| Former federal prosecutors describe the Roger Stone sentencing reversal as unprecedented Posted: 12 Feb 2020 06:45 PM PST  Legal experts and former federal prosecutors say the Justice Department's reversal of the sentencing recommendation for President Trump's former campaign adviser is an extraordinary development that could have a long-term impact on public perception of federal law enforcement's independence from political interference.
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| EXCLUSIVE-Senior China diplomat concedes challenge of coronavirus, slams 'overreaction' Posted: 14 Feb 2020 01:29 PM PST  A top Chinese official acknowledged on Friday that the new coronavirus is a deep challenge to the country, but defended Beijing's management of the epidemic while lashing out at the "overreaction" of other countries. In a wide-ranging interview with Reuters in the German capital, State Councillor Wang Yi, who also serves as China's foreign minister, urged the United States not to take unnecessary virus-response measures that could hamper trade, travel and tourism.
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| The DNC was reportedly 'intimately involved' with the creation of the infamous app that botched the Iowa caucuses Posted: 14 Feb 2020 07:36 AM PST  National Democratic party officials had requested access to the app before the caucuses, according to a report by Yahoo News.
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| Sri Lanka arrests ex-envoy to Russia over MiG deal Posted: 14 Feb 2020 06:43 AM PST  Sri Lanka arrested a former ambassador to Russia after he was extradited from Dubai Friday to face money laundering charges over a controversial MiG aircraft purchase, police said. Udayanga Weeratunga was taken before a magistrate in Colombo who remanded him in custody till Monday pending a further hearing. Police in a statement said Weeratunga, who is also closely related to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa's family, was arrested in connection with an investigation into the Sri Lankan military's 2006 purchase of four second-hand MiG-27 aircraft from Ukraine.
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| Sherpas upset by plan to collect trash – and bodies – on Everest Posted: 13 Feb 2020 08:13 PM PST  Nepal's government plans to have the army clean up 77,000 pounds of waste on Mount Everest, BBC Nepali reports.
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| Pompeo 'outraged' by United Nations list of firms with settlement ties Posted: 13 Feb 2020 04:32 PM PST  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday said he is "outraged" by the U.N.'s publication of a list of companies accused of violating Palestinian human rights by operating in Israel's West Bank settlements.
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| Florida 'red flag' gun law used 3,500 times since Parkland Posted: 13 Feb 2020 09:12 PM PST  A 23-year-old man who posted on Facebook, "I don't know why I don't go on a killing spree." A West Palm Beach couple who shot up their home while high on cocaine. All four Florida residents had their guns taken away by judges under a "red flag" law the state passed three weeks after authorities say a mentally disturbed man killed 17 people in a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland two years ago Friday. Advocates of Florida's red flag measure say before it existed, it was often difficult to remove firearms from those making threats or suffering severe mental breakdowns.
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| Assistant principal accused of raping 16-year-old avoids jail Posted: 14 Feb 2020 08:20 AM PST  An assistant principal charged with raping a 16-year-old student in Missouri has avoided jail time by accepting an Alford plea, allowing her to assert innocence while acknowledging the evidence proves her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.Elizabeth Giesler, who served as the assistant principal of Ste. Genievieve Middle school in eastern Missouri prior to the indictment, accepted the Alford plea earlier this week, according to court records.
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| Trump says John Kelly has a 'military and legal obligation' to 'keep his mouth shut' Posted: 13 Feb 2020 09:17 AM PST  The president criticized John Kelly after remarks from his former chief of staff at an event Wednesday night questioned a number of Trump's decisions.
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| Three Honduran policemen killed in shootout to free jailed MS-13 gang leader Posted: 13 Feb 2020 05:22 PM PST |
| Step Inside the Artist's Home Posted: 14 Feb 2020 05:00 AM PST |
| Gaza balloon attacks re-emerge as threat to Israel Posted: 13 Feb 2020 06:00 PM PST  As the bunch of brightly-coloured balloons floated into Gaza's evening sky, there was a piercing crackle of gunfire. Moments earlier, the balloons had been launched by a group of masked young Palestinian men huddled near the Al-Bureij refugee camp. Explosives tied to balloons and kites first emerged as a weapon in Gaza, ruled by the Islamist group Hamas, during intense protests in 2018, when the devices drifted across the border daily, causing thousands of fires in Israeli farms and communities.
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| Warren Claims Bloomberg’s ‘Redlining’ Comments Should Disqualify Him from Presidential Race Posted: 14 Feb 2020 06:47 AM PST  Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Thursday took direct aim at fellow 2020 contender Michael Bloomberg, saying the former New York City mayor should not be the Democratic nominee because of comments he made several years ago blaming the 2008 housing crisis on banks abandoning racially discriminatory lending practices."A video just came out yesterday in which Michael Bloomberg is saying, in effect, that the 2008 financial crash was caused because the banks weren't permitted to discriminate against black and brown people," Warren said at a town hall in northern Virginia."That crisis would not have been averted if the banks had been able to be bigger racists, and anyone who thinks that should not be the leader of our party," the progressive Massachusetts senator added.Bloomberg's 2008 comments about the housing crisis resurfaced on Wednesday, drawing accusations that he was blaming minorities for the recession that began the year before after the housing market crashed."It all started back when there was a lot of pressure on banks to make loans to everyone," Bloomberg said at a Georgetown University forum at the time. "Redlining, if you remember, was the term where banks took whole neighborhoods and said, 'People in these neighborhoods are poor, they're not going to be able to pay off their mortgages, tell your salesmen don't go into those areas.'"Redlining was a practice where banks outlined poor neighborhoods in red on maps and refused mortgages and loans to people, often minorities, who lived in those areas, which the banks considered financially risky.Warren also repeated her familiar refrain against how Bloomberg's billionaire status has allowed him to buy his way into the race, saying he "got in on the billionaire plan."Bloomberg campaign spokesman Stu Loeser pushed back on criticism of Bloomberg's 12-year-old comments saying that the former mayor targeted predatory lending when he was mayor and plans as president to "help a million more Black families buy a house and counteract the effects of redlining and the subprime mortgage crisis."The Thursday campaign event was Warren's first since she finished fourth in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday. Before that underwhelming outcome, she finished third in Iowa caucuses, both outcomes leaving her campaign scrambling to regain momentum.
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| Five inmates escape from Ohio correctional facility Posted: 13 Feb 2020 05:40 PM PST  They broke out of a first-floor window and ran away sometime Monday night or Tuesday, according to a police report.
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| ‘Disturbing’: Federal Judge Blasted DOJ for Leaving McCabe in ‘Limbo’ Posted: 14 Feb 2020 12:08 PM PST  Justice Department attorneys struggled with mounting frustration and skepticism from a federal judge about producing documents related to the investigation of former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe, according to transcripts of closed-door conversations released in response to a lawsuit from a government watchdog group. The McCabe case—and President Donald Trump's personal involvement in it—prompted federal judge Reggie Barnett Walton to call the government's handling of it "disturbing," a "mess," and veering close to a "banana republic.""I think it's very unfortunate," Judge Walton told prosecutors as the case hung in limbo in late September. "And I think as a government and as a society we're going to pay a price at some point for this."The comments were made in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) against the Justice Department.Jordan Libowitz, a spokesperson for CREW, said the eventual release of the court transcripts on Friday, after a lengthy court battle, showed that the government was "trying to cover up the fact that they were stringing this [lawsuit] along while looking for a reason to indict McCabe."Justice Department Won't Charge Former FBI Official Andrew McCabe in Lying CaseThe court released the transcripts on Friday afternoon hours after McCabe's lawyers released a letter from Justice Department officials saying they did not plan to charge McCabe with a crime. Two years ago, the DOJ's top watchdog released a report finding that McCabe lacked candor when answering questions about leaks to the media. McCabe vehemently disputed the report's findings. The CREW lawsuit sought material on how the Trump administration handled the criminal investigation into McCabe, who served as the acting FBI Director after Trump fired James Comey. In that capacity, McCabe helped oversee Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe. He also became one of Trump's top bête noires. The president has tweeted about him dozens of times, once accusing him of treason. McCabe, in turn, has vociferously pushed back. After Trump insinuated that McCabe deserved the death penalty, McCabe told CNN the comment was "quite honestly terrifying." "It's just a disgusting level of disrespect for the people who serve this country every day," he said. Throughout the course of the CREW lawsuit, prosecutors appeared unable to predict when their investigation of McCabe would conclude, which would allow them to hand over documents related to the case through the Freedom of Information Act process.In mid-September, McCabe's attorneys wrote in an email to the Justice Department that they'd heard "credible" rumors that a grand jury investigating possible criminal charges against their client "had declined to vote an indictment." They asked Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to drop the case but Rosen declined.By the end of September, the transcripts released by the CREW lawsuit show the Justice Department had asked the court for another three months to decide whether to continue the McCabe case, calling it "an exceedingly difficult matter and situation." That requested delay, as well as others in the months preceding it, created mounting frustration for Judge Walton as the government seemed unable to determine whether the case against McCabe would continue throughout the summer and fall of September 2019.Walton chided prosecutors in late September, saying that their delays hindered CREW's right to the documents and "from the standpoint of Mr. McCabe, he has a right to have the government make a decision and not hold his life in limbo pending a decision as to what's going to happen.""I don't know why it's so difficult for a decision to be made. Either you have a case or you don't," he said.Judge Walton also took issue with President Trump's apparent personal involvement in the case. He told prosecutors that Trump's comments about the case complicated the ability to receive a fair hearing in the FOIA lawsuit."[T]he public is listening to what's going on, and I don't think people like the fact that you've got somebody at the top basically trying to dictate whether somebody should be prosecuted," Walton told prosecutors when they asked for another delay in late September. "I just think it's a banana republic when we go down that road and we have those type of statements being made that are conceivably—even if not—influencing the ultimate decision. I think there are a lot of people on the outside who perceive that there is undue, inappropriate pressure being brought to bear."As recently as December 10, prosecutors pushed back on the release of the transcripts showing Walton's questions about the timing of prosecutors' decisions in the McCabe case. They argued it would give the public an incomplete picture of the investigation and potentially compromise the case. "To understand the Department's exercise of prosecutorial discretion in this case would necessitate a broader disclosure of internal deliberative information than contained in the staled ex parte hearing transcripts," J.P. Cooney, a prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's office in Washington, D.C., wrote in one filing obtained by the CREW lawsuit. Their release, he claimed, "risks unfairly calling into question the integrity of the investigation and any future decisions in the McCabe matter".Trump Is Beyond Obsessed With Andrew McCabeLibowitz said Friday that it was "not surprising that the announcement of no indictment [of McCabe] was timed along with the release of these transcripts."A 2018 investigation by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility found McCabe had "made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor—including under oath—on multiple occasions" about the FBI's handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server and handling of classified information. Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired McCabe in March 2018 just hours before his scheduled retirement date. 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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| Pope Francis's dream Posted: 14 Feb 2020 03:00 AM PST  With the easy credulity that has become so typical of journalists during his pontificate, many observers, both Catholic and secular, expected Pope Francis's recent apostolic exhortation to relax the ancient discipline of clerical celibacy for some priests of the Roman Rite. This did not happen.An entire column (indeed a document very much longer) might be devoted to the question of why so many people insist upon seeing Francis as some kind of antinomian liberal modernizer. But it seems to me somehow unimportant. Instead, the correct response to Querida Amazonia ("The Beloved Amazon") is joy. Here at last is a return to the great intellectual themes of Laudato si', the 2015 papal encyclical in which the Holy Father first articulated his critique of the neoliberal revolution in economics, the globalized regime of spoliation, exploitation, infertility, and distractedness that make possible the supposed "economic miracle" of consumerism. For Francis all of these things — the climate crisis, wage slavery, the mirage of technological progress, greed — exist along a sinuous continuum of immiseration; the planet is being destroyed because we are destroying one another because we are destroying ourselves.It is no accident that the present document is organized not in chapters but as a series of four "dreams." Many of the footnotes refer either to documents from the recent Amazonian synod held in Rome or to Francis's own previous utterances. I do not think any comparable papal document has contained so many quotations from poets.The pope's emphasis on imaginative literature is not incidental. What he seems to suggest throughout is that there are certain truths that cannot be articulated in prose. If philosophy, according to Hegel, is always an exercise in belatedness, then perhaps it is only through art that we can express the most serious longings of our age. This is why, despite the inevitable presence of jargon, the exhortation itself is full of poetic expressions, including some ("This dream made of water," "a dance of dolphins") which impress themselves effortlessly upon one's memory.Francis's ostensible theme in this reflection is the destruction of the Amazon and her indigenous peoples, both physically and spiritually, at the hands of neoliberal capitalism, leaving the soil exhausted and fruitless and the men and women of the region impoverished and atomized in cities where they live as strangers. But this sense of "bewilderment and uprootedness" extends well beyond the Amazon. It is, in fact, the defining characteristic of modern life. Overcoming these evils in South America and throughout the world will involve something more than international climate summits or NGO-sponsored PowerPoint presentations. It will require nothing less than the destruction of the existing order of things and its replacement with a new humane form of social organization whose first principles are not the acquisition of wealth or the pursuit of fleeting pleasures but love, fraternity, and serenity.It would be interesting to know what, in addition to those sources that appear in the footnotes, has informed the pope's thinking here. It has been known for some time that Francis is devoted to the great anti-modern philosopher Fr. Romano Guardini and that he is a keen Wagnerian. When the pope calls upon readers "to enter into communion with the forest" so that "our voices will easily blend with its own and become a prayer," it is difficult not to imagine the figure of Siegfried (for whom the corrupt order of Valhalla possesses no charms because he has grown up outside it) following the quiet song of the woodbird to the ring. There are echoes here also of the late Heidegger, with his horror of mankind becoming the slave of technology and his insistence upon philosophy and even "thought" giving way to the musings of artists. But I must admit that the book I thought of most when reading his reflections on "integral ecology" was Frank Herbert's Dune, in which the boy hero uses aboriginal "desert power" to overthrow a mechanized galactic empire. It is precisely this sort of synthesis between indigenous capability and political will that Francis seems to be proposing when he says that the solution to the present ecological crisis will "combine ancestral wisdom with contemporary technical knowledge." In any case, it is no surprise that a thinker so wide ranging in his interests should address his reflections not only to the Catholic faithful but to "all persons of goodwill." People of every political tendency, from the more humane voices among the new nationalists in the United States and Europe to leftists attempting to imagine what a world would look like without economic growth as we currently understand it, would profit from engagement with these ideas.How likely is it that Francis's vision will be fulfilled in our lifetimes? I think attempting to answer this question is the wrong response (though it is worth pointing out that in the last century the turn against laissez-faire economics was influenced to a greater extent than is widely acknowledged by papal encyclicals). In fact, I think it would even be a mistake to consider this exhortation a teaching document in any narrowly pedagogical sense. Instead it should be welcomed on the terms in which it is presented: as a dream, one that all persons of good will can dream together.More stories from theweek.com 7 brutally funny cartoons about the Democratic primary fight Bill de Blasio will reportedly endorse Bernie Sanders Bloomberg vs. Trump would be a clash of oligarchs
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| Mystery: Did Iranian Pilots Encounter a Mach 10 Drone or Some Sort of UFO? Posted: 13 Feb 2020 06:30 PM PST  The truth is out there.
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| 'Horrifying': Mass burial held for 2,411 fetal remains found in abortion doctor's home Posted: 13 Feb 2020 11:47 AM PST  Dr. Ulrich Klopfer, who died Sept. 3 at 79, was one of the Midwest's most prolific abortion doctors. He performed the abortions from 2000 to 2002.
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| Foreigners stranded in Wuhan by virus tell of fear and rations Posted: 14 Feb 2020 05:53 AM PST  Hunkered down at the epicentre of China's virus epidemic and cut off from the world, the remaining foreigners in Wuhan are eking out a life in fear. As of Monday, 27 foreigners in China had been infected with the virus -- 22 of whom were in quarantine, officials said. Ruqia Shaikh, a Pakistani postdoctoral researcher stranded at Wuhan's Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said most students at the school were confined to their dormitories, watching TV.
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| The casino hub of Macau will give residents money to keep its economy going during the coronavirus pandemic Posted: 14 Feb 2020 07:35 AM PST  Macau recently shut down its casinos, the city's primary industry. It has stemmed an outbreak of the coronavirus and hopes to keep the economy afloat.
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| Jimmy Hoffa associate who was suspect in disappearance dies Posted: 14 Feb 2020 08:35 AM PST  Charles "Chuckie" O'Brien, a longtime associate of Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa who became a leading suspect in the labor leader's disappearance and later was portrayed in the Martin Scorsese film, "The Irishman," has died. O'Brien's stepson, Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, said in a blog post that O'Brien died Thursday in Boca Raton, Florida, from what appeared to be a heart attack. O'Brien was a constant companion to Hoffa in the decades when the labor leader developed the Teamsters into one of the largest and most powerful unions in the nation in the from the late 1950s to the early 1970s.
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| As one Princess cruise is quarantined for COVID-19, another is hit with different illness Posted: 13 Feb 2020 02:18 PM PST  The Caribbean Princess ship came back to Florida early after 345 passengers and 26 crew members fell ill with symptoms of vomiting and diarrhea.
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| POWER RANKING: Here's who has the best chance of becoming the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee Posted: 14 Feb 2020 09:11 AM PST  We've combined the results of the primaries so far, Insider polling and Morning Consult's daily survey to create a weekly power ranking of the candidates.
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| China's Hubei province enacts 'wartime' measures as coronavirus count rises to 16,427 Posted: 14 Feb 2020 09:30 AM PST  Coronavirus is continuing to spread throughout China and especially in the epicenter Hubei province, the World Health Organization said in a Friday update briefing on COVID-19.There are 47,505 laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 throughout China with 1,381 deaths reported from the pneumonia-like illness it causes, including 121 deaths reported in the past day. Six of those who died were health care workers — "a critical piece of information" as WHO continues to investigate why even rigorous medical guidelines haven't stopped the spread, WHO reported Friday.A total of 1,716 health care workers in China have contracted COVID-19 despite WHO's guidelines, so this weekend, a team of 12 international and WHO experts will arrive in China to meet with local medical professionals for a "joint mission." The experts will particularly look at disease transmission and response measures to see how processes for health care workers, who "are working with virtually no sleep in difficult conditions," can be improved, WHO said.Meanwhile, Hubei, home to the epicenter city of Wuhan, is "enacting 'wartime' measures" as the number of confirmed cases in the province has climbed to 16,427. The measures include blocking people from going outside, "sealing off residential complexes and allowing only essential vehicles on the roads," The Washington Post reports. The virus has kicked off an "economic fallout" throughout China, with flower sales reportedly falling as much as 95 percent this Valentine's Day, the Post continues.More stories from theweek.com 7 brutally funny cartoons about the Democratic primary fight Bill de Blasio will reportedly endorse Bernie Sanders Bloomberg vs. Trump would be a clash of oligarchs
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| World War II Taught The Air Force Why Flying Tanks Are King Posted: 14 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST  America's B-25G was the first, but it wouldn't be the last.
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| Two Years Later, Don’t Misplace Blame for Parkland Posted: 14 Feb 2020 12:39 PM PST  Two years ago, 17 people died in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Fla. In the intervening years, both those who survived it and those who observed it from afar have tried to figure out how something so terrible could have happened.That is understandable. Unfortunately, the tone of public debate on this matter was set early, and unhelpfully, on just one subject: gun control. The morning after the shooting, Parkland school superintendent Robert Runcie said that "now is the time to have a real conversation about gun control laws in our country." Just a few days later, Broward County sheriff Scott Israel said: "While the people who are victims of mental-health illnesses in this country are being treated, in the opinion of this sheriff, they should not be able to buy, surround themselves with, purchase or carry a handgun. Those two things don't mix." David Hogg, a Stoneman student at school on that evil day, demanded national action on gun control shortly after as well. "We are children. You guys are, like, the adults," he said. "Take action, work together, come over your politics, and get something done." Hogg then helped spearhead a mass political rally in Washington, D.C., the next month, the "March For Our Lives," that again emphasized this call for federal action on gun control.Those who survived something as horrendous as the Parkland shooting do not deserve unnecessary opprobrium. But the fact remains that it was not Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, President Donald Trump, or the National Rifle Association who were responsible for the murder of 17 people on that February day. It was a depressing cascade of actions (and inactions) by local actors over a series of years, and even on the day of the shooting, that sealed the victims' fate. The collective failure to recognize and accept this, even years later, may be a consequence of a political culture that insists on all problems' being made national. In any case, it simultaneously does nothing for the victims of Parkland and does little to prevent future similar slaughters.This story turns, sadly, on the shooter himself. (As recent research has suggested that media coverage of mass shootings can inspire subsequent ones, it is best not to use his name.)The shooter displayed violent tendencies from a young age, and through multiple schools, all the way up to the day he killed those 17 people. As a young child raised mostly by an adoptive single mother, he often fought with neighborhood children. He tortured animals. He argued frequently with his own family, quickly escalating verbal confrontations to physical ones. At one point, he required a physical harness to ride the school bus without attacking other students. Throughout his grade-school and middle-school years, he physically and verbally assaulted students and bragged about his mutilations of animals. He attempted to commit suicide during a fire drill. When transferred to a school for students with special needs, he openly obsessed over guns and violence, at one point bringing a weapon to the school. He continued virtually all of these behaviors as he matriculated into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, getting into several fights, sending death threats to ex-girlfriends and others, openly proclaiming his desire to shoot up the school to anyone who would listen, dressing in full camouflage gear, bringing dead animals to class, and, once again, bringing weapons (knives and bullet casings) to school grounds. All of this happened before February 14, 2018; he was seriously punished for surprisingly little of it.Could hindsight be 20/20? After the fact, many of these school shootings seem obvious, and their perpetrators fit a similar pattern: young, isolated, troubled, aggrieved, male. But it is impossible to overlook the sheer number of times somebody actively warned about the Parkland shooter's tendencies only to be ignored.Florida mental-health officials declined on multiple separate occasions to institutionalize him. On February 5, 2016, the shooter posted a picture of himself posing with a gun to his Instagram account with the caption: "I am going to get this gun and shoot up the school." A woman alerted a Broward County sheriff about this; he said there was nothing he could do. There were literally dozens of police visits to his house over the years. After he entered Marjory Stoneman Douglas, something his therapist advised against, school staff held a meeting in which they pegged him as the likeliest school shooter among their student body. Eventually, he was forbidden from bringing a backpack to school. When ultimately forced out of the school for academic reasons, he trespassed on school grounds on the first day of the 2017–18 academic year. A YouTube account in his actual name commented on a video that he wanted to become a professional school shooter; the video's uploader contacted the FBI, which did nothing. Another woman, a family friend, alerted both the Broward County sheriff's office and the FBI about the shooter's consistently violent Instagram posts; neither acted on the tip. And a former Secret Service agent warned Parkland officials of the likelihood of a mass shooting given their security protocols.Little, if anything, was done. Demonstrating a horrifying and ultimately damning passivity, a series of ostensibly responsible adults passed up every chance to thwart an increasingly obvious imminent evil.But the failures of those in charge at and around Marjory Stoneman Douglas did not end in the lead-up to the shooting itself. On the very day, their actions enabled, prolonged, and worsened the massacre. The shooter walked right onto school grounds through a gate that security protocols said ought to have been closed. When he got there, campus-security monitor Andrew Medina saw him, recognized him, and knew he no longer belonged at the school. He declined to initiate school security procedures, as Ty Thompson, the principal, had reserved that authority for himself but was away from campus. Medina radioed David Taylor, another campus-security monitor, who went into the building where the shooter had entered, then hid in a closet when he began hearing gunshots, also without initiating security procedures. Meanwhile, school resource officer Scot Peterson, the only other armed person on school grounds, had been informed of gunfire in the school — yet stood idly outside of the affected building for almost an hour, awaiting the arrival of Broward sheriff deputies. They too did little but wait outside the building. And finally, due to miscommunication, Jan Jordan, the captain of the Parkland district of the Broward sheriff's office, thought that recorded security footage of the shooter was live and delayed allowing both deputies and medics into the building until it was "empty" (on the basis of out-of-date information).By the time officers entered the building, the perpetrator had already fled school grounds with evacuating students. It was a shocking display of incompetence, inaction, and indecision that allowed the Parkland shooting to become what it did. (This is not even an exhaustive account; read the book by education-policy writer Max Eden and father of Parkland victim Andrew Pollack, Why Meadow Died: The People and the Policies That Created the Parkland Shooter and Endanger America's Students for more.)Seen in this light, the after-the-fact statements by Runcie, Israel, and others blaming the lack of gun control seem more like deflection than any genuine attempt to figure out what happened that day. For they would have to blame themselves, not pat themselves on the back for their "amazing leadership," to get to the bottom of the events that unfolded. The proximate causes of the tragedy were choices various local actors made -- or, in most cases, did not make. They, not some far-off villain with only marginal influence on their day-to-day lives, deserve to be held responsible. As Pollack puts it in Why Meadow Died, "Parkland was the most avoidable mass shooting in American history."As for Hogg and those like him, it is unfortunate that they followed the lead of these deflecting adults in seeking blame afar. They still have every right to be angry. But the proper target of ire ought to be the officials and policies that directly failed him and all the rest at Stoneman Douglas that day, those who lived and those who died. On the second anniversary of Parkland, let us hope that we can think clearly about the best way to stop anything like it from happening again.
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| U.S. Navy warship seizes alleged Iranian weapons Posted: 14 Feb 2020 07:51 AM PST  A U.S. Navy warship seized weapons believed to be of Iranian "design and manufacture," including 150 anti-tank guided missiles and three Iranian surface-to-air missiles, the American military said on Thursday.
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| Israeli mayor orders Palestinian 'surrender' billboards removed Posted: 14 Feb 2020 11:06 AM PST |
| Malaysia Plans Stimulus as Virus May Worsen Growth at Decade Low Posted: 13 Feb 2020 12:19 AM PST |
| Belarus leader says Russia insists on merging the two states Posted: 14 Feb 2020 05:02 AM PST  The president of Belarus said Friday that Russia insisted on merging the two states during last week's talks on further integrating the countries' economies. As negotiations on closer ties stalled, Russia halted oil supplies to Belarus and Lukashenko repeatedly accused the Kremlin of pushing for a merger of the two countries.
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| Classmates rally, help release woman from immigration detention Posted: 14 Feb 2020 01:03 PM PST  Meidy Guzman's release means returning to school, and possibly graduating with her classmates, while also seeking asylum and battling possible deportation.
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| Who is Mexico's president? Ummm... say Democratic candidates Posted: 14 Feb 2020 02:02 PM PST  He is the president of a top US trading and security partner but two of the Democratic candidates for the White House couldn't name the leader of Mexico. Asked in a Nevada election forum Thursday held by the Telemundo channel and the League of United Latin American Citizens, neither Amy Klobuchar nor Tom Steyer could recall the name of the leader of America's immediate neighbor to the south: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. "I forgot," said billionaire Steyer, when asked if he could name Mexico's president.
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| Top White House official suggests China is not being 'honest' and has 'motives' in the coronavirus fight, as Beijing faces suspicion over how it records infections Posted: 14 Feb 2020 05:22 AM PST  China has altered some of its figures for how many people are infected by the coronavirus, adding to suspicion about how its handling the crisis.
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| House Republicans say stealing polling data through open blinds is kosher. Democrats say it's creepy. Posted: 14 Feb 2020 03:59 AM PST  The campaign organizations for House Democrats and Republicans — the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) — agree on the facts of what happened Wednesday night, Politico reported Friday morning: NRCC staffers walked across the street to the DCCC's headquarters to stake out some Democratic candidates, saw the blinds open on a DCCC polling meeting, and snapped some photos, nabbing pricy and potentially useful proprietary polling data on races Democrats are focusing on in November.Republicans think they hit the jackpot, Democrats found the tactics "totally out of bounds, and downright creepy," Politico reports. "The NRCC and DCCC have disagreed on where to draw the line when it comes to opposition research. The Republican committee, for example, has declined to sign an agreement to not use hacked information in its campaigns."Still, the DCCC didn't exactly take the high road. "When you have no ideas or accomplishments to run on, you creep in the bushes, take pictures through people's windows, and invade their privacy," communications director Cole Leiter told Politico. "The next time the NRCC is looking for tips on running winning campaigns, all they have to do is call us — we'll be more than happy to explain why Kevin McCarthy is the minority leader." If the DCCC doesn't start closing its blinds, a phone call might be superfluous.More stories from theweek.com 7 brutally funny cartoons about the Democratic primary fight Bill de Blasio will reportedly endorse Bernie Sanders Bloomberg vs. Trump would be a clash of oligarchs
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| An employer allegedly conspired with local police to have a black employee arrested before he could file a racial discrimination complaint — but their plot backfired. Posted: 13 Feb 2020 01:08 PM PST  Michael Fesser confided in his boss about racial discrimination at work. Before he could file a complaint, his boss conspired to have him arrested.
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| U.S., China, Russia making world more dangerous: German president Posted: 14 Feb 2020 11:07 AM PST  Germany's president took an indirect swipe at U.S. President Trump on Friday in accusing Washington, China and Russia of stoking global mistrust and insecurity with a "great powers" competition" that could threaten a new nuclear arms race.
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| America's Military Fears A War At The Korean DMZ For Good Reason Posted: 14 Feb 2020 02:00 PM PST  Electric fences, armed guards, artillery, and more.
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| The Multibillion Dollar Canal Carving a Rift Through Erdogan's Turkey Posted: 14 Feb 2020 03:07 AM PST  The largest infrastructure project Turkey has ever undertaken is angering environmentalists, opposition politicians and potentially Moscow
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| Jewish leaders seek better policing of online hate speech Posted: 14 Feb 2020 06:40 AM PST  Jewish leaders called Friday for better policing of hate speech on social media platforms over concerns prompted by recent attacks that people on the margins of society are being incited online to violence. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis and chief rabbi of Moscow, said online radicalization was giving rise not only to more anti-Semitic incidents, but also hate crimes directed at Muslims and others. "The strength and power given by social media to people on the margins of society is causing chaos," he said, citing attacks in New Zealand, Germany and the United States.
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| Truck spilling cement on roadway causes 'violent crash,' killing 2 Posted: 14 Feb 2020 01:46 PM PST  A driver traveling northbound drove over the wet mortar, jumped the median and hit a car going southbound, police said.
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| New York Mayor de Blasio endorses Sanders in 2020 Democratic race Posted: 14 Feb 2020 01:50 PM PST  New York Mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic presidential race on Friday, the Sanders campaign said. De Blasio, a liberal who dropped out of the Democratic contest in September, will travel with Sanders on Sunday and Monday to Nevada, which holds its caucuses on Feb. 22, a campaign announcement said. The endorsement comes after Sanders, who was born in New York but represents Vermont in the U.S. Senate, came out of the first nominating contests in Iowa and New Hampshire as a front-runner among the Democrats vying to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the Nov. 3 election.
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| Trump lashes out at John Kelly after unprecedented comments against president Posted: 13 Feb 2020 08:34 AM PST  Donald Trump and John Kelly, the retired Marine general whom he fired as White House chief of staff, have finally gone to war. "When I terminated John Kelly, which I couldn't do fast enough, he knew full well that he was way over his head. Being Chief of Staff just wasn't for him. He came in with a bang, went out with a whimper, but like so many X's, he misses the action & just can't keep his mouth shut," he wrote, making clear he demands and expects silence from aides whom he sometimes presses to sign non-disclosure agreements. The president's tweet came after Mr Kelly on Wednesday night offered his most blunt and candid comments since being ousted about his former boss. Mr Kelly described Mr Trump as naive about North Korea and tried to distance himself from the president's hardline immigration policies. Mr Kelly used an appearance at a New Jersey college to call the president's request that Ukraine's leader "do us a favour though" by investigating top Democrats after discussing an American military aid package "an illegal order" to the US national security apparatus.More follows…
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| Elizabeth Holmes managed to get some charges in the Theranos case thrown out Posted: 13 Feb 2020 04:07 AM PST  The dismissal is only a small win for Holmes' lawyers, who had pushed to get all charges against the Theranos founder dropped.
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| Gang kills four police in operation to free leader Posted: 14 Feb 2020 06:25 AM PST  Armed men killed four police officers and wounded another four as they freed a leader of the notorious MS-13 gang from a court in Honduras, authorities said. Around 20 gang members opened fire Thursday outside a court in El Progreso, around 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of the capital Tegucigalpa, the security ministry said in a statement released later that day. During the attack, Alexander Mendoza, known by his alias "Porkys," was able to escape.
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| The Wacky New Anti-Abortion Tactic Taking Off Across America Posted: 14 Feb 2020 01:36 AM PST  When Santa Rosa County's Board of Commissioners met Thursday morning, items on the agenda included improving the drainage on Tibet Drive, upgrading the local boat ramp, and allocating money to buy new scoreboards at Chumuckla Park.Then, at the end of the meeting, came a far more controversial and divisive matter, one that is likely to have an impact beyond the Florida community of 150,000 people.Dozens of local residents, many holding placards and pointing fingers, lined up to speak for and against a proposal to become the first "abortion sanctuary city" in Florida. The wacky—and possibly unconstitutional—concept, which co-opts a label used by liberal cities that protect undocumented immigrants, has taken off in small, deeply conservative towns across Texas in the last six months. Waskom, a Texas town of 2,000 people, was the first city in the U.S. to become a "sanctuary city for the unborn" after its all-male board voted unanimously last July. Eleven more Texas towns, mostly in the state's east, followed suit, although a handful of towns have voted against proposed ordinances.The local ordinances vary in severity. Waskom's outlaws abortion (which it called "murder with malice aforethought"), makes it unlawful to assist someone to get an abortion, and prevents Planned Parenthood and other reproductive services (which it calls "criminal organizations") from operating within city limits. Violating the local health ordinance can incur a fine. Some other towns' ordinances allow family members of an unborn baby to sue the abortion doctor; not all have included provisions for rape and incest. Most are in towns with no abortion services anyway.The movement has been pushed by Mark Lee Dickson, a pastor from Longview, Texas, who first proposed the idea to Waskom's mayor and has since set up a website with printable petitions that people can submit to their local boards."I knew it was a crazy idea," Dickson said. "Once it passed in Waskom, it was, 'Well, what's next?' And it just made sense that if [abortion providers] aren't going to come to Waskom now, they're just going to go somewhere else, so we need to make sure other cities are safe as well."Dickson said he'd been contacted by people in Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Arizona, and Indiana. In Santa Rosa County, which neighbors Pensacola and includes the small cities of Milton and Navarre, the vote on Thursday became so heated that the Board of Commissioners, which was split on whether to adopt the resolution, decided it should go to a county-wide referendum instead.Santa Rosa would become the first place outside Texas to adopt the concept, potentially kicking off a trend for other cities in the U.S..One of the county's commissioners, Lane Lynchard, said he didn't think it was right for a local board to wade into divisive national issues."It has accomplished nothing other than pitting people against one another," he said on Thursday, adding that 80 percent of emails and messages he'd received on the issue were against it. "We can't legislate people's beliefs. I think we need to stick with governing the county."Another commissioner, Dave Piech, was booed by attendees when he said the resolution had morphed into divisive name calling."Actions speak louder than words," someone shouted as Piech insisted he was anti-abortion but thought it was beyond the purview of five male commissioners.Local resident Alison Hartman, a mother of 10, said the board "needed to stand up and be a voice for the rest of the county.""All you old people that stood up and said you're 'pro-choice' and against babies," she said, pointing toward a small crowd of abortion-rights activists. "If it was your grandbabies, it'd be different."In Texas and Florida, where some form of abortion is legal, anti-abortion ordinances are likely to be unconstitutional, more a headline-grabbing move for small-town activists. But they scare women away and confuse them into thinking abortion is not legal in those places, abortion providers say."The idea of a sanctuary from one's constitutional rights is a new twist," The Very Reverend Katherine H. Ragsdale, president of the National Abortion Federation, said, adding that it was a new tactic from an old playbook of demonization and policy manipulation.The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas called the Waskom ordinance a "grandstanding mechanism" and said abortion access was a constitutional right.Sara Latshaw, deputy political director of the ACLU of Florida, said they were "disappointed that Santa Rosa commissioners have decided to prolong this political theater instead of focusing on local matters. Any such resolution or referendum is just a tactic to shame those in need of care."Several towns have voted down proposals due to the risk of potential lawsuits. Dickson likened the ordinances, which are stronger than largely symbolic resolutions, to local bans on cigarette sales or sugary sodas. He said cities that have passed ordinances have been subjected to threats; Waskom had clothes hangers mailed to the town recently."It's caused a lot of hate to come towards some of these cities and it is not something that any of them take lightly," he said.Residents in Santa Rosa will vote on the proposal in November.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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