to enthusiasm from collectors, the Warrior Program has now been expanded with the unveiling of the 2019 Petty's Garage Warrior Mustang. For the first time, you can purchase one of these incredible high-performance machines developed in recognition of our brave troops. With Veterans getting a discount of $1000 off their purchase if they buy one now. Features:*Edelbrock 2650TVS Supercharger/Whipple 3.0L Supercharger *Petty's Garage Aluminum Race Inspired Spoiler *Petty's Garage 3-Way Adjustable Coilovers*Petty's Garage Upper & Lower Mesh Grille with Billet Aluminum Badge *Petty's Garage Tail Panel Badge *Petty's Garage Windshield Banner *Petty's Garage Warrior Badging *Petty's Garage Warrior Leather Seats by Katzkin *Petty's Garage Window Etching *Petty's Garage Autographed Dash Badge *Petty's Garage Warrior Floor Mats *Petty's Garage Blue Shifter Knob *Petty's Garage I.D. Plate Petty's Garage Painted Stripe Package with Painted Lower Cladding *Petty's Garage Certificate of Authenticity *Available with Manual Transmission or Automatic*Exterior Colors Include Shadow Black, Oxford White, Ingot Silver MetallicThis is a breathtaking new opportunity! Reach the team using the contact forms here. The team will go through your options in our inventory. Veteran's get an extra $1000 discount. Go pick it up from Petty's Garage - actually meet the legend himself, Richard Petty, and have your car signed!With pre-negotiated military pricing on top of a guaranteed lowest price and warranty coverage that extends worldwide, the service MAS offers to our great warriors is already incredible, but if that's not enough, they also offer a way to purchase a custom built and military exclusive vehicles.Don't miss out on your chance to bring one home to your garage! Start the buying process now. Read More... * This Petty's Garage Ford Mustang Is The Perfect Summer Muscle Car * Ultimate Road Going Richard Petty Dodge Challenger Up For Sale!
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| The North Korean Threat Is Evolving: Here Come Pyongyang's Nuclear-Armed Submarines Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:30 PM PST  America is vulnerable.
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| Poland Rebukes Netflix After ‘Terrible Mistake’ on Holocaust Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:49 AM PST ![Poland Rebukes Netflix After 'Terrible Mistake' on Holocaust]( "Poland Rebukes Netflix After 'Terrible Mistake' on Holocaust") (Bloomberg) -- Poland's prime minister wrote an official letter to Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings requesting that the media streaming company correct facts about the Holocaust in its "The Devil Next Door" documentary series.The European Union member lurched into the international spotlight last year after its nationalist ruling Law & Justice party outlawed the phrase "Polish death camps." It also criminalized suggesting that the nation was complicit in the mass murder of Jews and other people by the Nazis during their occupation of the country in World War II.A Netflix spokesperson said the company is "aware of the concerns" about the show and is "urgently looking into the matter" after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote to Hastings.Morawiecki called out Netflix for what he called "a terrible mistake" in the five-part series. The show focuses on John Demjanjuk, a retired Ford Motor Co. auto mechanic who was stripped of his U.S. citizenship and convicted by a German criminal court for aiding in the murder of Jews during the Holocaust.The series showed a map of death camps that said they were located in Poland, using the country's current borders.The Polish government has repeatedly pushed for commentary on the death camps to label them as being operated by the Nazis in "German-occupied Poland," because the eastern European nation had no government of its own on its home soil after the invasion of Adolf Hitler's forces."Not only is the map incorrect, but it deceives viewers into believing that Poland was responsible for establishing and maintaining these camps," Morawiecki wrote, saying he believed it was an "unintentional" mistake. "Today, we still owe this truth to the victims of World War II."Morawiecki enclosed a 1942 map in the letter, which was backed by a comment from the Auschwitz Memorial saying that "more accuracy" should have been expected from the production.(Updates with details of complaint in sixth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Maciej Martewicz in Warsaw at mmartewicz@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wojciech Moskwa at wmoskwa@bloomberg.net, Michael WinfreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| No One Should Be Handcuffed over Churros — So Let’s Change the Law Posted: 12 Nov 2019 09:03 AM PST  A video of New York City police officers arresting a woman for selling churros in a subway station in Brooklyn on Friday night went viral over the weekend -- sparking a lot of outrage on her behalf.The incident made headlines after New York City resident Sofia B. Newman tweeted the video, along with an explanation of what she'd seen:> Tonight as I was leaving Broadway Junction, I saw three or four police officers (one of them was either a plainclothes cop or someone who worked at the station) gathered around a crying woman and her churro cart. Apparently, it's illegal to sell food inside train stations. 1/? pic.twitter.com/sgQVvSHUik> > -- Sofia B. Newman (@SofiaBNewman) November 9, 2019> They were telling her that she could either give them her churro cart and receive a fine (one that she probably wouldn't have been able to afford), or that they would take her cart and arrest her. 2/?> > -- Sofia B. Newman (@SofiaBNewman) November 9, 2019> She kept trying to speak to one of the cops in Spanish, but the plainclothes cop kept rolling his eyes and saying things like, "Are you done?" and "I know you can speak English." Eventually, they cuffed her and unceremoniously dragged her and her cart away. 3/? pic.twitter.com/qVIfN7DO7u> > -- Sofia B. Newman (@SofiaBNewman) November 9, 2019 According to the Associated Press, the NYPD claims that the woman in the video had received a total of ten summonses for "unlicensed vending" within the past six months. After she was handcuffed, it reports, the cops ultimately let her go with a ticket -- but kept her cart as "arrest evidence."Unfortunately, this week's criminalization-of-churros news didn't end there. The New York Daily News reported on Monday that another woman had been arrested in Brooklyn for selling churros that morning, too.Needless to say, these arrests have been the subject of a lot of controversy. The woman who was arrested Friday, who wanted to be identified only as "Elsa," told reporters (with the help of a translator) on Monday that the officers eventually "became violent" during the incident, and that she had "felt horrible, nervous and stressed" throughout the ordeal. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, on the other hand, insisted that the police had done nothing wrong, that "she was there multiple times and was told multiple times that this [was] not a place you can be and it's against the law," that "she shouldn't have been there," that what she did was "not acceptable behavior," and that the NYPD "officers comported themselves properly from what I can see." The New York Times ran a story with the headline: "A Woman Selling Churros Was Handcuffed. The Police Face a Backlash." The Daily News did something similar with its piece, "Police accused of 'overreach' in arresting churro seller in Brooklyn subway."Now, I can't be sure whether or not the NYPD officers actually "became violent" during the incident with Elsa, as she alleges that they did. I certainly didn't see that in the video footage, but it's always a possibility that things happened that weren't captured. What's more, I also believe that New York City's police officers could probably find some more worthwhile things to do than arrest people for selling fried sugar-dough.Still, I can't help but notice that something seems to be missing from the conversation: Why does no one seem to be pissed off about the law that gives the NYPD the power to arrest these women, and those like them, in the first place?Although I would agree that the police shouldn't be making these sorts of things a priority, we should also take this opportunity to observe how Big Government can hurt the same people that it claims to want to help. Think about it: Liberal politicians often push for stricter government regulation of businesses and then, in the same breath, claim that they're the party of the "little guy," of the disadvantaged and the struggling. Here, we see that that isn't always the case. Here, what the "little guy" needs most from the government is to do less, so that she can do more for herself.The truth is, stories like this week's War on Churros serve as evidence against the common misconception that a limited-government philosophy amounts to cold-heartedness, to a cruel disregard (or even outright hatred) for those in this country who are struggling. The truth is, sometimes the best way for the government to help those in need is to stop itself from "helping" them at all.If you have a problem with women being handcuffed for trying to make a living selling pastries, then good; we agree. So, join me in calling for the law to be changed -- so that people can be free to carve out their own living, without fear of arrest, in the country that's supposed to stand for that exact thing.
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| Israeli airstrike kills Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza home Posted: 12 Nov 2019 05:31 AM PST  The Israeli strike killed Bahaa Abu el-Atta and his wife, setting off a furious barrage of dozens of rocket attacks reaching as far as Tel Aviv.
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| A Closer Look at the Beautified Architectural Revolution Within China Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:45 PM PST |
| Fox News Contributor Causes Scene When She Names Alleged Whistleblower on Air Posted: 10 Nov 2019 01:49 PM PST  Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway caused a scene on Sunday morning when she purposely named the alleged whistleblower at the center of the impeachment inquiry against President Trump, seemingly breaking the network's policy of identifying the person.Amid a concerted effort by Trump's allies to publicly out the whistleblower who filed the complaint about Trump's infamous July 25 call with the Ukrainian president, right-wing media outlets have touted an online report purportedly sharing the identity of the person. Mainstream media outlets and social media platforms, meanwhile, have refrained from spreading the person's name.Fox News had reportedly also instructed its employees to not name the alleged whistleblower. CNN reported that the network had instructed staffers that it had not "independently confirmed [the] name or identification of the anonymous whistleblower." Additionally, a network executive informed production staffers to "NOT fulfill any video or graphic requests" surrounding the whistleblower's identity.We reached out to Fox News for comment, but did not hear back by time of publication.During Sunday's broadcast of Fox News media analysis show MediaBuzz, Hemingway—who is also the senior editor of right-wing website The Federalist—took part in a panel discussion on whether or not the press should reveal the alleged whistleblower's name and identity.After noting that the New York Times had provided a lot of identifying details on its report about the whistleblower, Hemingway went on to point to the online article naming the person while explaining that the whistleblower's name's "already out there.""We could be talking about this reporting and talking about whether that's accurate reporting or not," Hemingway added. "So I feel a little confused why we are pretending it hasn't already been reported."Host Howard Kurtz, clearly startled, immediately shot back that he didn't know if that person was actually the whistleblower. Former Clinton adviser Philipe Reines, who was also on the panel, said that this "might be the first time that the name has been mentioned on Fox News, and not by a Fox News reporter."Reines, however, is incorrect. While Hemingway is the first paid Fox employee to name the whistleblower on air, during a segment last week with Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner, conservative radio host Lars Larson blurted out the name. Faulkner, for her part, didn't react at all or push back in him identifying the person. Larson would later justify his actions by saying the "American people deserve to know the name of the man making the accusation that the Democrats hope to use to remove an American president.""I don't know whether this is actually the person or not and I don't want to speculate about that," Kurtz, who has previously said outing the whistleblower would send a "chilling message" to other whistleblowers, went on to state. "But there have been a few conservative outlets and commentators who have floated that name."Hemingway concluded by claiming it is "clearly wrong" for media organizations and tech platforms like Facebook to say that "you're not allowed to talk about what's reported out there," adding that the person's name "has been reported."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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| Father who lost wife, sons says life 'turned upside down' Posted: 10 Nov 2019 05:37 PM PST  A U.S. citizen who lost his wife and two of his sons when they were ambushed by gunmen in Mexico said his life has been upended and he's leaving the country with the rest of his family, ABC News reported. David Langford told ABC's "World News Tonight" Sunday that "my whole life has turned upside down. Langford's wife, Dawna, and two of his sons, Trevor Langford, 11, and Rogan Langford, 2, were among the nine women and children killed in the ambush Monday in the Mexican state of Sonora.
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| UPDATE 1-Polish far-right groups march on independence anniversary Posted: 11 Nov 2019 08:40 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-Polish far-right groups march on independence anniversary]( "UPDATE 1-Polish far-right groups march on independence anniversary") Tens of thousands of Poles took part in a far-right march in the capital Warsaw on Monday to mark Polish independence, an annual event that has become a focus of friction between nationalists and liberals. Poland has become increasingly polarised since the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party came to power in 2015, calling for a revival of patriotic and Catholic values in public life and a rejection of Western liberalism. Critics say PiS, which won a second term last month with 44% of the vote, has tacitly encouraged groups with roots in the fascist and anti-Semitic movements of the 1930s that organise the march, although the party denies this.
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| Conn. man charged in hotel worker's death skips hearing Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:07 PM PST  A Connecticut man charged in the death of a hotel worker he says attacked his family in Anguilla has declined to return to the British Caribbean territory for the most recent pretrial hearing, a spokesman said Monday.
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| What slowdown? Chinese shoppers set new 'Singles' Day' spending record Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:54 AM PST  Chinese consumers spent a record amount on Alibaba platforms Monday during the annual "Singles' Day" buying spree, the world's biggest 24-hour shopping event, which kicked off this year with a glitzy show by US singer Taylor Swift. China's economy is in an extended slowdown exacerbated by the US trade war, and the Singles' Day fire sale is viewed as a snapshot of consumer sentiment in the world's second-biggest economy. US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said his tariffs on Chinese goods have put the country's economy on the ropes, but the state-run tabloid Global Times said the shopping figures proved otherwise.
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| The China-Russia Relationship Is More About Survival Than Friendship Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PST  Fears are overblown. Mistrust remains.
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| Its Economy in Crisis, Lebanon Again Appeals to Arab Neighbors Posted: 12 Nov 2019 04:21 AM PST ![Its Economy in Crisis, Lebanon Again Appeals to Arab Neighbors]( "Its Economy in Crisis, Lebanon Again Appeals to Arab Neighbors") (Bloomberg) -- Lebanese President Michel Aoun appealed to Arab neighbors on Tuesday for help to revive his country's economy, driven to the brink of collapse after weeks of unrest that have brought down the government.Aoun met with Arab ambassadors in Beirut to discuss Lebanon's ongoing upheaval, according to his Twitter account. He's scheduled to speak live on television at 8:30 p.m. local time.Attempts to secure financial assistance from Gulf allies have so far come up empty. Meanwhile, Lebanon's finances are becoming ever more precarious as it suffers shortages of foreign currency and even fuel, while struggling to attract bank deposits, a key source of funding for the government.The president is leading the search for a new government after the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri. The premier had been backed by Saudi Arabia, but the kingdom gradually withheld support as the influence of Iranian-backed Hezbollah over the government grew. It ignored Hariri's pleas for financial aid to avert a looming debt crisis.Aoun also met with representatives of the International Support Group, which was created in 2013 and includes the United Nations and the governments of China, France, Germany, Italy, Russia, the U.K. and the U.S. The president has yet to schedule binding parliamentary consultations to name a new premier who would then form a government.In ParalysisThe country has been paralyzed for nearly a month as nationwide protests ramp up pressure. Their momentum shows no signs of stopping, with demonstrations outside key state-run entities including the electricity company and ministries. Protesters Tuesday also held a sit-in outside the Judicial Palace, asking judges to remain neutral and look into corruption allegations.Protesters say the political elites have misused public funds for their own profit for years, neglecting living conditions and leading the country on the brink of bankruptcy. The are demanding a government of experts that's able to steer Lebanon through a financial crisis.Bank employees observed an open-ended nationwide strike Tuesday, asking lenders to be more flexible with clients to avoid possible confrontations. Videos of people clashing with bank employees have surfaced in recent days after restrictions imposed on withdrawals and the transfer of funds abroad.Central bank Governor Riad Salameh asked lenders Monday to ease some of the curbs, particularly those that have impacted traders and businesses, to avoid a possible shortage of goods. He also allowed lenders to borrow from the central bank in dollars at an interest rate of 20%.Public and private schools are also shut and employees of the telecommunications sector have announced a strike, demanding that any privatization of the industry as announced by the government should preserve their rights.To contact the reporter on this story: Dana Khraiche in Beirut at dkhraiche@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Paul Abelsky, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Missing for 75 years, WWII submarine found after translation error discovered Posted: 11 Nov 2019 11:11 AM PST ![Missing for 75 years, WWII submarine found after translation error discovered]( "Missing for 75 years, WWII submarine found after translation error discovered") The USS Grayback, a World War II sub, sank in February 1944 and had been missing ever since. A team of explorers just found it off the coast of Japan.
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| Liz Cheney Backs Barring Erdogan Bodyguards Who Assaulted Protesters from U.S. Reentry Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:28 PM PST  Representative Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) called on the State Department Monday to ban the bodyguards of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who assaulted protesters in a 2017 incident in Washington, D.C. from reentering the U.S.In May 2017, members of the Turkish Presidential Protection Department (TPPD), Turkey's equivalent of the Secret Service, attacked pro-Kurdish protesters outside the residence of the Turkish ambassador. The assault, in which protesters and American law-enforcement officials were injured, was captured on video.In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Cheney requested that "none of the people who were in the United States with President Erdoğan in 2017 and participated in physical attacks on American citizens—including those protesting lawfully, our secret service, our diplomatic service, and our law enforcement officials—will be allowed into the United States again this week.""At least eleven people were injured throughout the day, including law enforcement personnel who every day defend Americans' constitutional rights and physical safety," Cheney wrote.The letter comes in advance of a planned White House visit by Erdogan this Wednesday.TPPD agents have a history of confrontational incidents on U.S. soil. In 2016, TPPD officers attacked journalists at a Brookings Institution event, and in 2011, they attacked U.N. security personnel at U.N. headquarters in New York.Pompeo on Monday said that President Trump will raise the topic of Turkey's recent invasion of Syria in his meeting with Erdogan."We will talk about what transpired there and how we can do our level best collectively to ensure the protection of all of those in Syria, not just the Kurds, but everyone in Syria," Pompeo told cadets at The Citadel after delivering a Veterans Day speech.
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| Don't stop the fight against mercury pollution: Republican and Democrat to Trump EPA Posted: 12 Nov 2019 06:25 AM PST  The mercury rule has protected Americans from dangerous pollution. Changing it threatens gains that include cleaner air and edible seafood.
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| 2nd trial for Arizona activist accused of harboring migrants Posted: 12 Nov 2019 10:07 AM PST  Jury selection started Tuesday in the second trial against an Arizona border activist accused of harboring migrants who sneaked across the U.S.-Mexico border. Scott Warren, 37, contends he was fulfilling his mission as a humanitarian when he helped two Central American men at a camp run by the border group No More Deaths, which also drops off water jugs in the desert. Following jury selection, prosecutors were expected to make their opening statements Tuesday afternoon.
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| Dozens detained in India over holy site social media comments Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:28 AM PST  Indian police have arrested dozens of people for social media comments that allegedly threatened "communal harmony" after the Supreme Court awarded a holy site once used for a mosque to Hindus, officials said Monday. The site in the northern city of Ayodhya has in the past caused religious riots that have left thousands dead. Security forces have been on alert since the verdict was announced on Saturday and remained on the city's streets as hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims began arriving on Monday ahead of a religious festival.
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| Explainer: Symbolic night with goddess to wrap up Japan emperor's accession rites Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:33 PM PST  On Thursday evening, Japan's Emperor Naruhito will dress in pure white robes and be ushered into a dark wooden hall for his last major enthronement rite: spending the night with a goddess. Centred on Amaterasu Omikami, the sun goddess from whom conservatives believe the emperor has descended, the "Daijosai" is the most overtly religious ceremony of the emperor's accession rituals after his father Akihito's abdication. Although Naruhito's grandfather Hirohito, in whose name soldiers fought World War Two, was later stripped of his divinity, the ritual continues.
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| Shootings, blasts prompt Denmark to tighten border controls Posted: 11 Nov 2019 07:50 AM PST  Denmark will temporarily reinstate border controls with Sweden and step up police work along the border after a series of violent crimes and explosions around Copenhagen that Danish authorities say were carried out by perpetrators from Sweden. The checks, which start Tuesday for six months, will take place at the Oresund Bridge between Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmo, and at ferry ports.
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| USS Utah: The Forgotten (Drone) Battleship Sunk at Pearl Harbor Posted: 12 Nov 2019 03:47 AM PST  Back in July, the United States almost went to war over the downing of a drone along the Iranian border. This is not, strangely enough, the first time that an attack against the United States began with violence against a drone.
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| Afghanistan to Free Taliban Leaders for U.S., Australia Captives Posted: 12 Nov 2019 02:46 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Afghanistan will free three key Taliban leaders as part of a deal to secure the release of American and Australian citizens held captive since 2016 and open the door for talks with the militant group."Our joint efforts in tracing the two professors did not yield results, and reports suggest their health is worsening in captivity," Afghan President Ashraf Ghani told reporters in Kabul on Tuesday. In order to "provide the opportunity for direct talks with the Taliban, to achieve peace and stability, we have decided to conditionally release three Taliban prisoners."The Afghan government has been struggling to get the Taliban to the negotiating table and end 18 years of war that has killed tens of thousands of Afghan civilians and security personnel, more than 2,400 U.S. soldiers, and cost the U.S. nearly $1 trillion. U.S. President Donald Trump in September abruptly called off talks with the Taliban following the death of an American soldier in an attack claimed by the group."The release of the top Taliban leaders is quite a significant step for peace as it can build mutual trust," Ahmad Saeedi, an independent political analyst in Kabul, said by phone.One of the militants to be released is Anas Haqqani, brother of Sirajuddin Haqqani, who leads the Haqqani network that is one of the deadliest in Afghanistan, responsible for attacks against American and Afghan government forces. The two others are Haji Mali Khan and Abdul Rashid Omari.Kevin King, 60, and Australian citizen Timothy Weeks, 48, were kidnapped by the Taliban in 2016 while leaving the American University of Afghanistan in Kabul."In close consultation with our international partners -- especially the United States of America -- we have undertaken certain mechanisms and methods that can ensure that the release of the three men does not translate into the reinforcement of Taliban ranks or an increase in their attacks," Ghani said.To contact the reporter on this story: Eltaf Najafizada in Kabul at enajafizada1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Jeanette RodriguesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Thousands of Twitter 'bots' targeted Kentucky with fake news on election night Posted: 12 Nov 2019 10:21 AM PST ![Thousands of Twitter 'bots' targeted Kentucky with fake news on election night]( "Thousands of Twitter 'bots' targeted Kentucky with fake news on election night") Thousands of accounts with "bot-like" automated behavior spreading misinformation about the race.
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| Substitute teacher fired after student beating goes viral Posted: 11 Nov 2019 07:12 PM PST ![Substitute teacher fired after student beating goes viral]( "Substitute teacher fired after student beating goes viral") A substitute teacher has been fired and charged with aggravated assault following the beating of a 15-year-old female high school student in an incident captured on video. Tiffani Shadell Lankford is free on $10,000 bond after her arrest Friday afternoon. Video of last week's incident in a foreign-language class at Lehman High School in Kyle, Texas, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Austin went viral.
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| Restive Kashmir marks 100 days since India stripped autonomy Posted: 12 Nov 2019 07:24 AM PST  Kashmir on Tuesday marked 100 days since India stripped the restive Himalayan valley of its autonomy and imposed a strict communications blackout, with local journalists protesting the internet blackout. Tensions have been high since August 5 when the national government moved to bring the region under direct rule, cut telecommunications and detained thousands to quell any unrest. Dozens of journalists held a silent demonstration against the internet ban, holding their laptops with open with blank screens or held placards with the words "100 days no internet" and "stop humiliating Kashmir journalists".
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| Mexico makes arrests in massacre of American women, children: minister Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:09 AM PST  Mexico has made an unspecified number of arrests over last week's massacre of three women and six children of dual U.S-Mexican nationality in the north of the country, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said on Monday. "There have been arrests, but it's not up to us to give information," Durazo told reporters in Mexico City. The women and children from families of U.S. Mormon origin who settled in Mexico decades ago were killed last Monday on a remote dirt road in the state of Sonora by suspected drug cartel gunmen, sparking outrage and condemnation in the United States.
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| Google Gathering Health Care Data on Millions of Americans with Secret ‘Project Nightingale’ Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:43 PM PST  Google has teamed up with one of the largest health care systems in the U.S. to gather the personal health care information of millions of people in 21 states, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.Named "Project Nightingale," the initiative is one of the largest efforts by Silicon Valley tech companies to enter the lucrative health care industry. Google partnered last year with Ascension, the St. Louis-based health care system that is the second largest in the U.S., to collect and crunch health care data on a massive scale.Patients and doctors have not been notified that their data is being shared.The data involved includes lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, as well as patient names and dates of birth. Google and Ascension are essentially collecting patients' complete personal health records. Patients and doctors have not been notified that their data is being shared.Google aims to design new software with the data that will suggest improvements in patient care directly to individual patients. Ascension, a Catholic hospital network, wants to use the data to improve patient care, mining the data to suggest additional tests for patients.According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, hospitals may share patient data with business partners without notifying patients as long as that information is "used only to help the covered entity carry out its health-care functions."Nevertheless, several Ascension employees voiced concerns regarding the ways Google and Ascension are gathering the data, according to internal documents reviewed by the Journal. While Ascension did not immediately comment on the report, a spokesman for Google said the project is completely in line with federal law.About 150 employees across Google's platform currently have access to specific personal data collected as part of Project Nightingale.The news comes as calls to rein in big tech companies grow more popular on both sides of the political aisle, albeit for somewhat different reasons.Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) has come out strongly against the involvement of big tech companies in the Chinese market and has campaigned against perceived bias against conservatives from these companies.Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has threatened to break up Facebook and other social media giants if she is elected president in 2020. She has suggested Facebook might help President Trump win reelection if that would profit the company.
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| Is the Littoral Combat Ship One of the Worst Warships Ever? Posted: 11 Nov 2019 04:00 AM PST  A terrible investment.
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| These Are the Shortest-Stopping Cars We've Ever Tested Posted: 11 Nov 2019 03:13 PM PST |
| Trump adviser Stephen Miller injected white nationalist agenda into Breitbart, investigation reveals Posted: 12 Nov 2019 07:55 AM PST  Emails to former Breitbart writer show Miller focused on inserting white nationalist talking points to shape 2016 election coverageStephen Miller, senior adviser to Donald Trump, walks across the South Lawn of the White House on 4 November. Photograph: Michael Reynolds/EPASenior Trump adviser Stephen Miller shaped the 2016 election coverage of the hard right-wing website Breitbart with material drawn from prominent white nationalists, Islamophobes, and far-right websites, according to a new investigative report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).Miller also railed against those wishing to remove Confederate monuments and flags from public display in the wake of Dylann Roof's murderous 2015 attack on a black church in Charleston, South Carolina, and praised America's early 20th-century race-based, restrictionist immigration policies.Emails from Miller to a former Breitbart writer, sent before and after he joined the Trump campaign, show Miller obsessively focused on injecting white nationalist-style talking points on race and crime, Confederate monuments, and Islam into the far-right website's campaign coverage, the SPLC report says.Miller, one of the few surviving initial appointees in the administration, has been credited with orchestrating Trump's restrictionist immigration policies.The SPLC story is based largely on emails provided by a former Breitbart writer, Katie McHugh. McHugh was fired by Breitbart over a series of anti-Muslim tweets and has since renounced the far right, telling the SPLC that the movement is "evil".However, throughout 2015 and 2016, as the Trump campaign progressed and she became an increasingly influential voice at Breitbart, McHugh told the SPLC that Miller urged her in a steady drumbeat of emails and phone calls to promote arguments from sources popular with far-right and white nationalist movements.Miller's emails had a "strikingly narrow" focus on race and immigration, according to the SPLC report.At various times, the SPLC reports, Miller recommendations for McHugh included the white nationalist website, VDare; Camp of the Saints, a racist novel focused on a "replacement" of European whites by mass third-world immigration; conspiracy site Infowars; and Refugee Resettlement Watch, a fringe anti-immigrant site whose tagline is "They are changing America by changing the people".McHugh also says that in a phone call, Miller suggested that she promote an analysis of race and crime featured on the website of a white nationalist organization, American Renaissance. The American Renaissance article he mentioned was the subject of significant interest on the far right in 2015.In the two weeks following the murder of nine people at a church in Charleston by the white supremacist Dylann Roof as Americans demanded the removal of Confederate statues and flags, Miller encouraged McHugh to turn the narrative back on leftists and Latinos."Should the cross be removed from immigrant communities, in light of the history of Spanish conquest?" he asked in one email on 24 June."When will the left be made to apologize for the blood on their hands supporting every commie regime since Stalin?" he asked in another the following day.When another mass shooting happened in Oregon in October 2015, Miller wrote that the killer, Chris Harper-Mercer "is described as 'mixed race' and born in England. Any chance of piecing that profile together more, or will it all be covered up?"Miller repeatedly brings up President Calvin Coolidge, who is revered among white nationalists for signing the 1924 Immigration Act which included racial quotas for immigration.In one email, Miller remarks on a report about the beginning of Immigrant Heritage Month by writing: "This would seem a good opportunity to remind people about the heritage established by Calvin Coolidge, which covers four decades of the 20th century." The four decades in question is the period between the passage of the Immigration Act and the abolition of racial quotas.Miller also hints at conspiratorial explanations for the maintenance of current immigration policies. Mainstream coverage of the 50th anniversary of the removal of racial quotas in immigration policy had lacked detail, Miller believed, because "Elites can't allow the people to see that their condition is not the product of events beyond their control, but the product of policy they foisted onto them.".Miller used a US government email address during the early part of the correspondence, when he was an aide to senator Jeff Sessions, and then announced his new job on the Trump campaign, and a new email address, to recipients including McHugh.As well as McHugh, recipients of his emails included others then at Breitbart who subsequently worked in the Trump administration, including Steve Bannon and current Trump aide, Julia Hahn.
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| New delay by Senate panel spells trouble for judicial nominee Posted: 11 Nov 2019 04:50 PM PST  The Senate Judiciary Committee will not consider Halil Suleyman "Sul" Ozerden's nomination to the powerful 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week — an ominous sign for the controversial federal judge in Mississippi. Ozerden, a close friend of acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, has faced an uphill road to confirmation amid Republican opposition. The Judiciary Committee delayed a vote on his nomination for an unusual fifth time last week.
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| Scott Walker objects to 'holiday tree' and Twitter critics let him have it Posted: 11 Nov 2019 07:58 AM PST  Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers unveiled a holiday tree in the state Capitol last week, and his predecessor did not respond well. Scott Walker and other Republicans in the state used the "holiday tree" to revive the old "War on Christmas" talking points common in right-wing circles.
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