| Hillary Clinton kicks off the 'stop Sanders' movement. Will Obama follow her lead? Posted: 21 Jan 2020 02:35 PM PST  Sanders himself has been dismissive of Clinton's comments. And then there's Obama himself to consider. Clinton's timing is conspicuous.
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| Fox News Host: Trump Actually Being Impeached Because He’s ‘Phenomenally Interesting’ Posted: 22 Jan 2020 03:31 PM PST  Fox News host Greg Gutfeld on Wednesday argued that the real reason Democrats are impeaching President Donald Trump is that they are "boring people" and the president is "phenomenally interesting."During the 5 PM hour, Fox News decided to air their highly rated conservative panel show The Five instead of sticking with live coverage of the Senate impeachment trial like CNN and MSNBC did.Immediately, Gutfeld blasted the proceedings by saying impeachment had become "so trivial," flinging out an analogy about tattoos to make his case."If you saw somebody with a tattoo you stared at it," he exclaimed. "A war vet or a biker or possibly both but now they're on bass players, there on sorority sisters. Tattoos can be found on middle-age suburbanites at their Peloton class. That's what impeachment is."Co-host Jesse Watters, meanwhile, took to taunting House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), claiming the House Intelligence Committee chairman "looks like a rotten dandelion" and is the "kind of guy that tucks his t-shirt into his mom jeans."Moments after Watters' juvenile insults aimed at one of the president's favorite targets, Gutfeld further played to Trump's ego by heaping praise upon the president while bashing Democrats."Finally, when you watch this, it's boring," he declared. "That's the real reason why they are impeaching him. These are all really boring people up against a phenomenally interesting person.""This is a bloated cat trying to hack out an orange furball that has made their life a living hell," Gutfeld concluded. "He's Rocky in this fight."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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| Arizona mother admits killing her 3 children, police say Posted: 21 Jan 2020 07:19 PM PST  Officials described the mother, who was not identified, as a 22-year-old woman who recently moved to Arizona from Oklahoma.
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| Putin to Meet Jailed Israeli’s Mother Amid Reports of Release Posted: 22 Jan 2020 05:30 AM PST ![Putin to Meet Jailed Israeli's Mother Amid Reports of Release]( "Putin to Meet Jailed Israeli's Mother Amid Reports of Release") (Bloomberg) -- President Vladimir Putin is to meet in Jerusalem with the mother of an Israeli woman imprisoned in Russia on drug-smuggling charges, the Kremlin said, amid reports Russian authorities are preparing to free her.Putin, who'll be a guest of honor Thursday at a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Red Army's liberation of the Nazi Auschwitz death camp, spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone last week about 26-year-old Naama Issachar. Netanyahu said after the call that he was optimistic about securing her freedom.Issachar was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in a Russian prison in October for carrying a small amount of hashish on a transit flight via Moscow. Her mother, Yaffa, asked Putin in November to pardon her daughter in a letter handed to him by Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. The plight of the U.S.-born Israeli army veteran, who was detained in April, has become a cause celebre in Israel, where she's widely regarded as a pawn in a political game.Putin will meet Yaffa Issachar together with Netanyahu and the patriarch, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters in Moscow on Wednesday. While Ushakov wouldn't confirm that a release is planned, he said the president's right to pardon a convicted person is "an important prerogative."Property DisputeIn another sign of a possible resolution, Ushakov said Russia and Israel are making progress in settling a dispute over the ownership of Russian Orthodox Church property in Jerusalem. Israel's Haaretz newspaper said resolving the issue could form part of a quid pro quo with Putin for the release of Issachar.Putin will speak at the anniversary ceremony, though there won't be time for him to meet with other leaders attending the event, including French President Emmanuel Macron and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, according to Ushakov.Issachar's case for a time became entangled with that of a Russian national, Alexei Burkov, whom Israel extradited to the U.S. in November on charges including hacking and credit card fraud. Russia had offered to swap the two, according to Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician.Putin rebuffed repeated pleas to free her by Netanyahu, who's fighting to maintain his 13-year-rule as he battles fraud and bribery charges, with new elections due in March.\--With assistance from Gwen Ackerman and Ivan Levingston.To contact the reporters on this story: Andrey Biryukov in Moscow at abiryukov5@bloomberg.net;Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| REI’s January Sale Offers 50% off Cold-Weather Outdoor Gear Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:26 AM PST |
| Fifth condemned Tennessee inmate opts for the electric chair Posted: 22 Jan 2020 12:42 PM PST  A Tennessee inmate has chosen the electric chair for his scheduled execution next month, opting like four other inmates in little more than a year for electrocution over the state's preferred execution method of lethal injection. Nicholas Sutton, 58, is scheduled to be put to death Feb. 20 for the stabbing death of a fellow inmate decades ago while serving a life sentence for his grandmother's slaying. An affidavit signed on Tuesday said he waives the right to be executed by lethal injection and chooses electrocution.
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| Iran calls on Saudi Arabia to work together to resolve issues: IRNA Posted: 22 Jan 2020 02:45 AM PST ![Iran calls on Saudi Arabia to work together to resolve issues: IRNA]( "Iran calls on Saudi Arabia to work together to resolve issues: IRNA") Iran said on Wednesday that Tehran and its regional rival Saudi Arabia should work together to overcome problems, the state news agency IRNA quoted Iranian president's chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi as saying. "The relations between Iran and its neighbor Saudi Arabia should not become like the relationship between Tehran and the United States ... Tehran and Riyadh should work together to resolve their problems," Vaezi said.
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| The brazen (and careless) Russian assassination team behind the Salisbury poisonings has been spotted in Europe, again Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:34 AM PST  They keep failing to kill their targets. And they leave lots of evidence behind them.
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| I worked for Hillary Clinton. Her attacks on Bernie Sanders are a big mistake Posted: 21 Jan 2020 09:52 AM PST  Why is Clinton amplifying destructive myths about Sanders and his supporters just weeks before the primaries begin?In a new Hulu documentary and Hollywood Reporter interview, Hillary Clinton perpetuates the false narrative that Bernie Sanders supporters are largely a gang of raging "bros" who spend all day trolling his opponents online. "It's his online Bernie bros and their relentless attacks on lots of his competitors, particularly the women," Clinton said.The myth that Sanders supporters are predominantly raging young white "bros" whose driving purpose is to viciously troll and harass his adversaries took hold during the 2016 election and has been pushed relentlessly by his 2020 detractors. We know, because although we avoided using the derisive term Bernie bro, we still bought into that narrative in 2016. We did so as outspoken advocates for Clinton, who Peter had advised during her first presidential run.Peter's history with the Clintons goes back to 2006, when he joined Clinton's team as a digital strategist. Soon thereafter, he became the internet director for her 2008 presidential campaign. He also worked for the Clinton Global Initiative, and set up regular blog roundtables for former president Bill Clinton. Because of his personal connection to the Clintons and our belief that electing the first woman president was a worthy cause, we joined millions of Democrats in defending and promoting Clinton during the 2016 race. We all fought for what we believed in, and too many of us got caught up in a bitter internecine battle – but somehow only Sanders supporters were singled out as villains.In the intervening years, we have very publicly reconsidered the single-minded intensity of our Clinton advocacy and apologized for exacerbating divisions between Clinton and Sanders voters. In the process, we have come to realize the extent to which the term Bernie bro marginalizes and erases the voices of millions of people of color and women who are part of the Sanders-inspired "Not me. Us" movement.> Somehow only Sanders supporters were singled out as villainsHere is the irony: as we began to embrace NotMeUs and express support for Sanders, a cadre of Sanders haters began trolling and harassing us with the same venom that they attribute to so-called Bernie bros. They impugned our motives and character, called us traitors and sellouts, and mobbed our Twitter threads. It was a disconcerting awakening to the hypocrisy of those who slam Sanders supporters as a bunch of sexist young white males, then engage in identical behavior to those they criticize.The lesson is unmistakable: there are angry and obnoxious supporters of all candidates. Isolating Sanders supporters and implying they are a misogynistic monolith is profoundly unfair. Why are other candidates' backers allowed to fight hard without being reduced to a regressive moniker? While sexism and harassment are unacceptable in any forum, the hyper-focus on a small minority of aggressive online trolls purposely tarnishes an entire movement through guilt by association.For Clinton to come out rhetorical guns blazing against Sanders weeks before primary voting begins reflects misplaced priorities on the part of the Clinton camp and an unfortunate willingness to amplify destructive myths about Sanders and his supporters. Moreover, Clinton implies there's some equivalence between Sanders and Donald Trump, saying: "We want, hopefully, to elect a president who's going to try to bring us together, and not either turn a blind eye, or actually reward the kind of insulting, attacking, demeaning, degrading behavior that we've seen from this current administration."There is absolutely no basis to compare Sanders to Trump. Sanders has sparked a massive progressive grassroots movement. In a recent poll, he has majority support from black voters under 35 and among all young voters. He has energized people across the country and has built an incredibly diverse and unified coalition committed to upholding core progressive values. He has demonstrated the courage to call for a political revolution and systemic change against a Washington establishment that serves only the ultra-wealthy and powerful.While we will never gratuitously attack Clinton to ingratiate ourselves to her critics, we cannot sit back while the Democratic party establishment tries to minimize and tear down the mass movement Sanders has helped build. That includes the Obamas, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden and other Democratic leaders who over the past two decades have proven unable (or unwilling) to stem a rising and emboldened right wing in America, while they continue to peddle the fiction that Sanders and his voters are "too far left". It is long past time for a progressive overhaul of the entire party, and it would better for our country and our future if Democratic leaders encouraged the Sanders movement rather than try to erase it. * Peter and Leela Daou are political activists who advise a number of progressive congressional campaigns
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| Chief Justice Roberts admonishes impeachment managers and Trump team, reminds them to 'remember where they are' Posted: 21 Jan 2020 10:25 PM PST  Things got testy in the Senate chamber early Wednesday morning, with Chief Justice John Roberts admonishing both the impeachment managers and President Trump's legal team for their sharp words.It started when Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) argued in support of an amendment seeking to subpoena former National Security Adviser John Bolton. During the House impeachment investigation, Bolton said he would fight a subpoena, but then changed his tune, saying he would testify in the Senate trial if ordered to do so. Nadler said Trump and his allies "are afraid to hear" from Bolton "because they know he knows too much," and "only guilty people try to hide the evidence."Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow loudly responded, banging the podium and accusing Nadler of attempting to "shred the Constitution on the floor of the Senate." White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told Nadler he owed Trump, his family, the Senate, and every American "an apology." When it was once again his turn to speak, Nadler scoffed at the Trump team saying he wasn't being truthful. "President's counsel has no standing to talk about lying," he said.After they were finished, Roberts said he felt it was "appropriate for me to admonish both the house managers and the president's counsel in equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world's greatest deliberative body. One reason it has earned that title is because its members avoid speaking in a manner and using language that is not conducive to civil discourse." He then brought up a 1905 impeachment trial of a judge, where a manager objected to the term "pettifogging." Roberts said while he doesn't "think we need to aspire to that high a standard ... I think those addressing the Senate should remember where they are." The amendment to subpoena Bolton, like all others before it, was voted down along party lines, 53-47. Pettifogging, by the way, means "placing undue emphasis on petty details."More stories from theweek.com Giants quarterback Eli Manning retires after 16 seasons The White House is arguing the impeachment articles don't include allegations of a quid pro quo because the exact words don't appear Several senators left the chamber in the middle of Adam Schiff's impeachment remarks
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| California Man Accused of Killing 3 Teens After 'Intentionally' Ramming Them With His Car Posted: 21 Jan 2020 06:39 AM PST  Anurag Chandra, 42, is facing 3 murder charges
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| Feds: White supremacists hoped rally would start civil war Posted: 21 Jan 2020 02:42 PM PST  A hidden camera captured members of a white supremacist group expressing hope that violence at a gun rights rally in Virginia this week could start a civil war, federal prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday.
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| China Will Keep Buying Our Palm Oil, Malaysia’s Trade Chief Says Posted: 21 Jan 2020 11:17 PM PST ![China Will Keep Buying Our Palm Oil, Malaysia's Trade Chief Says]( "China Will Keep Buying Our Palm Oil, Malaysia's Trade Chief Says") (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Malaysia is unlikely to suffer any loss in its palm oil business from China, despite Beijing pledging to boost soybean purchases from the U.S. amid the trade war, according to the Southeast Asian nation's trade chief."I don't think so," Malaysia's Minister of International Trade and Industry Darell Leiking said Wednesday in a Bloomberg Television interview with Haslinda Amin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when asked about the impact on its critical palm oil exports."China and Malaysia have had a long relationship," and Kuala Lumpur has offered diplomatic and economic help to Beijing amid "challenges" with the U.S., he said. "The Chinese have continued to be a good friend."The initial U.S.-China trade deal signed last week has a potential downside for Malaysia, as it's expected to depress palm oil prices. China has sought to reassure other trading partners that things will remain business as usual even as the government pledged, under that agreement with the U.S., to significantly increase purchases of American soybeans.Friction between the U.S. and China isn't the only trade spat impacting Malaysia, as it grapples with India's move to reduce imports of Malaysian palm oil. That means $1.4 billion of processed palm products may need to find new buyers, said Khor Yu Leng, an independent economist with Segi Enam Advisors.Leiking aimed to damp worries around the India-Malaysia spat, saying the two governments are engaged on the issue and that Malaysia hasn't been singled out by India, an "important partner" of theirs.Pockets of the Malaysian economy have benefited from trade diversions driven by U.S.-China tensions, with an investment surge seen in industry centers like Penang. However, overall trade has declined, with the contraction in the exports worsening toward the end of 2019."We're glad that America and China have at least tried to take some global responsibility over the challenges that the whole world had faced because of their tariff disagreements," Leiking said of the phase-one deal. "From our side, the Asean side will continue, I think, having a continuous relationship with China as well as America."\--With assistance from Anuradha Raghu.To contact the reporter on this story: Michelle Jamrisko in Singapore at mjamrisko@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Michael S. Arnold, Karthikeyan SundaramFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Deadly funnel-web spiders descend on battered Australian cities; experts warn of bite Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:23 AM PST  The Australian Reptile Park attributes increased activity in funnel-web spiders to recent weather and expected warm air on the way.
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| Putin to meet mother of Israeli backpacker jailed over hash Posted: 22 Jan 2020 06:49 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to meet with the mother of an Israeli tourist who was jailed in Russia for carrying a few grams of hashish, the Kremlin said Wednesday. The Russian leader is set to meet with Naama Issachar's mother while he is visiting Israel on Thursday, Putin adviser Yuri Ushakov said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of the Holy Land, are also taking part in the meeting that will focus on "the humanitarian aspect" of the case, Ushakov told reporters Wednesday.
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| Hong Kong on high alert to tackle coronavirus outbreak Posted: 21 Jan 2020 10:55 PM PST  Hong Kong's government is on high alert to deal with a new flu-like coronavirus that has killed nine people in mainland China, the city's commerce secretary, Edward Yau, said on Wednesday. The outbreak has rattled financial markets as investors recall the huge impact of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which killed nearly 800 people globally during a 2002/03 outbreak that also started in China. Yau is part of a delegation on a mission to the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos to convince global business and political leaders that the Asian financial hub is back on track after more than seven months of protests, even as it faces a potentially more damaging crisis.
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| Susan Collins targeted by conservative Republicans in ad Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:50 AM PST  A group of prominent conservative critics of President Trump released a new ad on Wednesday targeting Sen. Susan Collins, attacking her for voting to block witnesses from testifying in his Senate impeachment trial.
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| Kristin Smart: FBI tells mother of woman missing since 1996 to 'be ready' for developments Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:54 AM PST  The mother of a California teenager who has been missing for more than 20 years says the FBI told her to "be ready" for imminent news about her disappearance.Hoping that police would finally be able to bring some closure to a seemingly endless investigation, Kristin Smart's mother Denise told the Stockton Record that the FBI warned that the family "might want to get away for a while" and obtain a spokesperson
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| Attorney: Due to a conflict of interest, William Barr must recuse himself from Lev Parnas' criminal case Posted: 20 Jan 2020 07:35 PM PST  An attorney for Lev Parnas, the indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr on Monday, requesting the he recuse himself from Parnas' criminal case.Parnas was arrested last October and charged with campaign finance violations. In the letter, which was also filed in New York federal court, attorney Joseph Bondy said Barr has a conflict of interest and asked that a special prosecutor from outside the Justice Department handle Parnas' case. "Federal ethics guidelines bar federal employees from participating in matters in which their impartiality could be questioned, including matters in which they were personally involved or about which they have personal knowledge," Bondy wrote.Bondy cited several reasons why Barr should recuse himself, noting that the reconstructed transcript released by the White House of President Trump's July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky shows Trump telling Zelensky that Barr could help him facilitate an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden. Last week, Parnas told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow that Barr knew about efforts in the Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, saying, "Attorney General Barr was basically on the team." Read Bondy's letter here.More stories from theweek.com After rejecting amendments, Senate adopts impeachment trial rules White House budget office releases heavily redacted Ukraine emails as Senate rejects OMB subpoenas Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow's odd impeachment rant about 'lawyer lawsuits' may stem from a misheard phrase
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| Joe Biden says he would not 'make the deal' to testify in impeachment trial in exchange for Republican testimony Posted: 22 Jan 2020 03:37 PM PST  "Have you ever thought of just calling their bluff?" a voter asked Biden in Iowa. "... that might just take the gas right out of them."
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| 26 Coffee Makers for Every Type of Coffee Drinker Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:57 AM PST |
| New rules could bump emotional-support animals from planes Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:10 AM PST  The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday proposed that only specially trained dogs qualify as service animals, which must be allowed in the cabin at no charge. Airlines could ban emotional-support animals including untrained dogs, cats and more exotic companions such as pigs, pheasants, rabbits and snakes. Airlines say the number of support animals has grown dramatically in recent years.
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| This 26-year-old former truck driver is running for Congress, and he's betting big that TikTok will help get him elected Posted: 22 Jan 2020 06:57 AM PST  Joshua Collins is ditching traditional ads to raise money and find volunteers through TikTok, which other politicians have been slow to adopt.
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| French workers turn to sabotage as transport strike flags Posted: 21 Jan 2020 01:09 AM PST  French energy workers protesting against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform plans cut power to Paris' wholesale food market on Tuesday in the latest of a series of sabotage and wildcat actions as a weeks-long transport strike loses momentum. The deliberate sabotage of power supplies underlines the determination of left-wing unions after a wave of strikes and street protests since early December failed to force Macron to back down. The hard-left CGT union's energy branch said it was responsible for an early-morning power outage at Rungis, the world's largest wholesale fresh food market.
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| Are North Korea's Vaunted Submarines Actually Any Good? Posted: 22 Jan 2020 01:20 AM PST  Let's take a look.
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| China Quarantines Wuhan to Prevent Spread of Coronavirus Posted: 22 Jan 2020 12:15 PM PST  Chinese authorities are placing the city of Wuhan under quarantine in an attempt to slow the outbreak of a new coronavirus that originated in the city.The state-owned China Daily announced that trains and flights to Wuhan would be temporarily suspended. Local government authorities also announced that public transportation within the city would be curtailed by Thursday."There has already been human-to-human transmission and infection of medical workers," deputy director of the National Health Commission Li Bin said at a Wednesday news conference. "Evidence has shown that the disease has been transmitted through the respiratory tract and there is the possibility of viral mutation."The World Health Organization announced at a separate press conference on Wednesday that it had decided not to declare a world emergency regarding the outbreak, but agreed to continue monitoring the situation.Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China, has already seen a number of cases of the virus. In total the virus has infected over 500 people and killed 17.On Tuesday the Center for Disease Control reported the first confirmed case of the virus in the United States. A man from Washington State contracted the virus while on a visit to Wuhan. Other cases have been reported in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.The Wuhan virus is from the same family of coronaviruses as SARS, or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed over 800 people worldwide in an outbreak toward the end of 2002.
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| Man in Mexico Now Ill After Visiting Coronavirus Ground Zero Posted: 22 Jan 2020 02:24 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A man who fell ill in Mexico on Monday following a December trip to Wuhan, China, is under observation as a potential case of the coronavirus, the respiratory virus that has killed at least 17 people worldwide.The 57-year-old molecular biology professor works for the Instituto Politecnico Nacional university in the city of Reynosa, which borders with the U.S. The man returned to Mexico on Jan. 10 through a Mexico City airport and then flew to the state of Tamaulipas, Mexican authorities said.Tamaulipas State Health Minister Gloria Molina said in a radio interview that the man immediately reported his situation to authorities after feeling sick. He is now in his home under monitoring to prevent any potential spread. His test results are expected on Thursday, Mexico's chief epidemiologist Jose Luis Alomia said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon.Molina said the man also had layovers at the border city of Tijuana when he left and returned to Mexico, according to journalist Joaquin Lopez Doriga's news site.Link: China Seeks to Contain Virus as Death Toll Jumps to 17Earlier on Wednesday, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said that a second possible case in Mexico had been ruled out. "The coronavirus is being looked into. If we have more information we will release it later today," he said.Mexico plans to inform daily on the latests developments of the virus around the world. A preventive travel recommendation is in place for the country and passengers arriving from international ports will be checked for any symptoms, Alomia said.Separately, Colombian authorities are also evaluating whether a Chinese man with a respiratory illness, who traveled to Colombia from Turkey, has the same virus, according to Blu, a Bogota-based radio station. The country's health ministry declined to comment.The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he needs to consider all evidence before deciding if the coronavirus that emerged from Wuhan is an international health emergency.(Adds Alomia comments in paragraphs 3 and 6, and WHO comments in last paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Cyntia Barrera Diaz in Mexico City at cbarrerad@bloomberg.net;Lorena Rios in Mexico City at lriost@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ney Hayashi at ncruz4@bloomberg.net, Dale QuinnFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| McConnell’s Brushback Is a Preview of the Impeachment Battle to Come Posted: 22 Jan 2020 02:19 AM PST  Technically, arguments in the impeachment trial of President Trump haven't even started. Democrats and Republicans spent Tuesday, the first full day of Senate proceedings, doing battle over the rules that will govern the trial that is set to unfold in the coming days.That rule package was ultimately approved, on party lines, early Wednesday morning after a marathon session of debate and votes on 11 amendments to the package proposed by Democrats. The day's significance, however, extends beyond the realm of parliamentary minutiae and dry process detail. The way that senators crafted and passed the rules—and the way those rules were received by the House Democrats prosecuting the case against Trump and the lawyers defending him—revealed some fundamental truths about this historic trial that could hold up until the final vote to acquit or remove the president.The most unexpected thing that became clear on Tuesday—and possibly the most significant—was the emergence of some semblance of boundaries for the most powerful person in this process: Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky Republican, whose reputation for political maneuvering is almost mythical at this point, came into the trial phase of the impeachment process touting an extraordinary degree of unity within his conference of 53 senators. As the Senate prepared to receive articles of impeachment from the House last week, McConnell declared that he had within that group the 51 votes required to pass a rules package—giving him the ability to bypass Senate Democrats.On Monday night, McConnell released a rules framework. As expected, it stipulated a vote on subpoenaing additional witnesses and documents after each side's arguments concluded. More controversially, it provided for up to 24 hours of argument to be used by each side—but those hours could only be used over a period of two days for each side. Additionally, the rules did not automatically admit the evidence collected by the House during its impeachment inquiry.McConnell Impeach Plan: Run Like Hell, Pray for No SurprisesIn the ensuing hours, GOP senators raised concerns about the structure of the trial, forcing McConnell to back down. The resolution he ultimately introduced added an extra day for each side to use their time and admitted House evidence—changes that only became known when the text of the rules was read aloud on the Senate floor Tuesday morning.The usual suspects—like Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)—pushed behind the scenes for these changes. But other Republicans who are hardly considered swing votes in the trial also indicated there was a wider backlash against the rules as proposed.Sen. Mike Braun (R-IN) told reporters, "There was pretty broad agreement on the idea that when it came to any evidence that's already been heard in the House, that just gets accepted into the record."A close McConnell ally, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO), echoed that point. "Easier to accept everything you already saw and we already saw than to have a fight about whether there was evidence or not, or whether there had already been a lot of witnesses," he told reporters Tuesday night.Blunt also said he ultimately didn't see a problem in giving each side an extra day to make its case. Indeed, that change privately came as a relief to members on both sides who would be spared the long nights in the Senate chamber they would have faced if they had kept to the breakneck trial pace initially laid out. "The issues of the day," said Blunt, "were reflected in the changes to the rules."Some in the Capitol wondered if the apparent balk from McConnell, ever the tactician, wasn't part of some deeper strategy. But some Democrats urged a simpler explanation."It tells me," said Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), "McConnell doesn't have this completely nailed down in his caucus." If the rules change illustrated possible limits to McConnell's authority, the votes that took place immediately afterward were a bitter chaser to any lingering hopes that a bloc of Republicans might consistently push the GOP leader on other matters.As he has promised for weeks, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) used his power to force a lengthy series of votes on subpoenaing documents and testimony withheld by the Trump administration. Several GOP senators have publicly said they are open to hearing new evidence in the trial—and others, like Collins and Sen. Mitt Romney (UT), have indicated they are likely to vote in favor of new evidence.But not a single Republican voted in favor of obtaining that new evidence at the onset of the trial. McConnell has made clear for weeks that he'd prefer to hold that vote after arguments in the case are heard—and on that point, all Republicans have been in lockstep with their leader.Even if they were all voted down on party lines, the content of the amendments Schumer offered to the rules package revealed important details about how the Democratic side will approach the trial. While much of the debate about new evidence has centered on witnesses like acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, Senate Democrats charged into Tuesday with a renewed focus on the documents that could tell the story of Trump World's scheme to pressure Ukraine for political favors.To that point, the first three amendments Schumer offered were all to issue subpoenas for documents withheld by the White House, the State Department, and the Office of Management and Budget. It wasn't until the evening that an amendment was offered to subpoena Mulvaney. After that, Democrats returned to documents with an amendment to subpoena materials from the Pentagon.The tactic made for a late night on Capitol Hill. But Democrats considered it a sharp strategy. Republicans have dangled the idea of witness "reciprocity"—calling someone like Hunter Biden, for example, in exchange for Bolton—in order to complicate Democrats' calls for evidence. But such a tactic will be harder to pull off for documents, which Schumer and others believe could be as explosive as new witnesses in demonstrating Trump's culpability.Republicans Aren't Sure They Want to Hear From Hunter BidenThe lengthy rules debate also served as something of a mini-preview of the trial arguments, with each side—particularly the Democrats—using debate about amendments to explore the issues at the heart of the trial. The team of seven impeachment managers, led by Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), went through the factual timeline of the Ukraine allegations, referred to witness depositions, and played video clips of Trump's own words to prove their points.That seemed to wear on some Republicans, who grumbled that Schiff and company were too eager to take advantage of initial interest in the trial to lay out their case."They may very well think, with this case and this repetition, this is the last time that the general public will pay any attention and they'd better drive this home as dramatically as they can," said Blunt.The public has seen plenty of the Democrats' impeachment team—but Trump's defense lawyers were basically an unknown quantity until the wall-to-wall TV coverage of Tuesday's proceedings. Those lawyers burst into the public eye with the strident, combative approach embodied by their client. "The president has done absolutely nothing wrong," said White House counsel Pat Cipollone. 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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| New charge filed against Michigan lawmaker who reportedly said boys could 'have a lot of fun' with reporter Posted: 21 Jan 2020 11:41 AM PST  The sexual harassment allegation, filed by a Michigan state senator, comes as Peter Lucido faces investigation over remarks to a reporter.
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| Poland calls on Putin to tell truth at WWII event in Israel Posted: 21 Jan 2020 07:37 AM PST  Poland appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to refrain from using World War II and Holocaust victims for current political goals and pointed to wartime documents in which the Polish government called on the Allies to save Jews. Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek made the appeal before a conference in Israel this week to mark 75 years since Soviet troops liberated the German Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Putin, who will be one of the key speakers, recently alleged that Poland bears some blame for the war and accused Poland's government of the time of anti-Semitism.
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| This map shows where China's mysterious, deadly Wuhan coronavirus has spread as death toll rises to 17 Posted: 22 Jan 2020 08:29 AM PST  As well as in mainland China, cases of the coronavirus has been reported in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.
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| How Was the Secret Air War Between the U.S. Navy and Soviet Fighters Over Siberia Kept Secret for Forty Years? Posted: 21 Jan 2020 10:00 PM PST  Blame North Korea.
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| Frat brothers sentenced to jail in Penn State hazing death Posted: 21 Jan 2020 02:31 AM PST  The 19-year-old died in February 2017 after an alcohol-fueled event at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house
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| Double trouble: Sri Lanka's twin gathering marred by overcrowding Posted: 20 Jan 2020 07:19 PM PST  Thousands of twins packed two-by-two into a stadium in Sri Lanka's capital on Monday - so many that officials struggled to count them in time to prove they had organised a record-breaking gathering. Huge queues built up at the open-air venue in Colombo as sets of siblings waited to get their birth certificates checked. The last record was set in Taiwan in 1999, when 3,961 sets of twins, 37 sets of triplets and four sets of quadruplets gathered outside Taipei City Hall.
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| White House counsel falsely claims Adam Schiff blocked Republicans from attending classified impeachment meetings Posted: 21 Jan 2020 12:06 PM PST  The fact checkers came out quickly in response to White House Counsel Pat Cipollone on Tuesday.In his opening remarks at President Trump's Senate impeachment trial, Cipollone argued that Trump faced unprecedented violations of due process while the House was conducting its impeachment inquiry last year. He said House Democrats were running the investigation from a "basement" and accused House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) of blocking his Republicans colleagues from entering the Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility.> "Not even Mr. Schiff's Republican colleagues were allowed into the SCIF" -- this is a blatant lie from Cipollone pic.twitter.com/A4cWhwRSUo> > -- Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 21, 2020As it turns out, GOP lawmakers on the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees were indeed welcome to join those proceedings, and while many of them chose not to attend, several participated. > "Not even Mr. Schiff's Republican colleagues were allowed in the SCIF,"Cipollone said. That's not true. Republicans on House Intel/Oversight/Foreign Affairs were allowed to participate & several Republicans participated in every single deposition.> > -- Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) January 21, 2020More stories from theweek.com Trump suggested Medicare and Social Security are the 'easiest' things to cut. Democrats pounced. Trump outright brags he's withholding 'all the material' to beat impeachment MeToo activists accuse Oprah of throwing Russell Simmons' accusers 'under the bus'
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| The search for Selena Not Afraid ends with 'great sadness.' Missing girl's body found near Montana rest area Posted: 21 Jan 2020 05:38 AM PST  The body of Selena Shelley Faye Not Afraid, 16, was found near the Montana rest area where she was last seen on New Year's Day, authorities said.
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| AP PHOTOS: Auschwitz, 75 years after its liberation Posted: 21 Jan 2020 03:31 AM PST  On Jan. 27, 1945, the Soviet Red Army liberated the Auschwitz death camp in German-occupied Poland. The Soviet troops also found gas chambers and crematoria that the Germans had blown up before fleeing in an attempt to hide evidence of their mass killings. Today, the site of Auschwitz-Birkenau endures as the leading symbol of the terror of the Holocaust.
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| Judge upholds mom charged for being topless at home Posted: 22 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST  A judge refused to overturn part of Utah's lewdness law Tuesday in a blow to a woman who's fighting criminal charges after her stepchildren saw her topless in her own home.
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| The US plans to force passengers to change routes, and potentially redirect entire flights, to make sure they get screened for the Wuhan virus Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:09 AM PST  US officials described an ambitious 'funnel' system to make sure every passenger from Wuhan, China, to the US gets screened — no matter their route.
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| The United States Is Ready To Win the Landwars Of the Future With A New Super Missile Posted: 21 Jan 2020 04:00 PM PST  2027 will come with a big upgrade.
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| U.S. Secretary of State cautions nations against taking 'easy money' from China Posted: 22 Jan 2020 11:32 AM PST  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a visit to Jamaica on Wednesday, cautioned nations against taking "easy money" from China, warning it could be counterproductive, in a second attack in as many days against China's economic role in the region. On Tuesday, he drew the ire of Chinese officials when he said "flashy" Chinese economic promises often produces debt dependency and erode the sovereignty of borrower nations.
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| Lebanon’s Default Likely After March Bond, Oxford Economics Says Posted: 21 Jan 2020 03:26 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Lebanese authorities will be reluctant to announce a default on debt payments until a functioning government is formed, pushing back any plans for a bond restructuring to later this year, according to Oxford Economics.Investors can reap a 13% return by buying Lebanon's dollar-denominated note due March 9, London-based strategist Nafez Zouk said in an emailed note. While there's an 85% probability those bonds will be repaid at maturity, dwindling foreign-currency reserves mean a default may still be announced in the second half of 2020, Zouk said.The chances of Lebanon repaying its $2.1 billion bond maturing in April 2021 are "slim," he said.The recommendation comes after a record slump in the March bond last week, fueled by reports local lenders have been selling the instruments to avoid participating in a central bank-initiated voluntary debt swap.Oxford Economics is betting paralysis in Lebanon's leadership will prompt the central bank and the caretaker government to delay any decision on a debt restructuring beyond the March maturity. While President Michel Aoun appointed former education minister Hassan Diab to form a government last month, progress has been slow with protesters demanding a cabinet of experts."The likely strategy for now is to buy time," Oxford Economics's Zouk said. "A political vacuum is preventing the coalescence around a credible and comprehensive economic plan, which is needed to crystallize a foreign financing envelope, within which debt restructuring can take place."Rudderless since Prime Minister Saad Hariri resigned in late October, the Middle Eastern country faces a debt load that's climbed to more than 150% of economic output. Its financial system is crumbling as the flow of remittances that has kept the economy afloat slows.To contact the reporter on this story: Marton Eder in Budapest at meder4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Nicholson at anicholson6@bloomberg.net, Paul WallaceFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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