| North Korea fires more missiles, U.S. announces ship seizure as tensions mount Posted: 09 May 2019 04:24 PM PDT  U.S. President Donald Trump said that "nobody is happy" at the launches, but appeared to hold the door open for more talks with North Korea. South Korea said the tests were worrisome and unhelpful and likely a protest against Trump refusing to ease economic sanctions at a failed summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in February. Washington has given no sign of willingness to budge on sanctions and the U.S. Justice Department announced on Thursday the seizure of a North Korean cargo vessel it said was involved in the illicit shipping of coal.
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| Chinese court holds off ruling on Canadian's death penalty appeal Posted: 09 May 2019 02:59 AM PDT  A Chinese court adjourned a hearing on a Canadian man's appeal against his death sentence for drug smuggling without a decision Thursday in a case that has deepened a diplomatic spat between Beijing and Ottawa. Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, 36, was sentenced to death in January after a court deemed his previous 15-year prison sentence too lenient. The Liaoning High People's Court in northeast China said in a statement that "all procedural rights of appellant Schellenberg were guaranteed in accordance with the law".
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| McConnell capitalizes on attack with 'Cocaine Mitch' shirts Posted: 09 May 2019 02:46 PM PDT  FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is capitalizing on a fellow Republican's attack by selling "Cocaine Mitch" shirts on his campaign's website.
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| Abortion bill delayed as Alabama Senate falls into chaos Posted: 09 May 2019 11:38 AM PDT  The lieutenant governor agreed to remove amendments creating exceptions for rape and incest, leading to anger and arguments on the Senate floor.
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| Original iPod hits eBay at insane $20,000 list price Posted: 09 May 2019 04:06 PM PDT  When Apple unveiled the original iPod back in 2001, the reactions weren't universally positive. Indeed, some fan reactions on a MacRumors message board at the time have since taken on a life of their own.As an illustrative example, one outraged Apple fan wrote the following nearly 18 years ago: "I still can't believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently! Why oh why would they do this?! It's so wrong! It's so stupid!"Of course, the iPod would go onto become monumentally successful for Apple. In addition to padding Apple's bank account with billions of dollars, the iPod helped upend the music industry and, years later, would serve as the springboard for the iPhone. The iPhone may be a more revolutionary and impactful device, but it simply wouldn't exist had the iPod not paved the way years ahead of time.While some iconic products can still be found for cheap -- with Apple's original Bondi Blue iMac being one such example -- others are wildly expensive. The original iPod falls into the latter category.Hopping on over to eBay, someone is selling a completely unused and factory sealed original iPod for $19,995. And in a testament to how ancient the device is, the iPod in question features a mechanical scroll wheel and a paltry 5GB of storage. To be fair, though, 5GB of storage back then was more than enough for a world where the only media content people cared about was music.Is forking over $20,000 for an original iPod completely unnecessary, if not downright insane? Of course. Then again, never underestimate the power of nostalgia.
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| Grieving Students Walk Out of Colorado School Shooting Vigil: ‘This Was Not About Us’ Posted: 08 May 2019 09:50 PM PDT  Rick Wilking/ReutersHIGHLANDS RANCH, Colorado—A day after two students shot up a school, survivors walked out of a vigil organized by gun control advocates, saying they felt excluded from what should have been an opportunity to grieve.Team Enough and Moms Demand Action helped promote the Wednesday evening gathering, and more than 100 students and several hundred parents from the STEM School packed into the gymnasium bleachers, hoping to find community and catharsis.But after sitting through remarks by Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), and realizing the program was centered around changing gun laws, students who had hoped to speak lost patience and walked out en masse."This was not about us. We can do our own vigil," one STEM student remarked.Students from Team Enough said the event was organized on such short notice they were unable to find a way to include STEM students in the program."I feel terrible. They did not feel represented. I get it," said Laura Reeves, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action who spoke at the vigil."This was put together in such a short time. I know they did their best. Emotions are raw and sad. They are grieving. They need to express their feelings. They need to be together. I am hoping their school can help facilitate that conversation beyond this week."Police have said two STEM students opened fire at the school on Tuesday, killing one and wounding eight before they were arrested. Any motive for the attack—20 years after the Columbine High School massacre just seven miles away—has not been disclosed.Heavy rain had kept surviving students cooped up at home, and many of them were looking forward to the vigil at a neighboring school. Things began to fall apart an hour in when organizers suggested any STEM students who wanted to speak gather in the hall outside the gym.A few rose to speak, but soon the crowd filed out and left. Standing outside the building in the freezing rain, some began chanting. But they quickly dispersed as Douglas County Sheriff's vehicles began arriving at the school.One mom of a STEM student said it was a case of good intentions gone wrong."I really appreciate what they tried to do here tonight, but our kids didn't want to be talked at," she said.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| Our Own Private Singapore Posted: 10 May 2019 08:06 AM PDT  The rap on Singapore is that it has fertile capital but a sterile culture -- a great place to do business, but a stultifying place to live.It is the Facebook of countries.The authorities there are sensitive to that kind of criticism. In a 2017 interview with the Straits Times, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong emphasized the diversity of the country and the distinctiveness of its individual cultural components. Singapore, he said, is oriented not toward assimilation but integration."The result has been distinctive Singaporean variants of Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Eurasian cultures, and a growing Singaporean identity that we all share, suffusing and linking up our distinct individual identities and ethnic cultures," Lee said. "We certainly don't wish Singapore to be a first-world economy but a third-rate society, with a people who are well off but uncouth. We want to be a society rich in spirit, a gracious society where people are considerate and kind to one another, and as Mencius said, where we treat all elders as we treat our own parents, and other children as our own."That is a very nice vision, which the government of Singapore pursues energetically through authoritarianism, bullying, and intimidation. Singapore is an innovator in many fields, and one of the activities toward which it has turned a great deal of attention is one that is of increasing global and domestic significance: censorship.Singapore has just passed a law that would require Facebook, Twitter, and other social-media companies to publish corrections on their sites in response to content that is ruled untrue by the government of Singapore. Facebook executives say they have been looking to governments for guidance in their attempt to suppress certain kinds of speech on their platforms -- and here it is, from the world-beating experts.The government of Singapore is, in fact, not so different in its thinking from Facebook. It is just a little ahead of the curve. Facebook insists (sometimes laughably) that its speech restrictions are not directed at unpopular political ideas but exist to serve the "safety" of the public. Singapore, too, cites safety as it prohibits certain unwelcome political activism and cultural innovation. "Public safety" is, like "national security," an almost infinitely plastic criterion in the hands of an entrepreneurial politician: In March, President Donald Trump blocked the acquisition of Qualcomm by Singapore-based Broadcom, offering only the vague explanation that the company "might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States." Senator Marco Rubio has argued that corporate welfare for Florida sugar barons is a matter of national security, while others make the same argument for their favorite commodities; Democratic party officials have suggested that Second Amendment activists be investigated or suppressed as terrorists; the sniveling cowards who run the University of California at Berkeley cited "public safety" when they forbade conservative polemicist Ann Coulter to speak on campus. Et cetera ad nauseam.In Singapore, "public safety" is the rationale for a remarkably thorough program of official censorship, much of which is directed at the worthy goal of keeping the peace among the city-state's unamalgamated ethnic and religious groups. For example, if a crime has a potentially inflammatory ethnic or religious component, that fact generally will be omitted from media coverage as part of an unspoken agreement between the state and the newspapers. Films or books that are deemed to denigrate an ethnic or religious group are prohibited. The sale of Malaysian newspapers is prohibited. And in the same way that U.S. progressives seek to suppress political speech as a matter of "campaign finance," the authorities in Singapore have prohibited the unlicensed showing of "party political films," which may be the of "any person and directed towards any political end in Singapore." Such films are permitted only if the government considers them objective; the irony of demanding a subjective ruling about objectivity seems to have been lost on Singapore's rulers, who are not famous for their sense of humor.Singapore's censors make the same argument as do Facebook's: that the suppression of certain kinds of unwelcome political speech is necessary for "public safety." Singapore's is a genuinely multiethnic and multireligious society -- and, as it turns out, such societies do not have a very good record for long-term stability and domestic tranquility. If anything, Singapore has a more convincing argument that fanning the flames of communal politics in such a country is likely to actually endanger people than Facebook does that Milo Yiannapoulos is whatever kind of danger it is that he is supposed to be. Singapore's position is more convincing than the jactitations of those ignorant little twerps at Philadelphia's University of the Arts who protested that the presence of Professor Camille Paglia on their campus left them "unsafe." (They should feel grateful. I wonder who is the second-most distinguished intellectual associated with that school.) You will not be surprised to learn that the burdens here fall more heavily on dissidents and critics of the government.But let us give Singapore and Facebook the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are motivated by concerns that are in the main to be admired. The end results are no less risible: If American society is really so fragile that Alex Jones presents an existential threat to the republic, then we should send our British cousins a letter of apology and ask to be readmitted as a colony, if they'll have us. Likewise, if Singapore truly is going to be rocked, and not in a good way, by a Katy Perry song ("I Kissed a Girl" was prohibited as homosexual propaganda) then it is a pitiable little island indeed, to quaver at such a colossus as that.But, of course, almost no one takes seriously these claims, just as no one seriously thinks that Ann Coulter is a "danger" to anybody or that the NRA shares a genre with the Islamic State. These are pretexts, and flimsy ones. They are fig leaves for ochlocracy.But once censorship has been established in principle and accepted in practice, then officiousness, triviality, and vindictiveness are the inevitable outcomes. Bureaucracies -- Singapore's government, Facebook's management -- have interests of their own, and agendas of their own, and tastes of their own, and to take seriously the proposition that Facebook's speech-policing or U.S. "campaign finance" restrictions will be managed with any more objectivity or neutrality than Singapore's official state censorship is to ignore almost everything we know about how bureaucracies actually work. The powers that be at Facebook and Twitter may or may not be acting in good faith, but the more important fact is that they could not be fair and neutral even if they sincerely wished to be. This is a fact of organizational life, one that must be dealt with seriously. The bland little caudillos down in Human Resources are creatures of an insipid little culture all their own.And that is the one that Facebook et al. propose we live under.Facebook is a private company, and it may of course as a legal matter do whatever it pleases with its own platform, and Singapore's censorship is perfectly legal, too, for what that's worth -- which is not very much: Some of the worst crimes against humanity in modern history were carried out under the color of law. The question of what may be done is distinct from the question of what should be done.Singapore's censorship is quite defensible in principle -- if you accept censorship in principle -- and the consequences of its policies have been perfectly predictable. When the prime minister feels himself obliged to go public with his insistence that local cultural conditions are not "third rate," it is an excellent indicator that they are obviously third-rate. Some lies are accidental advertisements for the truth. There is much that is admirable about Singapore, but at its worst it is a kind of splendidly air-conditioned fascist shopping mall. Public safety is one of those good things it is possible to have too much of, and "graciousness" enforced at the point of a bayonet is not graciousness at all.Facebook, Twitter, et al. are houses divided: As businesses they are one thing, as institutions they are another. Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes argued in the pages of the New York Times on Thursday that Facebook should be broken up, in part because of its failure to contain "violent rhetoric and fake news." Facebook and other "gargantuan companies," he argued, are a threat to democracy. That is hysteria, but it contains a measure of truth. Democracy relies on discourse, and healthy discourse relies on a culture of open exchange, which in turn requires a measure of confidence that Facebook's executives lack. Ironically, the problems of Facebook and, especially, of Twitter are not so much threats to democracy but useful illustrations of the shortcomings of unmediated democracy, in which the mob bullies the institutions into submission. In a healthy democratic system, things work in roughly the opposite way, with institutions helping to contain and redirect the excesses of democratic passion. And that is where Facebook and Singapore differ: The government of Singapore -- which, whatever its shortcomings, seems to be run by men who genuinely believe in their own precepts -- serves no mob, but Facebook, lacking the real conviction that can be rooted only in the permanent things, is abject and quickly prone before whatever mob happens to show up at its door.The American settlement under the First Amendment is unusual to the point of being nearly unique. Censorship of different kinds is the norm in civilized countries from Singapore to Germany, where certain political parties, symbols, and ideas are strictly prohibited. The American arrangement is different because it is the product of men who as individuals and as a civilization believed in something, which gave them the confidence to live in a world in which they are likely to hear and read things they did not like from time to time, things that might even be wicked, scurrilous, or wrong. Some men endure winter at Valley Forge, and some tremble at the menace of Katy Perry or poor daft Laura Loomer.There is a wonderful scene in Serenity, a science-fiction film that is something of a libertarian manifesto, in which a fragile, psychologically damaged girl is taken along on what amounts to an Old West-style bank robbery, after which she and her friends are chased and nearly captured by mutant space cannibals who mean to eat them raw on the spot. At the end of a wild ride dodging fire in an open-air conveyance while speeding across a Sergio Leone landscape, she returns to her overprotective older brother, who asks if she is injured. She looks at him, wide-eyed, and says: "I swallowed a bug." Freedom tastes like that, sometimes.
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| US ends support for Japan crashed fighter jet search Posted: 09 May 2019 03:02 AM PDT  The US Navy has ended operations assisting Japan's search for a stealth fighter jet that crashed in the Pacific, after some of its debris was recovered. "A US Navy salvage team aboard a contracted vessel completed its mission supporting search and recovery operations with the Japan Self-Defense Forces," the US 7th Fleet said in a statement on Wednesday. Japan will continue searching for the remains of the plane, a defence spokesman said.
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| U.S. warns merchant ships of possible Iranian attacks in Middle East Posted: 10 May 2019 08:05 AM PDT  U.S. commercial ships including oil tankers sailing through key Middle East waterways could be targeted by Iran in one of the threats to U.S. interests posed by Tehran, the U.S. Maritime Administration said in an advisory. The U.S. military said this week that a number of B-52 bombers would be part of additional forces being sent to the Middle East to counter what the Trump administration calls "clear indications" of threats from Iran to U.S. forces there. The Islamic Republic has dismissed the U.S. contention of a threat as "fake intelligence".
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| Sister: 9-year-old boy accused of killing mom just 'snapped' Posted: 09 May 2019 08:15 AM PDT  FAWN RIVER TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — The adult sister of a 9-year-old boy who is charged with killing their mother said he has mental health problems and probably just "snapped" on the day of the shooting.
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| Trump calls for prosecuting John Kerry for talking to Iran Posted: 09 May 2019 11:48 AM PDT  He's talking to Iran and...has many meetings and many phone calls and he's telling them what to do.
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| Joe Biden supports health care coverage for undocumented immigrants Posted: 09 May 2019 03:51 PM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden, considered one of the more centrist members of the Democratic presidential primary field, calls for a controversial new entitlement; Peter Doocy reports.
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| Shocker! The GoFundMe Campaign to Build the Wall Is a Bust Posted: 10 May 2019 02:09 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/GettyThis story originally appeared in Right Richter, a newsletter by Will Sommer. Subscribe now to see what's happening in right-wing media from the safety of your inbox.Back in December, Washington state Trump supporter Joshua Greene donated a small amount of money to the crowdfunding effort to build a wall along the southern U.S. border. He wasn't alone. The GoFundMe page to build the wall, to which he'd donated, was a sensation on the right in late 2018 and raised more than $20 million. Organized by triple-amputee veteran Brian Kolfage, the campaign eventually morphed into a nonprofit called We Build the Wall, which promised to build portions of the wall on private land using the money it raised. Months later, there's no evidence that any construction has started, despite claims from Kolfage and his allies that construction would start in April. And now Greene is wondering what ever happened to that wall he was promised his dollars would fund? "The lack of updates is very concerning," Greene wrote in an email to Right Richter. He's not the only GoFundMe donor curious about what happened to the wall money. Since We Build the Wall blew their April deadline, Twitter replies to Kolfage and the group's Facebook page have filled up with angry donors. Greene started tweeting his displeasure, too. We Build the Wall has frequently presented itself as poised to start building portions of the wall on private land. In February, former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach—who is a member of We Build the Wall's board of directors—claimed that the group was "getting ready to break ground, probably in April." Kolfage himself went further, saying in a radio interview in March that "we're going to start breaking ground next month." The group had even promised to invite donors to a groundbreaking ceremony.More than a week into May, though, We Build the Wall hasn't shown any proof that any ground has been broken, and donors say they weren't invited to any promised groundbreaking ceremony. Donors to the group have begun taking out their frustrations on the organization's Facebook page, which often hypes the threat of immigrants crossing the border illegally. "Show me video of wall being built and I'll pony up my next donation," reads one angry Facebook comment. "Where is the rest of the money going?" reads another. Making donors more nervous is that Kolfage has a history of participating in questionable endeavors. He was a prolific operator of hoax pages on Facebook, and money he raised in the past to help veterans' programs in hospitals never actually went to those hospitals. Complicating the effort further is that it's not that easy to find private land right on the border where a wall can be built. Kolfage and We Build the Wall's board of directors have spent plenty of time in Arizona, ostensibly scouting private land to build the wall. But The Phoenix New Times reported in March that the "vast majority" of land on the border in the state is owned by the federal government. Meanwhile, many of the people who actually own land on the border told the New Times that they hadn't been contacted by We Build the Wall. We Build the Wall didn't respond to requests for comment. In a Facebook comment this week, the group claimed, once again, that it was very close to building the wall. Conveniently, though, We Build the Wall claimed the information about the private wall's location had to be "secure" in order to confound liberal foes. Want this in your inbox? Subscribe to Right Richter here. "VERY soon we can release the details but have to keep that information secure for the time being as to prevent giving our detractors a heads up to derail our progress," the statement reads. "Soon, everyone will have the update they've been waiting for which we can't wait to share. This updated delay is just the unfortunate process of building a controversial barrier some people don't want to happen."Kolfage has made similar statements in the past, claiming in a March radio interview that he can't say where the wall will be built because Trump critics like the American Civil Liberties Union would try to stop it. "I wish I could name where it's at, but we can't name it because of the ACLU, these other liberal groups that want to sue us and impede our progress," Kolfage said. "But it's actually happening." As for Greene, he's fed up with the lack of information about the campaign he financially supported."I knew Brian had some previous shady GoFundMe campaigns," Greene emailed. "I felt more confident when he brought on other big names to work with him, I haven't seen a tweet from ANY of them."Read more at The Daily Beast.
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| Kendrick Castillo, hero killed in Colo. school shooting, told his dad he would act if confronted with a gunman Posted: 09 May 2019 01:34 PM PDT  Kendrick Castillo, a member of the Highlands Ranch robotics club, was hailed as a hero for rushing the shooter at his STEM school.
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| Israel lifts Gaza fishing ban as calm returns Posted: 10 May 2019 03:44 AM PDT  Israel lifted a ban on Friday on Palestinian fishing boats operating off Gaza, an Israeli military body said, ending a measure imposed during a deadly flare-up of violence earlier this month. The fishing union in Gaza confirmed the lifting of the ban, saying the new limits imposed by Israel were 12 nautical miles in the southern half of Gaza, and six nautical miles in the north.
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| U.S. House could slap $25,000 per day contempt fines on Trump advisers: Democrat Posted: 10 May 2019 04:49 PM PDT  Expanding on an idea floated days ago by Democrats as a way of putting some teeth into various inquiries of Trump, his turbulent presidency, his family and his business interests, Representative Adam Schiff spoke in two interviews about reviving the "inherent contempt" power of Congress. "We would levy fines on those who are not cooperating," Schiff, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Intelligence Committee told Axios in an interview published on Friday. Republicans have accused Democrats of grandstanding for progressive voters, but even the Republican-controlled Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed the president's son, Donald Trump Jr. Congress can subpoena testimony and documents, then enforce these formal requests by holding recalcitrant subpoena targets in contempt of Congress.
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| French prosecutor opens investigation over suspected Monsanto file Posted: 10 May 2019 01:16 PM PDT ![French prosecutor opens investigation over suspected Monsanto file]( "French prosecutor opens investigation over suspected Monsanto file") The French prosecutor on Friday said it had opened a preliminary investigation into a suspected file assembled by Bayer's seed maker Monsanto to influence various personalities in France. The probe was opened after a complaint was filed by daily newspaper Le Monde. According to Le Monde and other French media, Monsanto built up a file of some 200 names that includes journalists and law makers in the hope of influencing their positions on pesticides.
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| Comey says Mueller's evidence enough to charge Trump if he weren't president Posted: 09 May 2019 07:12 PM PDT  The former FBI director says there were at least two incidents that prove criminal intent on the president's part to obstruct justice James Comey, former director of the FBI, appeared at a CNN town hall on the second anniversary of his firing. Photograph: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Reuters James Comey, the former director of the FBI, has said that the Mueller report contains sufficient evidence that Donald Trump committed obstruction of justice that he would have been charged, were he not president. Comey is the latest in a growing list of former federal prosecutors and senior judicial figures who have said that the factual details contained in Robert Mueller's report into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race would be grounds for indicting Trump with multiple felony charges for obstruction. A joint letter to that effect has now been signed by 803 individuals. Asked in a CNN town hall on Thursday night whether he agreed with that conclusion, Comey said he did. "There are a whole lot of facts in Bob Mueller's report that raise serious questions about whether there's a chargeable case for obstruction and witness tampering against this president," he said. Comey's pointed words carry particular weight as it was his firing as FBI chief in May 2017 that prompted the appointment of Mueller as special counsel. The CNN event was held on the second anniversary of that firing. Comey said the key to any obstruction charge was criminal intent on the part of the perpetrator, and in at least two incidents recorded in the Mueller report, Trump had displayed that purpose. The first was when Trump directed the former White House counsel Donald McGahn to fire Mueller himself. "The direction to Don McGahn to get the special counsel fired is to my mind a flaming example of corrupt intent," Comey said. The second episode Comey cited involved Trump trying to limit the scope of the special counsel's investigation. The Mueller report revealed that Trump asked his former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski in June 2017 to tell the then US attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to restrict the investigation to future elections only – ruling out the inquiry into Trump's behavior in 2016. Comey said that the Sessions and the McGahn episodes were "examples that any reasonable prosecutor would charge". Under justice department guidelines, a sitting president cannot be charged with a criminal offense for deeds committed in office. Broadly speaking, the decision to charge the president is left to Congress through the impeachment process. However, Comey noted that Mueller had made a point of laying out the facts for the potential benefit of future prosecutors once Trump's term has ended. Asked whether Trump should be charged after his presidency ends, Comey replied: "I think the justice department will have to take a serious look at that. Whether that's a wise thing to do, I don't know." Trump on Thursday tried to smear both Comey and Mueller, saying at an impromptu press conference that the special counsel "is in love with James Comey. He liked James Comey. They were very good friends. Supposedly best friends. Maybe not, but supposedly best friends." "I don't think we have that kind of relationship," Comey quipped on CNN. "I can't wait to see all the pictures of us hugging and kissing because they are not on my iCloud account."
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| Federal judge keeps UAW lawsuit over plant closings in Ohio Posted: 10 May 2019 12:26 PM PDT ![Federal judge keeps UAW lawsuit over plant closings in Ohio]( "Federal judge keeps UAW lawsuit over plant closings in Ohio") A federal judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed by the United Auto Workers against General Motors over the closing of three plants should be heard in Ohio. The Warren Tribune Chronicle reports U.S. District ...
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| Windows 10 update brings us closer to a world without passwords Posted: 09 May 2019 03:04 PM PDT  Microsoft is one step closer to fulfilling the passwordless Windows 10 dream, as the latest Windows 10 update will make it even easier to log into devices and online services without having to worry about passwords.That's because Microsoft's Windows Hello has received FIDO2 certification, which means Hello biometrics and PINs are now seen as secure authenticators."FIDO2 is a set of standards that enables easy and secure logins to websites and applications via biometrics, mobile devices and/or FIDO Security Keys. FIDO2's simpler login experiences are backed by strong cryptographic security that is far superior to passwords, protecting users from phishing, all forms of password theft and replay attacks," the FIDO Alliance explained in a press release.Microsoft said in its own announcement to mark the FIDO2 certification that "no one likes passwords (except hackers).""People don't like passwords because we have to remember them," Microsoft said. "As a result, we often create passwords that are easy to guess -- which makes them the first target for hackers trying to access your computer or network at work."With Windows Hello, you'll now be able to use facial authentication, fingerprints, or a PIN to "leave the world of passwords behind," although, technically, you won't drop the passwords for any of these devices or services anytime soon. But you won't have to fill them in with each login.You'll have to update your Windows 10 computer to version 1903 to take advantage of the feature. What that means, in practice, is that browsers including Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox will support Windows Hello biometrics. Similarly, several of Microsoft's own products, including Office 365, Skype, Xbox Live, and others will also authenticate users with Windows Hello rather than a password.
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| 5 Takes on Porsche's 911 Speedster, Designed by Our Staff Posted: 09 May 2019 08:31 AM PDT |
| Chelsea Manning: Jailed US analyst walks free after refusing to testify to WikiLeaks grand jury Posted: 09 May 2019 08:45 PM PDT  The former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been released from prison after she was jailed for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.Ms Manning spent 62 days in jail on contempt charges but was released as the term of the grand jury she was supposed to give evidence to expired.However the ex Army employee, who served seven years of a 35-year sentence for handing a huge trove of confidential documents to WikiLeaks, could be back in jail within a week.She has received another subpoena demanding she testify to a new grand jury, opening on 16 May.Under US federal law, a person subpoenaed by a grand jury can be jailed on a civil contempt charge if judges believe it has a chance of coercing them to give evidence.Earlier this week, Ms Manning's lawyers filed court papers arguing that she should not be jailed again because she has proven that she will stick to her principles and will not testify no matter how long she is jailed.If a judge were to determine that incarcerating Ms Manning were punitive rather than coercive, she would not be jailed."At this point, given the sacrifices she has already made, her strong principles, her strong and growing support community, and the disgrace attendant to her capitulation, it is inconceivable that Chelsea Manning will ever change her mind about her refusal to cooperate with the grand jury," her lawyers wrote.Ms Manning filed an eight-page statement with the court on Monday outlining her resolve.She wrote that "cooperation with this grand jury is simply not an option. Doing so would mean throwing away all of my principles, accomplishments, sacrifices, and erase decades of my reputation - an obvious impossibility," she wrote.She also said she was suffering disproportionately in jail because of physical problems related with inadequate follow-up care to gender-reassignment surgery.Ms Manning was working for the Army in Iraq in 2010 when she was arrested and accused of leaking 700,000 documents, diplomatic cables and videos.She was accused of putting the lives of American soldiers at risk, but said she acted in order to open up debate about US foreign policy.Her 35-year sentence was the longest for leaking in US history, and president Barack Obama referred to it as "disproportionate" to her crimes. He commuted the remainder of her sentence in 2017, just before leaving office.Additional reporting by agencies
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| Three party leaders seeking to win S.Africa election Posted: 09 May 2019 03:24 AM PDT  South Africa was counting votes on Thursday following national polls with the leaders of the three main parties hoping to come out on top. Cyril Ramaphosa, the leader of the ruling ANC party, took the country's reins last year after a dramatic and varied career intertwined with the birth of modern South Africa. When Mandela walked out of jail in 1990, Ramaphosa was standing beside him.
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| Mitch McConnell Reassures Hannity: Don Jr. Subpoena Will ‘Have a Happy Ending’ Posted: 09 May 2019 08:18 PM PDT  Days after calling for the end of the "Groundhog Day spectacle" of Trump investigations, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell reassured a fraught Sean Hannity on Thursday night that Senate Intelligence Committee chair Richard Burr's (R-NC) subpoena of Donald Trump Jr. was no big deal.Noting that McConnell had declared "case closed" on the Mueller report, Hannity wondered why Burr would subpoena the president's son to reappear before the intelligence committee.Turning to McConnell, the pro-Trump Fox News host stated that the majority leader had already said that it was time to "stop relitigating" the 2016 election and "move forward" for the American public."I agree with all of that," Hannity added. "What is Senator Burr doing, did he not hear your message?"Apparently hoping to calm the conservative primetime star down, the Kentucky lawmaker said the "good news" is that Burr has "already indicated that the committee will find no collusion," staying consistent with the findings of the Mueller Report (which, by the way, did not make a determination on collusion as it has no legal definition.)"I think that this is going to have a happy ending," McConnell continued. "I understand the president's frustration here. But I think that this is just a blip, I think that the case is closed. I think that the controversy has been concluded."After McConnell said it was time for the House to "let it go and move on," Hannity asked him if that was his "message to Senator Burr.""That is my message to the public, that is our view that the case is closed and it is time to move on," McConnell responded. "And I believe when the Senate Intelligence Committee finally does report, which I think will not be too far down the road from here, they will reach the very same conclusion."Read more at The Daily Beast.
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| Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams says she is considering White House run Posted: 09 May 2019 04:45 PM PDT  Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, a rising party star who narrowly fell short of becoming the first female African- American governor last year, said on Thursday she is still considering running for president.
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| Progressives Face a Bleak Post-Mueller Landscape Posted: 09 May 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Democrats have grown infuriated by Attorney General William Barr's indifference to their hysteria over the Trump–Russia collusion narrative.Barr recently released a brief summary of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's conclusions that Donald Trump did not collude with the Russians to warp the 2016 election. Barr added that Mueller had not found enough evidence to recommend that Trump be indicted for obstruction of justice for the non-crime of collusion.Progressives, who for 22 months had insisted that Trump was a Russian asset, were stunned. But only for a few hours.Almost immediately, they redirected their fury toward Barr's summation of the Mueller report. Yet few rational people contested Barr's synopses about collusion and obstruction.Both the Mueller report and Barr's summation can be found on the Internet. Anyone can read them to see whether Barr misrepresented Mueller's conclusions.Again, there have been few criticisms that Barr was wrong on his interpretation that there was no collusion and not enough evidence to indict on obstruction of justice.But now Democrats are calling for Barr to resign or be impeached for not regurgitating the unproven allegations against Trump. In other words, Barr acted too much like a federal prosecutor rather than a tabloid reporter trafficking in allegations that did not amount to criminal conduct.The besmirching of Barr's conduct is surreal. He certainly has not done anything even remotely approximating the conduct of former President Obama's two attorneys general.Has Barr dubbed himself the president's "wingman" or called America a "nation of cowards"?Has Barr's Department of Justice monitored reporters' communications or ordered surveillance of a television journalist? Has Barr used a government jet to take his family to the Belmont Stakes horse race, as did Holder?Has Barr met secretly on an airport tarmac with the spouse of a person his Justice Department was investigating, as did former attorney general Loretta Lynch, who had such a meeting with Bill Clinton?The Mueller report ignored the likely illegal origins of the Christopher Steele dossier, the insertion of an FBI informant into the Trump campaign, the unlawful leaking of documents, and the conflicted testimonies of former high-level intelligence officials.All of those things were potential felonies. All in some way yielded information that Mueller drew on in his investigation. Yet Mueller never recommended a single indictment of any of the Obama-era officials who likely broke laws.Mueller was instead fixated on possible collusion with Russia. But it is a crime to knowingly hire a foreign national to work on a presidential campaign -- in other words, to "collude." That is exactly what the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee did when they paid British subject Christopher Steele to smear Trump.Did Mueller argue that the possible crimes of John Brennan, James Clapper, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, and other former government officials -- lying to federal investigators, perjury, obstruction of justice, deceiving the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, planting an informant into a political campaign, unmasking and leaking the identities of individuals under surveillance -- were only peripheral to his investigation?Not really. After all, Mueller indicted Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, Roger Stone, and others for crimes that had nothing to do with collusion and were far less serious than the improper behavior of top Obama-administration bureaucrats.So what really explains the furor now directed at Barr?One, progressives are terrified that a number of Trump's critics -- Brennan, Clapper, Comey, McCabe -- may soon be indicted. They apparently seek to preempt such indictments by attacking Barr, a seemingly no-nonsense prosecutor who will likely follow up on any criminal referrals from any inspector general that reach his desk.Two, the 2020 progressive agenda -- whether defined as the Green New Deal, a wealth tax, Medicare for All, or open borders -- will not compete well with Trump's currently booming economy. Impeaching Trump for collusion and obstruction is seen by progressives as the best (or perhaps only) way to return to power. That effort so far is failing, causing even more hysteria.Three, the Mueller investigation is over, finished after 22 months, $34 million, and a 448-page, two-volume report.There will be no indictments of Trump for either collusion or the obstruction of justice during the investigation of that non-crime. So now what?Since late 2015, Trump, as the supposed Russian puppet or the Machiavellian obstructer of justice, was nightly cable-TV news fare. Now such fantasies are shattered. But progressives are not willing to let the Mueller investigation rest in peace and move on with their lives.Perhaps they feel in the political sense that there is nothing to move on to. And they are probably right.© 2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC
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| Tesla CEO Elon Musk faces trial for 'pedo' insult of diver Posted: 10 May 2019 04:10 PM PDT  LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk will have to go to trial to defend himself for mocking a British diver as a pedophile in a verbal sparring match that unfolded last summer after the underwater rescue of youth soccer players trapped in a Thailand cave.
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| Best AirPods Accessories Posted: 09 May 2019 04:00 PM PDT  Apple wasn't the first company to release true wireless earbuds, but there's no question whatsoever that Apple's AirPods were the first cord-free earphones to really break out. In fact, they were so popular at launch that it took Apple more than a year before it finally caught up with demand. AirPods continue to be wildly popular with consumers all across the world, which makes plenty of sense considering how great they are. Of course nothing is perfect, and there are accessories out there that can make your experience with AirPods even better. Wireless charging caseRemember how liberated you felt the first time you got a wireless charger for your smartphone? No more fussing with cables and connectors, all you have to do is drop your phone on a pad and it charges right up. Wouldn't it be great if you could do the same thing with your AirPods? Well guess what: You can thanks to the NeotrixQI Wireless Charging Cover For Apple AirPods. Silicone coversApple's design is one of the best things about the AirPods. They're wonderfully compact and yet they manage to pump out phenomenally good sound quality with impressive bass response. Believe it or not, however, there's a simple way to get even better sound out of your AirPods. With EarBuddyz 2.0 Silicone AirPods Covers, you get a great secure fit in your ears without covering the sensors that enable Apple's coolest AirPods features. Neck strapThe true wireless design of Apple's AirPods is one of the biggest draws, of course, but there are times when having a cable that connects one earbud to the other is beneficial. One example is during workouts, so you can pop your earbuds out of your ears and let them hang around your neck. If you want the best of both worlds, the Spigen TEKA RA100 AirPods Neck Strap is just what the doctor ordered.> More options: * DamonLight AirPods Covers. These silicone covers are so thin that they'll fit in your AirPods case so you can recharge without having to remove them. * AhaStyle AirPods Covers. AhaStyle's covers are more like the ones we recommended in the main post, but they have a different fit that might work better for some people. * Waterproof AirPods Case Cover by Catalyst. This cover is the best way to protect your AirPods and the charging case from the elements. * AirPod Skins Protective Wraps. Completely change the look at your AirPods with these wraps, which are available in more than a dozen different colors. * Amasing 7 In 1 AirPods Accessories Kit. Want it all? Get seven different AirPods accessories in one nifty kit.
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| STEM School was urged to investigate concerns over 'a repeat of Columbine' months before shooting Posted: 09 May 2019 11:53 AM PDT  A woman claiming to be a parent of a STEM School student warned school district administrators in December about her fears of a 'a repeat of Columbine.'
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| The Range Rover Astronaut Edition Is Only for Virgin Galactic's Commercial Astronauts Posted: 09 May 2019 11:43 AM PDT  If you're one of the 700 people that dropped $250,000 on a ticket, you can buy this SUV.
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| China and India seen as Europe's last hope to save Iran deal Posted: 09 May 2019 07:56 AM PDT ![China and India seen as Europe's last hope to save Iran deal]( "China and India seen as Europe's last hope to save Iran deal") BRUSSELS/PARIS/BERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union will defend the Iran nuclear accord despite Tehran's decision to backtrack on its commitments in response to U.S. sanctions, diplomats believe, but European powers expect it to collapse without a deal to sell Iranian oil to China or India. Britain, France and Germany, which signed the 2015 deal along with the United States, China and Russia, are determined to show they can compensate for last year's U.S. withdrawal from the accord, protect trade and still prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear bomb. A French diplomat talked of a "negative spiral" in which trade in food and medicines was simply not enough, while another European envoy spoke of Iran's "phased exit" from the deal.
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| South Africa's ruling ANC in 10 dates Posted: 10 May 2019 09:50 AM PDT  The African National Congress (ANC) led the struggle that toppled apartheid in 1994 and has ruled South Africa ever since, remaining the most popular party despite a series of scandals. The South African Native National Congress was founded in 1912 in response to discrimination against blacks in the then-Union of South Africa, established two years earlier through the merger of white-run colonies and territories. The movement changed its name to ANC in 1923.
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| 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Has Survived Unscathed Posted: 09 May 2019 01:19 PM PDT  It has been tastefully preserved for future generations to enjoy. Classic 'Vettes are great, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to find any that haven't been adulterated with different modifications. This beautiful machine, America's sports car, is being offered a lucky future owner by Savannah Classic Cars.
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| Twitter suspended 166,153 accounts for terrorism content in H2 2018 Posted: 09 May 2019 06:49 AM PDT  Twitter is making headway in tackling online terrorism content on its platform as it suspended over 166,000 accounts in the second half of last year, about a fifth less than in the previous period, the social media company said on Thursday. Together with Facebook and Google, Twitter is under pressure from regulators and governments worldwide to remove extremist content more rapidly or face more heavy-handed legislation. Announcing its latest transparency report, the company said its technical tools were producing results, with 91 percent of accounts promoting terrorism content proactively suspended by its internal technology, the majority of which happened before their first tweet because the data used to set them up raised red flags.
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| Trump news: Don Jr ordered to testify to Senate over Russia contacts, as president laughs about shooting migrants at Florida rally Posted: 09 May 2019 05:11 AM PDT  Donald Trump's eldest son, Don Jr, has been subpoenaed to testify before the Republican-led Senate Intelligence Committee over his contacts with Russia, sparking the latest drama in Washington surrounding that investigation.The subpoena comes as the White House remains at odds with Congress after the Democrat-controlled House Judiciary Committee voted on Wednesday to hold attorney general William Barr in contempt of Congress over his failure to release the full, unredacted Mueller report into alleged ties between the Trump administration and the Kremlin.Democrats have demanded the unredacted version of that report, but also the underlying evidence so they can weigh whether charges are warrant further legal action.That action may one day mean impeachment for Mr Trump — as some Democrats like presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren have demanded — but House speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she does not believe the time has come for that effort. Ms Pelosi said that she plans on waiting for House committees to finish their investigations, and then she would be open to considering further actions.The president himself meanwhile addressed a rowdy rally in Panama City Beach, Florida, on Wednesday evening, where he pledged to deliver $448m (£344m) in disaster relief funding seven months after the Panhandle was devastated by Hurricane Michael. While delivering that good news, the president also laughed and joked when a member of the crowd yelled about shooting Central American migrants, who he said constituted an "invasion".Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
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| US seizes North Korean ship amid tense moment in relations Posted: 09 May 2019 11:10 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. said Thursday that it has seized a North Korean cargo ship that was used to violate international sanctions, a first-of-its kind enforcement action that comes amid a tense moment in relations between the two countries.
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| Joe Biden says US has 'obligation' to provide health care to all migrants Posted: 10 May 2019 08:57 AM PDT  Fox News contributor Dr. Marc Siegel, professor of medicine at the NYU Langone Medical Center, claims Biden is making a political gesture, noting health care is not the same as health insurance.
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| TOPLive Starts: Follow Developments in U.S.-China Tariffs Spat Posted: 09 May 2019 06:25 PM PDT  China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Says He Wasn't Aware of Any Xi-Trump Phone CallHere are the KEY TAKEAWAYS from U.S.-China trade tensions Friday:The Trump administration imposed a 25% tariff on more than $200 billion in Chinese goods, up from 10% before, in its most aggressive step yet in the trade war. China said it will take ``necessary countermeasures,'' though has yet to specify themDay one of talks between top Chinese and U.S. economic officials in Washington ended with little progress and a downbeat mood, according to people familiar with the talks. The index closed up 3.1% and the yuan roseInvestors are also on the lookout for any sign of a call between Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping, after Trump said he'd received a letter from Xi and flagged the potential for a phone conversation between themNext steps to watch include the details on China's retaliation, news on any broader stimulus efforts to safeguard growth and on any move by Trump to impose new 25% tariffs on $325 billion more of imports, a threat that he reiterated Thursday Chris Anstey Managing Editor, Asia Cross-Asset Markets05/10 03:55 ETThank you for following our coverage of the ongoing China-U.S. trade spat.
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| Uber valued at $82 billion in IPO as market jitters, Lyft woes weigh Posted: 09 May 2019 03:41 PM PDT  Uber raised $8.1 billion, pricing its IPO at $45 per share, close to the bottom of the targeted $44-$50 range. The year's biggest IPO comes against a backdrop of turbulent financial markets, fueled by the trade dispute between the United States and China, as well as the plunging share price of Lyft, which is down 23 percent from its IPO price in late March. Uber's valuation in the IPO is almost a third less than its investment bankers predicted last year but still above its most recent valuation of $76 billion in the private fundraising market.
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| Trump says senior adviser wants to get him ‘into a war’ in Venezuela after failure to oust Maduro Posted: 09 May 2019 12:55 AM PDT  Donald Trump is questioning his administration's aggressive strategy in Venezuela following the failure of a US-backed effort to oust Nicolás Maduro, complaining he was misled about how easy it would be to replace the socialist president with a young opposition figure, according to administration officials and White House advisers.The president's dissatisfaction has crystallised around national security adviser John Bolton and what Mr Trump has groused is an interventionist stance at odds with his view that the United States should stay out of foreign quagmires.Mr Trump has said in recent days that Mr Bolton wants to get him "into a war" – a comment he has made in jest in the past but that now belies his more serious concerns, one senior administration official said.The administration's policy is officially unchanged in the wake of a fizzled power play last week by US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó.But US officials have since been more cautious in their predictions of Mr Maduro's swift exit, while re-assessing what one official described as the likelihood of a diplomatic "long haul".US officials point to the president's sustained commitment to the Venezuela issue, from the first weeks of his presidency as evidence that he holds a realistic view of the challenges there, and does not think there is a quick fix.But Mr Trump has nonetheless complained over the last week that Mr Bolton and others underestimated Mr Maduro, according to three senior administration officials who like others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.Mr Trump has said Mr Maduro is a "tough cookie", and that aides should not have led him to believe that the Venezuelan leader could be ousted last week, when Mr Guaidó led mass street protests that turned deadly.Instead, Mr Maduro rejected an offer to leave the country and two key figures in his government backed out of what Mr Bolton said had been a plan to defect.Mr Maduro publicly mocked Mr Trump in response and said he wasn't going anywhere, saying the United States had attempted a "foolish" coup.Late on Wednesday, masked Venezuelan intelligence police detained National Assembly Vice President Edgar Zambrano in a dramatic operation in Caracas, marking the first senior opposition official taken into custody by the socialist government in retaliation for the failed military uprising.Mr Zambrano is one of 10 opposition officials charged with treason, conspiracy and rebellion by the pro-Maduro Supreme Court in connection to the plot.Mr Bolton publicly revealed the defection plan to apply pressure to Mr Maduro, which US officials said has worked.They claim Mr Maduro is sleeping in a bunker, paranoid that close aides will turn on him.But Mr Trump has expressed concern that Mr Bolton has boxed him into a corner and gone beyond where he is comfortable, said a US official familiar with US-Venezuela policy.Mr Bolton's tweets egging on Mr Maduro to begin an "early retirement" on a "nice beach" and urging for mass defections have been widely viewed as cavalier, raising unrealistic expectation for how quickly his ouster can be engineered, the US official said.Despite Mr Trump's grumbling that Bolton had gotten him out on a limb on Venezuela, Mr Bolton's job is safe, two senior administration officials said, and Mr Trump has told his national security adviser to keep focusing on Venezuela.The open threat of US military involvement in Venezuela has grown alongside the administration's increasingly confrontational approach to Iran, with Mr Bolton announcing last weekend that a US aircraft carrier battle group would be deployed to counter Iranian plots to harm US forces in the Middle East.In both cases, the administration has adopted a get-tough policy that appeals to Mr Trump's instincts to project American power abroad but that also echoes the kind of military adventurism he has long ridiculed.Mr Trump appears more comfortable with the Iran policy, which is grounded in his own strong belief that the former president, Barack Obama, miscalculated in striking a nuclear bargain with Tehran.He is less comfortable with the escalating rhetoric on Venezuela, which does not pose a direct military threat to the United States.Any US military involvement there risks a proxy fight with Russia, which backs Mr Maduro and has sold him arms.Mr Trump spoke approvingly of Russian actions in Venezuela following a lengthy phone call with Vladimir Putin on Friday, saying the Russian president "is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela other than he'd like to see something positive happen for Venezuela. And I feel the same way. We want to get some humanitarian aid".His comments stood in contrast to earlier statements from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mr Bolton, who accused Russia of propping up Mr Maduro with money and military equipment.During the Putin call, Mr Trump expressed his concern about the security and humanitarian situation on the ground in Venezuela, said a person briefed on the call.Mr Putin agreed with Mr Trump's assessment but said that the US position has solidified Mr Maduro's grip on power in Venezuela.Mr Putin also told Mr Trump that Moscow was not selling new weapons to Venezuela but maintaining existing contracts and he downplayed Russia's financial investments in the country.The events of 30 April have effectively shelved serious discussion of a heavy US military response, current and former officials as well as outside advisers said.Rather, US officials think time is on their side and that Mr Maduro will fall of his own weight.That waiting game poses its own risk, however, if Mr Guaidó asks for US military assistance.Mike Pompeo brushed off criticism from Jeremy Corbyn about US "interference" in Venezuela during an interview Wednesday in London."Providing food to starving children isn't interference. It's support; it's what we do," Mr Pompeo said."It's in our deepest traditions of humanitarian assistance. The interference has taken place; the Cubans are there. They've interfered. So I hope Mr Corbyn will ask the Cubans to cease their interference in Venezuela."Vice President Mike Pence was measured in his threats to Mr Maduro during remarks at a gathering of Latin American leaders in Washington on Tuesday, saying that "Maduro must go," but also signalling that it might not happen quickly.Mr Pence announced deployment of a Navy hospital ship to the region in June, and said the United States would lift sanctions on one senior Maduro aide who had switched sides.That was a shift from previous rhetoric about the tightening yoke of sanctions, and meant to emphasise that there are carrots in the US policy as well as sticks, one senior official said.The famously hawkish Mr Bolton has been the loudest voice within the administration in support of a potential military response to the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, where escalating US sanctions have not forced Mr Maduro to cede power.He was not the first, however.Mr Trump mused about invading or bombing Venezuela last year, comments that were at first dismissed as fanciful.He is now not inclined to have any sort of military intervention in Venezuela, two officials and an outside adviser said.Mr Trump has, in Oval Office meetings and phone calls with advisers, questioned his administration providing such strong support of Mr Guaidó.Some White House officials said Mr Trump likes the charismatic leader, whom he has called courageous, but has wondered aloud whether he is ready to take over and about how much the administration really knows about him.Mr Guaidó's many supporters within the administration say he has proved himself as the first Venezuelan opposition leader to unite factions and pose a credible threat to Mr Maduro.His standing within the country is borne out by the fact that Mr Maduro has not seized or harmed him, fearing a backlash, some officials said.Senator Lindsey Graham said he has no concern that the United States is making a bad bet on Mr Guaidó."Oh God, no. Smart money," Mr Graham said. "I think he's the future of Venezuela. He's young, he's the solution – not the problem."Mr Graham also said Mr Trump has been well served by his advisers, including Mr Bolton.Mr Pompeo was also bullish about Mr Maduro's ouster last week, saying after the plan faltered that Mr Maduro had been heading to the airport before Russian advisers talked him out of leaving. Mr Maduro denied it.Senator Marco Rubio, who has been influential in shaping the administration's Venezuela response, said Mr Trump and Mr Bolton are on the same page.Mr Rubio, who said he spoke to Mr Trump about Venezuela on Tuesday evening, backs the policy of waiting out Mr Maduro."He's in the same mind-set that I'm in, and that is that we've got to stay the course, it's working," Mr Rubio said in an interview.Mr Rubio said some of the harshest US sanctions are only now having full effect, including sowing dissension among Mr Maduro's aides."Only now are you starting to see it burn and I think that's what's causing some of this internal friction in the regime."US defence leaders regard any military scenario involving boots on the ground in Venezuela as a quagmire, and warn that standoff weapons such as Tomahawk missiles run a major risk of killing civilians.The White House has repeatedly asked for military planning short of invasion, however.Officials said the options under discussion while Mr Maduro is still in power include sending additional military assets to the region, increasing aid to neighbouring countries such as Colombia, and other steps to provide humanitarian assistance to displaced Venezuelans outside of Venezuela.More forward-leaning options include sending naval ships to waters off Venezuela as a show of force.Other steps under discussion are intended for after Mr Maduro is gone, when US military personnel might be permitted inside Venezuela to help with humanitarian responses.John Feeley, a former US ambassador and Univision political analyst, said there is another reason that military intervention is unlikely."It runs counter to Donald Trump's 2020 re-election narrative. At a time when you're pulling people back from Syria, back from Iraq, back from Afghanistan, how do you say we're going to commit 50-, 100-, 150,000 of our blood and treasure to a country where you can't tell the bad guys from the good guys?" Mr Feeley said.The Washington Post
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| US moving Patriot missile battery to Mideast to counter Iran Posted: 10 May 2019 02:55 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will move a Patriot missile battery into the Middle East to counter threats from Iran, the Pentagon said Friday, reflecting ongoing concerns that Tehran may be planning to attack America forces or interests in the region.
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