2019年10月8日星期二

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Yahoo! News: India Top Stories - Reuters


White House tells Democrats it will not cooperate with impeachment inquiry

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:00 PM PDT

White House tells Democrats it will not cooperate with impeachment inquiryIn a letter to House Democrats, White House counsel Pat Cipollone calls the impeachment inquiry "constitutionally invalid" and indicates the White House won't cooperate with it.


Polish politician rescues child and father from burning car

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 04:45 AM PDT

Polish politician rescues child and father from burning carA left-wing party leader in Poland has rescued a 2-year-old boy and his father from a burning car, winning praise across the political spectrum days before a national election. The car collided with a truck and began to burn Monday evening in Tabor, south of Warsaw. Robert Biedron witnessed the crash and helped the father and child until rescue officials arrived, fire officials reported.


US F-16 warplane crashes in Germany with pilot taken to hospital

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 07:58 AM PDT

US F-16 warplane crashes in Germany with pilot taken to hospitalAn American F-16 fighter jet crashed Tuesday near the city of Trier in western Germany, the German air force told AFP, with the pilot surviving after using the ejector seat. After multiple emergency calls around 3:15 pm local time, emergency services reached the scene near the village of Zemmer, police said in a statement. The airman was taken to hospital. Police said it was not immediately clear how seriously he was injured in the crash. Authorities blocked off a large zone around the crash site including several roads, the police statement added, urging drivers to avoid the area. A spokesman for the nearby US military airbase at Spangdahlem told AFP he had no further information about the crash, its causes or the health of the pilot. Germany is no stranger to military aircraft crashes, including in its own shortage-plagued Bundeswehr armed forces. In June this year, two of the air force's Eurofighter jets crashed after colliding in mid-air in northeastern Germany. One of the pilots was killed, while the other ejected to safety. Less than a week later, a helicopter pilot died when his aircraft crashed near an army training centre. The last American military crash in Germany dates back to 2015, when one of the Spangdahlem base's F-16 fighters went down in northern Bavaria. In that incident, the pilot surviving after ejecting from the plane.


Johnson urges US to give up diplomat's wife over fatal crash

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 10:38 AM PDT

Johnson urges US to give up diplomat's wife over fatal crashBritain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged the United States on Monday to reconsider granting immunity to a diplomat's wife suspected of killing a teenager in a British road crash. Johnson said he was prepared to intervene with President Donald Trump to secure the woman's return to Britain to face investigation over the death of 19-year-old Harry Dunn. "I do not think that it can be right to use the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose," the prime minister told reporters on a visit to a hospital.


Harris Releases Plan for Six Months of Taxpayer-Funded Family Leave

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 02:50 PM PDT

Harris Releases Plan for Six Months of Taxpayer-Funded Family LeaveSenator Kamala Harris on Monday released a paid family leave proposal that is significantly more generous than those embraced by the rest of the Democratic presidential field.As she campaigns in Iowa, the California Democrat detailed her plan to give workers up to six months of taxpayer-funded paid family and medical leave, twice the length of time provided by a family leave bill currently under consideration in Congress.Americans who earn less than $75,000 annually would receive their full wages during their paid leave, while those who earn more would receive incrementally less compensation. Employees would be able to take leave for personal or family medical issues, including to care for domestic partners, parents-in-law, and "chosen family."Prerequisites for claiming the benefits include "personal serious health conditions, caring for new children or family members with serious health conditions, or addressing medical or non-medical needs," such as those arising from domestic violence or sexual assault, Harris' plan states.Self-employed workers, part-time employees, and independent contractors would all be eligible to claim the benefits.The former California attorney general also said she would put pressure on Congress to pass the Child Care for Working Families Act, which would provide child care assistance to middle and lower-class families.The program would be run by a new Office of Paid Family and Medical Leave, which would be paid for by a "combination of employer and employee payroll contributions and government expenditures paid for by tax increases on the top one percent and big corporations."


Judge Tammy Kemp: 'I could not refuse' ex-Dallas cop Amber Guyger a hug after sentencing

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 04:56 PM PDT

Judge Tammy Kemp: 'I could not refuse' ex-Dallas cop Amber Guyger a hug after sentencingJudge Tammy Kemp, who hugged and gave Amber Guyger a Bible after she was sentenced to prison, said her actions were appropriate.


The Russian Navy is Building New (Heavily Armed) Nuclear-Powered Submarines

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:10 PM PDT

The Russian Navy is Building New (Heavily Armed) Nuclear-Powered SubmarinesHow should NATO respond? Would the same old Cold War tactics work?


Ex-U.S. envoy Huntsman urges rethink of Russia sanctions in WSJ op-ed

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 04:51 AM PDT

Ex-U.S. envoy Huntsman urges rethink of Russia sanctions in WSJ op-edDays after ending his term in Moscow, former United States ambassador to Russia Jon Huntsman has urged Washington to review its sanctions-dominated approach to Russia, questioning its efficiency and calling for dialogue. The U.S. has placed multiple layers of sanctions on Russia, its senior officials and largest companies, as well as businessmen it views as connected to the Kremlin, the bulk of them linked to Moscow's role in the Ukrainian crisis which began in 2014 and has yet to be resolved. In a column https://www.wsj.com/articles/america-needs-dialogue-with-moscow-11570488054 for the Wall Street Journal published on Monday, Huntsman argued that "sanctions have become our go-to foreign policy tool to admonish misbehavior" but not all of them are having the desired effect.


A new study reveals how the last woolly mammoths died out 4,000 years ago. That's after the Egyptians had built the pyramids.

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:11 PM PDT

A new study reveals how the last woolly mammoths died out 4,000 years ago. That's after the Egyptians had built the pyramids.The last of the woolly mammoths died on an Arctic island 4,000 years ago, meaning these animals went extinct much later than scientists once thought.


Minneapolis mayor fires back at Trump: Doesn’t have time to be ‘tweeting garbage out’

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:59 PM PDT

Minneapolis mayor fires back at Trump: Doesn't have time to be 'tweeting garbage out'After President Trump criticized Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over security costs for a campaign rally on Thursday, Frey said he doesn't have time to be "tweeting garbage out."


White House 'surprised that anyone would be blindsided' by U.S. withdrawal from northern Syria

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 04:59 PM PDT

White House 'surprised that anyone would be blindsided' by U.S. withdrawal from northern SyriaA senior White House official suggested that the "blindsided" comment originated from disgruntled government employees.


UN chief says UN facing worst cash crisis in nearly 10 years

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:17 PM PDT

UN chief says UN facing worst cash crisis in nearly 10 yearsSecretary-General Antonio Guterres warned Tuesday that the United Nations is facing its "worst cash crisis" in nearly a decade because 64 of its 193 members have not paid their annual dues — including the United States, its largest contributor. According to the U.N., 129 countries had paid $1.99 billion in dues for the U.N.'s 2019 operating budget by Tuesday. Because of the U.S. government's budget calendar, Washington usually pays its dues in October.


Germany holds Syrian crash truck hijacker for attempted murder

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:34 AM PDT

Germany holds Syrian crash truck hijacker for attempted murderGerman authorities Tuesday held on suspicion of attempted murder a Syrian man who hijacked an articulated lorry and smashed it into cars stopped at a traffic light in the city of Limburg, injuring several people. The 32-year-old will remain in custody, suspected of attempted murder and bodily harm as well as a traffic offence, Frankfurt prosecutors told AFP. Unconfirmed media reports said the Syrian national arrived with the massive migrant influx to Germany in 2015 and that his residency permit had expired on October 1.


Conor McGregor's entourage have been accused of forcing a nightclub bottle service girl into their car after a booze-fueled evening in LA

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:06 PM PDT

Conor McGregor's entourage have been accused of forcing a nightclub bottle service girl into their car after a booze-fueled evening in LAInsider uncovered the story while investigating Los Angeles nightlife company The H.wood Group, which is popular among celebrities.


18-year-old 'hero' dies trying to save passengers after car crashes into Delaware canal

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 07:01 AM PDT

18-year-old 'hero' dies trying to save passengers after car crashes into Delaware canalA 16-year-old girl was found sitting near the scene of the crash on Sunday, Delaware State Police said. She told them the driver helped her to safety.


China Knows It Can't Protect Every Island It Builds (Think South China Sea)

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 08:15 PM PDT

China Knows It Can't Protect Every Island It Builds (Think South China Sea)But Beijing is building them anyway.


2020 Subaru Legacy vs. 2019 Honda Accord in Photos

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 04:59 AM PDT

2020 Subaru Legacy vs. 2019 Honda Accord in Photos


Fat is fabulous for bears in Alaska's Katmai National Park

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 12:50 PM PDT

Fat is fabulous for bears in Alaska's Katmai National ParkAlaska grizzly bears packing on pounds (kilos) for the winter are competing for more than the season's last salmon. Fat Bear Week has become a national internet sensation, pitting individual bears against each other in an online voting contest. At Katmai, a park in southwestern Alaska known for its bountiful salmon runs and the huge grizzlies - Alaskans call them "brown bears" - that feed on them, Fat Bear Week is an annual highlight.


Sanders Will Limit Events After Heart Attack: Campaign Update

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:40 PM PDT

Sanders Will Limit Events After Heart Attack: Campaign Update(Bloomberg) -- Bernie Sanders says he will "change the nature of the campaign" after a heart attack last week, scaling back the number of rallies and appearances in early primary states."We were doing, in some cases, five or six meetings a day, three or four rallies and town meetings and meeting with groups of people," he told reporters outside of his Burlington, Vermont, home after visiting his cardiologist Tuesday. "I don't think I'm going to do that."Sanders also acknowledged that the heart attack would likely raise questions about his age. "Everything that happens every day weighs on how people think about you. You look at the totality of who a candidate is," he said.Democrats' November Debate Will Be in Georgia (6:31 p.m.)The fifth Democratic presidential debate will be held in Georgia on Nov. 20, the Democratic National Committee said Tuesday.The forum co-hosted by the Washington Post and MSNBC will have a higher bar to qualify than previous debates. Candidates must have contributions from 165,000 donors, up from the 135,000 threshold for the Oct. 15 debates in Ohio. And the donors must be geographically dispersed, with a minimum of 600 per state in at least 20 states.There will also be a change in the polling requirements: Candidates can either show 3% support in four qualifying national or single-state polls, or have at least 5% support in two qualifying single-state polls released between Sept. 13 and Nov. 13 in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina or Nevada.Eight candidates have already qualified: Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang.The exact location hasn't yet been determined. -- Laura LitvanSanders's Daughter-in-Law Dies of Cancer (6:19 p.m.)Bernie Sanders's daughter-in-law, Raine Riggs, has died just days after being diagnosed with cancer. She was 46.Riggs, a neuropsychologist who lived in Pennsylvania, died Saturday, the same day Sanders returned to his home in Vermont to recover from a heart attack. Her obituary, on the web site of Lee & Martin Funeral Home in Burgettstown, said she was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer two days before her death.She met Bernie Sanders' son Levi while the two worked at an emergency food shelter in Vermont. They had three children, the obituary said. She was the director of behavioral medicine at Dartmouth Medical School for several years and also owned Riggs Geriatric Psychology in Windsor, Vermont.Levi Sanders lost a 2018 bid for a U.S. House seat in New Hampshire. -- Laura LitvanWarren Sticks by Account of Being Fired (5:15 p.m.)Elizabeth Warren stood by her story that she was forced out of a teaching job in 1971 because she was pregnant, after the conservative news website Washington Free Beacon disputed her account."All I know is I was 22 years old, I was 6 months pregnant, and the job that I had been promised for the next year was going to someone else," Warren told CBS News in an article published Monday night. "The principal said they were going to hire someone else for my job."She also defended her account on Twitter on Tuesday, telling her 3.3 million followers she wanted to speak out about her experience because such discrimination "still happens in subtle and not-so-subtle ways."At campaign events, Warren cites the event as a key milestone in her life story, saying the principal of a New Jersey public school "showed me the door" after her first year when she was visibly pregnant. The Free Beacon found "minutes" at the time that say Warren was approved by the school board to teach the following year.Her exit from the job occurred in an era when women were often fired or pushed out of jobs for being pregnant. In 1978, Congress sought to outlaw the practice by passing the Pregnancy Discrimination Act.Warren Inches Ahead of Biden in Polling Average (4:51 p.m.)Elizabeth Warren inched ahead of Joe Biden to top the RealClearPolitics polling average of Democratic candidates for the first time on Tuesday.Warren squeaked past Biden by a mere 0.2% in the aggregate of polls, averaging 26.6% to his 26.4%. The boost was the result of a Quinnipiac Poll where she was on top with 29%, followed by the former vice president with 26%, but still within that poll's 4.7 percentage-point margin of error.Warren had long been trading places with Bernie Sanders for second or third place, while Biden enjoyed a comfortable lead. She decisively overtook Sanders in mid-September and has been eroding Biden's edge since then.Polling averages are considered a more reliable gauge of a candidate's standing than single surveys because they rely on a fuller set of data. -- Emma KineryTrump Feuds With Minneapolis Mayor Over Rally (11:55 a.m.)President Donald Trump is feuding with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over who should pay the bill for the police deployment at a campaign rally in the city this week.The city told the Target Center, where the Oct. 10 rally is scheduled to be held, that it would have to pay the $530,000 security costs, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. The arena, according to the Star Tribune, then allegedly told the Trump campaign that it would have to cover the bill or would not be allowed to hold the rally there.In response, Trump fired off a tweet accusing Frey of trying to block his visit and calling him a "lightweight." And Trump's campaign manager, Brad Parscale, issued a statement accusing the mayor of "abusing the power of his office" while the campaign's lawyers sent the city a lawyer threatening a lawsuit.Frey responded with a tweet: "Yawn ... Welcome to Minneapolis where we pay our bill, we govern with integrity, and we love our neighbors."Parscale later said in a statement that the dispute had been settled and that the campaign "has not agreed to pay any additional funds." The Trump campaign still owes nine cities at least $841,219 in total for police security for previous rallies, according to a report from the Center for Public Integrity. -- Emma KineryBiden Unveils Proposal to Boost College Access (5:30 a.m.)Joe Biden unveiled an education plan Tuesday that focuses on making colleges more affordable and strengthening pathways to the middle class that do not require a bachelor's degree.The proposal calls for a $750 billion investment in educational opportunities after high school that would be financed, according to the campaign "by eliminating the stepped-up basis loophole and capping the itemized deductions the wealthiest Americans can take to 28%."It would provide two years of community college tuition free while also helping students in the two-year institutions with textbook and transportation costs and other expenses.The plan also includes a $50 billion investment in work force training, doubling the maximum value of Pell grants and increasing the number of students eligible to qualify for the grants. It would also halve payments on undergraduate federal student loans and revamp the public loan service forgiveness program. The proposal also calls for investment in historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions, including $18 billion in grants to those schools."It's about our economy because when students like mine get the chance to learn, we're all better off," Jill Biden said on a conference call with reporters Monday night. The former vice president's wife, who still teaches English at Northern Virginia Community College, helped shape the plan.Many of Biden's primary rivals, including Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, have rolled out plans for higher education. Warren proposes to cancel 95% of student debt while Sanders says his plan would eliminate all student debt and abolish tuition for public colleges and universities. -- Tyler PagerCOMING UPThe Human Rights Campaign Foundation will host a town hall at the University of California at Los Angeles devoted to LGBTQ issues on Friday. Candidates scheduled to attend are: Warren Cory Booker, Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Beto O'Rourke, Amy Klobuchar, Julián Castro and Tom Steyer. Sanders, who has been recovering from a heart attack, also is scheduled to appear, but his campaign hasn't said whether he still plans to attend.The fourth Democratic debate is scheduled for Oct. 15th at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio. Twelve candidates are slated to take part: Biden, Warren, Sanders, Booker, Buttigieg, Castro, Harris, Klobuchar and O'Rourke, as well as Tulsi Gabbard, Steyer and Andrew Yang.The United Food and Commercial Workers union will host forums in Iowa with Democratic presidential candidates on Oct. 13. Biden, Booker, Buttigieg, Harris and Michael Bennet have confirmed that they will attend.(An earlier version corrected the name of the funeral home in second paragraph of item on Sanders's daughter-in-law.)\--With assistance from Tyler Pager, Emma Kinery and Laura Litvan.To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Korte in Washington at gkorte@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.


America’s Good Intentions in Syria Have Led to This Dismal Outcome

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:30 AM PDT

America's Good Intentions in Syria Have Led to This Dismal OutcomeRecent U.S. policy in Syria, from the moment that former U.S. ambassador Robert Ford showed support for Syrian protesters in 2011, has been one of good intentions that were mismanaged through conflicting policies. This week it led to the decision to withdraw. A new crisis will unfold in eastern Syria, an area that, liberated from ISIS, has seen too much war and where the people are just beginning to reconstruct their lives. Many are expressing feelings that the U.S. betrayed its partners, the Syrian Democratic Forces, who are mostly Kurdish. The larger context is that the U.S. has been seen as abandoning one group after another in Syria, reducing American influence in Syria and the region.It is at least the third time that President Donald Trump has sought to leave Syria. In March 2018, he said that the U.S. was leaving "very soon." In December 2018, he wrote that the U.S. was bringing the troops home after defeating ISIS. In fact, ISIS was not defeated on the ground until March 23, 2019, in its last pocket near the Euphrates river. ISIS sleeper cells are still active, and there are thousands of ISIS detainees in eastern Syria. However, Trump now says that Turkey or other countries will need to deal with the remnants of ISIS and the detainees in Syria.How did the U.S. get here? In 2011, Americans were outraged by scenes of Bashar al-Assad's regime cracking down on protests. There was bipartisan support for backing the Syrian protesters and then the Syrian rebels. At the time, the Obama administration had a vast spectrum of options, from giving them anti-tank missiles to carrying out airstrikes against Assad and punishing him for using chemical weapons. But Obama walked back from his 2012 red line on the use of chemical weapons.Washington shifted from directly opposing Assad to training and equipping Syrian rebels, a program that cost up to $1 billion and was largely seen as a failure by 2015. By this time, the U.S. was working on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or the "Iran deal," and the overthrow of Assad, who is backed by Iran, was no longer a priority. ISIS had exploited the Syrian conflict to take over a third of Syria and Iraq, controlling the lives of 12 million people and committing genocide. The U.S. began anti-ISIS operations in Syria in September 2014 and helped the Kurdish fighters in Kobane resist ISIS. From there grew a unique partnership between the U.S. and these leftist Kurdish fighters, whom Turkey accused of being linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which the U.S. views as terrorists. The U.S. supported the creation of the Syrian Democratic Forces in 2015 in eastern Syria, as a way to rebrand the Kurdish fighters and distance them from the PKK, so that Washington could train and equip them without appearing to support the party.The Obama administration had moved from opposing Assad, to arming rebel fighters, to fighting ISIS and signing the Iran deal. At each juncture it narrowed its goals. By the time Trump was elected, the U.S. mission in eastern Syria, encapsulated in Operation Inherent Resolve, was to defeat ISIS on the ground and diplomatically oppose Assad through lip service in Geneva.Trump vowed during his campaign to defeat ISIS, but he also wanted to show that there was a red line with respect to Assad's crimes. He ordered airstrikes against the regime in April 2017 and April 2018 but was reluctant to do more. He ended support for the rebels in July 2017, and a year later Damascus took back rebel areas that had previously enjoyed some U.S. support. By this time, Russia and Iran were deeply involved in Syria, supporting Assad, and Turkey had launched an operation in northern Syria to prevent the U.S.-backed SDF from expanding its areas of control.At each juncture, the U.S. found its choices narrowed in Syria, and America was isolated from having a say in the future of Syria as Russia, Turkey, and Iran excluded Washington from peace discussions they held at Astana. Nevertheless, by 2018, the U.S. and its SDF partners controlled a huge area in eastern Syria. National-security adviser John Bolton sought to push a strategy whereby America would hold on to eastern Syria until Iran left. The goal was to roll back Iranian influence and reduce Israel's fears about Iran using Syria to attack. Bolton never got his way.Trump's decision in December 2018 to leave Syria led to the resignation of defense secretary James Mattis and anti-ISIS envoy Brett McGurk. Bolton was gone by September 2019. Jettisoning these key officials, the White House narrowed its role in Syria even more, no longer seeing a way to use it as leverage against Iran. Since Trump didn't want to do nation-building in Syria, and wanted Europe or the Gulf states to foot the bill to keep ISIS detainees locked up, he saw the area as a sunk cost. As for Iran, he said the U.S. would use Iraq to "watch" it.All that was left of U.S. policy in Syria was the question of what to do about the U.S. partners, the mostly Kurdish forces that had been trained and that had done a phenomenal job defeating ISIS. The problem was that Turkey, sensing that Trump wanted to leave, kept threatening to launch an invasion of eastern Syria to attack the SDF. Turkey says it will resettle 2 million Syrians, mostly Arabs from elsewhere in Syria, in the Kurdish areas of eastern Syria.U.S. policy in Syria has been one of shutting one door after another to close off U.S. influence, at the same time that Iran, Russia, and Turkey are opening those doors to partition Syria for their own interests. The risks of U.S. withdrawal are clear. Not only will ISIS make some inroads, but Washington will lose influence in Syria, and America's image will be tarnished for appearing to abandon friends and being bullied into leaving. Iran is already calling the US an "irrelevant occupier" and saying that it's ready to help take over eastern Syria.Unfortunately, as the U.S. seeks to narrow its footprint and get out of the nation-building-humanitarian-intervention business that was a hallmark of the 1990s and early 2000s, Washington has chosen such a narrow goal that its allies are wondering whether there is a future for the U.S. in the Middle East. The U.S. had good intentions — the road to hell is paved with them — in Syria but badly mismanaged them. The result is that Iran, Russia, and Turkey got something and that all the U.S. got was a damaged reputation. It's a far cry from 2011 when Syrian protesters all across the country, including Kurds and Arabs, looked to Washington for leadership and support.


The Latest: Police called to bar 2 hours before shootings

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 02:23 PM PDT

The Latest: Police called to bar 2 hours before shootingsThe Kansas City, Kansas, police chief says officers responded to reports of a disturbance at a bar two hours before a shooting left four people dead and five wounded. Interim police Chief Michael York said Monday that officers could not find the man suspected of causing the disturbance and had no information that he planned return to the Tequila KC bar. Police said Javier Alatorre, 23, and Hugo Villanueva-Morales, 29, were each charged with four counts of first-degree murder.


12 Power Strips and Surge Protectors to Keep You Organized and Powered Up

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 10:37 AM PDT

12 Power Strips and Surge Protectors to Keep You Organized and Powered Up


Doomed Kiribati ferry crew drunk, victims died horribly: official report

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 12:33 AM PDT

Doomed Kiribati ferry crew drunk, victims died horribly: official reportCrew members of an overloaded Kiribati ferry which sank in the Pacific claiming 95 lives were drunk, leaving passengers to die slow deaths from starvation and hypothermia, a damning report has found. "Most, if not all, victims died from hunger, dehydration and hypothermia," it found. The deaths of 84 passengers and 11 crew was the worst maritime disaster ever in Kiribati, a collection of 33 atolls and reefs scattered over an area the size of the continental United States.


Epic Games sued for not warning parents 'Fortnite' is allegedly as addictive as cocaine

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 03:19 PM PDT

Epic Games sued for not warning parents 'Fortnite' is allegedly as addictive as cocaineQuebec parents sued "Fortnite" publisher Epic Games for a third-person shooter they allege is as addictive and dangerous as cocaine.


One U.S. Battleship Fired Nearly 6,000 Massive 16-Inch Shells During Vietnam War

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:43 AM PDT

One U.S. Battleship Fired Nearly 6,000 Massive 16-Inch Shells During Vietnam WarOver the course of her relatively short Vietnam patrol New Jersey fired 5,688 16-inch gun rounds and 14,891 five-inch gun rounds, far more than she fired during World War II and the Korean War combined.


Sexual abuse of slaves by students at Founding Father’s university revealed by historians

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 04:59 AM PDT

Sexual abuse of slaves by students at Founding Father's university revealed by historiansThe two young, white University of Virginia students had a secret.It was September 1826, and the men, both scions of wealthy southern slaveholding families, were suffering from the same sexually transmitted disease.


EU tells British PM Johnson to stop playing 'stupid' Brexit blame game

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 12:17 AM PDT

EU tells British PM Johnson to stop playing 'stupid' Brexit blame gameLONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union accused Britain of playing a "stupid blame game" over Brexit on Tuesday after a Downing Street source said a deal was essentially impossible because German Chancellor Angela Merkel had made unacceptable demands. With just 23 days before the United Kingdom is due to leave the bloc, the future of Brexit remains deeply uncertain as both London and Brussels position themselves to avoid blame for a delay or a disorderly no-deal Brexit.


We Don’t Need New Laws to Fight Right-Wing Terror. We Need to Call It by Its Name.

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 01:45 AM PDT

We Don't Need New Laws to Fight Right-Wing Terror. We Need to Call It by Its Name.Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/GettyLast month's massacre of 22 people in a Texas Walmart by a man aiming to battle "a Hispanic invasion" is only the latest horror story as the radical right continues to murder and terrorize. For the first time in memory, a consensus of U.S. law enforcement officials agree that white supremacist domestic terrorism has become the No. 1 terrorist threat facing the United States. The question now is, what is to be done?I recently attended a conference hosted by the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security, entitled "Domestic Terrorism and Its Global Context: Exploring the USG Approach"—an invitation-only gathering of government officials, civil society activists and academics concerned with the threat. The meeting was convened specifically to make suggestions for U.S. government action.I have been studying the radical right for almost 25 years now, and it's difficult enough to come up with anything approaching a "solution" for private groups or individuals, let alone laws or police actions that must and should be carried out by a government that respects civil liberties in a free society. There is nothing approaching a silver bullet for the government, or for private citizens.The government's Countering Violent Extremism program, begun under the auspices of DHS in 2011, illustrates part of the dilemma. It directed millions of dollars toward working with community groups to prevent or reverse radicalization by engaging with at-risk youth and others. But while the program is supported by some, large numbers of Muslim and other minority groups say it stigmatizes their communities as likely terrorists, encourages neighbors spying on one another, and is largely ineffective. Many believe it has done more harm than good.Another example is the City of New York Police Department's Muslim surveillance program, started in 2002, which included listing mosques as potential terrorist organizations, sending undercover agents into Muslim neighborhoods to listen in on conversations, and undertaking a "mapping" of people believed to be vulnerable to radicalization. The program was widely criticized after it was exposed  and drew lawsuits over its religious profiling and suspicionless surveillance and, in 2014, then-NYPD Commissioner William Bratton disbanded the squad. A federal lawsuit against the NYPD ended in 2018 with a major settlement for the plaintiffs.The United Kingdom's Prevent program, started in 2007, ran into similarly severe criticism for its highly disproportionate targeting of Muslim communities. Many have called for the entire counter-radicalization effort to be scrapped.Of course, there have been some useful efforts, many of them focused squarely on violence from the white supremacist movement. Exit programs, aimed at helping individuals leave the movement, have had some success though the Trump administration has largely defunded them. De-platforming of radical ideologues—convincing private companies like Google and Facebook to remove extremist content—also has had some impact, and major tech companies recently agreed to expand their Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism.But those efforts, and others like them, have had limited effect, and most likely never disrupted a violent white supremacist attack. No one yet has come up with a reliable list of indicators of radicalization. In addition, the positive benefits of some programs have been overwhelmed by President Trump and other far-right politicians seeming to endorse ideas of the white nationalist movement while painting Islamist terrorism as the only serious threat.The Texas attack capped a kind of sea change among law enforcement officials, however, as new statistics showed that right-wing domestic terror since the Sept. 11, 2001 al Qaeda attacks has been significantly deadlier than Islamist terror.At the Sept. 23 conference, held just outside Washington, D.C., the most substantive subject discussed was the idea of passing a national law outlawing "domestic terrorism." Proponents argued that right-wing terrorists in the U.S. can only be charged with such crimes as murder and weapons violations, unlike foreign terrorists who face charges like terrorism or materially aiding a terrorist group. A new terrorism statute, they suggested, might elevate the importance of the threat in the minds of criminal investigators, the courts, and the broad public.But at least 40 civil rights groups, including the most important such organizations in the country, staunchly oppose such a law. They argue, rightly in my view, that no new laws are needed to deal with extremist violence. They cite a long and sordid history of government abuse and infiltration of left-wing groups, suggesting that a domestic terrorism law might provide cover for a replay.The changes we need lie elsewhere.The real problem has been the reluctance of generations of American officials to describe racially motivated violent extremists correctly—as terrorists, just as dangerous and criminal as foreign Islamist terrorists. For years, the FBI refused to label the murders of abortion physicians by Christian extremists as terrorism. More recently, it claimed "eco-terrorists" were the main domestic terror threat in the country—an absurdity, given that not a single person has been killed by animal rights or environmental extremists. It is important to call a terrorist a terrorist, but the problem is political cowardice, not the lack of a new law.I walked away from the conference with the sense that many participants were looking for a technical fix—some law or program that would ease or even end the threat of terroristic violence from the domestic radical right.That shows a lack of basic understanding about the nature of the threat. Despite the claims of President Trump and media outlets like Fox News, it is not internet algorithms, mental illness, violent video games or even foreign plots that are driving the violence. The fact is, huge socioeconomic changes convulsing Western societies—including demographic shifts, cultural upheaval, and real economic hardship—have produced this movement.And that means, regardless of the most well-meaning of efforts to confront the threat of resurgent white nationalism, that there are no easy fixes. 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.


A White House official who listened in on Trump's Ukraine call described it as 'crazy' and 'frightening'

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 12:33 PM PDT

A White House official who listened in on Trump's Ukraine call described it as 'crazy' and 'frightening'The official was also "visibly shaken" by the conversation, ABC News reported, citing notes taken by the whistleblower.


Federal prosecutor: Chicago officers 'betrayed their badges'

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:06 PM PDT

Federal prosecutor: Chicago officers 'betrayed their badges'Two Chicago police officers lied to judges to obtain search warrants and then stole cash and drugs from the properties they searched, a federal prosecutor said Tuesday during opening statements of the officers' corruption trial. Sgt. Xavier Elizondo and Officer David Salgado have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice charges alleging they paid informants to lie to judges for search warrants. Elizondo is also accused of attempting to destroy evidence, while Salgado also faces lying to the FBI allegations.


Chicago teens stage 'die-in' to demand action on climate change; one man arrested

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 07:24 PM PDT

Chicago teens stage 'die-in' to demand action on climate change; one man arrestedDozens of Chicago teens gathered across from Trump International Hotel and marched to City Hall Monday to demand action on climate change.


Israel unveils the remains of 5,000-year-old city

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:25 PM PDT

Israel unveils the remains of 5,000-year-old cityIsraeli archaeologists on Sunday unveiled the remains of a 5,000-year-old city they said was one of the biggest from its era in the region, including fortifications, a ritual temple and a cemetery.


Nazi Germany's Me-262 Jet Fighter Was Revolutionary but Too Late

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 07:15 PM PDT

Nazi Germany's Me-262 Jet Fighter Was Revolutionary but Too LateThe Allies would quickly learn from the design.


Elon Musk paid convicted fraudster to spread false paedophile claims about British cave rescue hero, court documents allege

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 09:33 AM PDT

Elon Musk paid convicted fraudster to spread false paedophile claims about British cave rescue hero, court documents allegeElon Musk paid a convicted fraudster to smear a British diving hero who he baselessly called a paedophile, according to court documents.The billionaire technology entrepreneur allegedly orchestrated a "malicious, false, and anonymous leak campaign" in a bid to trash the reputation of Vernon Unsworth, who helped to rescue a schoolboy football team trapped in a cave in Thailand last year.


China's tourists cut back foreign travel over 'Golden Week', choose patriotic destinations at home

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:31 AM PDT

China's tourists cut back foreign travel over 'Golden Week', choose patriotic destinations at homeChinese mainland tourists cut back on trips and spending abroad during the long "Golden Week" holidays in early October, with a weaker yuan, political turmoil in Hong Kong and global tensions dampening their enthusiasm to travel too far from home. China is the single largest source of tourists in the world.


Kurdish general anticipates Turkish assault in Syria, says watching ISIS prisoners is no longer top priority

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 06:18 PM PDT

Kurdish general anticipates Turkish assault in Syria, says watching ISIS prisoners is no longer top priorityWith the Syrian Democratic Forces preparing for attacks by Turkish troops in northern Syria, fighters are being moved to the border, leaving a limited number of guards to keep watch over thousands of Islamic State prisoners, a commander told NBC News.The Syrian Democratic Forces are the United States' Kurdish allies in the region, and General Mazloum Kobani Abdi told NBC News that the ISIS prisoners are now a "second priority," due to the White House's Sunday announcement that U.S. troops will "no longer be in the immediate area," paving the way for a Turkish operation. Mazloum said this is a "very big problem," as there are about 12,000 prisoners -- 10,000 from Syria and Iraq, and 2,000 from other countries.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan considers Kurdish forces to be terrorists. Despite being the opposition, Mazloum told NBC News "one of the options that we have on the table" is to partner with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to fight against Turkey. He is hopeful that the American public will call on Trump to reverse course, so it doesn't have to come to this, saying, "The people who fought with you against international terrorism, against ISIS, are under risk right now and they are facing a big battle alone."


Trump Enlists Trey Gowdy to Help With Impeachment Fight

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:03 PM PDT

Trump Enlists Trey Gowdy to Help With Impeachment Fight(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump has enlisted former Representative Trey Gowdy to work with the White House team combating the U.S. House's impeachment inquiry into the president, people familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.Gowdy, a former prosecutor from South Carolina, is not formally joining the White House staff, according to the people. He was at the White House on Tuesday, according to one person who saw him there, before an eight-page letter was issued to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi declaring that Trump and the administration wouldn't participate in the impeachment inquiry.Gowdy rose to prominence leading a special House panel investigating the attacks on an American diplomatic post in Benghazi, Libya, while Hillary Clinton was secretary of State. The committee's more than two-year-long investigation concluded in June 2016, in the thick of the presidential campaign, without substantiating any criminal behavior or misconduct by Obama administration officials. The probe was derided by Democrats as a political stunt intended to damage Clinton's presidential campaign.As a member of the House Intelligence Committee, Gowdy also helped manage the panel's investigation into Russian attempts to influence the 2016 election.In 2012, during another investigation by the Republican-led House, the Obama administration invoked executive privilege for documents and over subpoenas. Gowdy, according to a Voice of America article, responded that "the notion that you can withhold information and documents from Congress no matter whether you are the party in power or not in power is wrong. Respect for the rule of law must mean something, irrespective of the vicissitudes of political cycles." Early last year, Gowdy announced that he would not seek re-election to his South Carolina House seat. "Whatever skills I may have are better utilized in a courtroom than in Congress, and I enjoy our justice system more than our political system," he said at the time.To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.


Hong Kong's undercover medics reveal hidden toll of protests

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 10:44 AM PDT

Hong Kong's undercover medics reveal hidden toll of protestsWith Hong Kong's summer of protests now stretching into the fall and clashes becoming increasingly ferocious, medical professionals have quietly banded together to form the Hidden Clinic and other networks to secretly treat the injuries of many young demonstrators who fear arrest if they go to government hospitals. The Hidden Clinic says it has clandestinely treated 300-400 protesters with an array of injuries: broken and dislocated bones, gaping wounds and exposure to tear gas so prolonged that they were coughing up blood. It also says the severity of the injuries has increased sharply in the past week, with hard-core protesters and police increasingly tough on each other.


Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower: Google Boss’ Daughter Scrubbed From Guardian Exposé

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 12:18 PM PDT

Cambridge Analytica Whistleblower: Google Boss' Daughter Scrubbed From Guardian ExposéFairfax Media/GettyLONDON—Christopher Wylie, the Cambridge Analytica whistleblower, claims that Sophie Schmidt, the daughter of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, successfully campaigned for The Guardian to scrub her name from one of their bombshell data-abuse stories.In a memoir that will be published Tuesday, he says that The Guardian's willingness to back down in the face of Schmidt's legal threats—and "water down" a story that had already been published—convinced him that he could no longer trust the British newspaper alone to publish his allegations about Cambridge Analytica.Wylie had helped The Guardian report on Cambridge Analytica anonymously for months, but he said he was shocked when the newspaper amended a May 2017 story. That story originally claimed it was Sophie Schmidt who suggested to Alexander Nix, the former director of Cambridge Analytica's parent company SCL, that he should get in touch with Peter Thiel's Palantir and look into using data mining techniques to bolster their political operations."Any trust I had in The Guardian was wrecked when the paper failed to stand by its own reporting," he wrote, according to an excerpt of Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America seen by The Daily Beast.A Guardian news & media spokesperson said, "We are disappointed that this book appears to contain factual inaccuracies about the Guardian which were not put to us prior to publication."We have raised a number of concerns with the publishers and are talking to them about how they plan to rectify this."The reporter who wrote the story, Carole Cadwalladr, said it was incredibly difficult for British media organizations to stand up to well-resourced legal threats. "Schmidt bullied a British newspaper using British privacy laws. It's extraordinary that the daughter of Eric Schmidt—the man who says that privacy is dead—would be using U.K. privacy laws to get herself taken out of the piece," she told The Daily Beast."News organizations have difficult choices to make, don't have an endless pot of money, and have to make hard choices. It's a measure of the difficulty of publishing this work that The Guardian decided they couldn't defend that one."Schmidt was an intern at SCL when Wylie writes that she "introduced Alexander to some of the executives at Palantir." The New York Times later reported on Schmidt's alleged suggestion. Palantir, a secretive tech company, was co-founded by Thiel, a Silicon Valley billionaire and major Trump donor, who also sits on the board of Facebook."The idea that Cambridge Analytica had dealings with Palantir suggested by the daughter of Eric Schmidt the chairman of Google just seemed like a really massive deal because the whole piece was about the power of these Silicon Valley tech companies," Cadwalladr said.Wylie wrote that he was not one of the sources who had spoken to Cadwalladr about Schmidt, but he said he did know of Schmidt's role in the history of the company."The story wasn't remotely libelous. Schmidt threw a battalion of lawyers at The Guardian, with the threat of a time-consuming and expansive legal battle. Instead of fighting an obviously spurious lawsuit, the paper agreed to remove Schmidt's name several weeks after publication," he said. Cadwalladr emphasized that it was privacy concerns rather than libel that were raised. "Then Cambridge Analytica threatened to sue over the same article," Wylie writes. "And even though The Guardian had documents, emails, and files that confirmed everything I had told them, they backed down again. Editors agreed to flag certain paragraphs as 'disputed,' to appease Cambridge Analytica and mitigate the paper's liability. They took Cadwalladr's well-sourced story and watered it down. At this point, my heart sank. I thought, All right, I've just moved back to London, I haven't got a job, and I'm being asked to put my neck on the line for a newspaper that won't even defend its own journalism."Wylie had been in discussions about going public with his full story but now began to re-think.He said he was put in touch with Gavin Millar, a well-known London lawyer who had worked on the Edward Snowden case. Wylie said the lawyer suggested he give the story to a U.S. newspaper because the First Amendment provided a stronger defense against accusations of libel and "The New York Times was far less likely to back down than The Guardian had been, and it would never delete parts of articles after the fact."Wylie said he then gave The Guardian an ultimatum. "I reiterated to the paper's editors that I would not be cooperating or handing over documents until there was an agreement with The New York Times."Cadwalladr said: "He's right to say that it did dent his confidence in publishing in Britain but it was actually The Guardian's Katharine Viner who reached out to Dean Baquet at the New York Times to help set up the partnership."Wylie's revelations were published jointly by The Guardian and The New York Times. It eventually emerged that more than 87 million Facebook profiles had been compromised as part of a vast data collection operation. Cambridge Analytica, which worked for the Trump campaign in 2016, was bankrupted and Facebook was fined a record $5 billion by the Federal Trade Commission.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.


Mystery oil spills blot more than 130 Brazilian beaches

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:05 AM PDT

Mystery oil spills blot more than 130 Brazilian beachesThe source of large blots of oil staining more than 130 beaches in northeastern Brazil remained a mystery Tuesday despite President Jair Bolsonaro's assertions they came from outside the country and were possibly the work of criminals. Tamar, a group dedicated to the protection of sea turtles, said the oil spill was "the worst environmental tragedy" it has encountered since its formation in 1980. The patches of oil began appearing in early September and have now turned up along a 2,000 kilometer (1,200 mile) stretch of Atlantic coastline.


Iran's Drones Are Getting Deadlier by the Day

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 05:46 AM PDT

Iran's Drones Are Getting Deadlier by the DayWhat should Washington do about it?


Harley falters with electric bike debut, struggles to attract new generation

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 01:49 PM PDT

Harley falters with electric bike debut, struggles to attract new generationHarley-Davidson is betting on electric motorcycles to attract the next generation of younger and more environmentally conscious riders to reverse declining U.S. sales.


UPDATE 2-Ethiopian Airlines flight makes emergency landing in Dakar, no casualties

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 10:37 AM PDT

UPDATE 2-Ethiopian Airlines flight makes emergency landing in Dakar, no casualtiesAn Ethiopian Airlines plane was forced to make an emergency landing minutes after taking off in Senegal on Tuesday because an engine had caught fire, an airport spokesman said. None of the 90 passengers or crew were injured, spokesman Tidiane Tamba told Reuters. The airline confirmed on Twitter that its Boeing 767 aircraft had to land unexpectedly at Senegal's Blaise Diagne International Airport near the capital Dakar because of "a technical problem" without providing more detail on the cause.


Trump Gives Swing-District Democrats New Cause to Back Inquiry

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:01 AM PDT

Trump Gives Swing-District Democrats New Cause to Back Inquiry(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump has erased any lingering doubts among the swing-district Democrats who galvanized the House impeachment move two weeks ago despite the risks to their re-election chances in 2020.The decision by seven first-term Democrats elected in Trump-leaning districts to back an impeachment inquiry after months of resisting the idea tipped the balance in the House and helped spark Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to announce the investigation.Now they are back home during a congressional break, facing voters as well as a concerted effort by Republicans to make them pay. At town halls and in interviews, members of the group express no regrets."I did the right thing, and I will be able to look in the mirror 30 years from now and say I was on the right side of history," Virginia Representative Elaine Luria told a packed town hall in her coastal district last week that's home to Naval Station Norfolk.Luria and the six other freshmen lawmakers who announced their support for an impeachment inquiry in a Sept. 23 opinion essay in the Washington Post are crucial to Democrats' chances of holding the House in 2020 and to the party's hopes of making inroads in former Republican strongholds in the presidential election. They won in 2018 by playing up their military or national security backgrounds and offering a moderate counter-balance to the Democratic Party's liberal wing.Backing an impeachment inquiry gives Republicans an opening to tie them to the progressive Democrats who've been calling for Trump's impeachment for months."Make no mistake about it: backing impeachment will cost the Democrats their majority in 2020," Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer, head of the House GOP's campaign arm, said in a statement.Counter AttackThe campaign against them has already begun. Vice President Mike Pence in planning trips in the coming weeks to the districts of four Democratic freshmen who defeated Republican incumbents.Since swinging to support an impeachment inquiry, several of the vulnerable Democrats said at meetings with voters and in interviews that the events since then have only solidified their decision. Those include the White House releasing a rough transcript of Trump's call with Ukraine's president, a whistle-blower's complaint and the president himself publicly calling on Ukraine and China to investigate a Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden."There is a national security threat in addition to the illegality of a president of the United States allegedly asking for election assistance from a foreign government," said Virginia Representative Abigail Spanberger, one of the Democrats being targeted by Pence."If calling that out is wrong and gets me into political trouble, then why am I here if I'm not here to stand up for the Constitution? Why am I in this role if I am not supposed to call out things that are endanger us and are a threat to our country?" she said.Luria also said she wasn't deterred by political threats.'The Right Thing'"I have to tell you I did not do it in regard to any political consequences. I did it knowing that in the past the district I represent has been held by a Republicans and people may say 'why would you do that? You might not be re-elected.' I don't care because I did the right thing," said Luria, a Naval Academy graduate who spent 20 years in the service.The line earned Luria a standing ovation and a smattering of boos, reflecting the political divide in her district, which she won last year with 51% of the vote against Republican incumbent Scott Taylor.Luria said of the 420 calls she's received from constituents on impeachment in the last week and a half, about two-thirds were supportive. At her town hall last Thursday, those who spoke were more evenly divided."There is no evidence so far as I'm concerned, in my option, that warrants it. They have been trying to impeach this president from Day Two," said Jim Tarr, 65, a federal geologist, echoing other Trump supporters in the audience.Many attendees interviewed said that they respected Luria's judgment, as a former naval officer, about whether Trump may have imperiled national security by withholding aid to Ukraine."I think she is a taking a political risk but I like that she said she is not worried about her re-election," Conrad Schwab, who was among the crowd, said."I just think it is a waste of their time. Our health care needs to be fixed," said Marsha Spain, a self-described independent.Plea to ChinaLuria told the Virginia Beach crowd that she "didn't go to Washington to impeach the president," but that Trump's public suggestion earlier that day that China investigate Biden and his son Hunter reinforced her decision."It was even more brazen this morning when he stood on the White House lawn and an asked China to meddle in our election," she said.Trump's decision late Sunday to abandon U.S.'s Kurdish allies in Syria -- from which he is backpedaling -- also bolstering the view by Democrats that his foreign policy presents a national security risk.Spanberger, a former CIA operative, said that while the decision is itself not impeachable, there are similarities between the Ukraine call, the televised plea to China and the Syria decision."They show a president who doesn't understand foreign policy whatsoever, who doesn't understand the lines between what is appropriate and what is not," she said.Other Democrats who flipped last month in favor of impeachment also suggested parallels, including first-term Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips.At a Friday town hall event in Rochester, Michigan, an affluent town in a GOP-leaning District, Representative Elissa Slotkin defended her support of an impeachment inquiry.She told a mostly supportive crowd that she changed her mind when Trump acknowledged that he asked for information from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy about Biden. While most of the audience clapped in approval, Slotkin was subject to frequent heckling from about a dozen Trump supporters in the crowd."I did not take this decision lightly," she said. "It's not something I wanted to do."Slotkin was asked if she thought Trump was doing his duty by investigating the accusation that Biden helped his son avoid investigation in Ukraine."You go to the American FBI," the former CIA analyst said. When the Trump supporters responded with boos, she said, "You can boo the FBI. I will not boo the FBI. You do not go to a foreign leader if you're concerned about corruption, especially to ask about a political rival."Colorado Democrat Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger who also signed the essay with Slotkin, Spanberger and Luria, spent the last week on a delegation to Afghanistan and the Jordan-Syria border. He said in an interview Monday that he has no second thoughts."Our concerns continue to be re-confirmed," he said. "More and more information is emerging about his fast and loose approach to American foreign policy and his abuse of presidential authority."Crow said that he has found support in his community for his decision but that it was important that the inquiry stay focused and proceed efficiently."I think the process is really important here," he said. "You don't make conclusions until you have reviewed the evidence."Speaking on MSNBC Tuesday, Crow said Trump's actions represent a national security risk and have damaged U.S. credibility abroad. He declined to say whether he thinks the House will ultimately impeach Trump, adding that's it's "inappropriate" to prejudge the end result."That's why we're making sure we're following the steps right now," Crow said. "We have to make sure we're doing it the right way."(Updates with lawmaker quote beginning in the 35th paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net;David Welch in Southfield at dwelch12@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.


California governor signs law capping rent increases

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 04:56 PM PDT

California governor signs law capping rent increasesCalifornia will limit rent increases for some people over the next decade after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Tuesday aimed at combating a housing crisis in the nation's most populous state. Newsom signed the bill at an event in Oakland, an area where a recent report documented a 43% increase in homelessness over two years. Sudden rent increases are a contributing cause of the state's homeless problem, which has drawn national attention and the ire of Republican President Donald Trump.


Passenger forcibly removed from American Airlines plane by police at Miami airport

Posted: 07 Oct 2019 01:18 PM PDT

Passenger forcibly removed from American Airlines plane by police at Miami airportOn Monday morning, a man was removed from an American Airlines plane by Miami-Dade Police using force.


View 2020 BMW M8 Gran Coupe Photos

Posted: 08 Oct 2019 04:01 PM PDT

View 2020 BMW M8 Gran Coupe Photos


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