| Trump's stonewalling could speed up impeachment Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:36 PM PDT  Democrats believe they have enough evidence to impeach Trump, in the form of a whistleblower complaint and a partial transcript of a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump asked Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
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| PHOTOS: California wildfires threaten homes in Los Angeles Posted: 11 Oct 2019 06:28 AM PDT  The Saddleridge fire flares up near a firefighter in Sylmar, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. (Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP) A wildfire fueled by Santa Ana winds has closed two freeways, is threatening homes and has forced evacuations around Los Angeles. Fire officials say the Saddleridge fire had consumed more than 4,600 acres by Friday morning. It broke out after 9 p.m.
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| Egypt discovers archaeological industrial zone in Luxor's 'Valley of the Monkeys' Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:39 AM PDT  Egypt on Thursday unveiled two archaeological discoveries in Luxor including an industrial zone at the southern city's West Valley, also known as the Valley of the Monkeys. Egyptian archaeologists have discovered 30 workshops in the industrial area, the Ministry of Antiquities said in a statement. The area is "composed of houses for storage and the cleaning of the funerary furniture with many potteries dated to Dynasty 18," the excavation team's leader, Zahi Hawass, said in the statement.
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| Ruling leaves Ohio ban on Down syndrome abortions on hold Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:47 PM PDT ![Ruling leaves Ohio ban on Down syndrome abortions on hold]( "Ruling leaves Ohio ban on Down syndrome abortions on hold") A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a judge's decision to put on hold an Ohio law prohibiting doctors from performing abortions based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome. The 2-1 ruling from a panel the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said the law signed in 2017 by former Republican Gov. John Kasich is likely unconstitutional but didn't make such a declaration outright. The Ohio Attorney General's Office said the state will seek reconsideration by the full 6th Circuit.
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| Tragedy marks Sabbath for Germany's Jewish community Posted: 11 Oct 2019 09:37 AM PDT  Jews in Germany prepared to mark the Sabbath Friday with their confidence in the community's miraculous rebirth shaken by the deadly anti-Semitic rampage in Halle on Yom Kippur. Nearly 75 years after the Holocaust, the Jewish minority that had staked its faith in peaceful, democratic Germany found itself asking troubling questions about its security after the synagogue siege by a suspected neo-Nazi. "We have always been careful and now we will be even more careful," said Nina Peretz, head of Berlin's Fraenkelufer synagogue community group.
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| Could Chelsea Clinton run for a New York House seat? Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:58 PM PDT  "If you care about what's happening in the world, you have to care about running for and holding elected office," Chelsea Clinton said last year.
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| Photos of the 2019 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Lightning Lap Posted: 11 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT |
| ‘I’m standing here in the middle of climate change’: How USDA fails farmers. Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:57 PM PDT !['I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA fails farmers.]( "'I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA fails farmers.") Rick Oswald is standing on the doorstep of the white farmhouse he grew up in, but almost nothing is as it should be. "This house is 80 years old," Oswald says, stepping inside the darkened living room, which now smells faintly of mold. American farmers are reeling after extreme rains followed by a "bomb cyclone"—an explosive storm that brought high winds and severe blizzard conditions—ravaged the heartland, turning once productive fields into lakes, killing livestock and destroying grain stores.
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| 'Trey is a joke among us': Gowdy is a divisive addition to Trump's legal team Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:08 AM PDT  The president's decision to bulk up his legal team with former Rep. Trey Gowdy amid a widening impeachment inquiry is drawing criticism from one of his high-profile supporters.
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| Kamala’s Fake Lover: Jacob Wohl Told Me It Was for a Spike TV Show Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:27 PM PDT  Inept conservative operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman held another bizarre press conference in Burkman's driveway on Wednesday, this time to smear Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) with obviously fake allegations of an extramarital affair. And like past efforts to manufacture sexual claims against Trump foes—from Robert Mueller, to Pete Buttigieg, to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—the Harris charade fell apart quickly. The pair's bogus accuser—26-year-old Sean Newaldass—told The Daily Beast on Friday that he had no idea the event in which he alleged that he was in a romantic dalliance with the Senate was real. That's because Newaldass had met Wohl and Burkman by replying to an ad posted on Craigslist seeking a "male actor" for "performance art." When he showed up at Burkman's Virginia home and delivered his lines alleging an affair, Newaldass was under the belief that the press conference was actually an audition for a Spike TV show. He said he had no idea that Harris was a politician. Indeed, he assumed she was a fictional person. "I thought I was acting for a role in a movie, like a role in a TV series," Newaldass said. "I thought everything was staged, I'm thinking everyone is an actor." Jacob Wohl Faked Death Threats Against HimselfNewaldass insists that he believed that everyone at the event, from Wohl and Burkman, to the reporters asking questions, and a heckler dressed as a corncob, were all actors. Wohl promised Newaldass $500 to appear at the event—money that Newaldass said he still has yet to receive."I'm thinking this is going to be like The Office," Newaldass said. "The Office has super dry humor."Newaldass's allegations are shocking even by Wohl and Burkman's standards. The duo are known for hamfisted attempts to manufacture smears against political figures and for roping unwitting participants into their schemes. But they have never concocted a fake TV show in order to execute their plans before. As Newaldass realized Wednesday afternoon that the event was real, and that he was being treated as an outright liar on social media, he said he became afraid to leave his home."To me, it was the most hurt I've ever received from anything in the world," Newaldass said.Asked over Instagram direct message whether he had tricked Newaldass, Wohl responded with only a laughing-crying emoji. Burkman, a lawyer and lobbyist whose membership in the D.C. Bar was recently suspended over unpaid dues, didn't respond to a request for comment. Jacob Wohl's Bogus Warren Accuser Exaggerated His Military Service RecordThis isn't the first time one of Wohl and Burkman's fake accusers has turned on them. Their Mueller accuser, Carolyne Cass, failed to show up at a much-hyped press conference and later said Wohl and Burkman had made up the claims. College student Hunter Kelly, whose name Burkman and Wohl used to accuse Buttigieg of sexual assault, turned on the pair even faster than Cass, sending out mocking tweets about their press conference announcing his claims as it happened. Their missteps don't end there. Wohl is set to be arraigned on a felony charge for unlawful sale of securities later this month in California.Newaldass said he first entered Wohl's orbit by replying to the Craigslist ad, which makes no mention of politics, Burkman and Wohl, or Harris. Shortly after responding, according to Newaldass, he was contacted by Burkman and Wohl. The phone number that Newaldass said Wohl used to contact him is the same as a number Wohl has used in the past to text and make phones call to a reporter at The Daily Beast. On Tuesday night, Wohl and Burkman got Newaldass an Uber to Burkman's home in Rosslyn, Virginia. Newaldass said he was told the house belonged to Spike TV, a network that no longer exists after parent company Viacom changed the channel's name to the Paramount Network in 2018. "I was told, 'This is the audition for a TV show that's going to be on Spike,'" Newaldass said. "And I can be a personal trainer on the show, right?" Newaldass said Burkman and Wohl showed him the statement he would read on Wednesday , but described it as a "script." Newaldass found the claims in the statement bizarre, but considered that he had seen similarly strange things in other movies and TV shows."It's hard for me to hold my laughs back because I'm like, 'This is funny,'" Newaldass said. "What kind of comedy is this?" Burkman and Wohl later emailed him the "script," according to Newaldass, but not without their signature ineptness. Newaldass initially received a statement from the pair making a series of different sexual allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden—apparently because Wohl or Burkman mixed up their smears and attached the wrong file to the email. After he asked Wohl for clarification, they sent the Harris statement instead. Newaldass began to practice what he thought would be his lines.Newaldass arrived at Burkman's house around noon Wednesday, a few hours before the press conference. He said two other people—a singer and a purported minister who would perform a blessing at the press conference—were just as nervous as he was, preparing their lines as though they were getting ready for a performance. It wasn't clear to Newaldass whether the other two people were also actors or similarly oblivious to what was actually happening, but the "minister" later told The Daily Dot that he was not actually a reverend and appeared "confused" about the event.As hecklers and a handful of reporters gathered on Burkman's sidewalk, inside, Burkman and Wohl encouraged Newaldass by talking up his future Hollywood career. Newaldass said Wohl claimed to be a "director," and both men encouraged him to sign the statement making allegations against Harris—a signature they would later use as proof that he really believed the claims."They're encouraging me like, 'Man, you're going to be a star, you're a lead actor,'" Wohl said. Newaldass's press conference devolved into farce almost as soon as it began, with a mystery man delivering an apparently fake cease-and-desist notice that Burkman claimed was from Harris' campaign and Wohl threatening to spray hecklers with a garden hose. Newaldass read the statement to the crowd, convinced, he said, that Harris was a fictional character. "I'm completely oblivious to who this person is," Newaldass told The Daily Beast.While Newaldass was able to read from his statement, he became confused when asked to answer questions from the crowd, since he thought he needed to read lines. In an interview later with a Daily Dot reporter, Burkman and Wohl repeatedly cut in whenever the reporter asked Newaldass a question.Newaldass said he left the event with promises from Burkman and Wohl for future opportunities in Hollywood, and even the prospect of an entire TV series and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Newaldass began to think about how a role on a hit TV show would enable him to provide for his family financially."So that's what really sucked me in, thinking, 'Man, I can take care of everybody,'" Newaldass said.When he got home afterwards, though, Newaldass said he slowly began to realize he had been tricked. His Instagram page filled up with accusations that he was a liar. Newaldass began to doubt Wohl and Burkman's claim that they were just filming a show for Spike TV, and he became afraid to go outside."I was scared out of my mind," Newaldass said.Newaldass felt that he had embarrassed his family, and worried about what his family and friends would think of him. "The people that actually pay attention to this stuff are really judging me," Newaldass said. Newaldass insists that he had never heard of Harris before the press conference. And on that front, he isn't alone—12 percent of respondents in a Morning Consult poll this month said they had never heard of the senator. After researching Harris, Newaldass said he's now likely to vote for her presidential bid. Newaldass said the ruse especially stings because, like Harris, Newaldass is of mixed Indian and Caribbean ancestry. "That's what's hurtful, because I'm hurting my own ethnicity," Newaldass said. 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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| United States threatens Turkey with 'very significant' sanctions Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:25 PM PDT  U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that President Donald Trump had authorized U.S. officials to draft "very significant" new sanctions to target Turkey after it launched an offensive in northeast Syria, adding that banks were being notified. Mnuchin said the United States was not activating the sanctions at this time but would do so if necessary. "We are putting financial institutions on notice that they should be careful and that there could be sanctions," Mnuchin said.
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| Lindsey Graham dishes on Trump in hoax calls with Russian pranksters Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:37 PM PDT  Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has in the last year become something of a congressional point man for President Trump's negotiations with Turkey, leading discussions on everything from Ankara's purchase of a Russian missile system over the summer to its more recent incursion into northern Syria.
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| Evidence from ex-Dallas cop's murder trial fuels mistrust Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:20 PM PDT  Evidence from the trial of a former Dallas police officer convicted of killing her neighbor has fueled new questions about whether accused officers are treated differently than other suspects, including testimony that a camera in the cruiser where the officer sat after the shooting was flipped off and that her sexual text messages with her partner were deleted. It also has led Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall to announce the internal affairs department would look into the deleted texts and deactivated camera. The Dallas County District Attorney's Office declined to comment Wednesday on whether it is also investigating.
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| More hazing complaints hit Ohio University, leading to the suspension of the marching band, 3 sororities, a professional fraternity, and all social fraternities Posted: 11 Oct 2019 02:21 PM PDT  After suspending all its social fraternities for hazing allegations, Ohio University received complaints against sororities and the marching band.
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| Beto Proposes to Oppress Church with State Posted: 11 Oct 2019 03:32 PM PDT  Beto O'Rourke's presidential campaign is within the margin of error of non-existence, but in his failure he has found a purpose: expressing the Democratic id. His latest bid for left-wing love came at a CNN forum on gay rights, where he said that churches that oppose same-sex marriage should have to pay taxes.Religious organizations, like secular non-profits, are exempt from taxes because we do not want government to inhibit a thriving civil society. Abolishing the exemption only for religious groups that do not toe the progressive line would be an outrageous oppression of church by state.Other candidates have not yet echoed O'Rourke. But the crowd applauded. And his position has not come out of nowhere. President Obama's solicitor general suggested to the Supreme Court that the tax exemption of religious colleges that oppose same-sex marriage might have to be revisited. Six of the presidential candidates, including leading contender Elizabeth Warren, have co-sponsored the "Equality Act," which specifically states that religious believers could not invoke the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to ask to escape its new restrictions on private conduct. It would be the first congressional limitation of the religious-freedom law since it was enacted, nearly by acclamation, in 1993. Several of the candidates have also endorsed another piece of legislation that is specifically directed at shrinking the reach of that law.If other Democrats are refraining from adopting O'Rourke's stance, then, it is for contingent reasons of prudence rather than lasting ones of principle. The contemporary Democratic party is a threat to the first freedom mentioned in the Constitution.
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| Southwest Airlines flight diverted after intoxicated passenger assaults other travelers, police say Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:40 AM PDT  The Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas was headed to Los Angeles International Airport when it had to make an unplanned stop in Tucson, Arizona.
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| Greta Thunberg's fans are upset she didn't win the Nobel Prize, but a peace expert says she should have never been a contender Posted: 11 Oct 2019 06:44 AM PDT  Greta Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize after leading strikes that push leaders to address climate change. Here's why she didn't win.
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| Protesters Parade Police Hostages and Demand IMF Leave Ecuador Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:19 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- A throng of indigenous Ecuadorian protesters grabbed six policemen off the streets in central Quito on Thursday to cries of "murderers, murderers," hours before seizing more than two dozen reporters who came to cover the event.The policemen had their motorcycles seized before being hustled to the stage of a theater to the delight of thousands of anti-government protesters resisting an International Monetary Fund-backed austerity drive by President Lenin Moreno. They were stripped of their vests and equipment as people jeered and chanted "Moreno out."The protesters also detained 27 journalists, and one television reporter suffered a head wound, according to Fundamedios, a media advocacy organization. A Bloomberg News reporter was threatened, though managed to leave unhindered.The anti-government demonstrations are being led by indigenous communities, mostly from the Andean and Amazon regions. They initially demanded a restoration of canceled fuel subsidies, then that Moreno leave office and, on Thursday, their umbrella group issued a statement saying the protests won't stop until the IMF leaves Ecuador.On Thursday morning, the crowd included a shaman in traditional dress with a head-high spear and an iPhone. He held an early morning ceremony to summon spirits on behalf of the people, who said officers had killed four indigenous protesters. Demonstration organizers said they would bring a corpse to the theater.The chaotic scene points to how combustible the situation has become a week after Moreno ended the fuel subsidies, which had been in place for the better part of four decades, as part of an agreement with the IMF to narrow a budget deficit.Moreno fled to the coastal city of Guayaquil and has vowed to return, and not to give in to demands to roll back the gasoline measures. Instead, he is calling for dialogue to reach an agreement. His foreign affairs minister said in a Wednesday interview that the government has money set aside for indigenous people, who are often poor and historically discriminated against.The crisis marks a turning point for Moreno. The president, who was expected to lead as a Venezuelan-style leftist, has instead pushed economic and political reform and tried to restore an independent press and judiciary -- an about face from his predecessor. He championed term limits for elected officials and helped judicial reformers replace a constitutional court so discredited that several members were under suspicion of money laundering.Moreno also remade economic policy, which led to a fall in yields on Ecuadorian bonds and a $4.2 billion agreement with the IMF to restore dollar reserves and stabilize public debt -- in part by removing the fuel subsidy.Ecuador's bonds issued just two weeks ago have fallen 6 cents this week to 97 cents on the dollar to yield 9.9%.This week, protesters have occupied government buildings and oil fields as security forces struggle to enforce a state of emergency. Video on social media has shown police beating residents. The office of public ombudsman Freddy Carrion said that five people have died since the beginning of the protests.Large parts of the Andes region are cut off by roadblocks along mountain highways. The Ecuador Red Cross said Wednesday that it would suspend services in the country after repeated attacks on its staff and ambulances.In Quito on Thursday, the indigenous organizations met at the Agora Casa de la Cultura, part of a complex that includes the national museum and cinema.The theater, capacity of about 2,000, was filled and there were many more people in the parks and streets outside, where tires were burning. Some were in traditional dress, with pork-pie hats and ponchos, and a few were masked and wearing helmets in preparation for clashes. Down the street, police massed behind barricades.Tension between younger protesters and older organizers was palpable.Carrion said on Twitter that he would that would visit the theater to ensure the captured officers were well treated.Indigenous leader Floresmilo Simbana said in an interview at the entrance of the Agora that restoring the fuel subsidies was a mandatory first step toward ending the crisis, but the government's current offer to aid rural communities was insufficient."That's public policy. We shouldn't even have to be discussing it," he said.To contact the reporters on this story: Matthew Bristow in Bogota at mbristow5@bloomberg.net;Stephan Kueffner in Quito at skueffner1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Daniel Cancel, Stephen MerelmanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Putin's test missile failed and exploded in deadly nuclear accident Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:54 AM PDT  An Aug. 8 nuclear accident near Nyonoksa, Russia, was caused by a nuclear reaction that occurred while Russians were attempting to recover a nuclear-powered cruise missile submerged in the White Sea after a failed test last year.
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| Trump EPA proposes overhaul of lead in drinking water rule, critics call plan weak Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:17 PM PDT  The Trump administration on Thursday proposed retooling a 1991 rule on lead and cooper contamination in drinking water, but critics said the change slows by 20 years the timeline for removing aging lead service lines that could expose children to a toxin known to harm developing brains. Under the rule, community water systems would be required among other things to identify the most impacted areas to find and fix sources of lead when a sample in a home exceeds 15 parts per billion. The EPA said water systems would also have to follow new, improved sampling procedures and adjust sampling sites to better target locations with higher lead levels.
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| The obscure law that explains why Google backs climate deniers Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Company wants to curry favour with conservatives to protect its 'section 230' legal immunity * Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniersEric Schmidt being interviewing on Bloomberg in 2014. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty ImagesWhen Eric Schmidt was asked on a radio show in 2014 why Google was supporting an ultra-conservative climate-denying pressure group in Washington, the then chairman of the internet giant offered an unequivocal response: it was wrong and Google was not going to do it again."The consensus within the company was that that was some sort of mistake and so we're trying to not do that in the future," Schmidt told NPR. People who opposed or questioned climate science were making the world "a much worse place", he added, and Google "should not be aligned with such people".But five years later, Google still funds more than a dozen organisations that deny the climate crisis and oppose political action to try to solve it. Among them is the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the group that launched the notorious Cooler Heads Coalition two decades ago, a group of conservative and libertarian pressure groups dedicated to dispelling the "myths" of global heating.The Guardian has collaborated with leading scientists and NGOs to expose, with exclusive data, investigations and analysis, the fossil fuel companies that are perpetuating the climate crisis – some of which have accelerated their extraction of coal, oil and gas even as the devastating impact on the planet and humanity was becoming clear. The investigation has involved more than 20 Guardian journalists working across the world for the past six months.The project focuses on what the companies have extracted from the ground, and the subsequent emissions they are responsible for, since 1965. The analysis, undertaken by Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute, calculates how much carbon is emitted throughout the supply chain, from extraction to use by consumers. Heede said: "The fact that consumers combust the fuels to carbon dioxide, water, heat and pollutants does not absolve the fossil fuel companies from responsibility for knowingly perpetuating the carbon era and accelerating the climate crisis toward the existential threat it has now become."One aim of the project is to move the focus of debate from individual responsibilities to power structures – so our reporters also examined the financial and lobbying structures that let fossil fuel firms keep growing, and discovered which elected politicians were voting for change. Another aim of the project is to press governments and corporations to close the gap between ambitious long-term promises and lacklustre short-term action. The UN says the coming decade is crucial if the world is to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of global heating. Reining in our dependence on fossil fuels and dramatically accelerating the transition to renewable energy has never been more urgent.For Google, providing financial backing to groups such as CEI and the Cato Institute – staunch free marketeers – has nothing to do with climate science, and everything to do with its effort to curry favour with conservatives on its most pressing issue in Washington: protecting an obscure section of the US law that is worth billions of dollars to the company.The law – known as section 230 of the Communications Decency Act – was established in the 1990s, at a time when the internet was in its infancy, and helped to give rise to internet giants, from Google to Facebook, by offering legal immunity to the companies for third party comments, in effect treating them as distributors of content and not publishers.Section 230, in effect, allowed Google and Facebook to be shielded from the kinds of libel laws that can ensnare other companies, such as newspapers.The law has important advocates across the political spectrum, from Democrats who hail it as a triumph of free speech, to Republicans who say it has promoted free enterprise and innovation.But now some lawmakers, including Republicans, think it might be time to revise section 230. The senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, has said Google's alleged bias in favour of Democrats means it is not a neutral platform and should not be protected from liability.Google's decision to give to groups such as CEI reflects an attempt to win friends in Republican and conservative circles, and support those lawmakers on the right who are champions of section 230."I think the future of conservatism is up for grabs in the Trump era," said one person who is familiar with the company's thinking on political giving. "We are in a moment where Google has been injected in a lot of culture wars … and there is a lot of hostility in conservative circles."There is little doubt that Google has a loyal friend in CEI. In a recent letter to members of Congress, CEI and other conservative groups called for the protection of section 230, saying it had created "new venues for conservative speech", and that lawmakers who wanted to upend it were "well-meaning but mistaken".CEI has also defended Google in other realms. In a recent op-ed published in the Atlantic, a CEI senior fellow named Mario Loyola argued that the launch of a recent antitrust investigation into Google by 48 state attorneys general, led by the Texas attorney general Ken Paxton – a strong supporter of Ted Cruz – would not do anything to help the public.A CEI spokesperson, who declined to comment on questions about Google, told the Guardian: "CEI is a nonprofit organisation that advocates free-market solutions to public policy issues. CEI's research programmes and positions are developed independently by policy experts and reflect a longstanding, steadfast dedication to principles of economic liberty and limited government."When Google was asked about its support for CEI and groups like it, a company spokesperson said: "We sponsor organisations from across the political spectrum that advocate for strong technology policies. We've been extremely clear that Google's sponsorship doesn't mean that we endorse that organisation's entire agenda – we may disagree strongly on some issues."Google employees have privately spoken out about the company's support for some conservative groups. In a discussion with employees in March 2018 – a recording of which was heard by the Guardian – Adam Kovacevich, who at the time served as head of public policy at Google (he has since left the company), defended the company's alignment with some conservatives.He said he had been directed to forge the relationships after the 2016 election of Donald Trump. It reflected a view that the company was seen as too close to Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democrats.The discussion took place after a controversy over Google's sponsorship of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual meeting of conservatives, where Google hosted a party.To the consternation of many employees, its logo appeared on banners next to the NRA's. In his opening remarks on the call, Kovacevich said it was important to build relationships not only with people in power "but also the people who influence them"."It can be hard sometimes to reconcile our business interests with our stated values, and finding that balance is something our team has to navigate really on a daily basis, and it has gotten more and more complicated," Kovacevich can be heard saying in the recording.While Google staff seemed to accept Google needed to forge ties across the political spectrum, the majority of the employees on the call expressed concern that the company was too far out of step with its values. The Wall Street Journal and Wired have previously reported on the meeting.This year, Google did not sponsor CPAC. But big technology companies were frequently named – and lambasted – by conservative participants in their speeches. In one case, the rightwing provocateur James O'Keefe encouraged tech employees to secretly record colleagues in their offices in order to expose their alleged biases."We will equip you with a camera," O'Keefe said. "If they're lying, cheating, scamming, we're going to find them, make them famous internet celebrities, expose them for all the world to see."
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| The Latest: Pritzker board member resigns amid senator probe Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:29 PM PDT  An appointee of Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has stepped down from the Illinois Tollway board after he was mentioned as part of a federal investigation into a state senator. Cesar Santoy resigned Friday at Pritzker's request after an unredacted search warrant released Friday indicated that authorities sought information involving Santoy and his architectural firm Studio Arq.
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| German suspect admits anti-Semitic attack, far-right motive Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT  The German suspect in a deadly attack targeting a synagogue has admitted to the shooting rampage, confessing it was motivated by anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, federal prosecutors said Friday amid government warnings of an "elevated" risk of further attacks. Stephan Balliet, 27, made a "very comprehensive" confession during an interrogation lasting several hours, said a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe. Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned meanwhile in a ZDF television interview that there was now an "elevated" threat of another anti-Semitic or terrorist attack saying around half of 24,000 suspected far-right extremists had an "affinity" with firearms and could engage in violence.
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| Trump appears to do bizarre impression of FBI agent having sex Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:25 PM PDT  Donald Trump appeared to perform an impression of former FBI agent Peter Strzok and attorney Lisa Page having sex while the president was in the middle of a speech during a rally in Minnesota on Thursday.Mr Trump slammed his hand on the podium and shouted "I love you, Lisa," and "I love you too, Peter" before moaning "Lisa, I love you, Lisa! Lisa! Oh, God, I love you Lisa!"
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| South Korea Is Working on a Stealth Fighter Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:43 AM PDT  Be skeptical. The world's biggest economies barely can support the development and acquisition of a true radar-evading fighter. South Korea is unlikely to join that exclusive club.
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| Swath of Atlantic still at risk for tropical development into next week Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:19 AM PDT  While the window for tropical systems to brew will soon be closing for some zones in the Atlantic, the risk of tropical development is shifting southward into next week."Two areas we have been monitoring for tropical or subtropical development just off the East Coast of the United States to east of Bermuda are running out of time," AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski explained. This image, taken on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, shows much of the tropical Atlantic Basin. There was a non-tropical swirl of clouds well east of Bermuda and a weak, broad area of showers and thunderstorms over the western Caribbean Sea. (NOAA/GOES-East) One such area is a storm located southeast of the New England coast, which has strengthened some Thursday night. Should it continue to gather tropical characteristics into Saturday, it could briefly become a subtropical storm.More long-term, meteorologists are also watching areas in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa over the next week for possible tropical trouble.Tropical disturbances, or tropical waves, continue to move westward off the coast of Africa every three days or so.These waves make up the Cabo Verde season, which is named for the disturbances that originate near the Cabo Verde Islands just off the west coast of Africa.Even though we are past the peak of the Cabo Verde season and the hurricane season in general, these disturbances and other areas can still evolve into tropical depressions, storms and hurricanes over time."A somewhat stronger tropical wave is forecast to move off the Africa coast this weekend and move westward," Kottlowski said. "There is a low chance this becomes an organized system next week," he added.There remains a broad area of weak counterclockwise winds over the western Caribbean and Central America. This feature is called a gyre.Occasionally, as tropical waves move into this gyre, they have a greater chance at becoming a tropical depression or storm, since there is extra moisture in place and there already is a weak circulation to begin with."As a result, the area from the western Caribbean to Central America, including adjacent eastern Pacific waters, could give birth to a tropical system or two through next week," Kottlowski said."However, the chance of tropical storm formation is probably significantly higher on the Pacific side as opposed to the Caribbean side," Kottlowski added. Hurricane season continues until the end of November, and Kottlowski feels there will be another named system or two over the Atlantic Ocean before the season comes to a close. Download the free AccuWeather app to see the exact forecast for your area. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Turkey's plan to flood Europe with millions of refugees if it is condemned for attacking Syria is a real and dangerous threat, officials warn Posted: 11 Oct 2019 04:18 AM PDT  An official with the Greek government told Business Insider that Turkey could "send about 500,000 refugees immediately."
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| 500 Years Later, MIT Proves That Da Vinci's Bridge Design Works Posted: 10 Oct 2019 09:59 AM PDT  If accepted at the time, the design would have likely revolutionized architecture.
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| View Photos of 2021 Toyota Mirai Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT |
| New fresco with gladiators discovered in Pompeii Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:36 AM PDT  Archeologists excavating what may have been an ancient Roman drinking den in the ruined city of Pompeii said Friday they have unearthed a well-preserved wall painting of gladiators in action, complete with realistically gory wounds. The 3ft by 4.5ft fresco is located in the Regio V site, in the northern section of Pompeii's archaeological park, in an area not currently accessible to visitors. "Very probably the fresco decorated a place used by gladiators, perhaps a watering hole .
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| Felony charge for girl, 13, who pointed finger-guns at other students, officials say Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:10 PM PDT  There were previous encounters involving the student that resulted in classmates being "fearful" of her, according to police.
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| Gabbard Threatens to Boycott Debate, Alleges DNC ‘Rigging Election Again’ Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:22 AM PDT  Democratic Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii) announced Thursday that she is "seriously considering" a boycott of the upcoming Democratic debate on Oct. 15, alleging that "the DNC and corporate media are trying to hijack the entire election process.""They are attempting to replace the roles of voters in the early states, using polling and other arbitrary methods which are not transparent or democratic, and holding so-called debates which are not debates at all but rather commercialized reality television meant to entertain, not inform or enlighten," Gabbard said in the statement.Gabbard's campaign, which is currently polling at just over half a percentage point, has focused in recent weeks on grassroot efforts in early primary voting states."There are so many of you who I've met in Iowa and New Hampshire who have expressed to me how frustrated you are that the DNC and corporate media are essentially trying to usurp your role as voters in choosing who our Democratic nominee will be," Gabbard says in the announcement, before stating that she will announce her final decision in the coming days.Gabbard qualified for the upcoming debate but missed out on the last one this past month, after reaching the donor threshold but falling two DNC-approved polls short of clearing the public support threshold. Gabbard's campaign slammed the committee's decision-making, arguing that the standards were arbitrary and lacked transparency."It creates a lack of faith and trust in the process," Gabbard told Fox News' Tucker Carlson in August. "… Really what [the voters] see is a small group of really powerful political elites, the establishment making decisions that serve their interests and maintaining that power while the rest of us are left outside. The American people are left behind."Gabbard was the most-searched candidate after the first and second Democratic debates earlier this year.
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| Three dead in China bridge collapse Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:12 PM PDT  Three people were killed and two injured in eastern China when a highway overpass collapsed and crushed cars below it, local officials said Friday. Videos posted online showed a large section of the bridge in Jiangsu province swaying before falling on top of moving vehicles on Thursday night. Other images showed crushed cars, with only their front sections or headlights visible under a huge block of grey concrete.
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| Trump Gloats About Shep Smith’s Fox News Exit Posted: 11 Oct 2019 02:55 PM PDT  The question from a reporter to President Donald Trump on Friday night was, "Did you or your administration pressure Fox News to get rid of Shepard Smith?" Trump did not answer directly, but rather took the opportunity to gloat over his least-favorite Fox News anchor's departure, saying, "No, I don't know, is he leaving? Oh, that's a shame." "Did I hear Shepard Smith is leaving?" the president asked, soundly almost gleeful. "Is he leaving because of bad ratings? He had terrible ratings, is he leaving because of his ratings? If he's leaving, I assume he's leaving because he had bad ratings." Smith, who has been the rare critical voice against the president on Fox, announced on Friday that he had requested to get out of his contract on leave the network, effective immediately. "Even in our currently polarized nation, it's my hope that the facts will win the day," Smith said in his final broadcast. "That the truth will always matter, that journalism and journalists will thrive."The move comes just two days after Attorney General Bill Barr met privately with Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch, prompting some speculation that the Trump administration had something to do with Smith's exit. "Well, I wish him well," Trump concluded. "I wish Shepard Smith well." Trump Gets Instant Fact-Check From Fox News' Shepard Smith After Oval Office SpeechRead 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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| US to send 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia as it withdraws from Syria Posted: 11 Oct 2019 09:54 AM PDT  The United States is to send an additional 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia "to assure and enhance" the country's security in the wake of the Aramco oil attacks, the Pentagon announced on Friday. Mark Esper, the defence secretary, said the US was sending two more Patriot missile batteries, one THAAD ballistic missile interception system, two fighter squadrons and one air expeditionary wing. It came as Iran claimed yesterday that one of its oil tankers had been struck with missiles off the coast of Saudi Arabia in an incident shrouded in mystery. The new deployment means that, since May, the US has sent an additional 14,000 members of the armed forces into the region. "Secretary Esper informed Saudi Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Muhammad bin Salman this morning of the additional troop deployment to assure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia," the Pentagon said. "As we have stated, the United States does not seek conflict with the Iranian regime, but we will retain a robust military capability in the region that is ready to respond to any crisis and will defend US forces and interest in the region." The announcement came just days after Mr Trump declared all US troops would be pulled out of Syria, complaining about "ridiculous endless wars". Mr Trump had campaigned on a promise to get US servicemen out of the Middle East, putting America First, and the decision is unlikely to go down well with his base. Iranian state television said the explosion damaged two storerooms aboard the unnamed oil tanker Credit: twitter Iranian media claimed its vessel was hit on Friday morning about 60 miles from the Saudi port of Jeddah, causing it to leak oil into the Red Sea. The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said the ship was damaged but stable and denied reports it had been set ablaze. Tensions have been high since the Spring after an Iranian tanker suspected of carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions was seized off Gibraltar. In retaliation, Iran's Revolutionary Guard impounded British-flagged tanker Stena Impero. Then last month Saudi's oil fields were hit by a large-scale missile and drone attack it blamed on Tehran, which saw production plummet and oil prices soar. Iran's foreign ministry claimed the vessel, which was first named as Sinopa before it was identified as the Sabiti, had been "targeted twice" but did not provide further details. On Friday morning, an unnamed source told Iran media the vessel was struck by missiles "probably" originating from Saudi Arabia, but Iran's national oil company later denied the claim. Pictures released on Iranian media later showed no discernible damage and no evidence of any fire. TankerTrackers, which monitors oil exports, told the Telegraph there was no independent evidence to suggest the vessel had been hit. Iranian tanker attack "Had she been struck, they wouldn't be sailing back as fast as they are sailing right now. She's moving at 10 knots an hour," they said. "(Iran is) fishing for higher prices, trying to remind the world that geopolitical risk is its way of controlling the oil market." Oil prices surged two per cent on the news. Publicly available ship tracking records show both ships are currently in the Red Sea. The Sinopa turned its transmitter on earlier this week for the first time in more than 50 days. The Sabiti, meanwhile, turned its tracker on early Friday after nearly 60 days of no transmissions. It is common for Iranian tankers to turn off automatic identification systems (AIS) to avoid detection - often to evade international sanctions or harassment from Saudi Arabia. TankerTrackers said this suggested the Sabiti, laden with one million barrels of oil may have been heading for Syria. However, it declared the Gulf as its destination. Thina Margrethe Saltvedt, an analyst at Nordea Markets, said it was not the particulars of the latest incident that were worrying traders but the fear of worse to come. "The risk premium is rising... not because the tanker per se contains enough oil to squeeze the market," she said. "But the risk that this incident will be retaliated or more attacks would come either in Iran, Saudi Arabia or Iraq."
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| Is The U.S. Navy Planning To Put Hypersonic Missiles On Submarines? Posted: 11 Oct 2019 04:11 AM PDT  Russia and China are on notice.
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| UPDATE 5-Fast-moving wildfire kills at least 1, destroys homes north of Los Angeles Posted: 11 Oct 2019 03:19 AM PDT ![UPDATE 5-Fast-moving wildfire kills at least 1, destroys homes north of Los Angeles]( "UPDATE 5-Fast-moving wildfire kills at least 1, destroys homes north of Los Angeles") A fast-moving wildfire fueled by dry Pacific winds engulfed houses, roads and wooded areas near Los Angeles on Friday morning, killing at least one person and forcing some 100,000 residents to flee their homes, officials said. The so-called Saddleridge fire had spread to more than 4,700 acres about 25 miles (40 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles by Friday morning, moving at a rate of 800 acres per hour, the Los Angeles Fire Department said at a news conference. A man died of cardiac arrest while trying to fight the fire, which erupted just days after power cuts were ordered across the state to prevent wildfires, authorities said.
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| NRA troubles: A hunter targets the world’s most powerful gun lobby Posted: 11 Oct 2019 02:44 AM PDT  NRA corruption allegations have weakened the group. Plenty of gun rights advocates are ready to step in.
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| Board strips Little Rock teachers' union bargaining power Posted: 10 Oct 2019 05:43 PM PDT ![Board strips Little Rock teachers' union bargaining power]( "Board strips Little Rock teachers' union bargaining power") The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday stripped the collective bargaining power of the Little Rock teachers' union, sparking fears of a strike even as the panel backed off a plan that critics said would be a return to a racially divided system 62 years after the integration of Central High School. A packed auditorium chanted "shame" at the board as it adjourned after abruptly passing a proposal to no longer recognize the Little Rock Education Association as the district's bargaining agent when the union's contract expires Oct. 31. The move came shortly after the panel voted to return local control of Little Rock's schools to a board that will be elected in November 2020.
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| Former California police officer convicted of sexually assaulting five women while on duty Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:07 PM PDT ![Former California police officer convicted of sexually assaulting five women while on duty]( "Former California police officer convicted of sexually assaulting five women while on duty") A California jury on Wednesday found former police officer Noah White Winchester guilty of sexually assaulting five women while on duty.
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| Hong Kong Protesters Are Debating a Halt to Vandalism Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:48 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong protesters are debating whether to lower the temperature as the battered financial center girds for another weekend of tear gas and petrol bombs.Worried that violence and destructive tactics risk alienating more moderate supporters, some activists have urged others to scale back vandalism that has shut shops, banks and train stations across the city. Their concerns include giving Chief Executive Carrie Lam a reason to delay local elections next month or discouraging U.S. lawmakers from passing a bill to support the protest movement.One post widely circulated on LIHKG -- a Reddit-like forum popular with Hong Kong's youth -- warned that further violence risked creating internal splits within the broader pro-democracy movement, which has vigorously discussed the merits of peaceful versus more radical and disruptive actions."The general public, including foreigners, will think the violence is escalating to the point of being indiscriminate," the user wrote in a post that garnered more than 3,000 "upvotes," putting it among the most popular posts that day.On Friday, hundreds once again marched throughout the city's central business district, disrupting traffic as they held up banners and placards. Many were wearing masks in defiance of Lam's invocation of a rarely used emergency law last week to ban protesters from wearing face-coverings at rallies.The peaceful gathering comes after tens of thousands of people flooded Hong Kong's streets a week ago following the mask ban and the first shooting of a protester during police scuffles days earlier. The result was the most destructive weekend since the movement began over four months ago in opposition to now-withdrawn legislation that would've allowed extradition to mainland China.Hong Kong Police Vow to Investigate Protester Sex Assault ClaimAngered over corporate moves to support the government, protesters targeted shops, train stations and state-owned Chinese bank branches for vandalism -- acts they call "renovations." The rail operator MTR Corp., who demonstrators accuse of colluding with police and stifling their movements, was forced to shut almost its entire network on Friday and Saturday and continues to close early for repairs.'Quite Critical'So far, the movement has enjoyed resilient support in the former British colony as it expanded to include calls for greater democracy. But recent episodes, including protesters ambushing police, throwing Molotov cocktails at officers, beating a taxi driver and punching a JPMorgan Chase & Co. employee from mainland China have tested the public's tolerance."At the moment, the balance still tips in favor of the protesters because of the various misdeeds and brutality on the part of the police, but the balance may turn," said Joseph Cheng, a retired political science professor and pro-democracy activist. "The coming week will be quite critical."Since protests erupted on China's National Day on Oct. 1, police have arrested some 500 people, including 77 for violating the mask ban, and fired almost 2,000 rounds of tear gas. Dozens of people have have been injured, including two teenage protesters who were shot during fights with police.In online forums, some protesters circulated a public apology for attacks on branches of Shanghai Commercial Bank Ltd., which some had mistook for a state-owned Chinese financial institution. The Hong Kong Association of Banks said that 10% of the city's ATMs were damaged last weekend.However, the view that vandalism should be reduced isn't shared by all. On Thursday, a group of protesters who earlier disrupted transport links to the airport published a plan on LIHKG to pressure commercial establishments Sunday, including a color-coded guide to which establishments should be boycotted or vandalized based on their level of support for the authorities.'I Would Tolerate All the Vandalism'One frequent protester with the surname Yip told Bloomberg News that he was angered how some businesses "stand with the government instead of the citizens." "I would tolerate all the vandalism, even though it created troubles for me," Yip said.Some worry the violence could sap international support, especially as the U.S. Congress considers legislation that would require annual reviews of Hong Kong's special trading status. The Chinese government has denounced the bill, which threatens some $38 billion of U.S. trade with Hong Kong, as an inappropriate interference in the country's domestic affairs."Without question, international perception is very important, and when it comes to opinions on the use of force, public figures in Washington and Wall Street certainly prefer to see peaceful singing in shopping malls and origami," activist Joshua Wong wrote on Facebook.Lam has refused to rule out further emergency measures, or even requesting Chinese military intervention to halt the unrest. "If the situation becomes so bad, then no option should be ruled out, if we want Hong Kong to at least have another chance," she told reporters Tuesday.Some don't want violence to be used as a pretext to delay district council elections Nov. 24, when many activists including Wong are hoping to win seats. Cheng, the retired professor, predicted that there may be fewer violent clashes this weekend as protesters engage in more peaceful events."There will still be some radicals engaging in clashes, but the number of people involved and the scale and scope of the clashes may well decline a bit," Cheng said. "There will be more gatherings in the shopping malls, singing, human chains, large groups of students marching quietly in the streets with masks, and then going home. I hope so."(Updates with details of protest in fifth paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Aaron Mc Nicholas in Hong Kong at amcnicholas2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Daniel Ten KateFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Ethiopia turns former palace, torture site into tourist draw Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:50 AM PDT  A palace that once housed Ethiopia's emperors and also served as a torture site under the communist Derg regime is to open to the public in a controversial government tourism project. The palace compound in Addis Ababa, which Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed's government has rebranded "Unity Park", was formally launched Thursday and will be open from Friday. Abiy's office said on Twitter Thursday that the project "symbolises our ability to come together".
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| A week inside the Fox News bubble: From daytime sanity to prime-time Hannity Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:09 PM PDT  One of the most startling things about Fox News is just how quickly it managed to embed itself in American culture.Despite being younger than, say, Logan Paul, it has an outsized level of clout which has only increased with the election of Donald Trump.
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| Top Diplomat Was Axed for Protesting Giuliani’s Back-Channel Ukraine Crusade Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:28 PM PDT  Alex Wong/GettyThe House impeachment inquiry dismissed as "illegitimate" by the White House is about to hear testimony from a former top aide ready to go on the record about Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani's "shadow policy" in Ukraine—along with the former ambassador to Ukraine who was reportedly ousted for refusing to put up with all the off-the-books maneuvering. The Associated Press reports former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, was dismissed from her post after calling out Giuliani's back-channel methods in his crusade to have Ukrainian authorities investigate debunked corruption allegations against one of Trump's top political rivals in 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden.A former diplomat said Yovanovitch made clear there were formal procedures to follow when requesting a country's help in an investigation, and recalled that she refused to participate in "offline, personal, informal stuff." After Yovanovitch was abruptly dismissed from her post earlier than expected in May as Giuliani pursued the investigations, national security officials reportedly raised concerns about her ouster and the lawyer's push to make it happen.Additionally, Trump's former top aide to Russia and Europe will reportedly testify to Congress that Giuliani—along with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland—circumvented the National Security Council to pursue their own Ukraine "shadow policy."According to NBC News, Fiona Hill plans to tell lawmakers that Giuliani and Sondland bypassed former National Security Adviser John Bolton and other processes to access the president on Ukraine-related issues.National security officials also raised concerns about Sondland. According to The Washington Post, he claimed Trump put him in charge of Ukraine relations and expressed in a meeting how Ukraine's corruption investigations "need to be started up again"—which officials understood to be a reference to the Biden probes.Yovanovitch is scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees on Friday behind closed doors. Hill is also expected to testify before Congress on Oct. 14.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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| Explained: Why 6th Generation Fighters Will Crush the F-35 and F-22 Posted: 10 Oct 2019 07:00 PM PDT  The future of high-tech warfare is nigh.
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| GM, UAW clash over how to reach deal to end lengthy strike Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:37 AM PDT  WASHINGTON/DETROIT (Reuters) - General Motors and the United Auto Workers (UAW) union clashed late Thursday over how to end a 25-day strike that has cost the company over $1 billion, according to letters seen by Reuters. GM urged the UAW to agree to around-the-clock negotiations to try reach a deal, while the union insisted on dealing with five specific issues first before it responded to a broader proposal from the company. The UAW began strike action on Sept. 16, with the union's 48,000 members seeking higher pay, greater job security, a bigger share of the automaker's profit and protection of healthcare benefits.
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| See Photos of the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport Posted: 11 Oct 2019 07:15 AM PDT |
| CNN anchor Chris Cuomo issued an apology in the middle of the network’s town hall on LGBTQ issues Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:28 AM PDT  CNN anchor Chris Cuomo issued an apology in the middle of the network's town hall on LGBTQ issues Thursday night after he joked he, too, used female pronouns.
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