| Pelosi warns reporter: 'Don't mess with me' about 'hate' for Trump Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:46 AM PST  While defending her call to pursue articles of impeachment against President Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unloaded on a reporter who asked her if she hates him.
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| Police chief firing puts spotlight on cops who let him go Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:11 PM PST  When fellow officers discovered Chicago's police chief asleep behind the wheel of his running SUV, they did not conduct any sobriety tests and let their boss drive home — a decision that has thrown a spotlight on what happens when one officer confronts another on patrol. "It's a worst-nightmare situation for a police officer to encounter their superior or chief who has been drinking," said Philip Stinson, a criminal justice professor at Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
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| North Korea's Kim in new horse ride through winter snows Posted: 03 Dec 2019 09:27 PM PST  North Korean media published fresh pictures Wednesday of leader Kim Jong Un riding a white horse on a sacred mountain, imagery that experts say is heavy with symbolism and may indicate a policy announcement. The photos come as nuclear talks with the United States are stalled and with a looming end-of-year deadline set by North Korea for some kind of concession from Washington. Kim -- in a black leather trenchcoat he has worn recently to open a flagship construction project and supervise a weapons test -- was pictured leading a squad of riders in a white forest near Mount Paektu.
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| Pakistan pulls back on prosecuting Chinese sex traffickers Posted: 05 Dec 2019 06:58 AM PST  Pakistan has declined to pursue a sprawling case against Chinese sex traffickers due to fears it would harm economic ties with Beijing, the AP reported on Wednesday. Pakistan has been seeking closer ties with China for years as Beijing continue to make major investments in the country's infrastructure.
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| Soldier stationed in Afghanistan raises thousands to bring home his buddy, Sully the cat Posted: 03 Dec 2019 03:18 PM PST  Funding is a challenge for this Afghanistan animal rescue. To get a cat to the U.S., it generally costs $3,000 or more and for a dog, up to $5,000.
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| 'Jews are France', says Emmanuel Macron after 107 Jewish graves desecrated in anti-Semitic attack Posted: 04 Dec 2019 07:19 AM PST  President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to fight anti-Semitism saying "Jews are and make France" after 107 graves were desecrated at a Jewish cemetery in the northeast of the country. The daubing of swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti on the graves at the cemetery in Westhoffen around 15 miles west of Strasbourg in the Alsace region was the latest racist attack to shock the country. "Jews are and make France," President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. "Those who attack them, even their graves, are not worthy of the idea we have of France." "Anti-Semitism is a crime and we will fight it in Westhoffen as everywhere until our dead can sleep in peace," he added. In response to the latest in a string of such acts of anti-Semitic vandalism, France is to open a national bureau to lead the fight against hate crimes. The office, which would be part of France's gendarmerie, will be charged with investigating this crime but also all anti-Semitic, anti-Muslim and anti-Christian acts, said interior minister Christophe Castaner. France is to create a bureau against hate crimes Credit: ARND WIEGMANN/ REUTERS "The Republic itself has been desecrated," said Mr Castaner said after visiting the cemetery, which dates from the 16th century. The Alsace region has suffered a rash of racist vandalism over the past year, most notably the desecration of 96 tombs at a cemetery in Quatzenheim in February, which sparked nationwide outrage. The rising number of anti-Jewish offences reported to police - up 74 percent in 2018 from the previous year - has caused alarm in the country that is home to both the biggest Jewish and the biggest Muslim communities in Europe. Earlier this year, politicians from across the spectrum joined marches against anti-Semitism amid fears of a rise around the continent. They denounced a surge in attacks that some commentators blamed on incitement by Islamist preachers, others on the rise of anti-Zionism - opposition to the existence of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people. The graves were desecrated just hours before French MPs adopted a resolution equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism. On Tuesday evening, French MPs approved a non-legally binding resolution modelled on the definition of anti-Semitism set by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The IHRA definition, which serves as an international guideline, does not reference "anti-Zionism" but does say denying Jews their right to self-determination is anti-Semitic. The World Jewish Congress hailed France's step. "For too long too many have used the excuse that their obsessive criticism of Israel stands exclusive from their otherwise positive feelings for the Jewish people. Those days are now over," it said. Debate over the resolution split Mr Macron's ruling La Republique En Marche party, with some opponents saying it could smother freedom of expression in criticising the Israeli government. Backers said it merely targeted those who refused to recognise the existence of Israel or sought its destruction.
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| Missile Shield: Romania Now Has America's Aegis Ashore Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:10 AM PST  A powerful system.
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| Trump Administration Moves to End Food Stamps for 700,000 Posted: 04 Dec 2019 07:51 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration announced a plan Wednesday to end food-stamp benefits for about 700,000 Americans, issuing a new regulation that makes it harder for states to gain waivers from a requirement that beneficiaries work or participate in a vocational training program.Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said the new rule will move more food-stamp recipients "toward self-sufficiency and into employment."Conservatives have long sought cuts in the federal food assistance program for the poor. House Republicans tried to impose similar restrictions last year when Congress renewed the program but were rebuffed in the Senate.The work requirement covers "able-bodied" recipients. A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokeswoman said it doesn't apply to recipients who are over 50, disabled or pregnant, or anyone with a child under 18.The measure would be the first of three Trump administration initiatives curtailing food stamp benefits to take effect. The Urban Institute estimated in an analysis last month that the measures together would cut 3.7 million beneficiaries from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, often known by its previous name, food stamps.Currently, states can receive waivers for work requirements if their unemployment rates are at least 20% above the national rate, which was 3.6% in October. The regulation, which will be published in the Federal Register Thursday, imposes stricter standards for the waivers.'Grinch' MoveDemocratic Congresswoman Marcia Fudge of Ohio said the new regulation was worthy of "the Grinch who stole Christmas." In an emailed statement, she called it "an unacceptable escalation of the Administration's war on working families."A Brookings Institution study published last year found more stringent work requirements are likely to hurt people who are already working but whose employment is sporadic. Recipients must work an average of 20 hours a week each month to meet the requirement.The USDA estimates 688,000 people will lose food stamps by 2021 and 709,000 by 2024 under the new work requirement rule, according to a department spokeswoman. The rule will cut food-stamp spending by $5.5 billion over five years, according to a regulatory analysis the department published.States seeking waivers to the work rule would have to meet the new, more stringent standards by April 1, said the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss the plan.As of August, 36.4 million Americans received food stamps, according to USDA. Enrollment has declined as the economy has improved and was down 1.7 million from a year earlier.(Updates to reflect rule announced in first paragraph, add Perdue and Fudge comments. A prior version corrected maximum age of dependent children for exemption.)\--With assistance from Saleha Mohsin.To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net;Mike Dorning in Washington at mdorning@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, John Harney, James AttwoodFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Stanford law professor lights up House impeachment hearing Posted: 04 Dec 2019 10:33 AM PST  Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan delivered powerful testimony Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining in simple terms why President Trump's conduct warranted his impeachment.
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| Activists apologize for use of Holocaust victims’ remains Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:02 AM PST  An activist group has apologized to Jewish organizations outraged over their use of purported Holocaust victims' remains in an installation outside Germany's parliament building meant to draw attention to the perils of far-right extremism. The Center for Political Beauty, a Germany-based activist group known for provocative stunts, installed an urn outside the Reichtstag building on Monday, saying it contained victims' remains that it had unearthed from 23 locations near Nazi death and concentration camps in Germany, Poland and Ukraine. Following the uproar from Jewish organizations decrying the stunt as an instrumentalization of the Holocaust and an affront to the dead, the group apologized and by Thursday morning the urn had been wrapped in opaque black plastic so its contents could not be seen.
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| UPDATE 1-Russia suspends revamp work at Iran's Fordow nuclear plant Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:05 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-Russia suspends revamp work at Iran's Fordow nuclear plant]( "UPDATE 1-Russia suspends revamp work at Iran's Fordow nuclear plant") Russian state nuclear company Rosatom has suspended work on revamping a factory at Iran's Fordow nuclear complex due to an issue with uranium compatibility, Rosatom's nuclear fuel cycle unit TVEL said on Thursday. "Uranium enrichment and the production of stable isotopes cannot be carried out in the same room," TVEL said in a statement, adding that it was "technologically impossible" to implement the project at this time. In November, the United States said it would cease waiving punitive sanctions related to the Fordow plant from Dec. 15 - a move Russia condemned - after Tehran resumed uranium enrichment at the underground site in contravention of a nuclear deal it signed with world powers in 2015.
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| In Gaza, 'American hospital' fuels suspicions Posted: 04 Dec 2019 07:19 AM PST  Volunteers with a US Christian charity group pose for a selfie in front of tents and crates of equipment to build a contentious new field hospital on the Israel-Gaza border. The facility, to be located right next to a crossing into Israel, has rare joint support from the Jewish state and Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas as part of an informal truce deal.
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| Rep. Duncan Hunter Shows no Signs of Resigning Despite Pleading Guilty to Campaign Finance Charges Posted: 05 Dec 2019 06:34 AM PST  Representative Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.) has not indicated that he will leave his seat in the House after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to campaign finance violations.Hunter had long criticized the investigation against him as a "witch hunt," but announced on Sunday that he would change his stance and plead guilty. Hunter and his wife, who pleaded guilty to similar charges in June, were accused of using $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for family vacations to Hawaii, plane tickets for their pet rabbit, and other personal expenses. Both face a possible sentence of eight to fourteen months in jail."I failed to monitor and account for my campaign spending. I made mistakes, and that's what today was all about," Duncan told reporters on Tuesday after his guilty plea. He said he wanted to avoid a trial "for my kids. I think it would be really tough for them."However, the congressman has not yet discussed resigning from the House with minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.). Hunter refused to answer Politico on Wednesday when they asked whether he planned to resign.Hunter is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17. One Republican lawmaker said party leadership would give him time to "get his affairs in order," but that time would be limited. Republicans had to force Hunter to give up positions on various House committees after his guilty plea.Former Rep. Chris Collins (R., N.Y.) resigned on September 30, one day before he pleaded guilty to charges of insider trading.
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| China Built The DF-26 Missile To Take Down America's Prized Aircraft Carriers Posted: 04 Dec 2019 08:30 AM PST  Don't underestimate these missiles.
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| Tesla refused to help the police with an investigation into stolen copper wire after Elon Musk learned about the incident because the company was scared of bad press Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:08 AM PST  Tesla declined to assist authorities on other occasions amid reports of "rampant crime" in 2018, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
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| In fiery memo, Dem lawmaker urges Congress to include Trump’s 'racism' in articles of impeachment Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:47 AM PST  Rep. Al Green, the first member of Congress who called for President Trump to be impeached sent a memo Wednesday to House members urging them to incorporate concerns about Trump's "racism" into the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
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| Sailor who killed 2 and himself at Pearl Harbor identified Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:02 PM PST  A Navy sailor shot three civilians, killing two of them, before taking his own life at Pearl Harbor just days before thousands were scheduled to gather at the storied military base to mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese bombing that launched the U.S. into World War II. Rear Adm. Robert Chadwick, the commander of Navy Region Hawaii, said the service would evaluate whether security should be upgraded before the annual ceremony.
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| UPDATE 1-U.S. says Iran may have killed more than 1,000 in recent protests Posted: 05 Dec 2019 09:00 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-U.S. says Iran may have killed more than 1,000 in recent protests]( "UPDATE 1-U.S. says Iran may have killed more than 1,000 in recent protests") Iranian security forces may have killed more than 1,000 people since protests over gasoline price hikes began in mid-November, U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook said on Thursday. "As the truth is trickling out of Iran, it appears the regime could have murdered over a thousand Iranian citizens since the protests began," Hook told reporters at a briefing at the State Department.
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| 'In cold blood': Syria Kurds say killed, robbed by Turkey proxies Posted: 04 Dec 2019 05:47 PM PST  Syrian Kurdish mother Shara Sido says the news came to her via a messaging application. Sitting inside a modest house in the de-facto Syrian Kurdish capital of Qamishli, the displaced 65-year-old scrolls through her phone to find a picture. Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies have overrun a swathe of northern Syria since October, after a deadly military campaign against Kurdish forces that caused tens of thousands to flee their homes.
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| Warren Is Drafting U.S. Legislation to Reverse ‘Mega Mergers’ Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:43 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is drafting a bill that would call on regulators to retroactively review about two decades of "mega mergers" and ban such deals going forward.Warren's staff recently circulated a proposal for sweeping anti-monopoly legislation, which would deliver on a presidential campaign promise to check the power of Big Tech and other industries. Although the Trump administration is currently exploring their own antitrust probes, the proposal is likely to face resistance from lawmakers.According to a draft of the bill reviewed by Bloomberg, the proposal would expand antitrust law beyond the so-called consumer welfare standard, an approach that has driven antitrust policy since the 1970s. Under the current framework, the federal government evaluates mergers primarily based on potential harm to consumers through higher prices or decreased quality. The new bill would direct the government to also consider the impact on entrepreneurs, innovation, privacy and workers.Warren's bill, tentatively titled the Anti-Monopoly and Competition Restoration Act, would also ban non-compete and no-poaching agreements for workers and protect the rights of gig economy workers, such as drivers for Uber Technologies Inc., to organize.A draft of Warren's bill was included in an email Monday from Spencer Waller, the director of the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies at Loyola University Chicago. Waller urged fellow academics to sign a petition supporting it. He said Warren was working on the bill with Representative David Cicilline, the most prominent voice on antitrust issues in the House. Waller declined to comment on the email.Representatives for Cicilline and Warren declined to comment. The existence of the bill and Warren's support of it were reported earlier this week by the technology publication the Information.In Washington, there is some support across the political spectrum for increased antitrust scrutiny of large technology companies. Warren positioned herself as a leader on the issue this year while campaigning on a plan to break up Big Tech. She has repeatedly called for unwinding Facebook Inc.'s acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, along with Google's purchase of YouTube and advertising platform DoubleClick.Read more: Warren Accuses Michael Bloomberg of 'Buying the Election'It's not clear when a bill would be introduced or whether it would move forward in its current form. Cicilline has said he would not introduce antitrust legislation until he concludes an antitrust investigation for the House Judiciary Committee in early 2020.Amy Klobuchar, a Senator from Minnesota who's also vying for the Democratic nomination, has pushed legislation covering similar ground. Klobuchar plans to introduce additional antitrust legislation soon, according to a person familiar with the matter who wasn't authorized to discuss the plans and asked not to be identified.Any proposal would face significant hurdles to becoming law, and Warren's version could be particularly problematic because it promotes the idea that antitrust enforcement is equivalent to being against big business, said Barak Orbach, a law professor at the University of Arizona who received a draft of the bill. "The way I read it is that Elizabeth Warren is trying to make a political statement in the course of her campaign," Orbach said. "It's likely to have negative effects on antitrust enforcement, so I just don't see the upside other than for the campaign."The bill proposes a ban on mergers where one company has annual revenue of more $40 billion, or where both companies have sales exceeding $15 billion, except under certain exceptions, such as when a company is in immediate danger of insolvency. That would seemingly put a freeze on many acquisitions for Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Facebook, Microsoft Corp. and dozens of other companies. The bill would also place new limitations on smaller mergers.Chris Sagers, a law professor at Cleveland State University, said the proposal would serve as an effective check on corporate power. "I don't think you'll have new antitrust policy until Congress says the courts have incorrectly interpreted the statutes," he said. "Someone has to do what Elizabeth Warren is doing."(Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Newcomer in San Francisco at enewcomer@bloomberg.net;Joshua Brustein in New York at jbrustein@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Hermit crabs dying after mistaking plastic for shells, study finds Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:59 PM PST  Hermit crabs are mistaking plastic for shells and the problem has killed more than half a million of the crustaceans, a new study by the Natural History Museum has found. The creatures do not make their own shells but instead move from discarded shell to discarded shell as they grow. They are not used to plastic in their environment so do not know to avoid it. Once they crawl into a piece of plastic debris, the crabs frequently get stuck and starve to death. Researchers said that if even just one crab mistakes some plastic debris for a shell, this can cause a "gruesome chain reaction", as when one dies it emits a signal alerting others there is a new shell. This causes scores of crabs to come scurrying across the island and fall into the plastic trap. The team carried out several surveys across a range of sites to ascertain of how many containers there were, including how many were open, how many were in a position likely to trap crabs, and how many contained trapped crabs. The results recorded 61,000 crabs trapped in debris on Henderson Island and 508,000 on the Cocos (Keeling) islands. This equated to 1-2 crabs per m2 of beach falling foul of debris, a significant percentage of the population. Around 570,000 hermit crabs become entrapped in debris on two tropical islands - the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean and Henderson Island in the Pacific. Dr Alex Bond, Senior Curator in Charge, Birds, The Natural History Museum, said, "The problem is quite insidious really, because it only takes one crab. "Hermit crabs do not have a shell of their own, which means that when one of their compatriots die, they emit a chemical signal that basically says 'there's a shell available' attracting more crabs who fall into the containers and die, who then send out more signals that say there are more shells available. "Essentially it is this gruesome chain reaction." The results come from a first of its kind study led by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania and including researchers from London's Natural History Museum as well as the Two Hands Project community science organization. IMAS researcher Dr Jennifer Lavers, who led the study said, "These results are shocking but perhaps not surprising, because beaches and the vegetation that fringes them are frequented by a wide range of wildlife. "It is inevitable that these creatures will interact with and be affected by plastic pollution, although ours is one of the first studies to provide quantitative data on such impacts." The study is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
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| North Korea's Underground Air Bases Would Be Key In a War Against America Posted: 04 Dec 2019 06:00 PM PST  Keep it secret, keep it safe.
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| United CEO Oscar Munoz is stepping down and transitioning to chairman in 2020, with president Scott Kirby taking his place Posted: 05 Dec 2019 05:52 AM PST  Scott Kirby, who was recruited to United as president in 2016, will become CEO in 2020, United said Thursday. Oscar Munoz will move to board chairman.
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| Employee shot at a Virginia post office Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:56 AM PST  Authorities say a postal worker has been shot at a northern Virginia post office by an agent for the Postal Service's Inspector General's office. News outlets report that it happened Wednesday morning at the parking lot of the Lovettsville post office in Loudoun County.
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| 2020 Democrats Expose Extreme Abortion Policies in New Survey Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:30 AM PST  The New York Times has released the results from a set of questions posed to each Democratic presidential candidate about his or her views on abortion. Thus far in the primary race, very few of the candidates have been pushed to account for their position on a variety of abortion policies, especially during the debates. The Times should be commended for this effort to get candidates on the record on specific policy questions.Five candidates did not complete the survey: Montana governor Steve Bullock (who has since exited the race), former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julian Castro, former Maryland congressman John Delaney, Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and California senator Kamala Harris (who ended her campaign yesterday).The survey is the first time that most candidates were asked whether they support restrictions on abortion procedures after fetal viability, usually somewhere around 21 weeks' gestation, the earliest a premature infant has survived. Only Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar suggested that regulations could be acceptable, saying they "must be consistent with Roe v. Wade," which would allow states to limit abortion in the third trimester with an exception for women's health. (It's worth noting that Roe companion case Doe v. Bolton defined "health" expansively to include financial, emotional, and familial health, making it difficult for states to limit abortion practically speaking.)Most candidates offered some form of a "no," including Colorado senator Michael Bennet, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, billionaire Tom Steyer, and New Jersey senator Cory Booker. Several candidates offered longer explanations, repeating the common claim that post-viability abortions are rare and only take place in the case of medical emergencies."The fact is that less than 1 percent of abortions take place after 24 weeks of pregnancy," South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg said. "They often involve heartbreaking circumstances in which a person's health or life is at risk, or when the fetus has a congenital condition that is incompatible with life."Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren used the same formula. "Only 1.3 percent of abortions take place at 21 weeks or later, and the reasons are heartbreaking," she said. "20-week abortion bans are dangerous and cruel. They would force women to carry an unviable fetus to term or force women with severe health complications to stay pregnant with their lives on the line."Both Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson offered similar responses. It's worth explaining why these are cop-out answers that obfuscate the truth about late-term abortion. Just over 1 percent of abortions after 20 weeks does sound rare, until you consider that the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute also estimates about 926,000 annual abortions, meaning that 12,000 abortions happen after viability. That means there are more post-viability abortions each year than gun homicides.Contrary to the Democratic narrative, plenty of women obtain third-trimester abortions for reasons other than a fetal-health condition (and it is certainly debatable whether it's "medically necessary" to kill unborn human beings with an illness or disability). In this interview, a U.S. doctor who performs third-trimester abortions says "a large percentage of our patients had no idea that they were pregnant" until late in pregnancy and that they then obtain an abortion at her clinic. There are a few clinics in the U.S. that advertise late-term elective abortions, including Southwestern Women's Options, a facility in Albuquerque, N.M., that performs elective abortions through 32 weeks of pregnancy.A 2013 Guttmacher article reported that "data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment." Rather, they most often do so for reasons such as "they were raising children alone, were depressed or using illicit substances, were in conflict with a male partner or experiencing domestic violence, had trouble deciding and then had access problems, or were young and nulliparous."These talking points from Democrats are an inaccurate excuse deployed by candidates who refuse to support any regulations on abortion but want to provide cover for that unpopular position by twisting the facts.On several other key questions, meanwhile, all of the candidates are in lockstep, showcasing that support for nearly unlimited abortion, funded by taxpayers, has become a requirement for Democratic politicians with national aspirations. For example, every candidate said he or she wouldn't so much as consider a running mate who opposes abortion rights, a signal that there is no room at the top of the party for pro-life Democrats.Several candidates answered an additional survey question about whether "opponents of abortion rights" should be welcomed as members or candidates in the party. Two non-politician candidates, Williamson and Yang, said the party should be a "big tent" free of litmus tests, and Bennet said the party "is and should be an inclusive one."Buttigieg, meanwhile, offered a vague reply seeming to suggest that pro-life Democrats are in fact unwelcome. "Democrats believe every person has the right to make decisions about their own reproductive health and about their body," he wrote. Warren had a similarly indirect answer: "We should stand up to any politician who tramples on a personal decision that has health and economic security consequences for women, their future and their families."Only one candidate, former Pennsylvania congressman Joe Sestak, who has since dropped out of the race, had an answer that articulated what Democrats risk by turning abortion into a litmus test. "In some cases, I think it is appropriate for the Democratic Party to welcome candidates who oppose abortion rights," Sestak wrote. "Such cases could include candidates running in places where a Democrat who supports abortion rights would be unable to win. . . ."Consider the recent reelection of Democratic governor John Bel Edwards in Louisiana, who defeated his Republican challenger by a narrow margin in mid November. Of all the heartbeat bills signed into law earlier this year — prohibiting abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which usually takes place around six weeks' gestation — only Louisiana's was signed by a Democrat: Edwards. Without his pro-life bona fides, Edwards almost surely would've lost his seat. If most national Democrats got their way, candidates like him would be excised from the party entirely, to the benefit of Republicans.There was unanimous support among candidates for "codifying" the Supreme Court's decision in Roe, though it is unclear how they would do so within the bounds of the Constitution. Every survey respondent expressed support for repealing the Hyde Amendment, a rider that prevents federal funds from directly underwriting abortion procedures. Even Joe Biden — who for decades of his public career supported Hyde as a protection for pro-life Americans with whom he says he personally agrees — has reversed his position, an indication of the party's dramatic shift on the issue."Biden will repeal the Hyde Amendment and use executive action to on his first day in office withdraw the Mexico City 'global gag rule' and Donald Trump's Title X restrictions," Biden's campaign told the Times in a statement. But despite his willingness to jettison his lifelong stance and drift along with party dogma, Biden didn't answer two additional questions in the survey: whether he would sign a budget that included Hyde and whether he would require private insurers to cover abortion.Several candidates, including Buttigieg, Warren, Williamson, Yang, Bennet, Booker, and Sanders said they would compel private insurers to cover abortion, a step further even than opposing Hyde.Democrats running for president have made it abundantly clear up to this point that they plan to align their campaigns with their party's most hard-core supporters of abortion rights. This survey suggests that they're willing to do so even when it requires exposing their extremism to voters who disagree.
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| Factbox: U.S. House calls four law professors to start Trump impeachment hearing Posted: 03 Dec 2019 10:37 AM PST ![Factbox: U.S. House calls four law professors to start Trump impeachment hearing]( "Factbox: U.S. House calls four law professors to start Trump impeachment hearing") The U.S. House Judiciary Committee announced on Monday it will call four witnesses, all of them law professors, during the first day of the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Feldman, a former clerk for Justice David Souter of the U.S. Supreme Court, was senior constitutional adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
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| Boeing chief engineer who defended Max airliner is retiring Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:59 PM PST  The Boeing engineer who has played a key role in the company's response to the grounding of the 737 Max is retiring. Boeing said Wednesday that John Hamilton planned to retire last year as chief engineer of commercial airplanes, but he stayed on to help get the Max back into service. Hamilton appeared alongside CEO Dennis Muilenburg during two congressional hearings in late October and explained the design and production of the Max, which has been grounded since March following two deadly crashes.
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| Israel and Czech Republic sign $125 mn missile defence deal Posted: 05 Dec 2019 09:23 AM PST  Israel's defence ministry signed a deal with its Czech counterpart on Thursday to sell it radar systems used in the Jewish state's Iron Dome missile defence system. The radars will be integrated into the Czech air defence system which will use Prague's own rocket launchers, a ministry spokesperson said. Czech defence minister Lubomir Metnar said the acquisition was one of the country's "key modernisation projects" for its armed forces.
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| Conman sets up fake Russia border with Finland to trick migrants Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:20 AM PST  Border guards in Russia's north west last week arrested a man who had set up a bogus border outpost with Finland and taken thousands of euros from migrants for what they thought was a journey through the woods to the European Union. The man, who was only identified as a citizen of one of the former Soviet Union republics, put up border posts in the forest outside St Petersburg and charged four men from South Asia more than 10,000 euros (£8,400) for his services for smuggling them into neighbouring Finland, Russia's Border Guard Service said on Wednesday. Russia's 1,340-kilometer border with Finland mostly runs across sparsely populated areas in the forest, offering a relatively easy way for migrants to get into the European Union. The Russian Border Guard Service said that the conman took the migrants on a trip out of town and led them to the bogus Russian-Finnish border where he left them. The conman apparently took the trouble to fake the migrant journey so meticulously that he even carried a dingy with him. The Komsomolskya Pravda daily said that the four men were from Sri Lanka and that they were detained when they reached a real Russian border guard outpost. A video released by authorities showed four men with their hands up standing in a dark forest. "The incredible adventures of the foreigners in the stillness of the night ended with a ruling of the Vyborg district court," the Border Guards said in a statement. The men were fined and deported out of Russia. Authorities did not specify their nationalities. The unidentified smuggler now faces charges of fraud. The Russian border with Finland became a popular destination for asylum seekers at the end of the 2015 migrant crisis in Europe. In 2016, Russia and Finland even briefly restricted access at two crossings only to the citizens of Finland, Russia, and Belarus, plus their family members, following a hike in the number of asylum seekers. Russians living in the border areas were at that time offering the migrants help to get to the border crossing with Finland.
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| Israeli same-sex couples find legal loophole for marriage Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:59 PM PST  Israel embraces gay tourists – and even hosts a gay Pride – but lags behind when it comes to gay rights
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| Potential jurors in Elon Musk's defamation trial were dismissed because they follow him on Twitter Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:45 AM PST  The trial had to exclude numerous potential jurors for a bizarre variety of reasons, including that some of the potential jurors owned Teslas.
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| 3 charged over Australia’s largest crystal meth seizure Posted: 04 Dec 2019 06:08 PM PST  Two customs agents and an information technology worker appeared in a court on Thursday charged with drug offenses over Australia's largest seizure of methamphetamine, which had been smuggled to Melbourne from Bangkok in stereo speakers. Police estimate the 1.6 metric tons (1.7 U.S. tons) of the drug also known as ice and crystal meth had a street value of AU$1.197 billion ($818 million). The 37 kilograms (82 pounds) of heroin also seized was the largest haul of that drug in Australia since 2017, police said.
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| Joe Biden said 'of course' he would consider Kamala Harris as his Vice President pick Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:27 PM PST  Harris, once seen as a front-runner for the White House, left the race Tuesday, stating the shortfall of "financial resources" needed to continue.
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| Democratic congressman announces retirement, says 'countless hours' investigating impeachment 'rendered my soul weary' Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:37 AM PST ![Democratic congressman announces retirement, says 'countless hours' investigating impeachment 'rendered my soul weary']( "Democratic congressman announces retirement, says 'countless hours' investigating impeachment 'rendered my soul weary'") Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.) was not shy about why he won't seek re-election next year. Heck, who recently could be seen in a recurring role on the House Intelligence Committee, said the "countless hours" he spent investing both 2016 Russian election interference and President Trump's impeachment "rendered my soul weary," prompting him to leave his lawmaking days behind and spend more time with his wife of 44 years.The 67-year-old congressman said the work simply took too much of a toll. But he was also clear that he doesn't regret his time on the committee -- he called it "incredible work" -- and that he was no fan of the president. "I will never understand how some of my colleagues, in many ways good people, could ignore or deny the president's unrelenting attack on a free press, his vicious character assassination of anyone who disagreed with him, and his demonstrably very distant relationship with the truth," he said. Heck's district in Washington is solidly Democratic at this point, though the ballot to replace him is expected to be pretty crowded, per Politico.More stories from theweek.com Trump's pathological obsession with being laughed at The most important day of the impeachment inquiry Jerry Falwell Jr.'s false gospel of memes
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| Navy warship seizes suspected Iran missile parts set for Yemen Posted: 04 Dec 2019 01:51 PM PST  A Navy warship has seized a "significant cache" of suspected Iranian guided missile parts headed to rebels in Yemen, U.S. officials said Wednesday, marking the first time that such sophisticated components have been taken en route to the war there.
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| Thousands of animals sacrificed in Nepal Hindu ritual amid outcry Posted: 04 Dec 2019 05:31 AM PST ![Thousands of animals sacrificed in Nepal Hindu ritual amid outcry]( "Thousands of animals sacrificed in Nepal Hindu ritual amid outcry") Tens of thousands of devout Hindus thronged a temple in southern Nepal where thousands of animals and birds were sacrificed this week, amid an outcry from animal rights activists who said the ritual was a cruel and gruesome spectacle. The ceremony, held every five years at the Gadhimai temple in Bara in southern Nepal, is believed to be the largest such mass-slaughter event in the world and animal rights activists have been campaigning to end the practice for years. About 80% of Nepal's 30 million population are Hindus and many sacrifice animals to appease deities during festivals.
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| Majority of climate simulation models have accurately predicted global heating since 1970s, study finds Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:50 AM PST  Climate models have accurately predicted global heating for the past 50 years, a study by climate scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA has found. The study found that computer models dating back to 1970, which were used to simulate what heat-trapping gases will do to global temperatures, were reliable in forecasting the physical response of the climate system to continued increases in the greenhouse effect. Zeke Hausfather, lead author of the study which was published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters Wednesday, considered 17 models used between 1970 and 2007 and found that the majority of them predicted results that were "indistinguishable from what actually occurred." Recent climate model projections have found that even if countries follow through with current and anticipated climate policies, the world is still on track to reach about 3C above pre-industrial figures by 2100, a situation the UN's intergovernmental panel on climate change has warned against. Dr Hausfather decided to evaluate the models' accuracy after years of hearing critics voice scepticism about them. "Climate models are a really important way for us to understand how the climate could change in the future, and now that we have taken a detailed look at how well past climate models have held up in terms of their projections, we are far more confident that our current generation of models are getting it right," he said. Carbon Dioxide levels in the last 20yrs Ten of the 17 the models the team examined came close to the temperatures that actually occurred, Dr Hausfather said. However the input scenarios in nearly half of those examined was significantly different from the real-life greenhouse gas emissions that occurred. But scientists actually got the physics right in the majority of the models, Dr Hausfather added. Creating models to forecast changes in the climate is so difficult because it relies on two main assumption of what will happen in the future - one is the physics of the atmosphere and how it reacts to heat-trapping gases, the other is the amount of greenhouse gases emitted. "We did not focus on how well their crystal ball predicted future emissions of greenhouse gases, because that is a question for economists and energy modelers, not climate scientists," Dr Hausfather said. "It is impossible to know exactly what human emissions will be in the future. Physics we can understand, it is a deterministic system; future emissions depend on human systems, which are not necessarily deterministic." Blocks of ice drift on the water off the coast of a glacier in Antarctica Credit: Mathilde Bellenger /AFP So Dr Hausfather and his colleagues, including NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, also looked at how well the models did on just the pure science, taking out the emissions factor. On that count, 14 of the 17 computer models accurately predicted the future. The scientists also gave each computer simulation a "skill score" that essentially gave a percentage grade to each one. The average grade was a 69 per cent. University of Illinois climate scientist Donald Wuebbles, who was not part of the study, said climate change "deniers do a lot of weird things to misrepresent models. None of those analyses have been valid and they should be ignored. We should no longer be debating the basic science of climate change."
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| Indonesia minister says sacking Garuda CEO over smuggled Harley Posted: 04 Dec 2019 04:37 PM PST  The CEO of Indonesia's national airline Garuda will be sacked for allegedly smuggling a Harley Davidson motorcycle into the country and using a sub-ordinate's name on import papers to avoid detection, a minister said Thursday. State-owned enterprises minister Erick Thohir said the airline's chief Ari Ashkara allegedly brought over parts of the disassembled motorbike on a plane from France last month. The alleged smuggling was meant to avoid declaring the 800 million rupiah ($57,000) motorbike to customs, he added.
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| Russia Is Making Strides In Testing Its Tsirkon Hypersonic Cruise Missile (Should NATO Worry?) Posted: 04 Dec 2019 10:00 PM PST  Deployment is coming soon.
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| Investigators probing role weather may have played in deadly South Dakota plane crash Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:52 AM PST  An NTSB investigator examines the wreckage of a Pilatus PC-12 airplane near Chamberlain Municipal Airport in South Dakota. The aircraft crashed on Saturday, November 30, 2019, moments after taking off amid heavy snowfall. The crash killed nine of the 12 people on board. (NTSB) The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released new information Tuesday about the plane crash in Chamberlain, South Dakota, that killed nine people and injured three others within a mile of takeoff. A review of the available information about the fatal crash, which occurred Saturday within a mile of takeoff, indicates weather was a significant, if not major, factor, experts say.Chamberlain, and much of South Dakota, was under a winter storm warning and experiencing near-blizzard conditions around the time of the crash on Saturday.The single-engine Pilatus PC-12 arrived in Chamberlain Friday at about 9:30 a.m. CST, according to the NTSB report. The airplane remained parked on the airport ramp until the accident a day later, the report noted."They landed on Friday ahead of the storm, and it looks like they just left the plane parked on the runway," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist David Samuhel, who reviewed the NTSB statement. "There was probably 8 or 9 inches of snow, so the plane probably had a whole lot of snow and ice on it." The NTSB is still investigating the crash, and it's not clear if the snow and ice were cleared from the aircraft before takeoff. Samuhel said, "If they didn't get the snow and ice off the wings, that would be a huge problem." A photo of a Pilatus PC-12 in flight. (Pilatus Aircraft Ltd) An aviation expert AccuWeather spoke with also said there was likely frost or ice below the layer of snow and added that it's "doubtful the facilities exist for that sort of deicing at this small airport."Ice and snow needs to be properly removed from a plane for the flight to be legal, and if that doesn't happen, the consequences can be dire. "You're looking at [an] increase in drag of 40 percent and decrease of lift of 30 percent if you don't deice properly."Also, the NTSB reported the weather observation station at the Chamberlain airport recorded winds of 7 mph, with half-mile visibility and moderate snow and icing. AccuWeather's Samuhel believes the winds were likely much stronger."I question the wind reading at Chamberlain airport," he said. "Pierre is about 65 miles to the northwest of Chamberlain, but the conditions probably weren't much different and winds in Pierre were gusting to 40 mph and even higher some parts of the day."They were leaving Saturday and the storm was starting to wrap up, but they were still in a bad part of it where the wind was really kicking up and they were probably getting blowing snow, too," Samuhel said.According to Travis Garza, president of wellness company Kyani, the company's two founders, Jim and Kirk Hansen, were among the crash victims. The other seven men and women who died were their relatives.There were 393 U.S. civil aviation deaths in 2018, an increase from 347 in 2017, according to the NTSB. Most aviation deaths in 2018 took place during general aviation operations - all civilian flying except scheduled passenger airline service - when 381 were killed, compared to 331 in 2017.
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| Kansas GOP congressman faces probe of voter registration Posted: 04 Dec 2019 10:52 AM PST  Authorities plan to investigate whether a freshman Kansas congressman broke state laws by listing a UPS Inc. store as his address on a voter registration form and for obtaining a mail-in ballot in a November election. The questions about Rep. Steve Watkins come as some fellow Republicans hope to oust him during the August 2020 primary. Watkins' spokesman said Wednesday that the congressman's use of the UPS store's address in southwest Topeka was an inadvertent mistake that will be corrected.
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| William Barr: 'Communities' that don't show law enforcement more respect may lose 'police protection' Posted: 04 Dec 2019 06:11 AM PST  William Barr made the comments, which have drawn some criticism, while awarding law enforcement officers and deputies for service in policing.
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| Buttigieg: Trump Supporters are ‘At Best Looking the Other Way on Racism’ Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:21 AM PST  South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg implied on Monday that supporters of President Trump tacitly support racism."Anyone who supported this President is, at best, looking the other way on racism," Buttigieg said at a South Carolina campaign event.This is not the first time that Buttigieg has made this comment. In August, the Mayor told CNN's State of the Union that a vote for Trump in 2020 would mean ignoring racism in the U.S."Do you think that it's a racist act to cast a vote for President Trump in 2020?" host Jake Tapper asked the candidate."Well, at best, it means looking the other way on racism," Buttigieg responded. "Basically, what [Trump] is saying is, I want you to look the other way on racism."Buttigieg began this week a four-day campaign tour of North and South Carolina and Alabama, in a bid to reach out to black voters. The Mayor was polling at zero percent among black voters in South Carolina in November, which according to some reports was due to concern over his sexuality."We certainly knew that there was an opportunity and a need to mix it up in terms of our style of engagement and our approach," Buttigieg told the New York Times on Tuesday.In an October debate, Buttigieg said he was the candidate "who can turn the page and unify a dangerously polarized country."The mayor is leading polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two states to hold primary caucuses. Nationally he remains in fourth place, well behind frontrunner Joe Biden and trailing progressives Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.New Jersey Senator Cory Booker has complained that since Kamala Harris dropped out of the presidential race, the Democratic field has become much less diverse."We're spiraling toward a debate stage without a single person of color," Booker wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
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| The 10 nastiest cruise ships that have sailed in the US Posted: 04 Dec 2019 10:04 AM PST  Cruise ships often receive passing grades during their sanitary inspections, but a handful have failed.
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| UPDATE 3-George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, sues Martin family in Florida Posted: 04 Dec 2019 12:04 PM PST ![UPDATE 3-George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, sues Martin family in Florida]( "UPDATE 3-George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, sues Martin family in Florida") Former Florida volunteer community watchman George Zimmerman, whose 2012 killing of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin drew attention across the United States, sued Martin's family and lawyers on Wednesday, saying they used a fake witness against him. Zimmerman is seeking at least $100 million in damages from Martin's parents, state prosecutors and two women, who are accused in a Polk County, Florida, lawsuit of helping provide false statements to investigators and during the trial, according to court papers. On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman, who was then a neighborhood watch captain in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, fatally shot Martin after the teen's trip to a convenience store to buy snacks.
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