| Top House Armed Services Republican: Trump's Ukraine call was 'inappropriate' but not impeachable Posted: 10 Nov 2019 08:57 AM PST  Rep. Mac Thornberry, R-Texas, said President Trump's call with Ukraine's president was "inappropriate" — but it did not warrant his impeachment.
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| Swedish police set up task force to combat gang violence Posted: 11 Nov 2019 04:12 AM PST ![Swedish police set up task force to combat gang violence]( "Swedish police set up task force to combat gang violence") Swedish police said on Monday they would set up a special task force to deal with a wave of shootings and bombings linked to criminal gangs following the fatal shooting of a 15-year old in the city of Malmo at the weekend. Sweden has long held a reputation as being one of the safest countries in the world and while overall crime and murder rates remain low, gang wars in major cities have claimed an increasing number of victims in recent years. On Saturday, two 15-year-olds were shot outside a pizza restaurant in Malmo in what police said appeared to be a gang conflict over control of the drug trade in the area.
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| Poland Rebukes Netflix After ‘Terrible Mistake’ on Holocaust Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:49 AM PST ![Poland Rebukes Netflix After 'Terrible Mistake' on Holocaust]( "Poland Rebukes Netflix After 'Terrible Mistake' on Holocaust") (Bloomberg) -- Poland's prime minister wrote an official letter to Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings requesting that the media streaming company correct facts about the Holocaust in its "The Devil Next Door" documentary series.The European Union member lurched into the international spotlight last year after its nationalist ruling Law & Justice party outlawed the phrase "Polish death camps." It also criminalized suggesting that the nation was complicit in the mass murder of Jews and other people by the Nazis during their occupation of the country in World War II.A Netflix spokesperson said the company is "aware of the concerns" about the show and is "urgently looking into the matter" after Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki wrote to Hastings.Morawiecki called out Netflix for what he called "a terrible mistake" in the five-part series. The show focuses on John Demjanjuk, a retired Ford Motor Co. auto mechanic who was stripped of his U.S. citizenship and convicted by a German criminal court for aiding in the murder of Jews during the Holocaust.The series showed a map of death camps that said they were located in Poland, using the country's current borders.The Polish government has repeatedly pushed for commentary on the death camps to label them as being operated by the Nazis in "German-occupied Poland," because the eastern European nation had no government of its own on its home soil after the invasion of Adolf Hitler's forces."Not only is the map incorrect, but it deceives viewers into believing that Poland was responsible for establishing and maintaining these camps," Morawiecki wrote, saying he believed it was an "unintentional" mistake. "Today, we still owe this truth to the victims of World War II."Morawiecki enclosed a 1942 map in the letter, which was backed by a comment from the Auschwitz Memorial saying that "more accuracy" should have been expected from the production.(Updates with details of complaint in sixth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Maciej Martewicz in Warsaw at mmartewicz@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wojciech Moskwa at wmoskwa@bloomberg.net, Michael WinfreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A black man was put in handcuffs after a police officer stopped him on a train platform because he was eating Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:06 PM PST  Bay Area Rapid Transit police said Steve Foster, of Concord, California, violated state law by eating a sandwich on a BART station's platform.
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| Gabbard Lawyers Demand Clinton Retract ‘Defamatory’ Russian Asset Comments Posted: 11 Nov 2019 06:48 AM PST  Attorneys for Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii) on Monday demanded Hillary Clinton retract "defamatory" comments she made linking Gabbard to Russia."Your statement is defamatory, and we demand that you retract it immediately," the 2020 presidential candidate's lawyer wrote in in a letter obtained by The Hill, adding that Clinton should "immediately" renounce her remark."I think they've got their eye on someone who's currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate," Clinton said last month on the Campaign HQ podcast without referring to Gabbard directly. "She's the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far."Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill afterwards appeared to confirm she was referring to Gabbard, responding, "If the nesting doll fits," when asked whether Clinton had Gabbard in mind. After backlash, Merrill claimed that Clinton was referring to Republicans, not Russians, with the "grooming" comment."It appears you may now be claiming that this statement is about Republicans (not Russians) grooming Gabbard," wrote Gabbard's lawyer. "But this makes no sense in light of what you actually said. After you made the statement linking Congresswoman Gabbard to the Russians, you (through your spokesman) doubled down on it with the Russian nesting dolls remark."Gabbard scorched the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee in her response to the remarks, calling Clinton on Twitter, "the queen of warmongers, embodiment of corruption, and personification of the rot that sickened the Democratic Party for so long.""From the day I announced my candidacy, there has been a concerted campaign to destroy my reputation. We wondered who was behind it and why. Now we know — it was always you," Gabbard continued before challenging Clinton to "join the race directly."Gabbard has received bipartisan criticism over her anti-interventionist foreign policy, especially her view that Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad is "not an enemy" of the U.S.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hasn't stopped blocking critics on Twitter despite settling a lawsuit charging she violated the First Amendment Posted: 11 Nov 2019 07:14 AM PST  Ocasio-Cortez recently apologized for blocking a critic on Twitter and settled a lawsuit he filed alleging she violated the First Amendment.
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| Joe Biden aides reportedly worry their meetings are too congratulatory Posted: 11 Nov 2019 07:22 AM PST ![Joe Biden aides reportedly worry their meetings are too congratulatory]( "Joe Biden aides reportedly worry their meetings are too congratulatory") Former Vice President Joe Biden seems to feel his 2020 run may be faltering. His campaign aides still reportedly don't want to tell him that.Biden's presidential campaign has all the trappings of a winning run: An experienced, beloved politician with a tragically heroic backstory, Edward-Isaac Dovere describes in The Atlantic. But polls and fundraising totals are showing Biden isn't thriving the way he'd hope, and his staffers are reportedly struggling to claim otherwise."Biden's campaign lives in a dual reality," in which he's simultaneously winning most polls and yet still "being written off as finished," Dovere writes. Biden aides chalk a lot of that rhetoric up to the media, making "vaguely Trumpian" complaints in which they claim reporters "cover only bad news about Biden and fail to understand what actual heartland voters want," Dovere continues.Yet behind the scenes, Biden is "aware that there are issues with the campaign, especially as it relates to money," one staffer said. His Iowa organization is smaller than Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and even South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's, and fundraising shortfalls have turned into cutbacks on TV and online ads. That fact has led some aides to "feel like they're just spinning one another in staff meetings about how well things are going," some tell The Atlantic -- and even Biden himself is reportedly "realizing with dread that the race might be slipping away."When asked about his supposedly falling campaign, Biden unequivocally defended his fundraising and organizing. Read more at The Atlantic.More stories from theweek.com The coming death of just about every rock legend The president has already confessed to his crimes Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?
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| Iran says new oil find adds only 22 bln barrels to reserves Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PST  Iran's oil minister said Monday that an oil field whose discovery President Hassan Rouhani announced at the weekend adds only 22.2 billion barrels to the country's estimated crude reserves. Out of the amount at the site, only a tenth -- 2.2 billion barrels --- can be extracted due to technological limitations, the minister, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, told reporters in Tehran. Rouhani on Sunday announced the discovery of a field containing 53 billion barrels of oil in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, saying it was a "small gift by the government to the people of Iran".
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| Pentagon chief says Vindman should not fear Army retaliation Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:50 PM PST  Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Monday that an Army officer has no reason to fear retribution for testifying before Congress in the impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump. Esper was asked about potential retribution for Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman during a trip to New York City. The defense secretary said the Pentagon "has protections for whistleblowers" who report waste, fraud or abuse.
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| UPDATE 1-Putin, Merkel say Ukraine's Donbass should get special status - Kremlin Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:28 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-Putin, Merkel say Ukraine's Donbass should get special status - Kremlin]( "UPDATE 1-Putin, Merkel say Ukraine's Donbass should get special status - Kremlin") MOSCOW/BERLIN, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed on Monday that Ukraine should give its separatist-led Donbass region a special status set out in Ukrainian law, the Kremlin said. It gave no further details of the leaders' discussions on the future of Donbass during a phone call, but agreement on its status would be a step towards convening a four-nation summit on ending five years of conflict in the eastern region. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy said last month that Kiev had agreed to grant Donbass special status and let local elections go ahead there.
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| Saudi Arabia Gives First Permanent Residencies to Foreigners Posted: 11 Nov 2019 03:17 AM PST ![Saudi Arabia Gives First Permanent Residencies to Foreigners]( "Saudi Arabia Gives First Permanent Residencies to Foreigners") (Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia granted 73 foreigners "premium" residency under a new program to attract overseas investment by enabling selected people to buy property and do business without a Saudi sponsor.The kingdom received thousands of applications after offering permanent residency for 800,000 riyals ($213,000) or a one-year renewable permit for 100,000 riyals. The first batch of recipients come from 19 countries and include investors, doctors, engineers and financiers, according to a statement Monday from the government's Premium Residency Center. It didn't detail how many were granted permanent residency.The program, approved in May, is the latest sign of how the kingdom is rethinking the role for foreigners as it works to reduce the economy's dependence on oil. It's a landmark move in a region where many overseas workers are subject to some of the world's most restrictive residency rules. The premium residencies also allow holders to switch jobs, exit the kingdom easily and sponsor visas for family members.The idea for a long-term Saudi residency was first floated in 2016 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. At the time, he estimated the program would generate about $10 billion in annual revenue by 2020.While Saudi Arabia is seeking to encourage the affluent to stay, monthly fees imposed on foreign workers and their families, along with sluggish economic growth, have prompted hundreds of thousands of other expats to leave. Those levies are designed to spur private businesses to hire Saudi nationals as citizen unemployment hovers above 12%.To contact the reporter on this story: Vivian Nereim in Riyadh at vnereim@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Paul AbelskyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Mexico arrests suspects in Mormon massacre Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:43 PM PST  Mexico has arrested multiple suspects in the murder of nine Mormon women and children last week, the security minister said Monday, without giving further details. "Suspects have been arrested, but we cannot provide any further information, because the investigation is being handled by the federal and Sonora (state) prosecutors' offices," Security Minister Alfonso Durazo told journalists. The massacre of the three women and six children caused shock in both Mexico and the United States, where their families had dual nationality.
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| Republican Rep. Will Hurd breaks with Trump, insists whistleblower remain anonymous Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:56 AM PST  A Republican lawmaker on Sunday broke with the President Trump and fellow party members to reject the idea that the whistleblower whose complaint prompted an impeachment inquiry into the president should have to testify publicly.
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| These Are the Shortest-Stopping Cars We've Ever Tested Posted: 11 Nov 2019 03:13 PM PST |
| 2020: Joe Biden edges ahead of opponents in New Hampshire poll Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:30 PM PST  The poll shows the crowded Democratic field is still fluid in the early voting state but displays a consistent top tier of candidates.
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| Russia's F-35 Killer: Report Claims S-500 Air Defense System Was 'Tested' in Syria Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:55 AM PST  A defense industry source told Russian news outlet Izvestia last month that the S-500 recently underwent field testing in Syria, where the Russian Aerospace Forces continue to maintain a significant presence. Moscow denied it--but won't dey what they think this air defense platform could do in battle.
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| Shootings, blasts prompt Denmark to tighten border controls Posted: 11 Nov 2019 07:50 AM PST  Denmark will temporarily reinstate border controls with Sweden and step up police work along the border after a series of violent crimes and explosions around Copenhagen that Danish authorities say were carried out by perpetrators from Sweden. The checks, which start Tuesday for six months, will take place at the Oresund Bridge between Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmo, and at ferry ports.
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| Democrats release new batch of testimony from Trump impeachment inquiry Posted: 11 Nov 2019 03:06 AM PST  A senior Pentagon official detailed confusion and concern in the U.S. national security apparatus after the White House blocked aid to Ukraine without explanation, according to testimony released on Monday by the congressional impeachment panel into U.S. President Donald Trump. Testimony by Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defense, was the latest to be made public that showed the internal machinations of the administration as Trump insisted that nearly $400 million in aid slated for Ukraine be withheld until its president publicly launch an investigation into one of Trump's top political rivals. Also on Monday, acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney withdrew a motion to join a lawsuit seeking to have a judge settle whether he can be compelled by Congress to testify in the inquiry.
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| Jordan retakes lands leased by Israel in 1994 peace accord Posted: 11 Nov 2019 11:15 AM PST  Jordan's king announced Sunday that his country is retaking "full sovereignty" over two pieces of land leased by Israel, reflecting the cool relations between the neighboring countries as they mark the 25th anniversary of their landmark peace deal. King Abdullah II had said last year that he wouldn't renew the parts of the 1994 treaty that gave Israel a 25-year lease of the two small areas, Baqura and Ghamr. "Today, I announce the expiration of the Peace Treaty annexes on Ghamr and al-Baqura and the imposition of our full sovereignty over every inch of those lands," he said.
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| Utah death-row inmate in bestselling book dies Posted: 11 Nov 2019 11:31 AM PST  A Utah death-row inmate whose double-murder case was featured in the book "Under the Banner of Heaven" and who was soon approaching execution by firing squad has died of natural causes, prison officials said Monday.
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| Dozens detained in India over holy site social media comments Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:28 AM PST  Indian police have arrested dozens of people for social media comments that allegedly threatened "communal harmony" after the Supreme Court awarded a holy site once used for a mosque to Hindus, officials said Monday. The site in the northern city of Ayodhya has in the past caused religious riots that have left thousands dead. Security forces have been on alert since the verdict was announced on Saturday and remained on the city's streets as hundreds of thousands of Hindu pilgrims began arriving on Monday ahead of a religious festival.
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| Aides reportedly anticipated fallout from Biden's son's work in Ukraine back in 2014 but were shut down because Biden was consumed by grief Posted: 11 Nov 2019 07:57 AM PST  When news broke in 2014 that Hunter Biden had joined the board of Burisma, he was struggling with addiction and Beau Biden had brain cancer.
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| Veterans Day beginning to look a lot like Christmas as cold sweeps nation; freeze coming to Florida Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:18 PM PST  A wintry weather pattern rolled across a wide swath of the nation, threatening to break hundreds of records and to freeze as far south as Alabama.
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| The North Korean Threat Is Evolving: Here Come Pyongyang's Nuclear-Armed Submarines Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:30 PM PST  America is vulnerable.
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| Liz Cheney Backs Barring Erdogan Bodyguards Who Assaulted Protesters from U.S. Reentry Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:28 PM PST  Representative Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) called on the State Department Monday to ban the bodyguards of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan who assaulted protesters in a 2017 incident in Washington, D.C. from reentering the U.S.In May 2017, members of the Turkish Presidential Protection Department (TPPD), Turkey's equivalent of the Secret Service, attacked pro-Kurdish protesters outside the residence of the Turkish ambassador. The assault, in which protesters and American law-enforcement officials were injured, was captured on video.In a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Cheney requested that "none of the people who were in the United States with President Erdoğan in 2017 and participated in physical attacks on American citizens—including those protesting lawfully, our secret service, our diplomatic service, and our law enforcement officials—will be allowed into the United States again this week.""At least eleven people were injured throughout the day, including law enforcement personnel who every day defend Americans' constitutional rights and physical safety," Cheney wrote.The letter comes in advance of a planned White House visit by Erdogan this Wednesday.TPPD agents have a history of confrontational incidents on U.S. soil. In 2016, TPPD officers attacked journalists at a Brookings Institution event, and in 2011, they attacked U.N. security personnel at U.N. headquarters in New York.Pompeo on Monday said that President Trump will raise the topic of Turkey's recent invasion of Syria in his meeting with Erdogan."We will talk about what transpired there and how we can do our level best collectively to ensure the protection of all of those in Syria, not just the Kurds, but everyone in Syria," Pompeo told cadets at The Citadel after delivering a Veterans Day speech.
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| A Closer Look at the Beautified Architectural Revolution Within China Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:45 PM PST |
| Bernie Sanders declares it's 'not antisemitic' to criticize Israel Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:07 AM PST ![Bernie Sanders declares it's 'not antisemitic' to criticize Israel]( "Bernie Sanders declares it's 'not antisemitic' to criticize Israel") Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has his own plan for "how to fight antisemitism."In an op-ed published Monday on the progressive site Jewish Currents, Sanders reflects on something he usually doesn't "spend a lot of time talking about:" his experience as a "proud Jewish American." But it's been a year since "President Donald Trump's own words helped inspire the worst act of antisemitic violence in American history," Sanders said, so he's outlining policies and ideologies he feels are needed to "confront this hatred."Last October, 11 people were killed at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synogogue, with the shooter using Trump's term of "invasion" to justify his attack. That's an obvious example of how "antisemitism is rising in this country," with the FBI reporting "hate crimes against Jews rose by more than a third in 2017," Sanders wrote. And the only way to combat this is to "do exactly the opposite of what Trump is doing and embrace our differences to bring people together," Sanders continued.Sanders called out how false "accusations of antisemitism" are often lobbied at progressives, saying "it is not antisemitic to criticize the policies of the Israeli government," Sanders declared, though some of that criticism can "cross the line." "I will always call out antisemitism when I see it," Sanders said, also adding that he will also "rejoin the United Nations Human Rights Council, which Trump withdrew from" and immediately appoint a "special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism." From there, Sanders will continue to call for independent Israeli and Palestinian states and push for "solidarity" among all people working for that same goal.Find all of Sanders' plan at Jewish Currents.More stories from theweek.com The coming death of just about every rock legend The president has already confessed to his crimes Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?
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| Progressive lawyer Boudin wins San Francisco's DA race Posted: 10 Nov 2019 06:59 PM PST  Chesa Boudin, the son of anti-war radicals sent to prison for murder when he was a toddler, has won San Francisco's tightly contested race for district attorney after campaigning to reform the criminal justice system. The former deputy public defender declared victory Saturday night after four days of ballot counting determined he was ahead of interim District Attorney Suzy Loftus. The latest results from the San Francisco Department of Elections gave Boudin a lead of 8,465 votes.
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| UPDATE 1-Three performers stabbed at Saudi entertainment event -state TV Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:59 PM PST ![UPDATE 1-Three performers stabbed at Saudi entertainment event -state TV]( "UPDATE 1-Three performers stabbed at Saudi entertainment event -state TV") A man stabbed three performers at a live show in Saudi Arabia's capital and was arrested, state television reported on Monday, adding that the victims were in stable condition. The incident occurred at King Abdullah Park in central Riyadh, one of several venues hosting a two-month long entertainment festival as part of government efforts to open up Saudi society and diversify its economy away from oil. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has eased social restrictions and promoted entertainment previously banned in the conservative Muslim kingdom, risking a backlash from religious critics.
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| China accuses US of using UN to 'meddle' in Tibet Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:38 AM PST  China accused the US on Monday of using the United Nations to "meddle" in Tibet, as Washington intensifies its bid to prevent Beijing from handpicking the Dalai Lama's successor. Last week, Sam Brownback, the United States' ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said the US wanted the UN to take up the succession issue of the Tibetan spiritual leader. The choice of the Dalai Lama's successor "belongs to the Tibetan Buddhists and not the Chinese government", Brownback told AFP.
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| Police Employees Charged in 911 Medical Fraud Ring Posted: 10 Nov 2019 09:05 AM PST  NEW YORK -- For years, Angela Meyers, a 911 operator with the New York Police Department, fielded emergency calls, then filed reports about the calls within the department.But according to court documents, when someone called 911 after a car accident, Meyers did something else: She also passed victims' information to an insurance fraud ring in Queens.Meyers was one of six current and former New York Police Department employees charged in federal court Thursday with conspiracy and bribery. They are accused of being part of a citywide medical insurance fraud ring that sent thousands of car accident victims to specific health clinics, doctors and lawyers in exchange for kickbacks.Law enforcement officials arrested 27 people in connection with the scheme -- 23 of those were expected to appear in Manhattan federal court Thursday.A key component to the scheme were the five 911 operators and an active police officer, Yanaris Deleon, who provided victims' confidential contact information to the scheme's ringleaders, prosecutors said. Four of the five 911 operators were active employees; one had previously resigned, police said."There is no place for corruption within the NYPD," James P. O'Neill, the police commissioner, said in a statement. "By tarnishing the shield, as well as their sacred oaths, these employees will be held to the highest account the law provides."According to court documents, the 911 operators and Deleon provided victims' contact information to the scheme's fraudulent "call center."The call center would then contact those victims and coax them to visit prearranged medical clinics and lawyers, court documents say. Those call center offices would then pay the ringleader of the scheme, Anthony Rose, 51, in exchange for that information, according to authorities.Prosecutors said the department employees received thousands of dollars for their part in the scheme."These actions have undermined the integrity of our emergency and medical first responders," said Geoffrey S. Berman, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. "This office is committed to rooting out corruption wherever it is found and will not rest until those who seek to profit by corrupting our public institutions are brought to justice."The fraud ring employed a network of people within hospitals, medical service providers and law enforcement. Rose, who is from Queens, ran the scheme from at least 2014 to November 2019, prosecutors said.As recently as June, Deleon texted Rose on encrypted messaging app WhatsApp and provided a list of "nearly two dozen names and telephone numbers" of accident victims, court documents said.Prosecutors estimate that as many as 60,000 car accident victims may have had their confidential information improperly disclosed.Rose ordered his co-conspirators to target car accident victims from low-income neighborhoods because they were more vulnerable, according to court documents. He told his fraudulent call center not to target victims in Manhattan, court documents said, because "those people got attorneys.""We need all the 'hood cases," Rose told the call center people, according to the documents. "We want all the bad neighborhoods."In addition to the Police Department sources, Rose also bribed employees at hospitals and medical centers to violate the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA, and disclose confidential patient information for car accident victims, the documents say.The investigation is continuing, prosecutors said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Father of Atatiana Jefferson dies of heart attack, family spokesperson says Posted: 10 Nov 2019 04:14 AM PST  The father of Atatiana Jefferson, the black woman who was fatally shot by a Fort Worth police officer, died of a heart attack, a spokesperson said.
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| If America's Economy Is So Strong, Why Is Elizabeth Warren Fighting To Change It? Posted: 10 Nov 2019 06:30 PM PST  Sometimes the numbers don't tell the whole story.
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| Morales: Latin America's longest-serving leader collapses under protests Posted: 10 Nov 2019 06:16 PM PST  Evo Morales was Latin America's longest-serving president until he resigned in ignominy Sunday, after weeks of opposition protests over an election ultimately said to have been riddled with irregularities. A member of the Aymara people, he grew up in poverty on Bolivia's high plains and was a llama herder, coca farmer and leftist union leader before rising to take office as his country's first indigenous president in January 2006. Morales called new elections, but resigned within hours of that announcement after army and police chiefs joined calls for him to quit.
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| Small plane crashes in Texas during 'gender reveal' stunt Posted: 10 Nov 2019 07:13 AM PST  Passenger injured as pilot slowed plane at low altitude to 'dump 350 gallons of pink water' in stunt gone badly wrongGender reveal parties let expecting parents reveal whether they are going to have a boy or a girl. Stunts gone wrong have become a staple of online reporting. Photograph: Beautyinoddplaces/Getty Images/iStockphotoIn another instance of a "gender reveal" stunt gone badly wrong, a small plane crashed in Texas after "dump[ing] about 350 gallons of pink water" to indicate that a friend of the pilot was going to have a daughter.According to a National Transportation Safety Board report into the crash, which happened near the town of Turkey on 7 September, "the pilot reported, that while maneuvering at a low altitude in an aerial applicator airplane, he dumped about 350 gallons of pink water for a gender reveal."The airplane 'got too slow', aerodynamically stalled, impacted terrain and came to rest inverted."The pilot reported no mechanical failures or malfunctions before the plane crashed.The NTSB report added: "The Federal Aviation Administration inspector … [said] there were two persons on board the single-seat airplane."The pilot was not injured. The passenger suffered minor injuries.Gender reveal parties let expecting parents reveal whether they are going to have a boy or a girl. Stunts gone wrong have become a staple of online reporting.In Iowa in October, a 56-year-old grandmother was killed when a device meant to shoot out coloured powder exploded instead.In Arizona in 2017, a man fired a rifle at a target that exploded, releasing blue powder. It also started a wildfire that burned 73 sq miles of mostly Forest Service land. The man was ordered to pay nearly $8m in restitution.Earlier this year, Jenna Karvunidis, a mother of three who in 2008 was one of the first people to hold a gender reveal, told the Guardian she "had released something bad into the world".Aside from accidents, Karvunidis said she regretted the focus of such events on traditional notions of gender."I started to realize that nonbinary people and trans people were feeling affected by this," she said, "and I started to feel bad."
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| Douglas MacArthur Is One of America's Most Famous Generals. He's Also the Most Overrated Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:03 PM PST  He might be one of President Trump's favorite generals, but as Hampton Sides writes, Douglas MacArthur was far from a military genius.
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| EU unveils sanctions plan to hit Turkey over Cyprus drilling Posted: 11 Nov 2019 11:28 AM PST  The European Union on Monday unveiled a system for imposing sanctions on Turkey over its unauthorized gas drilling in Mediterranean waters off Cyprus but no Turkish companies or officials have yet been targeted. EU member countries can now come forward with names of those they think should be listed. Turkish warship-escorted drillships began exploratory drilling this summer in waters where EU-member Cyprus has exclusive economic rights, including areas where European energy companies are licensed to conduct a hydrocarbons search.
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| Amazon's $1.5 million political gambit backfires in Seattle City Council election Posted: 10 Nov 2019 07:06 PM PST  Seattle voters, in a rebuke to heavy corporate campaign spending by Amazon.com, have kept progressives firmly in control of their city council, reviving chances for a tax on big businesses that the tech giant helped fend off last year. Amazon poured a record $1.5 million into a Super PAC run by the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce to back a slate of candidates in the Nov. 5 council elections viewed as pro-business, or at least more corporate friendly than the incumbent council majority. Amazon, the world's leading online retailer whose chief executive is billionaire entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, accounted for more than half of nearly $2.7 million raised by the Super PAC, a group allowed to accept unlimited sums from wealthy donors in support of their favorite candidates.
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| Cops Bust Unicorn Protesting White Supremacy at Indiana Farmer’s Market Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:21 PM PST  Courtesy of The Purple Shirt BrigadeThe arrest of an inflatable purple unicorn on Saturday wasn't even close to the strangest event to unfold at Bloomington, Indiana's Community Farmers' Market this year.The market was once the peaceful home of fresh vegetables and goat cheese. But after the owners of a market stall were outed as supporters of a white supremacist group, it has become the center of a fierce debate on bigotry and free speech. The controversy has led to new rules about where people can hold signs and distribute flyers in the market—and on Saturday, five anti-racist protesters were arrested for allegedly breaking those rules.The unicorn was the first to go. Dressed in an inflatable purple pony suit with a golden horn, protester Forrest Gilmore was removed from the market by two police officers, each gripping one of his purple hooves.Gilmore is part of the Purple Shirt Brigade, an activist coalition that formed this year in response to allegations of white supremacists working at the Bloomington Community Farmers' Market. Those allegations began after the arrest of Indiana resident Nolan Brewer for spray-painting Nazi flags on the side of a synagogue and setting off a fire outside. Brewer told authorities he was a dues-paying member of the hate group Identity Evropa, and described getting dinner with another member: Sarah Dye and her husband Douglas Mackey. Brewer also told investigators the screenname Dye used in an Identity Evropa chat room. Local activists then matched that name to Dye and a series of racist messages she posted as "Volkmom." (Dye denies being a white supremacist, but describes herself as an "identitarian," a term with little to no meaningful distinction from white supremacy, and which has become popular among white supremacists hoping for more mainstream acceptance.)Farmers' Markets Have New Unwelcome Guests: FascistsActivists also connected Dye to Schooner Creek Farm, the farm she runs with her husband. The two have a stall in the Bloomington Community Farmers' Market, where some local activists began distributing "Don't Buy Veggies From Nazis" buttons this summer. The group "No Space for Hate" announced plans to protest at the market, prompting counter-protests from right-wing groups like a local "Three Percenter" militia and new rules about where and how people can express themselves in the market. One anti-Schooner Creek protester was arrested for holding a sign in front of the stall.Bloomington officials ruled this summer that Schooner Creek Farm was not breaking any rules, and that Dye and her husband had a First Amendment right to their beliefs. The protests, however, became the subject of new rules. "New signage will clearly indicate areas designated for flyering and expression and publicize market rules," the city announced in August.On Saturday, the Purple Shirt Brigade tested those rules."The idea was to find a way to protest directly in the market," a spokesperson for the group told The Daily Beast. "Most of us had been protesting with No Space for Hate previously (and still are). The market had created rules earlier in the summer to ban the use of signs in the marketplace."The group pointed to pictures of a number of recent guests with far-right ties at the Schooner Creek farm stand, including Patrick Casey, the leader of Identity Evropa (which rebranded this year as the American Identity Movement). Casey and other group members attended Unite the Right, the deadly 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.'Whiter Every Election Cycle': How Identity Evropa, a Far-Right Hate Group, Joined the GOPOnline, the farm stand has also received support from the right. When Dye shared pictures of protesters this summer ("violent Indiana ANTIFA terrorists at our farmers market booth today"), a commenter asked, "why didn't anyone just shoot them?"Previously, the Purple Shirt Brigade skirted the anti-signage laws by printing their messages on T-shirts. ("Justice is what love looks like in public," the shirts read, "Boycott Schooner Creek Farm.") But they've pushed the rules in a bid to see exactly what's allowed."We have wanted to challenge the signage rule because we believe it's a violation of our First Amendment rights," the spokesperson said. "One week we brought purple fans to the market (they looked like signs), and the market staff let us get away with that. However, this week we created signs with statements made by SCF supporters about us (from Facebook comments)."Protesters carrying the signs dressed up as unicorns, vikings, and Wonder Woman. Five were arrested on counts of disorderly conduct and trespassing, and issued 24-hour bans from the market area, the Bloomingtonian reported.In a video captured by the Bloomingtonian, the purple-clad protesters sang "no neo-Nazis in the market" while two unicorns argued with a police officer over exactly how they could protest."So we can't sing?" one unicorn asked over the sound of a guitar."Not in here," the officer responded. He turned to the other unicorn. "Forrest, I need you to leave as well."Police were filmed writing the unicorn a citation shortly thereafter.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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| Hong Kong police shoot protester, man set on fire Posted: 11 Nov 2019 08:55 AM PST  Following a day of violence in which one person was shot by police and another set on fire, Hong Kong's leader pledged Monday to "spare no effort" to halt anti-government protests that have wracked the city for more than five months. "I do not want to go into details, but I just want to make it very clear that we will spare no effort in finding ways and means that could end the violence in Hong Kong as soon as possible," Lam told reporters. Lam also refused to accept the protesters' demands for political concessions.
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| Uber, Lyft say proposed California ballot measure is a good deal for drivers. Economists disagree Posted: 11 Nov 2019 03:33 PM PST  Battle in California over the future of app-based services could have ramifications for the rest of the nation.
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| China's Investments In Special Forces Are Paying Off In Deadly Ways Posted: 09 Nov 2019 07:00 PM PST  Special operations soldiers are a force multiplier.
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| Mexico makes arrests in last week's massacre of 3 women, 6 children Posted: 11 Nov 2019 02:36 PM PST  Mexico has made an unspecified number of arrests in last week's massacre of three women and six children of dual U.S-Mexican nationality in the north of the country, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said on Monday. "There have been arrests, but it's not up to us to give information," Durazo told reporters in Mexico City.
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| These are the New Cars That Depreciate Least Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:35 PM PST |
| How Trump's impeachment will unroll Posted: 11 Nov 2019 06:28 AM PST  The start of open hearings in the impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump on Wednesday will give the American public their first chance to witness live the explosive showdown between Democrats and Republicans over the US leader's future. The hearing before the House Intelligence Committee marks the second phase of the impeachment investigation into allegations that Trump abused his powers by seeking help for his 2020 reelection campaign from Ukraine. Trump is under threat of becoming only the third president in US history to be impeached -- formally charged with violating his duties as president or committing crimes, and placed on trial in the Senate.
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| Airlines are flying tons of unneeded fuel around the world to save as little as $52 by not filling up in countries with higher prices Posted: 11 Nov 2019 06:18 AM PST  The practice, called fuel tankering, gives airlines an often tiny saving at the cost of much-larger carbon emissions, BBC's 'Panorama' said.
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| Resignation of Morales, last of 'pink tide,' polarizes Latin America Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:37 PM PST  The resignation of Bolivian President Evo Morales, the last serving member of the 'pink tide' of leftist leaders that swept Latin America two decades ago, polarized governments across the region on Sunday, with presidents from Venezuela to Argentina denouncing a "coup" and others cheering his exit. Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous leader, ended his 14-year rule after allies deserted him following weeks of protests over a disputed Oct. 20 election that has roiled the Andean nation. Right-leaning governments in Latin America, among them Colombia and Peru, called on the Bolivian state to ensure new elections would be lawful.
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