| Fact check: Combative impeachment hearing draws too-simple answers Posted: 10 Dec 2019 04:26 AM PST  Debating the grounds for impeachment, Republicans said there's nothing here. Democrats said it's a slam dunk.
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| Remember When Russian Diesel Submarines Chased Down A British Nuclear Sub? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 04:05 AM PST  Depends if it actually happened.
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| A Florida sheriff office's captain told a deputy to act like a 'white supremacist' and a 'Nazi' when stopping a black murder suspect Posted: 10 Dec 2019 12:38 PM PST  The comment made by Monroe County Sheriff's Capt. Penny Phelps was recorded by a deputy's body camera during a conversation in late 2017.
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| UPDATE 1-Iran foreign ministry issues travel advisory for citizens not to visit America Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:24 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-Iran foreign ministry issues travel advisory for citizens not to visit America]( "UPDATE 1-Iran foreign ministry issues travel advisory for citizens not to visit America") Iran warned its citizens, particularly scientists, on Tuesday not to visit America, saying Iranians there were subjected to arbitrary and lengthy detention in inhuman conditions. "Iranian citizens, particularly elites and scientists, are requested to seriously avoid traveling to America, even to take part in scientific conferences and even having an invitation," a travel advisory on the foreign ministry website said. It cited, "America's cruel and one-sided laws toward Iranians, especially Iranian elites, and arbitrary and lengthy detention in completely inhuman conditions" as reasons for the travel advisory.
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| Pete Buttigieg Reveals His List of Clients From ‘Amoral’ McKinsey Posted: 10 Dec 2019 03:49 PM PST  Following weeks of increasing pressure for presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg to break one of the corporate world's most famously stringent non-disclosure agreements, the Indiana Democrat on Tuesday night revealed a comprehensive list of clients he worked with during his time at McKinsey & Co., one day after the management consulting behemoth announced that it would give Buttigieg permission to disclose their identities. The client list includes a Canadian grocery store chain, a Michigan insurance company, a handful of environmental non-profits, multiple U.S. government departments and agencies, and Best Buy, all of which gave permission to McKinsey for their identities to be revealed."I think people are going to pounce on things no matter what. The best I can do is to explain my story—as much as I can responsibly share," Buttigieg told The Atlantic's Edward-Isaac Dovere, the first to report Buttigieg's client list in full. "But if folks are going to come up with a fanciful theory based on consulting work I did four and a half years out of school, chances are they'll find a way to do it no matter what I say or do."In the interview, Buttigieg said that there were at least four instances after he left McKinsey where he felt that someone at the consulting firm had "done something upsetting.""It's a place that is as amoral as the American business community in general, or at least the corporate community, can be. And that's one of the problems with it," Buttigieg told The Atlantic. "I never worked or was asked to work on things that I had a problem with, but it's a place that I think, like any other law firm or firms that deal with companies, just thinks about client work and doesn't always think about the bigger implications."The disclosure comes after the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, found himself stuck between increasingly sharp-elbowed rivals critical of his lack of transparency and a former employer known for a ruthless corporate culture and a controversial client list.McKinsey & Co., by which Buttigieg was employed as an associate between 2007 and 2010, had remained publicly silent on the candidate's increasingly public requests to be released from the non-disclosure agreement he signed during his time there. But on Monday evening, the famously secretive firm announced that it had given his campaign permission to break the non-disclosure agreement."After receiving permission from the relevant clients, we have informed Mr. Buttigieg that he may disclose the identity of the clients he served while at McKinsey from 2007 to 2010," a spokesperson for the firm said in a statement, while asserting that "any description of his work for those clients still must not disclose confidential, proprietary or classified information."Buttigieg described his work at McKinsey as mostly involving spreadsheets and PowerPoint presentations—and said that his work at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which cut hundreds of jobs and increased premiums in 2009 after calling in McKinsey to help it identify cost savings, had nothing to do with anyone losing their insurance or facing higher premiums.Instead, Buttigieg told The Atlantic, his work at Blue Cross Blue Shield largely had to do expenditures like printing costs, travel and hotel expenses, and office rents. That assignment, part of a three-month training period, was his first role at McKinsey."Mostly I was with fellow consultants in a room working on a spreadsheet," Buttigieg said. Buttigieg pointed out that after three months of training, he was moved off the project, years before any layoffs or premium increases. "I don't know what the conclusions were or what it led to," Buttigieg said. "So it's tough for me to say."The client lists comports with a broad timeline, released by the Buttigieg campaign on Friday, outlining his work at McKinsey between 2007 and 2010, after he earned a master's degree from the University of Oxford and before he left the company to run for Indiana state treasurer.Some of Buttigieg's consulting work took him abroad. In one project, studying economic development for the Department of Defense, Buttigieg made several trips to Iraq and Afghanistan—where he would later deploy as a U.S. Naval Intelligence Officer."In Iraq, it had to do with a lot of state-owned enterprises that were learning to function in the post-Saddam world, helping them with basic stuff like business planning that just hadn't been done in the style of international business norms, because it was a quasi-socialist system over there," Buttigieg told The Atlantic. "In Afghanistan, they knew how to do business, but then there was a lot of trouble scaling it. So we were working more on figuring out how to help businesses grow."Those familiar with McKinsey's corporate culture told The Daily Beast that Buttigieg, as a junior associate, would likely have had little say in what work he was assigned, and said that the rough timeline of his work released on Friday seemed to clear him of any involvement with the firm's more damning projects. But as former Bain Capital founder Sen. Mitt Romney learned in 2012, involvement in any firm famous for advising that clients cut jobs can be political poison.McKinsey has a well-deserved reputation as a home for "axe men," consultants tasked with cutting a client's costs who often recommend cutting client's employees. One popular joke among management consultants is that, when asked how to solve the problem of a classroom with three fewer chairs than students, an Ernst & Young consultant advises to buy three chairs; a McKinsey consultant advises to kill three students.But with the list's release, Buttigieg said in a statement accompanying the client list, "voters can see for themselves that my work amounted to mostly research and analysis.""They can also see that I value both transparency and keeping my word," Buttigieg said. "Neither of these qualities are something we see coming out of Washington, especially from this White House. It's time for that to change."The firm's granting of permission removes a major headache for the Buttigieg campaign, as well as a potential legal minefield for a candidate who faced increasingly loud calls to just break the NDA. Experts in contract law and non-disclosure agreements told The Daily Beast that Buttigieg could have abrogated the agreement—but not without a hefty cost. "Legally, he doesn't have much of a leg to stand on," said David Hoffman, a professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School and an expert in contract law and the proposed regulation of non-disclosure agreements, before McKinsey's announcement. "It's basically client lists and client secrets, and I think that's exactly why NDAs exist."The financial damages stipulated by the consulting firm's non-disclosure agreement, Hoffman said, could be massive for a candidate who has boasted on the campaign trail that he ranks as the poorest person running for the Democratic nomination."Let's just say he gets up there in front of the press and names every client he had. They can't unring the bell, so all they can do is sue him for damages," Hoffman said, adding that damages in the range of two to five million dollars wouldn't be outside the realm of possibility for a firm with a vested interest in keeping "reputational hooks into former employees.""I think he'd have to pay," Hoffman said. "And so the question is whether he wants to pay."The NDA, which covers Buttigieg's roughly two-and-a-half-year tenure at the company, had prevented him from publicly discussing the identity of McKinsey's clients, or the exact work he performed on their cases. In a statement on Friday evening, Buttigieg attempted to quiet the criticism by providing a general timeline for his work at the firm and called for McKinsey to release him from the agreement."I am today reiterating my request that McKinsey release me from this agreement, and I again make clear that I authorize them to release the full list of clients I was assigned to serve," Buttigieg said at the time. "This company must recognize the importance of transparency in the exceptional case of a former employee becoming a competitive candidate for the U.S. presidency."Even if Buttigieg had that kind of money on hand to buy himself out of the agreement—or if his campaign were allowed to cover the debt incurred by just holding a press conference and spilling the tea—McKinsey might still have taken him to the cleaners to set an example for other ex-employees with secrets to spill."He, or his campaign, could try to buy his way out of it if they wanted," said Gregory Klass, who teaches contract law at Georgetown University Law Center. "Of course, McKinsey might not take their offer. It has a strong interest in its reputation for confidentiality."There is little case law testing the strength of non-disclosure agreements for former management consultants, experts said, in part because renegotiating such agreements almost universally takes place in private arbitration—as do any negotiations over damages sought in the event of an agreement's abrogation. Buttigieg, too, would have been legally bound from even discussing how thoroughly McKinsey took him to the cleaners. (Unless, that is, Buttigieg wanted to publicly reveal the secret terms of any private settlement, which would then likely result in another private arbitration. Turtles all the way down!)"What's tricky about these things is that there's obviously many contexts in which NDAs make perfect sense," said Alan E. Garfield, a professor at Delaware Law School. "But there's also lots of situations—which we've seen more and more of—where they can be abusive and deny the public access that they need to know."Client identities and trade secrets are normal things for most businesses to want to keep secret, Garfield said—unlike President Donald Trump's famous fondness for non-disclosure agreements, which are almost hilariously expansive."Stormy Daniels is embarrassing, but she's not a trade secret," Garfield said. "This kind of situation is a little trickier because it falls somewhere near a perfectly legitimate use.""The question is, how did you separate the wheat from the chaff?" Garfield asked.That was the same quandary facing Buttigieg, who ran his first race for state office in Indiana in part on his experience in the private sector, but has since made little reference to his time at McKinsey on the campaign trail—particularly as the company has faced increasing criticism over its work for a string of ethically dubious clients. Among the firm's more recent work: identifying Saudi Arabian dissidents who were later arrested by the state, and recommending that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement cut down on food and medical care for migrant detainees as a cost-cutting measure.The public, meanwhile, is not wrong for having concerns about politicians being prevented from candidly discussing their pasts with voters due to non-disclosure agreements, Garfield said."We have to be concerned about the increasing use of private ordering to deny the public access to information," Garfield said. "All of this goes to a larger concern about people with resources and power using the power of their money and lawyers to shelter from the public eye, or to obfuscate, what could be critical information for the public to know."Buttigieg has called some of the firm's more recent work "disgusting," and has insisted that he would have left the firm rather than participate in any projects that violated his conscience. But Democratic rivals have said that even if his work at the firm were limited entirely to analyzing grocery store price cuts, as he vaguely noted in his 2019 autobiography, Buttigieg's refusal to talk about his work at the firm is part of a larger trend of opacity.The McKinsey announcement allows Buttigieg to effectively clear the deck of some of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)'s recent attacks which centered on the McKinsey issue as well as his holding closed-door fundraisers, as well as what Warren characterized as a more general lack of transparency."He should open up his fundraisers, he should release who is bundling for him, he should make clear who is on his finance team. This is about the conflicts that he is creating every single day right now," Warren told reporters at a campaign event last week, condemning politicians who "sell access to their time to the highest bidder."On Monday, before the McKinsey announcement was made public, Buttigieg campaign manager Mike Schmuhl announced that going forward, the campaign would open fundraisers to reporters and release the names of fundraisers."He is the only current presidential candidate who has released the names of people raising money for his campaign, and we will continue to release additional names as more people join our growing effort," Schmuhl said in a statement.Buttigieg's campaign, in turn, has criticized Warren for refusing to make public additional tax returns from her time in the private sector, which the Massachusetts senator has said she would not release.Buttigieg's publication of a rough chronology of his time and work at McKinsey on Friday—without naming any clients—did not placate those critiques, even from Democrats who have been positive about his campaign. During an event in Waterloo, Iowa, on Friday night, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked Buttigieg whether breaking the non-disclosure agreement might give him "the moral authority and the high ground against somebody like Trump, who hides behind the lack of transparency to justify everything that he's doing?"Buttigieg responded that while, as a low-level employee fresh out of grad school, "it's not like I was the C.E.O.," he understood the need for transparency, and would continue to ask McKinsey to release him from the agreement—but that he wouldn't unilaterally violate it."I pushed as much information as I can, without breaking the promise that I made in writing," Buttigieg said, "and I am asking my former employer to do the right thing: to not make me choose between claiming the moral high ground and going back on my word."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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| Greenland's ice is melting 7 times faster than it did in the early 90s — suggesting scientists' worst-case predictions may come true Posted: 10 Dec 2019 09:09 AM PST  As our planet and its oceans warm, the polar ice sheets are melting at accelerated rates. Greenland's average yearly ice loss is 262 billion tons.
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| Virginia gun rights activists vow to fight new restrictions Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:40 PM PST ![Virginia gun rights activists vow to fight new restrictions]( "Virginia gun rights activists vow to fight new restrictions") More than 200 gun rights activists wearing "Guns SAVE Lives" stickers rallied Monday in Virginia, vowing to fight any attempt by the new Democratic majority in the state legislature to pass new restrictions on gun ownership. "Hands off our guns, hands off our rights, and hands off our guns," said Bob Good, a member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors.
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| Trump news: Formal charges of impeachment revealed with president accused of ‘simple and terrible’ abuse of power Posted: 10 Dec 2019 08:14 AM PST  House Democrats announced two articles of impeachment against Donald Trump on a historic day on Capitol Hill, accusing the president of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress ahead of a full House vote on his misconduct later this week."He endangers our democracy, he endangers our national security," said House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler, announcing the charges before a portrait of George Washington. "Our next election is at risk... That is why we must act now."
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| Missile Race: Does America or China Dominate the South China Sea? Posted: 10 Dec 2019 01:25 AM PST  Here's how they compare.
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| At least 6 dead, 25 people critically injured, after a New Zealand volcano and popular tourist spot erupted unexpectedly Posted: 10 Dec 2019 04:41 PM PST  New Zealand police said that eight people remain missing and are presumed dead after one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes erupted on Monday.
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| Russian court sentences 11 for Saint Petersburg bombing Posted: 10 Dec 2019 06:30 AM PST  A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced 11 people to terms including life in prison after finding them guilty of a deadly bomb attack on the Saint Petersburg metro in 2017. Abror Azimov, a 29-year-old from Kyrgyzstan, was sentenced by a military court in Russia's second biggest city to life in prison for organising and participating in a terrorist group. The bomb blast in April 2017 killed 15 people in the Saint Petersburg metro and wounded dozens more.
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| Brazil's Bolsonaro calls activist Thunberg a 'brat' Posted: 10 Dec 2019 09:21 AM PST  Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro called Swedish climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg a "brat" on Tuesday after she criticized mounting violence against indigenous people in which two Amazon tribesmen were shot dead three days ago. The teen activist retorted by changed the biographical description on her Twitter account to "Pirralha".
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| 'It hurt': Women of color from rival campaigns lament Harris' exit Posted: 10 Dec 2019 08:07 AM PST  But they also express hope that the historic diversity of the initial 2020 field "will reverberate for years to come."
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| The Best War Movies on Netflix Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:00 AM PST |
| Representative Ted Yoho Becomes the 23rd House Republican to Announce Retirement Posted: 10 Dec 2019 10:04 AM PST  Representative Ted Yoho of Florida announced Tuesday that he will step down after completing his fourth term, joining the wave of House Republicans who have opted against running for reelection in 2020.Yoho had promised to serve no more than four terms in Congress."I ran on a pledge to serve four terms — eight years and come home," Yoho said in his announcement. "Many told me I was naive and they're probably right. I was told the district has changed three times and so the pledge isn't binding and I could rationalize that. However, I truly believe a person's word is their bond and should live up to their word."Yoho is the twenty-third House Republican to announce retirement in 2020. 26 Republicans retired in 2018, the year Democrats took back control of the House."Carolyn and I want to thank all of our awesome and loyal supporters who believed in us enough to give us the incredible honor to serve as a Member of the United States Congress, a government that represents the greatest country on earth," Yoho wrote in a letter to supporters.Yoho sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees. Before running for Congress he worked as a large animal veterinarian.In November Yoho was thought to be considering retirement, but the congressman initially denied reports that he would be stepping down.The retirement wave is fueling concerns for GOP prospects in the 2020 congressional elections, although some of the affected districts are expected to remain in Republican control. Yoho's district is widely considered safe for Republicans, and the congressman is himself a staunch supporter of President Trump.
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| ‘Fox & Friends’ Host Presses Kellyanne Conway: Is Rudy Giuliani Working for Trump or Himself? Posted: 09 Dec 2019 09:29 AM PST  Kellyanne Conway spent nearly 10 minutes ranting and raving Monday morning on Fox & Friends, receiving mostly agreeable nods and words of encouragement from the three hosts. When the White House counselor called out Democrats for preparing their impeachment strategy over the weekend, Steve Doocy replied, "Well, they were rehearsing because it's a TV show and ultimately what they want to do is impeach the president." "They want to impeach from day one," Ainsley Earhardt said later. "And they say 'collusion,' 'racism,' now they're saying this phone call with the Ukrainian president." Conway couldn't help but thank her for "making my point." Kellyanne Conway Thinks Justin Trudeau Is Just 'Jealous' of TrumpThe only question that could be even be considered tough came near the end of the segment when Brian Kilmeade asked her, "Is Rudy Giuliani representing the president in the Ukraine? And is the president going to use that material to bolster his case? Or is he acting on his own?" Kilmeade pointed out that even conservative Congressman Matt Gaetz called the president's personal lawyer's trip this past week to Ukraine "weird." President Donald Trump later indicated that Giuliani would be reporting his findings to Congress, adding, "I hear he found plenty." "Well, Rudy is one of the president's personal attorneys," Conway answered. "And I think that was particularly true during the Mueller investigation, since that was an executive branch, Department of Justice investigation." After giving Giuliani credit for "getting the upper hand" on Special Counsel Robert Mueller, she admitted, "I don't know what Rudy's doing in Ukraine, I know what I read, but I also know that I have no idea what he's going to produce. So that's a hypothetical I cannot address at this moment." In other words, Conway would not confirm that Giuliani is in Ukraine on behalf of the president, but suggested that if he "produces" information that could help Trump then maybe he was after all. As Doocy tried to move her onto the next topic, Conway added, "If he's rooting out corruption, great, because this was always about corruption." There were no follow-up questions. Stephen Colbert Busts Rudy Giuliani's Big Ukraine AdmissionRead 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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| China claims all Uighur Muslims have happily 'graduated' from its oppressive prison camp system, despite widespread reports that at least 1 million are detained Posted: 09 Dec 2019 03:10 AM PST  Xinjiang governor Shohrat Zakir claimed that everyone had "graduated" from "vocational training camps," found employment, and are leading happy lives.
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| Kentucky's new governor reorganizes school board on day one Posted: 09 Dec 2019 09:08 PM PST  Delivering on a campaign promise to teachers who helped elect him, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear used his first day in office Tuesday to overhaul the state school board. In his inaugural address outside the state Capitol, the new Democratic governor proclaimed his support for public education and expanding health care coverage.
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| 5-Year-Old Carries Baby in Subzero Cold After They Are Abandoned, Police Say Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:17 AM PST  A 5-year-old, wearing just socks and light clothing, carried an 18-month-old through subzero temperatures in the Yukon Flats of Alaska after the power went out at the home where they had been left alone, according to the authorities.The power failure scared the older child, who then carried the baby to a home about half a mile away in Venetie, Alaska, Tuesday, the Alaska State Department of Public Safety said in a statement Friday.At the time, the temperature was about 31 degrees below zero, officials said, and both children suffered unspecified injuries from the cold. It was not immediately clear how the younger child had been dressed.The children are expected to make a full recovery, Ken Marsh, a department spokesman, said Sunday.To reach the remote community, which has a population of 166 and is nearly 150 miles north of Fairbanks in interior Alaska, troopers had to charter a plane, Marsh said."It took 12 to 16 hours for them to actually get there," he said. "Fortunately, we were confident that the children were in good hands because a neighbor had taken them in and we had spoken with the neighbor."An investigation led to the arrest of Julie Peter, 37, who was charged with endangering the welfare of a minor, officials said.Efforts to reach Peter were unsuccessful.The investigation revealed she had "deserted" the children in her home with no adult supervision, officials said. It was not clear whether Peter was related to the children or if the children were related to each other.Officials did not release the details of those relationships because the victims were minors, Marsh said.Venetie experiences extreme temperatures throughout the year but especially in the winter.From November to March, the temperature typically dips below zero and extended periods of temperatures of minus 50 to minus 60 degrees are common, according to the Tanana Chiefs Conference, an Alaska Native nonprofit that serves the 42 villages of interior Alaska.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Tulsi Gabbard says she will skip the December Democratic debate Posted: 09 Dec 2019 07:19 PM PST  Despite being one poll away from qualifying for the December debate, the Hawaii Congresswoman stated she wouldn't attend the debate.
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| A 5,000-Year-Old Plan to Erase Debts Is Now a Hot Topic in America Posted: 10 Dec 2019 02:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Explore what's moving the global economy in the new season of the Stephanomics podcast. Subscribe via Apple Podcast, Spotify or Pocket Cast.In ancient Babylon, a newly enthroned king would declare a jubilee, wiping out the population's debts. In modern America, a faint echo of that idea -- call it jubilee-lite -- is catching on.Support for write-offs has been driven by Democratic presidential candidates. Elizabeth Warren says she'd cancel most of the $1.6 trillion in U.S. student loans. Bernie Sanders would go further -– erasing the whole lot, as well as $81 billion in medical debt.But it's coming from other directions too. In October, one of the Trump administration's senior student-loan officials resigned, calling for wholesale write-offs and describing the American way of paying for higher education as "nuts.''Real-estate firm Zillow cites medical and college liabilities as major hurdles for would-be renters and home buyers. Moody's Investors Service listed the headwinds from student debt -– less consumption and investment, more inequality -- and said forgiveness would boost the economy like a tax cut.While the current debate centers on college costs, long-run numbers show how debt has spread through the economy. The U.S. relies on consumer spending for growth -– but it hasn't been delivering significantly higher wages. Household borrowing has filled the gap, with low interest rates making it affordable.And that's not unique to America. Steadily growing debts of one kind or another are weighing on economies all over the world.The idea that debt can grow faster than the ability to repay, until it unbalances a society, was well understood thousands of years ago, according to Michael Hudson, an economist and historian. Last year Hudson published "And Forgive Them Their Debts,'' a study of the ancient Near East where the tradition known as a "jubilee" -- wiping the debt-slate clean -- has its roots. He describes how the practice spread through civilizations including Sumer and Babylon, and came to play an important role in the Bible and Jewish law.Rulers weren't motivated by charity, Hudson says. They were being pragmatic -- trying to make sure that citizens could meet their own needs and contribute to public projects, instead of just laboring to pay creditors. And it worked, he says. "Societies that canceled the debts enjoyed stable growth for thousands of years.''Forgiveness was good for the economy, would be a modern way of putting it. In an October paper, Moody's examined how that might apply if America writes off its student debts.Moral Hazard?There would likely be a "modest increase'' in household spending and investment, and eventually higher rates of home-ownership and business-formation, it said. Buying up student loans would increase the government's own debt -- but "only marginally," since it already owns three-quarters of them. After that one-time hit, budget deficits each year would be slightly bigger because of the lost revenue from loan repayments, equal to 0.4% of GDP in 2018.Critics usually raise two key problems with debt forgiveness. One is about fairness. The other is known as "moral hazard'': Will write-offs today lead to more reckless borrowing tomorrow?These questions "need to be carefully thought through" for student loans, says William Foster, a senior credit officer at Moody's and the report's lead author. "Who would benefit, who would miss out, what attempts at equal treatment there should be.'' Any plan would also have to address "what the situation would be for the next generation of students with regard to accumulating debt,'' he says.Sanders and Warren plan to remove moral hazard by making state college tuition-free. But they've caught flak on the fairness question.'Bigger Debate'A study by the Urban Institute said that wealthier households hold more student loans –- so writing them off would be regressive. Pete Buttigieg, another Democratic presidential contender, wants to direct financial support toward poorer students, saying there's no reason to subsidize richer ones.Economies can skew against age cohorts, as well as income groups. Foster says the idea of debt relief plays into "the bigger debate about prospects for young Americans today: Job opportunities, the cost of education, income levels and slower wage gains since the financial crisis.''The last Democratic administration also got in a fight over debt forgiveness.Under President Barack Obama, the government took steps to help underwater homeowners. But it failed to get a measure allowing judges to reduce the principal due on mortgages –- known as "cramdown'' -– through Congress.Democrat-leaning analysts have been arguing about the episode ever since."There were 5 million foreclosures,'' says Mike Konczal, a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. "It's a real stain on the Obama presidency's legacy. They had access to tools to be able to combat them.''House of DebtIn their 2014 book "House of Debt,'' economists Atif Mian and Amir Sufi argued that the economy would have rebounded faster with more writedowns. Larry Summers, Obama's economic adviser, pushed back when he reviewed it -- praising their analysis but calling the policy proposals naïve.A few years before the financial crisis, two top 2020 contenders -- Warren and Joe Biden –- took opposite sides in another clash over debt relief.Biden supported a 2005 bill that made it harder to get out of debt by filing for bankruptcy -- on the grounds it would curb abuses and help ensure cheaper borrowing. Warren, then a Harvard professor who specialized in household finance, attacked it for punishing struggling families.Konczal says that bill reflected a widespread idea that over-borrowing was a result of extravagant "lifestyle problems.'' In reality, he says, "middle-class families were in a much more precarious situation than was realized'' -- and relying on debt for the basics.Can't Pay, Won't PayForgiveness isn't the only big idea out there for reducing the economy's reliance on private debt. Another one is to pay for things like homes or education with instruments that look a bit more like equity, and less like debt.Mian and Sufi suggested a type of mortgage in which the lender shares risks if prices fall, and rewards when they rise. Some lawmakers, educators and investors are applying a similar model to college financing too.Mitch Daniels, head of Purdue University and a former Republican governor of Indiana, is one of the champions of Income Share Agreements. They work like this: investors fund students, and get repaid -– hopefully with a return on their equity –- when graduates start earning the higher wages that a degree should bring.Hudson, the historian, also says equity-financing is better. But he thinks the government should play a role. In a 2018 paper with Charles Goodhart of the London School of Economics, he proposed public-equity funds to help first-time home buyers, students and small businesses. By edging out debt-financing, the authors argued, it could be a modern version of the ancient jubilees."The fact is, debt causes instability for a society,'' Hudson says. Another lesson he's drawn from studying credit over thousands of years: "Debts that can't be paid, won't be paid.''(Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic nomination. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)\--With assistance from Alex Tanzi.To contact the reporter on this story: Ben Holland in Washington at bholland1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Kennedy at skennedy4@bloomberg.net, Sarah McGregor, Margaret CollinsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pete Buttigieg's real 'black problem': He has been convicted of white privilege Posted: 10 Dec 2019 12:15 AM PST  Acknowledge the original sin, but also that white men risked their lives to end slavery and a black man led the way to gay marriage equality.
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| TikTok's chief cancels planned meetings with US senators amid concerns over privacy and app's ties to China Posted: 10 Dec 2019 09:05 AM PST  TikTok told Business Insider the meetings were postponed until after the holidays "to ensure these conversations are as productive as possible."
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| Accidental shootings raise questions about arming teachers Posted: 08 Dec 2019 09:28 PM PST  As the country looks for ways to deal with mass shootings at schools, some have responded by saying more people should carry guns, including teachers. "The only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," President Donald Trump told the National Rifle Association convention in April. An Associated Press investigation has found accidental shootings occur at law enforcement agencies large and small across the United States every year.
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| Belgian boy, 9, terminates his studies at a Dutch university Posted: 10 Dec 2019 06:46 AM PST  A 9-year-old Belgian boy who was on track to become the world's youngest university graduate has terminated his studies at the Dutch university of Eindhoven following a dispute over his possible graduation date.
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| Why the Marines Love Their LAV-25 "Destroyers" Posted: 10 Dec 2019 07:59 AM PST  A spunky and useful vehicle.
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| Northern Irish nationalists eye historic gain as Brexit sends DUP reeling Posted: 10 Dec 2019 08:39 AM PST ![Northern Irish nationalists eye historic gain as Brexit sends DUP reeling]( "Northern Irish nationalists eye historic gain as Brexit sends DUP reeling") In a part of Belfast where huge "peace walls" still keep some Catholic Irish nationalists and Protestant unionists apart, Thursday's UK general election could have far-reaching consequences in the decades-long battle for a united Ireland. John Finucane, son of one of the most high-profile victims of British-ruled Northern Ireland's bloody "Troubles", is seeking to become the first nationalist elected by the historically pro-British constituency of North Belfast.
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| A Samoan father loses 3 of his 5 children to the measles outbreak Posted: 10 Dec 2019 05:04 PM PST  The virus has infected more than 4,800 people, and at least 70 have died — many of them young children.
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| Why a journalist’s murder is shaking the Maltese government Posted: 09 Dec 2019 05:22 AM PST ![Why a journalist's murder is shaking the Maltese government]( "Why a journalist's murder is shaking the Maltese government") The investigation into journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder inspired protests against Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who will resign in January.
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| China's diplomatic push in Asia sees mixed results: study Posted: 09 Dec 2019 09:18 PM PST  China has spent billions of dollars to project soft power in Asia but it has struggled to win the hearts and minds of ordinary citizens in parts of the region, a study said Tuesday. President Xi Jinping doubled China's foreign affairs budget in six years from 30 billion to 60 billion yuan ($8.5 billion) to bolster its global diplomacy, according to the AidData research lab at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. "Public diplomacy is a critical ingredient in Beijing's toolkit to neutralise potential threats, overcome internal disadvantages, and outmanoeuvre regional competitors," said the report, carried out with the Asia Society Policy Institute and the China Power Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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| Immigrant advocates sue US over yanked detention hotline Posted: 10 Dec 2019 08:17 AM PST  The nonprofit group Freedom for Immigrants, which has run the hotline since 2013 with a free phone line provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sued in federal court in Los Angeles. The lawsuit alleged that the administration yanked the hotline in August after it was featured on the Netflix show, which drew attention to the group's criticism of detention conditions for immigrants.
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| The architect of Mexico's war on cartels was just arrested in Texas and accused of drug trafficking and taking bribes Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:27 AM PST  Genaro Garcia Luna, a former Mexican security official once considered "something of a wunderkind," was arrested by US federal agents on Monday.
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| Look Out Russia, The U.S. Army's M-1A2C Abrams Tanks Are Getting An Upgrade Posted: 09 Dec 2019 02:00 PM PST  The latest Abrams is here.
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| 'Old man' Trump is 'bluffing,' says North Korea: KCNA news agency Posted: 09 Dec 2019 12:18 PM PST  North Korea on Monday accused President Trump of "bluffing" and called him "an old man bereft of patience" as Pyongyang ramps up pressure on Washington over stalled nuclear talks.
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| Fires from CP Rail train derailment under control: safety officials Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:11 AM PST  "The last that I have on it is that things are under control... the fire is contained in an area, there's no concern about other tanker cars catching fire at this point," Transport Minister Marc Garneau told reporters in Ottawa on Tuesday. CP said it re-opened the rail line on Tuesday morning once all track repairs and safety inspections were complete. Garneau said Canada's Transportation Safety Board was investigating the derailment.
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| U.S. Stocks Decline, Bonds Mixed on Trade Jitters: Markets Wrap Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:01 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- U.S. stocks fell in thin trading as investors turned cautious ahead of a week full of potential catalysts, from central bank meetings to a looming tariff deadline. Treasury 10-year notes held modest gains.The S&P 500 ended at session lows in volumes below the 30-day average. Weak China export data added to concern, with investors awaiting news on whether Washington will go ahead with a planned Dec. 15 tariff hike. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated. Stock indexes posted modest increases in Tokyo and Seoul, though gains mostly fizzled in Hong Kong and Shanghai.The pound edged higher as polls continued to show the U.K. Conservative Party on course to win a majority in Thursday's election, which would likely mean Britain leaving the European Union by Jan. 31. Gold and the yen were also slightly higher.With time running out for the U.S. and China to reach a deal that would ward off an escalation in tariffs, markets will be watching closely for any signs of progress. White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Friday the two sides are haggling over the amount of American farm products Beijing is willing to purchase. Data showed China's exports fell 1.1% in November, with those to the U.S. tumbling 23%, underscoring why the Asian nation may want to resolve the dispute."There's no upside risks on the horizon," Katrina Ell, an economist at Moody's Analytics, said on Bloomberg TV. "It is weighted to the downside and that big downside risk is coming from the trade war."Also in focus for investors this week will be central banks, with policy meetings at the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank that may offer clues on whether more monetary easing is in store in 2020.Elsewhere, oil slipped, trimming last week's rally spurred by Saudi Arabia promising significant additional production cuts beyond what was agreed with fellow OPEC+ members.Here are some key events to watch this week:The Federal Reserve decides on interest rates on Wednesday, followed by a press briefing from Chairman Jerome Powell.China reports on inflation Tuesday, and data on credit growth is due at some point in the coming weekThe next European Central Bank policy decision is on Thursday.The U.K. holds a general election Thursday.These are some of the main moves in markets:What's your 2020 vision? Terminal users are invited to join the Markets Live blog's survey.\--With assistance from Vildana Hajric.To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Potter in London at spotter33@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Yakob PeterseilFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trans woman puts Chinese law to the test in landmark case Posted: 10 Dec 2019 01:17 PM PST  Earlier this year, shortly after completing gender-reassignment surgery, a Chinese transgender woman surnamed Yang was fired from her job, an all-too-common fate for members of the country's LGBT community. The reason given for her dismissal was chronic tardiness, but Yang smelled a rat and sued her former employer in what LGBT activists are calling a landmark test of a transgender seeking redress through a new addition to Chinese law promoting equal employment rights.
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| Justices seem to favor insurers' Obamacare claims for $12B Posted: 10 Dec 2019 09:18 AM PST  The Supreme Court appeared likely Tuesday to rule that insurance companies can collect $12 billion from the federal government to cover their losses in the early years of the health care law championed by President Barack Obama. Several justices indicated their agreement with arguments from the insurers that they are entitled to the money under a provision of the "Obamacare" health law that promised the companies a financial cushion for losses they might incur by selling coverage to people in the marketplaces created by the health care law. The program only lasted three years, but Congress inserted a provision in the Health and Human Services Department's spending bills from 2015 to 2017 to limit payments under the "risk corridors" program.
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| New 'Varsity Blues' charges: Georgetown mom pleads guilty to cheating in son's online classes Posted: 10 Dec 2019 06:52 AM PST  In a new twist in the "Varsity Blues" admissions scandal, a California woman agreed to plead guilty to paying $9,000 to have someone take online classes for her son so he could graduate from Georgetown.
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| Photo shows Jeffrey Epstein went to royal party dressed as a Navy SEAL Posted: 09 Dec 2019 01:45 PM PST  Jeffrey Epstein attended Prince Andrew's costume party in a US Navy SEAL officer's uniform. Some of the medals appear to be fictional.
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