| Trump lashes out at Fox News over impeachment poll numbers: 'Whoever their Pollster is, they suck' Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:23 AM PDT  President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to vent his frustration over a new Fox News poll that found a majority of Americans want to see him impeached and removed from office.
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| PHOTOS: California wildfires threaten homes in Los Angeles Posted: 11 Oct 2019 06:28 AM PDT  The Saddleridge fire flares up near a firefighter in Sylmar, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. (Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP) A wildfire fueled by Santa Ana winds has closed two freeways, is threatening homes and has forced evacuations around Los Angeles. Fire officials say the Saddleridge fire had consumed more than 4,600 acres by Friday morning. It broke out after 9 p.m.
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| 'Trey is a joke among us': Gowdy is a divisive addition to Trump's legal team Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:08 AM PDT  The president's decision to bulk up his legal team with former Rep. Trey Gowdy amid a widening impeachment inquiry is drawing criticism from one of his high-profile supporters.
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| Egypt discovers archaeological industrial zone in Luxor's 'Valley of the Monkeys' Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:39 AM PDT  Egypt on Thursday unveiled two archaeological discoveries in Luxor including an industrial zone at the southern city's West Valley, also known as the Valley of the Monkeys. Egyptian archaeologists have discovered 30 workshops in the industrial area, the Ministry of Antiquities said in a statement. The area is "composed of houses for storage and the cleaning of the funerary furniture with many potteries dated to Dynasty 18," the excavation team's leader, Zahi Hawass, said in the statement.
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| Sasse Condemns Beto O’Rourke’s ‘Bigoted’ Call to Strip Churches of Tax Exempt Status Posted: 11 Oct 2019 08:57 AM PDT  Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) released a statement Friday condemning Beto O'Rourke for "extreme intolerance" after O'Rourke advocated revoking tax-exempt status from churches that refuse to perform same-sex marriages."This bigoted nonsense would target a lot of sincere Christians, Jews, and Muslims," wrote Sasse. "Leaders from both parties have a duty to flatly condemn this attack on very basic American freedoms.""This extreme intolerance is un-American," Sasse went on. "The whole point of the First Amendment is that…everyone is created with dignity and we don't use government power to decide which religious beliefs are legitimate and which aren't."O'Rourke touted his LGBT rights platform at a CNN town hall event on Thursday, telling the crowd he supported removing tax-exempt status from churches, religious schools, and charities if they are against same-sex marriages."There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone … that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us," O'Rourke told the audience.O'Rourke previously drew condemnation from conservatives after pledging at the third Democratic primary debate to confiscate semi-automatic rifles from their legal owners. O'Rourke is currently polling nationally at just below two percent of the Democratic vote.Meanwhile on Thursday, Senator Elizabeth Warren released her own LGBT rights platform in which she promises to provide government funding for gender transition surgeries for inmates. In addition, she pledged to incarcerate transgender inmates with prisoners of the opposite biological sex, meaning that a transgender man would be placed in a women's prison.
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| Photos of the 2019 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Lightning Lap Posted: 11 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT |
| Southwest Airlines flight diverted after intoxicated passenger assaults other travelers, police say Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:40 AM PDT  The Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas was headed to Los Angeles International Airport when it had to make an unplanned stop in Tucson, Arizona.
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| WWII Lesson for Trump: Turkey Was in Bed With the Nazis Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:42 PM PDT  The Nazis melted gold dental fillings from concentration camp victims and found the best price for it was in neutral Turkey.At the same time, Turkey kept selling Germany the chromium ore it needed to build weapons and continue the war. But in harkening back to World War II in an effort to justify giving Turkey a green light to crush the Kurds, President Donald Trump ignored such damning truths. He instead said of the Kurds, "They didn't help us with Normandy."Never mind that present day Kurds have suffered thousands of casualties as our most effective allies against ISIS.Trump's Crazy Syria Move Will Wipe Out America's Allies and Set Up a Big ISIS ComebackNever mind that the Kurds of 1944 were scattered across a half dozen countries in the Middle East and were in no position to help even themselves.And never mind that Turkey started out World War II pledged to support the Allies only to suddenly switch when it looked like the Nazis would win."Turkey began World War II bound to Britain and France by the military alliance of October 1939, moved to non-belligerency in June 1940 after the fall of France, and adopted a policy of 'active neutrality' in the spring of 1941 after German occupation of the Balkans and the conclusion of a German-Turkish Treaty of Friendship in June 1941," notes a 1998 report on Holocaust restitution by the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services. The report cites a November 1943 assessment by German Munitions Minister Albert Speer "that much of Germany's manufacture of armaments would come to a halt within 10 months if Turkey's chromite exports to Germany were ended."In the meantime, the Germans sold ingots of absolute evil in Turkey."Two German banks with branches in Turkey, the Deutsche Bank and the Dresdner Bank, took advantage of the high prices on the Turkish free gold market to sell looted gold provided by the Reichsbank in return for foreign currency, particularly Swiss francs," the report says. "Some of the gold provided by the Reichsbank came from the infamous 'Melmer account' in which the SS deposited the gold jewelry, coins, bars, and dental fillings robbed from its victims at the killing centers and concentration camps." The Reichsbank was the central financial institution of Germany. Deutsche Bank would go on to become the lone financial institution in the 1990's willing to risk making huge loans to Donald Trump. Even as he condemns the Kurds for failing to do what they could not possibly have done at Normandy without a nation-state of their own, Trump says nothing about Deutsche Bank's Nazi past or about Turkey's continued sales of chromium ore to Germany until April 1944. Turkey finally returned to our side in August 1944—two months after Normandy—when it appeared that the Nazis were going to lose after all.U.S. forces that fought their way from Normandy into Germany recovered ledgers showing that Deutsche Bank had sold at least 998 kilograms of what the congressional report terms "gold looted from individual victims of Nazi persecution."The report adds, "Other German gold acquired by Turkey during and after the War included coins and ingots from the account of German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop at the Reichsbank, which had been stocked with gold looted from occupied Europe."At war's end, Turkey had done exactly nothing to assist the Allies besides no longer selling chromium to the Nazis. Turkey nonetheless argued that since it had been at war with Germany, it should not be expected to turn over whatever Nazi wealth it retained."Turkey, an 11th hour ally, returned no looted gold… and turned over no money," the report notes.Turkey also kept the money it made selling the Nazis chromium ore that kept the war going. The report says Turkey only stopped after President Franklin Roosevelt threatened Turkey with "economic war."Our current president made a similar threat this week, when he tweeted, "As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey."The major difference is that this threat seems to be having no effect.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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| New fresco with gladiators discovered in Pompeii Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:36 AM PDT  Archeologists excavating what may have been an ancient Roman drinking den in the ruined city of Pompeii said Friday they have unearthed a well-preserved wall painting of gladiators in action, complete with realistically gory wounds. The 3ft by 4.5ft fresco is located in the Regio V site, in the northern section of Pompeii's archaeological park, in an area not currently accessible to visitors. "Very probably the fresco decorated a place used by gladiators, perhaps a watering hole .
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| Hong Kong Protesters Are Debating a Halt to Vandalism Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:48 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong protesters are debating whether to lower the temperature as the battered financial center girds for another weekend of tear gas and petrol bombs.Worried that violence and destructive tactics risk alienating more moderate supporters, some activists have urged others to scale back vandalism that has shut shops, banks and train stations across the city. Their concerns include giving Chief Executive Carrie Lam a reason to delay local elections next month or discouraging U.S. lawmakers from passing a bill to support the protest movement.One post widely circulated on LIHKG -- a Reddit-like forum popular with Hong Kong's youth -- warned that further violence risked creating internal splits within the broader pro-democracy movement, which has vigorously discussed the merits of peaceful versus more radical and disruptive actions."The general public, including foreigners, will think the violence is escalating to the point of being indiscriminate," the user wrote in a post that garnered more than 3,000 "upvotes," putting it among the most popular posts that day.On Friday, hundreds once again marched throughout the city's central business district, disrupting traffic as they held up banners and placards. Many were wearing masks in defiance of Lam's invocation of a rarely used emergency law last week to ban protesters from wearing face-coverings at rallies.The peaceful gathering comes after tens of thousands of people flooded Hong Kong's streets a week ago following the mask ban and the first shooting of a protester during police scuffles days earlier. The result was the most destructive weekend since the movement began over four months ago in opposition to now-withdrawn legislation that would've allowed extradition to mainland China.Hong Kong Police Vow to Investigate Protester Sex Assault ClaimAngered over corporate moves to support the government, protesters targeted shops, train stations and state-owned Chinese bank branches for vandalism -- acts they call "renovations." The rail operator MTR Corp., who demonstrators accuse of colluding with police and stifling their movements, was forced to shut almost its entire network on Friday and Saturday and continues to close early for repairs.'Quite Critical'So far, the movement has enjoyed resilient support in the former British colony as it expanded to include calls for greater democracy. But recent episodes, including protesters ambushing police, throwing Molotov cocktails at officers, beating a taxi driver and punching a JPMorgan Chase & Co. employee from mainland China have tested the public's tolerance."At the moment, the balance still tips in favor of the protesters because of the various misdeeds and brutality on the part of the police, but the balance may turn," said Joseph Cheng, a retired political science professor and pro-democracy activist. "The coming week will be quite critical."Since protests erupted on China's National Day on Oct. 1, police have arrested some 500 people, including 77 for violating the mask ban, and fired almost 2,000 rounds of tear gas. Dozens of people have have been injured, including two teenage protesters who were shot during fights with police.In online forums, some protesters circulated a public apology for attacks on branches of Shanghai Commercial Bank Ltd., which some had mistook for a state-owned Chinese financial institution. The Hong Kong Association of Banks said that 10% of the city's ATMs were damaged last weekend.However, the view that vandalism should be reduced isn't shared by all. On Thursday, a group of protesters who earlier disrupted transport links to the airport published a plan on LIHKG to pressure commercial establishments Sunday, including a color-coded guide to which establishments should be boycotted or vandalized based on their level of support for the authorities.'I Would Tolerate All the Vandalism'One frequent protester with the surname Yip told Bloomberg News that he was angered how some businesses "stand with the government instead of the citizens." "I would tolerate all the vandalism, even though it created troubles for me," Yip said.Some worry the violence could sap international support, especially as the U.S. Congress considers legislation that would require annual reviews of Hong Kong's special trading status. The Chinese government has denounced the bill, which threatens some $38 billion of U.S. trade with Hong Kong, as an inappropriate interference in the country's domestic affairs."Without question, international perception is very important, and when it comes to opinions on the use of force, public figures in Washington and Wall Street certainly prefer to see peaceful singing in shopping malls and origami," activist Joshua Wong wrote on Facebook.Lam has refused to rule out further emergency measures, or even requesting Chinese military intervention to halt the unrest. "If the situation becomes so bad, then no option should be ruled out, if we want Hong Kong to at least have another chance," she told reporters Tuesday.Some don't want violence to be used as a pretext to delay district council elections Nov. 24, when many activists including Wong are hoping to win seats. Cheng, the retired professor, predicted that there may be fewer violent clashes this weekend as protesters engage in more peaceful events."There will still be some radicals engaging in clashes, but the number of people involved and the scale and scope of the clashes may well decline a bit," Cheng said. "There will be more gatherings in the shopping malls, singing, human chains, large groups of students marching quietly in the streets with masks, and then going home. I hope so."(Updates with details of protest in fifth paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Aaron Mc Nicholas in Hong Kong at amcnicholas2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Daniel Ten KateFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Greta Thunberg's fans are upset she didn't win the Nobel Prize, but a peace expert says she should have never been a contender Posted: 11 Oct 2019 06:44 AM PDT  Greta Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize after leading strikes that push leaders to address climate change. Here's why she didn't win.
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| 500 Years Later, MIT Proves That Da Vinci's Bridge Design Works Posted: 10 Oct 2019 09:59 AM PDT  If accepted at the time, the design would have likely revolutionized architecture.
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| German suspect admits anti-Semitic attack, far-right motive Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT  The German suspect in a deadly attack targeting a synagogue has admitted to the shooting rampage, confessing it was motivated by anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, federal prosecutors said Friday amid government warnings of an "elevated" risk of further attacks. Stephan Balliet, 27, made a "very comprehensive" confession during an interrogation lasting several hours, said a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe. Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned meanwhile in a ZDF television interview that there was now an "elevated" threat of another anti-Semitic or terrorist attack saying around half of 24,000 suspected far-right extremists had an "affinity" with firearms and could engage in violence.
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| The Navy SEALs Could Take on Iran's Special Forces in a War Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:00 PM PDT  But at a price.
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| Swath of Atlantic still at risk for tropical development into next week Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:19 AM PDT  While the window for tropical systems to brew will soon be closing for some zones in the Atlantic, the risk of tropical development is shifting southward into next week."Two areas we have been monitoring for tropical or subtropical development just off the East Coast of the United States to east of Bermuda are running out of time," AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski explained. This image, taken on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, shows much of the tropical Atlantic Basin. There was a non-tropical swirl of clouds well east of Bermuda and a weak, broad area of showers and thunderstorms over the western Caribbean Sea. (NOAA/GOES-East) One such area is a storm located southeast of the New England coast, which has strengthened some Thursday night. Should it continue to gather tropical characteristics into Saturday, it could briefly become a subtropical storm.More long-term, meteorologists are also watching areas in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa over the next week for possible tropical trouble.Tropical disturbances, or tropical waves, continue to move westward off the coast of Africa every three days or so.These waves make up the Cabo Verde season, which is named for the disturbances that originate near the Cabo Verde Islands just off the west coast of Africa.Even though we are past the peak of the Cabo Verde season and the hurricane season in general, these disturbances and other areas can still evolve into tropical depressions, storms and hurricanes over time."A somewhat stronger tropical wave is forecast to move off the Africa coast this weekend and move westward," Kottlowski said. "There is a low chance this becomes an organized system next week," he added.There remains a broad area of weak counterclockwise winds over the western Caribbean and Central America. This feature is called a gyre.Occasionally, as tropical waves move into this gyre, they have a greater chance at becoming a tropical depression or storm, since there is extra moisture in place and there already is a weak circulation to begin with."As a result, the area from the western Caribbean to Central America, including adjacent eastern Pacific waters, could give birth to a tropical system or two through next week," Kottlowski said."However, the chance of tropical storm formation is probably significantly higher on the Pacific side as opposed to the Caribbean side," Kottlowski added. Hurricane season continues until the end of November, and Kottlowski feels there will be another named system or two over the Atlantic Ocean before the season comes to a close. Download the free AccuWeather app to see the exact forecast for your area. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Could Chelsea Clinton run for a New York House seat? Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:58 PM PDT  "If you care about what's happening in the world, you have to care about running for and holding elected office," Chelsea Clinton said last year.
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| Pence attempts to explain away what the world heard Trump say on White House lawn Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:42 AM PDT  "The president said it on the lawn," replied a reporter, referencing Trump's call on the White House lawn last week for China and Ukraine to investigate the Bidens.
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| Turkey Mistakenly Shells U.S. Special Forces in Syria: Report Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:02 PM PDT  U.S. special forces based in Syria have been caught in Turkish artillery fire, according to Newsweek. It remains unclear whether there were any other casualties.The contingent of U.S. troops was operating in the Kurdish-dominated city of Kobani in northeastern Syria when they were hit by shelling from Turkey's military, which is currently invading the region.A senior Pentagon official confirmed the incident, saying Turkish forces should have precise knowledge of American positions.Earlier on Friday Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters that a small number of special forces had been moved back from the Syrian border with Turkey in advance of the Turkish incursion into Kurdish territory. President Trump was met with bipartisan criticism when he announced the move on Monday as prominent lawmakers and pundits interpreted the development as an indication that the U.S. had signed off on the invasion.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stated the goal of the operation is to secure an area inside Syria to resettle 3.6 million Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkey, as well as to fight Kurdish groups Turkey deems terrorist organizations.The U.S. partnered with several of those groups to combat ISIS. There are roughly 12,000 ISIS prisoners currently held in Kurdish detention facilities, although it is unclear what will happen to them as a result of the invasion.Meanwhile, the commander of the heavily-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces, General Mazlum Kobani Abdi, confirmed in an interview that Turkish shelling hit a prison with ISIS fighters in Syria, and five ISIS fighters managed to escape.The United Nations estimated that over 100,000 people fled the region in anticipation of Turkey's invasion.
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| Ruling leaves Ohio ban on Down syndrome abortions on hold Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:47 PM PDT ![Ruling leaves Ohio ban on Down syndrome abortions on hold]( "Ruling leaves Ohio ban on Down syndrome abortions on hold") A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a judge's decision to put on hold an Ohio law prohibiting doctors from performing abortions based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome. The 2-1 ruling from a panel the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said the law signed in 2017 by former Republican Gov. John Kasich is likely unconstitutional but didn't make such a declaration outright. The Ohio Attorney General's Office said the state will seek reconsideration by the full 6th Circuit.
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| Kamala’s Fake Lover: Jacob Wohl Told Me It Was for a Spike TV Show Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:27 PM PDT  Inept conservative operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman held another bizarre press conference in Burkman's driveway on Wednesday, this time to smear Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) with obviously fake allegations of an extramarital affair. And like past efforts to manufacture sexual claims against Trump foes—from Robert Mueller, to Pete Buttigieg, to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—the Harris charade fell apart quickly. The pair's bogus accuser—26-year-old Sean Newaldass—told The Daily Beast on Friday that he had no idea the event in which he alleged that he was in a romantic dalliance with the Senate was real. That's because Newaldass had met Wohl and Burkman by replying to an ad posted on Craigslist seeking a "male actor" for "performance art." When he showed up at Burkman's Virginia home and delivered his lines alleging an affair, Newaldass was under the belief that the press conference was actually an audition for a Spike TV show. He said he had no idea that Harris was a politician. Indeed, he assumed she was a fictional person. "I thought I was acting for a role in a movie, like a role in a TV series," Newaldass said. "I thought everything was staged, I'm thinking everyone is an actor." Jacob Wohl Faked Death Threats Against HimselfNewaldass insists that he believed that everyone at the event, from Wohl and Burkman, to the reporters asking questions, and a heckler dressed as a corncob, were all actors. Wohl promised Newaldass $500 to appear at the event—money that Newaldass said he still has yet to receive."I'm thinking this is going to be like The Office," Newaldass said. "The Office has super dry humor."Newaldass's allegations are shocking even by Wohl and Burkman's standards. The duo are known for hamfisted attempts to manufacture smears against political figures and for roping unwitting participants into their schemes. But they have never concocted a fake TV show in order to execute their plans before. As Newaldass realized Wednesday afternoon that the event was real, and that he was being treated as an outright liar on social media, he said he became afraid to leave his home."To me, it was the most hurt I've ever received from anything in the world," Newaldass said.Asked over Instagram direct message whether he had tricked Newaldass, Wohl responded with only a laughing-crying emoji. Burkman, a lawyer and lobbyist whose membership in the D.C. Bar was recently suspended over unpaid dues, didn't respond to a request for comment. Jacob Wohl's Bogus Warren Accuser Exaggerated His Military Service RecordThis isn't the first time one of Wohl and Burkman's fake accusers has turned on them. Their Mueller accuser, Carolyne Cass, failed to show up at a much-hyped press conference and later said Wohl and Burkman had made up the claims. College student Hunter Kelly, whose name Burkman and Wohl used to accuse Buttigieg of sexual assault, turned on the pair even faster than Cass, sending out mocking tweets about their press conference announcing his claims as it happened. Their missteps don't end there. Wohl is set to be arraigned on a felony charge for unlawful sale of securities later this month in California.Newaldass said he first entered Wohl's orbit by replying to the Craigslist ad, which makes no mention of politics, Burkman and Wohl, or Harris. Shortly after responding, according to Newaldass, he was contacted by Burkman and Wohl. The phone number that Newaldass said Wohl used to contact him is the same as a number Wohl has used in the past to text and make phones call to a reporter at The Daily Beast. On Tuesday night, Wohl and Burkman got Newaldass an Uber to Burkman's home in Rosslyn, Virginia. Newaldass said he was told the house belonged to Spike TV, a network that no longer exists after parent company Viacom changed the channel's name to the Paramount Network in 2018. "I was told, 'This is the audition for a TV show that's going to be on Spike,'" Newaldass said. "And I can be a personal trainer on the show, right?" Newaldass said Burkman and Wohl showed him the statement he would read on Wednesday , but described it as a "script." Newaldass found the claims in the statement bizarre, but considered that he had seen similarly strange things in other movies and TV shows."It's hard for me to hold my laughs back because I'm like, 'This is funny,'" Newaldass said. "What kind of comedy is this?" Burkman and Wohl later emailed him the "script," according to Newaldass, but not without their signature ineptness. Newaldass initially received a statement from the pair making a series of different sexual allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden—apparently because Wohl or Burkman mixed up their smears and attached the wrong file to the email. After he asked Wohl for clarification, they sent the Harris statement instead. Newaldass began to practice what he thought would be his lines.Newaldass arrived at Burkman's house around noon Wednesday, a few hours before the press conference. He said two other people—a singer and a purported minister who would perform a blessing at the press conference—were just as nervous as he was, preparing their lines as though they were getting ready for a performance. It wasn't clear to Newaldass whether the other two people were also actors or similarly oblivious to what was actually happening, but the "minister" later told The Daily Dot that he was not actually a reverend and appeared "confused" about the event.As hecklers and a handful of reporters gathered on Burkman's sidewalk, inside, Burkman and Wohl encouraged Newaldass by talking up his future Hollywood career. Newaldass said Wohl claimed to be a "director," and both men encouraged him to sign the statement making allegations against Harris—a signature they would later use as proof that he really believed the claims."They're encouraging me like, 'Man, you're going to be a star, you're a lead actor,'" Wohl said. Newaldass's press conference devolved into farce almost as soon as it began, with a mystery man delivering an apparently fake cease-and-desist notice that Burkman claimed was from Harris' campaign and Wohl threatening to spray hecklers with a garden hose. Newaldass read the statement to the crowd, convinced, he said, that Harris was a fictional character. "I'm completely oblivious to who this person is," Newaldass told The Daily Beast.While Newaldass was able to read from his statement, he became confused when asked to answer questions from the crowd, since he thought he needed to read lines. In an interview later with a Daily Dot reporter, Burkman and Wohl repeatedly cut in whenever the reporter asked Newaldass a question.Newaldass said he left the event with promises from Burkman and Wohl for future opportunities in Hollywood, and even the prospect of an entire TV series and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Newaldass began to think about how a role on a hit TV show would enable him to provide for his family financially."So that's what really sucked me in, thinking, 'Man, I can take care of everybody,'" Newaldass said.When he got home afterwards, though, Newaldass said he slowly began to realize he had been tricked. His Instagram page filled up with accusations that he was a liar. Newaldass began to doubt Wohl and Burkman's claim that they were just filming a show for Spike TV, and he became afraid to go outside."I was scared out of my mind," Newaldass said.Newaldass felt that he had embarrassed his family, and worried about what his family and friends would think of him. "The people that actually pay attention to this stuff are really judging me," Newaldass said. Newaldass insists that he had never heard of Harris before the press conference. And on that front, he isn't alone—12 percent of respondents in a Morning Consult poll this month said they had never heard of the senator. After researching Harris, Newaldass said he's now likely to vote for her presidential bid. Newaldass said the ruse especially stings because, like Harris, Newaldass is of mixed Indian and Caribbean ancestry. "That's what's hurtful, because I'm hurting my own ethnicity," Newaldass said. 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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| Putin's test missile failed and exploded in deadly nuclear accident Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:54 AM PDT  An Aug. 8 nuclear accident near Nyonoksa, Russia, was caused by a nuclear reaction that occurred while Russians were attempting to recover a nuclear-powered cruise missile submerged in the White Sea after a failed test last year.
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| U.S. B-2 Bomber Recently Tested a New Nuclear Bomb Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:32 AM PDT  Thank god it was not live, but the point is clear: the nuclear age is not over.
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| See Photos of the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport Posted: 11 Oct 2019 07:15 AM PDT |
| Donald Trump distances himself from Rudy Giuliani: 'He has been my attorney' Posted: 11 Oct 2019 03:11 PM PDT  Donald Trump, facing an impeachment inquiry over the Ukraine scandal, wouldn't say if Rudy Giuliani was still his attorney. "I don't know," he said.
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| Student's emotional allegation of sexual assault by Hong Kong police sparks investigation and anger Posted: 11 Oct 2019 08:40 AM PDT  An emotional livestreamed account from a young female student alleging sexual assault at the hands of the police sparked fresh anger and new protests in Hong Kong on Friday. A video of Sonia Ng, who waived her anonymity to make the accusations during an open forum on Thursday night at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, went viral in the financial hub, prompting hundreds of office workers to stage a lunchtime rally against alleged police violence. The Hong Kong police force, currently facing an enormous trust deficit with the public, said it had immediately launched an investigation on Friday morning and had tried unsuccessfully to reach the young woman, who had not yet made a formal complaint. "The Police accord high priority to such a serious allegation and we appeal to the female to provide concrete evidence so that we can proceed with a fair fact-finding investigation," the force said in a statement on its Facebook page. Ms Ng told the packed university gathering, in the presence of Rocky Tuan, the vice-chancellor, that she had been arrested at the Prince Edward metro station, which was stormed by riot police on August 31. She claimed she was sexually assaulted at a police station before being taken to San Uk Ling, a holding centre close to the border with mainland China where the pro-democracy movement alleges arrested protesters have been abused. In an earlier testimony, which she gave anonymously at September rally, she accused a male officer of hitting her breast, reported the Hong Kong Free Press. She alleged that detained protesters had been body-searched in darkened rooms and that others had also "suffered sexual violence." The young student then removed her mask to reveal her identity, asking Mr Tuan to explicitly denounce police violence. People form a human chain during a protest in Tai Po Credit: REUTERS/Susana Vera "I am willing to be courageous and take off my mask, would you also be brave and support us?" she asked. The vice-chancellor replied that he condemned all violence, but he faced a barrage of tough questions from students about the level of support the university had provided during four months of escalating tensions with the police during pro-democracy protests. Ms Ng's claims add to the mounting public anger over heavy-handed police tactics in the city, which has seen close to 3,000 arrests, and multiple injuries on both sides, including the shooting of two teenage boys. Tony Tse, the vice-chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Council, asked people in need to come forward. "We hope that those who were treated unfairly or sexually assaulted will make complaints to us. We will follow up," he said in a radio show on Friday.
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| US hopes to keep Venezuela off UN Human Rights Council Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:31 PM PDT ![US hopes to keep Venezuela off UN Human Rights Council]( "US hopes to keep Venezuela off UN Human Rights Council") The U.S. is hoping to keep Venezuela from winning a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council. A State Department official said Friday that members of the U.N. General Assembly should vote against Venezuela next week because of severe human rights abuses under President Nicolás Maduro. The Maduro government has killed political opponents, has withheld food from supporters of the opposition, holds nearly 500 political prisoners and has shut down independent media outlets, said Jon Piechowski, deputy assistant secretary at the State Department.
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| Tens of thousands evacuated as California wildfires rage Posted: 11 Oct 2019 02:08 PM PDT  Much of California was on high alert Friday as wind-driven wildfires tore through the state's south, forcing the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and destroying multiple structures and homes. Fire officials said an 89-year-old woman died in Calimesa, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, when fire swept through a trailer park overnight after the driver of a garbage truck that caught fire dumped his burning load nearby. Another man in his 50s died Thursday night from cardiac arrest as he spoke with firefighters battling the so-called Saddleridge brush fire in the San Fernando Valley, about 20 miles north of downtown Los Angeles, fire officials said.
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| Amid vaping crisis, U.S. to issue new advice for doctors focused on lung infections Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:00 AM PDT  U.S. health officials are preparing to release new guidance for doctors stressing the need to ask every patient with an apparent respiratory infection about their vaping history. The updated guidance will also advise physicians on how to diagnose and manage patients who may have both a lung infection and a vaping injury. Dr. Ram Koppaka, a medical officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said doctors need to be aware that there is an overlap between the early symptoms of vaping injury and common respiratory infections.
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| More hazing complaints hit Ohio University, leading to the suspension of the marching band, 3 sororities, a professional fraternity, and all social fraternities Posted: 11 Oct 2019 02:21 PM PDT  After suspending all its social fraternities for hazing allegations, Ohio University received complaints against sororities and the marching band.
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| The obscure law that explains why Google backs climate deniers Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Company wants to curry favour with conservatives to protect its 'section 230' legal immunity * Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniersEric Schmidt being interviewing on Bloomberg in 2014. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty ImagesWhen Eric Schmidt was asked on a radio show in 2014 why Google was supporting an ultra-conservative climate-denying pressure group in Washington, the then chairman of the internet giant offered an unequivocal response: it was wrong and Google was not going to do it again."The consensus within the company was that that was some sort of mistake and so we're trying to not do that in the future," Schmidt told NPR. People who opposed or questioned climate science were making the world "a much worse place", he added, and Google "should not be aligned with such people".But five years later, Google still funds more than a dozen organisations that deny the climate crisis and oppose political action to try to solve it. Among them is the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the group that launched the notorious Cooler Heads Coalition two decades ago, a group of conservative and libertarian pressure groups dedicated to dispelling the "myths" of global heating.The Guardian has collaborated with leading scientists and NGOs to expose, with exclusive data, investigations and analysis, the fossil fuel companies that are perpetuating the climate crisis – some of which have accelerated their extraction of coal, oil and gas even as the devastating impact on the planet and humanity was becoming clear. The investigation has involved more than 20 Guardian journalists working across the world for the past six months.The project focuses on what the companies have extracted from the ground, and the subsequent emissions they are responsible for, since 1965. The analysis, undertaken by Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute, calculates how much carbon is emitted throughout the supply chain, from extraction to use by consumers. Heede said: "The fact that consumers combust the fuels to carbon dioxide, water, heat and pollutants does not absolve the fossil fuel companies from responsibility for knowingly perpetuating the carbon era and accelerating the climate crisis toward the existential threat it has now become."One aim of the project is to move the focus of debate from individual responsibilities to power structures – so our reporters also examined the financial and lobbying structures that let fossil fuel firms keep growing, and discovered which elected politicians were voting for change. Another aim of the project is to press governments and corporations to close the gap between ambitious long-term promises and lacklustre short-term action. The UN says the coming decade is crucial if the world is to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of global heating. Reining in our dependence on fossil fuels and dramatically accelerating the transition to renewable energy has never been more urgent.For Google, providing financial backing to groups such as CEI and the Cato Institute – staunch free marketeers – has nothing to do with climate science, and everything to do with its effort to curry favour with conservatives on its most pressing issue in Washington: protecting an obscure section of the US law that is worth billions of dollars to the company.The law – known as section 230 of the Communications Decency Act – was established in the 1990s, at a time when the internet was in its infancy, and helped to give rise to internet giants, from Google to Facebook, by offering legal immunity to the companies for third party comments, in effect treating them as distributors of content and not publishers.Section 230, in effect, allowed Google and Facebook to be shielded from the kinds of libel laws that can ensnare other companies, such as newspapers.The law has important advocates across the political spectrum, from Democrats who hail it as a triumph of free speech, to Republicans who say it has promoted free enterprise and innovation.But now some lawmakers, including Republicans, think it might be time to revise section 230. The senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, has said Google's alleged bias in favour of Democrats means it is not a neutral platform and should not be protected from liability.Google's decision to give to groups such as CEI reflects an attempt to win friends in Republican and conservative circles, and support those lawmakers on the right who are champions of section 230."I think the future of conservatism is up for grabs in the Trump era," said one person who is familiar with the company's thinking on political giving. "We are in a moment where Google has been injected in a lot of culture wars … and there is a lot of hostility in conservative circles."There is little doubt that Google has a loyal friend in CEI. In a recent letter to members of Congress, CEI and other conservative groups called for the protection of section 230, saying it had created "new venues for conservative speech", and that lawmakers who wanted to upend it were "well-meaning but mistaken".CEI has also defended Google in other realms. In a recent op-ed published in the Atlantic, a CEI senior fellow named Mario Loyola argued that the launch of a recent antitrust investigation into Google by 48 state attorneys general, led by the Texas attorney general Ken Paxton – a strong supporter of Ted Cruz – would not do anything to help the public.A CEI spokesperson, who declined to comment on questions about Google, told the Guardian: "CEI is a nonprofit organisation that advocates free-market solutions to public policy issues. CEI's research programmes and positions are developed independently by policy experts and reflect a longstanding, steadfast dedication to principles of economic liberty and limited government."When Google was asked about its support for CEI and groups like it, a company spokesperson said: "We sponsor organisations from across the political spectrum that advocate for strong technology policies. We've been extremely clear that Google's sponsorship doesn't mean that we endorse that organisation's entire agenda – we may disagree strongly on some issues."Google employees have privately spoken out about the company's support for some conservative groups. In a discussion with employees in March 2018 – a recording of which was heard by the Guardian – Adam Kovacevich, who at the time served as head of public policy at Google (he has since left the company), defended the company's alignment with some conservatives.He said he had been directed to forge the relationships after the 2016 election of Donald Trump. It reflected a view that the company was seen as too close to Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democrats.The discussion took place after a controversy over Google's sponsorship of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual meeting of conservatives, where Google hosted a party.To the consternation of many employees, its logo appeared on banners next to the NRA's. In his opening remarks on the call, Kovacevich said it was important to build relationships not only with people in power "but also the people who influence them"."It can be hard sometimes to reconcile our business interests with our stated values, and finding that balance is something our team has to navigate really on a daily basis, and it has gotten more and more complicated," Kovacevich can be heard saying in the recording.While Google staff seemed to accept Google needed to forge ties across the political spectrum, the majority of the employees on the call expressed concern that the company was too far out of step with its values. The Wall Street Journal and Wired have previously reported on the meeting.This year, Google did not sponsor CPAC. But big technology companies were frequently named – and lambasted – by conservative participants in their speeches. In one case, the rightwing provocateur James O'Keefe encouraged tech employees to secretly record colleagues in their offices in order to expose their alleged biases."We will equip you with a camera," O'Keefe said. "If they're lying, cheating, scamming, we're going to find them, make them famous internet celebrities, expose them for all the world to see."
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| NATO Has a Secret Plan to Destroy Russia's Kaliningrad Base Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:30 PM PDT  Let's hope it never comes to that.
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| NRA troubles: A hunter targets the world’s most powerful gun lobby Posted: 11 Oct 2019 02:44 AM PDT  NRA corruption allegations have weakened the group. Plenty of gun rights advocates are ready to step in.
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| SDF Commander Claims Alliance With Assad ‘Could Happen’ If Kurds ‘Become Hopeless’ Following U.S. Withdrawal Posted: 11 Oct 2019 08:11 AM PDT  Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, told Bloomberg in a phone interview Thursday that, without U.S. support, the Kurds may turn to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to help resist recent Turkish offensives in northern Syria."If our allies do not stop this catastrophe to our people, the situation will become worse," he said. "I think an alliance with Assad could happen. If we get to this point, where we are hopeless."President Trump announced on Monday that U.S. troops would withdraw from northeast Syria, a move followed by an invasion of the area by Turkey. The Turkish government plans to set up a "safe zone" inside Syria to resettle Syrian refugees who fled their country's civil war, as well as to fight the Kurdish YPG, which it considers a terrorist organization.The SDF, which has said it has lost more than 10,000 fighters in the war against the Islamic State, warned in a statement Monday that with Turkey invading, it would be forced to divert forces from operations against ISIS in the south, destroying "all that has been achieved in terms of stability over the last years."The SDF has over 11,000 ISIS prisoners in custody. Abdi told Bloomberg that, for now, the Kurds are continuing to guard the prisoners but may not be able to continue to do so as the fight against the Turkish incursion escalates. He also said that some militia members fighting along side the Turks are former jihadists.Following several days of a Turkish offensive into northern Syria, President Trump suggested Thursday that the U.S. may use soft power tactics to halt the bloodshed."We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!" Trump tweeted.Abdi urged Trump to reconsider his withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region in the Thursday interview."I believe the only person capable of preventing this disaster is President Trump," he said.According to Reuters, Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Maqdad said Thursday that the Kurds were "armed groups had betrayed their country and committed crimes against it. We won't accept any dialogue or talk with those who had become hostages to foreign forces."The Syrian Kurdish YPG helped the Syrian government in the early days of the Syrian civil war, but Damascus has threatened that the Kurds must submit to state authority or risk defeat to Turkey.
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| Parking-space enforcer in Florida 'stand your ground' case sentenced to 20 years in prison Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:06 PM PDT  A white man who cited Florida's "stand your ground'' law in the killing of an unarmed black man after a parking dispute was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
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| NASA conducts spacewalk as world's 1st spacewalker dies Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:47 AM PDT  Astronauts replaced oversized batteries outside the International Space Station on Friday, as news broke of the death of the world's first spacewalker. NASA interrupted live TV coverage of its second spacewalk this week to announce Leonov's death at age 85. Leonov's 12-minute spacewalk on March 18, 1965, preceded the first U.S. spacewalk by Ed White by less than three months.
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| 'I'm afraid of this president': Protester outside of Trump rally in Minneapolis Posted: 11 Oct 2019 04:47 AM PDT  President Trump supporters and protesters clashed Thursday evening over the impeachment inquiry against the president. Tens of thousands of people showed up at the Target Center in Minneapolis, with most making their way into the arena to hear the president speak. Others, just steps away outside, spoke out against Trump.
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| California's new normal: evacuating wildfires yet again Posted: 11 Oct 2019 03:10 PM PDT  It's part of California's new normal - year-round fire seasons, planned electricity blackouts and, for retired couple Bhagvei and Paresh Badreshia, sudden evacuations in the middle of the night. The evacuations in Southern California came after the state's largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E), switched off the power to nearly 800,000 homes and businesses in northern and central California to prevent its transmission lines from sparking wildfires under gusting dry winds. It was the second time in less than four years the Badreshias have been forced by an emergency to flee their home in Porter Ranch, a plush suburb where some scenes for the 1982 movie "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial" were filmed.
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| Three dead in China bridge collapse Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:12 PM PDT  Three people were killed and two injured in eastern China when a highway overpass collapsed and crushed cars below it, local officials said Friday. Videos posted online showed a large section of the bridge in Jiangsu province swaying before falling on top of moving vehicles on Thursday night. Other images showed crushed cars, with only their front sections or headlights visible under a huge block of grey concrete.
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| ‘I’m standing here in the middle of climate change’: How USDA fails farmers. Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:57 PM PDT !['I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA fails farmers.]( "'I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA fails farmers.") Rick Oswald is standing on the doorstep of the white farmhouse he grew up in, but almost nothing is as it should be. "This house is 80 years old," Oswald says, stepping inside the darkened living room, which now smells faintly of mold. American farmers are reeling after extreme rains followed by a "bomb cyclone"—an explosive storm that brought high winds and severe blizzard conditions—ravaged the heartland, turning once productive fields into lakes, killing livestock and destroying grain stores.
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| View Photos of Lunaz Classic Luxury Cars Turned into EVs Posted: 10 Oct 2019 09:30 AM PDT |
| How Big Of A Threat To NATO Is Russia's New PAK-DA Stealth Bomber? Posted: 11 Oct 2019 05:11 AM PDT  Will it even get built?
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| Former Ambassador to Ukraine Tells Congress Trump Urged State Department to Remove Her Posted: 11 Oct 2019 10:08 AM PDT  Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovich told Congress on Friday that President Trump pushed the State Department to remove her from office after his lawyer Rudy Giuliani repeatedly accused her of protecting Joe Biden's interests in Ukraine.In her testimony, Yovanovich speculated that Giuliani may have urged her ouster to protect his Ukrainian associates."Contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine," she said in prepared remarks during a closed door deposition, according to a copy of the statement obtained by the New York Times.Yovanovich further asserted that once she was removed in Spring 2019 she was ordered to return to the U.S. on "the next plane."The allegations Giuliani raised against her were "unfounded and false claims by people with clearly questionable motives," she went on.Giuliani had been looking into allegations of corruption against Joe Biden, whose son Hunter sat on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company from 2014 to 2019. Former Ukrainian prosecutor general Victor Shokin was conducting an investigation of the company, but was himself accused of corruption and fired in 2016 after Joe Biden pressured the Ukrainian government at the behest of U.S. and European Union officials.Trump and Giuliani have alleged a conflict of interest between the former vice president and his son.House Democrats are currently conducting an impeachment inquiry into Trump's own dealings in Ukraine.In a July phone conversation, Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the allegations against the Bidens. One week earlier Trump had ordered a halt to a military aid package destined for Ukraine and approved by Congress. The timing has led Democrats to raise the suspicion that Trump used the aid package to pressure Ukraine to conduct an investigation damaging to a political rival.
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| Former California police officer convicted of sexually assaulting five women while on duty Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:07 PM PDT ![Former California police officer convicted of sexually assaulting five women while on duty]( "Former California police officer convicted of sexually assaulting five women while on duty") A California jury on Wednesday found former police officer Noah White Winchester guilty of sexually assaulting five women while on duty.
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| ‘If you can find one’: Elizabeth Warren acclaimed for searing response to homophobic gay marriage question at debate Posted: 11 Oct 2019 02:48 AM PDT  Elizabeth Warren drew wild applause at a forum on LGBT+ issues for a deadpan response to a question about gay marriage.The Massachusetts senator was asked about religious opposition to gay rights during the televised Los Angeles event.
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| Go home, Tanzanian President tells Burundian refugees Posted: 11 Oct 2019 08:50 AM PDT  Refugees in Tanzania must go home, President John Magufuli said on Friday, a week after officials began mass repatriations of Burundians despite concerns that they may face political persecution. Tanzanian officials have said that all repatriations will be voluntary but Magufuli warned in his speech that refugees in Tanzania, most of whom are Burundians, cannot stay indefinitely and will not be granted citizenship. "Go back to your home ... don't insist on staying in Tanzania as refugees or expect citizenship while Burundi is now stable," Magufuli said during a rally in Katavi region near a large refugee camp in northwestern Tanzania.
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