| Michael Cohen's usefulness to prosecutors may be drying up Posted: 09 Apr 2019 08:29 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — As Michael Cohen seeks another reprieve from his three-year prison sentence, there are mounting indications his usefulness to federal prosecutors is drying up.
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| Merkel says backs longer Brexit delay than London seeking Posted: 10 Apr 2019 07:18 AM PDT  German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday that she was open to giving Britain more time to arrange its exit from the EU than the June 30 departure London is seeking. Merkel told Germany's parliament ahead of a special EU summit in Brussels dedicated to Brexit that leaders may well agree to a delay "longer than the British prime minister (Theresa May) has requested". "I am of the opinion, the German government is of the opinion, that we should give both (British) parties a reasonable amount of time" to reach an agreement on an orderly Brexit, she said.
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| Debris Found After Japanese F-35A Stealth Fighter Crashes at Sea Posted: 09 Apr 2019 09:22 PM PDT  The plane and its pilot, a man in his 40s, went missing about 135 kilometers (85 miles) off the Japanese coast Tuesday after departing Misawa Air Base on the northeastern corner of Honshu Island, the Japan Air Self-Defense Force said in a statement. A part of what's believed to the the plane's tail was spotted floating near where it disappeared, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya told reporters Wednesday. The Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 is considered the most expensive U.S. weapons system.
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| Mueller report will be released within a week: U.S. attorney general Posted: 09 Apr 2019 12:43 PM PDT  During a congressional hearing, Barr was repeatedly challenged by Democrats who raised suspicions that he may have misrepresented Mueller's report to paint the Republican president in a better light. Barr, an appointee of Trump who last month announced what he said were the main findings of the report, said he would be as open as possible about redactions of sensitive information when he hands over the full document. "Within a week I will be in position to release that report to the public and then I will engage with the chairmen of both judiciary committees about that report, about any further requests that they have," Barr said at his first appearance before Congress since receiving the report on March 22.
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| Uganda kidnapping: Arrests made in Costa Mesa resident Kimberly Sue Endicott's abduction Posted: 10 Apr 2019 01:17 AM PDT  Ugandan police say they have arrested some people over the kidnapping last week of a Costa Mesa tourist who has since been freed.
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| See Photos of the 2020 Mercedes-AMG GT R Pro Posted: 09 Apr 2019 02:09 PM PDT |
| Southwest flight canceled? Here's why the airline won't book you on another carrier Posted: 09 Apr 2019 01:06 PM PDT  Frustrated Southwest Airlines passengers have bombarded the airline with questions in the wake of heavy Boeing 737 Max 8 flight cancellations.
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| The Navy Wanted to Take Battleships and Make Them Into Nuclear 'Bombers' Posted: 10 Apr 2019 12:00 AM PDT  Today the naval gunfire argument rages on. Even in the age of drones and precision warfare there are still occasional calls to bring the heavily manned, imprecise Iowa class back to service. There's a certain romance to battleships, and having four Iowas sitting around in good condition has beguiled naval enthusiasts and planners for more than 60 years with schemes to bring them back.In the early 1980s, four Iowa-class fast battleships originally built during World War II—Iowa, Missouri, New Jersey and Wisconsin—were taken out of mothballs and returned to active duty.(This first appeared several years ago.)Nearly 900 feet long and displacing close to 60,000 tons, the battlewagons could fire a nine-gun broadside sending 18 tons of steel and explosives hurtling towards their targets.The battleships were modernized to include cruise missiles, ship-killing missiles and Phalanx point-defense guns. Returned to the fleet, the ships saw action off the coasts of Lebanon and Iraq. At the end of the Cold War the battleships were retired again. All were slated to become museums.
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| Capitol Hill hearing on online hate sees it firsthand Posted: 09 Apr 2019 04:12 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional hearing on online hate turned into a vivid demonstration of the problem Tuesday when a YouTube livestream of the proceedings was bombarded with racist and anti-Semitic comments from internet users.
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| Border 'emergency': the problem Trump can't fix Posted: 08 Apr 2019 08:43 PM PDT  The resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen underscored the failure of President Donald Trump to halt uncontrolled immigration, one of the key promises of his presidency. Trump wants his officials to take a tougher stance, but is stymied by US laws protecting migrants and a Congress unwilling to change them. In the first six months after Trump took office in January 2017, the US border patrol apprehended about 20,000 undocumented migrants each month, the lowest level in years.
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| Imran Khan accuses India and Israel of moral bankruptcy over election annexation pledges Posted: 09 Apr 2019 05:46 AM PDT  Imran Khan has accused India's leaders of moral bankruptcy for trying to win votes by annexing Kashmir, after Narendra Modi pledged to remove its special autonomous status if re-elected. In outspoken remarks just days before voting begins in India's upcoming election, Mr Khan said Mr Modi was flouting a United Nations resolution and his own constitution with his manifesto pledge. Pakistan's prime minister also attacked Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, after he promised to annex Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank if he is re-elected on Tuesday. "Don't their people feel a sense of outrage and wonder at how far they will go simply to win an election?" Mr Khan asked. Mr Modi earlier this week told a crowd at Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters he would scrap the autonomous status Jammu and Kashmir has had since 1954. He would also remove laws that prevent outsiders from buying property in the state. When ldrs in Israel & India show a moral bankruptcy in their readiness to annex occupied West Bank & IOK in defiance of int law, UNSC resolutions & their own Constitution for votes, don't their ppl feel a sense of outrage & wonder how far they will go simply to win an election?— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) April 9, 2019 Scrapping the protections would help integration with the rest of the country, the BJP has argued. However political leaders in Muslim-majority Kashmir, where Indian forces are fighting a fierce armed insurgency, have predicted the repeal would stoke further unrest. Kashmir and tensions with Pakistan have become a key election battleground in the election after a suicide bombing killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in the region in February. Both countries claim the disputed territory Kashmir, and it has been at the the heart of military tensions between the neighbours for decades. Mr Modi's manifesto pledge on Kashmir risks a backlash in the region Credit: Reuters Mr Modi's decision to launch a retaliatory air strike inside Pakistan after the bombing was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group led him to pose as a strong national security candidate. The clash is thought to have helped Mr Modi's electoral chances by distracting from his failed economic promises. But Mr Khan has accused the BJP of "whipping up war hysteria" to win the election. Pakistan's government has accused India of plotting further military action to win votes, claiming it has "reliable intelligence" that India will attack again this month. Voting in India's general election begins on Thursday but, with around 900 million people eligible to vote, the polls will be held around the country over coming weeks, and the votes will be counted on May 23.
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| Yahoo strikes $117.5 million data breach settlement after earlier accord rejected Posted: 09 Apr 2019 11:29 AM PDT  The proposed class-action settlement made public on Tuesday was designed to address criticisms of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California. Koh said the original settlement was not "fundamentally fair, adequate and reasonable" because it had no overall dollar value and did not say how much victims might expect to recover. Yahoo, now part of New York-based Verizon Communications Inc, had been accused of being slow to disclose three data breaches affecting about 3 billion accounts from 2013 to 2016.
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| Ford Again Recalls F-150 and Super Duty Pickup Trucks for Second Repair over Engine-Block Fire Risk Posted: 10 Apr 2019 08:44 AM PDT  The new recall will bring back more than 130,000 U.S.-market trucks for another fix; more than 400,000 pickups in the U.S. alone have been affected by the recall.
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| New York City declares public health emergency, orders mandatory measles vaccinations Posted: 09 Apr 2019 11:30 AM PDT  Mayor Bill de Blasio says the city has "the power to do this."
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| Candace Owens fumes at Rep. Ted Lieu's use of her Hitler comments Posted: 10 Apr 2019 04:30 PM PDT  "I think it's pretty apparent that believes that black people are stupid," Owens said in response to Lieu playing a clip of her comment on Hitler.
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| The real deal: astronomers deliver first photo of black hole Posted: 10 Apr 2019 05:36 PM PDT  Astronomers on Wednesday unveiled the first photo of a black hole, one of the star-devouring monsters scattered throughout the Universe and obscured by impenetrable shields of gravity. "The history of science will be divided into the time before the image, and the time after the image," said Michael Kramer, director at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. The supermassive black hole immortalised by a far-flung network of radio telescopes is 50 million lightyears away at the centre of a galaxy known as M87.
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| Netflix postpones Felicity Huffman film after actor admits college fraud Posted: 09 Apr 2019 05:56 AM PDT  Desperate Housewives star to admit bribing college officialsActor is one of 50 people charged over university scam Felicity Huffman: 'I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences.' Photograph: Steven Senne/AP Netflix has postponed the release date of a film starring Felicity Huffman after the actor agreed to plead guilty to fraud for her part in the largest US college admissions scam ever prosecuted. Huffman, known for the TV series Desperate Housewives, is one of 13 people who have admitted paying bribes to get their children into desirable colleges such as Yale, Stanford and the University of Southern California, according to court documents. Netflix has responded to the planned guilty plea by shelving the release of Otherhood, a romantic comedy that was due to be shown on the streaming service on 26 April. The movie features Huffman alongside Patricia Arquette and Angela Bassett. Sign up for the US morning briefing No new release date for Otherhood has been announced by Netflix. Huffman faces prison time for her part in the admissions scandal, in which she is accused of paying $15,000 to a fake charity run by a former college admissions counselor, Rick Singer. Money "donated" by wealthy parents was used to cheat test scores and to bribe college coaches to designate their children as recruited athletes at favoured colleges. Huffman is accused of paying for an impersonator to sit the SAT, which is used to determine college admissions, on behalf of her eldest daughter. Huffman said in a statement her daughter was unaware of the deception. Her husband, the actor William H Macy, has not been charged in connection with the scandal. "I am in full acceptance of my guilt, and with deep regret and shame over what I have done, I accept full responsibility for my actions and will accept the consequences that stem from those actions," Huffman said. "My daughter knew absolutely nothing about my actions, and in my misguided and profoundly wrong way, I have betrayed her. This transgression toward her and the public I will carry for the rest of my life. My desire to help my daughter is no excuse to break the law or engage in dishonesty." All of the parents have agreed to plead guilty to fraud charges that can result in up to 20 years in prison, along with a maximum fine of $250,000. Prosecutors are seeking a "low end" prison sentence for Huffman, along with a $20,000 fine, according to multiple media reports. Lori Loughlin, an actor known for her role on the sitcom Full House, has also been charged with fraud over the scandal but was not one of the group of 13 people to agree to a plea deal on Monday. Loughlin is one of a total of 50 people charged in relation to the deceptive scheme. Yale and Stanford have both expelled students associated with the scam, while USC and Georgetown University have said they are reviewing the admissions of students accused of benefiting from the cheating.
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| William Barr: Attorney general says Mueller report will be released ‘within a week’ – here’s what it will look like Posted: 09 Apr 2019 10:39 AM PDT  US attorney general William Barr has told lawmakers they could expect a redacted copy of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report "within a week".Mr Barr was speaking about the report into possible links between the Russian government and Donald Trump's 2016 campaign during a tense hearing on Capitol Hill that yielded more questions than answers. The attorney general abruptly declined to answer further questions about the investigation halfway through the hearing, saying: "I've said what I was going to say about the report today." He then refused to answer whether the White House had been briefed on any aspect of the special counsel's report. "I'm not going to say anything more about it until the report is out," he added. Democrats expressed frustration and concern with Mr Barr's handling of the report. Nita Lowey, chair of the House Appropriations Committee grilled him over how he managed to reduce the massive document into four pages just days after he had received it. "Even for someone who has done this job before, I would argue it's more suspicious than impressive," she said. Mr Barr acknowledged his quick work, claiming: "The thinking of the special counsel was not a mystery to the Department of Justice prior to the submission of the report." He added that Mr Mueller's team was redacting the report before providing it to Congress. The attorney general said he plans to produce a report during "this first go" with four types of redactions relating to grand jury information, classified information that could reveal agency sources or methods, information pertaining to ongoing prosecutions, and information that may implicate "privacy or reputational interests" of peripheral players. The report will be colour-coded, according to Mr Barr, and will feature explanatory notes for all of his redactions. It remains unclear what legal grounds the attorney general has to place redactions for all four of his listed components, however.Mr Barr added he would convene with Republican and Democratic leadership from the House Judiciary Committee after the report is released to determine whether they required any further information. Lawmakers may also request grand jury information from the courts, he said – a move he noted the justice department would not be making under his leadership. The attorney general was brought to the house committee to discuss Mr Trump's budget request for the justice department for 2020. This was the central focus of Mr Barr's opening statement and he did not at any point mention the Mueller report. At times, there appeared to be two testimonies taking place. As Democrats grilled the attorney general over the special counsel's conclusions, Republican lawmakers asked Mr Barr about his department's plans surrounding issues including human and sex trafficking, as well as immigration along the US-Mexico border. The Mueller report wasn't the only thing Democrats flagged up, however. The hearing provided some tense moments when they grilled Mr Barr over the justice department's opposition to the Affordable Care Act in federal courts under Mr Trump. Asked whether he had considered the consequences of his department opposing the healthcare bill for Americans at risk of losing their coverage, Mr Barr shot back at one Democratic lawmaker: "If you think it's such an outrageous position, you have nothing to worry about."
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| Libya Is on the Brink of Civil War and a U.S. Citizen Is Responsible. Here's What to Know Posted: 09 Apr 2019 07:50 AM PDT  The offensive by the rogue general Khalifa Haftar, who has U.S. citizenship, has pushed Libya to the brink of civil war
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| India Supreme Court to hear Dassault jet deal in setback for Modi Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:39 AM PDT  The published material was privileged defense documents, the government says. "Preliminary objections of the Centre are dismissed," said the court, led by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, referring to the federal government, adding that it would set a date for further hearings. Modi, facing a tightening election, has vehemently denied opposition allegations of wrongdoing in the purchase of 36 Rafale planes and the government had asked the court to reject the petitions, citing national security.
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| Prosecutors announce new charges for Lori Loughlin and husband Posted: 10 Apr 2019 06:08 AM PDT  The "Full House" actress and her husband now face money laundering charges that could increase their prison sentence to 20 years. ABC News' Kenneth Moton reports.
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| CBD hype: Is this hemp-plant derivative snake oil or a legit remedy? Posted: 10 Apr 2019 07:46 AM PDT  CBD use has soared since the Farm Bill relaxed rules for the hemp-based product. But there's little control over marketing and therapeutic claims.
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| Projected results of Israel election Posted: 10 Apr 2019 01:43 AM PDT  With nearly all votes in Israel's general election counted, here is the preliminary distribution of seats in Israel's 120-seat parliament, according to Israeli media calculations. Incumbent premier Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud was on path for victory despite being tied with Blue and White since he would be able to form a coalition government with right-wing and ultra-Orthodox partners.
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| Man sentenced 26-years to life in brutal hammer death of 'Bridalplasty' reality star Posted: 09 Apr 2019 07:08 AM PDT  Jackie Jerome Rogers was sentenced to 26 years to life in state prison for killing Lisa Marie Naegle with a hammer and burying her body in his back yard.
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| YouTube Flooded By Racists During Hearing on Big Tech Enabling Racism Posted: 09 Apr 2019 09:46 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily BeastRacist and anti-Semitic YouTube users overwhelmed the official YouTube livestream of a House Judiciary Committee hearing on white nationalism on Tuesday, forcing YouTube to disable the ability to comment on the stream.The posts, which attacked black and Jewish members of the committee and the hearing audience, were made even as a Google representative at the hearing claimed that "hate speech and violent extremism have no place on YouTube." Meanwhile, a white nationalist YouTube channel called "Red Ice TV" actually made money from the hearing. In exchange for getting their comments highlighted on the Red Ice stream of the House hearing, Red Ice commenters paid more than $100 to the channel through YouTube's "Super Chat" function. Eventually, that comment feed was disabled as well. A Google spokesperson confirmed that the company had disabled the comment stream on the House Judiciary hearing, although the spokesperson didn't comment on whether Google had ended the Red Ice stream as well. "Hate speech has no place on YouTube," the spokesperson said in a statement."We've invested heavily in teams and technology dedicated to removing hateful comments and videos and we take action on them when flagged by our users. Due to the presence of hateful comments, we disabled comments on the livestream of today's House Judiciary Committee hearing."Anti-extremism activists have repeatedly criticized YouTube over how its recommendation algorithm pushes viewers towards extremist videos. On Tuesday, the company said it had changed the algorithm to prevent the promotion of "borderline" content that didn't meet the guidelines for being deleted from YouTube. Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), apparently told of the issue the company was having with its comment stream, acknowledged the deleted comment stream later in the hearing. "This just illustrates the problem we're dealing with," Nadler said. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) cut in, asking Nadler whether the racist YouTube comments could be "another hate hoax."Read more at The Daily Beast.
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| What's behind Warren's plan to break up Facebook, Amazon and Google Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:00 AM PDT  Elizabeth Warren accuses Amazon and other tech giants of unfairly demanding special favors from governments, selling users' consumer profiles for marketing purposes and exercising a stranglehold over capital funding for potential competitors.
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| Pakistan PM sees better chance of peace talks with India if Modi's BJP wins election Posted: 09 Apr 2019 09:04 AM PDT  Khan said that if the next Indian government were led by the opposition Congress party, it might be too scared to seek a settlement with Pakistan over disputed Indian-controlled Kashmir, fearing a backlash from the right. "Perhaps if the BJP - a right-wing party - wins, some kind of settlement in Kashmir could be reached," Khan told a small group of foreign journalists in an interview. This was despite the massive alienation that Muslims in Kashmir and Muslims in general were facing in Modi's India, said Khan, who took office last August.
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| Walmart's Spring Sale Is Marking Down Tools, Grills, and More Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:39 PM PDT |
| Texas Tech Medical School Will Stop Considering Race in Admissions Due to Trump Administration Pressure Posted: 10 Apr 2019 07:50 AM PDT  The move is part of an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education
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| New Zealand Parliament votes to ban semi-automatic weapons Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:13 AM PDT  WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand's Parliament on Wednesday passed sweeping gun laws that outlaw military style weapons, less than a month after mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch left 50 people dead and dozens wounded.
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| Wynn Resorts scotches potential takeover of Crown Resorts Posted: 09 Apr 2019 08:15 AM PDT  Wynn Resorts said Tuesday it was pulling the plug on a potential takeover of Australian gambling giant Crown Resorts that had been seen as fetching about $7.1 billion. "Following the premature disclosure of preliminary discussions, Wynn Resorts has terminated all discussions with Crown Resorts concerning any transaction," Las Vegas-based Wynn said Tuesday. Shares of Wynn were down 3.2 percent at $140.23 at mid-morning in New York.
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| Nipsey Hussle is gone. His legacy will forever live in South Los Angeles, a place of pride and hope Posted: 08 Apr 2019 07:29 PM PDT  South Los Angeles is a sprawling cluster of neighborhoods, many of them rich with African-American history, that are staring down major changes.
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| Apple quietly nixes fee to transfer data from your old Mac to your new one Posted: 10 Apr 2019 02:12 AM PDT  After speaking with an Apple Store Operations Specialist, TidBITS reported that the company has dropped the data migration fee charged when users move their content from an old computer to a new Mac. Previously, when you went to the Apple Store to upgrade your computer to a new one or had some repairs done, you'd have to pay a whopping $99 to migrate the data to your new device or new hard drive. As first reported by TidBITS on Tuesday, Apple quietly discontinued charging this particular fee.
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| Trump's plan to name Herman Cain to Fed meets Republican pushback Posted: 09 Apr 2019 02:58 PM PDT  Members of the president's own party signal that the former Godfather's Pizza CEO faces an uphill confirmation battle.
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| The 2019 Audi TT RS Gets Some New Colors and Air Scoops, Starts at $67,895 Posted: 10 Apr 2019 11:17 AM PDT  Minor exterior and interior updates for the world's only five-cylinder sports car in production.
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| Modi's alliance to win slim majority in Indian election, poll shows Posted: 09 Apr 2019 01:34 AM PDT  The coalition led by Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is expected to win 273 of the 543 parliament seats at stake, one more than the halfway mark required to rule. "Primarily, the BJP has been unable to sufficiently distinguish itself from Congress when it comes to making people feel the difference in terms of their livelihoods and economic interests. The main opposition Congress and its allies are expected to more than double their seats to about 141 on average.
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| Jennifer Harughty sues Houston Astros after allegedly being injured by T-shirt cannon Posted: 09 Apr 2019 02:27 PM PDT  The woman is asking for more than $1 million, saying her finger was permanently damaged when Orbit shot a T-shirt at close range.
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| Free IRS software for filing taxes to be banned by US Congress in win for TurboTax Posted: 10 Apr 2019 12:17 PM PDT  Congress is poised to pass a bill that would hand a major policy victory to the for-profit tax preparation industry, just in time for Tax Day in America.The bill, titled the Taxpayers First Act, is a wide-ranging bill that includes a provision that would ban the US government from developing a free electronic tax filing system, and is supported by companies like Intuit, the maker of TurboTax, and H&R Block.Those companies have lobbied Congress for years now to block the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from developing a free system to help taxpayers file online and would compete with their product, sinking a combined $6.6m into efforts related to the bill just last year.The passage of the provision would safeguard the profits of the private tax preparation corporation, which experts say run a system that makes filing taxes more difficult than it needs to be."This could be a disaster. It could be the final nail in the coffin of the idea of the IRS ever being able to create its own program," Mandi Matlock, a tax lawyer with the National Consumer Law Centre, told ProPublica.The legislation received a major boost last week after the House Ways and Means Committee voted to advance the legislation.It has bipartisan support in that committee, where it is co-sponsored by Democratic Representative John Lewis and Republican Representative Mike Kelly.Some 70 per cent of Americans qualify to use free tax-preparer programmes run by the companies in question, but just 3 per cent of eligible taxpayers use the service, according to the Free File Alliance, a private industry group.The new bill is expected to preserve those circumstances, which critics say allows the companies to purposefully under market their free services.
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| Google wants to start making more money from Maps, and we all know what that means Posted: 10 Apr 2019 04:05 PM PDT  Google is reportedly about to bring a version of the same playbook that turned its best-in-class search engine into an unstoppable money machine over to Google Maps, its service that more than 1 billion people rely on for directions and other related information. What that means for users, according to a new Bloomberg report, is that we may start to see more things like sponsored listings from businesses that have paid to be atop Google Maps results when you search for a variety of information, like nearby businesses.Hopefully, Google's reported interest in leaning on Maps as it hunts for new sources of revenue won't mean the company goes overboard -- like the way you have to scroll down past a slew of ads and highlighted results after conducting a Google Search, for example. As a heavy Google Maps user, though, I'm wary, especially given that relevancy may be even more important when looking for information within Maps than in Search.Brian Nowak, a Morgan Stanley analyst, said during a recent conference while interviewing Google business executive Philipp Schindler that Google Maps may be "the most under-monetized asset that I cover.""It's almost like a utility where it's kind of waiting for you to flip the switch on," Nowak said, as recounted by Bloomberg. As he explains it, there are actually several different ways Google could flip that revenue switch within Maps. I'm a Maps user who actually uses it as a Yelp-like service, firing it up to search things like restaurant reviews, which of course will display reviews from Google users along with detailed information like the business' location, hours of operation and more. Google, of course, could start promoting restaurants that would be highlighted when I do a search like that within Maps.Among other revenue opportunities, there are times when you're conducting a search within Maps for things that are nearby you. Say, you're low on gas and looking for the closest gas station. Google also could start automatically generating personalized recommendations for you, even before you ask. Those are all areas where Nowak thinks Google could easily start tapping Maps for money, while noting that the main thing people use it for (finding directions) is a "utility" that shouldn't be messed with -- which should most definitely go without saying.An objective assessment of all this is that it shouldn't come as a surprise. Bit by bit, Google has turned Maps into a kind of Swiss Army knife of a service, packing tons of features in recent months like even the ability to "follow" business listing that are starting to feel more like a "page" they'd have on a service like Facebook. Google has also already experimented with ads within Maps, and Google-owned navigation app Waze runs ads there. Google Maps director of product management Rajas Moonka told Bloomberg that because so much of what we do and search for in Maps is commercial and about businesses, ads can be a natural complement to that. You can see this in some specific areas of Maps, such as when the voice directions sometimes tell you to, say, "Turn right right at the Dunkin Donuts" instead of giving a street instead. According to Google, that's not an ad or the result of a paid exchange, but, again, it's another opportunity where Google could squeeze more revenue if it wanted.The Bloomberg report ends on a declarative note. Google Maps, it says, "is the next, big service" the company is turning to for revenue growth. Hopefully, Google will take it easy and won't do anything to disrupt the overall experience -- but, again, there's certainly reason to worry.
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| Pennsylvania lawmakers honor victims of synagogue massacre Posted: 10 Apr 2019 03:12 PM PDT  HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania lawmakers solemnly remembered the 11 worshippers killed in an anti-Semitic attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue last fall, hearing Wednesday from an affected congregation's rabbi that "all is not well in our republic."
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| Denver travel mess: 750 flight cancellations and counting Posted: 10 Apr 2019 05:17 PM PDT  Southwest and United airlines have big operations in Denver and have each canceled 200 flights into and out of Denver International Airport.
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| The Best Stuff in Wayfair's Way Day Sale (a.k.a. 36 Hours of Home Decor Bargains) Posted: 10 Apr 2019 12:51 PM PDT |
| Donald Trump Is Magnifying the Border Crisis Posted: 10 Apr 2019 11:29 AM PDT  It's time to face facts: Donald Trump is failing on his signature issue. There is a humanitarian crisis at the southern border. The number of people crossing is surging to numbers not seen in a decade. In February, 76,103 undocumented immigrants either presented themselves at ports of entry or were apprehended at the border. That was the largest number since February 2007 — until March, when border officials stopped 103,000 undocumented immigrants crossing the border.Making matters far worse, huge numbers of those crossing are families, including children. Roughly half the immigrants detained in February and March were traveling as part of a family unit. Kids are being hauled on dangerous trips, they're often subject to terrible abuse, and they face an uncertain future when they arrive in the U.S.Such a situation would be an immense political challenge for any president, but let's not forget that Trump campaigned with an obsessive, laser-like focus on immigration — especially immigration from the south. This was the heart of his announcement speech. It was the heart of his campaign rallies. It was the heart of his (failed) effort to keep the House in 2018. And here we are in 2019, with no wall, surging illegal immigration at the border, and chaos in the Department of Homeland Security.Even worse, in place of a coherent and effective immigration agenda, the Trump administration has given us quite a bit of inflammatory, ineffective, and incompetent flailing around. The aborted family-separation policy was one of the worst forms of moral and political malpractice yet seen in the modern immigration debate. Threats to close the border revealed only Trump's disregard for the vital economic importance of trade with Mexico. And his consistent efforts to resort to unilateral "pen and phone" actions — such as attempting to revise asylum statutes via regulation or build (parts) of the wall by executive fiat — are doomed to legal failure or (in the latter case) to marginal success.The bottom line is that the only permanent solutions to the crisis at the border are legislative. America's immigration and border-enforcement regime is established by Congress. It can only be reformed by Congress. That means deal-making. That means compromise. And, let's be honest, Trump has been a terrible deal-maker since the moment he landed in the Oval Office.While many of his most loyal supporters see his tweets, his threats, and his bluster as "fighting," by now (and especially after the Democratic victories in last year's midterms) his critics see the same behavior and use it as motivation. They're not alarmed by his bluster; they're amused. They mock him. His threats and tweets fuel the opposition and undermine his ability to make the deals he needs to make. He's testing the political utility of the opposite of Teddy' Roosevelt's admonition, "speak softly and carry a big stick," tweeting loudly and often carrying no real stick at all.In 2018, Trump could've had a deal for far, far more wall money than his subsequent emergency declaration will yield even if it survives the various legal challenges it now faces. He let that deal slip away. No one thinks a wall is the cure-all for our immigration crisis, but it would be a start, providing a permanent degree of protection and channeling more immigrants through safe, controlled ports of entry.The choice now is stark: more flailing, more inflammatory tweeting, and more chaos at DHS, or a real effort to formulate a sensible, coherent, and reasonable legislative proposal and sell it to Congress and the public. I mentioned earlier that Trump has been a terrible deal-maker. There is one exception: the First Step Act. Trump was instrumental in pushing through prison reform in part because that aspect of his presidency has been largely characterized by compassion and reason. Even in hyper-polarized times, there was room for an agreement to at least begin to deal with a recognized political and cultural challenge.I'm not naïve enough to believe that immigration compromises are as attainable as criminal-justice reform — there's too much toxic water under the bridge for that — but if we've learned anything from the past three years, we've learned that Trump's base isn't going anywhere. Ann Coulter could rage, Stephen Miller could quit, and it wouldn't matter: If Trump sells an immigration deal, the most loyal among his base will stand and cheer.We don't know if any reasonable legislative compromise is attainable. Perhaps the polarization is too complete, and we'll have to muddle through until a political reset in 2020. But we do know what won't ease the crisis on the southern border: executive actions, presidential tweets, and endless turnover at the top of DHS. The Trump strategy of the past two years has been an objective failure. It's time for a change of tack. It's time to seek compromise.
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| New Bentley Flying Spur Teased with a Retractable Hood Ornament Posted: 10 Apr 2019 01:05 PM PDT  The third-generation of Bentley's "small" Flying Spur sedan will be revealed later this year.
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