| Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein offers biting defense of Russia investigation, jabs Obama administration Posted: 26 Apr 2019 08:46 AM PDT  Deputy AG Rosenstein offers staunch defense of Russia investigation
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| Joe Biden's non-apology to Anita Hill casts long shadow over 2020 run Posted: 26 Apr 2019 10:00 PM PDT  Biden's bid for president has invited renewed questions over his handling of Hill's 1991 testimony – and his failure to say sorry Biden, the committe chair, points angrily at Clarence Thomas during the 1991 hearing. Biden on Friday did say he was sorry – but not for anything he had done. Photograph: Greg Gibson/AP After Joe Biden failed once more on Friday to apologize to Anita Hill for his handling of a 1991 Senate hearing at which she testified about being sexually harassed by supreme court nominee Clarence Thomas, questions surged anew. Why can't Biden just issue a straightforward apology? To what extent might the episode trip up his presidential candidacy? And what, exactly, is Biden said to have done wrong at the time? As he asks voters to choose him over multiple women candidates to run against Donald Trump, a president accused of sexual misconduct by more than 20 women, Biden has had to respond to complaints of unwanted touching. He has said "social norms are changing" and promised to 'be more mindful of personal space in the future". But according to experts in gender studies and sexual harassment interviewed by the Guardian, his failure to apologize to Hill, in a recent personal call with her and on the national TV program The View on Friday morning, is particularly frustrating and potentially damning. I am sorry she was treated the way she was treated. I wish we could have figured out a better way to get this thing done Joe Biden Hill told the New York Times this week that Biden called her and expressed "his regret for what she endured". But, she said, it wasn't an apology. "I cannot be satisfied by simply saying, 'I'm sorry for what happened to you,'" Hill said. "I will be satisfied when I know there is real change and real accountability and real purpose." On The View, Biden did say he was sorry – but not for anything he had done. "I am sorry she was treated the way she was treated," Biden said. "I wish we could have figured out a better way to get this thing done. I did everything in my power to do what I thought was within the rules to try to stop things." But analysts questioned whether Biden had, as chairman of the Senate judiciary committee, done everything in his power to protect Hill. "He was the chairman of the committee and it was up to him to do something, and there's a kind of passivity about it, even in retrospect, and that's really upsetting," said Helena Michie, director of the Center for the Study of Women, Gender, and Sexuality at Rice University in Texas. He was the chairman of the committee and it was up to him to do something Helena Michie, Rice University "Biden has done things since that time – and it has been a long time – on behalf of women, and on behalf of mitigating violence against women. But I think what Hill was saying was that until he takes full responsibility for his role, until he stops saying he wished he could have done something, or kind of underplaying his agency in the structuring of that event, then she's going to continue to be deeply suspicious of him." The event While it might be hard to believe, given the hyperpartisanship of today's Congress, in 1991 the Thomas nomination, put forward by Republican president George HW Bush, appeared to be sailing through the Democrat-controlled judiciary committee. At the head of the committee sat Biden, then 51, already in his fourth term as a senator. Then Hill's bombshell allegations emerged. She had told the FBI that Thomas, her supervisor at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, had sexually harassed her. "On several occasions, Thomas told me graphically of his own sexual prowess," she would testify, describing multiple other specific instances of alleged harassment which Thomas denied. Biden called Hill to testify in an open hearing. What millions of viewers across the country saw was unforgettable: a young African American law professor – Hill was just 31 – facing a panel of mostly aged white men quizzing her about being harassed. The moment was a generational touchstone, said Amy Blackstone, a sociology professor at the University of Maine who conducted a long-running study of views on sexual harassment that surveyed people in their early 20s at the time of the hearings. "It's really interesting how many of them noted, without being prompted by me at all, the Thomas hearings as sort of this turning point for them in their consciousness about workplace sexual harassment," said Blackstone. "I don't think that cohort from our sample is unique in any way, at least in that respect. Certainly it was a turning point for many people in the country in terms of our awareness about harassment as an issue, and about the reality that for many women, they're not alone in that experience." It was a turning point for many people in the country in terms of our awareness about harassment as an issue Amy Blackstone, University of Maine The Thomas hearings were further charged by racial politics. Thomas, an African American circuit court judge, had been nominated by Bush to replace Thurgood Marshall, the high court's first African American justice. In his climactic testimony, Thomas said, in part, "from my standpoint as a black American, as far as I'm concerned it's a high-tech lynching for uppity blacks". As committee chairman, Biden was responsible for calling and questioning witnesses, for controlling the pace of testimony and cross-examination and for defining the tenor of the hearing. His critics say he failed in each regard, calling witnesses inimical to Hill while failing to call corroborating witnesses, forcing Hill to describe in graphic detail scenes of harassment she had suffered, and in general failing to defend Hill's vulnerability and to direct the hearing. "Can you tell the committee what was the most embarrassing of all the incidences that you have alleged?" Biden asked Hill at one point. "He absolutely failed at almost every point to take control of the event and to make it dignified and safe for Anita Hill," said Michie. "The other thing he did is that he made her repeat in detail every sexual allegation in front of this panel. And she said repeatedly, 'It's all in writing, you have it all in writing.' And he would say, 'I know it's uncomfortable, but we have to do it.' "There was really a kind of repetition of the violation, but this time in public." Biden has blamed Republican intransigence for the failed hearing. "To this day, I regret I couldn't come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved, given the courage she showed by reaching out to us," he said last month. On The View, Biden credited Hill with creating support for the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, watershed legislation he authored to investigate and prosecute violent crimes against women. "She's responsible for significant changes and she deserves credit for it," Biden said. Hill has been careful about the spotlight. She did not respond to an interview request. But in her public statements and speeches she repeatedly calls for a better process for handling the testimony of victims of sexual violence. That was her message after the confirmation hearings last year for supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused by Dr Christine Blasey Ford of sexual assault. Hill told a group of Pennsylvania students more witnesses should have been called and more evidence allowed. "Anita Hill really has been just such an amazing leader in terms of speaking out about harassment and getting us to think more deeply about the impact that it has on people," said Blackstone. "And certainly I am grateful to her for that, as no doubt are many others."
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| Twitter CEO phoned Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar to defend Trump’s tweet that sparked death threats Posted: 26 Apr 2019 01:38 AM PDT  Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey phoned Ilhan Omar on Tuesday and stood by the company's decision to permit a tweet from President Donald Trump that later resulted in a flood of death threats targeting the congresswoman.The previously unreported call focused on an incendiary video that Trump shared on April 12, which depicts Ms Omar discussing the 9/11 attacks interspersed with footage of the Twin Towers burning.The clip did not include the full context of Ms Omar's remarks, which were taken from a public event on the broader issue of Islamophobia.Ms Omar pressed Mr Dorsey to explain why Twitter didn't remove Trump's tweet outright, according to a person familiar with the conversation who spoke on condition of anonymity because the call was private.Mr Dorsey said that the president's tweet didn't violate the company's rules, a second person from Twitter confirmed.He also pointed to the fact that the tweet and video already had been viewed and shared far beyond the site, one of the sources said.But the Twitter executive did tell Ms Omar that the tech giant needed to do a better job generally in removing hate and harassment from the site, according to the two people familiar with the call.On Thursday, a spokesman for Ms Omar declined to comment. Following the president's tweet, Ms Omar said on 14 April that she had witnessed an "increase in direct threats on my life – many directly referencing or replying to the president's video".Other Democratic leaders later condemned Mr Trump as well.In a statement, Twitter confirmed the call took place. "During their conversation, [Mr Dorsey] emphasised that death threats, incitement to violence, and hateful conduct are not allowed on Twitter," the company said."We've significantly invested in technology to proactively surface this type of content and will continue to focus on reducing the burden on the individual being targeted. Our team has also consistently been in touch with Rep Omar's office."The White House did not respond to a request for comment.Mr Trump is one of Twitter's most popular yet controversial users, whose political salvos are broadcast to nearly 60 million followers each day.Critics say his comments often violate site rules that prohibit hate speech, attacks on the basis of one's personal characteristics and incitements to violence.But Twitter ultimately has allowed the president to tweet without limit, arguing there's a public interest in allowing a head of state to communicate such views unfettered.But in recent weeks, Twitter has signalled it is rethinking that policy.Company leaders recently said they are planning to institute a new approach that would provide more context around tweets that its rules would have prohibited but were permitted to remain on the site anyway because of the speaker.Such a policy could result in public notations on Trump's own tweets.Mr Dorsey's outreach to Ms Omar came on the same day that the Twitter chief executive met with Trump at the White House, a meeting convened at the president's invitation.During the conversation, Trump spent a significant amount of time raising his concerns that Twitter deliberately targets and removes his followers, the Washington Post previously reported.Trump has made those claims in connection with his belief that social media sites are biased against conservatives.But Mr Dorsey said that Twitter's efforts to combat spam result in fluctuations in a user's follower count, noting even he had been affected.Asked about that meeting, Twitter noted in a statement that Dorsey and the president also discussed the 2020 election and efforts to stop the opioid epidemic. A source at the time described the meeting as cordial.The Washington Post
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| Explainer: What does it take to remove a U.S. president from office? Posted: 26 Apr 2019 03:06 AM PDT  Some Democrats say trying to remove Trump from office would be a waste of time because his fellow Republicans still have majority control of the Senate. Other Democrats argue they have a moral obligation at least to try to impeach, even though Mueller did not charge Trump with conspiring with Russia in the 2016 U.S. election or with obstruction of justice. Whether or not the Democrats decide to go down this risky path, here is how the impeachment process works.
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| San Diego synagogue shooting: Woman killed after 'teenager opens fire' on worshippers celebrating Passover Posted: 27 Apr 2019 01:19 PM PDT  A man opened fire a synagogue in the city of Poway, just outside San Diego, leaving one woman dead and three other people injured, authorities in southern California have said. The shooting began at the Chabad of Poway synagogue just before 11.30am on Saturday. County sheriff William Gore said a white man had opened fire on worshippers with an AR-type assault weapon.San Diego Police chief David Nisleit said the 19-year-old suspect called police to report the shooting, and was subsequently arrested by a California Highway Patrol officer. Mr Nisleit said the suspect got out of his car with his hands up and was taken into custody without incident.Mr Gore confirmed a woman died from her injuries, while a girl and two men are in hospital in a stable condition.He said an off-duty Border Patrol agent believed to be inside the synagogue at the time shot at the suspect as he fled. The sheriff said the agent did not hit him, but struck his car.Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, the man conducting the Passover service, was among those shot and suffered hand injuries, a witness told ABC affiliate KGTV.Mayor of Poway Steve Vaus also said the rabbi had been shot in the hand. Aside from the person who died, the mayor said "my understanding is none of the other injuries were life threatening"."We are grateful to those in the congregation there that engaged the shooter and prevented this from being a much more horrific incident," he added said.Derryl Acosta, a spokesman for Palomar Health Medical Center Hospital, said four patients had been admitted around 12.30pm on Saturday.Children were among the injured being treated at the Palomar Medical Centre, local media reported.The Chabad of Poway was worshipping on the last day of Passover, exactly six months since a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue killed 11 people.> Hate has no place in ANY community... least of all Poway. We will put our arms around each other and walk through this tragedy as the family we have always been and always will be. PowayStrong> > — Steve Vaus (@SteveVaus) > > April 27, 2019The shooting came exactly six months since a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue killed 11 people. A truck driver who authorities said expressed hatred of Jews has been charged in the deadliest attack on Jews in US history.He has pleaded not guilty to the 27 October rampage at the Tree of Life synagogue.Passover, otherwise known as Pesach in Hebrew, is regarded as one of the most important festivals in Judaism, celebrating the liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt. Traditionally observed for eight days, it ends this year on the evening of Saturday 27 April with a final Passover meal.Additional reporting by agencies
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| F-35s vs. J-20s: How America's 5th Generation Stealth Fighters Would Crush China Posted: 26 Apr 2019 12:32 AM PDT  This can be explained in terms of a well-known Air Force strategic concept pioneered years ago by air theorist and pilot Col. John Boyd, referred to as the "OODA Loop," --- for observe, orient, decide and act. The concept is to complete this process quickly and make fast decisions while in an air-to-air dogfight -- in order to get inside the enemy's decision cycle, properly anticipate, and destroy an enemy before they can destroy you.The Air Force is accelerating development of a special, high-tech, on-board threat library for the F-35 designed to precisely identify enemy aircraft operating in different high-risk areas around the globe - such as a Chinese J-20 stealth fighter or Russian T-50 PAK FA 5th Gen fighter, service leaders said. (This first appeared in late 2017.)Described as the brains of the airplane, the "mission data files" are extensive on-board data systems compiling information on geography, air space and potential threats in areas where the F-35 might be expected to perform combat operations, Air Force officials explained."Mission data files are the key that unlocks the F-35," Brig. Gen. Scott Pleus, Director of the F-35 Integration Office said.
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| Correction: Confederate Monuments-North Carolina story Posted: 27 Apr 2019 04:28 PM PDT  HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (AP) — In a story April 25 about the toppling of a Confederate monument, The Associated Press reported erroneously that 11 other people besides Raul Arce Jimenez and Shawn Birchfield-Finn have been convicted in connection with the August melee in which the statue was toppled. At least seven other people besides those two men have been convicted in connection with various protests over the statue. The Associated Press also reported erroneously that one of the defendants is named Shawn Birchfield-Finn Jimenez. His name is Shawn Birchfield-Finn.
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| UPDATE 1-Morgan Stanley sees US Q2 GDP growth at 1.1%, Goldman view 2.2% Posted: 26 Apr 2019 10:12 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Morgan Stanley sees US Q2 GDP growth at 1.1%, Goldman view 2.2%]( "UPDATE 1-Morgan Stanley sees US Q2 GDP growth at 1.1%, Goldman view 2.2%") Morgan Stanley's economists said on Friday they expect that U.S. economic growth is running at a 1.1% annual pace in the second quarter due to a reversal of the surge in exports and inventories recorded in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs analysts marked down their estimate on U.S. gross domestic product in the current quarter, but the pace was still twice as fast as Morgan Stanley's projection. "Our preliminary expectations for growth in the second quarter sees large drags from net exports and inventories after their contributions in 1Q," Morgan Stanley economists wrote in a research note.
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| Border Patrol is now releasing migrant families directly in Tucson Posted: 27 Apr 2019 06:42 AM PDT ![Border Patrol is now releasing migrant families directly in Tucson]( "Border Patrol is now releasing migrant families directly in Tucson") The Border Patrol's Tucson sector has followed in the footsteps of its counterparts in Yuma and is releasing families into the community in Tucson.
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| Joe Biden is the Hillary Clinton of 2020 – and it won't end well this time either Posted: 25 Apr 2019 11:00 PM PDT  His is the vaguest and most centrist of battle cries: let's go back to, you know, 'all those good things' Joe Biden: expect to hear that he is the only Democrat who can win the white working class over – despite Bernie Sanders' success with that demographic. Photograph: Joseph Prezioso/AFP/Getty Images Joe Biden wants to make America straight again. "America's coming back like we used to be," the former vice-president told reporters in Delaware on Thursday, shortly after he released a video officially announcing his 2020 campaign. "Ethical, straight, telling the truth … All those good things." It was unfortunate phrasing, but what else would you expect from a man whose foot always seems to be hovering somewhere near his mouth? Gaffes are part of Biden's brand and, we will, no doubt see a lot more of them in the coming months. We can also expect to see a lot more lofty promises about turning the clock back on Trumpism, and returning America to the (entirely mythical) days when the country was a bastion of morality. While it's still early in the 2020 race, Biden has focused his campaign directly around Trump's character, or lack thereof, in a way no other Democratic candidate has. His announcement video centered on the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, where Trump infamously claimed that there "were very fine people of both sides". For Biden, that was a defining point in Trump's presidency. "[I]n that moment, I knew the threat to this nation was unlike any I'd ever seen in my lifetime," Biden says. "If we give Donald Trump eight years in the White House I believe he will forever and fundamentally alter the character of this nation." Sign up to receive the latest US opinion pieces every weekday Is Trump a morally bankrupt racist? Yes, obviously. However, there is a reason that the other Democratic candidates didn't launch their campaigns with attacks on Trump's character: that strategy was tried, tested and proved an abysmal failure by Hillary Clinton. You don't get Trump supporters to see the error of their ways by calling them "a basket of deplorables"; you simply fuel a culture war. (Not to mention, when you have a history of implementing racist legislation like the 1994 Crime Act, a key driver in the mass incarceration of African American men, you set yourself up to be called a hypocrite.) One of the many reasons the Clinton campaign failed was that it spent more time and energy criticizing Trump than interrogating the underlying reasons why he was popular. Clinton parroted the idea that "America is already great!" to people whose lives were anything but. She offered business as usual to people who desperately wanted change. Now we've got Biden, another establishment Democrat, doing exactly the same thing. Let's rewind the clock a few years to when everything was just fine and dandy Biden's answer to Trump isn't systemic change that will make America a more equitable place. He's not offering progressive policies like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. His is the vaguest and most centrist of battle cries: let's go back to, you know, "all those good things". Let's go back to a time where racism was a little more polite and white people could pretend America was a post-racial society. Let's fight for the soul of America by pretending that Trump is the problem, not just a symptom of the problem. Let's pretend that Charlottesville was a direct result of Trump – an aberration – and not a product of a racism that has always existed in America. Let's rewind the clock a few years to when everything was just fine and dandy. What's really frustrating about Biden is the fact that, even though he is another version of Clinton, and seems to be getting set to run a carbon copy of Clinton's campaign, we're going to be told ad nauseum that he's our best bet at beating Trump. We're going to be told that he's the only Democrat that can win the white working class over – forget the fact that Sanders is currently the candidate best connecting with that demographic, gaining cheers and enthusiasm at a Fox town hall with his vision for universal healthcare. We're going to be told that candidates offering real change, like Sanders and Warren, are too progressive for America. That they're not "electable". We're going to be told that we should repeat the mistakes of 2016 all over again. We're going to be told that it will work out this time. Arwa Mahdawi is a Guardian columnist
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| US imposes sanctions on Venezuelan foreign minister Posted: 26 Apr 2019 10:09 AM PDT  The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza as it tries to ramp up pressure to remove President Nicolas Maduro. "The United States will not stand by and watch as the illegitimate Maduro regime starves the Venezuelan people of their wealth, humanity and right to democracy," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement announcing that any US assets of Arreaza would be blocked. The sanctions are the latest slapped by the United States against senior figures in Venezuela as it seeks to install in power Juan Guaido, the opposition leader.
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| Colorado crash: ‘Multiple people’ killed in explosion after truck careens into school bus and 12 cars Posted: 26 Apr 2019 08:07 AM PDT  Multiple people have reportedly died after a fireball crash on an interstate road in Colorado.A large tractor trailer lost control and ploughed into traffic at Lakewood, just west of Denver - hitting four trucks, a school bus, and 24 cars before exploding on the I-70 on Thursday.Disturbing video showed thick black smoke billowing into the air and wrecked vehicles strewn across the motorway. The fire took hours to subside."The vehicle came down and ended up colliding with slower traffic, causing a very big chain-reaction crash that also ignited and started a fire," said Ty Countryman, spokesperson for the local police.One of the trucks hit was carrying lumber, and combined with the diesel spill, helped make the fire more intense.While the children on the school bus sustained only minor injuries, others were killed or seriously injured.Victims have yet to be identified, but the driver responsible - identified as Rogel Lazaro Aguilera - survived, and was treated at a local hospital for his injuries. He was driving down a hill at the time of the crash, and investigators are examining whether his brakes were working at the time. There is no indication that alcohol or drugs played a part in the crash.
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| Fighter Fight: Russia's Su-35 vs. America's F-15, F-16 or F-35 (Who Dies?) Posted: 26 Apr 2019 04:00 PM PDT  As history shows us, many times in war you do not always get to chose from the most optimal of solutions.Russia's Su-35 fighter certainly has western defense outlets buzzing--and for good reason.Moscow, despite heavy sanctions and an economy that has certainly seen better days, keeps pumping out new combat systems one after another--items like new tanks, submarines, nuclear weapons platforms and more.While many were indeed designed and planned for ahead of the imposition of sanctions, Russia is clearly making a big effort to modernize its armed forces, especially its air force, and moving past older Soviet platforms. The Su-35 is a good example of such efforts.So how would the Su-35 do against America's best planes? How would it fare against an American air force that is clearly the best in the world. How would, for example, the Su-35 do in a combat situation against Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter? How would Russia's new plane do against older aircraft like the F-15 or say F-16?Such scenarios matter--and not just in the context of a possible NATO/Russia or Middle East situation, but now that Russia is set to deliver the Su-35 to China, such comparisons matter even more. There are many places where all of these lethal aircraft will overlap, making such comparisons even more timely.Compiled below are three articles, written several years ago by TNI's former Defense Editor, Dave Majumdar, that looks at these questions in depth, combined in one posting for your reading pleasure. With that said, let the debate begin.This first appeared in September 2016.
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| Family of slain motorist celebrates after officer sentenced Posted: 25 Apr 2019 08:00 PM PDT  WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Corey Jones's family sang the gospel song "Victory is Mine" as they walked out of a Florida courthouse, celebrating after a judge handed a 25-year sentence to a former police officer for killing the stranded black motorist in 2015.
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| AJ Freund cause of death released, parents bond set at $5M each for Joann Cunningham, Andrew Freund, Sr. Posted: 25 Apr 2019 09:30 PM PDT  Andrew "AJ" Freund died of multiple blunt force injuries to the head, the McHenry County Coroner said Thursday.
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| Tesla's Musk agrees to new vetting rules for tweets in SEC deal Posted: 26 Apr 2019 04:07 PM PDT  Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk has reached a deal with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to settle a dispute over his use of Twitter, agreeing to submit his public statements about the company's finances and other topics to vetting by its legal counsel, according to a court filing on Friday. If it is approved by a judge, the deal means the Tesla founder no longer faces the prospect of being held in contempt for violating an earlier settlement with the agency, which had required him to submit statements "material" to investors for prior review. Shares of Tesla rose 1.4 percent to $238.50 in after hours trading.
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| No Pay, No Gain: Huawei Outspends Apple on R&D for a 5G Edge Posted: 26 Apr 2019 02:35 AM PDT  In money terms, its 2018 R&D budget trailed only those of Amazon, Alphabet Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co., data compiled by Bloomberg show. Huawei's 2018 research budget grew 149 percent from 2014, outpacing increases by Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Korea's Samsung over the same period.
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| Playing Intersectionality Roulette in the Democratic Primary Posted: 26 Apr 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Joe Biden is being talked up as not only the man who can beat Donald Trump but also the one who can beat Bernie Sanders, which many Democrats see as the first order of business.There's one problem with that: Biden is Bernie Sanders.Old white guy? Joe Biden has hair plugs that are older than the median Democratic primary voter. Sanders and Biden are a year apart — and both of them are older than Trump. Creaky? Creepy stuff in his history? Dusty northeastern union-hall politics? Check all those boxes. Worst: Sanders and Biden, though they are miles apart in rhetoric, are in many ways a couple of outmoded Teddy Kennedy liberals in a party that wants nothing to do with dinosaurs of that particular species.Don't bet the farm on either one of them.Biden is a weird, handsy phony who has been in political office since before I was born, a mediocrity who topped out as vice president to the most insipid nonentity to occupy the Oval Office since Warren G. Harding — and made him look good by comparison. The first time Biden ran for president, I was in junior high. (Go, Rangers!) He's a hack, a hapless, feckless lifer whose "Regular Joe on the Amtrak" shtick is a ridiculous joke. He's shameless, once telling a black audience that Republicans plan to "put y'all back in chains," affecting a quasi-southern black-ish accent. (Do white people say "y'all" a lot in Scranton?) He apparently had considered launching his presidential campaign in Charlottesville, Va., but someone thought better of it. He cited the violence there as his main reason for running for president — as though he hadn't been running for decades. He didn't even have the decency to make a pro forma phone call to the family of Heather Heyer, who was killed on that horrible day in Charlottesville, before cynically instrumentalizing her death. "They capitalize on whatever situation is handy," said Susan Bro, Heyer's mother. At least Robert Francis O'Rourke mounts restaurant counters and not tombs.Is Biden the anti-Sanders? Not really. Sanders, for all his notional radicalism, seems like something new mainly because he is so retro: one part SNCC doofus, one part milquetoast Norman Mailer imitator, which is what all that weird rape-fantasy political porn on his résumé is about — that stuff was fashionable back in the days when the author of The Naked and the Dead was running for office. A cultural creature of the 1970s, Sanders is very much of a piece with the post-LBJ Democratic party: He's what Howard Dean would be if Howard Dean had grown up on East 26th Street in Brooklyn instead of on Park Avenue.The old-white-guy thing isn't working out too well for Sanders. In Houston earlier this week for a cracked festival of progressive inanity called "She the People," Sanders got read the old-white-guy riot act: Pressed about racial issues, Comrade Muppet started to launch into yet another retelling of the fact that he marched with the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. in 1963 — but the crowd shut him down, hooting and laughing at him. "We know!" someone shouted. They'd heard it all before. Sanders, visibly flummoxed, went on to talk up the fact that he'd supported Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign, and the room responded with, approximately, "Jesse Who?"The Reverend Jackson's is a name to conjure with no more.The Democratic party has reached a generational cleavage. Sanders doesn't seem like the kind of rascal who would have joined Ted Kennedy and Chris Dodd in whipping up a "waitress sandwich" at La Brasserie — he is a rascal of a different sort — but he's part of the same generation. He is old and white in a party whose future isn't. He's part of the cohort of aging liberals who are still trying to figure out whether they're supposed to say "transsexual" or "transgender," not trailblazing in search of that elusive 72nd gender identity.The politics here should be familiar.Republicans settled on Donald Trump in 2016 because they wanted a national repudiation of Barack Obama and all he stood for, and Trump was — and is — the social and cultural antithesis of the Obama type. Republicans did not want Democrats to suffer a mere political defeat in 2016 but to suffer a humiliating rejection, and Democrats helped things along by giving the public a very easy candidate to reject. Democrats going into 2020 are where Republicans were going into 2016: They don't just want Trump out of office — they're pretty sure (maybe too sure) that they're going to get that in any case. They want him shamed, they want those around him shamed, and they want the country to make an executive gesture that says, in essence, "Never again." And replacing Trump with another rich old white guy would not pack the symbolic punch that Democrats want, even if one of them calls himself a socialist from time to time.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has never uttered an original thought in all of her brief public career; she's only interesting as a point of comparison to the man upon whom Democrats are for the moment fixated: not Biden, not Sanders, but Trump. The lady from the Bronx is too young to run this time around, but Democrats have a lot to choose from: an actual woman of color, a fake "professor of color," a gay man, a black man, a Hispanic man under 50. What, exactly, does Joe Biden bring to that particular game of intersectionality roulette? Or Bernie Sanders?Biden probably shouldn't worry too much about beating Sanders. And Sanders probably shouldn't worry too much about beating Trump. Anything's possible in a presidential election, but if the best Joe Biden can say for himself is that he isn't Bernie Sanders — that he's the other white meat — he isn't saying much.
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| UPDATE 1-Saudi, UAE overstate their oil capacities - Iran oil minister Posted: 26 Apr 2019 12:15 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Saudi, UAE overstate their oil capacities - Iran oil minister]( "UPDATE 1-Saudi, UAE overstate their oil capacities - Iran oil minister") Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates overstate their oil capacities, Iran's state news agency IRNA reported on Friday. The comments were in reaction to expectations the two countries would fill any supply gap caused by a tightening of U.S. sanctions on Iran. Washington has decided not to renew its exemptions from U.S. sanctions to buyers of Iranian oil.
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| American Airlines cuts profit forecast as 737 MAX woes bite Posted: 26 Apr 2019 02:17 PM PDT  American Airlines slashed its profit forecast Friday largely due to the crisis around the Boeing 737 MAX, a somewhat more profound hit to operations and customer bookings than at other carriers affected by the jet's grounding. "That's not just our passengers," said American Airlines President Robert Isom. American's hit from the MAX crisis came as the aviation industry watches for Boeing to clear several key hurdles with the US Federal Aviation Administration and other global regulators to allow the planes to resume service.
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| Florida man arrested after disabled, bedridden woman in his care was discovered living among trash and feces Posted: 26 Apr 2019 07:54 AM PDT  65-year-old Lawrence Goodwin arrested for the abuse and neglect of a 67-year-old disabled, bedridden woman who was found living in a home filled with trash, feces and rotting trash.
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| EU slams Russia citizenship move as new attack on Ukraine Posted: 25 Apr 2019 06:39 PM PDT  BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union hit out Thursday at Russia's move to fast-track citizenship applications from people living in conflict areas in eastern Ukraine, slamming it as an attack on Ukraine's sovereignty that undermines an already-fragile peace agreement.
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| Trucker arrested in fiery Colorado pileup that killed four Posted: 26 Apr 2019 10:48 AM PDT  The crash turned a stretch of Interstate 70, a major east-west highway, into a raging inferno on Thursday that involved at least 28 vehicles and may have damaged the road surface and an overpass, authorities said. Lakewood, Colorado police said they arrested Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederos, 23, after he lost control of his tractor-trailer truck and started a chain-reaction during the late afternoon rush hour. "At that time of day we all know that I-70 can be very jammed," police spokesman Ty Countryman told reporters near the scene.
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| Snow in Chicago this close to May is unusual, but we're getting numb to abnormal weather Posted: 27 Apr 2019 01:46 PM PDT  Yes, it is snowing in Chicago and other parts of the Midwest. Yes, it is April 27 — a mere four days until May. Yes, people are heading to Twitter and social media to freak out. And finally, yes, we'll forget our shock as soon as the next extreme weather event happens. That's what a study from earlier in 2019 conducted by the UC Davis environmental science and policy researcher Frances Moore found after examining 2 billion tweets over a two-and-half year period. It found that we tweet about unusual weather because it stands out, but as it becomes more normal, we accept it as how it is and post about it less. In this way we slowly acclimate to extreme weather from climate change, the study asserts. So Saturday's late-April snowstorm in Chicago stands out now, but in the long-run it'll blend into the February heatwaves, torrential flooding, and other once-remarkable-but-now-not-so-notable weather we experience as the climate changes. SEE ALSO: This Twitter bot forecasts the weather with emoji In this particular situation, as more snow and cold temperatures strike later into spring, we're more likely to not notice the strangeness and bizarre patterns — and eventually accept May snowfall as a normal trend, even if it's not. Who says Chicago isn't a great place to live? Snow today! pic.twitter.com/OTetTgtdNz — michaelj (@mjc5169) April 27, 2019 Snow again here in Chicago... Chicago pic.twitter.com/Y0Uy3oFa0T — y2 (@y2_i) April 27, 2019 Enjoy the weather ��Let it snow again #Chicago April 27 ❄️#WeLoveChicago �� #Chicagoweather☃️There are parts of the city are expected to see 4 to 8 inches of snow. Yikes.☃️Chicago could receive latest snowfall in 30 yearshttps://t.co/JSKp02fyzv pic.twitter.com/Qt9Lwmo9TQ — ChiStock$��️ (@ChiStocks) April 27, 2019 Only in Chicago can @Skilling give you an allergy report and a snow total map in the same forecast pic.twitter.com/CuTmG1UStn — WGN TV News (@WGNNews) April 26, 2019 And while it seems outrageous for this much snow to accumulate in the middle of spring, it has happened in the past, and even later into the season. The probabilities of exceeding 6" of snow over the next 24 hours — through 1 a.m. Sunday CDT. Heavy snow can occur in the Upper Midwest into May. A couple memorable May events were May 1-3, 2013 and May 27-29, 1947. pic.twitter.com/pRADs7o0nb — NWS WPC (@NWSWPC) April 27, 2019 April showers? More like April snow. Get used to it. WATCH: Finally, a car umbrella to keep your vehicle cool in high temps
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| MetLife’s Departing CEO Urges Executives to Take Public Stances Posted: 26 Apr 2019 05:04 AM PDT  In his parting letter to shareholders, Chief Executive Officer Steven Kandarian urged fellow executives to push for policies that preserve free markets, create wealth and raise living standards. Kandarian cited stances MetLife took during his tenure, which he said helped both the insurer and the country overall.
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| Trump’s decision to withdraw from the UN Arms Treaty could pull US into more foreign wars, critics claim Posted: 26 Apr 2019 02:37 PM PDT  Donald Trump's decision to pull the United States from the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty could lead the country into future foreign wars and exacerbate the immigration crisis at the southern border with Mexico, critics have claimed.Speaking at the annual convention of the National Rifle Association (NRA) in Indianapolis, the president said he was withdrawing US support or the accord because it gave a degree of sovereignty to other countries.But some critics decried the move, saying it would create more problems, rather than solve them."If you look at it downstream, I think it creates real risk that the we are drawn into conflicts that are filled with guns manufactured and sold in the United States to these entities," Kris Brown, the president of the national gun safety group Brady, told The Independent.Ms Brown explained the UN Arms Trade Treaty was designed to forbid the sale of firearms to dangerous foreign actors and human rights abusers, and that the deal was supported by 100 countries across the world, including America's European allies.Pulling out of the deal essentially allows the sale of US firearms to foreign actors, which could then be used in wars that threaten American interests abroad, and then pull the US into those conflicts."We've seen this movie before many times over," Ms Brown said.During his speech on Friday, the president said that he decided to remove America's signature from the treaty because he believed the deal hands over some sovereignty to foreign decision makers.That announcement represented a major policy victory to the NRA, which broke its own record for campaign spending to support the former reality television star in 2016."We will never allow foreign bureaucrats to trample on your Second Amendment freedom," Mr Trump said. "I'm officially announcing today that the United States will be revoking the effect of America's signature from this badly misguided treaty." But proponents of the treaty — which was first developed during the administration of George W Bush and finalised during Barack Obama's presidency — say that the treaty would have no impact on US domestic firearm laws.Ms Brown said that pulling out of the treaty could even fuel the kind of violence that has sent thousands of migrants north from Central American to the US, seeking asylum. She said the idea was pretty simple: US guns are sold with less regard to whether the weapons are getting into the hands of human rights abusers, and those weapons are used to spread fear among populations who are then forced to flee.That flow of migrants has prompted Mr Trump to declare an emergency in the US, and provided reason for Mr Trump to push for a border wall on the US-Mexico border."That's an impact and quite frankly the logical outgrowth of this is you also have many people in those regions who are displaced as a result of the conflicts that are fuelled with these weapons, and we see often in countries neighbouring the Untied States the impact on many of those people is to flee," Ms Brown said. She continued: "It increases strain and stress around immigration. All of these issues are connected to one another."
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| A Federal Judge Has Defied the Law to Protect Abortion Posted: 26 Apr 2019 12:57 PM PDT  Honestly, after two years of nationwide injunctions, ludicrously expanded standing rules, and blatant disregard for precedent, it's become hard for the judicial resistance to surprise. If there is a Trump regulation they can block — at least temporarily — they will do so, sound reasoning be damned. But even my cynical heart received a jolt at the sheer brazenness of Judge Stanley Bastian, from the Eastern District of Washington.Yesterday he issued (yes, of course) a nationwide injunction blocking implementation of the Trump administration's new Title X regulations — regulations that were a milder version of the Reagan administration's so-called "gag rule" against abortion counseling by Title X recipients. Whereas the Reagan rule prohibited Title X projects from counseling or referring for abortion, the Trump rule limits the referral. Both the Trump and the Reagan rules required physical and financial separation of Title X projects from abortion-related activities.But here's what makes Judge Bastian's decision so brazen. The stricter Reagan rules were upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in Rust v. Sullivan, one of the seminal abortion decisions of the Rehnquist Court. The Court noted that Title X itself states that "none of the funds appropriated under this subchapter shall be used in programs where abortion is a method of family planning" and then held that the Reagan rule — which, again, prohibited even abortion counseling — "plainly allow[ed] the Secretary's construction of the statute" and that the administration's break with past regulatory practice was supported by "reasoned analysis."Given this on-point Supreme Court precedent, you would think that a judge contradicting it would engage in searching analysis of why the Court's ruling doesn't govern the case.The Affordable Care Act, for example, does contain provisions prohibiting regulations that "interfere with communications regarding a full range of treatment options between the patient and the provider" or that create "unreasonable barriers to the ability of individuals to obtain appropriate medical care." But the ACA does not disturb Title X's prohibition against use in programs "where abortion is a method of family planning," and that is the key language the Supreme Court used to uphold Reagan's rule.Oddly enough, Judge Bastian held that the administration's regulation "likely violates the central purpose of Title X, which is to equalize access to comprehensive, evidence-based, and voluntary family planning." Yet that "central purpose" is unchanged since Rust and was no impediment to Reagan's rule.He called the Trump rule "arbitrary and capricious." The Supreme Court called the Reagan rule "plainly allowed."He claimed that the Trump administration offered "no reasoned analysis" for its regulation, but a virtually identical "reasoned analysis" was unequivocally upheld by the Court almost three decades ago.As a general rule, it is far more preferable to legislate than to regulate, but when the Supreme Court has specifically upheld remarkably similar regulations — or when a president is acting pursuant to specific congressional delegations — it is not the role of a mere district-court judge to wave away precedent. It is especially not the role of a mere district-court judge to increase his reach from coast to coast.Moreover, given the relatively glacial pace of even injunction litigation, this same district-court judge knows that he can have his way for months on end as the case winds its way through appeals and as the clock ticks down on Trump's first term. Judicial overreach and judicial delaying tactics are now the new normal.Our nation is moving deeper into contention, division, and stagnation. Thanks to precedents being set now, look for this pattern to repeat itself time and again. Activists and attorneys general from opposing parties will race to favorable jurisdictions, block disfavored policies, then try to hold on for dear life for month after month until the next election.There has been a great deal of hand-wringing (especially on the left) about America's allegedly "undemocratic" institutions. The Senate is under fire now. So is the Electoral College. But I see absolutely no handwringing from those same individuals when unelected district judges defy statutes drafted by the democratically elected Congress or regulations crafted by a democratically elected president.The Constitution trumps Congress and the president, of course, but the hallmark of decisions such as Judge Bastian's is not respect for the Constitution but rather contempt for the administration. Based on the belief that Trump is a threat to America, decisions like this threaten our constitutional order, and they set negative precedents and establish negative practices that will doubtless persist well beyond the end of the present administration. Both sides, at different times, will come to regret the toxic legacy of the judicial resistance.
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| Now Is Not the Time to Get Rid of the A-10 Warthog (And Replace It with the F-35) Posted: 26 Apr 2019 01:07 PM PDT  I admit it, as a former infantryman, I'm a partial to the A-10 Thunderbolt II. I don't mind that it's ugly. I don't mind that it entered service all the way back in the mid 1970s, making it older than me. I don't mind that it's slow, basically a flying 30 mm cannon sheathed in a 1,200-pound titanium "bathtub." In fact, these are exactly the things that endear the A-10 to grunts like me. It's our plane. It was made for us and us alone.The Warthog was, is, and will be for the foreseeable future the premier close-ground support plane. And all the things that I mentioned above — its simplicity and weight — are what make it so effective at its job. The titanium armor encasing the plane makes it impervious to high-explosive and armor-piercing projectiles up to 23 mm. It can even take a few hits from 57 mm rounds. Parts of the cockpit interior is covered with a nylon spall to protect the pilot from fragmentation. In other words, this is a plane meant to fly low and slow, mix it up in close quarters with ground targets that can return fire, and get its hands a little bit dirty. The A-10 is notorious for being able to take damage and keep flying. It's battle tested and soldier approved.(This article by Scott Beauchamp originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter. This article first appeared in 2016.)
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| Ex-Minnesota cop denies overreacting when he shot Australian woman Posted: 26 Apr 2019 09:00 AM PDT ![Ex-Minnesota cop denies overreacting when he shot Australian woman]( "Ex-Minnesota cop denies overreacting when he shot Australian woman") A former Minnesota policeman on trial for murder on Friday denied overreacting when he fatally shot an Australian woman who approached his patrol car in a dark alley. Mohamed Noor, 33, was testifying for a second day in a Minneapolis court. Prosecutor Amy Sweasy asked Noor whether Damond could have been flagging him down when he saw her raise her right arm.
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| Sri Lanka political rivalry seen as factor in Easter blasts Posted: 26 Apr 2019 02:46 AM PDT  COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Government dysfunction and an intelligence failure that preceded the Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka are traced to simmering divisions between the president and prime minister after a weekslong political crisis that crippled the country last year.
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| The 7 best sales and deals you can get this weekend Posted: 27 Apr 2019 07:49 AM PDT ![The 7 best sales and deals you can get this weekend]( "The 7 best sales and deals you can get this weekend") Shop and save on the best products this weekend.
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| This is how NASA would respond to an asteroid impacting Earth Posted: 27 Apr 2019 10:09 AM PDT  If an asteroid were ever to be come hurtling towards Earth, what would be the plan to stop it from impacting the planet? That's the question NASA and its partners, including the European Space Agency and the U.S.'s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), are gathering at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in early May to investigate. SEE ALSO: Behold, the very bizarre Facebook auto-captions from NASA launch During the five day conference, NASA and its partners plan to engage in a "tabletop exercise" that simulates what would happen if scientists and authorities were to learn of a near-Earth Object (NEO) impact scenario. "A tabletop exercise of a simulated emergency commonly used in disaster management planning to help inform involved players of important aspects of a possible disaster and identify issues for accomplishing a successful response," says NASA. In the exercise (detailed by the ESA here), NASA and its partners have to respond to a "realistic — but fictional — scenario" involving a NEO named "2019 PDC," which has a 1 in 100 chance of impacting Earth in 2027. Each day of the #PlanetaryDefense Conference, a press release will be put out, updating participants on the hypothetical asteroid #2019PDC - now (hypothetically) hurtling towards Earth.��☄️More on this year's #ImpactScenario on the #rocketscience blog:https://t.co/kn9xsTABg2 pic.twitter.com/AAC5B9mzje — ESA Operations (@esaoperations) April 27, 2019 Armed with all of the hypothetical information about "2019 PDC," the exercise is intended to see how the various organizations and governments would handle the situation as it unfolds. "The first step in protecting our planet is knowing what's out there," said Rüdiger Jehn, the ESA's Head of Planetary Defence. "Only then, with enough warning, can we take the steps needed to prevent an asteroid strike altogether, or minimize the damage it does on the ground." In such a situation, the ESA says it would live tweet details "so you'll find out the 'news' as the experts do." And for the hypothetical 2019 PDC asteroid exercise at the conference, the agency will indeed live tweet the series of decided actions as if they are made. "These exercises have really helped us in the planetary defense community to understand what our colleagues on the disaster management side need to know," said Lindley Johnson, NASA's Planetary Defense Officer. "This exercise will help us develop more effective communications with each other and with our governments." Despite NASA having participated in six NEO impact exercises before, each scenario is different and the agency says it's learned that the focus is not always on the asteroid details, even though that's still crucial to creating a plan to either deflect it or reduce its impact. "What emergency managers want to know is when, where and how an asteroid would impact, and the type and extent of damage that could occur," said Leviticus Lewis of the Response Operations Division for FEMA. Well, you know what they say...it's better to be prepared. At the very least, NASA and friends won't be panicking as hard if an asteroid were ever to really hit Earth. WATCH: NASA's Administrator Jim Bridenstine warns India's anti-satellite test could be dangerous for the ISS
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| Deutsche Bank focused on solo destiny after Commerzbank deal demise Posted: 26 Apr 2019 08:18 AM PDT ![Deutsche Bank focused on solo destiny after Commerzbank deal demise]( "Deutsche Bank focused on solo destiny after Commerzbank deal demise") Within hours of the collapse of merger talks with Commerzbank, Christian Sewing scrambled to convince investors and employees that Deutsche Bank can stand on its own two feet. The Deutsche Bank chief executive told staff, many of whom opposed a merger because of significant job losses, that while he had not been "skeptical" about the Commerzbank talks, he was cautious about the chances of success from the start.
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| Biden makes Trump 'look very young,' US president says Posted: 26 Apr 2019 08:09 AM PDT  President Donald Trump opened a fresh line of attack Friday against his leading White House rival Joe Biden, saying the 76-year-old Democrat is "making me look very young" and vibrant by comparison. "I look at Joe, I don't know about him," he said of Biden, who launched his 2020 presidential bid Thursday with direct attacks on Trump's character and controversial performance in office.
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| Economy Grows 3.2 Percent During First Quarter, Outpacing Expectations Posted: 26 Apr 2019 11:11 AM PDT  The economy grew 3.2 percent during the first quarter of this year, beating analysts' and investors' expectations, according to data released Friday by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).Economists had expected a first-quarter showing of 2.5 percent GDP growth, only slightly higher than the 2.2 percent growth in the last quarter of 2018. Instead, GDP grew 3.2 percent, marking the economy's best first-quarter performance since 2015.The BEA attributed the favorable growth rate to exports as well as better state- and local-government spending. Disposable personal income increased by 3 percent in the first quarter, while prices rose 0.8 percent. Imports sank by 3.7 percent and exports increased by the same amount. At the same time, some potential warning signs also appeared in the report, including a 50 percent drop in the business-investment rate despite 2017's tax cuts.The growth rate also defied expectations that the economy would suffer more seriously from the record-breaking 35-day partial government shutdown earlier this year, as well as fears that global growth was sputtering. President Trump's tariffs on China had particularly worried investors, with even the White House saying that American companies may see their earnings projections take a hit because of them."It's not going to be just Apple," top White House economist Kevin Hassett said in January. "I think that there are a heck of a lot of U.S. companies that have a lot of sales in China that are basically going to be watching their earnings be downgraded next year until we get a deal with China."
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| College admissions scam: USC announces changes to student-athlete admissions process Posted: 26 Apr 2019 01:33 PM PDT  The University of Southern California announced a revamped admissions process for prospective student-athletes in the wake of the national college admissions scam.
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| Amazon delivers record profits on gains in cloud, advertising Posted: 25 Apr 2019 10:16 PM PDT  Amazon on Thursday delivered record profits for the first quarter, fueled by gains in cloud computing and new business segments for the US technology colossus. Net profit in the quarter more than doubled from the same period last year to $3.6 billion, extending Amazon's trend of rising profitability. Seattle-based Amazon said revenue from online sales was up 10 percent billion while money taken in from subscription services and the Amazon Web Services cloud platform leapt some 40 percent.
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| Police visited AJ Freund’s house 17 times before his brutal death. Why was the boy in his parents’ care? Posted: 26 Apr 2019 07:00 AM PDT  Last December, police reports indicated dog feces and urine were scattered throughout 5-year-old Andrew "AJ" Freund's home.
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| India Amory Releases New Table Linens, and Partners with Mottahedeh to Show Them Off Posted: 26 Apr 2019 01:31 PM PDT  Julia Amory, purveyor of colorful block-printed linens, is out with her spring collection of tablecloths and napkins
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| Huawei hopes for Britain-like solution in New Zealand 5G bid Posted: 26 Apr 2019 12:43 AM PDT  Britain will ban Huawei from all core parts of 5G network but give it some access to non-core parts, sources have told Reuters, as it seeks a middle way in a bitter U.S.-China dispute stemming from American allegations that Huawei's equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage. Washington has also urged its allies to ban Huawei from building 5G networks, even as the Chinese company, the world's top producer of telecoms equipment, has repeatedly said the spying concerns are unfounded. In New Zealand, a member of the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes the United States, the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in November turned down an initial request from local telecommunication firm Spark to include Huawei equipment in its 5G network, but later gave the operator options to mitigate national security concerns.
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| Trump says U.S. paid no money to North Korea over Warmbier Posted: 26 Apr 2019 12:58 PM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday said the United States did not pay any money to North Korea as it sought the release of Otto Warmbier, a day after a report said Trump had approved a $2 million bill from Pyongyang for the American student's care. "No money was paid to North Korea for Otto Warmbier, not two Million Dollars, not anything else," Trump wrote in a tweet. The Washington Post reported on Thursday that Trump had approved payment of a $2 million bill from Pyongyang to cover its care of the comatose college student, who was held in a North Korean prison for 17 months until June 2017.
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| Sri Lanka's Muslims hold subdued prayers amid tight security Posted: 26 Apr 2019 04:14 AM PDT  Armed police and sniffer dogs guarded mosques in Sri Lanka as Muslims trickled to Friday prayers, with many staying away over fears of revenge attacks after the island's Easter suicide blasts. Some mosques cancelled prayers, and Sri Lanka's Muslim affairs minister called on Muslims to pray at home instead, in solidarity with churches that have closed over security fears. Other Muslims have expressed fears that they could be targeted by Islamist hardliners, after the community's religious leadership said the attackers would not be buried at mosques in the country.
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| Would You Pay This Much For A Corvette Body? Posted: 27 Apr 2019 05:22 AM PDT  Quite a few people love the look of a classic Chevy Corvette Stingray, and why not? While that's certainly true, you might be wondering why this 1966 Chevrolet Corvette convertible body is so pricey. All you get is the body, doors, hinges, rear exhaust valance, convertible decklid, bird cage, and windshield frame, plus the glass.
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