| Trump says he called off Iran strikes at last minute Posted: 22 Jun 2019 12:58 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said Friday the United States was "cocked & loaded" to strike Iran but pulled back at the last minute because it would not have been a "proportionate" response to Tehran shooting down an American drone. The downing of the drone -- which Iran insists violated its airspace, a claim Washington denies -- has seen tensions between the countries spike after a series of attacks on tankers the US has blamed on Tehran. Under pressure to respond to the high-stakes incident near the strategic Strait of Hormuz, Trump said the US was prepared to hit "3 different sites" Thursday night but that he scrapped the strikes "10 minutes" before they were to have been launched.
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| Biden’s Media Strategy: Duck The Press Unless You’re Under Duress Posted: 22 Jun 2019 07:14 PM PDT  Bloomberg via GettyThe first time former Vice President Joe Biden spoke to national media reporters in nearly a week of campaigning was to address a political minicrisis of his own making.On Wednesday evening, hours after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) had admonished him for fondly recalling the collegiality of segregationist senators of the '70s, the former vice president was asked if he would apologize. "Apologize for what? Cory should apologize, he knows better," Biden responded, standing outside an SUV on his way into a fundraiser. "There's not a racist bone in my body, I've been involved with civil rights my whole career. Period. Period. Period."The moment marked a new level of aggression in a still-nascent Democratic primary. It also put the spotlight on what Democratic officials say is a risky and often confusing campaign blueprint being deployed by the party's presidential frontrunner. Increasingly, Biden seems to speak publicly or talk with reporters only when he is under duress. "It is not a tenable strategy," said David Axelrod, who worked with Biden as the top communications adviser on the 2008 campaign, and in the Obama White House. "His message is that he's the guy who can beat Donald Trump and he is viewed as the least risky choice. Over time, if the only interactions he has is around these screwups and gaffes, then he is going to start losing that message." Booker, Harris, Warren Tee Off on Biden for His Nostalgia for Segregationist SenatorsOver the past few weeks, Biden has been forced to grapple with a number of minicontroversies and self-inflicted wounds. His nostalgia for former Sens. James O. Eastland (D-MS) and Herman E. Talmadge (D-GA) was preceded by a 24-hour flip-flop on a law banning federal funds from funding abortion (Biden went from supporting the Hyde amendment to opposing it). Those two instances came after Biden was criticized for not offering a full apology to Anita Hill and for humorously dismissing accusations that he made women uncomfortable by invading their space. Virtually every candidate running for president has to clean up the messes he or she makes. That's especially true for the frontrunners and those who, like Biden, have a proclivity for speaking with limited filters. But what makes Biden's current approach so confusing for other Democrats is that much of his public-facing campaigning has involved doing only that. Elsewhere, the former vice president has kept a notably low profile, taking little opportunity to push his larger campaign message or make proactive defenses of his political baggage.Biden hasn't appeared on national television since the day after he officially declared his run for president. Since then, the campaign has repeatedly declined invitations from television and cable news outlets. One network source told The Daily Beast that over the past several months, Biden has been offered a number of appearances on MSNBC, including telephone interviews. And a CNN insider said the network reached out to the former vice president in the months before he even launched his campaign, inquiring whether he would be interested in participating in upcoming town hall events.In addition to missing many of the forums packed with 2020 Democratic prospects, Biden was the only 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to decline an interview by The New York Times as part of its package this week comparing the various candidates (and wouldn't respond to questions when asked why he didn't participate)."I think that it is never a good idea to sit on a lead. That rarely works out well, and that's what they're doing," said Axelrod.While in South Carolina this weekend, Biden worked the rope line well into the evening, mingling with press and voters, but his campaign has previously restricted press access, running the vice president's press availabilities in a vastly different manner from the rest of the candidates. Biden's campaign has at points sealed off the press at events, only allowing a single reporter to represent the campaign press pool at Biden fundraising events. Occasionally, the Biden campaign has even seemed to forget or reverse course on planned media appearances. Earlier this month, the former vice president's staff told campaign reporters that he was going to be holding a press gaggle following an event in New Hampshire. But reporters were left hanging when Biden left the event and got into a waiting SUV without taking questions. For communications specialists, the reticence seems not just at odds with the realities of modern media, but also unwise, leaving the impression that Biden—who has a reputation for joviality—is almost afraid of the scrutiny. "If you are only interacting with the press when there is an issue of concern, you reinforce that perception that there are only problems," said longtime Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, who runs Park Street Strategies. "You're in a turtle mode instead of being proactive about what you're pushing out."Biden's defenders argue that the reason that he appears to interact with the press during times of duress is largely because those episodes are over-emphasized by the media itself. They point to polling data showing his consistent lead in the primary as evidence that the national press corps has fundamentally different priorities than the Democratic electorate. The campaign has created its media strategy around that theory as well. Instead of doing national interviews, they have focused the vast majority of their attention on smaller local news outlets in the early primary states. Since jumping into the race in April, Biden has sat down for at least a dozen interviews with local TV and radio stations in Iowa and New Hampshire.Biden hasn't been entirely closed off from national outlets. His campaign is the only one in the primary that allows a print pooler into his fundraising events. And on Thursday, senior Biden adviser Symone Sanders told CNN that the former VP would be sitting down for an interview this weekend. Sources told The Daily Beast that Biden would likely be one of several candidates sitting down with host Al Sharpton at an event for 2020 presidential contenders in South Carolina that MSNBC has exclusive rights to broadcast. Nevertheless, Biden's caution when dealing with the press has stood out in a field of candidates where many others seem willing to accept any media request or live-streaming opportunity. Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) has been comfortable enough with campaign reporters to invite them on jogging outings, while South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is so willing to sit for interviews he took questions while drinking brown-bagged beer in a park in New York City.Campaign veterans say it would be unwise for Biden to go to those extremes, and not just because of his history of saying things that cause him political headaches. According to their logic, the former VP is already well known to the public and instead of re-introducing himself to voters, he can afford to spend that time on other campaign functions. The question now being asked of the Biden campaign is not just whether they took that theory too far but whether he could actually maneuver through the current media landscape if he tried. "You are not in the Hyde amendment era in the Democratic Party, and you are not in the James O. Eastland era of the party," said James Carville, a longtime Democratic operative. "How can you have the give and take [with the press] when your instinct is to get on the wrong side of two great issues of the modern Democratic Party, and that's abortion and racial relations? The world has changed."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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| Report: Dubai plane that crashed followed others too closely Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:23 AM PDT  A plane involved in a fatal crash that killed four people working on improvements at Dubai International Airport had followed other larger aircraft landing there too closely as air traffic controllers offered inconsistent warnings about the hazard, a preliminary investigative report released Sunday found. The May 16 crash of the Diamond DA62 saw the aircraft roll upside-down in air and smash into a park near the airport at high speed, killing the three Britons and one South African on board, according to the report by the United Arab Emirates' General Civil Aviation Authority. The twin propeller-engine light aircraft first lost control in the wake of a Thai Airways Airbus A350 landing at Dubai's airport, the world's busiest for international travel.
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| How an Aircraft Carrier and a Submarine Hunted Each Other During the Falklands War Posted: 22 Jun 2019 08:00 PM PDT  On the afternoon of April 30, 1982, the War Cabinet of Prime Minister Margret Thatcher transmitted a message to three Royal Navy submarines in the South Atlantic—designating the carrier Veinticino de Mayo a priority target to be hunted down and destroyed.The Argentine carrier—ironically, of British origin—posed an unpredictable threat to the Royal Navy taskforce commencing amphibious operations to retake the disputed Falkland Islands following their seizure by Argentinian troops on April 2, 1982.The ensuing nine-day game of cat-and-mouse between British submarines and the anti-submarine aircraft onboard the Veinticinco is recounted in A Carrier at Risk by Mariano Sciaroni, who compares interviews with Argentine sources with Reports of Proceedings filed by British submariners to shed new light on a formerly obscure subject.Sciaroni's book not only serves as a primer for the anti-submarine tactics and technology of the time, but features many maps plotting day-by-day movements of the combatants and numerous photos and color illustrations depicting the vessels and aircraft engaged. Sciaroni also captures the routines and human foibles of wartime life at sea, such as quarrels over stocking snacks in the pilot ready room and fearful crewmen sleeping at their stations in life vests.
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| UK PM hopeful Hunt says would go for no-deal Brexit if EU doesn't shift Posted: 22 Jun 2019 09:40 AM PDT  Jeremy Hunt, the underdog in the race to be next British prime minister, said he would take the United Kingdom out of the European Union without a deal on Oct. 31 if the EU had not showed it was willing to renegotiate the Brexit deal. "If we got to the 31st of October, and the EU have not shown the willingness to negotiate a better deal ... then my judgment is that weighing those difficult options up, the political risk of no Brexit is far worse than the economic risk of no deal," Hunt said at a leadership hustings event in Birmingham, central England.
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| Meet Scamp the Tramp, the messy-haired toothless canine just named the world’s Ugliest Dog Posted: 23 Jun 2019 10:39 AM PDT  Last year's runner up in the annual Ugliest Dog Contest held at the Sonoma-Marin Fair in Petaluma, California, was a messy-haired good boy with no teeth named Scamp the Tramp. No one actually knows what kind of breed he is, and it was clear before he got rescued in Compton -- where he'd been founding wandering around licking fast food wrappers -- that he'd had a hard life up to that point.Over the weekend, though, Scamp went from being a tramp to a champ. More specifically, he was named the winner of this year's Ugliest Dog contest, netting his owner Yvonne Morones a massive trophy and $1,500.Morones, who named Scamp in honor of a long-ago admonition from her grandmother, said she adopted Scamp from an animal shelter in Los Angeles. She still remembers riding in the car with him the day she brought him home. The first day she brought the scraggly little guy with clumpy hair and short legs into her life, Bob Marley's song "One Love" was playing on the radio at one point while they drove. Scamp, bless his heart, was "bobbing his head," Morones told The New York Times.The contest over the years has certainly drawn its share of critics, who argue that such events glamorize poor breeder practices in addition to just being -- well, a mean title. Supporters say none of those things are the case at all -- that, in fact, the event is also a lighthearted way to draw more attention to the need for rescues and the importance of shelters.Not that Scamp himself was hurting for more attention. He certainly deserved recognition of some kind and plenty of belly rubs, because he's a hard-working pup and busy with everything from working as a therapy dog to greeting the throngs of passengers making their way through Sonoma County's airport.He's also a much-loved addition to Morones' family, which also includes four Chihuahuas. Oh, and as for his name. Morones' grandmother had once warned her, back when she was a kid, not to talk to strangers and to be wary of the "tramps" out on the streets. Lucky for one particular scruffy tramp, she didn't always listen.
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| Chevy’s 2020 Silverado 1500 3.0L Duramax Is the Brand’s Ultrasmooth Answer to the Half-Ton Diesel Truck Wars Posted: 22 Jun 2019 09:01 PM PDT  Refined and quiet, Chevy's Duramax inline-six is the latest light-duty diesel in the segment.
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| Iran reports previous incident with 'spy drone' in May Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:11 AM PDT  Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted a map on Sunday showing a border incident with a "spy drone" encroaching its airspace in late May. Days after Iran shot down another US drone it said had entered its territory, Zarif said the US-made MQ9 Reaper -- also widely used for carrying out military strikes -- had entered Iranian airspace on May 26.
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| Iranian regime renews threats against the US Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:58 AM PDT  Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Richard Newton weighs in on escalating tensions between the U.S. and Iran.
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| White supremacist who killed woman after driving car into Charlottesville protesters begs judge to show him ‘mercy’ Posted: 23 Jun 2019 01:24 PM PDT  The self-avowed white supremacist who ploughed his car into protesters opposing a far-right rally in Virginia two years ago, killing one person and injuring dozens of others, has asked a judge for mercy and a sentence shorter than life in prison.James Alex Fields Jr's legal team has argued in a new sentencing memo that the 22-year-old defendant should not spend his entire life in prison because of his age, a traumatic childhood and a history of mental illness.Fields has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in relation to the Charlottesville attack and is set to be sentenced on 28 June."No amount of punishment imposed on James can repair the damage he caused to dozens of innocent people. But this Court should find that retribution has limits," his attorneys wrote in a court document submitted on Friday.Fields' attorneys said that giving him something less than a life sentence would be akin to an "expression of mercy" and a "conviction that no individual is wholly defined by their worst moments".The attorneys highlighted his difficult upbringing and history of mental illness, but many of the details were redacted. The document did reveal he was raised by a paraplegic single mother and suffered "trauma" by growing up knowing his Jewish grandfather had murdered his grandmother before committing suicide.In their own sentencing memo, prosecutors said Fields had shown no remorse since he drove the car into the counter-demonstrators on 12 August, 2017, killing anti-racism activist Heather Heyer and injuring others protesting against the white nationalists.They argued that Fields deserves a life sentence, adding that would help deter others from committing "similar acts of domestic terrorism".Prosecutors focused on years of documented racist and antisemitic behaviour by Fields, which they said included keeping a picture of Adolf Hitler on his bedside table. They also said that he was recorded on a jail phone call making disparaging remarks about Ms Heyer's mother as recently as last month.They also argued that while Fields has a history of mental illness issues, it did not excuse his behaviour in a way that would demand a lenient sentence. "Any mental health concerns raised by the defendant do not overcome the defendant's demonstrated lack of remorse and his prior history of substantial racial animus," prosecutors wrote.Under a plea deal, federal prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty against Fields after he pleaded in March to federal hate crime charges and admitted that he intentionally drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters.The charges he pleaded guilty to call for life in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.In December last year he was convicted in a Virginia court of first-degree murder and other state charges for killing Ms Heyer and injuring others who were protesting. Sentencing on the state charges is scheduled for next month.The 2017 rally drew hundreds of white nationalists to Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Hundreds of counter-protesters demonstrated against the white nationalists.Donald Trump infamously said there were "very fine people on both sides" of the clashes in the Virginia city.Additional reporting by AP
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| AP sources: US struck Iranian military computers this week Posted: 22 Jun 2019 08:38 PM PDT  U.S. military cyber forces launched a strike against Iranian military computer systems on Thursday as President Donald Trump backed away from plans for a more conventional military strike in response to Iran's downing of a U.S. surveillance drone, U.S. officials said Saturday. Two officials told The Associated Press that the strikes were conducted with approval from Trump. Two of the officials said the attacks, which specifically targeted Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps computer system, were provided as options after Iranian forces blew up two oil tankers earlier this month.
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| Bogus Brexit murder plot and other lies planted online by Russian accounts: study Posted: 22 Jun 2019 03:21 PM PDT  In August 2018, Spanish authorities uncovered a plot by anti-Brexit campaigners to assassinate leading Brexiteer and now favorite to be Britain's next prime minister, Boris Johnson. The effort employed scores of accounts posting in at least six languages on platforms including Facebook and Twitter, as well as multiple other blogging sites and forums. The aim was to "divide, discredit, and distract" Western countries by planting false information about topics ranging from alleged British meddling in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections to Irish paramilitary involvement in the poisoning of a former Russian spy in England last year.
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| Italy holds Netherlands, EU 'responsible' for migrant boat Posted: 23 Jun 2019 09:00 AM PDT  Italy's hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said he would hold the Netherlands and the European Union "responsible" for the fate of 42 migrants that Rome has blocked from disembarking at Italian ports for over a week. The Dutch-flagged rescue boat Sea-Watch 3 has been stuck in the Mediterranean since rescuing 53 migrants drifting in an inflatable raft off the coast of Libya on June 12. While 11 of those on board the Sea-Watch have been allowed to disembark -- including two pregnant women -- the vessel has been denied permission to dock in Italy.
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| Thomas Roberts on Stonewall 50: ‘I Want LGBTQ Kids to Know It’s OK. It’s OK to Be Different, and OK to Be Gay’ Posted: 22 Jun 2019 07:28 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast / Photos GettyIn this special series, LGBT celebrities and public figures talk to Tim Teeman about the Stonewall Riots and their legacy—see more here.Thomas RobertsJournalistWhen/how did you first hear about the Stonewall Riots, and what did you make of them?I learned of the Stonewall Riots in 2006-2007. It was shortly after coming out publicly. I was utterly impressed at the bravery protesters showed. They put it all on the line for us. The Stonewall Riots: What Really Happened, What Didn't, and What Became MythWhat is their significance for you?Without Stonewall where would we be today? It was the spark.How far have we LGBT people come since 1969?Since 1969 we've come out of the shadows of shame and intolerance. In 50 years the LGBTQ community is a force to be reckon with, but we still have battles ahead. And it's not solely on LGBTQ rights. We need to show up wherever people are marginalized and oppressed. We need to show up when we aren't personally the sole beneficiaries.What would you like to see, LGBT-wise, in the next 50 years?I'd love to see an LGBTQ President. And I believe in my lifetime we just might. But in the meantime I want LGBTQ kids to know it's OK. It's OK to be different. It's OK to be gay. The world is a big and wonderful place... eventually we all find our peace. However, it doesn't come without ups and downs. There will be high highs and low lows. Keep going. It will all be OK. 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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| 8 Can't-Miss Towns Near Great Driving Roads Posted: 23 Jun 2019 01:00 PM PDT |
| FCO minister arrives in Iran to try and ease tensions with US Posted: 23 Jun 2019 02:29 AM PDT  A minister from the Foreign Office has arrived in Tehran and met with a top diplomat from Iran's foreign ministry amid escalating regional tensions, state-run IRIB news agency reported. Minister of State for the Middle East Andrew Murrison spoke with Kamal Kharazi, head of the Strategic Council of Foreign Relations at Iran's foreign ministry, on "bilateral ties, regional issues" and the 2015 nuclear deal, the agency said. Mr Murrison is expected to meet deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi later on Sunday. Mr Murrison is expected to call for an "urgent de-escalation" and raise British concerns "about Iran's regional conduct and its threat to cease complying with the nuclear deal to which the UK remains fully committed," according to a statement by Britain's Foreign Office. Tensions between Washington and Tehran have flared after Iran on Thursday shot down a US drone. Iran map drone attack Iran said the drone violated its airspace - a claim the US denies - near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. In response, the US was ready to carry out a military strike against Iran but US President Donald Trump said he called it off at the last minute. The downing of the drone came after tensions spiked between the two countries following a series of attacks on commercial vessels that the US has blamed on Iran - accusations vehemently denied by the Islamic Republic. Britain is a signatory to the 2015 nuclear deal which saw Iran scale back its nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief, but the US unilaterally withdrew from the accord last year and reimposed sanctions. On May 8, Iran said it would reduce some of its nuclear commitments to the deal unless the remaining partners - Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - helped it circumvent US sanctions and sell its oil.
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| Texas mom charged with homicide after running over her 3-year-old during a game of 'chicken' Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:40 AM PDT ![Texas mom charged with homicide after running over her 3-year-old during a game of 'chicken']( "Texas mom charged with homicide after running over her 3-year-old during a game of 'chicken'") A woman has been charged with criminally negligent homicide after police say she ran over her 3-year-old son during a game of 'chicken' in Houston.
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| The Latest: Istanbul mayor-elect greets tens of thousands Posted: 23 Jun 2019 01:43 PM PDT  Tens of thousands of people attended an election night celebration after a repeated vote in Istanbul made an opposition candidate mayor-elect of Turkey's largest city. Ekrem Imamoglu spoke late Sunday after unofficial returns showed him more than 777,000 votes ahead of his opponent, who conceded defeat earlier in the night.
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| How You Can Modernize Your Old Beater with the Latest Tech Posted: 22 Jun 2019 04:30 AM PDT |
| 1 killed, 10 injured in shooting at bar in South Bend, Indiana Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:38 AM PDT  One man was killed and 10 others were injured in a shooting at a bar in South Bend, Indiana, according to police.
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| Two Nazi Soldiers Proved How Deadly a Sniper Can Be on the Battlefield Posted: 23 Jun 2019 02:00 AM PDT  The three Soviet tanks edged forward slowly as the drivers scanned for the concealed Germans that lay ahead. The lead tank suddenly clanked to a stop and swung its long barrel around. It looked much like one of Hannibal's elephants with its trunk raised, sniffing the air before its planned lunge forward toward the hapless enemy.The Wehrmacht troops were in a precarious situation. They lacked air support there as the Soviets mounted a heavy attack in mid-August 1943 along the length of the Donets Front in eastern Ukraine. Antitank panzerfausts were not available to the 3rd Gebirgsjager (Mountain) Division, and the unit had few, if any, sticky charges to blow the tracks from the Soviet T-34 tanks. All they had were their wits and their bolt-action Mauser rifles against the three steel titans that loomed in front of them with scores of Red Army soldiers trailing.Suddenly, the lead tank's hatch opened about 10 inches and a head appeared with binoculars to scan the scene. Sniper Josef "Sepp" Allerberger brought the Soviet tanker's head into the center of his scope, and at some 500 feet he squeezed off a round. A splat of blood hit the hatch as the head sank into the bowels of the tank.
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| UPDATE 2-Trump eyes more Iran sanctions; military action still on table Posted: 22 Jun 2019 08:15 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Trump eyes more Iran sanctions; military action still on table]( "UPDATE 2-Trump eyes more Iran sanctions; military action still on table") U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday he will impose additional sanctions on Iran in an effort to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons, adding that military action was still a possibility. Trump, who was speaking to reporters at the White House, made his comments after recently calling off military action against Iran to retaliate for the downing of a U.S. military drone. "We are putting additional sanctions on Iran," Trump said.
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| Best New-Car Deals for July 4th Posted: 22 Jun 2019 03:03 AM PDT  As the nation commemorates Independence Day, car dealerships celebrate with discounted prices on new cars. But you don't have to wait until the busy, long weekend to shop. Our latest analysis sho...
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| Ethiopia army chief of staff shot amid unrest Posted: 22 Jun 2019 11:58 PM PDT  Ethiopia's army chief of staff has been shot, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced on television Sunday as the government said it had thwarted an attempted coup in a regional state of this Horn of Africa nation. Abiy took to national television in the early hours dressed in military fatigues and announced that army chief Seare Mekonnen had been shot, an AFP correspondent said.
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| Nasa's Curiosity rover detects methane in latest hint at life on Mars Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:36 AM PDT  Nasa's Curiosity rover has detected another methane "spike" on Mars, in what could be a sign of alien life on the red planet. According to the New York Times, which obtained an email about the discovery written by senior scientists at Nasa, the rover detected "startlingly high amounts of methane in the Martian air." The detection of methane hints at an even greater discovery - life on Mars - as the gas is often generated by microbes underground known as methanogens,which can survive without oxygen. "Given this surprising result, we've reorganized the weekend to run a follow-up experiment, " wrote scientist Ashwin R. Vasavada in the email published by the New York Times. It is not the first time Nasa's robot has detected methane levels on the planet, and scientists are still not sure whether the gas is caused by living microbes. This is because geothermal reactions, with no biological life involved, can also create methane. When Curiosity landed on Mars in 2012 it could find barely any traces of methane, with less than one part per billion in the atmosphere. Then in 2013 the rover detected a sudden increase in methane levels, with seven parts methane per billion, which endured for several months and then vanished. The most recent discovery of Methane is 21 parts per billion, three times higher than the "spike" in 2013. While increased methane levels measured by @MarsCuriosity are exciting, as possible indicators for life, it's important to remember this is an early science result. To maintain scientific integrity, the science team will continue to analyze the data before confirming results. pic.twitter.com/zSrONQHuc5— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) June 22, 2019 Scientists are also not ruling out the possibility that the methane was not recent, having been trapped underground for millions of years, and only now is gradually emerging through cracks in the surface. Thomas Zurbuchen, from Nasa's science mission directorate, advised people not to jump to any conclusions about the methane detection in a message on Twitter. "While increased methane levels measured by Mars Curiosity are exciting, as possible indicators for life, it's important to remember this is an early science result," he wrote. "To maintain scientific integrity, the science team will continue to analyse the data before confirming results."
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| Navy SEALs Testify Their Chief Shot Girl, Man in Iraq Posted: 22 Jun 2019 09:33 AM PDT  Mike Blake/ReutersSAN DIEGO NAVAL BASE, Calif.—Chief Special Warfare Operator Edward R. "Eddie" Gallagher, a 20-year veteran of the Navy, fatally shot a man and a young girl in Iraq during separate incidents in 2017, two of his fellow SEALS told a military court Friday afternoon. He also admonished snipers for failing to kill the man who had been walking along a river path.Gallagher, 40, is on trial and facing seven criminal counts, including attempted murder for allegedly shooting the man and girl, and for premeditated murder for allegedly fatally stabbing a wounded, teenage ISIS fighter captured by Iraqi military forces in early May 2017.Neither of the SEALs who testified said they actually saw Gallagher fire the fatal shots, and his defense attorney put blame for their deaths on ISIS fighters likely operating near the SEALs' sniper positions in Mosul.The testimony came a day after a medic who was with Gallagher shocked the court by testifying that he may have been the one who killed the girl. The decorated SEAL has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which include additional violations of general orders. He is alleged to have posed for photos with the dead ISIS fighter's corpse and he is accused of obstructing justice when he tried to stop some from reporting his actions during an Iraq deployment with SEAL Team 7's Alpha Platoon. Gallagher's defense team claims that he's being unfairly prosecuted and targeted by junior SEALs jealous of his reputation and with personal vendettas against him.Gallagher's general court-martial began Tuesday before Judge Navy Capt. Aaron Rugh and a seven-member jury comprised of four senior enlisted Marines, a Marine chief warrant officer, a Navy SEAL chief and a Navy commander. All the jurors have combat experience. A conviction on any of the charges requires a two-thirds vote. The trial is expected to run at least through next week.Gallagher wore his gold Trident pin above several rows of ribbons on his chest to court. He sat at a table in front of his wife, friends and family, and was flanked by five members of his defense team, including Marc Mukasey, who has served as President Trump's personal attorney and Tim Parlatore, his lead defense attorney.Witness Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Dalton Tolbert avoided looking at Gallagher except when asked to point out if the SEAL chief was in the room. In questioning by a Navy prosecutor Friday afternoon, Tolbert testified that both civilian shootings came as sniper teams with Alpha Platoon manned positions on towers, or damaged buildings, north and south of the Tigris River near a bridge crossing. The platoon with the Coronado, Calif.-based SEAL team had the mandate to observe and thwart any ISIS activity, which included keeping an eye out for any fighters who'd venture to the riverbanks for water or respite. Sometimes, he said, the snipers would fire warning shots to scare civilians from the area.From his sniper post north of the river, Tolbert said he saw a man dressed run across the path toward a nearby building. He was dressed in traditional white garb that differed from what ISIS fighters usually wore. "That's when I saw a red mark on his back after hearing a shot," he told the court. "Over the radio, I hear, 'You guys missed him but I got him'," Tolbert said. "It sounded like Chief Gallagher."The incident involving the girl happened sometime in June 2017, Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Joshua Vriens told the court. Through his scope he told the court he saw four girls, about 12 to 14 years old, each wearing dressings and flowered hijabs. One of the girls, shot in the stomach, shrieked and fell on her right knee as two of the girls ran off and the fourth, in a gray dress, grabbed and dragged the wounded girl over a berm and out of sight, he said.Prosecutors asked if he had heard shots prior to the girls scrambling away. "I heard them from the north tower," Vriens said, adding, "It was apparent the shot came from our direction." He said that the immediate area of Mosul had been cleared previously and ISIS units remained active a bit further to the east. But when questioned by Parlatore, Vriens said Gallagher was about 850 meters from the girl.The court also heard that Gallagher purposely stabbed a young ISIS fighter in the neck after the wounded teenager was brought to the SEALs by Iraqi forces. Defense attorneys have argued that he rendered aid, along with several others. On Thursday, a platoon member shocked the court when he testified that he, and not Gallagher, may have caused the young ISIS fighter's death to put him out of his misery. Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Corey Scott testified that after he saw Gallagher stick his knife in the ISIS fighter's neck, he decided to asphyxiate the teenager by closing the breathing tube with his thumb and save him from a worse fate at the hands of the Iraqis, according to the Associated Press."I knew he was going to die anyway, and I wanted to save him from waking up to whatever would happen to him," Scott, a trained medic or hospital corpsman testifying with a grant of immunity, told the court. The identity of the ISIS fighter isn't known, and a body was never recovered. "He was in the (Iraqi) custody the entire time," Palatore said. Navy SEALs would have treated and stabilized him to "potentially get some intelligence out of him."Vriens testified he wasn't present when the ISIS fighter died. But he testified that he was in the platoon's tactical operations room when another SEAL was looking at a photo on a computer of a teenager with dark hair who "looked like he was concussed... It looked like he had a 1,000-yard stare." He said that Gallagher walked in the room and was asked, "is this your guy?" Vriens said. Gallagher then told them, "I stabbed him in the side, then grabbed him by the hair and I looked him in the eye and I stabbed him in the neck."The Navy's case against Gallagher also has been rocked in recent months by allegations that the Navy's secretive special operations community is a hotbed for personal vendettas after Naval Criminal Investigative Service documents and SEALs' statements were leaked to several journalists. The Navy's original prosecution team is accused of embedding emails with a software tracker directed at the defense team and journalist Carl Prine, editor of the Navy Times, to help determine the source of the leaks.On Friday, much of the defense's line of questioning of Tolbert and Vriens centered on a meeting that several platoon members had with Gallagher hours after the ISIS fighter's death. The court also saw evidence including text messages sent among a group of SEALs called the "Sewing Circle" which included platoon members opposed of war crimes who were apparently at odds with a group Gallagher belonged to known as the "Real Brotherhood." Defense attorneys have criticized the government's investigation and have painted several SEALs who have testified against Gallagher as weak operators and liars stretching the truth for their own benefit."We're feeling pretty good about this," Parlatore said during a short news conference outside the courtroom building after Friday's afternoon session concluded at the naval base. "These younger millennials feel they were just there to be able to say that they're SEALs, they went to Mosul and they could get out and go on to their future careers with that 'former Navy SEAL' tagline on their bio."Parlatore said the younger SEALS avoided conflict. "It's surprising the things that they shied away from in this case," said Parlatore, who served as a former naval officer before becoming an attorney. "They were there to clear Mosul, to fight this war. But these guys were more concerned with staying back, staying under cover and then blaming the chief." Prosecutors have not made any public statements outside of court since the trial began.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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| White House to assert ‘immunity’ claims over ex-McGahn aide Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:58 AM PDT  The House Judiciary Committee wants to hear from Annie Donaldson.
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| After high arsenic reports, Keurig Dr Pepper pulls bottled water sold at Target, Walmart Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:46 AM PDT  All bottles of unflavored Peñafiel mineral spring water are part of a voluntary withdrawal, Keurig Dr Pepper said in a statement Friday.
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| When Japan Lost This Battle It Lost World War II For Good Posted: 22 Jun 2019 11:00 PM PDT  In the predawn hours of June 15, the U.S. attacking force was poised a few miles off the beaches. Time-Life correspondent Robert Sherrod later wrote: "[Saipan] was a shadowy land mass, purple against the dim horizon. Set against the reddish tint of the morning sun, it seemed unbelievable that this island paradise could prove to be so menacing."Peering through his binoculars, Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo was in awe of the nearly 800 ships from Vice Adm. Raymond A. Spruance's 5th Fleet. Just three years before he had led the carrier force at the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that initiated hostilities between Japan and the United States. But this was no time to gloat over past victories. As he lowered his glasses, Nagumo realized that the Americans must be stopped here. If the invading forces captured Saipan, their Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers could easily reach Japan itself.Saipan, about 85 square miles in size, is the southernmost island in the Marianas chain. It was the next important step in the Allied planning to conquer Japan. One of Saipan's dominating features is Mount Tapotchau, over 1,500 feet high, situated near the center of the island. Also, a ridge runs from the southern end all the way to Mount Marpi at the extreme northern tip. To make things worse, steep cliffs dominate the region and a plateau is located in the southern area.
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| The 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS Is a High-Tech Palace of a Three-Row SUV Posted: 23 Jun 2019 03:01 PM PDT  The fully redesigned three-row luxury SUV is the (rich) parent's co-conspirator.
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| Democratic White House candidates face grilling on abortion Posted: 22 Jun 2019 07:08 PM PDT  Democrats running for US president in next year's election sat down with voters on Saturday to outline their stance on abortion, a long-simmering issue newly inflamed by attempts to curtail it nationwide. With abortion now among the most-discussed topics in the presidential race, the candidates aimed to impress an audience cheering "Who decides? "If you're not pro-choice, you're not getting my vote," declared 34-year-old Jennifer Egor, who traveled to the forum held in the South Carolina state capital Columbia.
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| Would You Pay This Much For A Corvette Body? Posted: 22 Jun 2019 05:52 AM PDT  This isn't exactly a budget-friendly deal... Quite a few people love the look of a classic Chevy Corvette Stingray, and why not? The iconic lines are like nothing you find on any other vehicle around, making it a real standout even among other classics. While that's certainly true, you might be wondering why this 1966 Chevrolet Corvette convertible body is so pricey.At $18,000 for a body that not long has the original Rally Red paint, it's understandable why anyone would question the sanity in paying so much. All you get is the body, doors, hinges, rear exhaust valance, convertible decklid, bird cage, and windshield frame, plus the glass. Nothing from the black vinyl interior, drivetrain, chassis, etc. comes along, meaning you need to source the rest.Consider this: you could easily spend upwards of $125,000 or more for a clean, low-mileage 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible. That's not exactly a low price, because quite a few people love the look of the C2, especially when it comes topless. Even higher-mileage examples tend to go for somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000 or more, with prices constantly climbing.It's not like GM is making any more of these classic bodies. While you might have your heart set on a complete Stingray, this body offers up all kinds of possibilities. It works for restoring a car with serious body damage, including rust. Alternatively, you could use that impeccable styling for a potent restomod project, making for a unique creation. Add a compatible chassis, whatever motor you desire, plus a great interior for something which turns heads and breaks necks.When you start to realize just how much a 1966 'Vette sells for these days, and consider that they're going to keep going up in value, suddenly this body seems like a much better deal than before. Classic Corvettes are definitely hot items, making it a solid idea to snatch up whatever you can when possible.
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| Curtis Flowers: Death row inmate has conviction quashed due to lack of black jurors Posted: 22 Jun 2019 03:20 AM PDT  The US Supreme Court has quashed the murder conviction of a black man on death row in Mississippi because of a prosecutor's "relentless" efforts to stop African Americans appearing on the jury at successive trials.Curtis Flowers, 49, has already been tried six times and now could face a seventh trial following the decision by the country's highest federal court.He has been in jail more than 22 years, ever since his arrest after four people were found shot dead in a furniture store in Winona, Mississippi, in July 1996.The removal of black jurors deprived inmate Mr Flowers of a fair trial, the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.A series of trials stretching back more than 20 years shows District Attorney Doug Evans made a "relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals," with the goal of an all-white jury in Flowers' case, Justice Kavanaugh wrote."The numbers speak loudly," Justice Kavanaugh said in a summary of his opinion that he read in the courtroom, noting that Mr Evans had removed 41 of the 42 prospective black jurors over the six trials. "We cannot ignore that history."Mr Flowers was found guilty in his first three trials, but the three convictions were overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court due to "prosecutorial misconduct". The fourth and fifth trials ended in mistrials.He was convicted again on the sixth trial in 2010, when the jury was made up of 11 whites and one African American and Mr Evans struck five black prospective jurors – a conviction overturned on Friday.In a dissenting view, Justice Clarence Thomas called Justice Kavanaugh's opinion "manifestly incorrect" and wrote that Mr Flowers "presented no evidence whatsoever of purposeful race discrimination".Justice Thomas, the only African American currently on the Supreme Court, said: "The state is perfectly free to convict Curtis Flowers again."Mr Evans said he remained confident of Mr Flowers guilt but had not yet decided whether the state of Mississippi would order a retrial, according to American Public Media. He denied trying to exclude African Americans from the jury.Mr Flowers' defence lawyers have argued that witness statements and physical evidence against him are too weak to convict him of the killings of four furniture store workers."A seventh trial would be unprecedented, and completely unwarranted given both the flimsiness of the evidence against him and the long trail of misconduct that has kept him wrongfully incarcerated all these years," said Sheri Lynn Johnson, who represented Mr Flowers at the Supreme Court."We hope that the state of Mississippi will finally disavow Doug Evans' misconduct, decline to pursue yet another trial and set Mr Flowers free."In the course of selecting a jury, lawyers can excuse a juror merely because of a suspicion that someone would vote against their client using "peremptory strikes", but they have been the focus of the complaints about discrimination.The Supreme Court tried to stamp out discrimination in the composition of juries in the Batson v Kentucky decision in 1986, ruling that jurors couldn't be excused from service because of their race.Additional reporting by AP
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| Bikers bid goodbye to 7 motorcyclists killed in crash Posted: 23 Jun 2019 03:28 PM PDT  A long-planned Blessing of the Bikes ceremony for motorcycle enthusiasts became a scene of mourning and reflection Sunday as about 400 people paid tribute to seven bikers killed in a devastating collision with a pickup truck . "When they fall, we all fall," said Laura Cardinal, vice president of the Manchester Motorcycle Club, adding that fellow bikers will support the families of those who died. Blessing of the Bikes ceremonies are held in many locations as a way to give prayers for a safe season.
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| 10 deals you don’t want to miss on Sunday: $8 wireless charger, $79 soundbar, AirPods 2 and iPad deals, more Posted: 23 Jun 2019 04:32 AM PDT ![10 deals you don't want to miss on Sunday: $8 wireless charger, $79 soundbar, AirPods 2 and iPad deals, more]( "10 deals you don't want to miss on Sunday: $8 wireless charger, $79 soundbar, AirPods 2 and iPad deals, more") Sunday's daily deals roundup is so good, you won't even know what hit you. Highlights include an awesome smartwatch with 30-day battery life for just $79.99, the upgraded faster version of Amazon's best-selling Wi-Fi range extender for just $24.99, the first big discount on AirPods 2 with Wireless Charging Case, brand new Apple iPads starting at just $249, nearly $100 off the excellent Roomba 690 robot vacuum with Alexa support, a terrific Vizio soundbar for just $78.99, multi-color LED smart light bulbs for $15 a piece, a wireless keyboard you never need to charge for $39.99, a fast wireless charging pad for only $8.49, and more. See all of today's best bargains below.
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| How will the Philidelphia oil refinery fire affect gas prices? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 10:18 AM PDT  Patrick DeHaan of GasBuddy says wholesale gas prices are already up 6 to 8 cents, which suggests retail prices may start rising in the next few days.
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| Middle East Chaos: All the Hell That Was the Iran-Iraq War Posted: 22 Jun 2019 12:00 PM PDT  The world awoke to ominous news on September 22, 1980. Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein had launched a massive armored and air attack across the Iraq-Iran border. Believing that his Islamic fundamentalist neighbor to the east had been weakened by the ongoing revolutionary turmoil that in February 1979 had toppled the Shah, Hussein was confident that his forces would win a lightning victory and restore long-disputed territory to Iraqi control. Such a victory, not incidentally, would put Hussein at the forefront of a resurgent Middle Eastern pan-Arabism.Among the causes of the war—the ruthless ambition of Saddam Hussein; ongoing disputes over control of the strategic Shatt al-Arab waterway, a shipping lane formed by the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers that created the southern borders of both countries; the struggle for dominance in the Persian Gulf region—the overriding issue was a centuries-old dispute regarding sovereignty over oil-rich Khuzestan Province in southwestern Iran. Khuzestan was the ancient home of the empire of Elam, an independent, non-Semitic, non-Indo-European-speaking kingdom whose territory spanned almost all of present-day southwestern Iran. Khuzestan had been attacked and occupied many times by various Arab kingdoms of Mesopotamia, the precursors of modern-day Iraq.A Centuries-Old Rivalry
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| Trump says new sanctions on Iran to start Monday, dials back rhetoric Posted: 22 Jun 2019 12:01 AM PDT  DUBAI/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would impose fresh sanctions on Iran but that he wanted to make a deal to bolster its flagging economy, an apparent move to defuse tensions following the shooting down of an unmanned U.S. drone this week by the Islamic Republic. On Thursday, an Iranian missile destroyed a U.S. Global Hawk surveillance drone, an incident that Washington said happened in international airspace. Trump later said he had called off a military strike to retaliate because it could have killed 150 people.
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| Mexico’s Other Border Is Rattled by Armed Crackdown Along River Posted: 22 Jun 2019 01:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The rafts, made of plywood planks lashed to fat inner tubes, float back and forth all day, piloted by camareros who push poles deep into the riverbed to guide their vessels in a rough echo of Venetian gondoliers.The cargo depends on the direction. From Mexico to Guatemala, it's usually cans of cooking oil or bags of rice, cases of Corona and cartons of eggs. It's mostly people going the other way, many headed for the U.S. All of it, technically speaking, is illegal, but the customs and immigration officials on the international bridge never paid much mind, allowing the Suchiate River crossings to build into the cornerstone of a thriving economy in an impoverished region.The possible end to it all reared up last week, with the arrival of a few of the thousands of troops Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is sending to the border. "The soldiers came with their M-16s and told us that they didn't want us to work," said a 31-year-old who goes by the nickname Rooster. He has been making a living with his raft for more than a decade. Like the hundreds of other camareros (Spanish for tubers, though the word can also mean waiters or stewards), Rooster can earn as much as $39 a day, decent money in Ciudad Hidalgo, a town of about 15,000 that spreads out from the river.The new show of force on the border is meant to stem the stream of migrants escaping violence and poverty in Central America, a move made to appease President Donald Trump after he threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican imports to punish the country for failing to control the masses trying to make their way to the U.S.But the ripple effects could be devastating in the state of Chiapas, the poorest in Mexico, and in the administrative district of San Marcos in southwestern Guatemala, where almost two-thirds of people live in poverty. A network of suppliers and couriers pedaling tricked-out tricycles on the Mexican side keeps the camareros stocked with products that are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive in Guatemala — Ace detergent, Nivea skin cream, Nescafe instant coffee, mayonnaise, PediaSure nutrition drinks, toilet paper, McCormick spices and on and on. Rafts have been known to ferry washing machines across.While the river trade has existed for generations, it exploded over the past five years as the Mexican peso lost one third of its value against the Guatemalan Quetzal. There are no official statistics on the value of the commerce, but according to locals it's the biggest, and almost only, business around."This industry maintains the tricycles, the raft operators, the taxis, buses, everyone lives off of this. What happens if it's gone?" said Bertha Alicia Fuentes, 71, who has been running a supply store in Ciudad Hidalgo for four decades, selling mostly yogurt and milk for river-export to Guatemala. "Forget it. Everyone would be poor." She shook her head and lifted her hands in exasperation. "The merchandise needs to continue to flow."AMLO has acknowledged that there are 68 points on Mexico's 700-mile frontier with Guatemala and Belize that aren't well policed and has promised to secure them. Maximiliano Reyes, undersecretary of foreign relations for Latin America and the Caribbean, said on a recent trip to the area that the Suchiate rafts "are one of the primary points of irregular immigration" and that they are "something we'll need to be looking at." Francisco Garduno, the new head of the national migration agency, went further and said the raft traffic would be stopped.Rooster, who declined to give his name for fear of reprisal, said he understands what the president and troops are up against. "The soldiers are workers, just like us, and they need to do their duty," he said, leaning against a crate of beer in the shade of a tarp. And "AMLO did what he had to do," under pressure from Trump.What the policy makers in Mexico City might not comprehend, though, is what a diligently patrolled border with Guatemala would really mean, Rooster said. "This town and Tapachula would be bankrupt. The majority of the people who buy here are Guatemalans."Stores in nearby Tapachula, a city of more than 300,000 that's the largest near the southern border, could be hurt. They include Walmart, Sam's Club and Chedraui, all popular with Guatemalans who can afford to raft over — the 5-minute trip usually costs about $2 — to stock up.Mexico's frontier with Guatemala has been porous or even undefined for centuries, and Rooster is a typical free-flowing resident of the region. He is Guatemalan but lives on the Mexican side. His parents took him to the U.S. when he was 4 and he grew up in California, where his mother still lives. He said he joined a gang as a teenager, was arrested on drug-possession charges and deported when he was 20.He switches seamlessly between English and Spanish. He is married to a Mexican and they have a 9-year-old son. His wife voted for AMLO; she religiously watches broadcasts of the president's daily news conferences. They approve of his proposals to pay higher pensions to the elderly and give more scholarships to students. Like many expert observers, they don't have confidence that his troops-to-the-border strategy will work.Enrique Vidal Olascoaga, a lawyer at the Fray Matias Human Rights Center in Tapachula, said he sees just downsides. "The only thing that a militarization of the border is going to do is make the crossing of people more dangerous and expensive."Maynor Guillen, a skinny 19-year-old from Honduras who had just come over the river, said the lawyer is right: Guillen was making his second attempt to reach the U.S. and has no intention of giving up. "I've read that they're going to send more soldiers to keep us from crossing," he said, standing outside outside the Tapachula office of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid. "But I'm not afraid."There's concern in Guatemala too, even though the river trade hurts businesses there and the government collects no taxes on the contraband that's floated over. If the rafts were grounded, "there would be consequences," said Paulo de Leon, the economic director for Central American Business Intelligence, an analysis firm in Guatemala City. So many people depend on the Suchiate economy, he said, that there might be a "blood bath" if the river crossing was actually closed.Rooster said he has hopes for a peaceful solution. "But if they're forceful with us," he said, "we will need to be forceful as well." \--With assistance from Michael McDonald.To contact the author of this story: Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne Reifenberg at areifenberg@bloomberg.net, David PapadopoulosFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Utah Woman Tortured Puppy for Days to `Keep the Dog Quiet,` Police Say Posted: 22 Jun 2019 07:45 AM PDT  A puppy is in need of surgery and a woman is facing a felony charge for what she allegedly did to keep her dog quiet.
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| 11 Chadian soldiers killed in Boko Haram attack: authorities Posted: 23 Jun 2019 01:41 PM PDT  N'Djamena (AFP) - At least 11 Chadian soldiers were killed in an attack blamed on Boko Haram jihadists at Lake Chad, the latest in a surge of attacks in the region, authorities said on Sunday. "The Chadian army lost 11 men including three officers... and six soldiers were wounded," the regional authority told AFP. It added that Chadian forces killed "26 Boko Haram members" in fighting at Tchoukoutalia after the soldiers recovered cattle that the militants had seized.
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| Postal worker gunned down while delivering mail in Louisiana, police say Posted: 22 Jun 2019 08:24 PM PDT  A mailman died Saturday after he was shot multiple times while on his mail route, the Shreveport Police Department confirmed.
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| VIDEO: New Vs Old Shelby GT350R Posted: 22 Jun 2019 10:02 AM PDT  Does the 2016 model hold up against the original 1965? Recently, V8TV took a comparative look at the original 1965 Shelby GT350R, a race car that ruled the tracks during the muscle car golden age, and the 2016 Shelby GT350R. Despite these two vehicles sharing a nameplate, there's a lot that's different about them. How exactly do they stack up? The results may surprise you.Shelby ditched pretty much everything it could to shed weight on the 1965 car, using plexiglass for windows, dumping the heater, and not including a radio, to name a few things. Shedding that weight freed up the blue-printed 289ci V8 to pull hard on straightaways with about 315-horsepower. The car gained a roll cage, racing seat, harness, and performance gauges for track use.Bigger and heavier than the 1965 model, the 2016 Shelby GT350R has some big shoes to fill. There's no denying its capabilities. It packs some serious heat with an aluminum flat-plane 5.2-liter V8, putting 526-horsepower to the wheels. The exhaust note sounds raw and exotic, but it's different in sound from the original racer and not nearly as loud.What you get with the modern GT350R is reliability. You can actually use the 2016 model on the daily basis, driving through the city, something the 1965 would not do well at in the least. Also, the newer model is actually pretty plus on the inside, while the old-school snake is stripped-down to ditch any extra weight.While the 1965 Shelby GT350R is a real racer, it comes with all the real racer needs. The car isn't exactly easy to drive, plus you need a trailer to get it to the track. On top of that, to keep that engine running smoothly you'll need an experienced pit crew. With the 2016 model, pretty much anyone can handle the car, thanks to the wizardry of onboard electronics and other modern aids.Ultimately, both cars use the same philosophy of upgrading the street version of the GT350 with track-proven methods, resulting in a highly-capable racer. But which will get you around the track faster? That's the true question. More American Muscle Take To The Track With A 2008 Ford Mustang FR500S Head Turning Restomod 1966 Pontiac GTO With LS3
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| The Best Travel Mugs to Keep Your Coffee Hot (or Cold) Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:00 AM PDT |
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