| Will televised Trump impeachment hearings convince Americans that he should be removed from office? Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:07 AM PST  After weeks of closed-door testimony, public impeachment proceedings against President Trump will begin Wednesday. But will they change public opinion?
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| PHOTOS: Venice flooded from rising tides and rain Posted: 12 Nov 2019 08:33 AM PST  Tourists and Venetians alike have donned high boots and taken to temporary raised walkways to slosh through the high water that has hit much of the lagoon city.
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| At an Iowa rally, progressive voters already talk about an Ocasio-Cortez presidency Posted: 11 Nov 2019 06:18 AM PST  As she took the stage in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday night, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez noted it was her "first time" in the key presidential primary state. But many of the thousands of people who came to see her campaign for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders were confident it wouldn't be her last visit.
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| Condoleezza Rice Calls Giuliani’s Ukraine Involvement ‘Deeply Troubling’ Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:23 PM PST  Former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice said Monday that reports detailing the involvement of President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in the White House's Ukraine policy were "deeply troubling.""What I see right now troubles me. I see a state of conflict between the foreign policy professionals and someone who says he's acting on behalf of the president but frankly I don't know if that is the case," Rice said at a conference in Abu Dhabi. "This is just not a good thing. The world shouldn't get confusing messages from the United States of America."Multiple witnesses have alleged in house testimony that Giuliani conducted his own investigative work without regard for the administration's formal policy.William Taylor, the former top American diplomat in Ukraine, whose testimony was released last week, asserted that Giuliani was actively undermining U.S. foreign policy."The irregular channel seemed to focus on specific issues, specific cases, rather than the regular channel's focus on institution building," Taylor said, according to the transcript. "So the irregular channel, I think under the influence of Mr. Giuliani, wanted to focus on one or two specific cases, irrespective of whether it helped solve the corruption problem, fight the corruption problem."Earlier Monday, news broke that Lev Parnas, an associate of Giuliani, will tell investigators that Giuliani attempted to leverage an official visit from Vice President Mike Pence to coax Ukraine into announcing an investigation into Joe Biden's son Hunter's business connections to Burisma.Rice also said she thought Trump's mention of former vice president Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who served on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma, during the call was "out of bounds.""The call is murky, it is really murky. I don't like for the president of the United States to mention an American citizen for investigation to a foreign leader," Rice said.
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| Supreme Court weighs whether Mexican family can sue in US Posted: 12 Nov 2019 12:22 PM PST  The Supreme Court's left-leaning justices on Tuesday appeared willing to allow a lawsuit filed by the parents of a Mexican teenager shot over the border by an American agent, but the case will depend on whether they can persuade a conservative colleague to join them. The high court heard arguments in a 2010 case where Border Patrol Agent Jesus Mesa Jr. fired into Mexico, striking and killing Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca. Mesa rode up on a bicycle, took Sergio's friend into custody, then fired across the border, killing Sergio with a gunshot wound to the face.
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| Jordan foils plot against U.S., Israeli diplomats and American soldiers: newspaper Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:52 PM PST ![Jordan foils plot against U.S., Israeli diplomats and American soldiers: newspaper]( "Jordan foils plot against U.S., Israeli diplomats and American soldiers: newspaper") Jordanian intelligence recently foiled a plot by two suspected militants to mount terror attacks against U.S. and Israeli diplomats alongside U.S. troops deployed at a military base in the south of the country, state-owned al-Rai newspaper reported on Tuesday. Militants from Islamic State and other radical jihadist groups have long targeted the U.S.-allied kingdom and dozens of militants are currently serving lengthy prison terms. King Abdullah, a Middle East ally of Western powers against Islamist militancy, has been among the most vocal leaders in the region in warning of threats posed by radical groups.
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| With Rising Violence, China Pushes Hong Kong Toward Civil War Posted: 12 Nov 2019 02:21 AM PST  A traffic police officer in Hong Kong shot an unarmed 21-year-old pro-democracy protester at point-blank range on Monday. Hours later, a man was set on fire after defending Beijing in an argument. Both individuals were listed in critical condition.Over the weekend, wide-scale disturbances scarred the territory, a semi-autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. There is essentially a rebellion in Hong Kong. Riot police in green uniforms are doing battle with youthful demonstrators dressed in black. How Hong Kong Protesters Show Which Businesses Are Friend or FoeProtests began in April after Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's top official, proposed legislation authorizing the extradition of fugitives to various jurisdictions, including Mainland China. Starting June 9, when an estimated one million Hong Kongers marched in the streets, demonstrations have been almost continuous. Lam has since permanently withdrawn the extradition bill from consideration, but the protests have not abated. Especially this week. Hong Kong braced for a weekend of disturbances after Chow Tsz-lok, a 22-year-old student at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, died on Friday after falling from a car park the preceding Sunday while running away from police tear gas. Many have accused the police of delaying medical assistance to the mortally injured Chow.Chow has been called "the first fatality linked to police action during a protest," but many believe the police have killed others. Demonstrators believe three of their number were beaten to death on August 31 in the Prince Edward Mass Transit Railway station in Mong Kok. Since then, the above-ground entrance to the station has become a shrine, protestors have repeatedly rallied in front of the adjacent Mong Kok police station, and youth have continually trashed MTR trains and stations because they believe management of the rail system has withheld surveillance-camera footage.Even a single death creates a cycle of revenge and retaliation that is almost impossible to control. Chow's passing sparked a weekend of rage.Moreover, Chief Executive Lam added to the tensions. In her most recent press conference, held Monday after the shooting and burning incidents, she called protesters the "enemy of the people." Her provocative Cultural Revolution-speak comment came on the heels of her November 4 meeting with Chinese ruler Xi Jinping. China is apparently controlling events, and either out of obliviousness or maliciousness, it is making the situation worse. Beijing has been doing that by forcing Lam to take a hard line. Apart from the withdrawal of the extradition bill—doomed because the normally pro-Beijing business community came out against it early on—she has been intransigent. That intransigence was evident from her Monday remarks. She said she would not yield to violence, but she had previously left Hong Kong people no choice. She had, with her stubbornness, earlier foreclosed the possibility of peaceful change.Hong Kong people may not be able to change her mind, but she cannot change theirs either. The army in black—as well as many other people in the territory—have continued to protest.Analysts say Beijing will eventually lose patience and use force. "This kind of extreme, violent, and destructive activity would not be tolerated or accepted in any country or society in the world nowadays," said Chinese Vice-Premier Han Zheng as he met with Lam early this month in Beijing.Han's words were taken as a threat to formally deploy units of the People's Liberation Army or the People's Armed Police to the streets of Hong Kong to "crush" the protests and reestablish order. Beijing could move in troops, but the move is unlikely to work. Hong Kong, after all, is ideal territory for defenders, like guerilla fighters supported by an overwhelming portion of the public. Every apartment building there is a fort where hostiles can rain down explosives or petrol bombs on Chinese troops and then disappear into their homes or back alleys. Xi Jinping surely does not want his first war to take tens of thousands of soldiers, last years if not decades, and end in a loss for China.In the meantime, there is credible evidence suggesting Mainland Chinese personnel—troops or police—are now operating on Hong Kong streets in police uniforms. This sly tactic is not working, however. Why not? The Hong Kong police department, once considered the most professional force of its kind in Asia, has lost discipline, something evident from the shooting of the protester Monday and countless other incidents. The breakdown in discipline roughly coincides with early evidence that Chinese forces were mixed in with the Hong Kong police, and the resulting rough tactics have resulted in a loss of support of ordinary residents tired of being tear gassed, clubbed, and manhandled. All this raises the question whether Beijing has given the green light to police officers to act as brutally as they want. Yet whether China did so or not, harsh action by the police is sustaining support for the protesters. Demonstrators this past weekend were chanting "Revenge." Hong Kong is now at war with itself. There is no end in sight to the fighting.LeBron James Bends the Knee to China, Fails His First Big Test as the NBA's ConscienceRead 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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| China's Submarines Can Now Launch a Nuclear War Against America Posted: 12 Nov 2019 10:00 AM PST  A missile test last November made the point quite clear.
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| Clinton says she is being urged by ‘many, many, many people’ to run in 2020 Posted: 12 Nov 2019 02:20 PM PST  Hillary Clinton on Tuesday declined to rule out launching a future presidential campaign after her two failed bids, saying "many, many, many people" were pressuring her to enter the race. "I, as I say, never, never, never say never," the former secretary of State said on BBC Radio 5 Live. "But as of this moment, sitting here in this studio talking to you, that is absolutely not in my plans," Clinton added.
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| Don't stop the fight against mercury pollution: Republican and Democrat to Trump EPA Posted: 12 Nov 2019 06:25 AM PST  The mercury rule has protected Americans from dangerous pollution. Changing it threatens gains that include cleaner air and edible seafood.
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| Democrats need to stop being such babies about Barack Obama Posted: 12 Nov 2019 02:50 AM PST ![Democrats need to stop being such babies about Barack Obama]( "Democrats need to stop being such babies about Barack Obama") Pete Buttigieg got in hot water with many loyal Democrats on Sunday when the Los Angeles Times reported that he cited the "failures of the Obama era" as part of why Trump's election happened. This inspired furious outrage from liberal partisans and party apparatchiks -- only soothed (and tweets deleted) when the reporter said he had misquoted Buttigieg, who was then quick to lavish praise on the ex-president.But as it turns out, Buttigieg previously said almost the exact same thing in a recent interview with Showtime's The Circus. "I don't think there's going back to Obama... the American political world we've been in from the day I was born, has been blown up," he explained, "[thanks to] its own failures which culminated in Trump. Look, if the old way worked, something like Trump would never have been possible."So this recent flap sure looks like another flip-flop from Payola Pete, mayor of Indiana's fourth largest city. But at least in his beta release form, I have to admit that Buttigieg was completely correct. Democrats really need to get over this worshipful reverence of Barack Obama.For one thing, it is simply beyond question that the Obama years were a political disaster. From having commanding majorities in both the House and the Senate, Democrats lost first the former, then the latter, and finally the presidency, as the candidate running as Obama's successor bobbled perhaps the easiest lay-up election in American history. Meanwhile, the party all but collapsed in many states, as devastating national defeats translated into the loss of over 1,000 state legislative seats.As I have written before, the primary reason for the Obama-era Democrats' initial crushing loss in 2010, which locked in Republican gains for a decade at least through their ensuing control of the state gerrymandering process, was policy error -- undershooting the size of the economic stimulus in response to the Great Recession on the one hand, and secretly using homeowner assistance money to bail out the banks on the other. The former was not entirely Obama's fault, as he had to get congressional approval for the stimulus, but the latter was entirely under his control. Millions were left out of work, and about 10 million people losing their homes wreaked further economic devastation. As any historian could tell you, being in power during a huge economic disaster is the surest possible way to get blown out of the water in the next election.If you take Obama out of the equation, what Buttigieg was saying before it looks like folks might stop sending those fat campaign checks is all but conventional wisdom even among liberals. Obama himself reportedly has grave doubts about what Trump means for his legacy. Clearly if the party could lose to the most unpopular major party nominee in the history of polling, whatever was happening before 2016 was not exactly working out.And from the other side of the fence, Obama has shown no inclination to fulfill the sort of leadership role loyal Democrats clearly crave. Despite the shattering national crisis that Trump presents, he has not gone on to a different office -- unlike, say, John Quincy Adams, who returned to the House after his presidency and fought slavery literally until his dying breath. Obama is not out there mobilizing day and night against Trump's migrant concentration camps, or his Muslim ban, or his blatant abuses of power.Only occasionally will Obama pop up to endorse candidates, often centrist or center-right white men like Emmanuel Macron or Justin Trudeau. He largely avoided campaigning in 2018 until the last few weeks before the election. He's mainly keeping to himself, hanging out with rich tycoons and celebrities, and making eye-popping sums giving paid speeches before big corporations and banks.He appears in public only occasionally -- and when he does, he has a tendency to indulge in get-off-my-lawn youth scolding that, as Ta-Nehisi Coates wrote back in 2013, was offensive and out of date when he did it as president. "This idea of purity and you're never compromised and you're always politically 'woke' and all that stuff," he said at a recent Obama Foundation summit. "You should get over that quickly. The world is messy, there are ambiguities." Just like the time when "we tortured some folks," but it was still important to "look forward as opposed to backwards" instead of enforcing the law, I suppose.Jokes aside, this almost beggars belief. President Trump is flagrantly stealing money from the American state, attempting to get foreign countries to gin up political persecutions of Obama's own vice president, and Obama is out here raising worries about exaggerated nonsense from America's most dimwitted and gullible columnists, and earning praise from loathsome trolls:> Good for Obama. (Not sarcastic!) https://t.co/cwq5mcDc7V> > -- Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) October 30, 2019Now, let me be clear: All this is, of course, Obama's complete right as a private citizen. It is, at least for the moment, still a free country. But Democrats should not follow the advice of the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin, who argues that "it is unheard of for a party following a two-term president not to run on his achievements," in part because "Republicans did that with former president Ronald Reagan for 30 years." She would know, from her previous incarnation as a prolific and absolutely shameless propagandist for Mitt Romney. But the grim fate of the GOP is precisely the problem.We see today what you get when a party loses the ability to think critically about its history, and treats its leaders as infallible saints no matter what they do: Donald Trump.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com The coming death of just about every rock legend The president has already confessed to his crimes Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?
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| Woman who spoke at Epstein's bail hearing sues his estate Posted: 12 Nov 2019 02:13 PM PST  A woman who confronted Jeffrey Epstein at a July bail hearing to tell a judge he touched her inappropriately when she was 16 sued his estate Tuesday, alleging he had subjected her to sex trafficking as part of his attacks on young women and girls. Lawyers for Annie Farmer filed the lawsuit in Manhattan federal court, along with a lawsuit on behalf of her sister, Maria Farmer, and Teresa Helm, an Ohio woman. A lawyer for Epstein's estate did not return a message seeking comment.
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| Most priests accused of sexually abusing children were never sent to prison. Here's why Posted: 11 Nov 2019 06:53 PM PST ![Most priests accused of sexually abusing children were never sent to prison. Here's why]( "Most priests accused of sexually abusing children were never sent to prison. Here's why") Why aren't more credibly accused Catholic priests in prison? Blame it on laws that don't allow enough time for abuse survivors to come forward
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| Chinese national pleads guilty in U.S. court to stealing Phillips 66 trade secrets Posted: 12 Nov 2019 01:28 PM PST ![Chinese national pleads guilty in U.S. court to stealing Phillips 66 trade secrets]( "Chinese national pleads guilty in U.S. court to stealing Phillips 66 trade secrets") A Chinese national pleaded guilty on Tuesday to stealing trade secrets from U.S. petroleum company Phillips 66 , where he worked on the research and development of next generation battery technologies, the U.S. Justice Department said. Hongjin Tan, 36, stole information regarding the manufacture of a "research and development downstream energy market product" that is worth more than $1 billion, the department said in a statement. The department identified the company where he worked as Phillips 66 in court documents filed in Oklahoma.
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| The China-Russia Relationship Is More About Survival Than Friendship Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PST  Fears are overblown. Mistrust remains.
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| Turkey police rearrest journalist Ahmet Altan Posted: 12 Nov 2019 11:38 AM PST  Turkish police acting on a court order rearrested journalist and novelist Ahmet Altan Tuesday, just a week after his release from prison over alleged links to the failed 2016 coup. Altan and another veteran journalist Nazli Ilicak were released on November 4 despite having been convicted of "helping a terrorist group". The Istanbul court sentenced Altan to more than 10 years in jail, but ruled that he and Ilicak should be released under supervision after time already served -- around three years each.
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| Turkey Threatens to Release ISIS Prisoners Into Europe In Response to E.U. Sanctions Posted: 12 Nov 2019 05:37 AM PST  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday implied that Turkey could release Islamic State prisoners into Europe as retaliation for new sanctions from the European Union over Turkey's unauthorized drilling for gas off the Cyprus coast."You should revise your stance toward Turkey, which at the moment holds so many IS members in prison and at the same time controls those in Syria," Erdogan told reporters. "These gates will open and these IS members who have started to be sent to you will continue to be sent.""Then you can take care of your own problem," the Turkish president added.On Monday, E.U. foreign ministers settled on a system "to sanction individuals or entities responsible for, or involved in, unauthorized drilling activities of hydrocarbons." The sanctions would involve travel bans and freezing the assets of companies and individuals engaging in drilling near E.U. member Cyprus, which Turkey does not recognize as independent.Erdogan also said Turkey will continue to send captured foreign Islamic State terrorists back to their countries of origin even if those countries refused to reabsorb them, saying Turkey is not a "hotel" for ISIS militants. About 1,200 Islamic State members are imprisoned in Turkey, the country said.One suspected ISIS fighter who is also a U.S. citizen is reportedly stuck in a militarized buffer zone between the Turkish and Greek border after Turkey deported him and Greece refused him entry."Whether they are stuck there at the border it doesn't concern us. We will continue to send them. Whether they take them or not, it is not our concern," the Turkish president said.Erdogan is scheduled to hold talks with President Trump Wednesday at the White House, a meeting that has sparked some bipartisan criticism.
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| Kavanaugh Returns to Spotlight a Year After Nasty Senate Fight Posted: 11 Nov 2019 01:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh has done his best to keep a low profile in the 13 months since one of the most polarizing Senate confirmation fights in U.S. history.From the bench, his questions have been evenhanded and his opinions have been measured. His public appearances have been rare.But Kavanaugh will be back in the spotlight when he gives the featured dinner speech on Thursday at the annual Washington convention of the Federalist Society, the powerful conservative legal group that helped put him on the court.The appearance, in front of an organization Kavanaugh joined in 1988 as a law student, will offer a reminder of his professional roots and help showcase the group's success in helping load the federal courts with conservative judges -- one of President Donald Trump's signature achievements.It will also provide a fresh indication of how the Supreme Court's most controversial justice will navigate the raw feelings that remain after his nomination by Trump and narrow Senate confirmation in the face of sexual assault allegations.About 2,300 people are expected to attend the Antonin Scalia Memorial Dinner, a black-tie-optional event that brings legal luminaries to the cavernous Main Hall of Washington's Union Station every year. The event will be open to the media, though broadcast coverage will be prohibited.When many Americans last saw Kavanaugh, he was at his Senate confirmation hearing angrily and tearfully denying that he had assaulted Christine Blasey Ford decades ago when both were teenagers."This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political hit, fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016 election," Kavanaugh said, with rage that would later be lampooned by actor Matt Damon on "Saturday Night Live."He was confirmed on a 50-48 vote.'Gracious' JusticeThat Brett Kavanaugh bears little resemblance to the one who now sits at one end of the Supreme Court bench, seen only by the few hundred people who typically attend its camera-free argument sessions.Kavanaugh tends to politely challenge both sides during arguments, almost always without tipping his hand on his own views. He often chats amicably with Justice Elena Kagan, who sits to his right and seems to have far more to discuss with him than with Justice Samuel Alito on her other side."He seems quite comfortable," said Carter Phillips, a veteran Supreme Court lawyer at Sidley Austin. "He's very gracious, extremely well-prepared. His questions are good."Kavanaugh's written opinions have generally been measured. Though he has almost always voted with his conservative colleagues when the court splits along ideological lines, he has eschewed the sweeping rhetoric of Trump's other Supreme Court appointee, Neil Gorsuch. On occasion, Kavanaugh has written separate opinions to describe his position as a limited one."He appears more cautious and pragmatic than Gorsuch, but it's too early to tell too much," said Jonathan Adler, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law.Kavanaugh's colleagues have publicly welcomed him and said they don't harbor any ill feelings."We are all human beings, we all have pasts," Justice Sonia Sotomayor told a judicial conference in September, according to the Wall Street Journal. "Now whether things occurred or didn't occur, all of that is irrelevant."Female ClerksJustice Ruth Bader Ginsburg praised Kavanaugh for hiring four women to serve as his law clerks for his first term, something no justice had done in any term.That decision is as close as Kavanaugh has come to publicly addressing the confirmation controversy since he joined the court."It was all women, and I think that was not coincidental," said Melissa Murray, a New York University law professor who testified during the confirmation hearing that she was concerned Kavanaugh would vote to overturn abortion rights. "I think it was intended to be a rebuttal to those who believe those allegations, took those allegations seriously. I think he wanted to sort of counteract the perception that might have been left after the confirmation hearing."For the public at large, Kavanaugh remains a polarizing figure -- far more so than his longer-serving colleagues. A Marquette Law School poll conducted in September found that 32% of respondents had an unfavorable view of Kavanaugh, with 26% holding a favorable view. No other justice had an unfavorable rating higher than 23%.Though he has met privately with smaller groups, the Federalist Society speech will mark only the second time Kavanaugh has spoken publicly outside the court since the White House ceremony that followed his October 2018 confirmation. Kavanaugh appeared in May with the man he succeeded, Justice Anthony Kennedy, before a conference of judges and lawyers.Standing OvationKavanaugh's reception at the Federalist Society event is all but certain to be positive, probably overwhelmingly so, though it's possible he'll face protests."I expect he'll get a very warm reception," said Adler, a Federalist Society member who plans to attend.Kavanaugh got a lengthy standing ovation when he arrived for last year's dinner, which took place less than six weeks after the Senate vote. He opted not to give a talk at that event, instead agreeing to speak this year, according to two people familiar with the planning.The Federalist Society's executive vice president, Leonard Leo, has served as a key adviser to Trump on judicial nominations. Leo declined to be interviewed about Kavanaugh's work on the court, saying he generally doesn't comment on individual justices.The dinner is part of a three-day program that features speeches by Gorsuch and Attorney General Bill Barr as well as panel discussions on a plethora of legal topics."I think it is meaningful that he's choosing to make a debut of sorts at this particular venue," Murray said.Chances are Kavanaugh's speech will steer clear of any discussion of the confirmation controversy. He probably will at least touch on the judicial philosophy that made him a Federalist Society favorite in the first place. He might show the side of himself that promised at his confirmation hearing to be part of a "team of nine" on the court."I think it will be different than it was in his last public appearance," said Phillips with a laugh. "He is by nature a gracious and even-tempered person. I expect that that's the way he will come across."To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, John Harney, Laurie AsséoFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Airline pilot receives $300k for wrongful arrest after being seen naked near airport Posted: 12 Nov 2019 09:35 AM PST  An airline pilot who was arrested after being spotted naked in his hotel room overlooking Denver International Airport has been awarded a $300,000 wrongful arrest settlement from the Colorado city.The man, United Airlines pilot Andrew Collins, was arrested in September 2018, after employees saw him apparently touching himself through the 10th floor window of his hotel room.
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| Israeli airstrike kills Islamic Jihad commander in Gaza home Posted: 12 Nov 2019 05:31 AM PST  The Israeli strike killed Bahaa Abu el-Atta and his wife, setting off a furious barrage of dozens of rocket attacks reaching as far as Tel Aviv.
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| Uganda charges 67 after raid on gay bar Posted: 12 Nov 2019 11:03 AM PST ![Uganda charges 67 after raid on gay bar]( "Uganda charges 67 after raid on gay bar") A Ugandan court charged 67 people with causing a nuisance on Tuesday after they were arrested in a gay-friendly bar, in a move condemned by activists as the latest "homophobic" attack. The 67 - who were among 127 arrested at Ram Bar, in the capital, Kampala, on Sunday - could face up to one year in jail if found guilty, said Patricia Kimera, a lawyer for the group. "This is just a homophobic attack," LGBT+ activist Raymond Karuhanga told the Thomson Reuters Foundation outside the court.
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| Widow sues boat owner in fire off California that killed 34 Posted: 11 Nov 2019 04:41 PM PST  The widow of a passenger who died in a fiery dive boat disaster that killed 34 people in the waters off California sued the vessel's owners Monday. Christine Dignam, whose husband, Justin Dignam, died when the Conception caught fire Sept. 2 off the Santa Barbara coast, claimed that the boat was unsafe. The vessel didn't have adequate smoke detectors or firefighting equipment, it lacked enough emergency exits, and a required night watch was not on duty when the flames broke out in the middle of the night, according to the wrongful-death lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles.
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| Is the Littoral Combat Ship One of the Worst Warships Ever? Posted: 11 Nov 2019 04:00 AM PST  A terrible investment.
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| Ghana reverses 'premature' recognition of Kosovo Posted: 12 Nov 2019 06:43 AM PST  Ghana has revoked its "premature" recognition of Kosovo -- a move backed by Serbia, which opposes statehood for the former Yugoslav province. "The government of Ghana has decided to withdraw Ghana's recognition of Kosovo as an independent state," deputy foreign minister Charles Owiredu told AFP on Tuesday. The reasons were communicated to Serbia in a letter, he said.
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| Substitute teacher fired after student beating goes viral Posted: 11 Nov 2019 07:12 PM PST ![Substitute teacher fired after student beating goes viral]( "Substitute teacher fired after student beating goes viral") A substitute teacher has been fired and charged with aggravated assault following the beating of a 15-year-old female high school student in an incident captured on video. Tiffani Shadell Lankford is free on $10,000 bond after her arrest Friday afternoon. Video of last week's incident in a foreign-language class at Lehman High School in Kyle, Texas, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Austin went viral.
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| Fox News Host: ‘If You Love Something, Do You Let Someone Pee on It?’ Posted: 12 Nov 2019 04:11 PM PST  Fox NewsDuring a Tuesday afternoon Fox News discussion on the San Francisco district attorney vowing not to prosecute quality of life crimes amid a growing homelessness issue in the city, Fox News host Jesse Watters turned to his colleagues to ask a very serious question. "If you love something, do you let someone pee on it?"Over the past few months, Fox News has devoted countless segments to depicting Democratic-led cities like Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles as "liberal wastelands" full of homeless drug-addicted "zombies." Much of the coverage has focused on public urination and defecation. Tuesday's broadcast of Fox News' roundtable show The Five gave us yet another one of these segments.Noting that Chesa Boudin was recently elected district attorney of San Francisco by promising to pursue criminal justice reform and not prosecute minor public decency crimes, liberal co-host Juan Williams expressed sympathy for the homeless, who are often the targets of vagrancy laws."We all know how to find a bathroom," Williams said. "But if you are homeless, where are you supposed to go to the bathroom? You are not homeless by choice.""Yes, you are! Some of them are," fellow co-host Greg Gutfeld chimed in.Watters then called on San Francisco residents to form their own version of the Tea Party—but instead call it the Pee Party."Every day when the D.A. walks into his office, there needs to be a bunch of patriots just peeing on the sidewalk in front of him," Watters exclaimed. "Until he's forced to arrest them! They will be like the Samuel Adamses of public urination."Turning to Williams and telling him "to be normal for a second," the conservative host continued with his rant."If you love something, do you let someone pee on it?" Watters wondered aloud. "Of course you don't! You protect that something you love from someone peeing on something, OK?""What?" Williams replied, clearly taken aback.The one-time Bill O'Reilly protege then insisted that "you obviously let someone pee on" something you hate.Pointing out that Boudin's parents are anti-war radicals who were sent to prison, Watters claimed Boudin "really hates the city" and is trying to "destroy" it."His parents were domestic terrorists, they got locked up, and he was raised by domestic terrorists," he concluded. "It makes perfect sense. And now his job is to destroy an American city. He is a socialist, he wants to run everybody out of San Francisco and rebuild it as a socialist utopia. That is what is going on."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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| From 'Anonymous,' key excerpts from inside Trump White House on Putin, Hillary Posted: 12 Nov 2019 05:20 PM PST  Key excerpts from "A Warning," a book by an anonymous senior administration official about President Trump and his administration.
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| Briton who helped found Syria's White Helmets dies in Turkey Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:14 AM PST  A former British army officer who helped found the White Helmets volunteer organization in Syria was found dead in Istanbul early Monday, Turkish officials and the group said. James Le Mesurier's body was found near his home in the Beyoglu district by worshippers on their way to a mosque, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported. The Istanbul governor's office said "comprehensive administrative and judicial investigations" had been initiated into Le Mesurier's death.
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| USS Utah: The Forgotten (Drone) Battleship Sunk at Pearl Harbor Posted: 12 Nov 2019 03:47 AM PST  Back in July, the United States almost went to war over the downing of a drone along the Iranian border. This is not, strangely enough, the first time that an attack against the United States began with violence against a drone.
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| Chinese land deal in Solomon's Guadalcanal disrupts access to WWII site Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:49 PM PST  Tour operators and the Japanese ambassador to the Solomons say it appears to be a case of a lack of understanding of the significance of the Alligator Creek site by the new owner. The issue has stirred up debate in the Solomons concerning its new relationship with China, which was formalized in September following the Pacific island nation's decision to sever its diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of Beijing.
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| Google Gathering Health Care Data on Millions of Americans with Secret ‘Project Nightingale’ Posted: 11 Nov 2019 12:43 PM PST  Google has teamed up with one of the largest health care systems in the U.S. to gather the personal health care information of millions of people in 21 states, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.Named "Project Nightingale," the initiative is one of the largest efforts by Silicon Valley tech companies to enter the lucrative health care industry. Google partnered last year with Ascension, the St. Louis-based health care system that is the second largest in the U.S., to collect and crunch health care data on a massive scale.Patients and doctors have not been notified that their data is being shared.The data involved includes lab results, doctor diagnoses and hospitalization records, as well as patient names and dates of birth. Google and Ascension are essentially collecting patients' complete personal health records. Patients and doctors have not been notified that their data is being shared.Google aims to design new software with the data that will suggest improvements in patient care directly to individual patients. Ascension, a Catholic hospital network, wants to use the data to improve patient care, mining the data to suggest additional tests for patients.According to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, hospitals may share patient data with business partners without notifying patients as long as that information is "used only to help the covered entity carry out its health-care functions."Nevertheless, several Ascension employees voiced concerns regarding the ways Google and Ascension are gathering the data, according to internal documents reviewed by the Journal. While Ascension did not immediately comment on the report, a spokesman for Google said the project is completely in line with federal law.About 150 employees across Google's platform currently have access to specific personal data collected as part of Project Nightingale.The news comes as calls to rein in big tech companies grow more popular on both sides of the political aisle, albeit for somewhat different reasons.Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) has come out strongly against the involvement of big tech companies in the Chinese market and has campaigned against perceived bias against conservatives from these companies.Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) has threatened to break up Facebook and other social media giants if she is elected president in 2020. She has suggested Facebook might help President Trump win reelection if that would profit the company.
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| Trump impeachment: Security establishment said US military aid to Ukraine was vital, testifies top defence official Posted: 11 Nov 2019 07:21 PM PST  America's security establishment believed US military aid to Ukraine was vital and should not be jeopardised, a senior defence official told impeachment investigators probing Donald Trump.Laura Cooper, deputy assistant secretary of defence, told members of Congress that her department was "concerned" with delaying aid to Ukraine.
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| Tulsi Gabbard's lawyers sent a letter to Hillary Clinton demanding she retract Russia comments Posted: 12 Nov 2019 04:19 PM PST  Tulsi Gabbard's lawyers want Hillary Clinton to make her retraction at a press conference and on social media.
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| Do-it-yourself temple waits to move into Indian holy site Posted: 11 Nov 2019 09:43 PM PST  Huge slabs of pink Rajasthan stone, carved pillars and bricks from across India are already waiting to form a Hindu temple to be built on the site of a demolished mosque at the centre of decades of deadly turbulence. Enough stone to build a small mountain was waiting at a complex in the holy city of Ayodhya years before the country's Supreme Court ruled on Saturday that the site should be handed over to Hindus to build a new temple. A mosque stood on the site for almost five centuries until it was demolished by Hindu zealots in 1992, sparking riots across the country in which 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, died.
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| Taiwan Wants American F-16V Fighters but Will Washington Sell Them? Posted: 11 Nov 2019 10:00 PM PST  Taipei is worried about China.
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| No One Should Be Handcuffed over Churros — So Let’s Change the Law Posted: 12 Nov 2019 09:03 AM PST  A video of New York City police officers arresting a woman for selling churros in a subway station in Brooklyn on Friday night went viral over the weekend -- sparking a lot of outrage on her behalf.The incident made headlines after New York City resident Sofia B. Newman tweeted the video, along with an explanation of what she'd seen:> Tonight as I was leaving Broadway Junction, I saw three or four police officers (one of them was either a plainclothes cop or someone who worked at the station) gathered around a crying woman and her churro cart. Apparently, it's illegal to sell food inside train stations. 1/? pic.twitter.com/sgQVvSHUik> > -- Sofia B. Newman (@SofiaBNewman) November 9, 2019> They were telling her that she could either give them her churro cart and receive a fine (one that she probably wouldn't have been able to afford), or that they would take her cart and arrest her. 2/?> > -- Sofia B. Newman (@SofiaBNewman) November 9, 2019> She kept trying to speak to one of the cops in Spanish, but the plainclothes cop kept rolling his eyes and saying things like, "Are you done?" and "I know you can speak English." Eventually, they cuffed her and unceremoniously dragged her and her cart away. 3/? pic.twitter.com/qVIfN7DO7u> > -- Sofia B. Newman (@SofiaBNewman) November 9, 2019 According to the Associated Press, the NYPD claims that the woman in the video had received a total of ten summonses for "unlicensed vending" within the past six months. After she was handcuffed, it reports, the cops ultimately let her go with a ticket -- but kept her cart as "arrest evidence."Unfortunately, this week's criminalization-of-churros news didn't end there. The New York Daily News reported on Monday that another woman had been arrested in Brooklyn for selling churros that morning, too.Needless to say, these arrests have been the subject of a lot of controversy. The woman who was arrested Friday, who wanted to be identified only as "Elsa," told reporters (with the help of a translator) on Monday that the officers eventually "became violent" during the incident, and that she had "felt horrible, nervous and stressed" throughout the ordeal. New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, on the other hand, insisted that the police had done nothing wrong, that "she was there multiple times and was told multiple times that this [was] not a place you can be and it's against the law," that "she shouldn't have been there," that what she did was "not acceptable behavior," and that the NYPD "officers comported themselves properly from what I can see." The New York Times ran a story with the headline: "A Woman Selling Churros Was Handcuffed. The Police Face a Backlash." The Daily News did something similar with its piece, "Police accused of 'overreach' in arresting churro seller in Brooklyn subway."Now, I can't be sure whether or not the NYPD officers actually "became violent" during the incident with Elsa, as she alleges that they did. I certainly didn't see that in the video footage, but it's always a possibility that things happened that weren't captured. What's more, I also believe that New York City's police officers could probably find some more worthwhile things to do than arrest people for selling fried sugar-dough.Still, I can't help but notice that something seems to be missing from the conversation: Why does no one seem to be pissed off about the law that gives the NYPD the power to arrest these women, and those like them, in the first place?Although I would agree that the police shouldn't be making these sorts of things a priority, we should also take this opportunity to observe how Big Government can hurt the same people that it claims to want to help. Think about it: Liberal politicians often push for stricter government regulation of businesses and then, in the same breath, claim that they're the party of the "little guy," of the disadvantaged and the struggling. Here, we see that that isn't always the case. Here, what the "little guy" needs most from the government is to do less, so that she can do more for herself.The truth is, stories like this week's War on Churros serve as evidence against the common misconception that a limited-government philosophy amounts to cold-heartedness, to a cruel disregard (or even outright hatred) for those in this country who are struggling. The truth is, sometimes the best way for the government to help those in need is to stop itself from "helping" them at all.If you have a problem with women being handcuffed for trying to make a living selling pastries, then good; we agree. So, join me in calling for the law to be changed -- so that people can be free to carve out their own living, without fear of arrest, in the country that's supposed to stand for that exact thing.
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| Pompeo 'deplored' the death toll at protests in phone call with Iraqi PM: State Dept Posted: 12 Nov 2019 10:26 AM PST  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a phone call with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi "deplored the death toll" among protesters due to the crackdown of the Iraqi government and urged him to take immediate steps to address demonstrators' demands, State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said on Tuesday. Iraqi security forces on Monday shot dead two protesters in the city of Nassiriya, bringing to 300 the number of people killed since protests against political corruption, unemployment and poor public services erupted in Baghdad on Oct. 1 and spread to the southern Shi'ite heartlands.
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| The life of Donald Trump Jr., who once lived out of a truck, didn't speak to his father for a year, and is making waves on a book tour with his girlfriend Posted: 11 Nov 2019 11:33 AM PST  Donald Trump Jr. has had a busy few years, with his dad becoming president, and being embroiled in the Russia scandal. Here's his life in photos.
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| Zimbabwe says 200 elephants have now died amid drought Posted: 12 Nov 2019 06:11 AM PST  More than 200 elephants have died amid a severe drought, Zimbabwe's parks agency said on Tuesday, and a mass relocation of animals is planned to ease congestion. Zimbabwe National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority spokesman Tinashe Farawo said at least 200 elephants have died in vast Hwange National Park alone since October and other parks are affected. Many animals are straying from Zimbabwe's parks into nearby communities in search of food and water.
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| Hillary Clinton: I Want to Hug Meghan Markle After ‘Racist’ Abuse in Britain Posted: 12 Nov 2019 05:26 AM PST  SAMUEL CORUMHillary Clinton has said she wishes she could hug Meghan Markle as she accused the mainstream British media of participating in a cycle of abuse against her motivated by racism and sexism.The former first lady and presidential candidate was appearing on BBC radio in Britain to promote a new book she has written with her daughter, Chelsea, about "gutsy" women.Don't Expect Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Media War to Simmer Down SoonHillary said the abuse she had suffered was "heartbreaking and wrong" and said she was in no doubt there was a racial element to the abuse she has endured since starting a relationship with Harry in 2016 and marrying him in 2018.Meghan and Harry have been outspoken in their criticism of the press: Meghan is suing the Mail on Sunday after alleging the paper unlawfully published a private letter to her father, while the prince is bringing a separate case alleging phone-hacking.Asked to comment on her legal action, Chelsea Clinton said: "We each have to do what we think is the right thing for ourselves and in her case I would imagine for her son… I think absolutely there's a racist and a sexist element to what's going on here." Hillary added that "race was clearly an element" in some of the social-media backlash Meghan had faced since her relationship with the prince began in 2016, and that traditional media had amplified that. "To think that some of your, what we would call mainstream media, actually allowed that to be printed in their pages, or amplified, was heartbreaking and wrong. "She is an amazing young woman, she has an incredible life story. She has stood up for herself, she has made her own way in the world. And then she falls in love, and he falls in love with her, and everybody should be celebrating that because it is a true love story."I feel as a mother I just want to put my arms around her. Oh my God, I want to hug her. I want to tell her to hang in there, don't let those bad guys get you down."Clinton suggested that Meghan could employ "some humor, some deflection" to better cope with negative attention.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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