| Why has the Tulsa Race Massacre been largely forgotten? Posted: 21 Dec 2019 08:47 AM PST  In 1921, as many as 300 black residents of Tulsa, Okla. were killed in one of the worst instances of racial violence in American history. Why is such a horrific event largely left out of U.S. history?
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| New poll finds that a majority of Americans support Trump's impeachment and removal from office Posted: 22 Dec 2019 03:22 PM PST  The share of Americans who want Trump removed from office has climbed since the House's impeachment proceedings concluded Wednesday.
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| Buttigieg backers defend 'wine cave' fundraiser Posted: 20 Dec 2019 09:13 PM PST  The California winemakers who hosted a dinner at a "wine cave" for Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg are defending the fundraising event. Buttigieg's political rivals used the recent fundraiser to criticize the South Bend, Indiana, mayor for soliciting campaign contributions from wealthy donors at Thursday's Democratic presidential debate. Craig and Kathryn Hall, who own the Hall Rutherford winery in Napa Valley, said Friday that they took issue with how their wine cave has been portrayed in the media.
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| Jeff Van Drew reveals the moment he decided it was time to switch parties Posted: 22 Dec 2019 10:43 AM PST  Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.) reached the point of no return when a local New Jersey county party chair told him he would face political consequences if he didn't vote in favor of impeachment.Van Drew, in an appearance on Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures on Sunday, told host Maria Bartiromo that when he heard that warning he decided it was time to switch parties. "It made me think for all the years that I've worked so hard and tried to give so much not only to the party but to everybody," the former Democratic congressman said. "It all boils down to that I have my own individual opinion on one vote and that's not going to be allowed, and I'm going to be punished for that, and that's when I knew."> Welcome to the GOP, @CongressmanJVD! pic.twitter.com/DBQLS67zJu> > — GOP (@GOP) December 22, 2019Van Drew, who went against the Democratic line and opposed impeachment from the beginning, officially announced he was crossing the aisle Thursday. He said he feels that he did "the honorable thing" and is sticking by his decision so far, even though there are questions about how he'll actually fit in with the GOP when it comes to non-impeachment voting. Read more at The Hill.More stories from theweek.com 6 powerful phrases every parent should use Let us pray for the brave men and women fighting in the War on Christmas 19 references and callbacks you may have missed in The Rise of Skywalker
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| Biden's press secretary diagnosed with cancer Posted: 22 Dec 2019 12:48 AM PST  "It was never a question whether I'd continue working during treatment — working for Joe Biden and this campaign has been the best, most important experience of my life," TJ Ducklo said.
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| Muslim nations consider gold, barter trade to beat sanctions Posted: 20 Dec 2019 11:10 PM PST  Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and Qatar are considering trading among themselves in gold and through a barter system as a hedge against any future economic sanctions on them, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday. At the end of an Islamic summit in Malaysia, Mahathir praised Iran and Qatar for withstanding economic embargoes and said it was important for the Muslim world to be self-reliant to face future threats.
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| Death toll in Europe from storm hits nine Posted: 22 Dec 2019 06:00 AM PST  The death toll from storms that have battered Spain, Portugal and France rose to nine on Sunday as the region braced for more violent winds and heavy rain. Storms Elsa and Fabien have flooded rivers, brought down power lines, uprooted trees and disrupted rail and air travel across the region, leaving more than 118,000 households without electricity. Two people have so far died in Portugal and seven have now been killed in Spain, the worst affected country, after a fisherman was swept off rocks into the sea in Catalonia.
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| Police investigate after 14 horses fatally shot in Kentucky Posted: 21 Dec 2019 02:06 PM PST  Law enforcement authorities are investigating the shooting deaths of 14 horses, hunted while grazing in eastern Kentucky. Three of the mares were pregnant, and other killed animals included young colts and fillies, according to authorities.
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| Hong Kong Police Arrest Man, Seize Gun ‘He Was Hoping to Use’ Posted: 20 Dec 2019 11:15 PM PST ![Hong Kong Police Arrest Man, Seize Gun 'He Was Hoping to Use']( "Hong Kong Police Arrest Man, Seize Gun 'He Was Hoping to Use'") (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police arrested a 19-year-old after coming under fire Friday night, and also seized a semi-automatic rifle they say the man planned to use at a public event.The suspect shot at police with a semi-automatic pistol when they intercepted him, the force said in a video posted on its Facebook page. Officers fired tear gas at a crowd that confronted them at the scene of the incident in Tai Po, according to the post.Police said the suspect was previously arrested in December 2018 for illegal possession of firearms. He was released on bail in late February and failed to report to police as required this month, according to the post. Officers seized an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and 211 rounds of ammunition in an apartment in the neighborhood after Friday's arrest, they said."According to our intelligence, we know he was hoping to use the gun to cause chaos and hurt police officers during the public gathering," senior superintendent Steve Li of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau said in the video.Hong Kong has been gripped by increasingly violent protests that were ignited in June by the government's plans to enact a law which would have allowed extraditions to jurisdictions including mainland China. The government scrapped the bill after continued public pressure but the unrest continued and protesters' demands expanded to include broader democracy and an independent commission of inquiry into police conduct.Arrows, petrol bombsDemonstrators hurl petrol bombs and launch arrows at riot police almost weekly, while officers have fired more than 10,000 rounds of tear gas, and used rubber bullets and water cannons. At least 6,000 protesters have been arrested since June.Friday's arrest comes as Chinese authorities are reported to have ruled out the formation of an independent commission of inquiry. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam sought the central government's response to the idea during her four-day trip to Beijing this month, South China Morning Post reported on Saturday, citing an unidentified person close to the government.In another blow for Lam, several retired judges approached by the government have turned down requests to join an independent review committee to look into the ongoing unrest, the Post cited the person as saying.Public sentiment in Hong Kong seems to be squarely behind the demonstrators, with pro-democracy candidates winning a landslide victory against pro-government rivals in local elections last month. There has been a relative lull in the scale and frequency of the violence since the polls, but the protests are continuing, including rallies planned for this weekend.Meanwhile police have intensified their efforts to limit financial support for the protesters. On Thursday evening, officers announced the arrest of four people for suspected money-laundering in the first case related to funding of the demonstrations.About 80 school teachers and teaching assistants have been arrested for their involvement in anti-government protests, South China Morning Post reported on Saturday, citing Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung. He called for schools to suspend educators held for serious offenses, out of concern for students' safety.There were 123 complaints against teachers over protest-related misconduct from mid-June to late November, he said. Four teachers have resigned or been suspended by schools, according to Yeung.To contact the reporters on this story: Bei Hu in Hong Kong at bhu5@bloomberg.net;Chester Yung in Singapore at kyung33@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Stanley JamesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Berlin outraged after Donald Trump hits gas pipeline project with sanctions Posted: 21 Dec 2019 03:35 AM PST  Berlin has accused Washington of interfering in German internal affairs, after Donald Trump signed off on US sanctions against companies building a Russian natural gas pipeline to Germany. "The Federal Government rejects such extraterritorial sanctions," Ulrike Demmer, a spokeswoman, said in Berlin on Saturday. "They affect German and European companies and constitute an interference in our domestic affairs." The US is an outspoken opponent of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which will transport natural gas about 750 miles from Russia, through the Baltic Sea and into Germany. The sanctions will hit any company working with Russia's state-owned Gazprom to complete the project. On Saturday, Switzerland-based Allseas, which operates ships laying sections of the undersea pipeline, said it was suspending work on the £8.5 billion project, which is well advanced. Washington and Eastern European countries oppose the project because it will increase the EU's heavy dependence on Russian gas imports. The pipeline will double Russian energy imports into Germany and, the US fears, give the Kremlin leverage over the EU and its leading economy. Nord Stream gas pipeline The project also bypasses Ukraine, raising fears it would cost the country valuable gas transit fees it currently receives from Moscow. Ms Demmer said the US measures were "particularly incomprehensible" because Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement in principle Thursday on the future transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory. The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce insisted last week that the pipeline was important for energy security and urged retaliatory sanctions against the United States if the bill passes. Chancellor Angela Merkel has admitted she would not retaliate. She said on Wednesday, "I see no alternative to conducting talks, though very firm talks, (to show that) we do not approve of this practice." The European Commission said it would carefully examine the sanctions to see how they affected EU companies. "In principle, the EU rejects sanctions against EU companies that do legitimate business," a spokesman said. Both houses of Congress overwhelmingly approved the sanctions, with the Senate voting Tuesday to send the measure to Trump's desk. Iran, Malaysia, Turkey and Qatar are considering trading among themselves in gold and through a barter system as a hedge against any future economic sanctions on them, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Saturday. At the end of an Islamic summit in Malaysia, Mahathir praised Iran and Qatar for withstanding economic embargoes and said it was important for the Muslim world to be self-reliant to face future threats.
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| New Zealanders hand in 50,000 guns after assault weapon ban Posted: 21 Dec 2019 06:12 AM PST  New Zealand authorities said Saturday their country will be a safer place after owners handed in more than 50,000 guns during a buyback program following a ban on assault weapons. The government banned the most lethal types of semi-automatic weapons less than a month after a lone gunman in March killed 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques. Provisional figures indicate 33,000 people handed in 51,000 guns, and another 5,000 guns as part of a parallel amnesty in which owners could hand over any type of firearm without any questions being asked but without getting compensated.
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| A 6-year-old girl found a disturbing hand-written note in a Christmas card that claimed foreign prisoners were being forced to work in China Posted: 22 Dec 2019 12:11 PM PST  The UK-based grocery chain Tesco is investigating a Chinese factory after the girl from London found the note in a pack of charity Christmas cards.
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| American Airlines begins offering non-binary gender options during booking process Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:35 AM PST  American Airlines has quietly rolled out non-binary gender options during the booking process, where people can designate "U" or "X" for their gender.
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| Syrian air defense intercepts missiles from Israel: state media Posted: 22 Dec 2019 01:52 PM PST ![Syrian air defense intercepts missiles from Israel: state media]( "Syrian air defense intercepts missiles from Israel: state media") The Syrian army's air defense system intercepted missiles coming from the direction of Israel that were aimed at targets on the outskirts of the Syrian capital, state media said on Sunday. Four cruise missiles were believed to have been launched across the coast through Lebanese airspace toward Syria, a source in the regional alliance supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told Reuters. It gave no further details and there was no immediate comment from Israel.
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| Military Nightmare: Is the United States Being Outmatched by Russia and China? Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:45 PM PST  America may not be able to compete in future wars.
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| Atmospheric river expected to slam West Coast Posted: 20 Dec 2019 10:58 PM PST  For most, dreams of a white Christmas will remain just that.
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| Romanians pay tribute to victims of 1989 revolution Posted: 22 Dec 2019 04:35 PM PST  Thousands of people marched in the Romanian capital Bucharest on Sunday to remember those who lost their lives in the revolution 30 years ago that ended the communist dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. President Klaus Iohannis and several ministers from his centre-right administration laid commemorative wreaths and lit candles in front of a monument to the victims. "We want to know the truth about December 1989," Iohannis said a few hours earlier, as he opened an exhibition on the revolution.
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| A Rape Victim’s Stunning Victory Against Japan’s Powerful ‘Weinsteins’ Posted: 22 Dec 2019 02:26 AM PST  TOKYO–A civil court here handed down a landmark ruling last week in the case of freelance journalist Shiori Ito, 30, who alleged she was raped in 2015 by a Noriyuki Yamaguchi, 53, a good friend and biographer of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The court ruled Yamaguchi must pay over ¥3.3 million yen ($30,000) in damages. Since Ito went public with the charges in 2017 after police efforts to pursue the case were quashed, she has become a vital symbol for the still fledgling MeToo movement in Japan; her story is a microcosm of the problems women face here in a nation where there are far too many men who share the attitudes of a Harvey Weinstein.Japan's Big MeToo Moment: You Think Hollywood Abuses Women? You Oughta See Tokyo.Yet this victory in a civil case also reopens the very ugly question of why Yamaguchi never was prosecuted for his alleged crime. The police had a warrant prepared on sexual assault charges and were planning to arrest Yamaguchi at Narita airport on June 8, 2015, but were stopped at the last minute by a high-ranking police bureaucrat known as "Prime Minister Abe's attack dog" who then scuttled the original investigation.The Daily Beast has reported on this case from the very start, following the chain of evidence and documenting the suspicious twists. The civil lawsuits for damages incurred during sexual assault were filed by Ito in September of 2017. She accused Yamaguchi, a former Washington bureau chief for the Tokyo Broadcasting Service, of sexually assaulting her on April 4, 2015, inflicting mental and physical damage. Ito asserted that she met Yamaguchi at a restaurant after he offered to help further her career as a journalist. She claimed that after a few drinks she lost consciousness. When she awoke she was in his hotel room and he was raping her. She said she believed she may have been drugged. Yamaguchi later countersued, claiming that Ito had defamed him, and sought 130 million yen ($1.1 million) in damages. Is Japan's Top Politician Behind a Shameful Rape Cover-Up?The plight of Shiori Ito became world-wide news and the subject of a BBC documentary, Japan's Secret Shame, because in Japan it is even more rare than in other countries for victims to come forward with allegations of sexual assault.Interest has been heightened since the alleged assailant is a close personal friend of the prime minister and has written two books about him. Add to that the role a close ally of the prime minister played in scuttling the investigation and it's not surprising that cries of foul play have been heard inside and outside Japan. On December 18 the Tokyo District Court, Judge Akihiro Suzuki presiding, found Ito's account of the attack was consistent and believable. The court noted that Ito had reported the rape to the police, sought the support of medical professionals, and that the testimony of witnesses and surveillance footage from the hotel all indicated that Ito was unconscious and unable to consent to sexual intercourse. Even before reaching the hotel, the court noted, the semi-unconscious Ito asked the taxi driver to take her to the nearest train station, but Yamaguchi insisted the driver take the pair to the hotel.In addition to these findings, the court dismissed Yamaguchi's defamation claims, effectively throwing out his counter lawsuit. The judge indicated that the information disclosed by Ito was in the public interest, meant to show the obstacles that rape victims face in society, and therefore was not slanderous. * * *What The Doorman Saw* * *Yamaguchi says he will appeal the ruling, but he might want to reconsider in light of what appears to be damning new evidence. On December 19, after the trial was over, the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho, which first brought the case to light in a series of exposés going back to 2017, published an explosive scoop. Shukan Shincho obtained a copy of a written statement from a key witness that had been submitted to the court too late to be included in the civil case. The witness is identified as a doorman at the Sheraton Miyako Hotel, where Yamaguchi took the intoxicated Ito. The doorman had spoken to the police before an arrest warrant had been issued when the investigation was first under way and gave formal testimony as evidence thereafter. However, in the aftermath of the retracted arrest warrant, and a failed appeal to the Prosecutorial Review Board, his testimony never saw the light of day. He was not informed by the courts about the progress of the case and only discovered Ito took it to civil court when the hearings were nearly over. In a desperate effort to speak up about what he saw that night, the doorman came forward with his statement just as the hearings had ended. Ito's lawyers asked for the court proceeding to be reopened, but the court rejected the appeal and his statement was not submitted as evidence. In the published interview with Shukan Shincho, the doorman talked about the first time he spoke to the police on the matter. He said his memory was jogged when an investigator told him "the taxi driver suggested that you may have heard more of their conversation"—that is, the exchanges between Ito and Yamaguchi as she tried to avoid accompanying him. That night, the doorman had opened the backseat door of the taxi in the hotel driveway. "I made eye contact with Yamaguchi," he said, "and I got an impression that he was a scary man, and he was pulling the arm of the woman who sat in the other seat, urging her to get out." "The woman insisted that she had to clean up the mess, she had made a mess, she sounded like a young child and I realized that she had thrown up on the floor of the car," the doorman recalled. "When the man tried to drag her out of the car from the door on her side, she made gestures of protest, refusing to get out, and insisting on cleaning up. I thought she must have really wanted to clean or maybe she was using that as an excuse to get away from him. The man grabbed her arm and said 'don't bother.'" "She could barely stand or walk on her own, barely conscious and completely intoxicated repeating 'I have to clean up,'" the doorman said, "but still she was pulled towards the hotel and I remember her letting out a loud wail as though she were crying." He also noted the arrogance of Yamaguchi, who failed to apologize and did not offer to pay a cleaning charge, which is the custom in Japan when one has defiled a taxi.What followed was caught on the hotel's security camera. Yamaguchi dragged a limp and incapacitated Ito into the hotel lobby. The doorman recalls the police saying, "with testimony as clear cut as this, this case is ours [to win]." However, despite this testimony and other evidence, the case was dropped. * * *No Means No Investigation* * *Ito, at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, speaking in English, said, "When I went to [the] police for the first time after the incident, the first word that I got was these things happen and we can't investigate, which was quite shocking to hear. There's so many reasons behind it why they use this excuse. After I heard that comment, I sort of pressured them: 'Well I know which hotel I came out [of] so please check the CCTV,' and they did. They found the CCTV and they said this is something, it is criminal, but yet they didn't want to file the case, and I asked why again. The investigator [said] that it is because he is pressured by prosecutors because our conviction rate in Japan is very high, and I believe it's something to do with it."Prosecutors only want to bring cases they can be absolutely sure they will win—typically their conviction rates are 99 percent—and sex crimes are hard ones to make. "That was quite surprising," said Ito. She also noted the lack of female police officers. In 2017, fewer than 10 percent of the police force were women. "Police officers need to be educated how to deal with these victims who are traumatized with sex crimes. But my case for instance, I asked for a female police officer [and] I talked to her and after two hours she said, 'I'm sorry I'm from the traffic department and I can't take your report so please talk to my male co-worker who is a male investigator.'"As Ito noted, in Japan, not only are the prosecutors and police reluctant to deal with sexual crimes against women, even if they get their day in court, Japan's predominantly male judiciary is likely to find they didn't resist enough. And thus the rapists often go free. * * *Conspicuous Silence* * *After the court's ruling in favor of Ito last week, several of the previously loud and abusive defenders of Yamaguchi suddenly went quiet. The most conspicuous silence came from Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker and protege of the prime minister, Mio Sugita, who previously gained attention for anti LGBQT remarks. In the BBC documentary, Japan's Secret Shame, Sugita claimed Ito "was at fault as a woman, drinking with a man until she lost consciousness," defending Yamaguchi and men as the "victim in these cases." And her tweet from last June has come back to haunt her. Sugita wrote that Ito did not deserve to be dealt with as a genuine victim. "I don't forgive sex crimes. It is unacceptable to force a victim to take drugs, or drag her into a car, and do things like rape her and I think the punishment should be more severe. But in an outrageous/unreasonable case like Ito Shiori—I feel anger as a woman that she is treated the same way as other rape victims who are absolutely not at fault." The court essentially found that Yamaguchi did the things that Sugita says she can't forgive and her underlying theme that rape victims were often somehow at fault, was not well-received either. At this point in time, she still has made no comment on the court's findings. While some critics of Ito suddenly shut up, the netizens and trolls of Japan quickly rose to the occasion and launched a stream of invective against Ito so offensive that media outlets were at a loss what to do. The Mainichi newspaper disabled the comments on the video of Ito's statement outside the courthouse immediately after the verdict, but one can easily watch the same video on other news channels and the comments keep rolling in: "I want to rape her, too," was a typical comment. Others included, "This is clearly a modern comfort woman's scheme," referring to the Asian and European women who were coerced into sexual slavery by the Japanese army during Japan's imperial era. For the right wing, "comfort women" is a term used to denigrate any independent woman as a willing prostitute, intent on cheating men of their money* * *Did Yamaguchi Get Special Treatment?* * *In his press conference on Thursday at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Yamaguchi accused the court of ignoring his claims and alleged there are contradictions in Ito's statements. He called her a habitual liar and hinted that he was now going to sue several media outlets, including The New York Times and the BBC. The only thing that seemed to give him pause was when he noticed that Shiori Ito was in the room listening to him speak, and taking notes.When The Daily Beast asked him, as a veteran journalist himself who had covered crime in Japan, did he know of any case in which the police had rescinded an arrest warrant for a felony, he did not answer the question. He probably doesn't want to answer; numerous sources, lawyers, former prosecutors and police say that it is almost unprecedented for an arrest warrant not to be executed. For better or worse, this is how the Japanese criminal justice process typically works in felony cases. The police investigate, find evidence, then consult with the prosecutors. If the prosecutor agrees, then they go to the court and get a warrant. They make an arrest. The suspect is held for up to 23 days in jail, interrogated every day, and then a final decision is made on whether to prosecute. They can then be rearrested on different charges. The former CEO Of Nissan, Carlos Ghosn, was put through this meat grinder and spent over 120 days in jail. His trial has not yet started. That wasn't the case for Yamaguchi.Yamaguchi did insist that despite his close personal friendship with the prime minister, he had never asked for political interference on his behalf. He says he didn't even know he was under investigation when the Takanawa police reluctantly let him depart without putting him in handcuffs as they had planned on June 8, 2015. For the most part, at the press conference Yamaguchi let his lawyer say the unpleasant things he didn't want coming out of his own mouth. The lawyer's supposed "bombshell" claim that Ito must be lying because she wrote in her book that her relative was a prosecutor when he was not was effectively dismissed two hours later. Ito clarified that her relative was an assistant prosecutor–fukukenji–which in Japan, is rarely differentiated from a regular prosecutor (kenji).* * *A Plea For Help* * *The circumstances that led to the criminal investigation of Yamaguchi being shelved may never be fully known. The civil court did not touch upon the previous events and it is nearly impossible to sue the Japanese government for failure to do its fiduciary duty. The Abe administration has a long history of shredding documents and cover-ups, so getting to the truth will be hard. Perhaps the last word should go to Ito, who made this plea to the media in her closing remarks, when asked about whether there was political interference in her case. Her voice cracked as she spoke."What I want to ask for you guys is that I need your help to find out these things. I can't do this all by myself, and I've been thinking when is the right time to do more investigation around it because I can't [alone]. I need your help." While the Abe administration seems to be rather unhelpful in her case, or to women in general, maybe there are some in or outside of the administration who are willing to help. Mari Hirayama, a Professor in Criminal Procedure and Criminology at Hakuoh University, considers the verdict a step forward for sexual assault victims in Japan. "She could not get justice [from the] Prosecutorial Review Board, but now she is admired worldwide. I hope this [case] inspired the reform for the Penal Code planned next year." Indeed, the common sense ruling of the Tokyo District Court is a leap forward for equal rights in Japan, establishing one thing that should already be crystal clear––if a woman is forced to have sex without her consent, that is a crime.The crusty old men who rule Japan were able to stop one arrest, but Ito has started something unprecedented in this country. The attempt to muzzle the rape investigation has backfired and instead ignited a movement, lead by Ito, who is no longer a victim but a hero for many. In its schemes to silence Ito, the government unwittingly gave voice to an army of women who are fed up with suffering silently and will not be stopped until true justice is served. 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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| Trump seemed more concerned with wind turbines than impeachment at conservative youth rally Posted: 22 Dec 2019 04:51 AM PST  That's one way to kick off a vacation.President Trump on Saturday gave one of his patented free-wheeling speeches at a Turning Point USA conservative youth conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, before beginning his winter vacation in the Sunshine State.Sure, Trump reportedly spent some time mocking House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for withholding articles of impeachment from the Senate, accusing former Vice President Joe Biden of corruption in Ukraine, and praising Republican members of Congress for sticking with him during the House impeachment vote. But, all things considered, he reportedly didn't get bogged down discussing impeachment.Instead, the thing that reportedly got him really riled up were wind turbines, which he's never been a fan of. He specifically lamented the bald eagle deaths they've caused. > That was one of the more colorful riffs on windmills we have heard from President Trump > > "A windmill will kill many bald eagles. And then after a certain number they make you turn it off." > > "Why is it okay for these windmills to kill the bird population? It's not okay."> > — Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) December 21, 2019He also reportedly railed against the "raging left-wing mob" while refraining from outright labeling Democrats communists and boasted about the new defense bill and North American trade deal. Read more at The Miami Herald and Politico.More stories from theweek.com 6 powerful phrases every parent should use Jeff Van Drew reveals the moment he decided it was time to switch parties Let us pray for the brave men and women fighting in the War on Christmas
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| Afghan president appears to win new term in initial results Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:27 PM PST  Afghan President Ashraf Ghani appears to have narrowly won a second term, according to preliminary results from September's balloting that were announced Sunday, although his main challenger rejected the outcome as illegitimate. If the outcome stands despite the complaints of ballot fraud, it could give Ghani the authority he has sought to demand a leading role in peace talks with the Taliban in the country devastated by decades of war. In a nationally televised address from the presidential palace later in the day, Ghani claimed victory over his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who serves as Afghanistan's chief executive in a fragile national unity government..
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| How Europe’s Top Christmas Market Could Swing an Election Posted: 20 Dec 2019 08:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Frequently named Europe's best, the Christmas market in Croatia's capital is bringing little festive cheer to the country's president this year.The issue for Kolinda Grabar Kitarovic as she heads into elections on Sunday is a video of her handing a cake and singing 'happy birthday' to Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic, who's at the center of a scandal over preferential access at the city's mulled wine and trinket stalls.Kitarovic, a former NATO executive, had been riding high on a carefully managed image as a globe-trotting diplomat. She was also the face of Croatia with her enthusiastic support during the national soccer team's historic run to the World Cup final last year.But the storm over the market is turning the election into a close race.For the European Union's newest member-state, even the whiff of murky dealings is bad. The Adriatic nation of 4.2 million people, which joined the bloc in 2013, is pushing to adopt the euro and has seen corruption concerns delay similar efforts in nearby Bulgaria.Other Balkan countries also targeting EU membership won't benefit either.It's not the first time Kitarovic has flirted with controversy. Previous instances include claiming Croatia's World War II-era Nazi salute was just a historical greeting -- a position she later reversed -- and the appearance at her inauguration of a right-wing media personality convicted of paying prostitutes and using cocaine to do so.Then there's the bizarre. Kitarovic has begun singing at some official meetings and was recently mocked on social media for vaguely claiming she'd stuck a deal with "some countries" for young Croats to earn 8,000 euros ($9,000) a month "via the internet.""All this begs a question: Who is Kitarovic?" said Tvrtko Jakovina, a contemporary history professor at the University of Zagreb. "Is she a skilled international diplomat and fighter for women's rights, as she presents herself abroad? Or is she someone who doesn't know her country's past and is friendly with characters who see laws as obstacles."The latest headlines have hurt the 51-year-old incumbent, who's polling only slightly ahead of ex-Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic and right-wing newcomer Miroslav Skoro, a popular folk singer, before the first round of voting. A runoff is almost certain two weeks later.While the president's role is largely ceremonial, defeat for Kitarovic could reverberate through the government of Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic, who's backed her strongly and would risk unrest from within the ruling Croatian Democratic Union.Plenkovic has enough on his plate as he tries to rein in a bulging bureaucracy, stem outflows of workers to richer EU nations and improve corruption that's seen as the bloc's fifth-worst in Transparency International's latest annual survey.After years of stagnation, the economy is expanding at a steady 3%, below the pace of other eastern EU members.While vowing to continue beating the drum for Croatia abroad, Kitarovic has also created a "traveling office" so she can meet citizens in smaller towns back home. Milanovic, from the opposition Social Democrats, is pushing a more conventional center-left agenda, while Skoro is running on a nationalist platform.All three have promised things beyond the scope of the presidency.But it's Kitarovic's integrity, not her policy agenda, that's come into question. And she's doubled down on her support of Bandic, who's fought graft accusations for much of his career, since the clip with him surfaced.If he's convicted for alleged abuse-of-office, she said she'll "bring him cookies in jail."To contact the reporter on this story: Jasmina Kuzmanovic in Zagreb at jkuzmanovic@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Andrew Langley, Balazs PenzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| NZ volcano eruption death toll rises to 17 after another person dies Posted: 22 Dec 2019 02:19 PM PST  New Zealand police said on Monday that one of those injured during the eruption of a volcano visited by tourists earlier this month died in an Auckland hospital, bringing the official death toll to 17 while two remain missing. "Police can confirm a further person has died in Middlemore Hospital last night … police were advised of the death shortly before 11pm," said Police Deputy Commissioner John Tims in a statement. The majority of the previously named victims after the powerful eruption of White Island, also known by its Māori name of Whakaari, were Australian citizens or permanent residents.
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| ‘You have a terribly homosexual face’: Brazil’s president launches homophobic attack on journalist Posted: 21 Dec 2019 04:55 AM PST  Brazil's president has launched a homophobic attack on a journalist in a likely attempt to detract from a criminal investigation into his son's alleged corruption.Jair Bolsonaro, who was elected on a ticket to purge the political class of corruption, railed against media scrutiny of his racism and apparent disdain for the environment, accusing the press of bias against him and his son Flavio Bolsonaro.
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| Syria regime advances in Idlib, nine civilians killed Posted: 22 Dec 2019 04:20 PM PST  Maaret al-Numan (Syria) (AFP) - Regime forces have seized dozens of towns and villages in northwest Syria from jihadists following days of violent clashes, fuelling an exodus of civilians, a war monitor said Sunday. The fresh advances in Idlib came as Russian warplanes continued to pummel the province's south, killing nine civilians who were trying to escape the flashpoint area on Sunday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The ground assault by loyalists of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime brings them closer to capturing one of the largest urban centres in Syria's last major opposition bastion.
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| A California teacher was placed on leave after allegedly telling students she wants to 'bring back slavery' Posted: 22 Dec 2019 10:32 AM PST  The unnamed educator, who works at a school composed of predominately black and Latino students, is allegedly a supporter of President Donald Trump.
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| Hong Kong police sued by journalist who lost eye after being hit with a rubber bullet Posted: 22 Dec 2019 01:00 AM PST  A journalist who lost her eye filming protests in Hong Kong has launched a legal bid to unmask the police officer who shot her with a rubber bullet. Veby Mega Indah was blinded in one eye while live streaming for Indonesian-language publication Suara from the frontline of the Hong Kong protests earlier this year. But she claims police have refused to investigate. She has now submitted a private bid to sue the officer for negligence. But her case cannot progress without knowing the identity of her shooter. She has now applied to the high court to reveal his details. It is the latest damaging case against the Hong Kong police force, which has been accused of heavy-handed tactics. A panel of foreign experts overseeing an investigation into allegations of excessive force resigned earlier this month in protest at slow progress. Veby Mega Indah receives emergency aid after being hit by a rubber bullet Credit: Isaac Lawrence/AFP Ms Indah, 39, is convinced the police are delaying because the evidence is so clear-cut. Despite her efforts, any meeting with the police investigators has yet to materialise, with the only visits coming from police public relations teams. "I'm really offended, this is criminal misconduct. They changed my life and they're treating this as public relations," Indah stressed. She was shot while covering clashes between protesters and police in the district of Wan Chai. She was wearing full press gear including press identification, a helmet, gasmask, a luminous high visual press-vest and eye-goggles. Ms Indah was recording the unfolding events at the time with a group of journalists. As space was tight on the bridge, protesters, press and police were all squeezed close to each other. Hong Kong protests "At one point I heard a fellow journalist shouting 'don't aim at us', in Cantonese," she said. "Then I heard two bangs… loud bangs, then white smoke from the stairs and I saw something coming towards my right eye. It hits me and I staggered as another journalist hugged me, not breaking my fall. I couldn't open my eyes, people were screaming and panicking and the footbridge was trembling," Indah told The Telegraph. First-aiders arrived quickly, as Indah lay on the ground she was in a state of shock. "I was so confused – why would they shoot me? I thought it was going to be my end." Despite the protective wear, the impact of the projectile was so strong it ruptured her eye beyond repair. "When I got to the hospital, a doctor cursed. That's when I knew it was bad. At that point, my main focus was to stay alive. They've told me they cannot improve my vision," she said, holding back the tears. Ms Indah says she has been taking painkillers to ease the pain, whilst she has recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress order.
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| Record rain, darkness: Seattle braces for floods, mudslides Posted: 21 Dec 2019 12:05 PM PST ![Record rain, darkness: Seattle braces for floods, mudslides]( "Record rain, darkness: Seattle braces for floods, mudslides") Record rainfall and darkness has hit Seattle as a major storm begins to lift across western Washington on the first day of winter, though the region is still at risk for flooding, mudslides and avalanches. Friday became the wettest day in Seattle in the past 10 years, and the most rain recorded for Dec. 20 since record-keeping at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport began in 1945. The National Weather Service said the airport recorded 3.25 inches (8.25 centimeters) of rain Friday, making it also the fifth rainiest day in city history.
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| Almanac: Baldness Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:48 PM PST  On December 22, 1997, the FDA approved Propecia, a once-a-day pill for combating the genetic condition known as male pattern baldness
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| Trump adviser: Expect more aggressive poll monitoring in 2020 Posted: 21 Dec 2019 11:52 AM PST  One of President Trump's top reelection advisers told influential Republicans in Wisconsin that the party has "traditionally" relied on voter suppression to compete in battleground states, according to an audio recording obtained by the Associated Press. The adviser said later that his remarks referred to accusations that Republicans use such tactics.
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| FACT: 10 U.S. Military Bases are Named After Confederate Generals Posted: 22 Dec 2019 05:30 AM PST  The Fort Hood military base in Killeen, Texas.
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| Tesco suspends Chinese supplier after prisoner labour report Posted: 22 Dec 2019 03:28 AM PST  British supermarket giant Tesco suspended a Chinese supplier of Christmas cards on Sunday after a press report said a customer found a message written inside a card saying it had been packed by foreign prisoners who were victims of forced labour. Tesco, Britain's biggest retailer, donates 300,000 pounds ($390,000) a year from the sale of the cards to the charities British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK and Diabetes UK. Peter Humphrey is a British former journalist and corporate fraud investigator.
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| Rouhani Visits Japan as U.S. Seeks to Cut Off Iran’s Exports Posted: 21 Dec 2019 07:37 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Hassan Rouhani paid the first visit by an Iranian president to Japan in 19 years, just as the U.S. strengthens enforcement of its sanctions in a standoff over nuclear development.Japan, which is walking a tightrope between its tradition of friendly ties with Iran and reliance on the U.S. as a military ally, is keeping the visit low key. Formerly one of Iran's biggest customers, Japan hasn't imported any oil from the country since May, according to government and ship-tracking data.President Donald Trump's administration is seeking to step up enforcement of Iran sanctions by increasing pressure on global shippers, Chinese state-owned enterprises and exporters of raw materials used in metals production, U.S. officials told Bloomberg this week.Since Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, Tehran has refused to buckle to American demands for a more comprehensive agreement and has moved forward with efforts to enrich uranium. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has tried to ease tensions, including by making the first visit to Iran by a sitting Japanese premier in 40 years.Abe told Rouhani he was very concerned about rising tensions in the Middle East and urged him to stick to the terms of the nuclear agreement. Through an interpreter, Rouhani criticized the U.S. for withdrawing from the deal.The two leaders didn't hold a joint press conference, and the Rouhani was back in Tehran by Saturday evening after being in Japan for less than 24 hours.Upon his return Rouhani said that the Japanese government had offered a "new proposal" on the issue of "breaking sanctions," and that Iran presented its own plan for countering the penalties. Negotiations in Tokyo lasted several hours and both countries planned to continue their talks on the subject of sanctions, he said."We had very substantial discussions and negotiated for maybe three to four hours last night," Rouhani said in a statement to reporters upon his arrival in Tehran, which was shown on state TV. He also welcomed a decision by Japan, conveyed during his visit, not to join the U.S.-led naval coalition in the Persian Gulf.Abe was expected to explain Japan's plans to dispatch a Self-Defense Forces unit, which will include a vessel, to the Middle East on an intelligence-gathering mission, according to documents distributed by the Foreign Ministry ahead of the meeting.(Updates with Rouhani comments in Tehran from seventh paragraph.)\--With assistance from Aaron Clark and Ramsey Al-Rikabi.To contact the reporters on this story: Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at ireynolds1@bloomberg.net;Emi Nobuhiro in Tokyo at enobuhiro@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Shamim Adam, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| At least 18 prisoners dead in clash at Honduras jail Posted: 21 Dec 2019 06:56 PM PST  At least 18 inmates died and 16 were injured in overnight clashes between prisoners in Honduras after fighting erupted at a jail in the northern port town of Tela, prison officials said Saturday. The National Penitentiary Institute said 17 prisoners had died at the facility in Tela, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) from the capital Tegucigalpa, and another died in hospital, with local media describing the unrest as gang violence. A prison spokesperson, Digna Aguilar, said authorities had to enter the area carefully "for fear of being among the victims" because several inmates carried firearms.
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| Russia says Trump told Putin U.S. will continue looking for arms treaty solutions Posted: 22 Dec 2019 07:46 AM PST  Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that President Trump had sent a letter about the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Interfax news agency reported.
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| Harry Dunn's family hits back at US government and Anne Sacoolas's lawyers Posted: 21 Dec 2019 09:24 AM PST  Harry Dunn's family has criticised lawyers acting on behalf of the US intelligence officer's wife accused of killing their son after they claimed she had "co-operated fully" with the investigation. The family has led a high-profile campaign for justice after Anne Sacoolas returned to the US after the car she was driving collided with the 19-year-old's motorbike on August 27. Sacoolas, 42, and her family had been based at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire and she sparked public outrage after claiming diplomatic immunity due to her husband's job. It was only after she left the UK on a military flight directly from the air base that the Foreign Office wrote to the family to say immunity in her case was not valid. After the Dunn family's campaign - which included a trip to the White House - the Crown Prosecution Service announced on Friday that Sacoolas has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving. Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US diplomat Credit: Susan Goodwin/Facebook Prosecutors have begun the extradition process to bring her back to the UK, a decision the US government labelled "disappointing" and "unhelpful". But Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said the "law should take its course" in the case of Harry Dunn and the Government will press the issue with the US "at every level". A statement from Amy Jeffress, Sacoolas's lawyer, said she had "co-operated fully with the investigation". She added: "Anne will not return voluntarily to the United Kingdom to face a potential jail sentence for what was a terrible but unintentional accident." Dunn family spokesman Radd Seiger said: "I know (Ms Jeffress) to be one of the finest and most outstanding lawyers in the USA. Her statement however boggles the mind and is deeply disturbing. Tim Dunn (left), the father of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn Credit: Jonathan Brady/PA "For Ms Jeffress to seek to undermine one of the most mature, well-developed legal systems in the world, which has fairness at its heart, and which many countries around the world have modelled their legal systems on, is unbecoming of any lawyer, let alone someone of her stature." Mr Seiger urged Sacoolas to "put that defence forward in court here rather than ventilate it publicly". He added: "Like everyone else (in the UK) she will get a fair trial." After the CPS decision on Friday, a spokesman for the US State Department said it was "disappointed", adding it feared the move would "not bring a resolution closer". The department maintained that Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity at the time of the incident. Harry Dunn and parents It added: "It is the position of the United States government that a request to extradite an individual under these circumstances would be an egregious abuse." Asked during a visit to Estonia if suspect Anne Sacoolas should be extradited to the UK, Mr Johnson said: "I think the best thing that I can say there is that the law should take its course and we will be obviously following that case with keen interest and continuing to make representations on behalf of Harry Dunn's family at every level." The Dunn family's lawyer Mark Stephens said that if the US authorities refused to return Sacoolas, it would be the first time in the 100-year history of the extradition treaty that they failed to comply. He told Sky News: "I've got great faith in the judges in America who will not be swayed by political statements. They have to follow the law whether the like it or not. "And the law says Anne Sacoolas comes back to England to face a judge and jury here."
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| Delta smelt: the tiny fish caught in California's war with Trump Posted: 21 Dec 2019 10:00 PM PST  Harbingers of a diminishing ecosystem, the smelt are almost extinct. Now, forces within the Trump administration could usher them into oblivionOn a warm November morning, John Durand squints over the stern of a small research boat, and gestures toward gray-blue water, and the chaotic tangles of tube-like tule reeds."Cache Slough right here had been known as a hotspot for delta smelt," he says. But it's been four years since Durand and his team of researchers from the University of California, Davis, have found the finger-length fish that gleam golden and "smell kind of like cucumber" in the brackish streams and sloughs of northern California's bay delta.Does he think we'll see any today? Durand chuckles and combs his fingers through his white goatee."It's funny, because the smelt are a small fish, and now they're a rare fish, but they still loom large over all our environmental and water policies," he adds. "It's a lot to put on a little fish."For conservationists and ecologists like Durand, the delta smelt are harbingers, their diminishing numbers a signal that the delta's ecosystem is dangerously close to collapse. For California farmers with thousands of acres to irrigate and millions of dollars on the lines, the smelt are in the way – the state listed the species as endangered in 2009, and in effect constrained how much water can be pulled from the delta.Now, the creatures caught in the crossfire of the state's water wars have all but disappeared, and biologists worry that newly empowered forces within the Trump administration could usher them into oblivion. A delicate balanceFrom the deck of the research boat, gliding down Cache Slough, it's easy enough to imagine how the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta used to look – before the Gold Rush, before colonial settlers built their farms and ranches, before they constrained the marsh with levees and cut its flow with dams and diversions, before massive pumps began sucking it dry, before all the infrastructure drove native wildlife to the brink of extinction.Leaning back in the boat, Durand watches his crew of students and research assistants toss a cone-shaped net off the stern, arc through the air and splash into the water. "The whole process is just beautiful," he says.At the helm, Christopher Jasper, a graduate student, motors forward, dragging the trawl down the slough for five minutes. Then the crew lifts the net up, splashes the contents into a bucket."All right, what have we got?" Jaspar positions his pen over a clipboard. "American shad, 67mm," yells Caroline Newell, her indigo hair exploding out of the back of her UC Davis baseball cap. "Oh, you're looking a little stressed there, buddy," she says, struggling to lay a flailing Sacramento splittail flat so she can measure it, before tossing it overboard.photo collageOver the course of the day, they count a total of 78 fish, including some native species, like the splittail, and some invasive ones, including a massive catfish. But no smelt.Soon after UC Davis researchers first began sampling in the delta, nearly 40 years ago, the delta smelt populations suffered a huge blow: their numbers had suddenly declined by more than 80%. Their numbers dipped even lower after a period of extended drought in the late 80s and early 90s, then lower still during California's most recent drought, which lasted from 2012 through 2016. During these dry spells, California's cities and farms needed to pump more and more delta water – leaving these fish without enough fresh, cold water to survive.Because most Delta smelt live for just one year, even temporary environmental changes can decimate the population. It's not just the overpumping, but the pumps themselves that have strained the smelt. The smelt are poor swimmers, and they're drawn to cloudy, turbid patches of water, where they like to hide and feed. The trouble is, the behemoth pumps run by the state and federal government, which can draw up to 10,000 and 5,500 cubic feet of water per second, respectively, can cause rivers to run backward, sucking smelt and other fish into their system.In an attempt to engineer their way out of problems borne from an over-engineered ecosystem, the US Bureau of Reclamation built a "fish collection facility" a couple of miles north of the pumps. Fish headed toward the machinery are corralled with nets and redirected to collection tanks, where they're catalogued before being trucked back into other parts of the estuary."The problem is, while they're going through that system of canals, or waiting in a truck, they're exposed to all these other fish, all these predators that are happily snacking on them the whole time," says Jon Rosenfield, a fish biologist at San Francisco Baykeeper, an environmental watchdog group.Those that make it through the labyrinth, face hordes of bass who swarm the spots where trucks release their bounty. "It's like the bass have been trained to show up at certain times to feed," Rosenfield says. And after all of that, the smelt may still die from the stress of the whole ordeal, or they may get caught up in the pumps again – rinse and repeat. A 2012 study found that the whole system was, ultimately, inefficient, though the reclamation bureau says the program has been tweaked to separate predators and make the experience more comfortable for the fish.All the while, Delta smelt have also been coping with the encroachment of invasive species. Invasive overbite clams and Asian clams have been leaving the smelt with less to eat. The striped bass and largemouth bass are invaders, as are Mississippi silversides, which feed on smelt eggs and young – though scientists have contested that these predators are responsible for smelt declines.Underlying many of these issues is the climate crisis, which has fueled extended periods of drought and heat waves that have made the waters uncomfortably warm for smelt, and other species struggling to survive in a shifting Delta ecosystem.It's unclear how many smelt are left in the estuary. The last time the UC Davis researchers caught one was in 2016. Surveyors from the California fish and wildlife department netted two in 2017, and none since. Based on data collected in early 2017, US Fish and Wildlife extrapolated that about 48,000 were still surfing the sloughs, but researchers say it's unclear how many Delta smelt still exist in the wild. "I'd guess at least a thousand or more, but we have no way of actually knowing," Durand says. "At this point, they barely register in the ecosystem."So, why do they still get so many Californians so riled up? Water warsEven Donald Trump has an opinion on the Delta smelt. At a March 2016 campaign rally in Fresno, California – in the state's agricultural heartland – then presidential candidate Trump mocked the environmentalists who were desperate "to protect a certain kind of three-inch fish"."They have farms here and they don't get water," he said, as the crowd, holding up green "Farmers for Trump" signs booed. "It is so ridiculous they're taking the water and shoving it out to sea." That night, Trump promised the farmers more water. Ever since then, his administration has been making moves to make good on that pledge.Last fall, Trump signed a memorandum directing federal agencies to review and roll back environmental standards slowing down the flow of water to farms in the central valley. In February this year, the president nominated David Bernhardt to serve as his interior secretary.Prior to joining the administration, Bernhardt worked as a lobbyist and lawyer for the Westlands Water District, the nation's largest agricultural water contractor. The agency serves some of California's wealthiest, most powerful farmers – delivering up to 1.19m acre-feet of irrigation water from the delta each year.In 2014, Bernhardt represented Westlands in an appeals case challenging Endangered Species Act protections for Delta smelt. Upon taking office, he named the water district in his ethics recusal letter, promising not to "participate personally and substantially" in policy issues that could affect his former clients, unless he obtained a waiver.Watchdog groups say Bernhardt hasn't quite kept his word. Even as he oversaw a board effort to weaken Endangered Species Act protections to ease conditions for the oil and logging industries, he delivered a huge victory to Westlands, rolling back protections for the Delta smelt and the endangered Chinook salmon and paving the way for more pumping.When scientists from the marine fisheries service in July submitted a thousand-page report warning that more pumping would jeopardize several species including endangered winter-run Chinook salmon and the Southern Resident killer whales that eat salmon, the Interior Department pulled the document.New reports, called biological opinions, released in October and overseen by the department's Fish and Wildlife Service found that the salmon wouldn't be imperiled, and a separate Delta smelt opinion similarly concluded that the fish would be just fine. The agency touted "smarter delta operations through real-time adaptive management and greater management oversight of delta pumping operations informed by updated science," to help the smelt and other endangered species recover even as the mammoth state and federal pumps drained more water out of the ecosystem.On Thursday, the Trump administration released its final environmental impact statement on the pumping plan, which claims to manage water in an "environmentally and economically sound manner".That's much easier said than done, Rosenfield says. "The 'real-time management' part especially has some huge air quotes around it." The idea is that federal scientists will monitor the water, and signal for the pumps to be turned down. But it's pretty hard to know where exactly the smelt are – after all, they've eluded researchers for years."It's ecological sampling – not surveillance," Rosenfield says. "They don't have little ankle bracelets on them, we can't track every single fish."Even if they could, turning down the pumps isn't quite as easy as shutting off a faucet. The multi-story state and federal pumping plants operate in tandem and are powerful enough to make rivers flow backward. By the time the two agencies coordinate with each other and taper down the pumping, "these fish are already dying", Rosenfield says.Paul Souza, the US Fish and Wildlife official who oversaw the drafting of the biological opinions, says, "there's absolutely no connection" between Bernhardt's past work with Westlands and the results presented in the biological opinion. He and other officials who drafted the reports "are career professionals," Souza said in a statement to the Guardian. "We have led this effort with our teams over the past year and this is a career conservation professional documentation."Westlands contests that the biological opinion benefits them in any way. "I'm not sure that the new biological opinions will produce a single drop of additional water for Westlands," says Tom Birmingham, the agency's general manager. "What the new biological opinions do is provide a degree of operational flexibility," he says, allowing the pumps to take more water when more is available."I have confidence in the ability of the agencies to conduct real-time monitoring, and to adjust operations of the project based on real-time monitoring," he says, noting that federal and state operations are already using these techniques to scan the estuary for turbid conditions that could attract smelt.Shortly after the new biological opinions were released, Westlands concluded negotiations to permanently lock in its water service contract, which entitles them to 1.15m acre-feet of water per year – about twice what the city of Los Angeles uses annually. Birmingham points out that the provision to convert its contract is courtesy of a 2016 law, which was approved by a bipartisan Congress and signed into law by Barack Obama.Westlands, he says, is being unfairly antagonized by environmental groups. "I read the criticisms of the new biological opinions," he says. "And I have to ask myself, have the people expressing those criticisms read the same document?" California fighting wordsBack on the research boat, as an afternoon of sampling winds down, and the weather warms and mellows and stills, it's impossible not to notice the spicy scent of dung and fertilizer in the air. Durand points at a group of cows, sleepily grazing and dumping at the banks of Cache Slough. "As biologists, we call those ecosystem inputs," he says with a laugh. Dung from these cows, and runoff from the nut orchards and fruit farms a few yards inland infuse nutrients into the water that triggers algal blooms. Sometimes, too many nutrients in the water cause plants and algae to overgrow, die and drain the system of oxygen. But this time of year, the system could use a bit of nutrient infusion to feed the delta's fish.Agriculture and nature can work together, Durand says, so long as people are willing to let them. "Everybody wants to be the good guy, and do right by the environment," he says. "I believe that, having talked to some of the local farmers and ranchers in this area."The trouble is, once environmental groups and government officials start talking about reallocating water rights and rationing, "those are triggers, those are fighting words in California," he says. "Revolutions are expensive, I guess, and no one wants to be the one to pay for them."In response to the federal government's chipping away of protections for endangered fish, environmental and fishing industry groups have banded together to sue the federal government, as well, alleging that fewer protections for smelt, steelhead trout, and Chinook salmon will devastate the delta ecosystem and commercial fisheries will be the collateral.California's state government has joined the morass as well: California's governor Gavin Newsom declared that the state is drafting litigation as well. "As stewards of this state's remarkable natural resources, we must do everything in our power to protect them," Newsom announced. "The next generations of Californians deserve nothing less."In response, the federal reclamation commissioner Brenda Burman derided Newsom's preference "to have judges dictate these important projects instead of the career professionals at the federal and state levels who have developed a plan based on the best science and significant input from the public." If Californians want a legal fight, she said in a statement to the Guardian, "that's their choice, we'll see them in court".Westlands has reportedly threatened to walk away from state efforts to broker water-sharing deals if Newsom sues.It could take years for the full effects of the new policy and litigation to become apparent. "In the meantime, know what's ironic?" says Rosenfield. "Even if the smelt disappeared, and we no longer had to worry about protecting them, it's not like we could get much more water out of the system."A 2019 study by Rosenfield and his colleagues at the San Francisco Bay Institute and the Nature Conservancy found that the amount of water the pumps could pull was most often limited by the need to keep saltwater at bay. If enough fresh water isn't, to paraphrase Donald Trump, shoved out to sea, the sea will shove into shore, flooding the estuary with salt water. "And, no one wants salt water," Rosenfield says. "You cannot apply saltwater to farmland. That's what the Romans did to punish their enemies." In most years between 2011 and 2018 – at peak drought – maintenance issues, and a lack of storage capacity limited pumping more than the smelt did, as did protections for other threatened and endangered fish. "The smelt are just a scapegoat," Rosenfield says.Durand says he's sick of talking about Delta smelt. "At the end of the day, sure, it's just a crummy little fish and there aren't a lot of them left," he says. "But then, every time we lose a species it's just a sign that there are more losses to come."If the Delta smelt go, California may be able to pump some more. But then their cousins, the longfin smelt, could disappear next, and then the steelhead trout, and then the various populations of Chinook salmon. "Where do we draw the line?" Durand says. "I don't know how much more stress the system can take."
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| Deaths in custody. Sexual violence. Hunger strikes. What we uncovered inside ICE facilities across the US Posted: 22 Dec 2019 02:13 PM PST  A USA TODAY Network investigation revealed sex assaults, routine use of physical force, poor medical care and deaths at facilities overseen by ICE.
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| Holiday Mystery Solved! Massachusetts Police Department Discovers Therapy Dog Was the Thief Stealing From a Toy Donation Bin Posted: 21 Dec 2019 09:27 AM PST  It wasn't the Grinch after all
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| Pakistan Cannot Get Enough Of America's F-16 Fighting Falcon Posted: 21 Dec 2019 07:30 AM PST  Pakistan operates around sixty-six F-16A/Bs and nineteen F-16C/Ds in four active squadrons.
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| Hong Kong protesters face off with police in mall protests Posted: 20 Dec 2019 06:58 PM PST  Hong Kong riot police swept into several shopping malls on Saturday, chasing off and arresting some anti-government Hong Kong demonstrators who had gathered to press their demands in the peak shopping weekend before Christmas. In a mall in Yuen Long, close to the China border, hundreds of black-clad protesters marked the five-month anniversary of an attack in a train station by an armed mob wearing white T-shirts which beat up bystanders and protesters with pipes and poles. The protesters demanded justice for the attack, shouting "Fight for Freedom" and "Stand With Hong Kong".
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| Iran rejects 'conditional release' for Iranian-British woman Posted: 22 Dec 2019 04:29 AM PST  The lawyer of an Iranian-British woman convicted on spying charges in Iran has asked that she be released after serving half of her sentence, a request that was immediately rejected by the Tehran prosecutors'office, the state IRNA news agency reported Sunday. Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was sentenced to five years for allegedly planning the "soft toppling" of Iran's government while traveling with her young daughter in Iran at the time.
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| Man accidentally shoots himself while trying to steal puppy Posted: 22 Dec 2019 11:23 AM PST  An armed robber accidentally shot himself in the leg while trying to steal a puppy from its owner.The owner had arranged to sell the nine-week-old American bulldog, named Tarzan, to a man through who made contact through a buying-and-selling website.
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| White House considers arguing that Trump wasn't impeached Posted: 21 Dec 2019 03:35 AM PST  White House lawyers are considering the argument because Pelosi did not immediately deliver articles to the Senate
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| France's Macron says colonialism was 'grave mistake' Posted: 21 Dec 2019 03:46 PM PST  French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday said "colonialism was a grave mistake," and called for "turning the page" on the past during a visit to Ivory Coast, a former French colony in West Africa. "I belong to a generation which was not" part of the colonial-era, he said.
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| Sydney Faces ‘Catastrophic’ Fire Danger Amid Record Heat Posted: 20 Dec 2019 10:26 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sydney faced "catastrophic" fire conditions on Saturday as a record heatwave exacerbated more than 100 blazes burning across Australia's most populous state.New South Wales has declared a state of emergency amid the heatwave, which has produced the hottest day on record and fanned bushfires along Australia's eastern coastline, smothering Sydney in smoke. Today's catastrophic warning for greater Sydney, the highest level of danger, means fires can spread rapidly and are extremely difficult to control. It is the second such warning for the city this season."Catastrophic fire danger is as bad as it gets," New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons told reporters. There is concern that an expected southerly wind change will bring erratic fire conditions, he said.The crisis has caused road closures and authorities have urged motorists to avoid travel, disrupting holiday plans for Sydneysiders hoping to leave the city for a summer break. Prime Minister Scott Morrison cut short his vacation in Hawaii and apologized for taking leave while the wildfires ravage Australia, reflecting the political pressure building on his government that denies the blazes are linked to climate change. He is expected to land in Sydney later Saturday.In New South Wales alone, eight people have been killed, more than 6 million acres -- an area the size of Massachusetts -- have been burnt out and 800 houses destroyed since the fire season started unusually early this year. Fires are also raging in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia, where local media reported one person died in a fire zone today.On Wednesday, the average maximum temperature across Australia reached 41.9 degrees Celsius (107.4 degrees Fahrenheit), surpassing the record 40.9 Celsius set a day earlier, according to the weather bureau. On Thursday it reached 41 Celsius, meaning those three days were the three hottest ever recorded. While a temperature of 36 Celsius was forecast for Sydney today, the mercury soared into the 40s in some suburbs.To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Brockett in Wellington at mbrockett1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew Brockett at mbrockett1@bloomberg.net, Edward Johnson, Michael S. ArnoldFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| India's Modi defends citizenship law Posted: 22 Dec 2019 07:59 AM PST  Amid nationwide protests, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is refusing to give way.Modi on Sunday defended his Hindu nationalist government's recently passed citizenship law that has sparked protests across the country as nothing less than a humanitarian gesture. The law allows illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to claim Indian citizenship if they can show they were victims of religious persecution. But it only extends to non-Muslims and has been criticized for breaching India's secular constitution and for attempting to marginalize Muslims.Speaking at a political rally in New Delhi, Modi said he "must assure Muslim citizens of India that this law will not change anything for them" and that his government operates without religious bias. "People who are trying to spread lies and fear, look at my work," he said.To date, 23 people have reportedly been killed during the nationwide protests, which continued Sunday. Read more at Al Jazeera and BBC.More stories from theweek.com 6 powerful phrases every parent should use Jeff Van Drew reveals the moment he decided it was time to switch parties Let us pray for the brave men and women fighting in the War on Christmas
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