| Inspector general finds 'significant errors or omissions' in Trump adviser surveillance warrant Posted: 09 Dec 2019 02:31 PM PST  The long awaited 434-page report finds that FBI's team conducting Crossfire Hurricane— the code name for the bureau's investigation into links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin — improperly relied too heavily on allegations made by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who had been hired by an opposition research firm working for the Hillary Clinton campaign.
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| Remember When Russian Diesel Submarines Chased Down A British Nuclear Sub? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 04:05 AM PST  Depends if it actually happened.
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| A Florida sheriff office's captain told a deputy to act like a 'white supremacist' and a 'Nazi' when stopping a black murder suspect Posted: 10 Dec 2019 12:38 PM PST  The comment made by Monroe County Sheriff's Capt. Penny Phelps was recorded by a deputy's body camera during a conversation in late 2017.
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| UPDATE 1-Iran foreign ministry issues travel advisory for citizens not to visit America Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:24 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-Iran foreign ministry issues travel advisory for citizens not to visit America]( "UPDATE 1-Iran foreign ministry issues travel advisory for citizens not to visit America") Iran warned its citizens, particularly scientists, on Tuesday not to visit America, saying Iranians there were subjected to arbitrary and lengthy detention in inhuman conditions. "Iranian citizens, particularly elites and scientists, are requested to seriously avoid traveling to America, even to take part in scientific conferences and even having an invitation," a travel advisory on the foreign ministry website said. It cited, "America's cruel and one-sided laws toward Iranians, especially Iranian elites, and arbitrary and lengthy detention in completely inhuman conditions" as reasons for the travel advisory.
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| Pete Buttigieg Reveals His List of Clients From ‘Amoral’ McKinsey Posted: 10 Dec 2019 03:49 PM PST  Following weeks of increasing pressure for presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg to break one of the corporate world's most famously stringent non-disclosure agreements, the Indiana Democrat on Tuesday night revealed a comprehensive list of clients he worked with during his time at McKinsey & Co., one day after the management consulting behemoth announced that it would give Buttigieg permission to disclose their identities. The client list includes a Canadian grocery store chain, a Michigan insurance company, a handful of environmental non-profits, multiple U.S. government departments and agencies, and Best Buy, all of which gave permission to McKinsey for their identities to be revealed."I think people are going to pounce on things no matter what. The best I can do is to explain my story—as much as I can responsibly share," Buttigieg told The Atlantic's Edward-Isaac Dovere, the first to report Buttigieg's client list in full. "But if folks are going to come up with a fanciful theory based on consulting work I did four and a half years out of school, chances are they'll find a way to do it no matter what I say or do."In the interview, Buttigieg said that there were at least four instances after he left McKinsey where he felt that someone at the consulting firm had "done something upsetting.""It's a place that is as amoral as the American business community in general, or at least the corporate community, can be. And that's one of the problems with it," Buttigieg told The Atlantic. "I never worked or was asked to work on things that I had a problem with, but it's a place that I think, like any other law firm or firms that deal with companies, just thinks about client work and doesn't always think about the bigger implications."The disclosure comes after the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, found himself stuck between increasingly sharp-elbowed rivals critical of his lack of transparency and a former employer known for a ruthless corporate culture and a controversial client list.McKinsey & Co., by which Buttigieg was employed as an associate between 2007 and 2010, had remained publicly silent on the candidate's increasingly public requests to be released from the non-disclosure agreement he signed during his time there. But on Monday evening, the famously secretive firm announced that it had given his campaign permission to break the non-disclosure agreement."After receiving permission from the relevant clients, we have informed Mr. Buttigieg that he may disclose the identity of the clients he served while at McKinsey from 2007 to 2010," a spokesperson for the firm said in a statement, while asserting that "any description of his work for those clients still must not disclose confidential, proprietary or classified information."Buttigieg described his work at McKinsey as mostly involving spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations—and said that his work at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which cut hundreds of jobs and increased premiums in 2009 after calling in McKinsey to help it identify cost savings, had nothing to do with anyone losing their insurance or facing higher premiums.Instead, Buttigieg told The Atlantic, his work at Blue Cross Blue Shield largely had to do expenditures like printing costs, travel and hotel expenses, and office rents. That assignment, part of a three-month training period, was his first role at McKinsey."Mostly I was with fellow consultants in a room working on a spreadsheet," Buttigieg said. Buttigieg pointed out that after three months of training, he was moved off the project, years before any layoffs or premium increases. "I don't know what the conclusions were or what it led to," Buttigieg said. "So it's tough for me to say."The client lists comports with a broad timeline, released by the Buttigieg campaign on Friday, outlining his work at McKinsey between 2007 and 2010, after he earned a master's degree from the University of Oxford and before he left the company to run for Indiana state treasurer.Some of Buttigieg's consulting work took him abroad. In one project, studying economic development for the Department of Defense, Buttigieg made several trips to Iraq and Afghanistan—where he would later deploy as a U.S. Naval Intelligence Officer."In Iraq, it had to do with a lot of state-owned enterprises that were learning to function in the post-Saddam world, helping them with basic stuff like business planning that just hadn't been done in the style of international business norms, because it was a quasi-socialist system over there," Buttigieg told The Atlantic. "In Afghanistan, they knew how to do business, but then there was a lot of trouble scaling it. So we were working more on figuring out how to help businesses grow."Those familiar with McKinsey's corporate culture told The Daily Beast that Buttigieg, as a junior associate, would likely have had little say in what work he was assigned, and said that the rough timeline of his work released on Friday seemed to clear him of any involvement with the firm's more damning projects. But as former Bain Capital founder Sen. Mitt Romney learned in 2012, involvement in any firm famous for advising that clients cut jobs can be political poison.McKinsey has a well-deserved reputation as a home for "axe men," consultants tasked with cutting a client's costs who often recommend cutting client's employees. One popular joke among management consultants is that, when asked how to solve the problem of a classroom with three fewer chairs than students, an Ernst & Young consultant advises to buy three chairs; a McKinsey consultant advises to kill three students.But with the list's release, Buttigieg said in a statement accompanying the client list, "voters can see for themselves that my work amounted to mostly research and analysis.""They can also see that I value both transparency and keeping my word," Buttigieg said. "Neither of these qualities are something we see coming out of Washington, especially from this White House. It's time for that to change."The firm's granting of permission removes a major headache for the Buttigieg campaign, as well as a potential legal minefield for a candidate who faced increasingly loud calls to just break the NDA. Experts in contract law and non-disclosure agreements told The Daily Beast that Buttigieg could have abrogated the agreement—but not without a hefty cost. "Legally, he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on," said David Hoffman, a professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School and an expert in contract law and the proposed regulation of non-disclosure agreements, before McKinsey's announcement. "It's basically client lists and client secrets, and I think that's exactly why NDAs exist."The financial damages stipulated by the consulting firm's non-disclosure agreement, Hoffman said, could be massive for a candidate who has boasted on the campaign trail that he ranks as the poorest person running for the Democratic nomination."Let's just say he gets up there in front of the press and names every client he had. They can't unring the bell, so all they can do is sue him for damages," Hoffman said, adding that damages in the range of two to five million dollars wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for a firm with a vested interest in keeping "reputational hooks into former employees.""I think he'd have to pay," Hoffman said. "And so the question is whether he wants to pay."The NDA, which covers Buttigieg's roughly two-and-a-half-year tenure at the company, had prevented him from publicly discussing the identity of McKinsey's clients, or the exact work he performed on their cases. In a statement on Friday evening, Buttigieg attempted to quiet the criticism by providing a general timeline for his work at the firm and called for McKinsey to release him from the agreement."I am today reiterating my request that McKinsey release me from this agreement, and I again make clear that I authorize them to release the full list of clients I was assigned to serve," Buttigieg said at the time. "This company must recognize the importance of transparency in the exceptional case of a former employee becoming a competitive candidate for the U.S. presidency."Even if Buttigieg had that kind of money on hand to buy himself out of the agreement—or if his campaign were allowed to cover the debt incurred by just holding a press conference and spilling the tea—McKinsey might still have taken him to the cleaners to set an example for other ex-employees with secrets to spill."He, or his campaign, could try to buy his way out of it if they wanted," said Gregory Klass, who teaches contract law at Georgetown University Law Center. "Of course, McKinsey might not take their offer. It has a strong interest in its reputation for confidentiality."There is little case law testing the strength of non-disclosure agreements for former management consultants, experts said, in part because renegotiating such agreements almost universally takes place in private arbitration—as do any negotiations over damages sought in the event of an agreement's abrogation. Buttigieg, too, would have been legally bound from even discussing how thoroughly McKinsey took him to the cleaners. (Unless, that is, Buttigieg wanted to publicly reveal the secret terms of any private settlement, which would then likely result in another private arbitration. Turtles all the way down!)"What's tricky about these things is that there's obviously many contexts in which NDAs make perfect sense," said Alan E. Garfield, a professor at Delaware Law School. "But there's also lots of situations—which we've seen more and more of—where they can be abusive and deny the public access that they need to know."Client identities and trade secrets are normal things for most businesses to want to keep secret, Garfield said—unlike President Donald Trump's famous fondness for non-disclosure agreements, which are almost hilariously expansive."Stormy Daniels is embarrassing, but she's not a trade secret," Garfield said. "This kind of situation is a little trickier because it falls somewhere near a perfectly legitimate use.""The question is, how did you separate the wheat from the chaff?" Garfield asked.That was the same quandary facing Buttigieg, who ran his first race for state office in Indiana in part on his experience in the private sector, but has since made little reference to his time at McKinsey on the campaign trail—particularly as the company has faced increasing criticism over its work for a string of ethically dubious clients. Among the firm's more recent work: identifying Saudi Arabian dissidents who were later arrested by the state, and recommending that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cut down on food and medical care for migrant detainees as a cost-cutting measure.The public, meanwhile, is not wrong for having concerns about politicians being prevented from candidly discussing their pasts with voters due to non-disclosure agreements, Garfield said."We have to be concerned about the increasing use of private ordering to deny the public access to information," Garfield said. "All of this goes to a larger concern about people with resources and power using the power of their money and lawyers to shelter from the public eye, or to obfuscate, what could be critical information for the public to know."Buttigieg has called some of the firm's more recent work "disgusting," and has insisted that he would have left the firm rather than participate in any projects that violated his conscience. But Democratic rivals have said that even if his work at the firm were limited entirely to analyzing grocery store price cuts, as he vaguely noted in his 2019 autobiography, Buttigieg's refusal to talk about his work at the firm is part of a larger trend of opacity.The McKinsey announcement allows Buttigieg to effectively clear the deck of some of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)'s recent attacks which centered on the McKinsey issue as well as his holding closed-door fundraisers, as well as what Warren characterized as a more general lack of transparency."He should open up his fundraisers, he should release who is bundling for him, he should make clear who is on his finance team. This is about the conflicts that he is creating every single day right now," Warren told reporters at a campaign event last week, condemning politicians who "sell access to their time to the highest bidder."On Monday, before the McKinsey announcement was made public, Buttigieg campaign manager Mike Schmuhl announced that going forward, the campaign would open fundraisers to reporters and release the names of fundraisers."He is the only current presidential candidate who has released the names of people raising money for his campaign, and we will continue to release additional names as more people join our growing effort," Schmuhl said in a statement.Buttigieg's campaign, in turn, has criticized Warren for refusing to make public additional tax returns from her time in the private sector, which the Massachusetts senator has said she would not release.Buttigieg's publication of a rough chronology of his time and work at McKinsey on Friday—without naming any clients—did not placate those critiques, even from Democrats who have been positive about his campaign. During an event in Waterloo, Iowa, on Friday night, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked Buttigieg whether breaking the non-disclosure agreement might give him "the moral authority and the high ground against somebody like Trump, who hides behind the lack of transparency to justify everything that he's doing?"Buttigieg responded that while, as a low-level employee fresh out of grad school, "it's not like I was the C.E.O.," he understood the need for transparency, and would continue to ask McKinsey to release him from the agreement—but that he wouldn't unilaterally violate it."I pushed as much information as I can, without breaking the promise that I made in writing," Buttigieg said, "and I am asking my former employer to do the right thing: to not make me choose between claiming the moral high ground and going back on my word."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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| Greenland's ice is melting 7 times faster than it did in the early 90s — suggesting scientists' worst-case predictions may come true Posted: 10 Dec 2019 09:09 AM PST  As our planet and its oceans warm, the polar ice sheets are melting at accelerated rates. Greenland's average yearly ice loss is 262 billion tons.
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| The Best War Movies on Netflix Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:00 AM PST |
| Fact check: Combative impeachment hearing draws too-simple answers Posted: 10 Dec 2019 04:26 AM PST  Debating the grounds for impeachment, Republicans said there's nothing here. Democrats said it's a slam dunk.
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| Virginia gun rights activists vow to fight new restrictions Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:40 PM PST ![Virginia gun rights activists vow to fight new restrictions]( "Virginia gun rights activists vow to fight new restrictions") More than 200 gun rights activists wearing "Guns SAVE Lives" stickers rallied Monday in Virginia, vowing to fight any attempt by the new Democratic majority in the state legislature to pass new restrictions on gun ownership. "Hands off our guns, hands off our rights, and hands off our guns," said Bob Good, a member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors.
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| 1 Officer and 3 Civilians Killed, 2 Suspects Dead in 4-Hour Jersey City Standoff Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:11 AM PST  'Today is a horrific day'
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| Brazil's Bolsonaro calls activist Thunberg a 'brat' Posted: 10 Dec 2019 09:21 AM PST  Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro called Swedish climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg a "brat" on Tuesday after she criticized mounting violence against indigenous people in which two Amazon tribesmen were shot dead three days ago. The teen activist retorted by changed the biographical description on her Twitter account to "Pirralha".
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| Missile Race: Does America or China Dominate the South China Sea? Posted: 10 Dec 2019 01:25 AM PST  Here's how they compare.
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| 'It hurt': Women of color from rival campaigns lament Harris' exit Posted: 10 Dec 2019 08:07 AM PST  But they also express hope that the historic diversity of the initial 2020 field "will reverberate for years to come."
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| A 5,000-Year-Old Plan to Erase Debts Is Now a Hot Topic in America Posted: 10 Dec 2019 02:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Explore what's moving the global economy in the new season of the Stephanomics podcast. Subscribe via Apple Podcast, Spotify or Pocket Cast.In ancient Babylon, a newly enthroned king would declare a jubilee, wiping out the population's debts. In modern America, a faint echo of that idea -- call it jubilee-lite -- is catching on.Support for write-offs has been driven by Democratic presidential candidates. Elizabeth Warren says she'd cancel most of the $1.6 trillion in U.S. student loans. Bernie Sanders would go further -– erasing the whole lot, as well as $81 billion in medical debt.But it's coming from other directions too. In October, one of the Trump administration's senior student-loan officials resigned, calling for wholesale write-offs and describing the American way of paying for higher education as "nuts.''Real-estate firm Zillow cites medical and college liabilities as major hurdles for would-be renters and home buyers. Moody's Investors Service listed the headwinds from student debt -– less consumption and investment, more inequality -- and said forgiveness would boost the economy like a tax cut.While the current debate centers on college costs, long-run numbers show how debt has spread through the economy. The U.S. relies on consumer spending for growth -– but it hasn't been delivering significantly higher wages. Household borrowing has filled the gap, with low interest rates making it affordable.And that's not unique to America. Steadily growing debts of one kind or another are weighing on economies all over the world.The idea that debt can grow faster than the ability to repay, until it unbalances a society, was well understood thousands of years ago, according to Michael Hudson, an economist and historian. Last year Hudson published "And Forgive Them Their Debts,'' a study of the ancient Near East where the tradition known as a "jubilee" -- wiping the debt-slate clean -- has its roots. He describes how the practice spread through civilizations including Sumer and Babylon, and came to play an important role in the Bible and Jewish law.Rulers weren't motivated by charity, Hudson says. They were being pragmatic -- trying to make sure that citizens could meet their own needs and contribute to public projects, instead of just laboring to pay creditors. And it worked, he says. "Societies that canceled the debts enjoyed stable growth for thousands of years.''Forgiveness was good for the economy, would be a modern way of putting it. In an October paper, Moody's examined how that might apply if America writes off its student debts.Moral Hazard?There would likely be a "modest increase'' in household spending and investment, and eventually higher rates of home-ownership and business-formation, it said. Buying up student loans would increase the government's own debt -- but "only marginally," since it already owns three-quarters of them. After that one-time hit, budget deficits each year would be slightly bigger because of the lost revenue from loan repayments, equal to 0.4% of GDP in 2018.Critics usually raise two key problems with debt forgiveness. One is about fairness. The other is known as "moral hazard'': Will write-offs today lead to more reckless borrowing tomorrow?These questions "need to be carefully thought through" for student loans, says William Foster, a senior credit officer at Moody's and the report's lead author. "Who would benefit, who would miss out, what attempts at equal treatment there should be.'' Any plan would also have to address "what the situation would be for the next generation of students with regard to accumulating debt,'' he says.Sanders and Warren plan to remove moral hazard by making state college tuition-free. But they've caught flak on the fairness question.'Bigger Debate'A study by the Urban Institute said that wealthier households hold more student loans –- so writing them off would be regressive. Pete Buttigieg, another Democratic presidential contender, wants to direct financial support toward poorer students, saying there's no reason to subsidize richer ones.Economies can skew against age cohorts, as well as income groups. Foster says the idea of debt relief plays into "the bigger debate about prospects for young Americans today: Job opportunities, the cost of education, income levels and slower wage gains since the financial crisis.''The last Democratic administration also got in a fight over debt forgiveness.Under President Barack Obama, the government took steps to help underwater homeowners. But it failed to get a measure allowing judges to reduce the principal due on mortgages –- known as "cramdown'' -– through Congress.Democrat-leaning analysts have been arguing about the episode ever since."There were 5 million foreclosures,'' says Mike Konczal, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. "It's a real stain on the Obama presidency's legacy. They had access to tools to be able to combat them.''House of DebtIn their 2014 book "House of Debt,'' economists Atif Mian and Amir Sufi argued that the economy would have rebounded faster with more writedowns. Larry Summers, Obama's economic adviser, pushed back when he reviewed it -- praising their analysis but calling the policy proposals naïve.A few years before the financial crisis, two top 2020 contenders -- Warren and Joe Biden –- took opposite sides in another clash over debt relief.Biden supported a 2005 bill that made it harder to get out of debt by filing for bankruptcy -- on the grounds it would curb abuses and help ensure cheaper borrowing. Warren, then a Harvard professor who specialized in household finance, attacked it for punishing struggling families.Konczal says that bill reflected a widespread idea that over-borrowing was a result of extravagant "lifestyle problems.'' In reality, he says, "middle-class families were in a much more precarious situation than was realized'' -- and relying on debt for the basics.Can't Pay, Won't PayForgiveness isn't the only big idea out there for reducing the economy's reliance on private debt. Another one is to pay for things like homes or education with instruments that look a bit more like equity, and less like debt.Mian and Sufi suggested a type of mortgage in which the lender shares risks if prices fall, and rewards when they rise. Some lawmakers, educators and investors are applying a similar model to college financing too.Mitch Daniels, head of Purdue University and a former Republican governor of Indiana, is one of the champions of Income Share Agreements. They work like this: investors fund students, and get repaid -– hopefully with a return on their equity –- when graduates start earning the higher wages that a degree should bring.Hudson, the historian, also says equity-financing is better. But he thinks the government should play a role. In a 2018 paper with Charles Goodhart of the London School of Economics, he proposed public-equity funds to help first-time home buyers, students and small businesses. By edging out debt-financing, the authors argued, it could be a modern version of the ancient jubilees."The fact is, debt causes instability for a society,'' Hudson says. Another lesson he's drawn from studying credit over thousands of years: "Debts that can't be paid, won't be paid.''(Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic nomination. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)\--With assistance from Alex Tanzi.To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Holland in Washington at bholland1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Kennedy at skennedy4@bloomberg.net, Sarah McGregor, Margaret CollinsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pete Buttigieg's real 'black problem': He has been convicted of white privilege Posted: 10 Dec 2019 12:15 AM PST  Acknowledge the original sin, but also that white men risked their lives to end slavery and a black man led the way to gay marriage equality.
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| Belgian boy, 9, terminates his studies at a Dutch university Posted: 10 Dec 2019 06:46 AM PST  A 9-year-old Belgian boy who was on track to become the world's youngest university graduate has terminated his studies at the Dutch university of Eindhoven following a dispute over his possible graduation date.
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| ‘Fox & Friends’ Host Presses Kellyanne Conway: Is Rudy Giuliani Working for Trump or Himself? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 09:29 AM PST  Kellyanne Conway spent nearly 10 minutes ranting and raving Monday morning on Fox & Friends, receiving mostly agreeable nods and words of encouragement from the three hosts. When the White House counselor called out Democrats for preparing their impeachment strategy over the weekend, Steve Doocy replied, "Well, they were rehearsing because it's a TV show and ultimately what they want to do is impeach the president." "They want to impeach from day one," Ainsley Earhardt said later. "And they say 'collusion,' 'racism,' now they're saying this phone call with the Ukrainian president." Conway couldn't help but thank her for "making my point." Kellyanne Conway Thinks Justin Trudeau Is Just 'Jealous' of TrumpThe only question that could be even be considered tough came near the end of the segment when Brian Kilmeade asked her, "Is Rudy Giuliani representing the president in the Ukraine? And is the president going to use that material to bolster his case? Or is he acting on his own?" Kilmeade pointed out that even conservative Congressman Matt Gaetz called the president's personal lawyer's trip this past week to Ukraine "weird." President Donald Trump later indicated that Giuliani would be reporting his findings to Congress, adding, "I hear he found plenty." "Well, Rudy is one of the president's personal attorneys," Conway answered. "And I think that was particularly true during the Mueller investigation, since that was an executive branch, Department of Justice investigation." After giving Giuliani credit for "getting the upper hand" on Special Counsel Robert Mueller, she admitted, "I don't know what Rudy's doing in Ukraine, I know what I read, but I also know that I have no idea what he's going to produce. So that's a hypothetical I cannot address at this moment." In other words, Conway would not confirm that Giuliani is in Ukraine on behalf of the president, but suggested that if he "produces" information that could help Trump then maybe he was after all. As Doocy tried to move her onto the next topic, Conway added, "If he's rooting out corruption, great, because this was always about corruption." There were no follow-up questions. Stephen Colbert Busts Rudy Giuliani's Big Ukraine AdmissionRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Representative Ted Yoho Becomes the 23rd House Republican to Announce Retirement Posted: 10 Dec 2019 10:04 AM PST  Representative Ted Yoho of Florida announced Tuesday that he will step down after completing his fourth term, joining the wave of House Republicans who have opted against running for reelection in 2020.Yoho had promised to serve no more than four terms in Congress."I ran on a pledge to serve four terms — eight years and come home," Yoho said in his announcement. "Many told me I was naive and they're probably right. I was told the district has changed three times and so the pledge isn't binding and I could rationalize that. However, I truly believe a person's word is their bond and should live up to their word."Yoho is the twenty-third House Republican to announce retirement in 2020. 26 Republicans retired in 2018, the year Democrats took back control of the House."Carolyn and I want to thank all of our awesome and loyal supporters who believed in us enough to give us the incredible honor to serve as a Member of the United States Congress, a government that represents the greatest country on earth," Yoho wrote in a letter to supporters.Yoho sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees. Before running for Congress he worked as a large animal veterinarian.In November Yoho was thought to be considering retirement, but the congressman initially denied reports that he would be stepping down.The retirement wave is fueling concerns for GOP prospects in the 2020 congressional elections, although some of the affected districts are expected to remain in Republican control. Yoho's district is widely considered safe for Republicans, and the congressman is himself a staunch supporter of President Trump.
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| Russian court sentences 11 for Saint Petersburg bombing Posted: 10 Dec 2019 06:30 AM PST  A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced 11 people to terms including life in prison after finding them guilty of a deadly bomb attack on the Saint Petersburg metro in 2017. Abror Azimov, a 29-year-old from Kyrgyzstan, was sentenced by a military court in Russia's second biggest city to life in prison for organising and participating in a terrorist group. The bomb blast in April 2017 killed 15 people in the Saint Petersburg metro and wounded dozens more.
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| 5-Year-Old Carries Baby in Subzero Cold After They Are Abandoned, Police Say Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:17 AM PST  A 5-year-old, wearing just socks and light clothing, carried an 18-month-old through subzero temperatures in the Yukon Flats of Alaska after the power went out at the home where they had been left alone, according to the authorities.The power failure scared the older child, who then carried the baby to a home about half a mile away in Venetie, Alaska, Tuesday, the Alaska State Department of Public Safety said in a statement Friday.At the time, the temperature was about 31 degrees below zero, officials said, and both children suffered unspecified injuries from the cold. It was not immediately clear how the younger child had been dressed.The children are expected to make a full recovery, Ken Marsh, a department spokesman, said Sunday.To reach the remote community, which has a population of 166 and is nearly 150 miles north of Fairbanks in interior Alaska, troopers had to charter a plane, Marsh said."It took 12 to 16 hours for them to actually get there," he said. "Fortunately, we were confident that the children were in good hands because a neighbor had taken them in and we had spoken with the neighbor."An investigation led to the arrest of Julie Peter, 37, who was charged with endangering the welfare of a minor, officials said.Efforts to reach Peter were unsuccessful.The investigation revealed she had "deserted" the children in her home with no adult supervision, officials said. It was not clear whether Peter was related to the children or if the children were related to each other.Officials did not release the details of those relationships because the victims were minors, Marsh said.Venetie experiences extreme temperatures throughout the year but especially in the winter.From November to March, the temperature typically dips below zero and extended periods of temperatures of minus 50 to minus 60 degrees are common, according to the Tanana Chiefs Conference, an Alaska Native nonprofit that serves the 42 villages of interior Alaska.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| China claims all Uighur Muslims have happily 'graduated' from its oppressive prison camp system, despite widespread reports that at least 1 million are detained Posted: 09 Dec 2019 03:10 AM PST  Xinjiang governor Shohrat Zakir claimed that everyone had "graduated" from "vocational training camps," found employment, and are leading happy lives.
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| 'Old man' Trump is 'bluffing,' says North Korea: KCNA news agency Posted: 09 Dec 2019 12:18 PM PST  North Korea on Monday accused President Trump of "bluffing" and called him "an old man bereft of patience" as Pyongyang ramps up pressure on Washington over stalled nuclear talks.
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| Kentucky's new governor reorganizes school board on day one Posted: 09 Dec 2019 09:08 PM PST  Delivering on a campaign promise to teachers who helped elect him, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear used his first day in office Tuesday to overhaul the state school board. In his inaugural address outside the state Capitol, the new Democratic governor proclaimed his support for public education and expanding health care coverage.
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| Saudi pilot who attacked US Navy base had lodged complaint over 'pornstache' jibe Posted: 09 Dec 2019 12:36 PM PST  A Saudi trainee military pilot launched a terror attack at a US Navy base after an instructor called him "Porn Stash," suggesting his moustache resembled that of a pornographic film actor. Mohammed Alshamrani, 21, a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force, had complained about use of the derogatory comment, which he said left him embarrassed and angry, in April. The incident happened at the end of a training session in which about a dozen student flyers were learning about meteorology at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida. An instructor looked at Alshamrani and asked if he had any questions, addressing him as "Porn Stash". The phrase was spelled that way in Alshamrani's subsequent complaint, and was taken to be a reference to his moustache looking like that of a male adult film performer. Alshamrani wrote: "Laughing, he [the instructor] continued to ask, 'What? Have you not seen a porn star before?'. After I did not respond he just let go of the subject. "I was infuriated as to why he would say that in front of the class." The Saudi officer, who was part of a programme in which the US trains pilots from allied nations, was upset and two American classmates helped draft his complaint. The instructor was employed by a civilian contractor, which is now co-operating with the FBI. A spokesman for the contractor said: "Appropriate personnel action was taken regarding the incident in question. Corrective action was taken. The matter was closed back in April." Alshamrani carried out his attack eight months later in a classroom building at the same base, just as teaching sessions were getting underway on Friday. He killed three people, and injured eight more, before being shot dead by police who rushed to the scene. Hundreds of pilots from Saudi Arabia and other countries train at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida Credit: REX Alshamrani was armed with a Glock 9mm handgun, which he bought legally in Florida. He also had up to half a dozen extended magazines, meaning he could have killed many more. Ron DeSantis, the Republican governor of Florida, questioned whether foreigners should be able to buy guns in the state. Mr DeSantis said he strongly supported the Second Amendment, the constitutional right to own guns, but it "does not apply to Saudi Arabians." The FBI is treating the attack as an act of terrorism and examining social media posts believed to have been written by Alshamrani. He was believed to have called America a "nation of evil" and to have quoted Osama bin Laden. The night before the attack he held a dinner party for a small group of fellow Saudis where he showed videos of previous mass shootings. He also visited New York days before the shooting and the FBI is working to determine the purpose of the trip. Agents believe he carried out the attack alone, but may have had assistance from others. FBI special agent Rachel Rojas said: "There are a number of Saudi students who are close to the shooter and continue to cooperate in this investigation. The Saudi government has pledged to fully cooperate. "Our main goal is to confirm if he acted alone or was he part of a larger network."
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| Last Impeachment Hearing Ends With a Meh Posted: 09 Dec 2019 07:27 PM PST  The House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing on Monday was supposed to be something like each side's closing argument in the House's impeachment inquiry. Instead the meeting, which was likely the last time the House will call witnesses to discuss evidence President Trump pressured Ukraine to investigate his political rivals, was ultimately a forgettable capstone to a process marked by major revelations, dramatic testimony and partisan fireworks. The only witnesses on Monday were two staff attorneys, one from each party, each charged with taking the witness stand to present their side's point of view. With nothing new to say, lawmakers took turns either asking questions they knew the answers to, or berating the attorneys—a process that took nearly 10 hours. 'Toxic' Mueller Impeachment Article Threatens to Split DemsNow, with all their evidence already compiled into a lengthy report, Democrats are poised to move straight into the final part of the process: drawing up, considering, and voting on articles of impeachment—all possibly by the end of this week. Reports from The Washington Post and the Associated Press Monday evening indicated that there would be two articles of impeachment focusing on abuse of power and obstruction of congressional investigation. While the impeachment hearing dragged from Monday morning into the afternoon, other activity on the Hill and beyond began to pull attention elsewhere. House Democrats—wary of GOP criticisms that they are consumed with impeachment—scheduled a vote for later in the week on their centerpiece prescription drug bill, and grew closer than ever to a deal with President Trump on a new U.S.-Canada-Mexico trade agreement.To some Democrats, the backburner is fine, for now. The goal of Judiciary's proceedings, they say, is taking advantage of impeachment's media coverage to lay out the evidence competently and without any major unforced errors—and not necessarily with a surplus of razzle-dazzle. Members of the committee framed Monday's hearing as important due diligence in a solemn process. A member of the Judiciary panel, Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), told The Daily Beast that Monday's hearing was "a presentation of evidence and a closing argument to knit the gravity of those things together.""The point," said Dean, "is upholding our constitutional oath and holding the president accountable to his… We had to make this presentation of the uncontroverted facts to the American people, and we have to now do our job."Unlike in past impeachments, the lead investigators in the Ukraine matter weren't special prosecutors but lawmakers, led by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA). Schiff himself did not testify to present his committee's 300-page report, despite GOP demands for him to defend what they've dubbed the "Schiff Report." The witnesses were instead Daniel Goldman, Schiff's committee counsel, and Steve Castor, counsel for the Oversight Committee GOP, both of whom played leading roles in the open hearings helmed by Schiff. Also testifying was Barry Berke, a Judiciary counsel who delivered Democrats' opening statement.The unusual sight of staff testifying—and then also asking questions after testimony—proved to be a partisan lightning rod throughout the day, and seemed to push lawmakers to take the gloves off to pursue sharper, blunter lines of questioning. Nadler made use of his gavel loudly and often, and he largely succeeded in reeling the hearing back from the brink when frequent interruptions from the GOP edged it off the rails.Several GOP lawmakers minced no words for Goldman, a former prosecutor and MSNBC analyst whom Schiff brought to Washington earlier this year to lead investigations. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) went full attack dog, questioning Goldman over his past donations to Democratic political candidates.Gaetz also needled Goldman over an old tweet—which Republicans displayed as a poster for full effect—in which Goldman said the so-called Steele Dossier was totally accurate. "Do you regret this tweet?" Gaetz asked repeatedly, but Goldman didn't take the bait, staring at Gaetz dead-eyed as the Florida congressman took over both sides of the conversation he had begun. For most of the proceedings, Democrats kept their heads down and plugged away at the evidence in Schiff's 300-page report, while Republicans poked holes in the process and slammed Democrats for tearing the country apart. Knowing the process was nearing its conclusion in the House, the GOP complained that Nadler would not schedule a hearing where they could hear from witnesses—already requested and rejected by Schiff—such as Hunter Biden. "This will be the last hearing, because there's no desire to hear anything from both sides," Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA), the top Republican on the Judiciary panel, said at the end of the day's hearing. "That is the farce called the Judiciary Committee impeachment scam."Other Republicans seemed to have already placed their hopes on the Senate. "We can only pray," said Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), "that the Senate adheres to the judicial principles of our founders."Republicans weren't the only ones looking ahead. During and after Monday's procedural speed bump, Democrats frequently alluded to the "duty" they have remaining—drawing up articles of impeachment. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), a Judiciary member, argued Monday's hearing was "necessary both from a process perspective but also from the perspective of, this is the first time we've laid out the full case.""As people talk about what happened and what the what the remedy is," she said, "I think you will hear some of these things again."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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| Newlyweds burned by volcanic eruption on New Zealand honeymoon cruise Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:44 AM PST  Lauren and Matt Urey were touring the White Island volcano Monday on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas when it erupted.
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| TikTok's chief cancels planned meetings with US senators amid concerns over privacy and app's ties to China Posted: 10 Dec 2019 09:05 AM PST  TikTok told Business Insider the meetings were postponed until after the holidays "to ensure these conversations are as productive as possible."
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| A Samoan father loses 3 of his 5 children to the measles outbreak Posted: 10 Dec 2019 05:04 PM PST  The virus has infected more than 4,800 people, and at least 70 have died — many of them young children.
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| Immigrant advocates sue US over yanked detention hotline Posted: 10 Dec 2019 08:17 AM PST  The nonprofit group Freedom for Immigrants, which has run the hotline since 2013 with a free phone line provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sued in federal court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit alleged that the administration yanked the hotline in August after it was featured on the Netflix show, which drew attention to the group's criticism of detention conditions for immigrants.
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| The mystery of Rudy Giuliani's spokeswoman Posted: 10 Dec 2019 02:00 AM PST ![The mystery of Rudy Giuliani's spokeswoman]( "The mystery of Rudy Giuliani's spokeswoman") Meet Christianné Allen, the 20-year-old college student who speaks for President's Trump's personal lawyer.
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| Why the Marines Love Their LAV-25 "Destroyers" Posted: 10 Dec 2019 07:59 AM PST  A spunky and useful vehicle.
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| Fires from CP Rail train derailment under control: safety officials Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:11 AM PST  "The last that I have on it is that things are under control... the fire is contained in an area, there's no concern about other tanker cars catching fire at this point," Transport Minister Marc Garneau told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday. CP said it re-opened the rail line on Tuesday morning once all track repairs and safety inspections were complete. Garneau said Canada's Transportation Safety Board was investigating the derailment.
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| India's lower house passes contentious nationality bill Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:41 PM PST  India's lower house passed controversial legislation early Tuesday that will grant citizenship to religious minorities from neighbouring countries, but not Muslims, amid raucous scenes in parliament and protests in the country's northeast. "This bill is in line with India's centuries old ethos of assimilation and belief in humanitarian values," Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted, adding that he was "delighted" about its passage. "This is not a bill that is discriminatory," Home Minister Amit Shah said.
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| UPDATE 3-Six dead, including a cop and 2 suspects, in New Jersey shooting Posted: 10 Dec 2019 02:21 PM PST ![UPDATE 3-Six dead, including a cop and 2 suspects, in New Jersey shooting]( "UPDATE 3-Six dead, including a cop and 2 suspects, in New Jersey shooting") Six people, including a police officer and two suspected gunmen, were killed in an hours-long shootout that unfolded on Tuesday afternoon near a cemetery and a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, New Jersey, police said. The two suspects killed acted alone, Jersey City Police Chief Michael Kelly told a news conference hours later in the state's second-largest city, which sits directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan. The two gunmen and three civilian victims were pronounced dead inside the JC Kosher Supermarket.
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| Photo shows Jeffrey Epstein went to royal party dressed as a Navy SEAL Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:45 PM PST  Jeffrey Epstein attended Prince Andrew's costume party in a US Navy SEAL officer's uniform. Some of the medals appear to be fictional.
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| John Kerry: World's richest nations are failing to 'behave like adults' Posted: 10 Dec 2019 12:19 PM PST  The world's richest nations are failing to "behave like adults" and act firmly enough to meet global warming targets set in the Paris climate accord, former Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday.
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| 2 St. Louis police officers fired over Facebook posts Posted: 10 Dec 2019 06:54 AM PST ![2 St. Louis police officers fired over Facebook posts]( "2 St. Louis police officers fired over Facebook posts") Two of nearly two dozen St. Louis police officers accused this summer by a watchdog group of posting objectionable Facebook messages have been fired. Sgt. Ronald Hasty and Detective Thomas Mabrey are appealing, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
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| Meet the "Blue Magpie": Taiwan's New Domestically-Made Fighter? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:40 AM PST  Here's what we know.
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| Walmart apologizes for selling a Christmas sweater that showed Santa at a table with lines of white powder and the words 'let it snow' Posted: 09 Dec 2019 10:47 AM PST  Walmart Canada also pulled a sweater showing Santa, naked from the waist, by a fireplace with the words "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire."
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| Infowars host interrupts House impeachment hearing Posted: 09 Dec 2019 10:59 PM PST  Owen Shroyer, the host of a talk show on Infowars, filmed himself protesting at the start of the House Judiciary Committee's impeachment hearing Monday.
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| New 'Varsity Blues' charges: Georgetown mom pleads guilty to cheating in son's online classes Posted: 10 Dec 2019 06:52 AM PST  In a new twist in the "Varsity Blues" admissions scandal, a California woman agreed to plead guilty to paying $9,000 to have someone take online classes for her son so he could graduate from Georgetown.
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| SoftBank is selling back its stake in the embattled dog-walking startup Wag amid the company's 'painful' layoffs Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:24 PM PST  SoftBank's Masayoshi Son seemed to express concern about Vision Fund's near-50% stake in the dog-walking startup in his latest investor presentation.
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