| Trump unleashes furious tirade at reporter after being asked about indictment: ‘You’re at the top of the list!’ Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:17 AM PDT  Donald Trump has furiously berated two journalists for asking about the possibility of him being indicted after leaving office, labelling them as purveyors of "fake news".The president was speaking to a group of reporters following Robert Mueller's closely watched testimony before two congressional committees on Wednesday.During the session the former special counsel confirmed that Mr Trump could be charged with obstruction of justice once he left office."Could you charge the president with a crime after he left office?" Ken Buck, a Republican congressman, asked Mr Mueller."Yes," the former special counsel said in reply."You believe that you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?""Yes," Mr Mueller said again.But the president insisted that Mr Mueller had corrected his answer, in an angry tirade at political journalists later in the day."When you saw Robert Mueller's statement, the earlier statement and then he did a recap, he did a correction later on in the afternoon," he said when Hallie Jackson, a journalist at NBC News, asked him about the possibility of an indictment."And you know what that correction was and you still asked the question, you know why? Because you're fake news and you're one of the worst."And let me just tell you – the fact that you even asked that question, you're fake news because you know what, he totally corrected himself in the afternoon and you know that just as well as anybody."The president appeared to be confusing Mr Mueller's response to Ken Buck with his separate answer to Ted Lieu. During the first hearing Mr Lieu asked if the special counsel had not indicted Mr Trump because of an Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memo, which argues that you cannot indict a sitting president.The OLC is an agency which operates within the US justice department.Mr Lieu asked: "I'd like to ask you the reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of OLC opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting president, correct?""That is correct," Robert Mueller said.But the 74-year-old clarified his remarks later in the day."(W)hat I want to clarify is we did not make any determination with regard of culpability in any way. We did not start that process down the road," he said at the beginning of his appearance before the House Intelligence Committee.Mr Mueller did not correct his answer to Mr Buck, but the president repeatedly insisted that he had in later exchanges with reporters."He didn't say that," Mr Trump said to a second journalist who asked him about the indictment remarks."Again, you're fake news and you're right at the top of the list also."Let me just tell you…read his correction. Read his correction! If you read his correction you'll find out. That's why people don't deal with you, because you're not an honest reporter."Yamiche Alcindor, PBS White House correspondent, said the president had also lashed out at her."I quoted Robert Mueller directly to President Trump and he replied that I was being "untruthful" in my question. He was totally wrong," she said on Twitter.Despite Mr Mueller's testimony there is little sign Democrats will start impeachment proceedings against the president, although Representative Lori Trahan joined 90 others calling for an impeachment inquiry.Nancy Pelosi, the house speaker, opposes moving forward on impeachment for now. She said Democrats wanted to assemble the strongest case possible, focusing her remarks on Trump's personal finances and his business connections."One of those connections could be to the Russians and that's what we want to find out," she said.Members of Congress are expected to leave Washington at the end of the week for a long summer break, returning in September.Additional reporting by agencies
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| Justice Department will not pursue criminal contempt charges in Census dispute with Congress Posted: 24 Jul 2019 02:11 PM PDT  The U.S. Justice Department will not pursue criminal charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, after Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to hold them in contempt in a dispute over documents concerning whether to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. "Accordingly, the department will not bring the congressional contempt citations before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General or the Secretary," he added.
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| Suspect arrested in shooting deaths of four people in LA Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:45 PM PDT  Police arrested Gerry Dean Zaragoza in Canoga Park after a 12-hour manhunt.
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| The 'American Dream' of many migrants becoming a Mexican one Posted: 23 Jul 2019 06:52 PM PDT  Honduran Rolando Rodrigo arrived last week in the Mexican city of Tapachula with his family, just one stop on the long route to the United States and the dream of a new life free from the poverty and gang violence that wracks their homeland. Just hours after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard exchanged congratulations on "significant progress" in a deal to slow down the wave of undocumented migrants heading for US soil, Rodrigo wandered about Tapachula's central square with his three-year-old son Gadiel asking for money to feed his family.
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| A Violent Turn in Hong Kong Protests Marks a Dangerous New Phase Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:23 AM PDT  Sparked by a proposed bill that would allow suspected criminals to face trial in China, protests in Hong Kong have turned violent.
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| Far-Right Groups Embrace ‘Straight Pride Parades’ to Win Recruits, Media Attention Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:14 AM PDT  Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/ReutersFar-right groups looking to put a friendlier face on their politics are increasingly organizing so-called "Straight Pride Parades" in an attempt to both garner media attention and new recruits. The "Straight Pride" trend kicked off in Boston last month, when a group calling itself Super Happy Fun America announced plans for a Straight Pride Parade at the end of August. News reports and Twitter chatter focused on the novelty and strangeness of a parade celebrating "straight pride," imagining a group of particularly aggrieved heterosexual men in cargo shorts. Much of that coverage missed the fact that Super Happy Fun America's goals aren't so innocent—its lead organizer has been involved in far-right group Resist Marxism, and praised a Chilean dictator for executing liberals. Rather than representing any sort of "straight pride," the Boston Straight Pride parade turned out to be just another attempt at right-wing trolling. Now another set of far-right activists thousands of miles away are trying the same tactic. An explicitly anti-gay group calling itself the "National Straight Pride Coalition" announced plans this week for a Straight Pride Parade in Modesto, CA on August 24 to defend "Western Civilization." While the Boston Straight Pride Parade at least pretended not to be an attack on gay rights, with openly gay anti-Muslim activist Milo Yiannopoulos as its grand marshal, the Modesto event is clearly a vehicle for racial and homophobic hate. On its website, the group describes homosexuality as "evil," and adds that it was created in part to defend "whiteness." Still, participants in the Modesto parade were quick to paint criticism of the event as an attack on straight people. The event permit request describes it as merely a "cultural celebration event." "The moment you have a straight pride parade, everyone goes crazy," said Ryan Schambers, who describes himself as a member of the National Straight Pride Coalition. Mark Ricci, the head of Modesto Progressive Democrats, said the Straight Pride Parade is just a cover for organizers' extremist politics."It's like a front for what their real intentions are," said Ricci, whose group plans to participate in a counterprotest to the Modesto event. The Modesto Straight Pride event hasn't received a permit yet. Thomas Reeves, a spokesman for the city of Modesto, said the permitting process should be settled by the end of the week. "The city of Modesto cannot deny a permit based on an organization's values, the content of speeches, or the views of speakers," Reeves said in a statement. "The approval of the permit would not be an endorsement or sponsorship of any particular message by the city, but a recognition of the free speech rights enshrined in the First Amendment." The National Straight Pride Coalition is the creation of Don J. Grundmann, a longtime anti-gay activist and perennial failed Senate candidate in California. Grundmann said presenting his event as a "Straight Pride Parade" has earned it more attention that it would have received if he had billed it as another right-wing rally."It can be publicity, naturally," Grundmann said. "Straight pride—it shouldn't be a term which is controversial." Super Happy Fun America did not respond to a request for comment on the Modesto event. But Grundmann said his group doesn't have anything to do with the Boston Straight Pride march, and criticized their comparative openness to gay rights, which he described as "completely opposite from what we would do." Grundmann then proceeded to go on an anti-Semitic rant about a secretive, wealthy cabal controlling world events, down to the counterprotest to his own event. Asked if he was attacking Jewish people, Grundmann said, "you can figure it out."The Straight Pride Parade in Modesto has already attracted support from at least one local Republican official. Schambers is listed as a member of the local Stanislaus County GOP's central committee leadership on its website, although he insists he's no longer a county Republican official. The Stanislaus County GOP didn't respond to a request for comment.Schambers' involvement in the parade was first noted by a left-wing "digital community center" called It's Going Down. In an interview with The Daily Beast, he vaguely criticized the anti-gay language on the National Straight Pride Coalition, but then said he's participating in the event in part because he thinks it'd "probably be better" if gay people were instead straight. Ricci said Modestans aren't fooled by Grundmann posing as a support of "straight rights" and pointed out that Grundmann is a resident of the Bay Area—nearly 100 miles away from the planned site of the Straight Pride Parade. "We're just deeply disappointed that there are people out there who continue to use this thinly veiled hate speech under the guise of equality," Ricci said. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| No F-35 for You: Iran's Air Force Might Be Dying Posted: 25 Jul 2019 12:43 AM PDT  Not good.Two incidents in late August 2018 involving Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-5F Tiger II fighter jets underscored the ongoing crisis in Iran's air force.On Aug. 21, Iran unveiled what it described as a new, fourth-generation fighter jet. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani even sat in the plane's cockpit and posed for photographs.One problem. The aircraft in question was conspicuously an F-5F, one of the 17 Iran bought from the United States during the rule of the Shah. It was not domestically-built."Iran has probably upgraded the electronics systems, originally from the 1960s, and made other upgrades," Iran analyst Nader Uskowi suggested. "But it is not clear why the president of the country should unveil a 40-year-old plane as a new fighter."War Is Boring contributor Sebastien Roblin pointed out that Iran is in fact developing a new plane called the Kowsar-88, another in a long line of modified reverse-engineered F-5s that Tehran will either use as a trainer or light-attack aircraft.But that jet "wasn't ready for display this August, so Tehran simply took an old, very well-known jet fighter and claimed it was a new one, in full view of domestic and international audiences that would know better," Roblin wrote at The National Interest.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Lexus RX Crossover Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:00 AM PDT |
| North Korea says missile test was 'solemn warning' to South Posted: 25 Jul 2019 05:19 PM PDT  A day after two North Korean missile launches rattled Asia, the nation announced Friday that it had tested a "new-type tactical guided weapon" that was meant to be a "solemn warning" about South Korean weapons development and its rival's plans to hold military exercises. The message in the country's state media quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and was directed at "South Korean military warmongers." It comes as U.S. and North Korean officials struggle to set up talks after a recent meeting on the Korean border between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump seemed to provide a step forward in stalled nuclear negotiations. Although the North had harsh words for South Korea, the statement stayed away from the kind of belligerent attacks on the United States that have marked past announcements, a possible signal that it's interested in keeping diplomacy alive.
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| Mueller said Trump was 'not exculpated' for obstruction of justice. The dictionary responded Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:04 AM PDT  Merriam-Webster tweeted the definition of 'exculpate' in response to Mueller's remarks
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| UPDATE 3-Ukraine seizes Russian tanker, frees crew after Moscow threat Posted: 25 Jul 2019 05:15 AM PDT |
| Indonesia pardons woman sentenced to jail for exposing lewd boss Posted: 25 Jul 2019 01:57 AM PDT  An Indonesian woman sentenced to six months in jail for exposing her lecherous boss won a parliamentary pardon Thursday after the case sparked an outcry over victim's rights. Loud applause broke out in the House of Representatives as lawmakers unanimously voted to quash the prison sentence handed to Baiq Nuril Maknun over a recording she made of her former employer's sexual harassment. Rights groups had condemned the sentence and the high-profile case sparked fears it would discourage victims of sexual harassment from speaking out in the conservative Muslim majority nation.
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| US ship sails through Taiwan Strait after threat of force from China against independence Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:20 AM PDT  An American warship sailed through the Taiwan Strait, the US Navy and Taiwanese authorities said on Thursday, a day after China - which views Taiwan as a renegade province - unveiled a defence white paper threatening to use force to thwart any move towards the self-ruled island's independence, and accusing the United States of undermining global stability. It also followed an unprecedented joint Chinese-Russian air force exercise this week that triggered furious protests of airspace violations from South Korea and Japan. According to the US Navy's Seventh Fleet, a guided-missile cruiser conducted a routine transit through the narrow waterway separating the Chinese mainland and Taiwan. The transit "demonstrates the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific", the Fleet said in a statement. "The US Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows." American warships periodically conduct navigation exercises in the waterway, sparking angry responses from China. But Beijing's reaction to the latest sail-by was relatively restrained, with foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying China had "expressed its concerns to the American side". Hua said China urges the United States to "treat Taiwanese issues with care and diligence so as not to undermine Sino-American relations and peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait". China views any ships passing through the strait as a breach of its sovereignty, while the US and many other nations view the route as international waters open to all. Last month, a Canadian frigate and a support vessel also passed through the strait in a recent string of such transits.
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| SpaceX 'Starhopper' rocket test ends in spectacular flames Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:21 AM PDT  SpaceX's Starhopper – a prototype of the rocket it hopes will one day fly around the solar system – had a failed launch test that ended with it being surrounded by flames.The company was aiming to try the first "untethered" test of the rocket, which was intended to allow it to jump up into the air and then come back down again, without the restraining ties that have held it down in previous attempts.But as the test began, the rocket failed to launch and it stayed on the ground as flames poured out of its rocket. Another flame flew out of the top of the rocket, as can be seen on the video.The rocket itself appeared to survive without problems, but it is just the latest in a run of issues. It came a week after the Starhopper craft flew a fireball out of its bottom during another test.It was the first time that SpaceX has allowed one of the tests to be streamed. Previous attempts have happened in private – with spectacular descriptions of the launches leaking out after."It appears as though we have had an abort on today's test. As you can see there, the vehicle did not lift off today," SpaceX engineer Kate Tice said on a live stream provided by the company. "As I mentioned before, this is a development program, today was a test flight designed to test the boundaries of the vehicle."While the Starhopper is just a test vehicle, SpaceX hopes that it will one day turn into a rocket known as Starship. It aims to use that one day to carry people to Mars, with the help of a huge array of rocket engines.
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| Ruth Bader Ginsburg Insists She’s Not Going Anywhere Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:28 AM PDT  Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg revealed this week that she dreams of serving on the Supreme Court for another decade.Ginsburg, age 86, traveled to Portugal with Justice John Paul Stevens — who died July 16 at the age of 99 — during the last week of his life. She recounted a story from the trip at a Washington, D.C., event hosted by Duke Law School on Wednesday night: "As we were leaving the U.S. ambassador's residence our last evening in Lisbon, I said to John, 'My dream is to remain on the court as long as you did.' His immediate response? 'Stay longer!'"Ginsburg would need to serve until 2028, when she would be 95, to surpass Stevens's nearly 35-year tenure on the court.It may be a bit morbid, but given the nature of lifetime appointments and the outsize role of the Supreme Court in American political life, there is intense interest surrounding Ginsburg's health. She has spent the week making public appearances and pointedly insisting that she isn't going anywhere."There was a senator, I think it was after my pancreatic cancer, who announced with great glee that I was going to be dead within six months," Ginsburg told NPR in an on-camera interview Tuesday, the day of Stevens's funeral, referring to former Kentucky senator Jim Bunning. "That senator, whose name I have forgotten, is now himself dead, and I am very much alive."On Wednesday night, Ginsburg delivered a 30-minute speech looking back at the 2018 Supreme Court term and Stevens's life, before participating in an hour-long question-and-answer session with Duke Law professor Neil Siegel, one of her former clerks. When Siegel asserted during the Q&A that "nominees for the Supreme Court are not chosen primarily anymore for independence, legal ability, [and] personal decency, and I wonder if that's a loss for all of us," Ginsburg immediately defended Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. "My two newest colleagues are very decent, very smart individuals," she said.She expressed delight over the fact that she had assigned two opinions to Gorsuch and one to Kavanaugh during the last term, something she was only able to do only because the two justices senior to her on the court (Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Thomas) were in the minority."The Court remains the most collegial place I have ever worked," Ginsburg said. She lamented how divisive Supreme Court nominations have become. "I had a history of being a flaming feminist," Ginsburg said, before noting that she was confirmed 96–3. "I was general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union." Ginsburg pointed out that her "buddy," the late Justice Antonin Scalia, also had well-known constitutional views when he was confirmed by a unanimous vote. "My hope is we will return to the way it once was," Ginsburg said of the confirmation process."Nowadays, when people divide into 'I'll talk to my own kind, and the others I have nothing to do with,' that's very sad because that hasn't been the way it was and isn't the way this country should be," Ginsburg said. She added that Americans should go "beyond just mere tolerance of different views" to "welcoming different views because they enrich our society."To NPR, Ginsburg also expressed concern about the perils of packing the Supreme Court, a policy that has gained the support of several Democratic presidential candidates. "Nine seems to be a good number. It's been that way for a long time," she said. "I think it was a bad idea when President Franklin Roosevelt tried to pack the court.""If anything would make the court look partisan," she added, "it would be that: one side saying, 'When we're in power, we're going to enlarge the number of judges, so we would have more people who would vote the way we want them to.'"Despite Ginsburg's dream of staying on the court for another decade, she sounded a more realistic note at the end of Wednesday night's Q&A session. "I'll stay on this job as long as I can do it full-steam. That means, at my age, 86, you have to take it year by year," she said. "I was okay this last term. I expect to be okay next term. And after that, we'll just have to see."
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| Rep. Tlaib Compares BDS Movement Against Israel To U.S. Boycotting Nazi Germany Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:08 AM PDT  Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib compared the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel to Americans' boycott of Nazi Germany during a Tuesday floor speech.The Michigan congresswoman was speaking against a House resolution passed Wednesday that opposes the movement because it "does not favor a two-state solution and that seeks to exclude the State of Israel and the Israeli people from the economic, cultural, and academic life of the rest of the world," the text of HR 246 states.Tlaib started by saying she would not allow Congress to attack the right to "boycott the racist policies of the government and state of Israel.""The right to boycott is deeply rooted in the fabric of our country," Tlaib said. "What was the Boston Tea Party but a boycott? Where would we be now without the boycott led by civil rights activists in the 1950s and '60s, like the Montgomery bus boycott and the United Farm Workers grape boycott?"She continued that some of the country's "most important advances in racial equality and equity and workers' rights" have been achieved through constitutional, collective action.
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| Ford's "Baby Bronco" Compact SUV Shows Off Its Off-Road Chops Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:00 AM PDT  This Escape-based crossover could be called Bronco Scout, Bronco Sport, or Adventurer.
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| FBI Chief Says China's Trying to `Steal Their Way' to Dominance Posted: 24 Jul 2019 02:18 AM PDT  FBI Director Christopher Wray told senators that China is engaging in a sweeping effort to steal its way to economic dominance, with more than 1,000 investigations underway on intellectual property theft "almost all leading back to China."
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| ‘Fox & Friends’ Host Brian Kilmeade: Obstruction Part of Mueller Report Just ’Trump Being Trump’ Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:37 AM PDT  Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller told Congress on Wednesday that President Trump could be prosecuted for obstruction of justice after he leaves office. Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade on Thursday brushed off such alleged criminality as nothing more than "Trump being Trump."At the top of Thursday's broadcast of the president's favorite morning show, the Friends crew immediately spun the lengthy Wednesday House hearing as a complete victory for the president. At the same time, the hosts noted that prominent Democrats felt the former FBI director made the case for impeaching Trump for obstructing justice."Were they watching something else?" Ainsley Earhardt wondered aloud."I think you can sum up the obstruction part—Trump being Trump," Kilmeade said after they aired a clip of 2020 candidates saying Trump was not exonerated by the report.The pro-Trump Fox News host went on to summarize what he felt was the president's mindset."Picture this, you are wrongly accused and you know you didn't collude with Russia as was revealed in the first part [of the report]," he declared. "And then you have 19 lawyers, all of which are on the record hating you and very talented and loaded for bear, and you have an entire—Robert Mueller, with an endless budget, open wallet to investigate you."Kilmeade continued: "Even if you did not rob the bank if they are going to investigate you for robbing the bank you got to wonder: 'Why did they question everyone around me for something I didn't do?' What does Trump do? He fights every step of the way and the biggest reporter, the biggest anchor, the smallest outlet, if you say something wrong he will call you out and that's what this is!"Doocy and Earhardt agreed with Kilmeade, of course, adding that it wasn't Mueller's job to say he "could not" exonerate the president, and that "they could not find something to charge the president with."During the lengthy House hearing, the former special counsel testified that the president could be indicted after he leaves office and that he believes Trump's written answers for the report may have been "generally" untrue.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| 40+ Halloween Desserts That'll Thrill Everyone At Your Holiday Party Posted: 25 Jul 2019 01:19 PM PDT |
| Co-conspirator in ex-India PM's assassination released on parole Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:40 AM PDT  India's longest-serving female prisoner, who was convicted over the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, walked out of prison Thursday on a 30-day parole to arrange her daughter's marriage. Nalini Sriharan was granted parole earlier this month by the Madras High Court after spending nearly three decades in jail over her role in Gandhi's murder by a female suicide bomber in 1991.
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| The medical examiner said a man died of natural causes. Funeral home employees found stab wounds in his neck Posted: 24 Jul 2019 06:33 PM PDT ![The medical examiner said a man died of natural causes. Funeral home employees found stab wounds in his neck]( "The medical examiner said a man died of natural causes. Funeral home employees found stab wounds in his neck") A medical examiner in Georgia ruled a man died of natural causes. Then funeral home employees found stab wounds in his neck.
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| Putin allies' oil feud spills into public view Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:11 PM PDT  The blame game over a contamination scandal in Russia's oil industry has breached President Vladimir Putin's inner circle. Igor Sechin, head of Rosneft, the world's biggest publicly-traded oil company, and Nikolai Tokarev, the boss of Transneft, the world's largest pipeline network, are embroiled in an unusually public and rancorous dispute over their companies' responses to the contamination of Russia's Druzhba ("Friendship") pipeline, an episode that disrupted exports and tarnished Moscow's image as a reliable energy supplier.
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| Gambia ex-president accused of ordering murder of two US businessmen Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:16 PM PDT  Former members of a Gambian death squad known as the Junglers on Thursday accused ex-president Yahya Jammeh of ordering the murder of two US citizens in 2013, having already confessed to the killing of a well known journalist. Since Monday, Gambians have been gripped by live coverage of three ex-Junglers -- Malick Jatta, Omar Jallow and Amadou Badjie -- before the West African country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. On the last day of hearings before the commission adjourns until August 5, Badjie, a member of Jammeh's elite hit squad, said the head of state had ordered in June 2013 that two US-Gambian businenessmen, Alhaji Ceesay and Ebrima Jobe, who he suspected were planning a coup, should be "chopped into pieces".
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| China Says It Will Not Rule out Using Force to Reunify Taiwan With the Mainland Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:38 AM PDT  China said it will not renounce the use of force in efforts to reunify Taiwan with the mainland and vowed to take all necessary military measures to defeat "separatists."
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| Mueller Tells Congress: FBI ‘Currently’ Looking Into Issues of Trump Team Blackmail Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:06 PM PDT  REUTERSTowards the end of Robert Mueller's testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, the former special counsel indicated that the FBI is currently investigating matters of blackmail and compromise involving those who were in President Donald Trump's orbit.During his allotted time, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) noted that because it was outside the Mueller investigation's purview, the final report did not reach any counterintelligence conclusions regarding "any Trump administration officials who may be vulnerable to compromise or blackmail by Russia.""Those decisions were probably made in the FBI," Mueller, himself a former head of the FBI, replied. "We referred to the counterintelligence goals of our investigation which were secondary to any criminal wrongdoing we could find." Krishnamoorthi, meanwhile, pointed out that the report also did not address whether Russian oligarchs engaged in money laundering through the president's businesses. "And, of course, your office did not obtain the president's tax returns, which could otherwise show foreign financial services, correct?" Krishnamoorthi asked."I'm not going to get into that," Mueller responded.The Illinois lawmaker then noted that Mueller had charged former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn with making false statements about his conversations with Russian officials. "Since it was outside the purview of your investigation, your report did not address how Flynn's false statements could pose a national security risk, because the Russians knew the falsity of those statements, right?" Krishnamoorthi wondered."I cannot get into that, mainly because there are many elements that the FBI are looking into different aspects of that issue," Mueller said in response."Currently?" Krishnamoorthi quizzically replied."Currently," the one-time FBI chief confirmed. Following the hearing, the Democratic congressman told The Daily Beast that he was surprised when Mueller told him that there are such ongoing investigations into Trumpworld."Yes, that was news," said Krishnamoorthi. "I didn't anticipate that.""He said that there's an ongoing FBI investigation into the counter-intelligence risk associated with Flynn, and so I presume it's others as well," the congressman continued. "We know that others have some very questionable ties and dealings with Russia such as Jared Kushner. I'd be very curious whether the counterintelligence investigations extend to his risks, as well."—With additional reporting by Sam Brodey.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Glaciers Are Melting Underwater. It's Worse Than Previously Thought Posted: 25 Jul 2019 12:40 PM PDT  Underwater glacier melt could be happening faster than previously thought, a dangerous finding as melting ice and glaciers raise sea levels
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| Oklahoma City teens chase, attack family of undocumented immigrants with BB guns Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:45 AM PDT  A family of undocumented immigrants was injured Monday after teens wielding BBguns allegedly chased them around an Oklahoma City neighborhood
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| 'Enraged' wife hits husband with laptop during argument over other women on plane in Miami Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:26 PM PDT  A woman on an American Airlines plane about to take off from Miami threw a laptop at her husband, hitting a flight attendant and a passenger.
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| China defends air patrol with Russia after S. Korea, Japan fury Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:30 AM PDT  China on Wednesday defended a joint air force exercise with Russia that triggered a furious response from regional US allies South Korea and Japan over a perceived airspace violation. The incident erupted on Tuesday when a Russian A-50 early warning and control plane violated airspace over the Dokdo islands, Seoul said. South Korea scrambled fighter jets, which fired nearly 400 warning shots at the alleged intruder.
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| In change, Britain says it will escort all UK vessels through Hormuz Strait Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:12 AM PDT  A British warship will accompany British-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz to defend freedom of navigation, a change in policy after the government previously said it did not have the military resources to do so. Tensions have spiked between Iran and Britain since the Islamic Republic seized a British-flagged tanker in the Strait last Friday. Its move came after British forces captured an Iranian oil tanker near Gibraltar which Britain said was heading for Syria in defiance of EU sanctions.
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| 16 Marines Arrested After Being Tied to Smuggling of Undocumented Immigrants from Mexico Posted: 25 Jul 2019 10:24 AM PDT  Sixteen Marines with 1st Marine Division were arrested on Thursday at a battalion formation for "alleged involvement in various illegal activities ranging from human smuggling to drug-related offenses," the Corps said in a press release.Another eight Marines were questioned about their involvement in alleged drug offenses, the release said, which added that "information gained from a previous human smuggling investigation precipitated the arrests."The arrest of the 16 can be traced back to the case of two Marine infantrymen, Lance Cpl. Byron Law and Lance Cpl. David Javier Salazar-Quintero, who were pulled over and arrested by Border Patrol on July 3 — along with three undocumented immigrants in the backseat — as they were allegedly trying to make a quick buck shuttling people from Mexico into the United States, according to a federal court complaint first reported by Quartz.A source familiar with the matter told Task & Purpose the mass arrest of additional Marines came after the Naval Criminal Investigative Service pulled information from the phones of Law and Salazar-Quintero.Maj. Kendra Motz, a spokeswoman for 1st Marine Division, told Task & Purpose the unit involved was 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, the same unit where Law and Salazar-Quintero were assigned. She added that all the Marines arrested or detained were between the ranks of Private First Class and Corporal.
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| See Photos of the 2020 Audi Q3 Sportback Posted: 24 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| US deli owner offers free food for saying 'send her back' Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:20 PM PDT  A sandwich shop owner in northern California has come under fire for a publicity stunt offering customers who say "send her back" a free side dish. John Canesa, who runs Canesa's Brooklyn Heros deli in the town of Clayton, north of San Francisco, launched the promotion on Facebook in a show of support for recent comments by President Donald Trump targeting left-leaning ethnic minority lawmakers. The gimmick was inspired by racist chants of "send her back" aimed at Democratic congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American former refugee, that broke out at a Trump rally in North Carolina earlier this month.
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| Fake Tweets Put Israel in Bed With Iranian Exile ‘Terrorists’ Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:14 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyTEL AVIV—It was already late afternoon Tuesday local time when a call came in from a contact several time zones away. "A strange story is making the rounds in the Iranian press," said the contact, who tracks such things. The leader of the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian exile group often described by critics as a cult, had secretly traveled to Israel last week for meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mossad chief Yossi Cohen. Rudy Giuliani, a long-time supporter of the group, had apparently been a go-between.A Shady Facebook Campaign Is Stoking the Iran-U.S. ConflictEven stranger was the source for the report: the French consul general in Jerusalem, Pierre Cochard, who had publicized the news a few days prior via his personal Twitter account, citing a former colleague whom he had worked with in Tehran. In a long five-tweet thread, Cochard lamented the fact that the MEK leader, Maryam Rajavi, a political refugee in France, had not received official approval from Paris for such sensitive talks with the Israeli government. "You may want to look into this on your end," my contact said.The intriguing report hadn't really gained traction yet, although a few Iran-focused journalists and analysts on Twitter had begun credibly highlighting the consul's tweets and bombshell revelations. The news value was obvious. A quasi-Marxist group that fell afoul of the Islamic Republic after the 1979 revolution, the MEK has been in exile for most of the last four decades. Both the U.S. and European Union used to consider the group a terrorist organization, a designation lifted just a few years ago after a high-profile lobbying campaign by many allegedly well-paid supporters like former CIA chief James Woolsey, Howard Dean, and, yes, Giuliani. More to the point the MEK was simply weird, with a cult of personality reportedly built around its husband-wife leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. While their actual base of support inside Iran is extremely suspect, the MEK does on occasion deliver. In the early 2000s they were the source for several major revelations regarding Iran's nuclear weapons program. Which is where Israel may come in. According to a 2017 report likely attributable to the Obama administration, Israel had teamed up with the MEK to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists. More recently, an Iranian terror plot out of Austria and Belgium in 2018 reportedly was foiled by the Mossad. The alleged target? An MEK rally in Paris. In short, there were plausible reasons for Rajavi to make a trip to Jerusalem, although such a move would be hugely controversial—sending a message, as it was sure to do, that the MEK is an Israeli partner in the service of regime change in Iran. "The Iranians always suspect a hidden hand supporting any of the anti-regime groups, inside or outside the country, rightly or wrongly," one U.S-based analyst that covers Iran told The Daily Beast. The French consul in Jerusalem would surely have known all of this when he went public. The Cochard profile, on the face of it, looked like a legitimate French diplomat's personal account. It retweeted the French foreign ministry, it issued official-sounding platitudes about Bastille Day and the Franco-Israel relationship, it spotlighted highlights from French President Emanuel Macron. Established in 2013, the account had over 2,000 followers, including the verified profiles of several prominent Israeli journalists, the French ambassador in Israel, and the French embassy in Tel Aviv. A picture of the consul general visiting a Palestinian neighborhood in East Jerusalem was tweeted out around the same time as the MEK thread; a cursory search on Google brought up no other hits for the image, lending further credence to the account's legitimacy. An initial inquiry made to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office for comment dished up what often is a classic non-denial denial. Responding to the question of whether Ms. Rajavi indeed visited Israel last week to meet with Netanyahu, a spokesman told The Daily Beast that "[I] have not seen those media reports and have nothing to offer on query." When pressed on the fact that these weren't media reports, but rather (ostensibly) the online postings of a senior European diplomat working across town in Jerusalem, the spokesman declined to comment further. Intriguing. And yet, going back further in the account's timeline, things began to look very different. The consul was in the past apparently a major fan of the University of Arkansas Razorbacks. Homages to Lebron James were interspersed with ruminations about NBA basketball generally. Following the patois of modern social media there were purposeful spelling mistakes and online American slang. Not exactly the public profile of a pedigreed French diplomat and graduate of the prestigious École Nationale d'Administration. At a certain point earlier this year, it turned out, the account was re-branded—or bought, or potentially hacked. Gone were the references to the Razorbacks and King James. In their place, under the profile of Pierre Cochard, the account was now churning out, in fluent French, tweets about high diplomacy and French foreign policy hyperspecific to what a real consul general sitting in Jerusalem would be occupied with. Until, at the height of an escalating standoff between Tehran and Washington (and Jerusalem), it tweets out an elaborate story regarding the MEK, Rudy Giuliani, secrets flights from Talinn, the Mossad, and more. The story did succeed in gaining some traction online before this reporter finally reached the French consulate for comment, bringing L'affaire Rajavi to its attention. A spokesman rejected the veracity of the profile, telling The Daily Beast it was a fake and that they were contacting Twitter about the matter. The consulate added that Cochard had been the victim of an identity theft on the popular social media platform. Twitter took down the Pierre Cochard account a few hours later. Giuliani to Speak Beside Leader of Accused Iranian 'Cult'The story, a classic case of fake news and disinformation, was luckily stopped before it was able to travel halfway around the world—although the Iranian media is likely still flogging the "report." Yet the real moral is just how much time, effort, and resources were invested to make this particular profile seem like the real personal account of the French consul general in Jerusalem. This is the new face of psy-ops and cyber-ops in our hyperconnected, digitized world, and it all too often resembles the real thing. As if on cue, on Wednesday the Israeli intelligence services said they had scuttled a wide-ranging Iranian online recruitment campaign targeting Israeli nationals, primarily via the use of fake social media profiles on Facebook."The Consulate General of France in Jerusalem calls internet users to remain vigilant," read the conclusion of the official statement issued Tuesday. 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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| Maine Confirmed Its First Case of a Rare Tick-Borne Virus in Years. Here's What to Know About Powassan Posted: 25 Jul 2019 05:24 AM PDT  What to know about the tick-borne illness
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| 'You can't do that': Video shows ICE officers smash window, drag man out of car in front of his family Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:57 AM PDT  Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers were seen smashing a man's car window and dragging him to the ground in a now-viral video.
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| Dems narrow immigration bill to ease tension with centrists Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:33 AM PDT  A senior aide described the earlier bill as "full of political landmines."
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| Catholic priests in India protest cardinal's return Posted: 24 Jul 2019 06:24 AM PDT  India's Catholic Church, already rocked by allegations that a bishop raped a nun, is facing an uprising by hundreds of priests against one of the country's four cardinals following his reinstatement by Pope Francis. Francis last year effectively suspended Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the eastern rite Syro-Malabar church in the southern Indian state of Kerala, amid a controversy over disputed land sales. Francis named a temporary administrator to run Alencherry's Ernakulam-Angamaly archdiocese, resolve its financial problems and try to heal the divisions the dispute had caused among the priests.
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| Pakistan opposition parties hold protest rallies against PM Khan Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:20 AM PDT ![Pakistan opposition parties hold protest rallies against PM Khan]( "Pakistan opposition parties hold protest rallies against PM Khan") Pakistan's main opposition parties held protest rallies in cities across the country on Thursday, accusing Prime Minister Imran Khan's government of ruining the economy and seeking to intimidate and silence its opponents. The so-called "Black Day" protests, a year after Khan's PTI party swept to power following a bitterly contested election, come amid mounting economic problems for Pakistan and a political climate that has grown increasingly angry. "Every day in the presence of Imran Khan is a black day," Maryam Nawaz, leader of the PML-N party that was ousted from power in last year's election told a crowd of thousands of supporters in a football stadium in the western city of Quetta.
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| Brazil judge orders Petrobras to refuel Iran ships: source Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:35 AM PDT  Brasília (AFP) - A Supreme Court judge on Thursday ordered Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras to refuel two Iranian ships stranded off the country's coast, a source involved in the dispute and a report said. The order came after Iran's top envoy to Brazil told Bloomberg that Tehran could suspend imports from the Latin American country if the issue was not resolved. Petrobras has refused to provide fuel to the vessels, which have been stuck at Paranagua port in the southern state of Parana since early last month, for fear of breaching US sanctions.
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| Black man trying to propose to his girlfriend interrupted by security guard accusing him of shoplifting Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:21 AM PDT  Cathy-Marie Hamlet started her Facebook post with the good news: She'd gotten engaged.But her fiance kept getting interrupted, she said, as he proposed from the lawn of hard cider company Angry Orchard's tree-filled, 60-acre property in New York's Hudson Valley.Security intruded on the couple's happy moment three times to accuse Ms Hamlet's boyfriend of stealing a T-shirt, including once while he popped the question.Staffers followed Ms Hamlet and her fiance, who are black, to the parking lot as they left, the 32-year-old wrote in her post, which had been shared more than 5,000 times Tuesday afternoon. She believes they were racially profiled."I have never been so humiliated in my life," she said. "[M]yself and some of my friends left Angry Orchard in tears."Angry Orchard has replaced members of the security team involved and removed the manager who was on duty, Jessica Paar, a spokeswoman for Boston Beer Co. – Angry Orchard's owner – told The Washington Post in a statement on Tuesday.The company is also launching new, mandatory training on "security awareness and unconscious bias" for the staff."We badly mishandled the situation and our team overreacted," Ms Paar said, adding, "The situation doesn't reflect our values of respect for all and creating a welcoming environment for all our guests."Ms Paar did not immediately respond to questions clarifying the company's actions against the employees involved.Ms Hamlet wrote on Facebook that she and her fiance, identified by NBC News as Clyde Jackson, had left New York City on Sunday for Angry Orchard's farm in Walden. The occasion: Mr Jackson's 40th birthday. Six friends came along.A woman from security at the cider company approached the couple before they'd sat down at a table outside, Ms Hamlet said. The employee apologised and said she'd have to check Mr Jackson's back pocket, explaining that someone told her Mr Jackson stole a shirt from the gift store.Mr Jackson emptied out his pockets while trying to hide the ring he was about to propose with, Ms Hamlet recalled. No T-shirt was found.Mr Jackson launched into his proposal, she said, but before he could finish, the employee was back – this time saying she needed to check Ms Hamlet's bag because someone told her Mr Jackson gave her the stolen item.Ms Hamlet said she did as asked, even though her bag was too small to fit a shirt. But she questioned the woman's motives: "I know you're just doing your job, but I can't help but wonder if this is because we're Black," her Facebook post said. "We're the only Black people here at your establishment."The woman denied that race was a factor and went away, Ms Hamlet said, leaving Mr Jackson to finish his proposal – and her to accept. People cheered. The friends who accompanied the couple to the farm joined them, hugging and congratulating the newly engaged couple.That's when the Angry Orchard employee came back a third time, Ms Hamlet said. The security woman said that she hadn't realised the friends were a group and that now she'd need to check all of their purses and pockets. More security workers came over, and Ms Hamlet says she found her party facing six employees who claimed patrons, too, had witnessed Mr Jackson stealing a T-shirt."I felt humiliated, especially after one of my white friends made a point of asking them to check her bag for the T-shirt, but they refused to do so," Ms Hamlet told NBC."Call the police! I saw you steal it," Ms Hamlet said one of the security people shouted to another.When Ms Hamlet told the employees to check their security cameras – which the staff said existed – the employees started filming the group and took a picture of Ms Hamlet's license plate, according to Hamlet. Asked whether Angry Orchard had reviewed security footage, Ms Paar said she would have to look into it.With the dispute escalating, the couple and their friends "decided to leave rather than be attacked," Ms Hamlet wrote online, saying she has "no reason to steal a $28 T-shirt."She vowed not to drink Angry Orchard again.Angry Orchard said in a statement tweeted out Tuesday that it began investigating the incident Ms Hamlet described as soon as it learned about the events. The security team involved "approached a group of guests based on what they thought was credible information at the time," Angry Orchard said in an earlier statement to People magazine.Ms Paar said she reached out to Ms Hamlet on Monday and spoke with her on the phone to apologise.Ms Hamlet did not respond to a request for a comment, and Mr Jackson could not be reached.Angry Orchard was the latest company to scramble to address stories of employees singling out black customers. Starbucks faced accusations of racial profiling last year after a store manager called the police on two black men as they waited for a meeting.The incident led the coffee chain to close more than 8,000 US stores for a day-long staff training on racial bias. Companies like Sephora, Saks Fifth Avenue, Old Navy and Walmart have grappled with similar scandals, responding with investigations, new training and firings amid outrage.Eric Yaverbaum, chairman at public relations firm Ericho Communications, said he thinks Ms Hamlet's story should prompt other companies to think more proactively about addressing racial profiling with their employees – to prevent incidents, rather than apologise afterward."The worst time to prepare is when the tide's rising," he added. "The tide's rising on this issue, period ... Address that in your workplace before it becomes a problem."Ms Hamlet's dismay at Angry Orchard was about more than the spoiling of a joyful day, and she closed her Facebook post by telling the company that if they didn't want black patrons, it should "put a sign on the door so that we know we are not welcome."She told NBC: "It's sad that in 2019 we still need to have these conversations."The Washington Post
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| US sanctions Venezuela emergency food 'corruption network' Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:59 AM PDT  The US Treasury Department on Thursday announced sanctions against three of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's stepsons, a Colombian businessman and six others for running a "corruption network" that profited from emergency food imports. The US has in recent months escalated sanctions against Venezuela, which is struggling with a political and economic crisis that the United Nations says has left a quarter of its 30 million people in need of humanitarian aid. The new restrictions target Maduro's stepsons Walter Jacob Gavidia Flores, Yosser Daniel Gavidia and Yoswal Alexander Gavidia Flores, whom the US says collaborated with Colombian businessman Alex Nain Saab Moran to profit off importing emergency food into the country as it struggled with rising malnutrition.
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| Rudy Giuliani, Estranged Wife Argue in Court Over His Free Trump Legal Work Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:01 AM PDT  REUTERSRudy Giuliani is providing gratis legal work for President Donald Trump to shortchange estranged wife Judith Nathan Giuliani, her lawyer said Thursday during a proceeding in their increasingly acrimonious divorce."Not only is he working pro bono for the president, for this individual, but it's costing him money," said Bernard Clair, who represents Judith. "Not only does he work for free, but all of his expenses, every time he goes down to Washington, D.C., every time he travels for the president… it comes out of his own pocket." "When he's going to work for the president, he bundles, for lack of a better word, clients from his other businesses" to defray these costs, including a recent trip to Warsaw, Poland, Clair said. Clair said Giuliani's work for Trump is meant to lead the court to "believe he somehow doesn't have money." The lawyer added that Giuliani spent "over one million on credit cards" but "says 'woe is me' financially… 'I don't have any money left.'" Giuliani borrowed $100,000 from Marc Mukasey, another one of Trump's lawyers and has paid back some $90,000, Clair said.Judge: Rudy Giuliani, Estranged Wife Can't Be in Same Room at Country ClubsJudith filed for divorce from the former New York City mayor in April 2018, after 15 years of marriage. Allegations that Giuliani has been holding out on her have been an ongoing theme of the divorce proceedings. Clair alleged in court in November that Giuliani cried poor after she served him divorce papers. In addition to citing the no-cost legal work for Trump, Clair had claimed that Giuliani did so after spending $286,000 on his rumored girlfriend, a New Hampshire hospital administrator named Maria Rosa Ryan. "Mr. Giuliani has taken it upon himself to radically change the financial status quo that existed prior to this action," Clair had told Justice Michael Katz, calling it "conduct that can only be characterized as SIDS... sudden income deficit syndrome.""My client doesn't care about romantic interest or otherwise, she really doesn't… What she cares about is that these expenses, for these people, are continuing while she's not received any direct support since August of this past year—not a dime directly for her," Judith's lawyer had said.In the proceeding last fall, Clair claimed that Giuliani earned $7.9 million in 2016 and $9.5 million in 2017. Their monthly expenses were about $232,000 and $238,000, respectively.Faith Miller, a lawyer representing Giuliani, insisted the ex-mayor has been trying to find other sources of income, including a podcast. Miller, meanwhile, accused Judith of taking "everything that she in her own personal opinion was hers" from one of their homes, including "the china, silverware, the pictures off the walls.""He walked in, the place was denuded, the place was a mess," Miller said. "I did not! I did not," Judith cried out, slapping her hand against the table."I'm not going to tolerate an outburst," Judge Katz warned. The furniture allegation is among many petty squabbles in their made-for-tabloid split. In March, Katz told them not to be in the same room if they ran into each other at country clubs.Millionaire Rudy Giuliani Cries Poor in Divorce Court After Spending Big on Alleged Mistress"There was an issue at one of the clubs last week," Lisa Zeiderman, one of Giuliani's attorneys, previously told Katz. "We're going to ask that Ms. Giuliani just keep her distance from Mr. Giuliani when they're at clubs together and their children, as well, and not take photographs, because that's what was happening last weekend, I'm advised, at one of the clubs.""He just wants to be left alone," Zeiderman had said.One of Judith's lawyers had responded that Giuliani was just embarrassed to be spotted spending money on his purported girlfriend's daughter. (Giuliani denied this after that hearing.)Clair had told Katz that "she went into the gift shop at the club. She saw Mr. Giuliani. He got anxious and yelled at her.""I am tired of hearing about Mr. Giuliani's personal life," Katz had remarked, later saying, "Whoever is in the room first is allowed to stay in the room."The second person who enters the room can go to another room "and vice versa," Katz had instructed.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| This Is the Battle That Made the F-15 Strike Eagle Feared Around the World Posted: 23 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT  A Strike Eagle team, led by then Maj. Christopher M. Short, flew overhead during the early part of the Battle Robert's Ridge.The national recognition of the survivors of the Battle of Robert's Ridge in August 2018 has begun to have an effect on the way Air Force members pause to reflect on the history and heritage of the service.As told by Tech. Sgt. Daryl Knee, Air Combat Command Public Affairs, in the article Evolution of Combat: Strike Eagle hits turning point in armed overwatch mission set, one snapshot reflection focuses on the integration of the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter aircraft as a valued contributor to the close-air-support mission set.
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| Rep. Jim Jordan to Mueller: Maybe a better course of action is to figure out how the false accusations started Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:43 AM PDT  Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan presses former Special Counsel Robert Mueller on the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion investigation.
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| California college student Harrison Duran has long been 'obsessed' with dinosaurs. He just found a real one Posted: 25 Jul 2019 01:29 PM PDT  Harrison Duran, a fifth-year biology student from the University of California, Merced, found the 65-million-year-old fossil in North Dakota.
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