| Democratic Sen. Doug Jones says he'll vote to acquit President Trump if 'dots aren't connected' Posted: 22 Dec 2019 12:39 PM PST  Democratic Sen. Doug Jones dismissed concerns that he will lose his seat if he votes to remove President Trump in a Senate trial, but said he would acquit Trump if "dots aren't connected" over "gaps" in the impeachment case.
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| Man sought for questioning in stabbing that killed QB's brother Posted: 23 Dec 2019 12:09 AM PST  Nashville police released surveillance video from the bar and said they wanted to interview several people identified at the scene.
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| An Idaho couple wed just weeks after the groom's wife died in suspicious circumstances. Now they're wanted for questioning after the bride's 2 kids were reported missing. Posted: 23 Dec 2019 11:17 AM PST  Joshua Vallow, 7, and his 17-year-old sister Tylee Ryan haven't been seen since September. And now their mom and step-dad are on the run.
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| Police: 13 people shot at house party in Chicago Posted: 22 Dec 2019 05:31 AM PST  A shooting at a house party early Sunday on Chicago's South Side wounded 13 people, four of them critically, Chicago police said. The shooting stemmed from a dispute at a house party that was "given in memorial of a subject slain in April," Chief of Patrol Fred Waller said. Two people are being questioned, Waller said.
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| 'I'm Kidnapped': A Father's Nightmare on the Border Posted: 22 Dec 2019 08:24 AM PST  REYNOSA, Mexico -- He remembers being on his knees, gagged and blinded with duct tape, his hands tied behind his back. One of his captors struck his left thigh with a bat and scraped his neck with an ax, threatening to cut him.His 3-year-old son watched and wailed."Tell the boy to shut up. Make him shut up," one of the men barked, ripping the duct tape from his mouth.A few hours earlier, the 28-year-old migrant from Honduras, whose name is Jose, had been walking with his son down a street in Reynosa, Mexico, having been turned back at the border by the United States. Suddenly three men grabbed him, shoved a hood over his head and thrust him and his son into a vehicle.The abduction Nov. 25 set off hours of intense negotiations as Jose's wife in the United States, forced to listen to the sounds of her husband being tortured, tearfully negotiated a ransom over the phone.In a series of phone conversations, and in several voice messages reviewed by The New York Times, the wife, a woman named Cindy who works at a bakery in Elizabeth, New Jersey, promised to get the $3,000 the kidnappers were demanding. "I will do everything to get it," she said, sobbing into the phone. "But don't let them hurt him. Take care of the child."Hundreds of thousands of people fled Central America over the past year, many of them seeking asylum in the United States from threats of extortion, murder and forced recruitment into gangs. But instead of allowing them to enter, the Trump administration has forced more than 55,000 asylum-seekers to wait for months in lawless Mexican border towns like Reynosa while it considers their requests for protection, according to Mexican officials and those who study the border.Drug-related violence has long plagued these areas, but this bottleneck of migrants is new -- and because many asylum-seekers have relatives in the United States, criminal cartels have begun kidnapping them and demanding ransoms, sometimes subjecting them to violence as bad or worse than what they fled.In the past, migrants from places like Central America, Africa and Asia seeking asylum were allowed to enter the United States while their claims were adjudicated. Those who could not demonstrate a fear of persecution usually were ordered deported to their home countries. That changed earlier this year with the adoption of the "Remain in Mexico" policy, under which most asylum applicants are prevented from entering the United States except to attend their court hearings.With the Mexican government struggling to contain crime and violence, and ramshackle camps full of vulnerable migrants cropping up on the border, kidnappings have spiked. "Families on this side of the border, regardless of social status, will manage to pay ransom," said Octavio Rodriguez, a scholar at the University of San Diego who studies violence in Mexico and the border region.Authorities have doubled the number of police officers in the past three years in the state of Tamaulipas, which includes Reynosa, but it is not enough, said Aldo Hernandez, the state's communications director. "Neither the municipal nor state governments have the resources to fight this situation," he said.Some are blaming Mexico's president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and his government's decision to step back from confrontations with drug cartels."The Lopez Obrador administration has sent the message to organized crime that police and national guard will not confront you. That emboldens them to target this population," said Tony Payan, a scholar at the Baker Institute of Rice University who studies the U.S.-Mexico border.Mark Morgan, acting commissioner for Customs and Border Protection, said that those awaiting asylum hearings who fear for their safety should "work with the government of Mexico" to keep themselves safe."I have heard reports the same as you of violence," he told reporters last week, noting that it is well known that dangerous drug cartels target migrants south of the border. "We encourage these people first of all not to even put themselves in the hands of the cartels to begin with."In the border towns of the Rio Grande Valley, the busiest migrant crossing point into the United States, kidnappers have struck in recent months near shelters, at bus stops and outside grocery stores.A 35-year-old Salvadoran man who was waiting with his family in Tijuana after claiming asylum near San Diego was kidnapped, fatally stabbed and dismembered Nov. 20, Mexican authorities reported. His lawyer said he had been pursued by "criminal organizations" in his home country.A 28-year-old woman from El Salvador and her 3-year-old son were abducted -- not once but twice -- after arriving at the border. The woman, who gave her name as Nora, said that in August they were held hostage until a family member in Houston transferred $2,200 to their captors.Then in October, Nora said, she took her son to use the bathroom outside the encampment where they were staying and encountered three men. She was blindfolded, she said, and the men took turns raping her over several hours, in front of her son, before dumping the two of them on the side of a road."I surrendered to American immigration and thought we would be safe," she said in a recent interview at a shelter in Reynosa.There have been 636 documented cases of violent attacks, including abduction and rape, against migrants who were returned to Mexico by U.S. authorities since the Remain in Mexico policy began in January, with 293 attacks in the last month alone, according to Human Rights First. The advocacy group based its tally on credible reports from researchers, lawyers and media outlets but said the actual numbers were likely higher because most incidents go unreported.The story of Jose and his family began in Honduras earlier this year, when they decided to seek safe haven in the United States. Gang members had demanded a "war tax" to allow him to keep operating his car wash and dropped notes at the family's doorstep, threatening to kill them.Cindy, who had a valid tourist visa, flew to the United States with their older son in June. Jose and their younger child, who lacked visas, made their trek over land. They arrived at the Texas border in July and applied for asylum but were told to wait in Mexico and return for a series of court hearings in the ensuing months.The kidnappers struck in November, after Jose and his son had already attended two court hearings in the United States.His captors ordered him to contact any family he had in the United States, he said, and when he denied knowing anyone there, the beatings began."You're lying. This bat is thirsty for blood," he recalled one of them saying.Jose dictated his wife's number to the men, and they called her from his cellphone. When she did not pick up, they clubbed him, causing him to keel over in pain.When they called again, Cindy answered."'I'm kidnapped,'" Cindy, who, like her husband, did not want her last name published because of fear of reprisals, recalled Jose uttering in agony over the phone.Then the captors hung up, apparently hoping to ratchet up the pressure. When they called again, they told Cindy to come up with $3,000 within an hour if she wanted to spare the lives of her son and husband."I was completely desperate. I could hear my son crying in the background," Cindy recalled. "I told them I didn't have the money; I'd have to borrow it. Give me more time."Cindy sprinted to the home of the babysitter who cares for her 5-year-old son and collapsed there, pleading for help.A fusillade of calls and texts with threats from the kidnappers soon followed."If you don't deposit the money fast, we'll disappear with your son," the men told her.Cindy called her husband's cellphone again and left a voice message."Jose, send me -- send me an audio. I want to know how the child is doing," she said, her voice rising in anguish. "Respond! Respond!"While she was driving to the bank with the babysitter to withdraw cash, one of the men in Reynosa taunted her husband and scraped his neck with the blunt side of an ax, he said, while another put a gun to his head.On the next call, Cindy told the men she could manage no more than $2,000, and they relented. She rushed to a money-transfer kiosk to send the cash, and as the one-hour deadline approached, the captors urged her to hurry. "Si, I am here. Right now," she typed back.There was a problem, though. She could not complete the transaction without their names, so they texted them to her -- unfamiliar names belonging to a man and a woman. In the text, they urged her to use Moneygram or Western Union and send "$1,000 to each.""This is the first one," she texted, sending the kidnappers a photograph of the invoice for $1,009.99, including a $9.99 transfer fee.Because the money-transfer outlet would not allow her to send more than $1,000, she rushed to another shop to send the rest of the money."As soon as all the money is here, we'll free them," one of the captors typed."OK, gracias," Cindy replied.Back at home, though, she received a call from the kidnappers: They had been unable to access the money. "We give you 20 minutes to fix this," a kidnapper typed.Eight minutes later, another text message popped up: "Hurry up. It's getting late."Back in Reynosa, one of the men struck Jose's right arm with the bat and kicked him in the stomach, and he began to vomit. The man brought a bucket and shoved his head inside.After visits to three money senders, Cindy managed to transfer the rest of the money. Jose's abductors stripped the tape from his eyes and put the hood back over his head. They dropped him and his son at the Reynosa bus station, warning that if he notified police, "you're both dead. We have pictures of you."With no phone and no money, Jose said, he staggered across the bridge that leads to the United States to seek out Border Patrol agents. He pleaded to stay in the United States. "Our lives depend on it. I swear I am telling the truth," he told them.He said the agents took him to an office, where he remembers that they photographed his wounds and gave him a tranquilizer before sending them to spend the night at a holding facility.The next day, Jose was escorted to a room where, over the phone, he expressed fear of returning to Mexico to an asylum officer.About 40 minutes later, an immigration official told Jose that they would have to go back to Mexico. He handed him a document that said that Jose "did not establish a clear probability of persecution or torture in Mexico."Recently, Jose described his ordeal from a migrant shelter in Reynosa. He still had bruises and scrapes on his neck, arms and legs, and said his right arm -- the one that received most of the blows from the bat -- was still numb.His son, who just turned 4, was playing with another child near the picnic table where he sat. That day, Jose said, he had been able to borrow a phone to call Cindy, who was crying when she heard his voice. He was crying, too. They did not know when they would meet again.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| No more US sniffer dogs to Egypt, Jordan after deaths Posted: 23 Dec 2019 01:03 PM PST  The United States has temporarily stopped sending bomb detecting sniffer dogs to Jordan and Egypt after several of the animals died due to what US officials say was lack of care. "Any death of a canine in the field is an extremely sad event and we will take every measure possible to prevent this from happening in the future," a US State Department official told reporters on Monday. The State Department's own independent Office of Inspector General (OIG) began looking into the well-being of the animals after reports of canine mistreatment surfaced in mid-2017.
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| Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rails against Trump: 'He has a lot of problems' Posted: 23 Dec 2019 12:15 PM PST  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slammed President Trump in a new interview by laying out all the issues she believes he has.
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| A 6-year-old girl found a Christmas card with an apparent call for help from a prisoner in China inside. We'll probably never find out if the message was real. Posted: 23 Dec 2019 03:24 AM PST  In the past decade cries for help have been found in products from Kmart, Walmart, Zara, and Tesco. But it's almost impossible to authenticate them.
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| Convicted SEAL Eddie Gallagher thanks President Trump with a 'little gift' from Iraq Posted: 22 Dec 2019 09:08 AM PST  Retired Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who kept his Trident pin after President Trump intervened in his war crimes case, met with the commander in chief ahead of the Christmas holiday to "thank" him with a "little gift" from his service in Iraq.
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| Army Officer Rushes Home to See Mom—Before She Is Deported to Mexico Posted: 23 Dec 2019 03:11 PM PST  U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Gibram Cruz arrived home to California from his posting in Arizona last week. The reason for the visit wasn't the holidays; he would be back on base before then. The purpose was to see his mother, who is about to be deported from the country he serves to protect."I'm here essentially to say goodbye to my mom," the 30-year-old army officer told The San Diego Union-Tribune on Sunday.Rocio Rebollar Gomez, 50, is an undocumented immigrant who has lived in San Diego on and off for over 30 years. She owns a business and a house in the United States, and raised her three children here, and she has no criminal record. But on Dec. 4, she was ordered to self-deport to Mexico within the month—and the federal government refused to grant her discretionary protections provided for relatives of military service members that would allow her to stay longer. "Honestly I am worn out. I feel like my life is gone and everything I have is here—my whole life," Gomez told The Daily Beast on Monday."I cannot eat, I cannot sleep, my life is on hold. No one should be going through what I am going through."She is expected to return to her native Acapulco, Mexico—a once tourist-filled beachside city that has since become overrun by cartel violence—on Jan. 2.Immigrant Advocates Use Temporary Reprieve to Prep Families at Risk for Deportation"They are using her immigration status to override all of the hardwork and the life she created in the United States," her attorney, Tessa Cabrera, told The Daily Beast on Monday. "Her son is worried that his military status and title will threaten her safety in Mexico, but there is nothing we can do."We're hoping for a miracle."According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, the "Patrol in Place" program makes parents, spouses, widows, or children of active-duty U.S. armed forces members eligible for discretionary deferred action for up to two years. "We recognize the important sacrifices made by U.S. service members, veterans, enlistees, and their families," the agency's website says. "To support these individuals, we provide discretionary options such as parole in place or deferred action on a case-by-case basis."According to Cabrera, ICE has denied Gomez the protection because she has not passed the threshold of 10 years of continuous presence in the United States. A USCIS spokesperson declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation. Gomez's deportation is especially heartbreaking for her military son since he cannot travel to visit his mother in Mexico. As an intelligence officer, the 30-year-old must adhere to military travel restrictions and a lengthy process to leave the country. "He has no idea how when and how he is going to see his mother after she is sent back to Mexico," Cabrera said.ICE Ran Fake College to Target Undocumented Immigrants"My son is heartbroken," Gomez added. "He doesn't understand why this is happening to me, a woman devoted to God and work."Cabrera said the December decision to deny her client's petition to stay is the end of a years-long battle to keep the grandmother of three in the United States. The process—which included Gomez's detention for over a month—also drew the interest of two members of Congress, who asked ICE for discretion. Gomez first arrived in the United States in 1988. Seven years later, she was picked up during an immigration raid at a hotel where she worked while seven months pregnant with her youngest daughter.That same day, she was deported to Mexico. With her two children still in the U.S., Gomez had no choice but to re-enter the country illegally, Cabrera said. She was removed from the United States two more times over the last two decades, re-entering to be with her family and starting her life over each time. Cabrera said one of those removals involved several armed immigration officials coming to the family's home early on Saturday morning—an image she says still haunts her client's three children. But Gomez continued to persevere, running her own natural products business and driving more than eight hours a day for Uber. "All my hard work has been to give my children the chance for a better future and to make them good citizens," Gomez said. In April 2018, however, Gomez was detained for a third time and immediately placed in a San Diego Detention center for over a month. Cruz, who just finished his four years in the army, decided to take a commission and remain in the military. He said one of the main reasons he decided to stay was the immigration perk granted to relatives of active-duty service members. "I joined to serve the country and keep my family safe," Cruz told the Union-Tribune. "Now, I'm facing dangers here on my home front."Cabrera said her first attempt in 2018 to prevent Gomez' department was trying to establish her reasonable fear of returning to Mexico. Her brother was abducted by a cartel, and though the family paid almost $10,000 for his return, his body has never been found. That year, Acapulco had the third highest number of homicides in Mexico and the highest homicide rate of the country's most violent cities, a University of San Diego report stated. Gomez stated her fears during a reasonable threat interview with an ICE officer in the hopes of being granted asylum. She was denied."That unfortunately didn't meet the threshold for reasonable fear. So at that point there was nothing really to do with her," Cabrera said. The attorney said she immediately applied for a deferred action, but her requests for appointment about the case, inquiries about the status of her application, and general questions about the time-table were ignored. "Every-time they told me it's pending, it's pending," she said. Washington Man Accused of Hurling Molotov Cocktails at ICE Detention Center Killed by PoliceIn October, Cabrera said she got an ICE letter, ordering her and her client to appear the following month for Gomez's "interview and removal, that's what they called it." The appointment was moved back to Dec. 4, but one day before the meeting, Cabrera officially learned her client's petition was going to be denied."I got word she was denied at about 1 p.m. the day before her hearing—they didn't say why. So immediately I put together another packet for a deferred action to reapply," she said.The next morning, a USCIS official who reviewed Gomez's case said she wasn't protected by the "Patrol in Place" police. When Cabrera countered she had re-filed her stay of removal request with "about 200 pages" in documents supporting her case, the official verbally denied her within two hours."I am translating it to her as the officer is denying our last effort and she is freaking out because she thinks she has to leave right away," Cabrera said, adding the officer informed her that her client had 30 days to self-surrender for deportation.Equipped with an ankle bracelet and strict orders not to leave the San Diego area, Gomez now is trying to enjoy her family for the last few days before she is forced to return to Mexico, her attorney said. After saying goodbye to her only son on Sunday, her two daughters are planning to spend the holiday at her house."My one wish is a miracle to stay," Gomez said.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| 'Nothing Has Changed.' 7 Years After a Gang Rape That Shocked a Nation, Brutal Attacks Against Women Continue Posted: 23 Dec 2019 05:03 AM PST  Seven years after a brutal gang rape on a New Delhi bus, sexual violence remains an epidemic in India.
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| McLaren Speedtail Hits 250 MPH More Than 30 Times in Testing at Kennedy Space Center Posted: 23 Dec 2019 08:27 AM PST  Development on McLaren's 1035-horsepower three-seat grand tourer is now complete.
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| New Zealand volcano tragedy: Death toll rises to 19 as another victim dies in hospital Posted: 22 Dec 2019 06:50 PM PST  The death toll from a volcanic eruption in New Zealand earlier this month has risen to 19 after police said on Monday another person died at an Auckland hospital overnight. There were 47 people visiting the tourist destination of White Island when the volcano erupted on December 9, killing 13 people initially and leaving more than two dozen others in hospital with severe burns. The latest victim is the sixth person to die in hospitals in New Zealand and Australia in the two weeks since the eruption. Two of the victims' bodies have not been recovered after authorities believe they were washed out to sea in a storm soon after the eruption. Helicopter pilots and boat operators helped the injured off the island immediately after the eruption, but emergency services did not return to the island to recover bodies until four days later because they considered the site remained too dangerous. New Zealand's White Island volcano erupts, in pictures In a brief statement on Monday, police said they had been advised just before 11 pm on Sunday of the latest death at Middlemore Hospital. Police did not immediately the release the victim's name. Many of those killed and injured were Australian tourists who had been travelling aboard the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas. White Island, also known by its Maori name, Whakaari, is the tip of an undersea volcano about 30 miles off New Zealand's North Island and was a popular tourist destination before the eruption. It's unclear if the privately owned island will ever be reopened for tourist visits. Many people have questioned why tourists were still allowed on the island after New Zealand's GeoNet seismic monitoring agency raised the volcano's alert level on November 18 from 1 to 2 on a scale where 5 represents a major eruption, noting an increase in sulfur dioxide gas, which originates from magma. New Zealand authorities are investigating the circumstances around the disaster.
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| How to Throw a Legit New Year’s Eve Party on the Cheap Posted: 23 Dec 2019 07:00 AM PST |
| Jailed king of Mandela's ethnic clan granted parole Posted: 23 Dec 2019 01:50 AM PST  The jailed king of Nelson Mandela's ethnic group was released on parole on Monday alongside more than 14,600 other prisoners granted "special remission of sentence" by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the justice ministry said. Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, 55, is king of the AbaThembu, a Xhosa ethnic group that boasted Mandela as its most prominent clan member. Incarcerated since 2015, Dalindyebo was serving a 12-year term at the East London Correctional Centre in the southwest of the country for arson, kidnap and assault.
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| Clashes as police try to clear Hong Kong protesters after Uighur support rally Posted: 22 Dec 2019 01:46 AM PST ![Clashes as police try to clear Hong Kong protesters after Uighur support rally]( "Clashes as police try to clear Hong Kong protesters after Uighur support rally") Hong Kong riot police pepper sprayed protesters to disperse crowds in the heart of the city's financial district on Sunday after a largely peaceful rally in support of China's ethnic Uighurs turned chaotic. Dozens of police marched across a public square overlooking Hong Kong's harbor to face off with protesters who hurled glass bottles and rocks at them. A mixed crowd of young and elderly people, dressed in black and wearing masks to shield their identities, held up signs reading "Free Uyghur, Free Hong Kong" and "Fake 'autonomy' in China results in genocide".
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| Rep. Debbie Dingell says Trump 'crossed a line' about her husband, but she doesn't 'need an apology' Posted: 22 Dec 2019 10:28 AM PST  Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., said Sunday President Trump "crossed a line" when he mocked her late husband at a campaign rally, but said she doesn't need an apology from him either. Instead, the lawmaker said she hopes the episode will be a lesson for the president to "think a little more sometimes."
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| 6 more horses found shot to death in eastern Kentucky Posted: 22 Dec 2019 11:59 PM PST ![6 more horses found shot to death in eastern Kentucky]( "6 more horses found shot to death in eastern Kentucky") Six more horses have been found fatally shot near a strip mine site in eastern Kentucky, according to authorities. Animal rescue group Dumas Rescue says the six horses appear to have been killed during the same shooting that killed at least 15 other horses along U.S. 23 near the Floyd-Pike County line, WYMT-TV reported. Tonya Conn with Dumas Rescue has said that the dead horses were scattered over a large area and it appears they were hunted.
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| For Governors, Power to Pardon Carries Political Risks Posted: 22 Dec 2019 08:36 AM PST  When a radio host asked Matt Bevin, the former governor of Kentucky, why he had pardoned a man convicted of raping a child, Bevin's first response was, "Which one?""Because there were a couple of people that were accused of that whose sentences I commuted," he said.Bevin, a Republican, had already been criticized for issuing more than 600 pardons and sentence reductions just before he left office Dec. 10, including to men who were convicted of murder and rape, and one whose family had supported his campaign.But the firestorm grew worse the more Bevin spoke, as he sought to justify his actions. He claimed that a young girl could not have been raped by a man he freed because her hymen was intact -- an assertion experts rejected as proof of the man's innocence.While the pardons issued by Bevin may be as unique as his brash governing style, he is far from the first governor to face a backlash over pardons. They can be politically risky and are issued often as governors are on their way out the door, either at the end of their political term or after an election loss.Mark Osler, a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, said he worried that what he viewed as several poor decisions by Bevin would overshadow the benefits that pardons can have on prisoners and society."I think it's important to call Bevin out on the bad choices he made, but I think it's important to recognize that he made hundreds of good choices, too," said Osler, who describes himself as an advocate for clemency."The way we misuse clemency the most is by not using it," he added.Here are other instances when pardons have prompted protests:-- Haley Barbour, Mississippi: Governor's Mansion WorkersOn his last day as governor in 2012, Gov. Haley Barbour of Mississippi issued pardons to four men who had been convicted of murder and sent to work at his mansion through a prison program. The pardons, which were among 193 granted by Barbour that day, elicited outrage and claims that the governor had unfairly evaluated the cases of the four men, all of whom were serving life sentences. Some called for the governor's clemency powers to be subjected to additional oversight.The furor over the pardons lasted for months, as did a court challenge from the state's attorney general.Barbour, a Republican, had issued 10 times as many pardons as his four predecessors combined. But none drew headlines like those he gave to the men who worked at his mansion while they were incarcerated.Ultimately, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that it could not interfere with Barbour's pardoning authority, and the pardons were upheld.Among the 203 full pardons Barbour issued over two terms, many went to people who had already completed their sentences. More than a dozen were issued to people convicted of murder, and Barbour also pardoned Brett Favre's brother, who had killed a friend in a drunken-driving crash. Like in Bevin's case, some victims' families complained that they had not been consulted beforehand.-- Jerry Brown, California: Halting DeportationsJerry Brown, a Democratic former governor of California, drew President Donald Trump's ire last year by pardoning five immigrants who had been convicted of various crimes and were set to be deported."Is this really what the great people of California want?" Trump asked on Twitter at the time.Brown granted more than 1,000 pardons between 2011 and 2019, but several commutations were halted last year by the California Supreme Court in what amounted to a rare rebuke of executive power. While the justices did not explain their decisions, they were widely interpreted as a determination that Brown had abused his power.One of the pardons the court blocked was for Borey Ai, a Cambodian refugee who had been convicted of murder in 1997 for killing a woman when he was 14, The Associated Press reported. He was released after 19 years, but was facing deportation when Brown tried to pardon him, effectively stopping his pending deportation.The court's ruling in December 2018, blocking the pardon, kept him subject to deportation. In November of this year, Ai said at a rally that he had been detained by immigration authorities for 18 months after he was released from prison and that he could be deported at any time, AP reported.-- Mike Huckabee, Arkansas: Police Killings After PardonThe political peril of pardons burst into full view in 2009 when a man pardoned by Mike Huckabee, a Republican former governor of Arkansas, walked into a coffee shop near Tacoma, Washington, and fatally shot four police officers.The man, Maurice Clemmons, was later shot and killed by a police officer after a manhunt. But the case was used to criticize Huckabee, who was then a Fox News contributor and would later run for president. As governor, he issued three times as many pardons and commutations as the three preceding governors combined.Clemmons had been convicted of burglary and robbery and was not eligible for parole until 2021 when Huckabee commuted his sentence, allowing him to get out of prison on parole. But there were factors besides Huckabee's commutation that led to outrage over Clemmons' crime. Clemmons was given parole after violating it once, and when he killed the four officers, he had pending felony charges for assaulting police officers and raping a child.-- Paul LePage, Maine: Secret Pardon ListIn Maine, former Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, pardoned 112 people in eight years but both the number and names of people pardoned were kept hidden until The Associated Press obtained them using a freedom of information law.Among those on the pardon list: the grandson of LePage's mentor and a former Republican state lawmaker.Jeff Pierce, the former lawmaker, was convicted of felony drug trafficking in 1983 and later admitted to illegally hunting with firearms, according to Maine Public Radio. Among those pardoned by LePage were a woman convicted of embezzling thousands of dollars from a county sheriff's department and the grandson of a man who sheltered LePage when he ran away from home as a child, AP reported. That man had been convicted of operating under the influence and driving with a suspended or revoked license.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| ‘It is beyond cruel’: Ice refuses to reunite girl with the only family she has left Posted: 22 Dec 2019 08:08 AM PST  María has been waiting to be paroled so she can be with her niece, who was sent to foster care 2,400 miles awayFor more than nine months, María, 23, has been waiting in an immigration detention center in Arizona hoping to reunite with the six-year-old niece she raised as a daughter. When the two asked for asylum at the border last March because they feared for their lives in Guatemala, border officials detained María in the Eloy detention center and sent the girl to foster care in New York, 2400 miles away.The Guardian first reported on the ongoing separation of this family in October. As the story spread, lawmakers and more than 200 clergy asked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to grant María parole so she can leave detention and reunite with the girl. A woman in New York volunteered to house them both while María awaits a decision on her appeal for asylum.But despite that public support, Ice denied María's application for parole in mid-December.Parole was once the norm for arriving asylum seekers, but in recent years approvals have become increasingly rare. On a standardized form, Ice officers indicated María failed to prove she was "not a flight risk" or that her "continued detention was not in the public interest".María said the denial was "depressing" because it prolongs her separation from the child. She has regular phone calls with her niece, who says she doesn't want to be apart any more. "But I tell her she has to be patient, wait a little bit longer. Just like I'm doing it myself from here," María said in Spanish during a phone call from detention on Thursday."Why does Ice get to say what the public interest is?" said Suzannah Maclay, one of María's pro bono attorneys. "It's very clear what the public is interested in here. It's helping these people and getting them back together."An Ice spokeswoman emailed a statement reciting the facts of María's case but did not answer why the agency denied parole.Six years ago, a gang in rural Guatemala murdered María's last living relatives except her niece, who was a baby. María raised the child and is the only mother the girl has known. They fled toward the United States last Christmas after the gang murdered María's partner and tried to shoot her.María's case stands out because of the dozens of people who have tried to help.The support began when María and her niece first arrived at a shelter on the Mexican border and met American volunteers. They helped obtain copies of official birth and death certificates that prove her relatives were violently murdered and her relationship to the girl.At that time, a federal judge had halted the Trump administration's policy of separating most families at the border nearly nine months earlier. Yet a US law aimed at protecting child migrants from traffickers requires border officials to separate arriving children from adults who cannot prove they are the child's parents or legal guardians. Officials did not accept the documents María showed as proof of legal guardianship.Once María was detained, some of those volunteers from the shelter found her pro bono attorneys and located her niece in New York."She would have totally lost track of her niece," said Maclay. "But it was because the public stepped up and kept track of where the little girl went that they're even in contact right now."María's supporters are calling on Ice to reverse course and grant her parole. A small crowd of state legislators, clergy and activists gathered on the state capitol on Thursday holding signs that read "Uncage & Reunite" and "Call ICE" with the agency's local phone number.The Rev James Pennington of First Congregational United Church of Christ in Phoenix said by keeping the family apart, Ice is "causing further pain, trauma, mental, physical, spiritual health issues that will extend far beyond just this moment in time".He added, "It is beyond cruel especially at this time of Christmas."Anita, the New York woman who has volunteered to house María and her niece, said she has already sent them photos of the family. "I told her we're all waiting for her," said Anita, who asked for her last name to be withheld to protect María's safety if she is released."We're so anxious to have a good resolution for this case, but at the same time painfully aware that there are so many other people that don't have this kind of support," she said.When the Guardian first wrote about María, she asked to be called Alexa for fear of reprisal. But she has since chosen to use her real first name in the press as a growing number of supporters are calling on Ice to release her.After a federal judge in 2018 ordered most family separations to end, attorneys have been scrambling to reunite families. There are currently about 5,500 known cases of children separated from parents during the Trump administration. But no one has tracked how many children have been split from non-parent relatives, nor is there a formal mechanism for those families to reunify.The logistics of how and when María will see her niece again if she is not paroled are unclear. María's asylum appeal could take up to two years. Sean Wellock, another pro bono attorney representing her, said if María were to lose her appeal, the government would be under no obligation to coordinate a reunion in Guatemala with her niece if they are deported separately.The girl could lag behind María by days, weeks or months.Christie Turner-Herbas, an attorney specializing in reunifying migrant families at Kids in Need of Defense, said when a child is deported alone, US government agencies do not always communicate clearly about the child's travel."There have been complications like a child is leaving and we never get any notice," Turner-Herbas said. "And then we find out, you know, get a panicked call from the family saying that they heard the child is coming in, but they're not able to get [to the airport] in time."María says her days in detention are monotonous until someone visits or she receives a letter. While she says the government has denied all her requests, she still doesn't "feel abandoned"."I have the support of lots of people," she said. "I'm not alone".
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| A nuclear attack would most likely target one of 6 US cities. Simulated images show how a Hiroshima-like explosion would affect each. Posted: 23 Dec 2019 12:06 PM PST  New York City would have the most fatalities from a nuclear blast. San Francisco would have the least.
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| Boeing Starliner spacecraft lands in US desert after botched mission Posted: 22 Dec 2019 03:29 PM PST  Boeing's Starliner spacecraft has landed successfully in a US desert after aborting a botched mission.The crewless astronaut capsule landed at the White Sands desert in New Mexico on Sunday after abandoning its milestone test mission.
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| French army carries out first-ever drone strike during Mali op Posted: 22 Dec 2019 04:13 PM PST  France's armed forces said Monday it had carried out a drone strike for the first time, during operations in Mali at the weekend in which it said 40 "terrorists" were killed. On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron had announced that French forces had "neutralised" 33 jihadists in the central Malian region of Mopti, in an operation that had started the previous night. In a statement, the French military command said the drone strike happened during a follow-up operation Saturday in which another seven jihadist fighters were killed.
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| Taliban kill U.S. force member in northern Afghanistan Posted: 22 Dec 2019 08:51 PM PST ![Taliban kill U.S. force member in northern Afghanistan]( "Taliban kill U.S. force member in northern Afghanistan") The Taliban said their fighters killed a U.S. service member in Afghanistan on Monday and posted photographs of a blood-soaked backpack and the identity card of an American soldier to prove it. The U.S. Defense Department said Michael Goble, a U.S. Army sergeant from New Jersey, died on Monday from "injuries sustained while his unit was engaged in combat operations" one day earlier in Kunduz province.
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| Trump May Be Acquitted in a Senate Impeachment Trial. That's Not the Same as Being Exonerated Posted: 23 Dec 2019 09:10 AM PST  The Senate may vote to acquit President Trump in the impeachment trial, according to Joyce White Vance, but if the process isn't fair, then that acquittal won't exonerate him.
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| Putin opens railway bridge to Crimea Posted: 23 Dec 2019 03:38 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday inaugurated a massive railway bridge to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Putin rode a commuter train for the opening of the 19-kilometer (11.9-mile) bridge, which is the longest in Europe. The $3.6-billion project is intended to bolster links between Russia and Crimea by increasing the transport of cargo and encouraging the flow of tourists.
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| 8 times suspected 'porch pirates' have been thwarted from stealing holiday packages Posted: 23 Dec 2019 01:39 PM PST  Home surveillance systems and clever police officers have been tackling the issue of thieves stealing peoples' holiday packages.
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| 'A terrible time to be poor': Cuts to SNAP benefits will hit 700,000 food-insecure Americans Posted: 22 Dec 2019 08:43 AM PST  A new Trump administration policy would leave many Americans without food stamps. Food banks are worried they won't be able to make up the difference.
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| North Korea Is The One Country No Military Ever Wants To Fight Posted: 23 Dec 2019 10:59 AM PST  Millions could die.
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| Rudy Giuliani claims Soros is 'hardly a Jew' in rambling new interview Posted: 23 Dec 2019 01:55 PM PST  Former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has stirred anger online by claiming he is "more of a Jew" than 89-year-old Holocaust survivor George Soros.
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| Boeing's CEO Dennis Muilenburg has been fired as the company continues to battle fallout from its 737 Max crisis Posted: 23 Dec 2019 06:41 AM PST  The 737 Max has been grounded around the world since March after the second of two deadly crashes involving the plane.
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| Back to pre-internet stone age in offline Indian Kashmir Posted: 22 Dec 2019 11:28 PM PST  In remote Indian Kashmir people have been offline since August, queuing for hours to pay bills or using government "internet kiosks". As protests rage in other areas of India, it's something people outside the Himalayan region are also getting a taste of. Indian authorities, who according to activists lead the world when it comes to cutting the internet, snapped Kashmir's access when New Delhi scrapped the region's seven-decade-old autonomy.
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| Hong Kong protest tide turns into sea of flames Posted: 23 Dec 2019 09:32 AM PST  Chinese-ruled Hong Kong introduced a bill into the legislature in February that would have allowed the extradition of defendants to mainland China for the first time to face trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party. The move touched a raw nerve, with many in the liberal, free-wheeling financial hub fearing an erosion of Hong Kong's judicial independence and individual rights, amid fears individuals wouldn't be guaranteed a fair trial. The extradition law was seen as a final straw.
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| Trump impeachment: Pelosi hits back at president's criticism as Schumer sends letter demanding documents from White House Posted: 23 Dec 2019 11:09 AM PST  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is standing by her vow that the House won't appoint "managers" to deliver articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump to the Senate until more is known about how his trial will be run."The House cannot choose our impeachment managers until we know what sort of trial the Senate will conduct," Ms Pelosi tweeted on Monday, adding that Mr Trump "blocked his own witnesses and documents from the House, and from the American people, on phony complaints about the House process".
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| Angela Merkel becomes second-longest serving German chancellor as she faces challenge to beat Helmut Kohl Posted: 22 Dec 2019 10:00 PM PST  Angela Merkel today became the second longest serving Chancellor in modern Germany, overtaking one of the greatest figures in post-war European history. Mrs Merkel's 5,144th day in the Chancellery pulled her in front of Konrad Adenauer, the founder of her Christian Democrat party (CDU) and the man who rebuilt West Germany's international reputation after the war in his tenure that stretched from 1949 to 1963. Now Mrs Merkel, who was sworn in on November 22 2005, only trails another giant of the CDU, Helmut Kohl. But her chances of overtaking the man who groomed her for power seem slim. She would have to stay in office for a further 726 days to beat his 5,869-day rule - a feat which would see her still calling the shots on December 17th 2021, some three months after the next scheduled election. The 65-year-old confirmed last year that she will retire from politics at the next election, saying "this fourth term is my last as Chancellor of Germany. I will not run again as CDU candidate for Chancellor in the 2021 elections, nor as an MP." Profile | Angela Merkel The only scenario under which she would overtake Mr Kohl were if she had to stay on in a caretaker capacity while the parties in Germany's fragmented political system hammer out a coalition deal over several months. Stability is key in German politics - Mrs Merkel is just the eighth Chancellor of the post-war period. Few would have predicted 15 years ago that the East German pastor's daughter would become one of Germany's strongest leaders. She has benefited from the hard work her predecessor Gerhard Schroeder put in modernising the welfare system, and her own talent for building big-tent coalitions combining Left-wing social reforms with conservative economic policies. When she does finally leave office, Mrs Merkel's time in power will likely be remembered as a time of unprecedented economic stability, as well as the era in which a far-Right party - the Alternative for Germany - became a serious force in German politics for the first time since the war.
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| Graft, gangs, bad conditions fuel Honduras prison killings Posted: 23 Dec 2019 11:43 AM PST  A top security official in Honduras said Monday the Mara Salvatrucha gang ordered prison riots that killed 37 inmates since Friday. Assistant Security Minister Luis Suazo said the gang known as MS-13 staged the bloody riots to force the government to back down from emergency measures decreed last week. "We have information that the MS is behind this and gave the orders to carry out these attacks," said Suazo.
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| Poll: Viewers say Biden won the debate Posted: 23 Dec 2019 02:39 PM PST ![Poll: Viewers say Biden won the debate]( "Poll: Viewers say Biden won the debate") The Dec. 19 event was the first time since the primary debates began that his performance was seen as best.
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| 2-hour flight turned into a 36-hour ordeal with detour and unscheduled stop Posted: 23 Dec 2019 08:37 AM PST  What was supposed to be a two-hour domestic flight turned into a nightmare, 36-hour international journey for Air Canada passengers.
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| A 22-year-old was convicted after trying to blackmail Apple for $100,000 of iTunes cards Posted: 23 Dec 2019 03:48 AM PST  In 2017 Kerem Albayrak claimed he would publish the account details of 319 million iCloud accounts if his ransom demands weren't met.
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| Surprise! Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman wound up as seatmates on holiday flight home to Australia Posted: 22 Dec 2019 09:58 AM PST  Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman are both heading home to Australia for the holidays. The pals snapped a selfie after taking the same Qantas flight.
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| India bids to bust citizenship law 'myths' with cartoon Muslims Posted: 22 Dec 2019 11:39 PM PST  India's ruling party launched a video with animated Muslim characters on social media Monday as part of a publicity blitz to try to bust "myths" around a new citizenship law that has sparked deadly protests. The law has stoked concerns that Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government wants to marginalise India's Muslim minority.
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| Ben Carson calls reparations for slavery "unworkable" Posted: 23 Dec 2019 01:20 AM PST  In an interview, the Housing and Urban Development Secretary spoke out about the impeachment of President Trump and the concept of reparations for slavery.
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| South Korea, U.S. commandos practice raiding enemy facility as North Korea tensions rise Posted: 22 Dec 2019 10:56 PM PST  South Korean and U.S. commandos raided the facility and led out a man with his hands tied behind the back during the exercise described as a joint regular close-quarters battle training last month at a U.S. military base in the southwestern South Korean city of Gunsan. The U.S. Forces Korea did not respond to a request for comment. The service is operated by an arm of the U.S. Department of Defense.
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| Woman Ran Over Girl Because She Was 'a Mexican,' Police Say Posted: 22 Dec 2019 09:43 AM PST  An Iowa woman was charged with attempted murder after running over a 14-year-old girl because she thought the teenager was Mexican, police said.The woman, Nicole Marie Poole Franklin, 42, of Des Moines, told police that she intentionally struck the girl with her vehicle on Dec. 9 because she believed that she was "a Mexican," Chief Michael G. Venema of the Clive Police Department said in a news release Friday."She went on to make a number of derogatory statements about Latinos to the investigators," Venema said.The episode took place in Clive, Iowa, a city of about 17,000 residents about 10 miles west of Des Moines. Authorities said the girl was walking on the sidewalk on her way to Indian Hills Junior High School when "a vehicle left the roadway and ran the girl over," the news release said.The driver fled without giving aid to the girl, police said.The girl, who had a concussion and bruises, was hospitalized for two days, The Associated Press reported. Television news footage showed her in a neck brace and walking with crutches before being released."I don't remember the impact," the girl told the television station KCCI in Des Moines. "I just remember the car coming towards me."Franklin was driving a Jeep Cherokee, according to Pete De Kock, assistant city manager for the city of Clive.The girl was able to return to school a week later, a West Des Moines school district spokeswoman said at a news conference Friday.Thursday, authorities identified Franklin as the driver and charged her. At a news conference, Venema said officers knocked on doors, checking for home video surveillance, and spoke with bus drivers to help develop details about the vehicle.Franklin was already at the Polk County Jail on a separate assault charge that took place the same day as the hit and run.She was accused of making racist comments to a West Des Moines convenience store clerk and customers, and of hurling items at the clerk, AP reported. Franklin was being held on $1 million bond on the attempted murder charge, according to jail records.Venema said the girl's family requested privacy. The police did not reveal her identity."We are grateful that the victim is safe and recovering with her family," Mayor Scott Cirksena of Clive said in a statement Friday. "We recognize this hate, we reject it, and we will overcome it."Venema also said investigators would continue to gather information to present to prosecutors."There is no place in our community (or any other) for this type of hatred and violence," he said. "We are committed to stand by and support this family and work diligently with them to seek justice."The Des Moines chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens called for Franklin to be charged with a hate crime."Clearly this is a hate crime," said Joe Henry, president of Council 307 for the Hispanic civil rights group in Des Moines, adding that members of his group plan to attend Franklin's court hearing on Dec. 30."When hate is promoted by the president of our country, it is going to show itself in the weakest elements of society and Latinos have been targeted," Henry said. "We had to deal with this ever since he was a candidate for president and it has just gotten worse over time."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| From New York to Moscow, Holocaust survivors share memories Posted: 23 Dec 2019 03:36 AM PST  Holocaust survivors sang at Jerusalem's Western Wall, danced in Paris and lit candles in other cities to celebrate Hanukkah together, recalling Nazi horrors that Jewish community leaders fear are fading from the world's collective memory. An 86-year-old man in Moscow described being forced by Nazi occupiers into a ghetto as a child. Elderly survivors in New York shared stories Sunday at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty.
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| Buttigieg 'wine cave' attendee offers reality check on event Posted: 23 Dec 2019 07:01 AM PST  One of the attendees at South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's now-infamous "wine cave" fundraiser in Napa Valley, California, wants Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to know what really went down.Bill Wehrle, a vice president of a health-care company in San Francisco, wrote an op-ed in The Washington Post about how the event was not full of billionaires drinking $900 dollars bottles of wine like in the image conjured up by Warren during last week's Democratic presidential debate.Wehrle, who says he is neither a billionaire nor a millionaire, attended with his partner, a professor at a community college. Also in attendance, Wehrle said, were a dean from another local community college, a flight attendant, a local city councilwoman, and a college student. People asked Buttigieg questions about primary care for the uninsured, getting out of Afghanistan, and how he plans on combating hate speech. As for the wine? Wehrle said he looked up the price online — it wasn't paltry at $185 a bottle, but nothing close to the Warren-estimated $900 — and, from what he could see, the mayor didn't have a drop.Wehrle did concede there were certainly wealthy people at the event, but he dismissed the idea that the evening was an attempt by billionaires to join together to pick the next president. Read the full op-ed at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com Pelosi's impeachment endgame The substance of Trump's 2020 campaign Rudy Giuliani thinks the Southern District of New York might be investigating him because they're jealous
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