| Defending strike on Iranian general, Trump allies embrace U.S. intel agencies Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:46 AM PST  After years of decrying the "deep state" for allegedly attacking his campaign and presidency, Trump's team is now embracing government agencies.
|
| Congressman defends posting fake Obama photo: 'No one said this wasn't photoshopped' Posted: 06 Jan 2020 02:17 PM PST  Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., stood by his decision Monday to post a fake photograph of former President Barack Obama shaking hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani despite the fact that the two men never met in person.
|
| American B-32 Bombers Kept Fighting Japan Even After World War II Had Ended Posted: 07 Jan 2020 07:00 PM PST  The very last fight of World War II.
|
| Official quits amid charges he paid women to give up babies Posted: 07 Jan 2020 01:49 PM PST  An elected official in metro Phoenix resigned Tuesday, months after being charged with running a human smuggling operation that paid pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to give up their babies in the U.S. The resignation of Maricopa County Assessor Paul Petersen came after leaders in the one of the nation's most populous counties suspended and pressured him to resign after his arrest nearly three months ago. The county's governing board voted in late December to start the process of removing Petersen, who also works as an adoption attorney.
|
| An Iranian-American who fled during the 1979 revolution is commanding the US aircraft carrier posted to the region Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:16 AM PST  Capt. Kavon Hakimzadeh spent his early childhood in his father's home country of Iran, but the family was forced to flee during the 1979 Revolution.
|
| Strike against Iran could cause issues with North Korea Posted: 07 Jan 2020 09:29 AM PST  The U.S. strike that killed Iran's top military commander may have had an indirect casualty: a diplomatic solution to denuclearizing North Korea.
|
| 40 suspects in Mexico Mormon massacre: lawyer Posted: 07 Jan 2020 01:25 PM PST  Mexican authorities believe at least 40 people were involved in killing nine Mormon women and children in the north of the country in November, a lawyer for one of the families said Tuesday. The three women and six children from a breakaway Mormon community with dual US-Mexican nationality were on a remote road in a lawless region between the states of Chihuahua and Sonora when gunmen attacked their cars, a crime that sparked outrage on both sides of the border.
|
| Hong Kong politician vows to return to the streets after being pepper-sprayed in the eyes Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:29 PM PST  A Hong Kong legislator who was temporarily blinded after a riot officer lifted his protective goggles to fire pepper spray directly into his eyes on New Year's Day has vowed to return to the frontlines of the months-long pro-democracy movement to record allegations of police brutality. "It was very painful and I lost my sight for half an hour. Not totally – it was like I can't open my eyes, I can't cry. I didn't lose my sight completely as I could see blurred images, but it was horrible to have someone guide me," Ted Hui said of the moment he was pepper-sprayed in a downtown shopping district. Mr Hui, a Democratic Party politician, is one of several members of the city's parliament, the Legislative Council, who have risked injury and arrest while trying to deescalate conflict between the riot police and anti-government demonstrators who have rallied in the streets since June. He said it saw it as his duty as a "public officer" to hold the police accountable during the protests, which began in opposition to a controversial extradition bill, and to get firsthand information to follow up on mounting accusations of the excessive use of force by officers. now : Riot police just attacked Legislative Councillor Ted Hui Chi-fung and then pepper spraying citizens and journalists pic.twitter.com/rGtn2xU5xH— Studio Incendo (@studioincendo) January 1, 2020 "I want the public to feel that members of parliament are with them. I don't want them to feel isolated," he said in an interview. The altercation began during a police clearance operation after the authorities abruptly cancelled a mass rally of an estimated one million people calling for more democratic rights, ordering them to disperse in under an hour. According to Mr Hui, he was challenging the police to allow reporters to witness the arrest of a young man they had surrounded and pinned down after riot officers charged through Causeway Bay, a crowded shopping area. Hundreds were detained that night in one of the largest mass arrests since the protests began. "I told them that if you are not abusing your power then you should allow the world to watch your actions. Of course, they ignored me and started warning me, pointing pepper spray at me," he said. Riot police fire tear gas in central Hong Kong on New Year's Day Credit: Kyle Lam/Bloomberg But he was "astonished" when an officer snapped off his protective plastic glasses to spray his eyes twice with a stinging peppery substance, pushing him and causing him to stagger backwards from the pavement to the road. The incident, during which spray was also fired into the crowd, was witnessed by multiple media outlets, including the Telegraph, and recorded in videos which have since gone viral. The police have frequently denied using more force than is permissible during protest operations. Kong Wing-cheung, a senior superintendent, claimed in a press conference that Mr Hui had refused to leave and refused to go back to the pavement, reported the Hong Kong Free Press. "He displayed passive resistance and kept on arguing. Our colleague warned him that pepper spray would be used to disperse him," Mr Kong said. An estimated one million people marched on New Year's Day Credit: Kyle Lam/Bloomberg "He was wearing a pair of goggles – we don't know if that was the reason he wasn't afraid of our pepper spray. That's why our colleague pulled off his goggles and used pepper spray to make the dispersal operation more effective," he added. For Mr Hui, the pain lasted through the night, causing him to seek hospital treatment. "It's not only the eyes, but also the hair and the hands because I was trying to cover my face. My hands were sprayed very seriously. It burns the worst in the hands," he said. "I felt that the aim was to hurt my eyes, not to disperse people. It was out of hatred, out of anger, totally unprofessional," he alleged. Acknowledging that the police were also "overloaded", he said he would continue to attend the protests undeterred. "It's also a gesture that I want the police or the government to know that no matter how you hurt me you can never defeat us, there are still many of us and that we are brave enough, we are not backing down, just like the young ones in the streets," he said.
|
| Bernie could win the Democratic nomination. But he has to show he can beat Trump. Posted: 07 Jan 2020 01:25 PM PST  Nationally, Sanders trails only longtime polling leader Joe Biden, having just crossed the 20 percent threshold in the RealClear Politics average for the first time since last April, while both Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg have been trending downward.
|
| Venezuela: Maduro opponents storm parliament to reinstall Guaidó as leader Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:25 AM PST  * Juan Guaidó sworn in for second term as caretaker leader * Maduro attempted to seize control of parliament on SundayVenezuela's increasingly byzantine political meltdown took its latest turn on Tuesday as opponents of authoritarian president Nicolás Maduro stormed the country's parliament to reinstall Juan Guaidó as their leader.Troops loyal to Maduro had surrounded the palm-dotted national assembly compound in Caracas in a bid to keep Guaidó and his supporters out after the president's attempt to seize control of the parliament on Sunday.But in frantic scenes that spread rapidly on social media, Guaidó and his backers were filmed physically forcing their way into the 19th-century capitol to cheers of "Viva Venezuela!"> En la unión de los venezolanos está la fuerza para salir de la dictadura. > > Entramos al hemiciclo a cumplir con nuestro deber, no con la violencia, sino con la fuerza de la razón y la mayoría. > > Unidos, organizados y con firmeza, es posible. 100diputados ANLegítimaConVzla pic.twitter.com/6S1mjuE0LF> > — Juan Guaidó (@jguaido) January 7, 2020Outside, pro-government thugs attacked and robbed Venezuelan and European journalists, including one correspondent from Spain's El País.Inside, Guaidó was sworn in for a second term as Venezuela's caretaker leader, even though the auditorium's electricity had been cut."In the name of those who have no voice, of the mothers who weep in the distance, of the teachers who are battling and the nurses and the students, of the political prisoners … in the name of Venezuela, I vow to fulfill the duties of interim president," said Guaidó, who is recognized by more than 50 governments including the United States and United Kingdom but boasts little concrete power.Guaidó's wife, Fabiana Rosales, tweeted: "Now the struggle goes on, together with all Venezuelans we will rescue our country from dictatorship."The new decade has started with a bang in Venezuela, with Guaidó's stuttering year-long campaign to topple Maduro suddenly reinvigorated by this week's events.Even the leftwing governments of Argentina and Mexico were critical of Maduro's attempt to take over Venezuela's parliament on Sunday, with Argentina's new foreign minister warning such actions would condemn Hugo Chávez's heir to "international isolation".Vanessa Neumann, Guaidó's envoy to London, said she was convinced Maduro's maneuver had backfired by reuniting Venezuela's opposition behind her leader."Guaidó emerges stronger from all of this," Neumann insisted. "He has more legitimacy even than he did in 2019."Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela specialist at the Washington Office on Latin America, said Tuesday's storming of the legislature represented "a clear symbolic victory" for Guaidó."But I don't think this fundamentally alters the equation," he added."The main problem for the opposition for the last two years has been how to get their democratic legitimacy to translate into real power on the ground. Unless Guaidó is able to get the masses into the streets in a way he hasn't been able to for almost a year I don't see much changing in the short term."The coming weeks could prove crucial for Guaidó, who shot to prominence last January after using his position as national assembly president to declare himself Venezuela's rightful interim leader.This Friday is the first anniversary of Maduro's swearing-in, an event many western governments boycotted because of suspicions he stole the 2018 presidential election. 23 January marks a year since Guaidó publicly declared himself president.Ramsey said both sides would exploit those politically charged dates to pose as the "clear victors in this conflict"."But the truth is that this is increasingly looking like a stalemate," he said. "The only way forward is for the mainstream opposition and the regime to hash out the details of some kind of electoral way forwards [towards presidential elections]."Later on Tuesday, Guaidó summoned fresh protests for Friday, Saturday and next Tuesday when he urged "all of Venezuela" to demonstrate outside the national assembly. "It is time to rise up and rise up with strength," he said.
|
| All the U.S. Military Hardware Headed to the Middle East Posted: 06 Jan 2020 12:29 PM PST  It seems like everything in the U.S.'s arsenal is headed toward Iran.
|
| Stunning before-and-after pictures show the collapse of a spectacular rock formation in Puerto Rico as 2 major earthquakes hit the island Posted: 07 Jan 2020 07:27 AM PST  The devastating earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8 hit Puerto Rico on Monday at 6:35 a.m. local time.
|
| CNN settles defamation lawsuit with Kentucky teen in Lincoln Memorial case Posted: 07 Jan 2020 07:15 PM PST |
| Husband of missing Connecticut mom charged with her murder Posted: 07 Jan 2020 02:34 PM PST  The story of Jennifer Dulos, a missing mother of five, gripped Connecticut and many around the country for months as police divulged a mountain of evidence against her estranged husband, but without filing a murder charge. After she disappeared May 24, Fotis Dulos gave interviews to national media outlets denying involvement and saying he hoped she was still alive. On Tuesday, Connecticut state police charged Fotis Dulos with murder, felony murder and kidnapping in connection with Jennifer Dulos' death, despite her body never being found.
|
| Nuclear deal exit amplifies Iranians' frustrations with life at home Posted: 07 Jan 2020 09:01 PM PST  No regime loyalists would dare say it, but Iranians are furious with their government's failure to deliver basics like electricity, water and decent wages
|
| This is how the US and Iran rank among the world's 25 most powerful militaries Posted: 07 Jan 2020 01:48 PM PST  Comparing the power of conventional military forces is complicated. But an annual ranking does just that — and these are the 25 most powerful.
|
| Republican John James Out-Raises Incumbent Dem Gary Peters by $1 Million in Fourth Quarter of Michigan Senate Race Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:16 AM PST  Republican Senate candidate John James out-raised incumbent Gary Peters (D., Mich.) for the second straight quarter, further tightening an already competitive race for a vulnerable Senate seat.James's campaign said it raised $3.5 million in the fourth quarter, $1 million more than Peters in the same time frame, securing a higher margin than James's $600k advantage in the third quarter. While Peters' campaign says it has $8 million in cash on hand, a poll last month showed James surging to a narrow lead in the race, and Peters' job disapproval rating increasing to 7 percent.In a December interview, Peters seemed to endorse the Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Green New Deal resolution, saying "I believe we can" when asked if the U.S. can realistically transition the economy to zero-net emissions by 2050."We have to push the technology as aggressively as we can," the senator said. ". . . We should look at this as an economic opportunity to drive our economy while also doing the right thing for the environment."Peters, who voted "present" when the resolution was brought to the Senate floor for a vote in March, said a month later that he backed certain aspects of the Green New Deal, but remained vague on what specifically attracted him, save for one specific detail."There's no question we're going to need to make a massive effort to deal with this issue [climate change], and there are many aspects of the Green New Deal I support, particularly when it comes to retrofitting buildings," Peters said at the time.
|
| The Other Attack on Americans That Has U.S. Forces Unnerved: Kenya Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:18 AM PST  LAMU, Kenya—One U.S. serviceman and two American private contractors were killed by the Somali militant group al-Shabab in a raid before dawn Sunday here on the coast near the Somali border, according to a statement issued by U.S. Africa Command. In the attack, launched at an airstrip used jointly by U.S. and Kenyan forces, two other American contractors were wounded. The serviceman was 23-year-old Specialist Henry Mayfield, from Chicago.At a moment of fast-rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, arguably the world's most sophisticated state sponsor of terrorism, even if there was no link to the American assassination days earlier of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Baghdad, the Kenya attack was a grim reminder of the many far-flung locales around the world where American soldiers can be targeted, and the ruthlessness of the forces that have them in their crosshairs. There was another casualty of Sunday's attack as well: a civilian. Witnesses near the Lamu County town of Hindi report that at around 3 a.m. Sunday some 20-30 men on foot were ghosting their way through farms and woods, heading east—in the direction of Manda Bay military base. Mwalimu Chengo Ponda, a resident in his mid-thirties, stepped outside to investigate the commotion to find a small group close to his home. The marauders grabbed him and whisked him away. Some hours later, neighbors found Mwalimu's body lying in the bush, shot in the head.From the vicinity of Hindi, al-Shabab militants advanced to the Manda Bay naval base and airfield. Even while the attack was underway, the group released a communiqué claiming that its elite "Martyrdom Brigade" had "successfully stormed the heavily fortified military base" and taken control of one area, where it had inflicted severe casualties on both Kenyan and American personnel. The attack, the statement read, was part of al-Shabab's "Al-Quds [Jerusalem] Will Never Be Judaized" military campaign.(Soleimani, one might note, was the head of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, but the quest to put Quds/Jerusalem is as old as Islam, and an especially common reference point for those who claim to wage jihad.)At 5:30 a.m. that day, the Kenya Defense Forces issued a statement saying that a "security breach" had taken place at "Manda Airstrip," but that the breach had been successfully repulsed. The statement went on to say four "terrorist" bodies had been recovered.Witnesses in the area reported loud booms at intervals and plumes of smoke Sunday continuing at 6 a.m.Because Lamu County's civil-aviation airport, used by tourists, is also referred to as Manda Airstrip, confusion ensued immediately. Tour operators went into action, frantically trying to organize transport out of the Lamu Archipelago for guests. The commercial airport, much smaller and located on Manda Island, about six miles from the naval base, was not attacked.There's been ample speculation as to whether the Manda Bay attack had anything to do with the operation President Donald Trump ordered that killed Soleimani. Analysts say no. It would have been impossible, they note, to stage the coordinated Manda attack just two days after the U.S. drones did their work in Baghdad. The attack on the Kenyan base was, no doubt, long in the works. It might also be pointed out that Somalia's Muslims are Sunni rather than Shia, and al-Shabab is affiliated with al Qaeda, which also follows a Sunni current of Islam.But in the murky world of terrorism and Iran's covert operations, the Sunni-Shia divide is not always well defined. Soleimani's Quds Force minions have worked with the radical Sunni Taliban, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and even al Qaeda when it suited them. Since Soleimani's assassination, American politicians have emphasized that fact. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence claimed specifically that Soleimani was responsible for "terror attacks" in 2011 and a bomb plot in 2012 in Kenya. Alleged Iranians or Iranian agents have been in and out jail on various charges relating to plans to bomb the Israeli embassy in Nairobi. Vice President Pence tweeted, "Directed IRGC QF (Quds Force) terrorist plots to bomb innocent civilians in Turkey and Kenya in 2011."Al-Shabab's focus on Manda Bay likely was a response to the U.S. use of drones flying out of there, attempting to show that these death-dealing robots in the sky do not guarantee impunity for those controlling them on the ground. Drone strikes worldwide have increased under Donald Trump. Last year the U.S. carried a record 63 drone strikes in Somalia—and al-Shabab is striking back.The Manda Bay attack is the first al-Shabab has carried out on a U.S. military installation inside Kenya. It is also the first attack by Islamic militants made against a U.S. installation in Kenya since al Qaeda bombed the U.S. Embassy in 1998, killing more than 200 people.The Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) has carried out airstrikes in Somalia for a decade, and has been carrying out clandestine operations against al Qaeda in East Africa, as well as its local ally al-Shabab, at least since the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.Al-Shabab attacked a U.S. special forces base in Somalia on Sept. 30 after four of its militants were killed in three airstrikes in Somalia the previous day, according to U.S. Africa Command.Among the aircraft destroyed at the Manda Bay base were manned surveillance planes that collect data across the border in Somalia, as well as over Kenya's dense Boni forest, about 10 miles north of the Manda Bay base, where al-Shabab is thought to be hiding.Big Game: U.S. Soldiers' Secret Hunt for Jihadists in a Kenyan ForestThe intelligence, including the locations of villages, Shabab leaders and members, is then fed to armed unmanned Reaper drones. In the view of recent U.S. operations, it is no surprise that the group specifically targeted surveillance aircraft on the Manda airstrip. Also reportedly destroyed were aircraft operated by U.S. Special Operations Command and modified Havilland Canada Dash-8 spy aircraft, which carries the U.S. civil registration code N8200L.Northeast Kenya is no stranger to al-Shabab attacks, having suffered massacres of civilians at Mpekatoni and Garissa, as well as numerous bus attacks. Al-Shabab's operations in the region have been directed at both military and civilian targets, including many innocent bystanders like Mwalimu. Sunday's attack marked a rare event, however: a successful incursion into a military base, and—rarer yet—a U.S. installation. (The only other such attack came in 2016, when al-Shabab penetrated an African Union base in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.) For all its lack of high-tech apparatus, al-Shabab remains resilient. Analysts attribute the group's success to its intelligence gathering on the ground, so very unlike the U.S. drones.Stig Jarle Hansen, analyst and author of Horn, Sahel and Rift: Fault-lines of the African Jihad, puts it like this: "The attack shows that Shabab is still able to hit Kenya inside its borders, and proves they can strike at U.S. personnel. But perhaps the attack mainly illustrates that Shabab can put a dent in the U.S. drone campaign in Somalia."That's a point worth remembering as we gird, it seems, for a new chapter in the war with terrorists. 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.
|
| Heartbreaking photos show animals impacted by Australia's bushfires Posted: 08 Jan 2020 04:28 AM PST  As the bushfires in Australia continue to rage, they are taking a toll on animals as well as humans.
|
| Romania's Aegis Ashore Is Now Online and Can Shoot Down Enemy Missiles Posted: 07 Jan 2020 06:00 AM PST  Aimed at Iran or Russia?
|
| Trial opens in Japan for grisly murder of 19 at disabled home Posted: 07 Jan 2020 04:18 PM PST  The man accused of the 2016 murder of 19 disabled people at a Japanese care home goes on trial Wednesday in a case that ranks among the country's worst mass killings. Satoshi Uematsu, a former employee of the care centre outside Tokyo, has admitted carrying out the stabbing rampage, but his lawyer is expected to enter a plea of not guilty on grounds of diminished capacity. Uematsu reportedly said he wanted to eradicate all disabled people in the horrifying July 26 attack at the Tsukui Yamayuri-en centre in the town of Sagamihara outside Tokyo.
|
| Mother of Texas baby on life support talks amid court battle Posted: 06 Jan 2020 01:27 PM PST  A woman awaiting a court decision in her battle against a Texas hospital's plan to end life-sustaining treatment for her 11-month-old daughter spoke out Monday after revoking the medical center's permission to talk about her child's treatment. "This situation takes away my job as a mother and lets other people who don't even know her decide whether her life is worth living," Trinity Lewis said during a news conference outside the hospital. Doctors at Cook Children's Medical Center in Fort Worth insist Tinslee Lewis is in pain and will never recover.
|
| Republicans claim victory, but Democrats praise Pelosi's impeachment strategy Posted: 07 Jan 2020 03:31 PM PST  Democrats said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's impeachment delay has paid off for them despite the fact that the Senate trial will go forward without an immediate agreement on witnesses.
|
| 25 photos show what Iran looked like before the 1979 revolution turned the nation into an Islamic republic Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:11 AM PST  From 1941 to 1979, Iran was ruled by King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah. On February 11, 1979, the Islamic Revolution swept the country.
|
| Gangs allegedly run Mississippi prison where inmates were killed Posted: 06 Jan 2020 09:56 PM PST  Almost half the roughly 1,300 corrections positions in three major facilities in Mississippi remain unfilled.
|
| Rep. Duncan Hunter will resign from Congress, effective Jan. 13 Posted: 07 Jan 2020 02:49 PM PST  Hunter was indicted on 60 counts of campaign finance violations by federal prosecutors in Aug. 2018 and pleaded guilty to a single charge in December.
|
| Kosovo arrests Iran supporter over comments after Soleimani's death Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:01 AM PST  Kosovo police arrested a woman on Tuesday accused of inciting terrorist acts for social media comments against the United States over the killing of Iranian Commander Qassem Soleimani. Police said that Ikballe Berisha Huduti, the founder of a now defunct pro-Islamic organization called Kur'ani, was arrested following an order from the prosecution and she will remain in detention for 48 hours awaiting a court decision. Huduti wrote comments on her private Facebook page criticizing Washington after the U.S. forces killed Soleimani on Friday.
|
| Death of Iran general creates worry for U.S. hostages Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:18 AM PST  The killing of a top Iranian general has ratcheted up the anxiety of families of Americans held in Iran, one month after the release of a New Jersey student had given them hope.
|
| Did A Russian Built Submarine 'Sink' A U.S. Navy Sub Back in 2015? Posted: 06 Jan 2020 10:55 PM PST  How could that be?
|
| Ghosn lawyers in Japan refuse to comply with seizure warrant Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:16 PM PST  Lawyers for former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn on Wednesday refused to turn over a computer used by the auto tycoon before he jumped bail and fled the country last month. Prosecutors arrived at the offices of one of Ghosn's Japanese lawyers with a warrant for seizure of the machine -- only to be told to go away. Ghosn was out on bail in Japan on financial misconduct charges before he fled the country for Lebanon in late December.
|
| Man charged with hate crimes in beating of 70-year-old woman Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:11 AM PST |
| Trump impeachment news – live: President insists key White House advisor ‘would know nothing’ about scandal ahead of trial, amid ridicule over tweet Posted: 08 Jan 2020 01:00 AM PST  Donald Trump has told reporters at the White House that John Bolton, his former national security advisor and a potential key witness at his upcoming Senate impeachment trial, "knows nothing" about the Ukraine quid pro quo scandal, an apparent attempt to dismiss the significance of any testimony he might give before Congress.Senate leader Mitch McConnell has said he is prepared to push on with the trial without having first agreed a deal on new witnesses and evidence with opposition Democrats, as House speaker Nancy Pelosi urges him to publish a resolution outlining the rules of engagement "immediately".
|
| The Egyptian pyramids may align with an ancient north star. NASA scientists found that star undergoes never-before-seen eclipses. Posted: 07 Jan 2020 01:34 PM PST  The star that some researchers think served as the north star for the ancient Egyptians is actually a pair of stars that eclipse one other.
|
| Iran fires 22 missiles at US targets in Iraq in retaliation for killing of Qassim Soleimani Posted: 08 Jan 2020 04:20 AM PST  Iran has vowed to expel US forces from the region after it launched a wave of missile strikes on two bases in Iraq hosting American forces. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Iran fired 22 missiles into neighbouring Iraq, targeting a US base near Erbil as well as the Ain al-Assad base in Anbar province. US and Iraqi officials both say the barrage of missiles did not cause any casualties, though terrified Iraqis posted footage online of the rockets exploding nearby. At least one missile missed altogether, landing harmlessly near its target. US media reports suggest that its troops were hiding in bunkers before the missiles landed, following a warning from a missile detection system. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has made clear that Iran's ballistic missile strikes were in revenge for the US killing of Revolutionary Guard General Qassim Soleimani. The lying, rambling US govt – whose words are worthless – tried to introduce this great Mujahid & Commander in the fight against terrorism as a terrorist. The Iranian nation slapped them in the face with their turn out in the millions for the funeral of General Soleimani.— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) January 8, 2020 Iranian propaganda outlets claim that "80 soldiers" from US forces have been killed, but there is no evidence to support this. Iranian's social media channels also tweeted dramatic pictures of explosions that turned out to be old photographs of an unrelated missile strike. Soleimani's death last week in an American drone strike in Baghdad prompted angry calls to avenge his slaying and drew crowds of Iranians, said to number in the millions, to the streets to mourn him. Iraqi security forces find and collect the pieces of missiles as they gather to inspect the site after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targeted Ain al-Asad airbase in Iraq Credit: Andalou "Last night they received a slap," Khamenei said in a speech after the missile strikes. "These military actions are not sufficient (for revenge). What is important is that the corrupt presence of America in this region comes to an end." Despite the heightened rhetoric, there were some indications that there would not be more immediate retaliation on either side. 'All is well!' President Donald Trump tweeted shortly after the missile attacks, adding, 'So far, so good' regarding casualties. General Soleimani fought heroically against ISIS, Al Nusrah, Al Qaeda et al. If it weren't for his war on terror, European capitals would be in great danger now. Our final answer to his assassination will be to kick all US forces out of the region.— Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) January 8, 2020 Moments earlier, Iran's foreign minister tweeted that Tehran had taken "& concluded proportionate measures in self-defense," adding that Tehran did "not seek escalation" but would defend itself against further aggression. Tensions have been rising steadily in the Middle East after Trump's decision to unilaterally withdraw America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers. The killing of Soleimani and the strikes on the Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops marked the first time in recent years that Washington and Tehran have attacked each other directly rather than through proxies in the region. It raised the chances of open conflict erupting between the two rivals, who have been at odds since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. Embassy takeover and hostage crisis. Ain al-Asad air base was first used by American forces after the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein, and later saw American troops stationed there amid the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. It houses about 1,500 U.S. and coalition forces.
|
| LGBTQ history lessons will soon be mandatory in NJ classrooms; 12 schools to pilot program Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:21 AM PST  Twelve New Jersey schools will begin a new LGBTQ-focused curriculum, the first wave of a new standard that will soon be required across the state.
|
| I Saw Police Stand by As Masked Men Attacked Students at a Top Delhi University. It Was Yet Another Assault on India's Intellectuals Posted: 08 Jan 2020 02:52 AM PST  Journalist Rana Ayyub provides a firsthand account of what she saw after a violent attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University in India.
|
| Progressive Governments’ Economic War on the NRA Fails in Court Posted: 08 Jan 2020 03:30 AM PST  Some politicos just can't stop grandstanding, even if it means their court case goes down in flames. Consider what just happened in a federal court in Los Angeles.Not long ago, progressive state and local officials nationwide were vowing to take down the hated National Rifle Association by targeting its pocketbook. When city authorities in Los Angeles and San Francisco gave that idea a try, they were following the lead of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had unleashed New York financial regulators to go after the gun-rights organization's access to insurance and banking services.Now all three are facing a reckoning in court, based not on the Second Amendment but on the First. Without needing to even consider the issue of gun rights, federal courts are recognizing that boycotts enforced by government power can menace free speech and free association.The amusing part is that the public officials themselves are helping to provide the basis for these rulings by tweeting and speechifying about how much damage they intend to do the NRA.In December, a federal court in California granted a preliminary injunction against a Los Angeles ordinance requiring city contractors to disclose any business links to, or memberships in, the gun group. It found the evidence "overwhelming" that the city's intent in passing the law was "to suppress the message of the NRA."* * *Public officials have been on notice about this sort of thing for at least two decades, since the 1996 Supreme Court case Board of County Commissioners v. Umbehr. In that case, the Court held that a county's having terminated a government contract in retaliation for the contractor's persistent and annoying political speech could violate the First Amendment. Controversial and unpopular speech is protected speech; officials cannot yank a contract from some business, or threaten to, just because it has donated to, or partnered in some venture with, the Sierra Club, the NAACP, or the NRA.Lawyers for Los Angeles tried to defend their ordinance by saying all it did was require disclosures from contractors, which wouldn't necessarily amount to punishing or chilling speech. But this sort of First Amendment claim comes down to a question of intent. And the court found that the city's lawmakers had made their intent to suppress speech and association utterly clear. They had done so in the text of the ordinance itself, in its legislative history, and in the statements made at the time by its chief sponsor, Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell (Hollywood-Silver Lake).The ordinance starts off with a long preamble that, amid much demagogy, cites the NRA's $163 million (2015) in membership dues and asserts that those dues go toward foiling beneficent legislative ends. That helped establish nicely that part of the bill's aim was "to cut off revenue to the NRA because of its pro-firearm advocacy," as the court put it.Then there were O'Farrell's various pronouncements. Earlier in the year, he had motioned the city to "rid itself of its relationships with any organization that supports the NRA" and further moved that the city's chief legislative analyst "report back with options for the City to immediately boycott those businesses and organizations" that do business with the NRA "until their formal relationship with the NRA ceases to exist."Were doubt left about his intentions, O'Farrell's Twitter outbursts through 2018 told of his efforts to jawbone businesses such as FedEx and Amazon into cutting off business relations with the NRA, often tagging friendly accounts such as @everytown, @momsdemand, @shannonrwatts, and @bradybuzz. It was unnecessary to show that the city had actually cut off any businesses, or that any such businesses had cut ties with the NRA for fear of city displeasure. So long as the ordinance was intended to chill speech and association, as it was, it would fall.* * *San Francisco's similar ordinance, although also the subject of a brief challenge in court, collapsed as a practical matter even more quickly. The measure's tantrum-like preamble branded the NRA a domestic terrorist group, in a move calculated to draw wide national attention. The text of the ordinance proclaimed that the city should "take every reasonable step to limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San Francisco from doing business with" the gun-rights organization. Commentators promptly pointed out that any such step would fail in court as unconstitutional.Soon thereafter, San Francisco mayor London Breed issued a memo clarifying that "the City's contracting processes and policies have not changed and will not change as a result of the Resolution" because only an actual ordinance can enact changes to city law. The NRA is suing anyway, but by the city's own account the measure at this point does nothing except beam out vain hostility.* * *Governor Cuomo was shrewder. He avoided the blatant statements of intent that tripped up his California counterparts. But did he retain enough deniability to survive a court challenge? In April 2018, he issued a statement saying he was directing "the Department of Financial Services to urge insurance companies, New York State-chartered banks, and other financial services companies licensed in New York to review any relationships they may have with the National Rifle Association and other similar organizations." Review such relationships for what, exactly? Well, "the companies are encouraged to consider whether such ties harm their corporate reputations and jeopardize public safety." In a press release, he made things a tad more explicit, saying that he was directing his financial regulators "to urge insurers and bankers statewide to determine whether any relationship they may have with the NRA or similar organizations sends the wrong message" (emphasis added).Those regulators, of course, have the discretion to make life very unpleasant for insurers and banks dense enough not to take the hint. Sure enough, the NRA in short order was cut off by some long-term business partners, notable among them one major insurer and one major insurance broker. The state declared that it had found regulatory infractions in NRA-branded insurance-affinity offerings, and in the ensuing settlements with the insurer and the broker it got them to promise never to do business with the NRA again, in New York or anywhere else. Yet at the same time, the NRA says, the state took no action against similarly marketed affinity products sold by others. Cuomo's financial regulator made things a little more explicit still: "DFS urges all insurance companies and banks doing business in New York to join the companies that have already discontinued their arrangements with the NRA."In November 2018, a federal court in New York found that all in all, there was enough plausible evidence of "direct and implied threats to insurers and financial institutions because of these entities' links with the NRA" to allow the group to proceed with a First Amendment suit. While Cuomo was of course free to express his own views, the Constitution would have something to say about it if he or his appointees had made veiled threats against banks and insurers to encourage them to disassociate from the NRA. The court also asked for more evidence documenting a selective-enforcement claim, and this summer, against stiff legal resistance from the state, the NRA succeeded in getting discovery of some state files. In a filing on December 20, the NRA said it had found new documentation of both the pressure and the selective enforcement.* * *One reason the California disputes went so well for the NRA is that the officials just couldn't help grandstanding at every turn in search of followers' applause. That's how O'Farrell, in Los Angeles, helped tweet his side of the case right out of court. But Cuomo, while he's been more circumspect, has not covered himself as thoroughly as he might have. "If I could have put the NRA out of business, I would have done it 20 years ago," he declared in response to one legal development.Tell us more, Governor.
|
| Stealth Race: China Has Started Building A NEW Stealth Fighter Posted: 07 Jan 2020 09:00 PM PST  Joining many other nations in a quest for air supremacy.
|
| Iran threatens to hit American bases with medium- and long-range missiles Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:40 AM PST  Iranian military forces have said they are prepared to use medium- to long-range missiles to attack U.S. bases in the Middle East, in revenge for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was the commander of Iran's Quds Force.
|
| Monks at Saint Anselm clash with college board over power Posted: 06 Jan 2020 11:42 AM PST  Monks at a Catholic college in New Hampshire faced off in court Monday against the school's board of trustees in a dispute over an effort to limit the the monks' power — a move some worry could lead to increased secularization. A judge heard motions in Hillsborough Superior Court related to a lawsuit filed against the Saint Anselm College board last year. The unusual clash was set in motion when the board moved to take away the monks' ability to amend the school's bylaws.
|
| Prosecutors say Flynn 'has not learned his lesson,' seek up to six months in prison Posted: 07 Jan 2020 09:55 AM PST  U.S. federal prosecutors asked a judge Tuesday to sentence President Donald Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, to up to six months in prison, according to a court filing. Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about interactions with Russia's ambassador to the United States in the weeks before Trump took office. Prosecutors had originally recommended a lenient sentence for Flynn, who agreed to cooperate with former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
|
| Some Trump officials reportedly believe Iran 'intentionally missed' Americans Posted: 08 Jan 2020 06:05 AM PST  Some in the Trump administration reportedly believe Iran "intentionally missed" Americans when it targeted two Iraqi bases with ballistic missiles.After early reports indicated that Iran's attacks on two bases that housed U.S. troops resulted in no U.S. casualties, CNN reports there is a "growing belief among some administration officials that Iran's missiles intentionally missed areas populated by Americans," with officials considering that "Iran could have directed their missiles to hit areas that are populated by Americans — but specifically did not." There are, however, also "questions about Iran's targeting capabilities, which could have impacted the areas that were hit," the report says.But one State Department official told CNN that Iran seemed to be sending the message that "we could have done it and we didn't do it." Similarly, a Pentagon official told CNN's Jake Tapper that many military leaders are of the belief that Iran was intentionally aiming for no loss of U.S. life, going for "minimum damage" but "maximum warning."> Pentagon official tells me that many US military leaders think Iran deliberately chose targets that would NOT result in loss of life especially US life: "Deliberate targets, minimum damage, maximum warning/effect."> > — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) January 8, 2020Trump in a tweet after the attack on Tuesday night said "all is well!" and that while an "assessment of casualties and damages" is "taking place now," "so far, so good!" He is set to make a statement on Wednesday morning. This idea of Iran intentionally missing American targets will be presented to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, CNN reports, who will brief Trump.More stories from theweek.com Joe Biden's free ride is over Iran has offered Trump an 'off-ramp' from war, and there's growing speculation he might take it Iranian presidential adviser warns Trump about listening 'to that clown, Pompeo'
|
| Blumenthal: Some GOP 'have very severe misgivings' about McConnell impeachment strategy Posted: 08 Jan 2020 08:37 AM PST  Richard Blumenthal stated he believes some Senate Republicans are concerned with McConnell working with the White House on Trump's impeachment trial.
|
| 2 Mississippi men tried to cash in a lottery ticket for $100,000 after supergluing the winning numbers onto it, police say Posted: 08 Jan 2020 08:18 AM PST  Police said two men signed the ticket and presented it to the Mississippi Lottery Corporation, but officials realized it was fake and called police.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment