| Indictment of Obama official in Mueller probe may pose a dilemma for Trump, so he takes it out on media Posted: 12 Apr 2019 08:49 AM PDT  Confronted with the novel situation of the special counsel's office going after a member of Barack Obama's administration, President Trump reacted with a tweet complaining about how the New York Times played the story in its Friday editions.
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| 'Smart guy' Florida test taker pleads guilty in U.S. college admissions scandal Posted: 12 Apr 2019 12:36 PM PDT  A former counselor at a Florida private school pleaded guilty on Friday to secretly taking college placement tests for the children of wealthy parents as part of the largest admissions fraud scheme uncovered in U.S. history. Mark Riddell, 36, was charged from a role in the scheme that prosecutors said allowed wealthy parents including the actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin to use cheating and bribes to help their children secure spots at universities like Yale, Georgetown and the University of Southern California. Riddell pleaded guilty in Boston federal court to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, prosecutors said on Twitter.
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| EU 'ready to respond' to US in Airbus/Boeing row Posted: 12 Apr 2019 10:18 AM PDT  French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warned on Friday that Europe was ready to hit back at any US tariffs against Airbus as he pleaded for an "amicable solution" to the long-running dispute. "If we were to be hit again by unjustified and unjustifiable US sanctions, Europe would be ready to respond in a united and strong way," the minister said after his meeting with his US counterpart Steven Mnuchin. "All this would be bad for growth and bad for American and European prosperity," he said at a press conference on the sidelines of the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
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| Julian Assange had a cat, and the internet is really worried about its fate Posted: 12 Apr 2019 09:20 AM PDT  Julian Assange was arrested Thursday after finding refuge in Ecuador's embassy for years. But the internet is starting to worry about his cat.
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| The Latest: Possible Mississippi twister, no injuries Posted: 13 Apr 2019 04:41 PM PDT  DALLAS (AP) — The Latest on a powerful storm system moving through the southern United States (all times local):
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| Comey on Barr’s ‘Spying’ Claim: ‘I Have No Idea What He’s Talking About’ Posted: 12 Apr 2019 08:17 AM PDT  Former FBI director James Comey took issue Thursday with Attorney General William Barr's recent claim that U.S. intelligence agencies "spied" on the Trump campaign.Comey, addressing a cybersecurity conference in California, drew a distinction between "spying" and the authorized surveillance that was conducted on the Trump campaign."I have no idea what he's talking about so it's hard for me to comment," Comey said. "When I hear that kind of language used, it's concerning, because the FBI and the Department of Justice conduct court-ordered electronic surveillance. I have never thought of that as spying."Comey was responding to Barr's Wednesday testimony before the House Appropriations Committee, in which the attorney general surprised Democratic lawmakers by stating that the surveillance conducted on the Trump campaign in order to identify possible links to Russia qualified as "spying.""I think spying did occur," Barr told the panel. "But the question is whether it was adequately predicated and I am not suggesting that it wasn't adequately predicated. . . . I am not suggesting those rules were violated, but I think it is important to look at that. And I am not talking about the FBI necessarily, but intelligence agencies more broadly.""I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal — it's a big deal," he added.Congressional Democrats have chastised Barr for insinuating that the surveillance conducted on the Trump campaign, which relied in part on a FISA warrant supported by the unsubstantiated Steele dossier, was in some way politically motivated, as many of their Republican colleagues have long alleged. They contend that the counterintelligence investigation, which also relied on confidential informants, was an appropriate response to the threat of Russian election-meddling.Comey on Thursday acknowledged that, as a two-time attorney general with decades of government experience, Barr is entitled to the benefit of the doubt, but expressed surprise that he would accuse U.S. intelligence agencies of "spying" on a presidential campaign."If the attorney general has come to the belief that that should be called spying, wow," Comey said. "That's going to require a whole lot of conversations inside the Department of Justice. But I don't know what he meant."Barr told lawmakers Wednesday that he has formed a team to investigate whether the counterintelligence investigation against the Trump campaign was tainted by bias. The team will likely examine the degree to which FBI and Department of Justice officials misled the FISA court about the origins of the Steele dossier, which was commissioned by a firm contracted by the Clinton campaign, in order to obtain a warrant to surveil Carter Page. Page had left the Trump campaign by the time the surveillance began, but the warrant likely entitled authorities to surveil his prior communications with fellow Trump campaign officials.
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| Republican group sorry for email calling Ocasio-Cortez a 'terrorist' Posted: 12 Apr 2019 10:37 AM PDT  The president of a college Republican group in Ohio has apologized for a fundraising email that referred to Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a "domestic terrorist."
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| Disney CEO confirms that Disney+ will be likely be available on Apple TV Posted: 12 Apr 2019 07:37 AM PDT  At $6.99 per month (which goes down to $5.83 if you pay for the whole year), Disney+ is a no-brainer. It's a lot cheaper than competing video streaming services, including Netflix and HBO, and offers a massive catalog of titles from both Disney and Fox, including exclusive content that you won't find anywhere else.The big question after Disney's event the other day was whether Disney+ would come to Apple's revamped Apple TV app, which will also include Apple's own streaming service, Apple TV+. Disney did not address the matter during its event, but CEO Bob Iger said in an interview afterward that Apple TV would get Disney+.During the event, Disney only said that consumers will be able to subscribe to Disney+ on Roku and PlayStation, without naming other companies. That's because Disney hasn't made deals with "all of them" according to Iger. The new Disney+ app will "in all likelihood be available through traditional app distributors, Apple being one of them," Iger told Bloomberg.It's unclear at this time whether users will be able to subscribe to Disney+ from Apple devices or whether they'll have to get the service via an internet browser before logging in inside the app. The Disney+ app will not be available until fall, so we'll have to wait and see how it'll work on Apple devices.Recently, Netflix decided not to allow new subscribers to sign up for the service via an Apple device, a move meant to prevent sharing a cut of the revenue with Apple. Iger also touched on the fact that he's still an Apple board member. He told Bloomberg that he recused himself from meetings whenever the topic came up. He said that streaming "has not been discussed all that much" because it was relatively small and nascent.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mentioned 3,181 times on Fox in six weeks: ‘We have an AOC segment every single day’ Posted: 12 Apr 2019 01:31 PM PDT  Fox Media channels have mentioned freshman congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez every day for about six weeks, as reported by media watchdog group Media Matters. Fox, headed by Rupert Murdoch, is best known for providing right-leaning news and political talk shows, like Justice Jeanine and Hannity. The New York representative was mentioned at least 3,181 times on the network between February 25 and April 7.President Trump is known to frequently watch Fox during his 'executive time'. Ocasio-Cortez, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist, took to Twitter to respond. "Fox News brought me up 3,000+ times in *6 weeks.* That's how hard they're fighting against dignified healthcare, wages, & justice for all; and turning their firepower on the youngest Congresswoman in history to do it. Too bad for them, cause we don't flinch. ForThePeople."Ocasio-Cortez is referring to her championship of what Fox sees as radical liberal causes, like the fight for a liveable minimum wage, Medicare for all, and free college. Media Matters says that "Hosts and guests smear and misrepresent Ocasio-Cortez's agenda, caricaturing it while painting it as dangerous, far-left socialism". The watchdog notes how Fox has repeatedly invalidated Ocasio-Cortez due to her age, calling her a little girl, yet claim she's taken over the democratic party. Fox has also claimed she's pushing her "Latin American values" on the United States, despite the fact that Ocasio-Cortez is Puerto Rican and from the Bronx. Puerto Rico is an American territory.Media Matters notes that host Stuart Varney acknowledged, "We have an AOC segment every single day, almost every single hour. She's good for our ratings"
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| Woman wanted in Pa. taunted police on Facebook. Then she was arrested Posted: 12 Apr 2019 04:17 AM PDT ![Woman wanted in Pa. taunted police on Facebook. Then she was arrested]( "Woman wanted in Pa. taunted police on Facebook. Then she was arrested") A woman wanted on assault charges in Pennsylvania taunted police in a post on Facebook. That taunt led to her arrest, say police in Greene County.
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| North Korea's Kim Jong Un says U.S. must change stance, gives deadline Posted: 12 Apr 2019 04:23 PM PDT  Kim said that he will wait "until the end of this year" for the United States to decide, according to KCNA. "What is needed is for the U.S. to stop its current way of calculation, and come to us with a new calculation," Kim said in a speech to the Supreme People's Assembly on Friday, KCNA said. Trump and Kim have met twice, in Hanoi in February and Singapore in June, building good will but failing to agree on a deal to lift sanctions in exchange for North Korea abandoning its nuclear and missile programs.
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| Employers at India's stricken Jet Airways protest Posted: 13 Apr 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Several hundred employees of India's beleaguered Jet Airways held a protest at Delhi airport on Saturday demanding to be paid and calling for the company to be rescued. All but around half a dozen of its 119 aircraft are grounded and all international flights are suspended until Monday. Once India's second-biggest airline by market share, the Mumbai-based firm has defaulted on loans and struggled to pay aircraft lessors and staff.
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| All the Game of Thrones History You Need to Know Ahead of Season 8 Posted: 12 Apr 2019 07:28 AM PDT  From the creation of the White Walkers to the Dance of Dragons to Robert's Rebellion, here are the events that will affect season 8.
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| Sudan’s Bashir Must Face Justice for His Genocides Posted: 12 Apr 2019 11:35 AM PDT  Sudan's long-time president, Omar al Bashir — among the world's most ruthless rulers — was arrested yesterday in a military coup that followed four months of popular protests in Khartoum, the country's capital. Whatever other charges he will face for terror and corruption, he should be promptly tried for his worst offense: genocide.In 70 years since the adoption of the U.N.'s Genocide Convention, only two genocides have been officially recognized by the U.S. government while they were still occurring. The first was the Bashir regime's genocide in the western Darfur region. In mid 2004, a few months after the Darfur conflict began and a few months before the Bush administration recognized the genocide, the State Department dispatched a team to refugee camps across the border in Chad. The team interviewed survivors from the Muslim Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa tribes, which were targeted for extermination.A preeminent expert in the field, Gregory Stanton, summarized the "shocking" survey results:> Over 60 percent of the people interviewed had witnessed the killing of a family member. Two-thirds had witnessed the killing of a non-family member. Over 80 percent had witnessed destruction of a village. Two-thirds had witnessed aerial bombing of villages by the Sudanese government. And perhaps most chillingly, one-third had heard racial epithets used while they or their relatives were being murdered or raped. Assailants often shouted, "Kill the slaves" and "We have orders to kill all the blacks."The survey's findings convinced the administration to declare the Bashir regime's campaign in Darfur a racially motivated genocide. All told, the State Department estimates that over 300,000 tribesmen have died in in the region, and hundreds of thousands remain displaced today.Despite an arrest warrant for genocide issued against him by the International Criminal Court in 2010, Bashir remained president and protected from prosecution. He continued to receive crucial diplomatic and financial support from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, China, and the Arab League, among others.As I wrote 15 years ago in these pages, Darfur should be counted as Bashir's second genocide. He waged the first from the early 1990s to 2002, against the Christians and animists of southern Sudan and the people of the Nuba Mountains. That bloody campaign was undertaken in response to a rebellion against the forcible imposition of sharia law, which violated guarantees of southern autonomy included in the 1972 Addis Ababa Agreement. Though the Nuba are mostly Muslim, they resisted Bashir's call to jihad against the south and were consequently declared "apostates," marked for death along with non-Muslims, in a 1993 government fatwa.Over 2 million eventually perished and 5 million were displaced as a result. Bashir used, as he would again in Darfur, a combination of military and militia tactics, inflicting deliberate mass starvation and sanctioning widespread rape, enslavement, and bombing and strafing of hospitals, schools, and other civilian structures. It ended in 2005 with the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement (SCPA). Its traumatic legacy lives on in the unending conflict and political dysfunction of South Sudan, which became an independent country under the terms of the SCPA.For 30 years, Bashir led a military dictatorship bent on forcibly Islamicizing and Arabizing Sudan's disparate tribes and religious groups. His regime carried out amputations, stonings, and other harsh punishments for such offenses as women wearing pants instead of skirts, the consumption of alcohol, adultery, homosexuality, and apostasy and blasphemy against Islam.Bashir's millions of surviving victims yearn for justice, but it is unlikely to come from the usual international bodies. The ICC, currently preoccupied with trying to prosecute American vets of Afghanistan and Iraq, is too politicized to be entrusted with adjudicating the most egregious of all human-rights violations. And U.N.-backed hybrid tribunals have been infamously slow and expensive.Bashir should instead be tried for genocide by a Sudanese court. Secretary Pompeo should honor the Bush administration's genocide designation by helping Khartoum identify Sudanese jurists and witnesses, many of whom are now in exile, and by providing expert legal counsel and encouragement. It's the best chance the world stands of forcing this monster to answer for his crimes.
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| ThinkProgress, a Powerful Democratic Media Arm, Calls Out Bernie Sanders for His Wealth Posted: 12 Apr 2019 08:26 AM PDT  The Asahi Shimbun/GettyInside Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign there has always been a sense of vulnerability about the attacks that would come against the senator over the wealth he has accumulated in office. After all, it becomes a bit tricky for a politician to rail against the perniciousness of income inequality when he himself becomes a member of the well-off, even if that fortune is simply due to a best-selling book. But few expected that one of the first jabs would come from one of the most firmly Democratic-allied media outlets in the country. This week, ThinkProgress, the news organ that is a project of, though editorially independent from, the progressive think tank Center for American Progress, put out a video noting that Sanders had stopped maligning millionaires—choosing, instead, to direct his ire at billionaires—when he became a millionaire himself. The video accompanied a more nuanced article reflecting on the irony of Sanders dragging his feet in releasing his tax returns out of a desire to hide his wealth while President Trump refused to release tax returns in order to keep secret that he wasn't as rich as he boasted. And in an email to The Daily Beast, Jodi Enda, the editor of ThinkProgress, defended the work as observational more than adversarial. "ThinkProgress did not try to 'go after' Sen. Sanders—to use your words—and we will not 'go after' any other candidate," Enda said. "We strive to be fair and to allow our readers and viewers to interpret the news for themselves. We are no different from other media in that regard." "The video illustrated how Sen. Sanders' rhetoric has evolved," Enda added. A source at the Center for American Progress stressed that no one at the think tank had insight about, or input into, the video that ThinkProgress produced. But within the broader Democratic ecosystem, those editorial lines of demarcation were not exactly satisfying. The video was viewed as an implicit warning that a portion of the party's infrastructure would not simply be content to let Sanders coast through the primary (as if that was in doubt). And a number of progressives expressed dismay to The Daily Beast that one of the party's more notable media arms had chosen to attack Sanders for his wealth well before any of his fellow primary candidates had. It did not go unnoticed that the video was being gleefully passed around by GOP operatives on Twitter. What made the video all the more remarkable, however, was that Sanders' campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, was not too long ago the editor of ThinkProgress. Shakir said he had no comment on the matter. But his relationship with the officials at CAP is complicated, after he began providing assistance to Sanders' 2016 campaign—all of which was revealed during the dumping of stolen emails by Wikieaks during the late stages of that campaign. But there was an obvious explanation for why that grated on CAP officials. They were largely supportive of Hillary Clinton, from the organizations founder (John Podesta) to its current president (Neera Tanden). There is no Clinton in the race this go round. But, it appears, the skepticism towards Sanders persists.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| The 15 Times We Got Really Excited about the Mid-Engined C8 Chevrolet Corvette's Development Posted: 12 Apr 2019 05:00 AM PDT |
| Shock at arrest of deputy's son in black church fires Posted: 12 Apr 2019 02:27 PM PDT  OPELOUSAS, La. (AP) — Authorities said he had no known criminal record. A friend described him as an introverted animal lover who showed no animosity toward any race, and a talented, if frustrated heavy metal guitar player and singer. A fellow musician called him "a really sweet guy."
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| Mark Riddell, test-taker ace in college admissions cheating case, pleads guilty in court Posted: 13 Apr 2019 06:10 AM PDT  Mark Riddell, the man accused of taking tests for students in an elaborate college admissions scheme, appeared Friday in federal court.
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| Russia finds Facebook failed to provide information on data-agencies Posted: 12 Apr 2019 06:46 AM PDT  A court in Russia fined Facebook on Friday for failing to tell authorities where it stores Russian user data, Russian news agencies reported, a ruling that highlights wrangling between tech giants and Moscow as it ramps up Internet controls. The court fined Facebook 3,000 roubles ($47) for not providing information in line with legislation that came into force in 2015 requiring social media companies to store user data on servers located in Russia. The only tools Moscow currently has to enforce its data rules are fines that often amount to small sums or blocking the offending online service, an option fraught with technical difficulties.
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| Democrats condemn Trump plan to send migrants to sanctuary cities as 'cruelty' Posted: 12 Apr 2019 05:27 PM PDT  President also criticized over reports he urged CBP chief to close Mexico border, offering a pardon if he broke the lawMigrants from Central America are seen inside an enclosure, where they are being held by Customs and Border Protection El Paso, Texas, on 29 March. Photograph: Lucas Jackson/ReutersDemocrats have accused Donald Trump's administration of "cruelty" and using people as political pawns in the wake of reports that presidential aides considered a plan to release migrants in sanctuary cities.At least twice in the past six months, the White House weighed a plan to pressure US immigration authorities to release people detained at the border in these cities, which limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, according to the Washington Post.Trump confirmed that his White House was considering such a plan on Friday afternoon, contradicting his own Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which told reporters it had rejected the plan.Trump tweeted: "Due to the fact that Democrats are unwilling to change our very dangerous immigration laws, we are indeed, as reported, giving strong considerations to placing Illegal Immigrants in Sanctuary Cities only.... The Radical Left always seems to have an Open Borders, Open Arms policy – so this should make them very happy!"In an earlier statement, DHS said: "This was a suggestion that was floated and rejected, which ended any further discussion."Democrats said the proposal was another example of the Trump administration's extreme measures to curb legal and illegal immigration.They also highlighted that viewing such a move as punishment was unusual, since it would affect cities that already welcome more immigrants than the rest of the country, such as Chicago, Los Angeles and New York City."It takes a truly warped mind to think that releasing families who sought asylum at the border in Sanctuary Cities would be a 'punishment'," said New York City's comptroller, Scott Stringer, on Twitter. "These families are just seeking a better life, and Sanctuary Cities exist because we *want them here*."Trump also faced criticism over fresh reports that he had urged his soon-to-be acting homeland security secretary to close the southern border, and said that he would pardon the official if he were to run afoul of the law.Two people familiar with the private conversation told the Associated Press the conversation with Kevin McAleenan, then the Customs and Border Protection commissioner, came during the president's trip last week to Calexico, California.The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss what was said.It was not clear whether the president was joking or why McAleenan would find himself in personal legal jeopardy. But the comments came just a day after Trump told reporters that he was delaying his threat to close the border because Mexico appeared to be stepping up its efforts."At no time has the president indicated, asked, directed or pressured the acting secretary to do anything illegal," a DHS spokesman said.The government has said the US-Mexico border is at a "breaking point" because of the crowds of Central American families seeking asylum there, though its policies have so far focused on deterrence, instead of responding to the factors driving people to flee Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador."The cruelty of this administration never seems to end," said Julián Castro, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president ahead of the 2020 election.Speaking at a CNN town hall event on Thursday night, Castro compared the sanctuary cities proposal to family separation, which failed to deter people from coming to the border."Now they are talking about bussing families to particular cities to target political opponents," Castro said. "These folks want us to choose cruelty as a weapon against people and against political opponents."Another Democratic presidential hopeful, Amy Klobuchar, said Trump was "literally using human beings as pawns in a political game"."Instead of passing comprehensive immigration reform he does this: White House proposed releasing immigrant detainees in sanctuary cities, targeting political foes," Klobuchar said on Twitter.In January 2017, the Trump administration instructed the US attorney general to withhold funding for sanctuary cities, but the decision was quickly challenged in court. In November 2018, a federal judge ruled the crackdown was unconstitutional.
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| WikiLeaks set 21st century model for cyber-leak journalism Posted: 11 Apr 2019 10:30 PM PDT  Using cryptography and virtual drop boxes, Julian Assange's WikiLeaks created a revolutionary new model for media to lure massive digitized leaks from whistleblowers, exposing everything from US military secrets to wealthy tax-dodgers' illicit offshore accounts. Assange's arrest in London Thursday on a US extradition request to face charges of computer crimes could spell the end of 13-year-old WikiLeaks. News outlets and journalists everywhere can now offer to potential sources encrypted apps and secure virtual mailboxes to receive secrets that were once divulged by discreet whispers, furtive phone calls and unmarked manila envelopes.
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| UPDATE 4-East Libyan warplanes hit Tripoli government positions Posted: 12 Apr 2019 03:32 AM PDT ![UPDATE 4-East Libyan warplanes hit Tripoli government positions]( "UPDATE 4-East Libyan warplanes hit Tripoli government positions") Eastern Libyan forces bogged down in street battles in a push to seize the capital Tripoli deployed warplanes on Friday to hit several government positions, as more civilians fled fighting. More than 1,000 people gathered in central Tripoli to demand that Khalifa Haftar stop the advance of his Libyan National Army (LNA) on the coastal city. Haftar launched the campaign a week ago, in the latest conflict in a cycle of anarchy since the 2011 overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
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| Bernie Sanders Hits 1 Million Donations in Less Than Two Months Posted: 12 Apr 2019 08:35 AM PDT  Lucy NicholsonSen. Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) 2020 campaign announced Friday that it has received one million donations since he launched his second presidential bid on Feb. 19. "We did it! The grassroots movement has made 1 millions donations and counting to the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign," wrote the senator's official Twitter account, accompanied by a video touting the figures. "This is how we're going to defeat Donald Trump and transform this country." While the campaign initially set a goal to reach the mark by the end of the first quarter, the one-million donation mile marker reflects the fundraising prowess of his operation and is another indicator that the Vermont senator is off to a faster start than his initial long-shot bid in the 2016 campaign.His campaign also hit one million donations during that previous White House bid, but it took a full five months and was announced in Sept. 2015. The Sanders team has slashed that time in half for the 2020 race.The one-million donation milestone had also been reached by both of President Barack Obama's campaigns in 2008 and 2012. Many of the 2020 Democratic contenders have revealed their fundraising totals for the first quarter prior to the filing deadline on Monday. So far, Sanders has led with a total of $18.2 raised. Trailing him in fundraising haul are Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) with $12 million, former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) with $9.4 million, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg with $7 million, and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) with $6 million. Prior to Friday's announcement, Sanders' team also said his total came from 525,000 contributors. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| Volkswagen Atlas Basecamp Off-Road Concept Shows VW's Adventurous Side Posted: 12 Apr 2019 06:00 AM PDT  Customizations include a lift kit, all-terrain tires, and a compact camper trailer.
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| Chicago Sues Jussie Smollett for Cost of Police Overtime Posted: 12 Apr 2019 04:46 AM PDT  Outgoing mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration filed suit Thursday against Empire actor Jussie Smollett to recoup the cost of the police overtime dedicated to solving the hoax hate crime that Smollett allegedly staged against himself."The Law Department has filed a civil complaint against Mr. Smollett in the Circuit Court of Cook County that pursues the full measure of damages allowed under the false statements ordinance," Department of Law spokesperson Bill McCaffrey said in a statement. "This follows his refusal to reimburse the City of Chicago for the cost of police overtime spent investigating his false police report on January 29, 2019."The Cook County state attorney's office last month dropped all charges against Smollett without requiring that he admit to staging a bigoted, politically-motivated attack on himself. Smollett's attorneys have since refused to pay the $1130,106 that police demanded and warned the city not sue for the money, writing in a letter sent last week that their client "will not be intimidated into paying the demanded sum."The lawsuit, which was obtained by the Chicago Tribune, lays out the evidence police recovered during their investigation, including the testimony provided by the two men Smollett allegedly hired to stage the attack, video evidence of those men buying the items used in the attack, and the checks Smollett made out to them for $3,500 for their services.Cook County state attorney Kim Foxx's decision to drop the 16-count indictment against Smollett despite that evidence has drawn harsh criticism from Emanuel, who called it a "whitewash of justice." Police superintendent Eddie Johnson also lambasted the 37-year-old actor for damaging Chicago's reputation and attacked Foxx for failing to punish the behavior.Smollett's lawyers maintain his innocence and, in the letter sent to the city last week, criticized Johnson and Emanuel for their reaction to the charges being dropped, writing that the pair owed their client an apology "for dragging an innocent man's character through the mud."
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| 2 killed in violent Sun Valley crash; person sought after fleeing scene Posted: 12 Apr 2019 11:29 PM PDT  Two people were killed in a violent two-car crash in Sun Valley Friday night, and authorities are investigating whether the wreck is the result of street racing.
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| Detailed Photos of the New 2019 Subaru Forester Posted: 12 Apr 2019 12:57 PM PDT |
| Trump confirms possible plan to send immigrants to sanctuary cities, contradicting White House denials Posted: 12 Apr 2019 10:48 AM PDT  President Trump confirmed Friday that the White House is considering a plan to transport detained immigrants to "sanctuary cities" and releasing them there as a way to punish his political enemies.
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| 'Star Wars': Actors are psyched for Rey, Poe and Finn to team up in 'Rise of Skywalker' Posted: 12 Apr 2019 06:02 PM PDT  Han, Luke and Leia had their day, and 'Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker' emphasizes the team spirit of Rey, Finn and Poe Dameron.
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| Google takes on 'Africa's challenges' with first AI centre in Ghana Posted: 12 Apr 2019 08:21 PM PDT  An artificial intelligence research laboratory opened by Google in Ghana, the first of its kind in Africa, will take on challenges across the continent, researchers say. The US technology giant said the lab in the capital Accra would address economic, political and environmental issues. "Africa has many challenges where the use of AI could be beneficial, sometimes even more than in other places," Google's head of AI Accra, Moustapha Cisse, told AFP at the centre's official opening this week.
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| Trump asylum policy gets temporary reprieve from Court of Appeals Posted: 12 Apr 2019 05:27 PM PDT  The asylum program was set to be shut down at 8 p.m. EDT (midnight GMT) by an order issued on Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg, but the Trump administration had asked for the Court of Appeals in San Francisco to intervene. The Court of Appeals issued a two-paragraph order saying the lower court injunction was temporarily stayed while the parties prepare to submit arguments next week on the government's request for a longer stay that would remain in place for the months-long appeals process. The government told the Court of Appeals in papers filed late Thursday that the United States faced "a humanitarian and security crisis" at the southern border and needed to the policy to deal with surging number of refugees.
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| Syria says Israeli airstrike on military position wounds 6 Posted: 13 Apr 2019 01:23 AM PDT ![Syria says Israeli airstrike on military position wounds 6]( "Syria says Israeli airstrike on military position wounds 6") DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — An Israeli airstrike on a military position in central Syria early Saturday wounded six soldiers and destroyed several buildings, Syria's state news agency SANA reported.
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| Infiniti celebrates 30 years with special edition trim for Q50 Posted: 12 Apr 2019 07:04 AM PDT  Infiniti will be celebrating its 30th anniversary with the launch of a new trim for the Q50 sedan. The 2019 Q50 Signature Edition will debut next week at the New York International Auto Show. On Thursday Infiniti announced that it plans to celebrate its 30 years this year at the New York Auto Show with the launch of the 2019 Q50 Signature sedan.
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| Police: Mother tries karate, son strips and dog steals cornbread at Walmart Posted: 13 Apr 2019 01:30 PM PDT ![Police: Mother tries karate, son strips and dog steals cornbread at Walmart]( "Police: Mother tries karate, son strips and dog steals cornbread at Walmart") The incident occurred Wednesday evening when Eau Claire, Wisconsin, police responded to a theft call at a Walmart, the department said on Facebook.
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| Disney sees ESPN+ reaching up to 12 million subscribers by 2024 Posted: 12 Apr 2019 02:42 AM PDT  ESPN+, Walt Disney Co's sports video streaming service, could attract between 8 million and 12 million paying subscribers by the end of the fiscal 2024 year, the company said on Thursday. Disney's forecast for significant growth in paying customers in the next few years was disclosed in a presentation of its streaming video strategy to Wall Street. Operating losses for ESPN+ are expected to be $650 million annually in both fiscal 2019 and 2020, Disney's chief financial officer, Christine McCarthy, said during an investor day webcast presentation.
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| View the All-New 2020 Nissan Versa in Photos Posted: 12 Apr 2019 01:17 PM PDT |
| New York Post uses 9/11 front page to attack Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar Posted: 12 Apr 2019 02:38 AM PDT  The New York Post has featured a photo of the World Trade Centre exploding into flames alongside a quote by Ilhan Omar on its front page in response to comments the Muslim congresswoman made on Islamophobia.The front-page headline on Thursday's edition of the newspaper read: "Here's your something... 2,977 people dead by terrorism."It comes after Ms Omar made some brief remarks about Islamophobia at an event in March that came in the aftermath of the shooting that left 50 Muslim worshippers dead in New Zealand.But after video of the event was published this week, conservative figureheads fixated on the way she had phrased a reference to 9/11, as "some people did something".The New York Post front page has been condemned by liberal commentators online. Many felt the newspaper, which has a history of incendiary front pages, had overstepped the bounds of acceptability.> Wow. Today's @nypost cover has a strong message for @IlhanMN. pic.twitter.com/L2MApyCC90> > — Nate Madden (@NateOnTheHill) > > April 11, 2019Others said the cover amounted to incitement of violence against Ms Omar, who has faced a growing number of threats."Disgusting," wrote Josh Marshall, the editor and publisher of Talking Points Memo."Ugly and so fundamentally dishonest," tweeted writer Jill Filipovic. "This is not in any way a fair representation of what she said."The hate for a black Muslim congresswoman is simply astounding.""It's absolutely vile bigotry, which could very possibly incite violence against Muslims," Ryan Cooper wrote in The Week.Ms Omar made the remark last month at a banquet hosted by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties organisation that is a frequent target of far-right criticism.Her speech came a week after the mass shooting in Christchurch, which officials have called an act of terrorism.Hundreds of people protested Ms Omar outside the banquet, chanting things like "Burn the Quran", "Ilhan Omar go to hell" and "Shame on you, terrorists."She used her speech to talk about Islamophobia, and said she believed Donald Trump has played a role in fuelling "hate against Muslims.""For far too long, we have lived with the discomfort of being a second-class citizen, and, frankly, I'm tired of it, and every single Muslim in this country should be tired of it," she said."CAIR was founded after 9/11 because they recognised that some people did something and that all of us were starting to lose access to our civil liberties."So you can't just say that today someone is looking at me strange and that I am trying to make myself look pleasant."You have to say that this person is looking at me strange, I am not comfortable with it, and I am going to talk to them and ask them why. Because that is the right you have."(CAIR was actually founded in 1994, as The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler noted.)But conservatives have stuck on the description of 9/11 as "some people did something."Congressman Dan Crenshaw, of Texas, a former Navy SEAL, helped amplify the controversy.He retweeted a snippet of Ms Omar's remarks on Tuesday and wrote: "First Member of Congress to ever describe terrorists who killed thousands of Americans on 9/11 as 'some people who did something.' Unbelievable."The next day, Brian Kilmeade, a host of Fox & Friends, questioned Ms Omar's loyalty, saying "You have to wonder if she is an American first." Those comments echoed those made recently by another Fox host, Jeanine Pirro.Other conservative figureheads, like Donald Trump Jr, joined in."This woman is a disgrace," Trump Jr tweeted on Thursday.Many Democrats have come to Ms Omar's defence. "It's horrible what they're doing," congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told reporters on Thursday. "Frankly, this is getting to a level that is beyond politics or partisanship."Ms Ocasio-Cortez said that it was also irresponsible to use an image of 9/11 in that way."To circulate all around New York City an image that is incredibly upsetting and triggering for New Yorkers that were actually there and were actually in the radius and that woke up one morning or were in their schools and didn't know if they were going to see their parents at the end of the day, to elicit such an image for such a transparently and politically motivated attack on Ilhan," she said, trailing off."We are getting to the level where this is an incitement of violence against progressive women of colour."On Twitter, she noted that Ms Omar was a co-sponsor – one of 213 – of a bill to reauthorise the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund."She's done more for 9/11 families than the GOP, Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote.Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, of Michigan, called the New York Post's cover a "pure racist act."The New York Post, which did not respond to a request for comment sent to a spokeswoman, has largely avoided this kind of critical attention in recent years, aware, perhaps, of Mr Trump's unpopularity in the city. But the newspaper has a long track-record of controversial front pages and headlines.Another cover that drew a comparable level of criticism was one it published in the days after the Boston marathon bombing.The cover showed two men – a teenager and a man just a few years older than him – at the Boston Marathon, with the headline "BAG MEN," seeming to suggest the two were potentially suspects in the case."Feds seek these two pictured at Boston Marathon," the headline also said.But the two men, Salaheddin Barhoum and Yassine Zaimi, in a lawsuit they later filed against The New York Post, said they were never suspects in the case, nor had they ever been sought by law enforcement in connection with it."Today's front page of the Post is a black mark in the annals of newspaper history, and it shows that the Murdoch paper deserves no benefit of the doubt," Ryan Chittum wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review. "Any pretence of professionalism – as thin as it might have been – is gone."The New York Post later settled the defamation lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.Washington Post
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| SpaceX successfully recovered Falcon Heavy’s nosecone, and it’s going to space again Posted: 12 Apr 2019 01:57 PM PDT  After many delays, SpaceX was finally able to launch its Falcon Heavy rocket this week, for just the second time ever. The company also made history by successfully recovering both of its side boosters and the central core booster, which it had never done before.Believe it or not, the trio of boosters aren't the only things that SpaceX managed to recover. SpaceX boss Elon Musk revealed on Twitter that both halves of the spacecraft's nosecone were also picked up, and they're going to send them back into space sooner rather than later.SpaceX's entire business model revolves around being able to reuse extremely expensive hardware. Landing a rocket booster back on the ground so it can be refurbished is one thing, but recovering other parts of the spacecraft, such as the nosecone fairing, helps to boost SpaceX's bottom line even more.https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1116514068393680896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1116514068393680896&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fboygeniusreport.wordpress.com%2Fwp-admin%2Fpost.php%3Fpost%3D5705656%26action%3DeditUnfortunately, the fairing halves have proven difficult to recover. The nosecone halves don't have great aerodynamics, and SpaceX has been testing various ways of recovering them for many months. The company has tried catching them, but getting its net-equipped ship into the right position has frustrated their efforts.For the Falcon Heavy, SpaceX didn't catch the fairings but did recover them promptly from the ocean. Seawater isn't the best for rocket components, but the company is confident it can refurbish the fairings after they've been dunked in the ocean. Musk says SpaceX plans on reusing the fairings during the launch of its own Starlink satellite mission later this year.This would be the first time SpaceX has ever reused nosecone fairings it recovered from the ocean, and the company hasn't said a lot about the process(es) it plans to use to give the fairings a second lease on life. We'll see whether things pan out later this year, but SpaceX has been on a winning streak lately and there's little reason to think that will change.
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| What 100 Calories of Easter Candy Looks Like Posted: 13 Apr 2019 03:00 AM PDT  In 2018, Americans spent $3.4 billion on Easter candy—more than they spent on candy for any other holiday except Halloween, according to the National Confectioners Association. So it's not easy t...
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| Sudan's new military ruler vows to 'uproot' Bashir regime Posted: 13 Apr 2019 04:27 PM PDT  Sudan's second new military leader in as many days vowed Saturday to "uproot" deposed president Omar al-Bashir's regime and release protesters, in a bid to placate demonstrators demanding civilian rule. "I announce the restructuring of state institutions according to the law and pledge to fight corruption and uproot the regime and its symbols," General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said, a day after he was sworn in to head Sudan's new ruling military council. Career soldier Burhan took the helm of Sudan's transitional military council on Friday when his predecessor General Awad Ibn Ouf -- a close aide of ousted veteran president Bashir -- quit after little more than 24 hours in power.
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| Iranians rally against US move against paramilitary force Posted: 12 Apr 2019 05:03 AM PDT ![Iranians rally against US move against paramilitary force]( "Iranians rally against US move against paramilitary force") TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Burning American and Israeli flags, Iranians rallied after Friday prayers against the U.S.'s decision to designate the country's powerful Revolutionary Guards as a foreign terrorist organization.
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| Forget the dream wedding. Gen Z-ers are planning to own homes before they're 30, survey finds Posted: 12 Apr 2019 02:19 AM PDT ![Forget the dream wedding. Gen Z-ers are planning to own homes before they're 30, survey finds]( "Forget the dream wedding. Gen Z-ers are planning to own homes before they're 30, survey finds") More than half of adults ages 18 to 23 say they're saving to buy a home, and 59% want to within five years, a new survey by Bank of America found.
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| Banks fight Puerto Rico oversight board's quest for bondholder information Posted: 12 Apr 2019 12:26 PM PDT ![Banks fight Puerto Rico oversight board's quest for bondholder information]( "Banks fight Puerto Rico oversight board's quest for bondholder information") Four banks on Friday fired back at a move by Puerto Rico's federally created financial oversight board to force them to disclose customer information related to certain debt issued by the bankrupt U.S. commonwealth. The board on Monday asked the U.S. District Court judge hearing the island's bankruptcy cases to compel the banks to submit bondholder names and addresses along with related payments the bondholders received between 2013 and 2017 by an April 19 deadline. The Bank of New York Mellon, Bank of America Corp , JP Morgan Chase Bank, and U.S. Bank objected, citing concerns over disclosing confidential customer information, as well as the cost and ability to produce a large amount of information within the tight deadline.
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| The 2020 Audi R8 Decennium Celebrates Audi's Magnificent V-10 Posted: 12 Apr 2019 02:36 PM PDT  The 5.2-liter V-10 traces its history further back, but for now, just practice this special edition's spelling.
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| 2020 Vision: Democratic field now largest in history Posted: 12 Apr 2019 11:48 AM PDT  With 18 candidates, the 2020 Democratic field is now the largest ever for a major party's presidential nomination.
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| This is Netflix’s secret weapon in the fight against Disney and Apple Posted: 12 Apr 2019 11:04 AM PDT  This weekend, pop culture fans around the world will turn their attention again to the fictional continent of Westeros, where a bitter, treacherous fight for supreme power will finish playing out and finally bring HBO's epic fantasy series Game of Thrones to a close eight years after it made its debut.In the real world, meanwhile, a new chapter in a similar, hotly contested fight for who will ultimately occupy the streaming video landscape's version of the Iron Throne is about to get under way, now that Disney has finally unveiled the Netflix rival, Disney+, that it's launching in November for a few bucks less than Netflix's cheapest plan.Let's get this out of the way right at the top. Apple, with its forthcoming Apple TV+ streamer, as well as Disney, both represent some of the toughest challengers Netflix will have faced yet since its evolution from a primarily mail-order service to the dominant streaming video content provider. Apple and Disney are also both ripping a page out of the Netflix playbook and turning it against them. Netflix, you'll recall, transitioned from being a provider of mostly other people's content and decided to future-proof itself by beefing up a library of buzzy originals that you couldn't get anywhere else. Apple and Disney are both opening their checkbooks and promising to spend billions of dollars to do the exact same thing.However, Netflix has something neither of those companies do -- a secret weapon if you will. And that is Reed Hastings, the company's chief executive who, say what you will about him, is not someone you want to cavalierly go up against in this business and assume you'll easily emerge the victor.Think for a moment about all of the various subscription packages you subscribe to, everything from cable to a gym membership, newspapers and magazines, Netflix, Hulu and lots more. If we had to start ranking which ones of those you would have to almost be bankrupt before you give it up, I dare say for most people Netflix is either near the top of the list or maybe even at the very top. It has entrenched itself in the minds of millions of customers that it is a "must-have." Apple, Disney and everyone else are in a tougher spot, in that for most ordinary peoples' budgets, there's not that much more room to add a new "must-have" subscription. I can't imagine almost any scenario in which I'd give up my Netflix subscription -- and in large part, you can trace that back to decisions made as a result of Reed Hastings' visionary leadership of the company.Apple and Disney are extremely strong competitors according to the rules of the streaming game that they're currently in. For pretty much the entirety of its history, and you'll hopefully forgive how trite this statement sounds, but Reed & Co. have been playing a different game at Netflix. Not focused on optimizing for the landscape in front of them, but correctly anticipating what the future holds -- and shifting to meet it -- before they actually needed to.From physical DVDs to streaming to original content and eventually producing critically acclaimed feature-length fare, it's been a fascinating story to watch unfold. This is not to say Apple's and Disney's won't be worthy subscription offerings, and I plan to try out both. But there's a great quote from Kierkegaard, about how life can only be understood backwards but it must be lived forwards. I'm betting that, as things stand now, Netflix will remain the king of the streaming hill going forward and for much of the foreseeable future, as long as its longtime chief executive remains in charge and Netflix keeps making bold bets about what it needs to do next.
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