| Trump says impeachment is 'dirty, filthy, disgusting word' Posted: 30 May 2019 06:25 AM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday scornfully rejected 'disgusting' talk among Democrats about launching an impeachment inquiry against him in the aftermath of the Russia probe, saying he did nothing to merit such an outcome. Talking to reporters on the White House South Lawn ahead of a trip to Colorado, Trump grew animated in reacting to a statement from U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Wednesday. Mueller said his report on Russian collusion in the 2016 presidential campaign did not clear Trump of obstruction of justice and indicated it was up to Congress to decide whether he should be impeached.
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| Rudy Giuliani Steps Up Biden Attacks With New Ukraine Conspiracy Theory Posted: 30 May 2019 09:15 PM PDT  Weeks after Ukraine's prosecutor general shot down Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani's claims that there was some nefarious plot by former Vice President Joe Biden just waiting to be uncovered in the country, Giuliani upped the ante on Thursday night and straight-up accused Biden of bribing the Ukrainian president to make an investigation into his son go away.Coincidentally (or predictably?), the claim came amid mounting calls for impeachment after Special Counsel Robert Mueller broke two years of silence earlier this week to say he could not clear President Trump of a crime, despite the president and his allies' declarations to the contrary. Appearing on Fox News' Hannity to ostensibly talk about that recent statement, the former New York City mayor quickly pivoted to 2020 contender Biden. Complaining that the press isn't covering all of Biden's supposed scandals, Giuliani ranted about a series of suspicious money flows, none of which he provided any actual details on. "How bout the $5 million from one of the most crooked people in the Ukraine? While Joe is doling out the money to the Ukraine? And then Joe bribes the president of the Ukraine," he said. "He says, 'You have six hours, fire the prosecutor that's investigating his son, or I'm leaving with America's money,'" host Sean Hannity said, helpfully setting Giuliani up to continue with his baseless accusations."The money that would have the country go under," Giuliani exclaimed. "Remember, it was not just 1.2 billion. They were going to default without that 1.2 billion. They were desperate!" It was not immediately clear what funds Giuliani was referring to. The European Union extended a $1.2 billion loan to Ukraine early last year, and before that, in 2014, Congress approved a $1 billion loan package to Ukraine. The U.S. Treasury also backed $2 billion in loan guarantees in 2015. Giuliani went on to allege that former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was "extorted" by Biden, claiming Biden held the loan guarantees unless the president fired a top prosecutor who was investigating a company Biden's son worked for. Poroshenko, Giuliani said, was even the "godfather to the guy's kids.""That's the crime, Joe. Extorted!" Giuliani shouted. "And by the way, when he took the money for the Ukraine, we call that, under all laws, bribery!"While Giuliani has spent much of the past month persistently claiming that then-Vice President Biden abused his power to force Ukraine to drop a probe involving his son—even announcing and then quickly canceling a trip to Kiev to convince the nation's president-elect to keep the pressure on the Bidens—this appears to be the first time he explicitly accused Biden of bribing a world leader. And despite the current Ukrainian prosecutor pouring cold water on Giuliani's suspicions, the Trump campaign hatchet man still appeared baffled and outraged that his conspiracy theory is not gaining more traction. "And the dishonest press will not cover it," he said. "That's why when the president says they are dishonest, when he says they are corrupt, and even when he says they are the enemy of the people, they are proving it."While the Ukrainian government appears to have no interest in Giuliani's gambits, he has continued to push forward. Recently, he met with a former Ukrainian diplomat in an effort to prove that Ukrainian officials worked with Democrats in order to undermine former Trump campaign official Paul Manafort.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Body believed to be missing Utah girl is found Posted: 29 May 2019 07:33 PM PDT  SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A body believed to be a missing 5-year-old Utah girl was found Wednesday less than a block from her home, bringing a wide-ranging search to a grim close five days after the child was taken from her home and killed by her uncle, police said.
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| 'Dangerous overcrowding': 900 migrants cram into Border Patrol center designed for 125 people Posted: 31 May 2019 12:21 PM PDT  Some migrants stood "for days or weeks" because there wasn't enough room to sit, a report found. Some stood on toilets for "breathing space."
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| The 29 Best New York City Landmarks to Visit Posted: 31 May 2019 05:00 AM PDT |
| China Has a Rare Earths Plan Ready to Go if Trade War Deepens Posted: 30 May 2019 07:32 PM PDT  The government has prepared the steps it will take to use its stranglehold on the critical minerals in a targeted way to hurt the U.S. economy, the people said. The measures would likely focus on heavy rare earths, a sub-group of the materials where the U.S. is particularly reliant on China. China produces about 80% of the world's rare earths, and an even higher proportion of the elements in their processed forms.
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| Alaska Native leaders seek U.S. attorney general's help to fight rural crime Posted: 29 May 2019 07:59 PM PDT  U.S. Attorney General Robert Barr on Wednesday promised Alaska Native leaders he would work to strengthen law enforcement in the state's rural areas hit by alarmingly high rates of violent crime. Native Alaskan leaders say police protection is scarce in their communities. The meeting was held on the day U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller appeared before reporters in Washington at the Department of Justice, which Barr oversees, to discuss his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
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| Trump’s Plan to Stop Biden: Turn Black Voters Against Him Posted: 30 May 2019 02:12 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/GettyPresident Donald Trump, who never rescinded his call to execute a group of African-American men wrongly accused of assaulting a New York jogger and whose political rallies routinely feature chants to lock up his political opponents, is now accusing his Democratic rival of being too tough on crime.And he is doing so, advisers concede, with a cynical purpose in mind: depressing the African-American vote for Democrats in the lead up to the 2020 election.At least several times over the past two months, the president has emphasized to aides that he wants the criminal justice reform act that he signed into law in 2018 to be a significant component of his 2020 blitz, according to two people familiar with his comments. Trump has stressed that he believes the law, known as the First Step Act, could be used as a cudgel against Democrats, chief among them former Vice President Joe Biden. One of these sources recalled Trump saying that he wanted "everybody to beat the hell out of" Biden over the 1994 crime bill, which included draconian, tough-on-crime policies that progressive activists have long since turned against.It's an audacious gambit for a president who has spoken about his desire to execute drug dealers, pursued a family separation policy for migrants, and publicly told cops they should rough suspects up a bit more upon arrest. But Trump's advisers do not actually believe that the president can peel off a large percentage of the black vote from Biden with their attacks on the '94 crime bill, which spent huge sums on prison construction and deploying new cops, but also included the Violence Against Women Act and an assault weapons ban. Instead, they believe that if the president can puncture African-American voter enthusiasm for Biden, and fan ideological flames within the Democratic Party, then that could help kneecap the former VP, according to three people familiar with these internal discussions."Democrats can't win unless they get Obama levels of black voter turnout," said Ed Rollins, a longtime GOP strategist who heads the pro-Trump Great America PAC. "Unless they can get back those levels, it makes it awful hard for them to win the White House… I think it's a legitimate weapon that Trump is wielding [against Biden], but I think it'll be used by [Biden's fellow] Democrats, as well, during the primary long before we get head-to-head, if in fact Biden is the finalist on the other side."Biden Could Beat Trump. But He's Defeating Himself Instead.Trump has used this playbook before. In 2016, he sharply criticized Hillary Clinton's decades-old reference to "superpredators" during the 1990s crime panic, in an attempt to paint her as the real racist. He was amplified by Russian actors, which ran social media campaigns similarly designed to depress the black vote. One top Democrat told The Daily Beast that Team Clinton was caught off-guard by the investment Trump's own campaign made in making "superpredators" a component of its late ad push prior to election day."It was certainly damaging," said a Clinton campaign veteran. "And I personally also think we didn't do a good enough job talking about her actual record." In an interview with The Daily Beast, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) recounted how he was personally shocked to find out that Trump's attacks weren't just finding their way to African-American voters but actually resonating with them. "I do go a barber at least twice a month and I talk to him as I did two days ago and on the morning of the election in 2016," Clyburn said. "I walked into the shop and I said 'Oliver, how does it look?' And he said 'I'm, telling you something. I'm shocked, but in the last few days many people coming in here are voting for Trump.' I said, 'WHAT!' He said, 'Yeah, these guys, plenty of them are voting for Trump and it's all about mass incarceration and superpredators.'"Owing to that experience, Clyburn said he would more proactively defend the '94 crime bill, which, he argued, was being falsely tagged with having codified some of the mandatory minimum sentencing laws that actually came into being years prior. But he also expressed fear that Trump's attempt to depress the black vote would have its desired outcome if others didn't join him. Twice, he made a point to note that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Biden's closest primary opponent, had voted for the legislation too. "I would encourage [Biden] to speak out about it and Bernie Sanders, too. Both of them ought to lean into this," said Clyburn. "History is my teaching. Everything to me is built on some historical context and because I know that is what happened in the last election, yes, I believe [Trump] is going to try and do it again."Russians Tried to Recruit Black Students to Bash Hillary ClintonIt's not just Trump who is trying to paint Biden as bad for the African-American community. The National Rifle Association—a top White House ally—has been running Facebook ads since May 10 accusing the former VP of having a "not so ambiguous pro-segregation stance." America Rising, the Republican Party's premier opposition research shop, has devoted significant energy to Biden's role in shepherding the crime bill into law—and mocking his attempts to distance himself from mass incarceration.The firm has compiled a wealth of research going back to the 1990s on Biden's involvement, trumpeting quotes on an America Rising candidate profile that described the crime bill as Biden's brainchild and quoting left-leaning media outlets that dubbed the law "a career-defining victory."When Biden attempted to distance himself from mass incarceration in the U.S., America Rising called it an attempt to "rewrite history" and tagged him with a Washington Post fact-check that found that Biden's crime bill "set the tone" for future state policies that exacerbated America's prison populations.But the effort truly picked up more steam this past weekend. On Monday, as Trump wrapped up his high-profile trip to Japan, he took to Twitter to troll the Biden for the bill. By Tuesday, top Trump aides were following suit. "The 1994 Crime Bill was a TERRIBLE mistake," the president's campaign manager Brad Parscale posted to Twitter. On Wednesday, the Trump 2020 National Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement that the "Biden-backed 1994 crime bill" had "disproportionately incarcerated black Americans and devastated families."So far, it's not clear if Biden has figured out how, exactly, to respond. Asked by The Daily Beast if Biden or his 2020 staff had any comment on Trump's remarks, the Biden campaign declined to comment for this story.But if the former VP's campaign wants to point to defenders of the law, it could just spotlight Trump's own personal lawyer. Earlier this month, Rudy Giuliani tweeted his support of the 1994 crime bill and even called on Biden to not abandon the legislation. Ironically, when Biden mocked Giuliani as "the most under-qualified man since George Bush to seek the presidency" during a Democratic debate in the 2008 primary, he bragged that former Mayor Giuliani was only able to cut crime in New York City because of "the Biden crime bill that became the Clinton crime bill."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| $200,000 Jeep Gladiator-based MAXIMUS is unveiled, with only 24 to be built Posted: 31 May 2019 12:29 PM PDT  Hennessey Performance is accepting orders for the MAXIMUS 1000, a Jeep Gladiator variant costing $200,000 with only 24 built.
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| NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope takes another step towards completion Posted: 30 May 2019 01:31 PM PDT  NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is late to its own party, and it's not just a little bit late. NASA originally planned to have the spacecraft ready to roll as early as 2007, but a laundry list of setbacks (and stupid human errors on the part of manufacturer Northrop Grumman) have pushed the project back by over a decade and roughly 20 times its original cost.With that much cash dumped into a project, you can bet that NASA is eager to see some hints of serious progress, especially with its tentative 2021 launch window rapidly approaching. The good news is that half of the telescope just completed a round of testing at its manufacturing facility, besting a vacuum chamber designed to put it through conditions it would experience while in space.The telescope is being built in two parts. One half contains the telescope itself as well as various scientific instruments, and the other half is the spacecraft platform which allows it to move and maintain its orbit. The spacecraft half is the portion that just completed its vacuum chamber testing, which put it up against temperatures ranging from negative 235 degrees Fahrenheit to 215 degrees Fahrenheit."The teams from Northrop Grumman and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center are to be commended for a successful spacecraft thermal vacuum test, dedicating long hours to get where we are now," Jeanne Davis, James Webb program manager, said in a statement. "This incredible accomplishment paves the way for the next major milestone, which is to integrate the telescope and the spacecraft elements."The news is a long time coming, but it's definitely a big step in the James Webb program. Ensuring that all the components will work as planned once they make it into space is, of course, crucial, but plenty of hurdles still have to be scaled before the telescope is ready to head skyward. Integrating all of the components takes time, and new issues could crop up at any moment. Let's hope the 2021 date sticks and NASA isn't forced to delay it yet again.
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| PHOTO GALLERY: Looking back at hurricane damage Posted: 31 May 2019 11:37 AM PDT  Crews with bulldozers and dump trucks have removed tons of debris from the Florida Panhandle since Hurricane Michael slammed ashore in October, wrecking miles of homes and businesses, yet signs of the storm's fury remain everywhere as hurricane season approaches. In south Florida, where Hurricane Andrew caused devastation in 1992, few physical signs of damage remain. The scene isn't much different in Panama City, which thousands of residents left after Michael and still haven't returned.
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| Mitch McConnell Has Always Been Unusually Open About His Playbook Posted: 30 May 2019 01:50 PM PDT  The Senate majority leader again made waves by admitting the obvious.
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| Disney says it won't make any more films in Georgia if draconian abortion laws come into force in the US state Posted: 29 May 2019 11:57 PM PDT  Disney's chief executive has warned Georgia that the company's film and TV productions are likely to abandon the state if its controversial abortion bill becomes law. Bob Iger said it would be "very difficult" for the entertainment giant to continue working in the state if the so-called "heartbeat bill", which outlaws terminations from as early as six weeks, comes into force. The Walt Disney Company has shot some of its biggest films in the US state, including Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame. Speaking to Reuters, Iger said: "If it becomes law, it'll be very difficult. "I think many people who work for us will not want to work there, and we will have to heed their wishes in that regard. "Right now we are watching it very carefully." Sen John Milkovich speaks outside the State Capitol in Louisiana where the House passed Milkovich's 'fetal heartbeat' bill Georgia has been dubbed the "Hollywood of the South" after it lured production companies with favourable tax laws. The state offers a tax credit that has lured many film and TV productions. The industry is responsible for more than 92,000 jobs in Georgia, according to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and some 455 productions were shot in Georgia in 2018, according to the state. However, its proposed abortion laws have caused fury across the industry, with leading stars lining up to condemn the bill. Netflix has also warned it could pull out of the state. Georgia's bill bans abortions in cases where a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as six weeks. It is due to come into effect on January 1 2020, although campaigners have already said they will fight it in the courts. It came as last night Louisiana on Wednesday also passed a bill banning abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, becoming the seventh state to do so. The bans are expected to be blocked in lower courts, but supporters plan to appeal such decisions until they reach the Supreme Court.
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| Explainer: China's rare earth supplies could be vital bargaining chip in U.S. trade war Posted: 29 May 2019 10:16 PM PDT  Rare earth elements are used in a wide range of consumer products, from iPhones to electric car motors, as well as military jet engines, satellites and lasers. Rising tensions between the United States and China have sparked concerns that Beijing could use its dominant position as a supplier of rare earths for leverage in the trade war between the two global economic powers. WHAT ARE RARE EARTHS USED IN?
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| Syria regime strikes kill 7 in latest Idlib bloodshed Posted: 30 May 2019 12:50 PM PDT  Maaret al-Numan (Syria) (AFP) - Regime air strikes on a jihadist enclave in northwest Syria killed seven civilians on Thursday, a monitor said, the latest deaths in a bloody wave of government attacks. Damascus and its ally Russia have pummelled Idlib province and surroundings over the past month despite a truce deal aimed at staving off a humanitarian catastrophe. "The pace of air strikes decreased relatively on Thursday compared to previous days," said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
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| Drone captures water pouring over breached levee Posted: 31 May 2019 08:58 AM PDT  Water from the Arkansas River was seen gushing through a gap in the levee in Holla Bend, Arkansas, on May 31. The National Weather Service in Little Rock, Arkansas, issued a Flash Flood Warning following the breach that urged residents to voluntarily evacuate.
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| No happy ending: Missing Hawaiian hiker Noah 'Kekai' Mina found dead Posted: 30 May 2019 07:42 AM PDT ![No happy ending: Missing Hawaiian hiker Noah 'Kekai' Mina found dead]( "No happy ending: Missing Hawaiian hiker Noah 'Kekai' Mina found dead") Less than a week after the rescue of a hiker lost in a Hawaiian forest for 17 days, the search for another missing Hawaiian hiker ended in tragedy.
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| Mastermind's accountant agrees to plead guilty in college admissions scandal Posted: 31 May 2019 04:34 PM PDT  The bookkeeper for Rick Singer, the ringleader of the college admissions bribery scandal, has agreed to plead guilty to charges and cooperate.
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| Teacher writes 'WTF is this?' on child's homework Posted: 30 May 2019 03:13 AM PDT  A teacher is being investigated after writing "WTF" on a student's homework.The science tutor penned the missive – text-slang for "what the f***?" – after apparently finding the pupil's science assignment somewhat underwhelming."WTF is this?" she wrote. "Absolutely no credit."But after the pupil's mother complained, the unnamed teacher – at Rutherford High School in Florida's Bay County – has been told the incident will be investigated."It wasn't anything about not getting the credit, it was more so the language…that was very inappropriate and not acceptable for a teacher whatsoever," said Melinda Smith, whose son received the unflattering feedback. "I think for sure she needs to be reprimanded. I believe that something should be placed in her file."Neither her son's name or age have been revealed.Rutherford High's principal, Coy Pilson, said the school was taking action."Once we were notified, I notified district officials and our HR has been involved and they're currently investigating the situation," he told regional TV station WJHG. He would not be drawn on what action may be taken but suggested the incident was out of character for the member of staff involved."She was apologetic and it was a mistake on her part," he said. "All of the teachers at Rutherford High School are caring, loving teachers and we're also human and so, we make mistakes."But we understand that we are called to a high professional standard and when we make mistakes, we try to correct those mistakes and move forward."
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| New Mexico town gets death threats after halting crowd-funded border wall Posted: 30 May 2019 04:46 PM PDT  A New Mexico mayor on Thursday said he and his staff received multiple death threats after they briefly halted construction of a crowd-funded, private border wall by a group that then urged supporters to tell the city to "stop playing games," and alleged it was tied to drug cartels. The Florida-based group has raised $23 million via crowd-funding site GoFundMe.com to build private border walls to halt smuggling and a surge in undocumented migrants, after funding for President Donald Trump's promised wall was blocked. Perea described the tactics of We Build the Wall as a "cheap blow," and the American Civil Liberties Union accused it of pursuing a "white Nationalist" agenda.
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| Want to end abortion? Hold men — fathers of those unplanned children — accountable. Posted: 30 May 2019 04:26 PM PDT  If we are indeed facing a crisis of mass murder in our country, isn't it time we ensure everyone — including men — is pulling their weight to stop it?
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| Did Mueller Sit on His No-Collusion Conclusion? Posted: 31 May 2019 03:30 AM PDT  What did Robert Mueller know, and when did he know it?This was among the questions that the Russiagate special counsel dodged at Wednesday's Justice Department photo opportunity. More concretely, did Mueller promptly report his no-collusion conclusion, or did he cover it up for months, to enervate President Donald J. Trump and energize Democrats? Meanwhile, America tore itself in two.Mueller's 22-month-long inquiry was like chemotherapy — an invasive, all-consuming nightmare, though seemingly necessary to excise a malignancy. Serious suspicions existed that the Republican party's standard-bearer conspired with the Kremlin to capture the White House.The chemo eventually worked. It confirmed that there was no collusion. The Oval Office is not occupied by a Russian asset. If Dr. Mueller determined this in, say, mid-February and informed Attorney General William Barr on March 22, then Americans should applaud this fair timeline.But what if Dr. Mueller last year deemed Team Trump cancer-free but, nonetheless, continued this exhausting, divisive, demoralizing chemotherapy — for at least eight extra months?Why such cruelty? Did Mueller intend to keep Trump off balance and unable to focus completely on his agenda? Did Mueller mean to rejuvenate Democrats, so that they would resist the "Russian agent" who denied Hillary her "birthright?" And did Mueller (or his angry-Democrat staff) leave this smear against Trump uncorrected so that information-deprived voters would hand Democrats the House?Under-covered passages of Mueller's report strongly suggest that he engaged in malpractice rather than good medicine."As soon as news broke that Trump had been elected President, Russian government officials and prominent Russian businessmen began trying to make inroads into the new Administration," the report states on page 144. "They appeared not to have preexisting contacts and struggled to connect with senior officials around the President-Elect.""At approximately 3 a.m. on election night, Trump Campaign press secretary Hope Hicks received a telephone call," Mueller's report continues. Through this person's thick foreign accent, Hicks deciphered the words "Putin call." The next morning, Nov. 9, 2016, Hicks received the email she requested from the caller.Russian Embassy official Sergey Kuznetsov contacted Hicks via Gmail. Subject line: "Message from Putin." In an English/Russian attachment, according to Mueller, "Putin offered his congratulations to Trump for his electoral victory, stating he 'look[ed] forward to working with [Trump] on leading Russian-American relations out of crisis.'"Hicks and Trump's son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner, according to his congressional testimony, then spent time authenticating this email by identifying, locating, and contacting Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. After Moscow's man in Washington validated the email, Mueller's report states, "Hicks conveyed Putin's letter to transition officials. Five days later, on November 14, 2016, Trump and Putin spoke by phone in the presence of Transition Team members. …"These delays frustrated Putin. Mueller cites Petr Aven, chief of Alfa-Bank, Russia's largest commercial lender: Mueller states that Aven had a "one-on-one meeting with Putin" in the fourth quarter of 2018. "Aven also testified that Putin spoke of the difficulty faced by the Russian government in getting in touch with the incoming Trump Administration," Mueller writes. "According to Aven, Putin indicated that he did not know with whom formally to speak and generally did not know the people around the President-Elect."If Trump and Putin had been in cahoots, they would have speed-dialed each other and toasted Trump's triumph on Election Night. Instead, Putin's greeting crawled toward the president-elect for five days.What did Mueller know? "Trump-Russia collusion" was a Red Square-sized lie.When did he know it? Kushner testified on July 24, 2017. Hicks spoke to the FBI on Dec. 8, 2017. Aven sang on Aug. 2, 2018.So, Mueller knew this at least 95 days before the November 6 midterm elections. Mueller could have removed the "Trump is a KGB agent" albatross that hobbled the president and his party. But he didn't. In essence, Mueller hid this exculpatory evidence from the 328 million jurors in America's court of public opinion before they rendered their verdict on Trump and the GOP last November.The House and Senate Judiciary Committees should subpoena Robert "No Questions" Mueller and make him explain publicly why he covered up this game-changing conclusion from at least August 2 through March 22 — with a national election wedged in between.
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| India's Modi sworn in, set to name new government Posted: 30 May 2019 12:52 PM PDT  India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched his historic second term at a solemn ceremony in front of cheering supporters Thursday ahead of unveiling a revamped Hindu nationalist government. The 68-year-old prime minister walked up to take his oath of office to a standing ovation, with supporters in the crowd chanting "Modi, Modi". "Honoured to serve India!" he said on Twitter soon after.
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| Nevada governor vetoes national popular vote compact Posted: 30 May 2019 03:41 PM PDT  CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Nevada will not join a cohort of other U.S. states that have pledged their Electoral College votes to the presidential candidate who wins the national popular vote.
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| The Next Best Thing to an F-35?: Check Out Russia's 'New' MiG-35 Posted: 30 May 2019 01:35 AM PDT  With Russia's MiG-29 nearing the end of its shelf life as Russia's staple multirole fighter, the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) are taking an increasing interest in its successor: the MiG-35.For years, its manufacturer has marketed the MiG-35 as a "4++" fighter: "I would say that this is a new plane that surpasses our foreign competitors. In other words, this is a 4++ level plane," stated Mikoyan General Director Ilya Tarasenko in a recent interview.Russian President Vladimir Putin echoed this sentiment at a Kremlin conference: "I note that the new multipurpose MiG-35 fighter has enhanced flight and technical characteristics and is equipped with the very latest weapons systems. You know this better than I. It can follow from 10 to 30 targets at once, and can operate over land or sea. This is a genuinely unique and promising aircraft, 4++, you could say, very close to being fifth generation."But what exactly does "4++" mean, and is the MiG-35 really a hair's breadth away from being considered a fifth-generation fighter?A recent documentary from T24, a Russian state-funded television channel, sheds light on the MiG-35's capabilities while offering plenty of high-fidelity footage of the plane in action.
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| Chicago detectives knew a Jussie Smollett deal was in the works, new documents show Posted: 31 May 2019 07:33 AM PDT  Newly released documents from the Jussie Smollett case show Chicago police detectives knew a month in advance a deal was in the works.
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| View 2020 Lexus RX Photos Posted: 30 May 2019 07:27 AM PDT |
| The surprising main reason 492 out of 500 people at one company chose iPhone over Android Posted: 31 May 2019 06:36 AM PDT  There are so many exciting new Android smartphones coming in 2019. In fact, several of the best ones have already been released. After two years with the same design, Samsung completely overhauled the Galaxy S10 series and gave it a new all-screen design with a hole-punch camera that people seem to love. Then the OnePlus 7 Pro came along with the first true all-screen design and a selfie camera that pops up out of the top of the phone only when you need it. Of course, that's just the tip of the iceberg and there are even more exciting new Android phones set to be released over the course of the year, including the first crop of smartphones with OLED screens that actually fold so they can be made more compact.Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, there's not really anything terribly exciting about Apple's upcoming new iPhone 11 series smartphones. The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max will feature upgraded triple-lens cameras, which is certainly nice considering how far Apple has fallen behind market leaders like Huawei and Google. Beyond that, however, we're looking at new iPhone 11 models that look just like iPhone XS models from last year and the iPhone X from two years ago. And yet... despite how boring Apple's 2019 iPhone upgrade is shaping up to be, the companies unreleased iPhone 11 series smartphones still garner so much more hype than Android rivals. There's just something about Apple's iPhones that people can't seem to stay away from, and people are constantly trying to figure out exactly what it is. There are undoubtedly plenty of different reasons people have for choosing an iPhone over Android smartphones, but a new informal survey that was recently conducted suggested that one of the biggest reasons is something you would probably never expect.A Redditor who goes by the name "jackharvest" posted earlier this week in the Android subreddit to share an interesting story. He works in IT at an unnamed company, and his team noticed something crazy: of the 500 employees at the company, only 8 of them chose to use an Android phone. Everyone else -- all 492 of them -- chose an iPhone over Android phones.The IT team was so intrigued that it decided to issue a survey to ask employees why they chose the iPhone over Android. According to the Redditor, more than half of the iPhone users at the company gave the same answer. Did they choose Apple's iPhone over an Android handset because the design and build quality are so much better? Was it because iPhones always outperform even the most powerful Android flagships in real-life speed tests? Or perhaps it was because they all prefer the simplicity and ease of use that iOS offers compared to Android.Nope, it wasn't any of that. It was because they didn't want to be "green bubbles," a reference to the fact that iMessage chats in the iPhone's Messages app use blue bubbles while SMS chats are displayed with green bubbles. Forget all of the great advantages iPhones might offer, iMessage is the main reason all these people wanted an iPhone. 98% of the employees at this company went with Apple over Android, and for the majority of them, it was mainly because of a single service.Now, commenters on Reddit were quick to point out that this phenomenon is unique to the United States and perhaps a handful of other regions, and they're correct. Cross-platform messaging apps from third-party app makers are popular in the US, but SMS and iMessage are still widely used. That's not the case in many other markets -- SMS has been almost completely abandoned in favor of messaging apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and others. The US is one of the biggest smartphone markets in the world though, and it's pretty crazy to think that the desire to be a blue bubble is still such a huge deciding factor for people here. Meanwhile, Google continues to flounder in all of its attempts to produce a similar messaging service for Android with anywhere near the kind of lock-in we've seen with iMessage.
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| Saudi Arabia seeks Arab unity over Iran after attacks Posted: 30 May 2019 09:02 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which have lobbied Washington to contain their foe, Shi'ite Muslim Iran, have said they want to avoid war after drone strikes on oil pumping stations in the kingdom and the sabotage of tankers off the UAE. Riyadh accused Tehran of ordering the drone strikes, which were claimed by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said on Thursday that evidence of Iran being behind the tanker attacks would be presented to the U.N. Security Council as early as next week.
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| Utah First Responders Cope with Trauma After Discovery of Elizabeth Shelley`s Body Posted: 30 May 2019 11:32 AM PDT  The search for Elizabeth Shelley has taken an emotional toll, first and foremost on the family and also on folks in the community of Logan, Utah.
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| Mueller’s ‘Insufficient Evidence’ Doesn’t Mean What Trump Says It Does Posted: 30 May 2019 06:22 AM PDT  Befitting the former U.S. Marine, it's thorough, exhaustive in detail, even exasperating in its attention to fine legal arguments and Justice Department policy guidelines. Speaking about it publicly for the first time on Wednesday, Mueller made a point to say that the pages contained his words, carefully chosen. It follows, then, that the report as reiterated by Mueller isn't easily reduced to catch phrases.
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| Cemeteries and family memories stand in border wall's way Posted: 30 May 2019 11:36 AM PDT  SAN JUAN, Texas (AP) — On a muggy, mosquito-filled evening near the U.S.-Mexico border, the threat of President Donald Trump's border wall brought together a large group of family members at two historic cemeteries that are part of their ancestral land.
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| Amit Shah: Modi's enforcer emerges from behind India's throne Posted: 31 May 2019 03:47 AM PDT  As the battle-hardened drill sergeant for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Amit Shah has long been considered India's second most-powerful person, and his appointment Friday as home minister elevates his position to leader-in-waiting. While Modi is the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party's people person, firing up rallies and mastering Twitter, Shah has for years made sure that Modi's orders are carried out to the letter while turning the world's biggest political party into the undisputed force across the nation of 1.3 billion people. Shah's piercing stare and strongarm tactics have made him a feared and respected figure in the Hindu nationalist party -- opposition parties and critics call him "ruthless" -- a status only increased by his role masterminding the BJP's second straight landslide election victory this month as the party president.
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| Galaxy S11 rumored to deliver Samsung’s next big camera innovations Posted: 31 May 2019 12:24 PM PDT  When the Galaxy Note 10 launches about two months from now, it'll deliver a novel design, maybe the kind of radical update that removes all physical buttons and the headphone jack. Yup, the audio port seems to be history, at least on the Note line. The phone is also expected to sport an S Pen stylus with improved functionality, as well as faster battery charging technology. But what the Galaxy Note 10 won't deliver, in spite of getting a brand new camera system, is a better camera experience than the Galaxy S10 phones. That's because a rumor says Samsung's next major camera evolution is planned for next year's Galaxy S11 instead.That's not to say the Galaxy Note 10 camera will be disappointing. It'll definitely be an upgrade over last year's Note 9, which is already quite impressive. Samsung's triple-lens-or-better module is coming to the upcoming Note 10 series, according to a leak from earlier this week. It's going to have a different placement on the back of the phone compared with the previous Note, but it'll probably get most or even all of the Galaxy S10's camera features.The news comes from Samsung insider Ice Universe, who said on Twitter that the Galaxy Note 10 will be Samsung's last "last 1/2.55-inch 1.4um CMOS flagship phone," which Samsung has been using for four years. The leaker also said the Galaxy S11 will get a new "large-size large-pixel CMOS."https://twitter.com/UniverseIce/status/1133554761393795073According to the same leaker, the Galaxy Note 10 won't pack optical zoom capabilities similar to what you might find from the competition -- namely the Huawei P30 Pro. Samsung has tested 10x optical zoom on phones, but the components apparently require too much space inside the phone.https://twitter.com/UniverseIce/status/1133553896499007488Samsung has created its own 5x optical zoom camera that will compete against the Huawei P30 Pro, but it'll launch it on new Galaxy A series mid-range phones at first, not the Note 10.https://twitter.com/UniverseIce/status/1133551214417698816Samsung will unveil the Note 10 phones in August, so there's plenty of time left to learn everything about their rear and front-facing cameras.
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| China threatens corporate hit-list on eve of new tariffs on U.S. imports Posted: 30 May 2019 07:09 PM PDT  China threatened on Friday to unveil an unprecedented hit-list of "unreliable" foreign firms, groups and individuals that harm the interests of Chinese companies, as a slate of retaliatory tariffs on imported U.S. goods was set to kick in at midnight. The commerce ministry did not single out any country or company, but the threat could further heighten tensions after Washington this month put Huawei on a blacklist that effectively blocks U.S. firms from doing business with the Chinese telecoms equipment giant. Beijing's "unreliable entities list" would apply to those who violate market rules and the spirit of contracts, block supplies to Chinese companies for non-commercial reasons, "seriously damage the legitimate rights and interests" of Chinese companies and harm China's national security, the ministry said.
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| Scouted: Cold Brew Coffee is the Best Kind of Coffee and Here’s How to Brew the Best Cup Posted: 31 May 2019 01:00 PM PDT  There are some people who can drink hot coffee year-round. I am not one of those people. If anything, I could drink cold brew well into winter time without much thought (though I would get some looks from strangers).I've talked about what I love about cold brew and why it's superior to any other method of brewing coffee. If you want to make it yourself at home, you have many options. We've rounded up some of the best-selling cold brew coffee makers on the market that deserve a place on your kitchen counter — and in your heart.Takeya Deluxe Cold Brew Iced Coffee Maker, $19 on AmazonTakeya Deluxe Cold Brew Iced Coffee Maker, $19 on Amazon: I love this cold brew maker because it's just so easy. You just dump your favorite ground coffee into the center compartment, fill the rest with water, and let it sit. The only thing you really need for a really good cold brew from this maker besides coffee and water is patience.OXO BREW Cold Brew Coffee Maker, $50 on AmazonOXO BREW Cold Brew Coffee Maker, $50 on Amazon: What's great about this cold brew maker is that you can evenly distribute the water thanks to the "Rainmaker" top that disperses water across the grounds. It brews up top and then a quick-release button empties the coffee into a ready-to-pour carafe. Toddy Cold Brew System, $35 on AmazonToddy Cold Brew System, $35 on Amazon: This maker from Toddy comes with its own reusable filter and the ability to buy a separate paper filter for quick and easy cleanup. Steep your coffee in the top and then pull out the rubber and empty it into the carafe below. The carafe itself comes with an airtight lid so you can easily store your cold brew without worrying about any flavor changes.Country Line Kitchen Cold Brew Coffee Maker, $27 on AmazonCountry Line Kitchen Cold Brew Coffee Maker, $27 on Amazon: While this may look a little kitschy, the mason jar brewer is all business. The interior filter is made from a super strong stainless steel and the lid features a flip-top lid to keep the caffeine flowing freely (this sounds like a dream I had last night). And look, the mason jar-style container is just darn cute.Bodum Bean Cold Brew Coffee Maker, $22 on AmazonBodum Bean Cold Brew Coffee Maker, $22 on Amazon: I always forget how much I enjoy French press coffee and this maker from Bodum pairs its classic French press style with multi-hour-long steeps. Just put your grounds in, fill with cold water, and let steep. After it's done, press down like you would any other French press-style brew.Scouted is internet shopping with a pulse. Follow us on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter for even more recommendations and exclusive content. Please note that if you buy something featured in one of our posts, The Daily Beast may collect a share of sales.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Ford Hikes the 2020 Mustang Bullitt's Price by $1215 Posted: 30 May 2019 12:08 PM PDT  Other Mustangs see only a $250 increase in base price.
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| Barr: Counter-intelligence Probe of Trump Campaign Crossed ‘Serious Red Line’ Posted: 31 May 2019 08:15 AM PDT  Attorney General William Barr said Friday that the FBI's counterintelligence investigation of the Trump campaign "crossed" a "serious red line" and should be "carefully looked at.""The use of foreign intelligence capabilities and counterintelligence capabilities against an American political campaign to me is unprecedented and it's a serious red line that's been crossed," Barr said in an interview with CBS.The attorney general is currently investigating the origins of the probe to determine whether the U.S. intelligence community's surveillance of the Trump campaign was warranted. He has expressed skepticism about the explanations for some of the investigative actions taken.During testimony to the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee last month, Barr stated that "spying did occur" on the Trump campaign, angering Democratic lawmakers."I guess it's become a dirty word somehow," Barr told CBS. "I think there is nothing wrong with spying. The question is always whether it is authorized by law.""There were counterintelligence activities undertaken against the Trump campaign, And I'm not saying there was not a basis for it, that it was legitimate, but I want to see what that basis was and make sure it was legitimate," he added.The New York Times reported that the FBI sent an undercover agent posing as a research assistant to ask former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos whether the campaign was working with Russia. Papadopoulos was told by a Maltese professor in early 2016 that Russia had damaging information on Trump's opponent, Hillary Clinton, but said he told the undercover agent he had "nothing to do with Russia.""Republics have fallen because of Praetorian Guard mentality where government officials get very arrogant, they identify the national interest with their own political preferences, and they feel that anyone who has a different opinion, you know, is somehow an enemy of the state," Barr remarked. "That can easily translate into essentially supervening the will of the majority and getting your own way as a government official."FBI director Chris Wray said earlier this month that he had seen no evidence that the FBI illegally spied on the Trump campaign.
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| President Trump Played a Key Role in the Central Park Five Case. Here’s the Real History Behind When They See Us Posted: 31 May 2019 12:28 PM PDT  Like the rest of the new series, President Trump's role in 'When They See Us' is taken from the real story of the Central Park jogger case
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| Louisiana Legislature approves 'fetal heartbeat' abortion ban; Democratic governor to sign Posted: 30 May 2019 05:15 AM PDT  Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards said he would sign the bill into law.
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