| Democrats' doom-and-gloom convention no match for President Trump's forward-looking vision: GOP chair Posted: 23 Aug 2020 01:24 PM PDT  Opposing View: Fortunately for Americans who don't want socialism, they will hear about another choice when the Republican convention kicks off.
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| Portland protest turns violent, federal police clear plaza Posted: 22 Aug 2020 05:01 PM PDT  Images showed what appeared to be hundreds of people involved, many of them wearing helmets and carrying makeshift shields.
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| Louisiana protesters call for Lafayette mayor-president to resign after police shooting Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:09 AM PDT  Protesters gathered for the second night after Trayford Pellerin's death, first in front of Lafayette City Hall and later with several demonstrations.
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| Rumors about Kim Jong Un dying are going viral again, but experts say not to believe them Posted: 24 Aug 2020 04:04 AM PDT  A former South Korean minister claimed that Kim was in a coma, triggering a wave of social media posts speculating on his death.
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| Climate change: Removing CO2 could spark big rise in food prices Posted: 24 Aug 2020 08:01 AM PDT  Technologies that remove CO2 from air could drive up food prices five-fold in parts of the world
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| Kansas candidate who admitted to revenge porn drops out Posted: 23 Aug 2020 01:11 PM PDT |
| What would a Biden economy look like? Posted: 23 Aug 2020 02:40 AM PDT  The smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:If you're wondering what a Biden presidency would mean for the economy, look to Biden's last financial crisis, said Jeffrey Taylor at Bloomberg. In 2009, as vice president, Biden approached the crisis from a middle-class, Rust Belt viewpoint, aggressively pushing for an auto bailout while championing tighter restrictions on banks and arguing against Wall Street in key debates. While today's situation is obviously different from the Great Recession, Biden sees "common threads" that could help him pursue an agenda focused on addressing income inequality and promoting public works. His top priority is a massive $3.5 trillion infrastructure, manufacturing, and clean-energy program "that appears likely to grow substantially if he is elected." He plans to pay for the program by raising the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 28 percent and increasing taxes on wealthy real-estate investors. In the wake of the pandemic, Biden has "edged away from the moderate economic approach he advocated last year," but he is still not likely to "embrace punitive demands from the Left.""There is nothing 'moderate' about Biden's tax plan," said Mark Bloomfield and Oscar Pollock at The Wall Street Journal. For taxpayers with income above $1 million, Biden wants to tax capital gains as ordinary income. Combined with an upper-income tax increase, that would make top capital gains tax surge from the current 20 percent to 43 percent, exceeding the rate in "every one of the 10 largest economies." We are not going to compete with China by adopting "tax policies that discourage those who are best able to invest, take risks, and start companies."Certain industries are sure to be in Biden's crosshairs, said Anne Sraders at Fortune. "Trump's fight to lower drug prices will likely be carried on," meaning "potential headwinds for Big Pharma." And energy and "environment-sensitive industries" such as oil and gas production could underperform under a Democratic administration. But the naming of Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential nominee "might actually be good for Big Tech" because of her ties to Silicon Valley. For the first time in a decade, Wall Street donors are actually giving more to Democrats than to Republicans, said Jim Zarroli at NPR. Trump "still has friends in finance," but many investors have "soured on his management style," which makes it hard for them to make long-term plans.Whatever the outcome, investors are starting to worry about "stock-market mayhem" surrounding the November election, said Gunjan Banerji and Gregory Zuckerman at The Wall Street Journal. "Markets tend to be volatile ahead of elections," but pessimism about what might unfold appears "even more intense this time around." One adviser is urging clients to insure themselves against losses by buying options that will profit if the S&P 500 index plunges more than 25 percent through December; other firms are telling clients to bet on gold. The behind-the-scenes anxiety is unfolding even as markets hit a record high. "October and November tend to be the wildest months of the year" in any case, and market uncertainty could skyrocket if in the days after the election there is no clear winner.This article was first published in the latest issue of The Week magazine. If you want to read more like it, you can try six risk-free issues of the magazine here.More stories from theweek.com Jerry Falwell Jr. says his wife had an affair with the Florida 'pool boy,' claims they were being blackmailed Brendan Gleeson expertly channels Trump in the trailer for The Comey Rule Melania Trump reportedly taped making 'disparaging' remarks about president and his children
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| Maduro says Venezuela buying Iranian missiles 'a good idea' Posted: 22 Aug 2020 04:49 PM PDT  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday said it would be a "good idea" to look into buying missiles from Iran, a day after Colombia said Venezuela was considering such a plan amid growing ties between Caracas and Tehran. Iran in May supplied gasoline to Venezuela to ease chronic shortages, triggering alarm bells in Washington as the two countries expand trade relations amid efforts to undermine aggressive U.S. sanctions programs. "It had not occurred to me, it had not occurred to us," Maduro said during a televised broadcast with cabinet members, instructing Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino to follow up and jokingly telling his cabinet to keep the plan a secret.
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| Jerry Falwell Jr. says his wife had an affair with the Florida 'pool boy,' claims they were being blackmailed Posted: 23 Aug 2020 11:16 PM PDT  Suspended Liberty University leader Jerry Falwell Jr. confirmed to Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard late Sunday that his wife, Becki Falwell, had an affair with a young man they befriended and went into business with in Florida eight years ago. In a long statement, Falwell said he and his wife "forgave each other" — he suggested he had also "important smaller things" to atone for, quoting a Bible verse about visual adultery — and had decided to come forward because his wife's former lover had been extorting them for "huge amounts of monies" to stay quiet. "I'm just tired of it," Falwell told Bedard.Falwell said the young man — Giancarlo Granda — had created a "'fatal attraction' type situation," referring to a famous 1987 movie in which a jilted extramarital lover boiled a pet rabbit, among other acts of retaliatory intimidation. Granda, 21 at the time of the affair, told the Examiner in an email that "any allegation of extortion" is false, "defamatory, and belied by clear documentary evidence," adding that the attempt by the Falwells "to sandbag me" with this "last-minute story" just "reeks of desperation," and "the WHOLE truth will come out."The salacious nature of the relationship between the Falwells and Granda emerged when Michael Cohen, the former fixer and lawyer for President Trump, told comedian Tom Arnold in a secretly taped conversation that he had destroyed risqué "personal" photographs involving the "pool boy" on behalf of Falwell weeks before Falwell unexpectedly endorsed Trump for president.Falwell said Sunday he "was not involved" in his wife's "inappropriate personal relationship" with Granda, and mentioned "fantastic" and "prurient, untrue aspects" of the relationship "based on the individual's misrepresentations."Liberty University, a conservative evangelical Christian college founded by Jerry Falwell Sr., confirmed Friday that Falwell has been placed on indefinite paid suspension while the university investigates "various rumors and claims" about him and decides if he will be fired. He makes about $1 million a year as president of Liberty University, The News & Advance reports.Falwell, 58, has been on leave since apologizing for posting (then deleting) a photo of himself with his arm around a woman, both their pants partially unzipped, at a "Trailer Park Boys" costume party on a 164-foot, six-bedroom yacht owned by NASCAR mogul Rick Hendrick. Falwell's family has reportedly been taking family vacations on the yacht since Liberty University signed a multi-million-dollar sponsorship deal with Hendrick Motorsports.More stories from theweek.com Brendan Gleeson expertly channels Trump in the trailer for The Comey Rule Melania Trump reportedly taped making 'disparaging' remarks about president and his children Pence helped secure 2nd term with Trump by reportedly remaining 'relentlessly positive' on coronavirus
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| New Tennessee Law Severely Sharpens Punishments for Some Protesters, Potentially Endangering Their Voting Rights Posted: 23 Aug 2020 02:17 PM PDT  It makes it a felony for protesters to camp out overnight on state property, and felons can't vote in Tennessee
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| 11 things private jet flyers should know when they charter a plane as the industry sees a wave of first-time flyers due to the pandemic Posted: 23 Aug 2020 05:02 AM PDT  Even the most experienced flyers often ask for the smallest and cheapest and make amateur mistakes that jack up the cost of a private charter.
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| 10 Best Drones for Kids, According to Engineers Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:26 AM PDT |
| California is on fire: What are fire whirls, fire tornadoes, fire clouds and dry lightning? Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:13 AM PDT  Firenadoes may have hit the news recently. But there are a few other scary fire phenomena that are just as concerning for firefighters and experts.
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| Coronavirus: Peru nightclub crush kills 13 people after police raid over lack of social distancing Posted: 23 Aug 2020 04:04 AM PDT  At least 13 people died in a crush as partygoers tried to flee a Lima nightclub raided by police because it was in breach of coronavirus restrictions.People were crushed to death or suffocated as around 120 people tried to escape the Thomas Restobar club on Saturday, national police and government officials said.
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| AFT president on issues teachers will face as 'essential workers' Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:02 AM PDT  Teachers declared essential workers; American Federation of Teachers president Randi Weingarten reacts.
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| Clinesmith’s Guilty Plea: The Perfect Snapshot of Crossfire Hurricane Duplicity Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:30 AM PDT  Author's Note: This is the first of a three-part series.To answer the question posed in last Tuesday's column, Yes, Kevin Clinesmith did plead guilty Wednesday. Sort of.Well, maybe it was a smidge better than "sort of." After all, it did happen in a federal-district-court proceeding (via videoconference) on Wednesday. And Judge James Boasberg did accept the plea after eliciting it in accordance with settled criminal-law rules. Sentencing is scheduled for December 10. So it's official.But I'm sticking with "sort of." If Clinesmith's guilty plea is legally adequate, it is barely so. And neither a judge nor a prosecutor is required to accept an allocution sliced so fine. In "admitting" guilt, Clinesmith ended up taking the position that I hoped the judge, and especially the Justice Department, would not abide, in essence: Okay, maybe I committed the crime of making a false statement, but to be clear, I thought the statement was true when I made it, and I certainly never intended to deceive anyone.Huh?I don't mean to make you dizzy, but in my view, Clinesmith is lying about lying. His strategy is worth close study because it encapsulates the mendaciousness and malevolence of both "Crossfire Hurricane" (the FBI's Trump-Russia investigation) and the "collusion" never-enders who continue to defend it. A defendant's lying about lying does not necessarily make a false-statement guilty plea infirm as a matter of law. The bar is not high. Still, his story is ridiculous, in a way that is easy to grasp once it's placed in context.So let's place it in context.'Page Is a Russian Spy' — the FBI Plants Its Feet on a Fantasy Our point of reference is spring 2017.While indignantly denying news stories portraying him as a clandestine agent of Russian, Carter Page asserts that, actually, he's been an informant for a U.S. intelligence agency. FBI officials should know that Page is telling the truth. They have already heard the same thing from the CIA and from Page himself.The CIA told the bureau ten months earlier, in a memo dated August 17, 2016 (i.e., two months before the FBI sought the first FISA warrant against Page). Page had been a CIA source who provided information about Russians. Page told the bureau about at least some of this work during voluntary interviews in 2009 and 2013, during the period when the CIA had authorized Page for "operational contact" with Russians. The FBI, meanwhile, actually used information from Page in a prosecution of Russian spies. (See my 2018 column, discussing of United States v. Buryakov.)And it's not as if the CIA's acknowledgment of Page's informant status was the only exculpatory fact the FBI knew. Not by a long shot. Page was pleading with the FBI director to sit down with the bureau and explain himself, as he had done on other occasions over the years. More to the point, in August 2016 (again, two months before the first FISA warrant to permit spying on Page), Page had credibly insisted to a covert FBI informant, Stefan Halper, that key allegations about Page (derived from the bogus Steele dosser) were false: Page did not even know Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, let alone act as Manafort's intermediary in a Trump–Russia espionage conspiracy; and Page had not recently met in Moscow with Putin-regime heavyweights Igor Sechin and Igor Divyekin.Thus, (a) Page had not done the very things that led the FBI to accuse him of being an active anti-American spy, and (b) Page's prior contacts with Russians, on which the bureau further rationalized its overwrought suspicions, overlapped with Page's years as a CIA operative. Weeks before the FBI and the Obama Justice Department first applied for a FISA warrant on the theory that Page was a spy for the Kremlin, the FBI team conducting the investigation had information showing the theory was untenable.Yet the bureau chose to plant its feet on the daft theory anyway. Apologists for the bureau and the Obama administration would now have you believe that this is because a single one of the FBI's crack counterintelligence agents, Stephen Somma, dropped the ball -- that he alone knew Page was a CIA informant, but held out on his chain-of-command. Really? If they dropped as many balls in Times Square as Somma did -- purportedly without anyone noticing, in one the most significant investigations in the FBI's history -- we'd have New Year's once a week.The fact is, top officials were drinking the "Donald Trump must be colluding with Russia" Kool-Aid, so the story was too good to check. And once the farcical Steele dossier grabbed the investigators' attention in late summer 2016, the bureau was off to the races, framing Page as a key cog in the Trump campaign's "conspiracy of cooperation" with the Kremlin.But that was autumn 2016. Now, remember, we're in late spring of 2017. At this point, the FBI has been monitoring Page for over eight months. The Page-is-a-Russian-spy theory is in tatters. The surveillance turns up nothing. Halper has nothing. Steele's dossier, a shoddy product on its face, is now a hot, steaming mess. Not only is it uncorroborated and unverifiable; Steele himself is dismissing it as "raw" information that needed to be investigated, and his "primary subsource," Igor Danchenko, has discredited it as fiction and rumormongering.But alas, the FBI is dug in. This was not just office banter. The bureau had taken the claim that Page was a spy to court. It was the linchpin of the hypothesis that the Trump campaign was a Kremlin influence operation. This theory, bereft of supporting evidence and resistant to exculpatory evidence, had the imprimatur of FBI headquarters. By June 2017, in conjunction with the Justice Department, the FBI had made this claim under oath to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), three times: a first application in October 2016, and renewal applications in January and April 2017. Each time, based on the FBI's representations, the FISC issued a 90-day surveillance warrant against Page.Disclosure Would Mean Epic Humiliation The warrant issued by the FISC on April 7 was due to expire in early July. By mid June, then, the bureau was well into its preparations to submit yet another renewal application.This is the salient time frame for Clinesmith's case. His defense counsel and apologists would have you look at it as a snapshot. But it wasn't just a moment in time. It was a moment shaped by the preceding ten months, since the "Crossfire Hurricane" investigation (i.e., the Trump-Russia probe) was formally opened on July 31, 2016.By June 2017, it would have occasioned epic humiliation for the FBI to admit that it had on three occasions made false assertions under oath in order to persuade federal judges to issue classified surveillance warrants against an American citizen. Not just humiliation. FBI leadership had publicized the existence of the Trump–Russia probe, consciously promoting the media-Democratic political narrative that the president was beholden to the Kremlin. An admission that court warrants had been sought on false premises would have led to certain administrative discipline and potential criminal inquiries.This was not at the back of the bureau's mind. It was front and center. Just read the FISA warrants. Read the in-the-interest-of-full-disclosure footnotes massaged into gibberish as the case was collapsing. And bear in mind: These laborious rationalizations did not come close to revealing the mounds of exculpatory information that the FBI was withholding.To hear FBI and Justice Department officials tell it, the FISA process is so well designed and diligently executed that, at all times, they are profoundly aware of their heightened duty of candor, of their obligations to submit only verified warrant applications. Of their duty to alert the FISC promptly if they discover that something they've represented to the court is inaccurate. They know, they tell us, about the imperative to be transparent regarding exculpatory information. And even if officials were ever to lose sight of these weighty responsibilities, even for a moment, we're to take comfort that their recollection would quickly be refreshed by the multiple, high-level FBI and DOJ approvals the FISA statute mandates. These have spawned an infrastructure of lawyers, analysts, and verification procedures to ensure that the bosses don't embarrass themselves by signing off on FISA warrant applications that are fraudulent, or at least recklessly irresponsible.That's how it's supposed to work . . . on the drawing board.Down here on Planet Earth, though, in all of government's sprawl, there is no institution more self-conscious about its image, more energetic in promoting its pristine reputation, than the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And thus there is none more resistant to damaging disclosures.At the bureau, officials are keenly aware that, when a misrepresentation is discovered, it is often just the visible part of what, on inspection, turns out to be a train of errors, oversights, poor judgments, and, occasionally, misconduct. The disclosure of a single glaring inaccuracy elucidates that investigators, analysts, or lawyers -- or all of them -- were aware of information that should have set off alarm bells, yet they all turned a deaf ear. Alarm bells, after all, signal underlying misfeasance . . . and sometimes malfeasance. If a judge gets spun up by one embarrassing disclosure, it can soon become two . . . then four . . . And then, next thing you know, a case is unraveling as a scandal unfolds.Clinesmith's Motives Mirror His Superiors' MotivesIn June 2017, on the thin line between business as usual and epic embarrassment, stood Kevin Clinesmith.He was then a 30-something assistant general counsel in the bureau's National Security and Cyber Law Branch. It is part of the FBI's Office of General Counsel (OGC), then led by James Baker.Among the branch's responsibilities, it reviews FISA warrant applications. The Carter Page applications, however, were handled in an unusual way. Details of the applications were scrutinized at the highest levels of the FBI and the Justice Department, to the point that the National Security branch's once-over became superfluous.For example, Trisha Anderson, the OGC's former deputy general counsel, told the House Intelligence Committee in 2018 testimony that, though she normally reviewed FISA warrant applications before they went to the upper ranks for statutorily required sign-offs, she did not do that with the October 2016 Page application. By the time it landed on her desk, it had already been reviewed "line by line" by such superiors as the FBI's then–deputy director Andrew McCabe, as well as by then–deputy attorney general Sally Yates at Main Justice. It had even been perused by Anderson's OGC superior, General Counsel Baker. Baker conceded to the committee that it was unusual for him to review a FISA warrant application, particularly at an early stage, as he did with the Page application.In the chain of command, Clinesmith ranked a few notches lower than Anderson: He reported to the National Security branch chief, who reported to Anderson, after which the chain ascended to Baker, McCabe, and ultimately Director James Comey. That is, Clinesmith was a junior officer -- support personnel. The decision to represent to the FISC that Page was a Russian spy had been made way above his pay grade. The bosses were so invested in it, they were relying on it to investigate the sitting president of the United States. And just a few weeks earlier, when the president fired Comey in May 2017, a special counsel had been appointed to take over the investigation. The Mueller team's mandate from the deputy attorney general was to get to the bottom of links between the Russian regime and former Trump-campaign advisers, such as Page.This was not a train Clinesmith could have started or stopped on his own. Nevertheless, he was all in.We learn from the Inspector General's report on the FBI's FISA abuse that, from the very beginning, Clinesmith was in on OGC deliberations about seeking FISA surveillance of Page. Even before September 2016, when he first learned about Steele's reporting, he told the IG he believed that there was a "50/50" chance of establishing probable cause that Page was a clandestine agent for Russia. For that assessment, he relied on "Page's historical contacts with Russian intelligence officers." At that point, he says he did not know that the CIA had told the FBI that Page was a CIA informant when these contacts took place. So, when the first FISA warrant was sought in October 2016 (and the second in January, and the third in April), he agreed that the probable-cause standard was easily satisfied by these contacts, weighed in combination with Steele's (uncorroborated) claims about Page, as well as Page's statements to Halper (as bowdlerized by the bureau).Echoing his bosses, then, Clinesmith adopted the "Page is a Russian spy" fantasy from the get-go. If subsequent developments ever called for scrutinizing the kamikaze portrayal of Page as a spy, Clinesmith was sure to be on the hook. And while the higher-ups would take most of the heat if the bureau proved to be embarrassingly wrong, it is always the underlings like Clinesmith who get hung out to dry for misinforming their superiors. That is how Washington works. Clinesmith, a Washington creature, realized this only too well.'The Predication of Our Entire Investigation' Is at RiskOf course, Clinesmith was not putting himself personally on the line with the FISC. That was to be the responsibility of the affiant, the FBI agent assigned to swear to the truth of the warrant application. This difference in the duties of that agent and Clinesmith, along with an obvious integrity disparity, explains the very different way they approached the matter.This affiant-agent is identified only as "SSA" in the criminal information filed against Clinesmith. (This affiant-agent is "SSA 2" in the IG report, one of several unidentified "supervisory special agents" who appear therein). Though nominally a supervising agent, the SSA operated at some remove from the rubber-meets-the-road investigating. In the bureau, the agent who signs a FISA warrant is not the supervisor of agents investigating the case; he is a headquarters "program manager." Furthermore, the SSA was not assigned to Crossfire Hurricane until late December 2016. That is, he was not involved in the initial deliberations over whether Page was a Russian spy and whether to seek FISA surveillance on that theory.Having inherited sign-off responsibility in an ongoing surveillance that his superiors had already green-lighted, the SSA went with the flow, at least at the beginning. The IG report indicates that, in signing the first and second renewal applications (in January and April 2017), the SSA performed only a cursory review of the file. He assumed that other agents had done their work properly.It was only in June 2017, as the third renewal application was being prepared, that he became concerned. It was around that time that the SSA heard about Page's vehement public denials that he was a Russian spy and claims that he had engaged Russians on behalf of an American intelligence service. It dawned on the SSA that he would be expected to swear, under penalty of perjury, that he believed there was probable cause to conclude that Page was a clandestine agent of Russia, working against the United States. Page's public protestations gave him pause. They also created a potentially catastrophic problem for the bureau, which the SSA later summarized for the IG (I'd italicize -- but I'd have to italicize every word):> [If Page] was being tasked by another agency, especially if he was being tasked to engage Russians, then it would absolutely be relevant for the Court to know . . . [and] could also seriously impact the predication of our entire investigation, which focused on [Page's] close and continuous contact with Russian/Russia-linked individuals.If Page had been a CIA operative during meetings with Russians — meetings that the FBI had sworn to the court showed Page was a traitorous spy — then the FBI would have some serious explaining to do. And if it turned out that, before applying under oath for the warrants, the FBI had been informed by the CIA that Page was a CIA operative, then the FBI would be humiliated.Bear in mind: The incumbent Democratic administration had opened an election-year investigation of its Republican opposition, and the FBI had heavily relied on bogus evidence generated by the Democratic campaign to claim that Page was a spy for Russia. With that as background, there would be only two possible explanations for the FBI's failure to inform the court that Page was working for the CIA when the bureau had claimed he was working for the Kremlin: willful abuse of power or monstrous incompetence.End of Part 1.
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| Venezuela’s Maduro thanks Iran for helping oil industry overcome U.S. sanctions Posted: 23 Aug 2020 09:54 AM PDT  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday thanked ally Iran for helping the South American country overcome U.S. sanctions on its oil industry and floated the idea of purchasing missiles from the country. Washington maintains strict sanctions against Iran's oil industry to try to halt the country's nuclear program. Earlier this year, Tehran sent several gasoline cargoes to Venezuela to help it overcome fuel shortages, as well as equipment to help state oil company PDVSA repair its dilapidated refineries.
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| Melania Trump reportedly taped making 'disparaging' remarks about president and his children Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:46 AM PDT  A former adviser to first lady Melania Trump has reportedly taped her making "disparaging" comments about President Trump and his adult children.Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Melania Trump's former friend and adviser, is set to release a tell-all book in September called Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with The First Lady, and on Monday, journalist Yashar Ali reported that Wolkoff "taped the first lady making disparaging remarks about the president and his adult children" that will be revealed in the book.Though Ali's report doesn't include the remarks the first lady evidently made, they're said to include "harsh comments about Ivanka Trump," and in fact, Ali says that "most" of the disparaging comments "were reserved for Ivanka Trump." It's reportedly not clear whether the book itself will disclose that the remarks in question came from audio recordings.Wolkoff's book will be the latest tell-all to emerge from someone in President Trump's orbit after one recently published by his niece, Mary Trump. Last week, The Washington Post revealed that Mary Trump recorded conversations with the president's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, in which she says the president has "no principles" and that "you can't trust him."Wolkoff's book, which is described by its publisher as a "candid and emotional memoir," will be released on Sept. 1.More stories from theweek.com Jerry Falwell Jr. says his wife had an affair with the Florida 'pool boy,' claims they were being blackmailed Brendan Gleeson expertly channels Trump in the trailer for The Comey Rule Pence helped secure 2nd term with Trump by reportedly remaining 'relentlessly positive' on coronavirus
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| Riot declared outside Portland public safety building Posted: 22 Aug 2020 09:21 PM PDT  Police forced protesters away from a law enforcement building in Oregon's biggest city early Sunday, as efforts to stop the demonstrators from gathering at the building seemingly fell apart. Streets were blocked amid the mayhem.
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| Far-right Proud Boys supporters clashed with Black Lives Matter protesters in Portland Posted: 23 Aug 2020 06:40 AM PDT  Footage of the protest Saturday shows protesters battling with projectiles and batons as police face criticism for not intervening.
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| Workers in Qatar still facing abuses despite promises: HRW Posted: 23 Aug 2020 11:41 PM PDT  Qatar's massive migrant workforce is still being exploited by employers who withhold wages, threaten expulsion, and deduct pay, leaving some staff unable to eat, Human Rights Watch said on Monday.
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| New Jersey family fighting for return of fisherman jailed in British Virgin Islands Posted: 24 Aug 2020 10:26 AM PDT  Stafford fisherman Michael Foy is jailed in the British Virgin Islands. His family is fighting to free him.
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| Jeremy Corbyn had 'tantrum' when he discovered he didn't have an electric battle bus, book claims Posted: 23 Aug 2020 09:29 AM PDT  Jeremy Corbyn had a tantrum when he discovered he didn't have an electric election battle bus, a new book has claimed. The former Labour leader was said to have grown disgruntled after travelling to Liverpool to for the unveiling of the party's battle bus, only to discover that it was run on diesel. An aide said Mr Corbyn had a "tantrum" after the discovery and text staff to say: "I see the [diesel] bus appears which I hope does not get too many negatives. As soon as rest of grid and operation notes are available can I get them so I can know a week ahead what is being planned and other requests that may appear can be factored in." His annoyance was said to be fueled by the fact that Jo Swinson, former leader of the Liberal Democrats, had an electric battle bus. In Labour's manifesto the party had promised to outlaw diesel busses by 2030. In response Marsha Jane Thompson, an aide in Mr Corbyn's office, said: "Once we win we can mandate investment in electric buses!" According to the book Left Out: The Inside Story of Labour under Corbyn, Ms Thompson then contacted the senior management team WhatsApp group to say: "JC unhappy that lib dems have an electric bus." As a result Mr Corbyn had to travel the country by train, which meant phone reception was unreliable. It was suggested that his lack of access to schedules and 'grids' during the campaign became a sticking point for the former leader, who began to insist he be dialed into conference calls at the start of each day, despite his large workload.
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| UPS driver randomly shot at vehicles along interstate in Oregon, police say Posted: 24 Aug 2020 08:00 AM PDT  The man is being held on $1 million bail.
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| Merkel tells Russia to investigate suspected poisoning of Kremlin critic Posted: 23 Aug 2020 10:42 PM PDT  German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Monday called on Russia to investigate the suspected poisoning of Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny and hold the perpetrators accountable after doctors found indications of a toxic substance in his body. Navalny, a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, collapsed on a plane in Russia last week, and he was flown to Germany for treatment on Saturday. The Kremlin has said it was unclear what caused Navalny to fall ill and that initial tests did not show he was poisoned, as his aides charged.
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| A wedding reception in Maine is linked to 53 coronavirus cases, including a woman who died but wasn't at the event Posted: 23 Aug 2020 12:56 PM PDT  Nearly half of the cases traced back to a wedding reception in Millinocket, Maine, involved people who didn't attend the event, the local CDC said.
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| Falwell says wife had affair, family faced blackmail attempt Posted: 24 Aug 2020 07:31 AM PDT  Jerry Falwell Jr., currently on a leave of absence as the leader of evangelical Liberty University, has released a statement saying that he is seeking help for the "emotional toll" of an affair his wife had with a man who he says later threatened his family. Falwell issued a lengthy statement to The Washington Examiner on Sunday, publicly disclosing the affair and saying the man involved had been threatening to reveal the relationship "to deliberately embarrass my wife, family, and Liberty University unless we agreed to pay him substantial monies." "Over the course of the last few months this person's behavior has reached a level that we have decided the only way to stop this predatory behavior is to go public," said the statement, which was provided to The Associated Press on Monday.
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| Canada demands answers from Iran after Ukraine jet downing report Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:32 AM PDT  Canada said it was demanding answers from Iran over the mistaken downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet after Tehran's "limited" initial report failed to explain why it fired missiles at the plane.
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| Political consultants could be best hope for defeating Trumpism in the Republican Party Posted: 23 Aug 2020 02:00 AM PDT  History suggests Republicans may have to lose five presidential elections in a row before the forces of moderation, revisionism and pragmatism prevail.
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| Miroslava Breach murder: Mexico jails man who ordered journalist's death Posted: 23 Aug 2020 04:21 AM PDT  The man who ordered the killing of Miroslava Breach in 2017 receives rare 50-year sentence.
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| Trove of 1,000-year-old gold coins unearthed in Israel Posted: 24 Aug 2020 01:36 AM PDT  Israeli youths have unearthed hundreds of gold coins stashed away in a clay vessel for more than a thousand years. The treasure was discovered on Aug. 18, the Israel Antiquities Authority said on Monday, by teenagers volunteering at an excavation in central Israel where a new neighbourhood is planned to be built.
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| House passes an additional $25 billion for Postal Service as Trump tweets opposition Posted: 23 Aug 2020 12:34 PM PDT  President Trump called Postal Service controversy a "hoax" and urged Republicans to vote no, but more than two dozen sided with Democrats.
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| The lights went out. Now California might let these gas plants stay open Posted: 24 Aug 2020 05:30 AM PDT  The gas plant vote Tuesday is the first major energy decision for Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration following this month's blackouts.
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| Every 4th-grader in Mississippi school district must quarantine amid new COVID-19 cases Posted: 24 Aug 2020 08:25 AM PDT  In all, the district has reported 10 positive cases.
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| Researchers report 1st confirmed cases of coronavirus reinfection Posted: 24 Aug 2020 06:53 AM PDT  Contracting coronavirus once may not be the end of the road we once thought it could be.Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, doctors have reported that some patients have seemingly contracted coronavirus, recovered from it, and contracted it again. But coronavirus reinfections hadn't been confirmed until Monday, when researchers in Hong Kong announced a recovered coronavirus patient had contracted the disease again.The patient in question was a 33-year-old man who only had mild coronavirus symptoms the first time around, The New York Times reports. COVID-19 patients are usually considered recovered when they test negative for the virus multiple times. But after a trip to Spain, this recovered patient tested positive for the virus again despite showing no symptoms. Researchers tested the second virus to confirm it wasn't just "viral shedding" from the first infection, Dr. Kelvin Kai-Wang To, a clinical microbiologist at the University of Hong Kong, said in a statement. The testing revealed the second virus stemmed from a strain making its way around Europe in July and August, strongly suggesting it wasn't a lingering bit of the first virus the man picked up in Hong Kong.The research will have consequences for the coronavirus vaccines under development around the world. It also blows holes in arguments for herd immunity: the idea of letting people contract coronavirus so they develop antibodies to prevent further infection, eventually eradicating the disease as if there were a vaccine. Sweden tried to take this approach, but ended up with far more COVID-19 deaths than its neighbors and "no economic gains" to show for it, economists said. Now, it seems possible Sweden developed no immunity to show for it, either.More stories from theweek.com Jerry Falwell Jr. says his wife had an affair with the Florida 'pool boy,' claims they were being blackmailed Brendan Gleeson expertly channels Trump in the trailer for The Comey Rule Melania Trump reportedly taped making 'disparaging' remarks about president and his children
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| Migrants at center of political tug-of-war in divided Bosnia Posted: 24 Aug 2020 10:05 AM PDT  SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Authorities in a northeastern region of Bosnia, decrying an alleged failure by other parts of the country to share the load of a lingering migration crisis, have set up roadblocks to prevent Europe-bound migrants from entering the territory under their jurisdiction. In an apparent violation of Bosnia's human rights and immigration laws, local authorities deployed police officers to the main highway connecting the Krajina region to the rest of the country with orders to stop and turn back all the migrants they encounter. In response, the police forces of adjacent administrative regions started blocking migrants from walking back to their areas.
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| Defund the police: can other cities learn from Seattle's stumbling blocks? Posted: 22 Aug 2020 11:00 PM PDT  Seattle, site of anti-racist protests in the wake of George Floyd's killing, have faced logistical issues and clashes with city leadersSeattle was on the verge of taking one of the most radical steps of late toward large-scale police reform of any city in the US just last month.In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May, and widespread police brutality and anti-racist protests, a veto-proof majority of council members voiced their support for defunding the police, slashing 50% of the department's budget.But since then, they've faced a series of logistical roadblocks and clashed with other city leaders, and ultimately all but one of them have walked back their statements.The council instead voted for a much smaller round of cuts, including reducing the salaries of Carmen Best, who is Seattle's chief of police, and members of her command staff as well as trimming about 100 of the department's 1,400 police officers.Mere hours after the vote, Best, the first African American leader of the department who has held the position for only two years, announced her retirement."The idea of letting, after we worked so incredibly hard to make sure that our department was diverse, that reflects the community that we serve, to just turn that all on a dime and hack it off without having a plan in place to move forward, it's highly distressful to me," she said during a news conference last week. "It goes against my principles and my conviction and I really couldn't do it."Best's retirement will be effective 2 September. The Seattle mayor Jenny Durkan has appointed the deputy chief, Adrian Diaz, as the interim chief, but has said that in light of these cuts she would not start a national search for a replacement this year."I think we have to make it through the budget season, we have to see what the council is willing to do for this department in the long run, because right now nobody would know what job they're applying for," she said during the news conference.The series of events have created much uncertainty over the future of Seattle's police department. But it has also offered a raw look at the challenges and complexities involved in attempting to make changes of this magnitude to traditional law enforcement.Seattle is not alone when it comes to working to revamp law enforcement. In Minneapolis, where Floyd, a Black man, was killed by a white officer, leaders are looking toward completely disbanding the police department, and last month New York opted to move $1bn out of the city's police department.Stephen Page, associate professor at the University of Washington's Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, told the Guardian that what appears to be missing in Seattle, Minneapolis and New York is leaders transforming police reform from a rallying cry to a precise plan."None of those discussions in any of those cities at this point seem to be taking seriously these questions of what, exactly, are we doing if we're not funding the police and how are we going to do it," he said.Last week, the Texas Tribune reported that the Austin city council unanimously voted to cut the city's police department by one third, or $150m. The decision is expected to involve getting rid of funding for three police cadet classes, while boosting funding for social services and violence prevention programs.In Seattle, one of the key challenges during this process has been collaboration. While city council members have said they've tried to work with the police chief and mayor during the defunding process, at last week's news conference Durkan characterized the last few weeks as an "absolute breakdown of collaboration and civil dialogue"."It was both infuriating and deeply disappointing that the day after the chief stood in this room and criticized the council's approach, offered her own approach and vision, the very next day they voted to slash her salary and the salaries of her whole team," Durkan added.The council voted to cut $10,000 from the police chief's annual $285,000 salary. Best, who has been at the police department since 1992, said that did not influence her decision to leave.The council president M Lorena González, council member Teresa Mosqueda and council member Tammy J Morales said in a statement that they were sorry to see Best go, and again stressed the importance of city leaders working together during the law enforcement reform process. But they also made it clear that this has in no way deterred their efforts."The council will remain focused on the need to begin the process of transforming community safety in our city," the statement said. "This historic opportunity to transition the SPD from reform to transformation will continue."Isaac Joy, an organizer with King County Equity Now, one of the coalitions that has pushed to defund the department by 50%, said there is potentially a silver lining to Best's departure: it presents an opportunity to find someone to lead the department who can be a "thought partner on listening and responding to the community's demands, to divest from our police force, demilitarize our police force and start reinvesting and making Seattle a city that everyone can thrive in".He also stressed that the leader should also be Black.Joy explained that's because of the "police history, specifically as it relates to the enslaved, the Black population and that being the root of the police force. And so, in order to rectify and address that root, you do need Black leadership, you just, along with Black leadership, you need the support of the department, the support of the mayor, the support of the council."Earlier this month, the coalition released a blueprint for cutting the police budget and reinvesting that money into such groups as those developing alternatives to policing and providing housing for people in need.On Monday, the council unanimously approved a resolution that includes a variety of goals for 2021, including creating a civilian-led department of community safety and violence prevention, and moving the city's 911 dispatch out of the police department.In the fall, they will begin work on the 2021 budget, which council members have said could see much more extensive budget cuts.Dae Shik Kim Jr, an activist in Seattle and a director at the Grassroots Law Project, said while these initial budget cuts were much less than he and others fighting to defund the police department by 50% wanted, there could be built on. He referenced the fact that the council cut a police department team known for clearing homeless encampments.He said: "Victories like that I think can't be overlooked because at the end of the day those are the things we're really fighting for."On Friday, though, Mayor Durkan announced that she had vetoed the council's 2020 budget proposal, which includes the cuts to the police department. She said in a press conference that the budget didn't "sufficiently look at the issues of public safety". The council could override her veto with at least two-thirds support from members.
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| Gold-hunting diggers destroy Sudan's priceless past Posted: 23 Aug 2020 08:11 PM PDT  When a team of archaeologists deep in the deserts of Sudan arrived at the ancient site of Jabal Maragha last month, they thought they were lost. The site had vanished.
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| 'An enormous ditch': Republicans turn to Charlie Kirk, Trump family confidant, to close yawning youth voter gap Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:21 AM PDT  Climate change, the racial justice movement and school shootings have exacerbated the GOP's problems with young voters, political experts say.
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| Italy's bear reintroduction project under scrutiny after big male attacks police officer on hike Posted: 24 Aug 2020 03:49 AM PDT  A long-running project to reintroduce brown bears to Italy is under intense scrutiny after a male bear attacked an off-duty police officer who was walking in the Dolomites at the weekend. Experts said it was the first time a male bear has attacked a human in the area -- previous attacks were by females defending their cubs -- and that it represented a dangerous escalation of the threat level. The 24-year-old policeman was on a walk late on Saturday, prior to starting a night shift, when the bear burst out of the undergrowth near the village of Andalo, in the northern region of Trentino-South Tyrol. The bear pinned him down, biting him and raking his body with its claws, before lumbering off into the woods. The officer was taken to hospital and was due to be discharged on Monday. "Luckily it was not too serious," said Alberto Perli, the mayor of Andalo. "But he has numerous injuries to his back, his arms and legs, as well as scratches all over. It was an unprovoked attack by a male without cubs." Locals said the bear had become increasingly bold in recent weeks, ransacking rubbish bins and wandering into villages in search of food. The two-year-old, 265lb (121kg) bear, known to biologists as M57, was captured by forest rangers a few hours after the attack and taken to a wildlife enclosure in Casteller, near the city of Trento. It is the same enclosure from which another large bear, nicknamed Papillon for its elusive nature, has escaped from twice.
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| Tracking a rare tropical event Posted: 24 Aug 2020 06:57 AM PDT  Two storms, Tropical Storm Laura and Marco, have set their sights on the Gulf Coast. AccuWeather's Bernie Rayno and Dan Kottlowski take a look at them.
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| 56 people got the coronavirus at a Starbucks in South Korea. The only people who didn’t were employees wearing masks. Posted: 24 Aug 2020 09:06 AM PDT  A Starbucks in South Korea has reported a coronavirus outbreak after an infected person sat near an air conditioner. Employees wearing masks were safe
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