| Fox News' Wallace calls out GOP senator for pushing debunked conspiracy theory Posted: 24 Nov 2019 10:20 AM PST  Fox News host Chris Wallace pushed back against GOP Senator John Kennedy, who repeated a debunked conspiracy theory promoted by President Trump.
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| PHOTOS: Deadly earthquake rocks Albania Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:50 AM PST  At least 16 people were killed when the most powerful earthquake to hit Albania in decades shook the capital Tirana and the country's west and north on Tuesday, tearing down buildings and burying residents under rubble.
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| Guards charged over Epstein's suicide get trial date Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:54 AM PST  Two correctional officers accused of covering up their failure to check on financier Jeffrey Epstein before he hanged himself will face an April 20 trial date. U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres scheduled the trial for Tova Noel and Michael Thomas at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on Monday. Epstein's suicide on Aug. 10, at age 66, came a little over a month after the well-connected money manager was arrested and charged with trafficking dozens of underage girls as young as 14 from at least 2002 to 2005.
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| 'Angels caught me': Boy thrown from mall balcony walking normally, family friend says Posted: 24 Nov 2019 11:57 AM PST  In the random attack, a 5-year-old was thrown 40 feet off a mall balcony. He's now walking normally and attending kindergarten, a family friend says.
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| Bloomberg News says it will not investigate Michael Bloomberg or his Democratic rivals during the presidential campaign Posted: 24 Nov 2019 04:22 PM PST  Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait set out the outlet's 2020 coverage guidelines after its owner announced his campaign.
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| Practice (for War with Russia) Makes Deadly: NATO and U.S. Army Conducting Massive Exercises Posted: 25 Nov 2019 01:03 AM PST  These exercises, which will closely resemble the weapons, tactics and combat strategies joint forces would be called upon to perform in the event of major enemy attack, will span across air, sea, land, cyber and space domains throughout Europe.
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| Chemical weapons body defends Syria attack conclusions after leaks Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:42 AM PST  The head of the global chemical weapons organization on Monday defended the agency's conclusion that poison was used in a high profile attack in Syria last year, after leaked documents suggested two former employees doubted some of its findings. More than 40 people were killed in the April 7 attack in Douma, a town on the outskirts of Damascus that was then held by rebels. The United States, Britain and France retaliated a week later by firing missiles at Syrian government targets, the biggest Western military action against the Damascus authorities of the eight year war.
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| Trump supporters say God chose him to be president Posted: 25 Nov 2019 02:16 PM PST  Energy Secretary Rick Perry and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley see God's hand in picking Donald Trump as president.
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| At least 8 dead, 300 injured after 6.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Albania Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:27 AM PST  The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.4 earthquake was centered 19 miles northwest of Tirana, the capital city of Albania.
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| Accused Chinese Spy Pleads Guilty in U.S. ‘Dead-Drop’ Sting Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:16 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A California man accused of spying for China's security service pleaded guilty to a U.S. criminal charge in a case touted by prosecutors as a "rare glimpse" into how Beijing gathers intelligence in America.Xuehua "Ed" Peng, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2012, was charged in September with with acting as unregistered agent of a foreign government. As part of his plea agreement, the U.S. will recommend a four-year prison sentence and a $30,000 fine, instead of the maximum penalty of 10 years' incarceration and a $250,000 fine, a prosecutor told a judge Monday in Oakland federal court.A U.S. crackdown on national security espionage by the Chinese government and theft of intellectual property that began under former President Barack Obama has escalated during the Trump administration's trade war with China. At three former U.S. intelligence officers have been convicted in recent years of spying for China. Last year, the Justice Department launched a China Initiative targeting trade-secret theft, hacking and economic espionage.Peng, 56, worked as a guide for Chinese tourists in the San Francisco area, according to prosecutors. He was snared in a sting operation in which he allegedly hid envelopes with $10,000 to $20,000 in cash in hotel rooms and returned later to pick up memory cards containing classified security information that had been planted by U.S. agents.Read More: U.S. Tour Guide Accused as Spy for China's Security ServiceAfter staging each of the so-called dead drops at hotels in Oakland and Newark, California, as well as Columbus, Georgia -- at least one of which the FBI recorded with a hidden video camera -- Peng would later fly to China with the cards to deliver them to his handlers at the Ministry of State Security, prosecutors alleged.The U.S. said it uncovered Peng's identity as a spy through a double-agent operation in China started in March 2015.John Demers, the Assistant U.S. Attorney General for national security, said when Peng was arrested that his case exposes how Chinese intelligence officers collect information "without having to step foot in this country."Peng's attorney declined to comment after Monday's hearing.The case is U.S.A. v. Peng, 19-cr-00589, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland).\--With assistance from Joel Rosenblatt.To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter BlumbergFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Filmmaker warns Russia wants Ukraine on its knees Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:33 AM PST  Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, receiving a human rights prize from the European Parliament, warned Tuesday against attempts to thaw ties with Russia. Sentsov was held in a Russian jail for the first five years of a 20-year sentence for allegedly planning attacks in Moscow-occupied Crimea. "We talk a lot about peace-building, about making peace with Russia, but I don't believe what Putin says and I encourage you not to either," he said.
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| Lindsey Graham: Truth about Armenian genocide resolution Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:50 AM PST  Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was excoriated as "spineless" and "despicable" for blocking a Senate resolution to formally recognize the Armenian genocide, told Axios Sunday that he'd cast the vote at the behest of the White House.
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| Billion-Dollar Art Heist: Thieves Use Fire, Axes to Plunder Dresden’s Green Vault Palace Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:09 AM PST  Axe-wielding thieves appear to have pulled off the biggest art heist in decades after they broke into one of Europe's largest collections of treasures and made off with glittering objects valued at as much as $1 billion.The daring robbery happened in the early hours of Monday in the German city of Dresden. Burglars forced entry to the Green Vault—housed in a former royal palace called the Residenzschloss—which has been the home of a historic collection of diamonds and other jewels for centuries.Surveillance video released by German authorities showed the intruders using an axe to smash glass display cases to make off with hundreds of priceless artifacts in what police are calling the largest art heist since the Second World War.The thieves—who reportedly escaped the scene in an Audi A6 and are now on the run—reportedly started a fire in the early hours of Monday that led to a power failure at the palace, disarming the elaborate network of security alarms. German media has reported the thieves then twisted back iron grill bars on a ground-floor window to gain access to the treasury's historic collection.Michael Kretschmer, the leader of Saxony—which has Dresden as its capital city—expressed his devastation at the historic heist. The minister said: "The treasures one can find there... have been collected by the people of Saxony over many centuries and are hard-won treasures... You cannot understand the history of our country, or the free state of Saxony without the Green Vault and the state art collections of Saxony."The Green Vault has been an international tourist destination since 1724, when it first opened to the public, according to The Guardian. It was heavily damaged during the Second World War during Winston Churchill's controversial bombing campaign that destroyed the city of Dresden. The vault was successfully restored and there was a grand reopening in 2006.Saxony state authorities have not given any details of what's been taken from the vault or who they think might have been capable of carrying out the audacious raid. "We have not identified a perpetrator and nor have we yet made any arrests," police spokesman Marko Laske said.By good fortune, one of the collection's best known treasures—the 41-carat Dresden "Green Diamond"—is currently on loan to New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, so wasn't there to be taken.However, it houses thousands of other treasures, including a 648-carat sapphire that was a royal gift from Russian tsar Peter the Great; a golden coffee service made in 1701; and a 25-inch figure of a Moor encrusted with precious emeralds and other jewels.Dozens of police cars are at the scene and the Green Vault is shut as the world's media awaits further details of the theft.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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| Whoops: In 1984, a Soviet Sub Crashed into the U.S. Carrier It Was Tailing Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:00 AM PST  Well that's awkward.
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| Special Report:‘Time to take out our swords' - Inside Iran’s plot to attack Saudi Arabia Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:06 AM PST  The group included the top echelons of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite branch of the Iranian military whose portfolio includes missile development and covert operations. The main topic that day in May: How to punish the United States for pulling out of a landmark nuclear treaty and re-imposing economic sanctions on Iran, moves that have hit the Islamic Republic hard. With Major General Hossein Salami, leader of the Revolutionary Guards, looking on, a senior commander took the floor.
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| How Bloomberg plans to buy the Democratic nomination — and the presidency Posted: 25 Nov 2019 01:28 PM PST  After years of unconsummated flirtations and weeks of high-profile preparations, multibillionaire former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg announced Sunday that he will be running for president in 2020, touting himself as a "new choice for Democrats."
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| FAA tests plane seat size safety, but some call experiments "a sham" Posted: 26 Nov 2019 12:39 AM PST  The FAA is trying to determine at what point the size of seats and space between rows becomes a hazard to evacuating an airplane quickly
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| From growing a beard to complaining about porn: Here are the flimsy excuses China uses to throw Uighur Muslims into prison camps Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:22 AM PST  China has imprisoned at least one million Uighurs in detention camps and prisons in Xinjiang. The Communist Party sees Uighurs' religion as a threat.
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| Banks Close Branches in Half of U.S., Loss Worst in Rural Areas Posted: 25 Nov 2019 12:09 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- More than half of U.S. counties lost access to bank branches between 2012 and 2017, with rural counties that have less educated and minority residents especially hurt, the Federal Reserve said in a new report.Nearly 800 rural counties lost 1,533 bank branches, representing 14% of their total branches, the Fed said Monday. While urban counties also lost branches, they lost just 9% of the branches, according to the report. The findings highlight a broader U.S. trend of the widening gap between rural areas and better-served and more prosperous urban centers.While urban and rural Americans are using branches less frequently as more banking services have moved online, traditional bank offices nonetheless provide an important way for people to open up checking accounts and to borrow. As a result, the loss of branches can hinder access to credit for households and small businesses.Forty-four counties were "deeply affected" by closings, defined as a county that had 10 or fewer branches in 2012 and lost at least 50% of those branches by 2017, the Fed said."Rural counties deeply affected by branch closures had higher poverty rates, lower median incomes, a higher share of their population with less than a high school degree, and a higher share of their population who were African American," the report said.In listening sessions the Fed has held around the county, people have called the loss of branches "frustrating and disruptive" to their lives, according to their report. Local banks also can provide leaders who contribute to the community, and their loss is keenly felt."Banks are more attuned to the needs of the communities in which they are headquartered, so this loss could have a negative impact on the affected local markets," the Fed said.Fed leaders are trying to understand the divide and what can be done to help struggling rural areas, who's plight has become a powerful issue in the U.S. politics. President Donald Trump successfully focused part of his 2016 election campaign on turning out support among Republican-leaning rural voters who he said had been neglected by political leaders.To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Matthews in Atlanta at smatthews@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alister Bull at abull7@bloomberg.net, Vince GolleFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| US, EU 'owe half the cost' of repairing climate damage Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:02 AM PST  The United States and Europe bear more than half the cost of repairing the damage already wrought by climate change, a coalition of environmental groups said Monday. Based on their historic greenhouse gas emissions, the US and EU should be held jointly responsible for 54 percent of funding owed to developing nations already dealing with extreme flooding, droughts and megastorms rendered more frequent and intense by global warming, the groups said. A week ahead of a UN climate summit in Madrid -- in which the controversial issue of how funding for the so-called "loss and damage" inflicted by climate change will be provided -- they said the amount needed would hit $300 billion annually within a decade.
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| New Chinese stealth fighter coming as soon as 2025 Posted: 26 Nov 2019 07:10 AM PST  The new Chinese stealth fighter could be flying through Asian skies as soon as 2025. In October 2018, Chinese media announced that the People's Liberation Army Air Force would publicly unveil its new H-20 stealth bomber during a parade celebrating the air arm's 70th anniversary in 2019.
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| Fox News guest: 'Why the hell does Tucker Carlson still have a job here' Posted: 26 Nov 2019 08:16 AM PST ![Fox News guest: 'Why the hell does Tucker Carlson still have a job here']( "Fox News guest: 'Why the hell does Tucker Carlson still have a job here'") It's been a hectic few hours for Fox News' Tucker Carlson.First, Carlson on Monday evening said he was rooting for Russia in its conflict with Ukraine before walking it back. Then a Fox News guest, Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Michael Blake, was asked Tuesday by anchor Bill Hemmer to respond to Carlson's theory that former First Lady Michelle Obama might be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020. Blake, though, didn't seem too interested in answering that question (for what it's worth, he did briefly say an Obama run is "not going to happen.")Instead, Blake wanted to figure out "why the hell" Carlson was still employed by the network, especially in light of Carlson calling white supremacy a hoax. Hemmer tried to steer Blake back toward the Obama conversation, but not before his guest repeated his assertion that Carlson should be out of a job. > Micheal Blake stuns Fox News anchor: "Why the hell does Tucker Carlson still have a job here?" https://t.co/XRVoPsI8GF pic.twitter.com/h3KTT6QPu1> > -- Media Matters (@mmfa) November 26, 2019More stories from theweek.com Democrats, don't hand impeachment to Mitch McConnell Welcome to the vengeance election Trump wonders why the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage wasn't celebrated 'a long time ago'
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| SPECIAL REPORT-‘Time to take out our swords': Inside Iran’s plot to attack Saudi Arabia Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:51 AM PST ![SPECIAL REPORT-'Time to take out our swords': Inside Iran's plot to attack Saudi Arabia]( "SPECIAL REPORT-'Time to take out our swords': Inside Iran's plot to attack Saudi Arabia") Four months before a swarm of drones and missiles crippled the world's biggest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia, Iranian security officials gathered at a heavily fortified compound in Tehran. The group included the top echelons of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite branch of the Iranian military whose portfolio includes missile development and covert operations. The main topic that day in May: How to punish the United States for pulling out of a landmark nuclear treaty and re-imposing economic sanctions on Iran, moves that have hit the Islamic Republic hard.
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| President Trump defends ouster of Navy secretary Posted: 25 Nov 2019 02:57 PM PST  President Trump defended the firing of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Monday, suggesting the ouster was a long time coming and was part of an effort to "protect" members of the armed forces.
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| Air New Zealand declared world's best airline 2020 Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:54 AM PST  Air New Zealand has knocked Singapore Airlines off its throne to reclaim the title of world's best airline for the sixth time. AirlineRatings.com released the latest edition of its annual ranking, which is based on 12 criteria including fleet age, passenger reviews, profitability, investment rating, product offerings and staff relations. This year, the flagship carrier of New Zealand took top honors, nudging Singapore Airlines into second place, followed by All Nippon Airways, Qantas and Cathay Pacific.
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| Florida Woman Reported an ‘Unknown’ Body in Her Driveway. Hours Later, She Was Charged With Murder. Posted: 25 Nov 2019 01:39 PM PST  Early Saturday morning, 51-year-old Yvonne Serrano called Florida authorities to report a grisly scene in the driveway of her Coral Springs home."I just walked out and there is a car in my driveway with a dead body," she told the 911 dispatcher. "There's blood..she's been here for a while," she added. "She's bleeding everywhere."During the frantic, five-minute phone call, Serrano insisted she had no idea what a dead body was doing in her driveway. But hours later—after changing her story multiple times—Serrano was charged with second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence for allegedly shooting 21-year-old Daniela Tabares outside her home, then trying to cover it up, Coral Springs police said.Authorities said the pair had gone to the movies and a bar on Friday night with friends from their local gym, a night of fun that ended with a bullet in Tabares' forehead. California Man Who Rapped About Burying His Girlfriend Is Charged With Her Murder"Daniela is an inspiration. She is the [sic] shining example of what the best of us can only try to be," the gym that organized the group event said in a Facebook statement on Monday. "It shines through in the joy, laughter, and loving sassiness she shared with us. It shines through in the boundless love she gave us and the selfless care she took for the people around her. We cannot measure her loss."According to a police affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast, deputies arrived at Serrano's house early Saturday morning to find Tabares "partially inside the driver's side of a Nissan Kicks"—her right foot still inside the SUV while the rest of her body was on the driveway. "The victim was lying on her back with a fatal gunshot wound on her forehead," the affidavit states. The medical examiner later determined that Tabares died from a single gunshot to the head by a 9mm pistol.Serrano initially told police she'd "discovered" the body on her way to the gym, but when authorities arrived, she "was not dressed in gym attire and did not appear ready to go for a work out," according to the affidavit. The 51-year-old admitted to police during questioning that she knew Tabares, saying they'd seen the movie 21 Bridges together at around 7:30 p.m. the night before. While they "did not sit together," Serrano told police the two went as a "part of a very large group of friends" who all attended the "Training for Warriors" gym in Coral Springs.Sarah Stern's Childhood Friend Found Guilty of Murdering Her for Her InheritanceThe group went to a bar, World of Beer, after the movie, the affidavit states. The gastropub's surveillance video shows Tabares and Serrano "conversing, laughing and drinking for several hours" before leaving the bar together.Serrano told police she had "originally mentioned taking an Uber home from the bar," but Tabares "volunteered to drive" her home. Surveillance video from her neighborhood shows Tabares pulling into Serrano's driveway at around 2 a.m. Her headlights turned off about five minutes later, and the car remained in the same position until police arrived about three hours later, the affidavit states. When police questioned Serrano about her story's discrepancies, she then stated she'd "blacked out" at a bar and "had no recollection of how she got home," according to the report. All "she remembered after World of Beer was waking up in her own bed" early the next morning, she told police. A few hours later, Serrano changed her story again, stating she actually woke up in Tabares' passenger seat at around 5:55 a.m. and saw the driver's door open and the 21-year-old "lying in the driveway," police said. At that point, she also admitted she had a concealed weapons permit and three guns—including a 9mm pistol that she usually carried around but had removed and placed under her bed after calling the police."The defendant advised that she then changed out of a white tank top she was wearing and place it in the washing machine" because it had blood on it, the affidavit states.Family Sues Man They Say Left Their Daughter to Die on Florida HighwayPolice said her pistol and its holder tested positive for human blood, and linked shell casings found inside Tabares' car to the weapon. It was not immediately clear if Serrano, who is currently being held at the Broward County Jail without bond, has an attorney. Tabares' family did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast's requests for comment. Tabares' friends paid tribute to the 21-year-old on social media, calling her a selfless person with a "good soul.""My BFF always tried to help! Always nice to people! Always smiling!," one of Tabares friends, Karo Miller, wrote on Facebook Monday. "Can't even find the words!""Daniela Maya Tabares, such a good soul! You will always be remembered," another friend added on Facebook. 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 U.S. Offer to Keep the WTO Alive Comes With Painful Conditions Posted: 26 Nov 2019 04:02 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. The Trump administration, which threatened this month to block the World Trade Organization's 2020 budget, offered members a proposal that would allow it to continue operating, but would hamstring the WTO's appellate body, which officiates disputes that affect billions of dollars in commerce every year.The U.S. said it would back the 197.2 million-Swiss franc ($197.6 million) budget for 2020 with the condition that no more than 100,000 francs be paid to appellate body members, an 87% reduction from the full budget allotment, and spending by the body's operating fund also be limited to 100,000 francs, a 95% reduction, according to the text of an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.If approved, the U.S. proposal would avert a likely WTO shutdown on Jan. 1.Washington has argued that the appellate body, which is a panel that upholds, modifies, or reverses WTO rulings, has overstepped its mandate and threatens American sovereignty. The Trump administration has said it would block the WTO's entire budget, maintaining that the organization's compensation structure creates an incentive for appellate members, who can make more than 300,000 francs a year, to string out cases to boost pay.The office of the U.S. Trade Representative and the U.S. delegation to the WTO didn't immediately reply to requests for comment. WTO Spokesman Keith Rockwell declined to comment.The budget threat comes on top of a hold the U.S. has placed on new appointments to the WTO's appellate body, which won't be able to rule on new cases next month, in effect suspending its most important function.The U.S. budget offer also stipulates that only the WTO secretariat -- and not the WTO appellate body -- may provide funding for a proxy dispute settlement system recently championed by the European Union, Canada and Norway as a way to keep the panel running.WTO members plan to consider the U.S. proposal during a Nov. 27 meeting of the WTO budget and finance committee in Geneva.While all WTO decisions are made by consensus, the U.S. has an important say in funding matters because it contributes more money than any other single country to the annual budget -- 22.7 million Swiss francs in 2019, according to WTO data.\--With assistance from Samuel Dodge.To contact the reporter on this story: Bryce Baschuk in Geneva at bbaschuk2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Murray at brmurray@bloomberg.net, ;Simon Kennedy at skennedy4@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Raymond ColittFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Venetians protest over flooding, cruise ships Posted: 24 Nov 2019 05:09 PM PST  Thousands of Venetians took to the streets of the Renaissance city on Sunday to vent anger over frequent flooding and the impact of giant cruise ships. Braving heavy rain, between 2,000 and 3,000 people answered the call of environmental groups and a collective opposed to the boats. Critics say the waves cruise ships create are eroding the foundations of the lagoon city.
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| Carbon dioxide reaches record high in Earth's atmosphere, scientists report Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:48 AM PST  Carbon dioxide – the greenhouse gas most responsible for global warming – reached an all-time high in Earth's atmosphere in 2018.
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| Our Gear Editors Found the Best Black Friday Tech Deals Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:39 PM PST |
| Should the U.S. Navy Feel Threatened by China's DF-100 Missile? Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:00 PM PST  Chinese anti-ship missiles will make U.S. power projection more dangerous.
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| With time running out, Democrat Booker to make all-out push for debate stage Posted: 26 Nov 2019 08:28 AM PST  Democratic presidential hopeful Cory Booker's campaign will mount an all-out effort to boost his anemic poll numbers in a attempt to qualify for the December debate, his campaign manager said in a memo to the U.S. senator's supporters on Tuesday. "We are reorienting our entire campaign apparatus into a persuasion effort to... reach the voters we need to meet the polling threshold," Addisu Demissie wrote. The national Democratic Party set higher standards for December's sixth debate, asking candidates to reach 200,000 individual donors and either 6% ranking in two early-state polls or 4% in four national or early-state polls.
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| How Devin Nunes lawsuit threat undermines Donald Trump's impeachment defense Posted: 26 Nov 2019 06:31 AM PST ![How Devin Nunes lawsuit threat undermines Donald Trump's impeachment defense]( "How Devin Nunes lawsuit threat undermines Donald Trump's impeachment defense") He's not going to win, and in the long run, he may end up hurting the very man he's trying to protect.
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| Obama Chides Biden over Failure to Connect to Iowa Voters: ‘You Know Who Really Doesn’t Have It? Joe Biden’ Posted: 26 Nov 2019 06:18 AM PST  President Barack Obama reportedly took a swipe at his former vice president Joe Biden during a recent meeting with a Democratic presidential candidate, saying that Biden "really doesn't have it" in establishing a bond with the electorate, especially in Iowa.In the course of counseling an unnamed Democratic primary candidate, Obama emphasized the importance of connecting on a personal level with Iowa voters, drawing on the relationship he established with early primary state voters in 2008, and explaining that he "doesn't have it" anymore because such a connection withers over time."And you know who really doesn't have it? Joe Biden," he went on to say, according to a lengthy Politico article that details Obama's role in counseling the 2020 Democratic field.Recent polls published earlier this month show Biden slipping to fourth place in the Iowa primaries.Obama, who has kept a relatively low profile in the 2020 presidential race, has privately offered advice to all willing candidates but the Politico piece details a particularly complicated relationship between Obama and Biden, including around a potential endorsement. During a 60 Minutes interview that aired in October, Biden claimed that he had "asked" Obama "not to" make an endorsement of his campaign, and said he thinks Obama believes "it's better for me," backing up comments he made in April."Look, everybody knows — I think everybody knows, we didn't only serve together, but our families are close. We became very close personal friends . . . I didn't want it to look like he was putting his thumb on the scale here. And that, you know, I'm gonna do this based on who I am, not by the president going out and trying to say, 'This is the guy you should be with,'" Biden said during an interview on The View in April.Obama has said that he didn't endorse Biden because the former vice president would have to "earn" it, and that Biden's campaign "has turned out the way they all feared," according to Politico."The Biden thing is the strangest thing I've ever seen in politics because the guy is up there in the air and everybody is just assuming he's going to come down," former Obama adviser David Axelrod said. "There is kind of a Mr. Magoo kind of quality to the whole thing but he's still driving, you know? He's still moving forward. You worry that he's going to hit the wall at any given moment, but he hasn't."The article also quotes a source close to Obama and Biden who says the "only time" Biden has been disappointed with Obama's lack of support is over the silence on President Trump's accusations against the Bidens for corruption in Ukraine."I do think there's frustration when Joe Biden and Hunter Biden get attacked by Republicans on the Ukrainian thing and they say, 'Obama and his administration looked the other way back when this was happening,' and Obama doesn't say anything," the source said." The Biden people ask, 'Why won't Obama say something?'"
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| Scale of gun violence at US schools revealed by database Posted: 26 Nov 2019 08:54 AM PST  * A gun is fired on school grounds nearly twice a week * Incidents include suicides, homicides and accidentsPolice officers take part in active shooter response training exercise at Fountain middle school in Fountain, Colorado, in June 2017. Photograph: Dougal Brownlie/APA gun is fired on a school campus in America nearly twice a week. Suicide, homicides, a police shooting, attacks on students by other students: more than once a month this past year, gunfire on American school and university campuses has turned deadly, according to a database of school gunfire incidents compiled by advocates.In the latest in a series of brutal shootings in California, and 11-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy were shot to death in the parking lot of an elementary school in Union City, California, in the early hours of Saturday morning. Police had no immediate motive for the shooting, but said that a suspect or suspects had fired into the van the boys were sitting in multiple times.Schools are one of the safest places for kids in the United States, and shootings in and around schools represent only a tiny fraction of the violence that children face here on a daily basis. But even the small amount of gun violence that occurs at American schools adds up.Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, at least 233,000 kids across 243 schools have been exposed to gun violence during school hours, a Washington Post investigation found.Experts are quick to put that number in context. Researchers found that nearly 1,300 American children aged 17 and younger die from gunshot wounds each year, and they are more likely to be killed in homes or neighborhoods than at school.Domestic violence is particularly deadly. In San Diego, a domestic violence mass shooting claimed the lives of three young boys and their mother, all shot to death by the boys' father on 16 November, according to police. The fourth brother, nine-year-old Ezekiel Valdivia, died on Saturday afternoon, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.That single domestic violence shooting was deadlier than any of the school shooting attacks in the United States so far in 2019, according to tallies compiled by the Washington Post and the New York Times."Gunfire on school grounds is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how gun violence affects children and teenagers," said Ruhi Bengali, a senior associate at Everytown for Gun Violence, the country's largest gun control advocacy organization.But tracking gun violence on school grounds, as Everytown has done since after the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, does provide a window into the many ways gun violence burdens young people, even in places that are "inherently meant to be safe spaces for learning", Bengali said.Everytown's analysis found that 20% of all gunfire on school grounds comes from unintentional shootings, but that even these "actually resulted in a fair number of injuries. Gun suicides, with no intent to harm anyone else, represented 12% of all incidents," she said.As with other kinds of gun violence in America, students of color, and black students in particular, were disproportionately affected.Black students make up only 15% of the school population for K-12 schools, yet represented 24% of student victims in instances of gunfire on school grounds, she said.For the students affected by ongoing gun violence in and around their schools, local officials can offer additional counselors, but little evidence of national change on gun laws: Republican lawmakers have blocked any substantive gun control laws for the past quarter-century.In Union City, where the two kids were killed in the elementary school parking lot, students are out of school this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, but will have "district and community mental health providers available" when they return to school, spokesman John Mattos said.Not far away, students at Carl Munck elementary school in Oakland have also had additional counselors available to them. The president of the school's Parent Teacher Association, Misty Smith Walton, was shot to death outside her Oakland apartment earlier this month.Her death wasn't a school shooting. But that didn't mean it does not affect the school."She was always looking to improve her sons' classes and their school, always there to do whatever was needed in the front office, on the yard or anywhere else on campus," the superintendent said in a statement, calling her death a "horrific crime".
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| Pot-Smoking ‘Weedman’ Says Rich Will Crush N.J.’s Black Market Posted: 25 Nov 2019 09:39 AM PST ![Pot-Smoking 'Weedman' Says Rich Will Crush N.J.'s Black Market]( "Pot-Smoking 'Weedman' Says Rich Will Crush N.J.'s Black Market") (Bloomberg) -- The guy who calls himself NJ Weedman was angry -- that is, as angry as one can be with a lungful of marijuana smoke -- as he condemned New Jersey's latest attempt to legalize adult recreational use via ballot."They're going to steal our culture, steal our market and give it to the rich guys," the activist, born Ed Forchion, said Monday outside the Trenton statehouse, where he was sharing a joint as he prepared to lead a protest march with about a dozen supporters.Forchion, 55, who lost legal bids in California and New Jersey to change his name to NJWeedman.com, makes no secret of his drug-arrest history. He says he sells pot illegally at NJ Weedman's Joint, his restaurant across the street from Trenton City Hall.On Nov. 18, New Jersey lawmakers said they will drop their quest to pass a bill to legalize pot sales and use, after almost two years without enough votes to pass. Instead, they will seek voters approval on the 2020 ballot.If the measure passes, Forchion said, he fears a reprisal of proposed regulations from earlier legislation: limiting operations to corporate-backed interests with millions of dollars to spend on applications and security, and no felony convictions.A friend, Anthony Rico, said he expects enforcement to increase if sales come under corporate control."We know our market, and they'll restrict us so much that we can do nothing for the regular street buyers," said Rico, a 53-year-old cook from Woodbridge.Eleven states have legalized adult-use recreational marijuana even as it remains federally outlawed. Governor Phil Murphy had intended to legalize within 100 days of coming to office in January 2018, but legislation was blocked by Republicans and some fellow Democrats.To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stacie ShermanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Schiff on why Dems didn’t call the Ukraine whistleblower to testify Posted: 24 Nov 2019 10:51 AM PST  Despite two weeks of impeachment hearings, which amassed a dozen witnesses and over 30 hours of testimony, there was one person the public and Democratic-led House of Representatives did not get to hear from: the anonymous whistleblower who sparked the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.
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| Thanksgiving travel weather forecast: Big storms to create big trouble from coast to coast Posted: 25 Nov 2019 02:13 PM PST  Thanksgiving travel troubles are likely this week as two storms track across the nation, bringing a mix of rain, snow and wind from coast to coast.
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| Vietnam jails another Facebook user as dissent crackdown intensifies Posted: 26 Nov 2019 02:28 AM PST ![Vietnam jails another Facebook user as dissent crackdown intensifies]( "Vietnam jails another Facebook user as dissent crackdown intensifies") A court in Vietnam sentenced a Facebook user to six years in prison on Tuesday for a series of posts he made on the social media platform that the Southeast Asian country's government said were "anti-state". Despite sweeping economic reform and increasing openness to social change, Vietnam's ruling Communist Party retains tight media censorship and does not tolerate criticism, and its dissent crackdown has shown signs of intensifying recently. Nguyen Chi Vung, 38, was accused of "making and spreading anti-state information and materials" at the one-day trial at the People's Court of Bac Lieu province, in the Mekong Delta, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.
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| Pompeo Suggests Ukraine Hacking Conspiracy Is Legit Question Posted: 26 Nov 2019 09:02 AM PST  SAUL LOEBSecretary of State Mike Pompeo suggested in a Tuesday press conference that a conspiracy theory that Ukraine and not Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016 is a legitimate line of inquiry. Asked if the U.S. and Ukraine should investigate whether "Ukraine and not Russia hacked the DNC," Pompeo, who previously served as CIA director, replied: "Anytime there is information that indicates that any country has messed with American elections, we not only have a right but a duty to make sure we chase that down." The CIA, shortly before Pompeo took office, concluded along with other U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia hacked the DNC server and stole internal emails during the 2016 election. "I can assure you that there were many countries that were actively engaged in trying to undermine American democracy, our rule of law, the fundamental understandings we have here in the United States, and you should know we were diligently, diligently working to make sure we addressed each of them with every tool of American power that we had," Pompeo continued. "To protect our elections, America should leave no stone unturned, so whatever nation it is that we have information that so much as suggests that there might have been interference, or an effort to interfere in our elections, we have an obligation to make sure that the American people get to go to the ballot box, cast their ballots in a way that is un-impacted by these malevolent actors trying to undermine our western democratic values."Last week, Fiona Hill, the former National Security Council director for Russia, testified before the impeachment inquiry that Ukranian election interference in 2016 was "a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves." In President Trump's fateful July 25 call with Ukranian President Volodomyr Zelensky, Trump asked Zelensky for the "favor" of the Ukranians investigating the theory ahead of a potential White House meeting. Pompeo was on that call. As well, after Trump suggested in a tweet that he would be open to Pompeo testifying before that inquiry, Pompeo said Tuesday in response: "When the time is right, all good things happen."The Conspiracy Theory So Far Out There Even Trump's Biggest Defenders Are Walking Away From ItRead 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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| Warren Slams Bloomberg 2020 Run: Billionaires Shouldn’t ‘Come and Buy Elections’ Posted: 25 Nov 2019 01:19 PM PST  Democratic 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren took aim at her newest rival over the weekend, slamming former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's presidential bid as an attempt to "buy" the election."Elections should not be for sale. Not to billionaires. Not to corporate executives. We need to build a grassroots movement," the Massachusetts senator said Saturday at a New Hampshire town hall."We have a country that works great for billionaires. Works great for corporate executives," Warren said. "But it's not working for the rest of America. And if the only way that Democrats can pick a nominee is to go to the billionaires and corporate executives, then we're going to have a country that keeps working better and better for those at the top."Bloomberg made his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination official on Thursday and kicked off his campaign Sunday with a $37-million ad buy."He could've just been the middle-class kid who made good, but Mike Bloomberg became the guy who did good," the first television ad of the billionaire businessman's campaign says, adding a promise that Bloomberg will tax the wealthy and make sure those in the middle class get their fair share.Bloomberg battled low poll numbers for most of November after his late campaign announcement. Meanwhile, critics have raised concerns about the former mayor's alleged demeaning comments towards women and others, saying they raise concerns about Bloomberg's viability as a representative of the Democratic Party."I understand rich people are going to have more shoes than the rest of us," Warren told the town hall crowd. "They're going to have more cars than the rest of us. They're going to have more houses. But they don't get a bigger share of democracy. Especially in a Democratic primary. We need to be doing the face-to-face work that lifts every voice.""Telling billionaires they can come and buy elections, that does not make democracy work," the senator said.Warren is currently polling at 18 percent behind former vice president Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, according to Real Clear Politics average of polls. Bloomberg polls at 2 percent.
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| Free Tuition Will Bleed Colleges Dry Posted: 26 Nov 2019 06:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- At last week's Democratic primary debate, the issue of free college became a sticking point. Free tuition at state universities has long been one of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders's flagship proposals. But critics such as South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg say that it's a giveaway to the rich.In one sense, Buttigieg is right; high-income families tend to pay much more tuition than their low-income counterparts. But most plans for free public college count on replacing the lost tuition revenue with increased government spending, funded by tax revenue. Since the tax system is progressive, the wealthy and upper-middle class would end up paying most of the bill. The net effect mostly would be a wash -- basically just a transfer of money from well-off people who don't send their kids to college to those who do.But free college comes with a much bigger risk that is rarely acknowledged by its proponents. If governments don't shell out the money to replace the lost tuition dollars, universities could end up starved of funds.Almost all public universities now receive much of their funding from state governments. In some cases these are controlled by leaders who doubt the value of universities, and are occasionally downright hostile. For example, former Wisconsin Republican Governor Scott Walker cut public funding to the University of Wisconsin system.Cuts like these may partly be driven by ideology. In recent years, Republican opinions of colleges have taken a sharp negative turn:But opposition to higher education spending can be based on economics as well as ideology. Raising taxes can be politically dicey, especially where rates are already high and there are worries about driving business elsewhere. In states that are inclined to spend a lot, there's often a great deal of political pressure to use revenue for other purposes like social spending and K-12 education.Then there's the business cycle. Most states reduced spending on universities during the Great Recession and the vast majority didn't restore it to its former levels after the recession ended. Sanders's own state of Vermont decreased higher education spending per student 16% between 2008 and 2018.If even Vermont's government won't pony up the cash, who will? Those on the socialist left seem to believe that the federal government will step in, but this seems overly optimistic given decades of cuts to every major spending item except health care. As soon as a Republican administration or Congress gets into power, federal education spending would be under threat.Some might argue that the very existence of tuition at state schools might be driving governments to shift costs onto students, since they know tuition money can replace lost tax dollars. But even places that have much cheaper college tuition, such as Australia, France, the U.K. and Canada, have seen university funding cuts or pressure for cuts in recent years. In Ontario, decreases in tuition have been matched with reductions in student aid.So it's highly likely that free tuition would force U.S. universities into an era of painful austerity. How would they respond? They would almost certainly accelerate the shift from classroom instruction by tenure-track faculty to low-paid adjunct faculty, lecturers and graduate students:Student services would also likely take a hit. Conservatives are already salivating at the chance to cut budgets for diversity programs. Academic departments would likely shrink, with humanities and social science taking the biggest hits because of their inability to fall back on research grants or consulting gigs.And some universities would simply shut. In recent years, college closures have come mostly in the for-profit sector, but private colleges have also suffered some pain: An inability to charge tuition could extend this unhappy trend to lower-ranked state schools, which probably are a lower priority for state governments, have less administrative fat to trim and have fewer alumni donations.Economically, starving the U.S. university system of funding would be a terrible move. Universities are the best tool the country has for revitalizing flagging regions. Their research sustains U.S. technological and industrial leadership. They remain one of the few truly effective, world-beating institutions that the U.S. has left. And like it or not, America's university system has been built on the back of upper-middle-class tuition dollars.Although free-college crusaders might imagine a never-ending wave of socialist political victories providing a shower of government money for colleges that ends the need for tuition, the rest of the country should look on this fantasy with a jaundiced eye. Instead of smashing the funding model of the nation's most functional and important liberal institution, the U.S. should simply focus on improving access and affordability for poor and minority students. Universalism is good in many cases, but this isn't one of them.To contact the author of this story: Noah Smith at nsmith150@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Noah Smith is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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