| Jeffrey Epstein reportedly wired $350,000 to 2 people after a bombshell 2018 report, prosecutors say Posted: 12 Jul 2019 03:23 PM PDT  Federal prosecutors are asking for Jeffrey Epstein's bail to be denied in light of the new accusations of witness tampering.
|
| Sebastian Gorka at the center of Rose Garden ruckus following Trump event Posted: 11 Jul 2019 05:26 PM PDT  After President Trump invited a group of right-wing and fringe media figures to the White House for a "social media summit" on Thursday, the event ended with a former presidential adviser and a CNN political analyst getting into a heated exchange in the Rose Garden.
|
| Warren, Biden Campaigns Appear to Find Loophole Around Paid Internships Posted: 12 Jul 2019 02:19 AM PDT  Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via GettyUnpaid interns are practically non-existent among Democratic presidential campaigns in 2019. But some top-tier candidates appear to be finding a creative way to tap unpaid talent: offering vague "fellowship" opportunities as volunteer positions. There's no singular definition for a "fellow" among 2020 candidates and most this cycle don't offer the option. But two leading contenders, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), give applicants who are selected a chance to participate in the campaign as volunteer fellows, without requiring compensation or academic credit. "Volunteers are asked to do something, workers are told," Renée Hagerty, an executive council member for the Campaign Workers Guild, said. "Everyone who's performing work on a campaign should be paid."For Biden's campaign, the "Team Joe Organizing Fellowship" consists of an eight-week program that includes weekly online trainings in grassroots and digital organizing, according to the listing, which closed this week. Unlike the internship program, which is paid $15 per hour, the fellowship program makes no mention of wages, academic credit, or time commitments. Warren's campaign features one joint application with three options: paid internship, volunteer fellowship, or volunteer fellowship for academic credit. Applicants are allowed to select more than one when applying. Warren's deputy communications director Chris Hayden told The Daily Beast their internship program "offers a limited number of paid, full-time campaign experiences on a competitive basis" and that "interns commit to working 30 hours a week, and have access to paid health insurance in addition to their weekly salary.""The campaign also offers a volunteer fellowship program, which provides similar training and work experiences with a smaller time commitment," Hayden added. "Many of our campaign fellows receive stipends from educational institutions or other third-parties, and everyone in our intern and fellowship programs has access to cost-free supporter housing while they're working in-state."Still, Guillermo Creamer, co-founder of the non-profit group Pay Our Interns, said there's a "gray area" that emerges from having both paid and unpaid options, creating a "fine line" between the roles. "It is interesting that some campaigns can still think about having both," Creamer said. "The question now is: is fellowship the scapegoat for not paying individuals?"Multiple activists who spoke to The Daily Beast declined to call out individual campaigns, saying they're generally pleased with the progress this cycle on the paid internship front, what some see as the first hurdle to overcome. But the separate volunteer fellowship option has led several activists to question the program's cost-benefit analysis. "What's actually the difference?" Creamer said when asked about paid internships versus unpaid fellowships. "Campaigns have to be the ones who identify that."Coming off the heels of a strong second quarter of fundraising, Biden and Warren each crystallized their spots in the top of the Democratic pack both in polls and in money raised. Biden brought in $21.5 million, while Warren reported $19.1 million. The large sums are even stronger reasons to pay fellows for work, rather than doling out fancy titles in exchange, some activists pointed out."At Biden for President, interns are employees who are paid by the hour (capped at 30 hours a week)," a campaign spokesperson wrote in an email. "Whereas fellows are part of an educational experience which we hope will equip them to be effective organizers in the future, and are not employees of the campaign.""Bosses have been coming up with reasons and excuses and caveats for not paying people since the dawn of time," Hagerty said, without commenting on any campaign specifically. "This is another version that fits into a middle-class narrative of prestige."Legally, there's no definition in the campaign finance world that would distinguish internships from fellowships, an official from the Campaign Legal Center said. "Campaigns are given pretty broad leeway for how they spend their money. They can provide any title they want," the official added. In a field of nearly two dozen contenders, other candidates offer several different fellowship models. Sens. Kamala Harris (D-CA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and former Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) offer paid fellowships, while Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) requires unpaid fellows to receive academic credit in order to participate in the program. The majority of other candidates offer paid internships. While some activists view the practice as a delicate balance between opening a door to those who seek the experience and a loophole for campaigns to use free labor, not everyone agrees the practice is problematic."There's utilitarian reasons for campaigns and there's utilitarian reasons for the workforce," Janice Fine, an assistant professor of labor studies and employment relations at Rutgers University, said. For some, fellowships can be a vital way to gain experience with a specific candidate or area of expertise, without having to commit to a set number of hours or responsibilities, she added. "A lot of these jobs are just for the experience," Alan Seals, a labor economist and professor of economics at Auburn University, agreed. "The worst thing [campaigns] can do is say 'no they're all employees now and you've got to pay them minimum wage.' It would be an absolute disaster."But that argument is what some activists say is part of the problem, and that there needs to be a clear pay-for-work metric that mirrors the fair wage platforms campaigns are pushing on the trail."It smacks of hypocrisy," Hagerty said. "No candidate wants to be a hypocrite." Updated to include comment from the Biden campaign.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| Pregnant woman, son die after car swept away in heavy rains Posted: 12 Jul 2019 11:39 AM PDT  A series of storms socked the Northeast with heavy rains and strong winds, causing the deaths of a 9-year-old boy and his pregnant mother whose car was swept away by floodwaters while she was on the phone with emergency officials. Thursday's storms quickly intensified, causing flash flooding in several states and spawning a tornado in a southern New Jersey town. A firefighter who was put in contact with the woman, who was identified as 31-year-old Pamela Snyder, was able to stay on the phone with her for several minutes before they lost contact, Dzurek said.
|
| Armoured van spills thousands of dollars in cash across major highway. Police are asking for it back Posted: 10 Jul 2019 11:23 PM PDT  An armoured truck spilled thousands of dollar bills onto a busy highway, prompting chaos as commuters pulled over to pick up fistfuls of money.On Tuesday before sunset, a fluttering swirl of cash blowing through the air brought traffic to a halt and people into the street when a side door of an armoured Garda truck suddenly opened on a highway.About $175,000 (£140,000) in bills spilled out and were carried away by the wind over a section of Interstate 285, which encircles Atlanta, Georgia, police said.The bills scattered to the shoulder of the six-lane westbound section of the highway. Some floated across the divider into eastbound lanes. Bills blew into the woods or sank into storm drains.More than a dozen commuters screeched to a halt or veered off to the shoulder of the highway near the Dunwoody Road exits, police said. They scooped up bills from the pavement and returned to their vehicles with fistfuls, and sometimes armloads, of cash.One of them was Randrell Lewis, an Uber Eats driver who was en route to Alpharetta, Georgia."I just saw a cloud full of what looked like leaves," he said in an interview. "No, it was money. I could not believe my eyes. I am not going to lie. The first thing I did was I pulled over and started picking up some money. Everybody started pulling over and it was crazy."Within minutes, Mr Lewis said, he had snatched up about $2,000 in singles, fifties and hundreds. He returned $2,094 on Wednesday, police said."I just wanted to really make sure I am not going to get in trouble for this," he said.As investigators from the Dunwoody Police Department scoured videos on social media of the spontaneous cash grab, reports filtered in on Wednesday of people stopping on their morning drives on the half-mile stretch of highway to see if there was anything left to scavenge, Sergeant Robert Parsons, a department spokesperson, said."If the temptation is there, and you see money falling from the sky, most people would probably take the money," he said.The nation's highways have been accidentally generous before. In 2004, an armoured truck carrying $2 million flipped over on the New Jersey Turnpike during the evening rush, spilling tens of thousands of dollars in coins.Last year, the back door of a Brink's armoured truck swung open during the morning rush on Interstate 70 near Indianapolis, Indiana, losing an estimated $600,000 in cash onto the highway. A few months later, a Brink's armoured truck was driving on Route 3 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, when one of its doors malfunctioned and money blew out onto the roadway.Some returned the money to police, while others made off with sacks of cash. In the East Rutherford incident, police recouped about $6,000.As authorities did elsewhere when the highways were unexpectedly giving, the police in Dunwoody, a suburb north of Atlanta, were watching on Wednesday to see how the limits of ethical behaviour would play out."Heads up Dunwoody, it's cloudy with a chance of cash," the department said on Facebook, adding, "While we certainly understand the temptation, it's still theft and the money should be returned."In an interview, Mr Parsons said that officers received a 911 call around 8pm on Tuesday about people "frantically" scooping up the money near the Ashford Dunwoody Road exit along the highway, which is bordered by creek beds, trees and office towers."Multiple callers said there was cash flying all over the road," he said.By the time officers arrived, people who had pulled over to grab the bills were nowhere to be seen, Mr Parsons said."People likely saw the police lights coming over the highway," he said. "'Oops, time to go! Police are here! Party's over!' "Officers spoke to the Garda employees, who had stopped the truck on the shoulder after passing drivers had gestured to them that a door was open.About $200 was retrieved from the highway and surrounding woods — a small fraction of the estimated $175,000 believed to have gone missing, or into peoples' pockets, he said.Detectives were trying to contact drivers by looking for license plate numbers on mobile phone videos that had been posted on social media. But Mr Parsons said authorities had no intention of prosecuting anyone who returns the money."No harm, no foul," he said. "But you need to turn that money in."The New York Times
|
| Wanted Louisiana woman comments on mugshot cops posted: 'That picture ugly' Posted: 12 Jul 2019 04:38 AM PDT  A wanted Louisiana woman seemed more concerned about how she looked in her mugshot than about the police.
|
| Minnesota residents react to city council ditching Pledge of Allegiance Posted: 10 Jul 2019 07:06 PM PDT  Protesters demand city council reverse pledge ban; reaction from Fox News contributor Lawrence Jones and Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw.
|
| EU to Cut the Flow of Funds to Turkey as Drilling Spat Heats Up Posted: 12 Jul 2019 08:31 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The European Union is poised to freeze most high-level contacts with Turkey and cut the flow of funds to the country, while holding back for now on sanctions that could target Turkish companies involved in offshore drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.EU diplomats have agreed on the wording of a draft decision due to be formally adopted by the bloc's foreign ministers on Monday, two officials familiar with the talks said. The draft calls for suspending negotiations on an aviation agreement with Ankara, halting scheduled ministerial meetings, reducing aid and inviting the European Investment Bank to review sovereign-backed lending to Turkey.The bloc will also reiterate that it's working on targeted sanctions in light of Turkey's continuing controversial drilling practices, according to the final draft of the communique seen by Bloomberg. The statement was agreed on Friday afternoon after several rounds of redrafting, and it will be rubber-stamped by EU ambassadors on Monday before ministers sign off later in the day.Turkey and Cyprus are at loggerheads over offshore gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean that are claimed by the Cypriots and disputed by Ankara. Turkey has sent exploration vessels into the area, a move Cyprus calls a violation of its sovereignty.Deep-Sea ExplorationEU leaders have squarely sided with Cyprus in the dispute, declaring last month that they're ready to consider sanctions if Turkey continues drilling. That could target companies, individuals, and Turkey's deep-sea hydrocarbon exploration and production sectors, though such measures weren't officially on the menu of options debated this week.Still, the escalation marks a new low in EU-Turkey relations, which have been deteriorating since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pushed through constitutional reforms that Brussels claims weaken the country's democratic safeguards.The European Commission says Turkey has been drifting further away from the prospect of eventual EU membership, and some member states, such as Germany and France, have considered formally shelving long-stalled accession talks.The spat with Brussels adds to a climate of uncertainty weighing on Turkish assets, following the dismissal of the country's top central banker and the prospect of U.S. sanctions over Erdogan's decision to purchase Russian missiles. Washington has also called on Turkey to cease drilling off the coast of Cyprus.Maintaining CommunicationDespite renewed tensions in the Mediterranean, the EU is wary of an escalation that would risk a landmark 2016 migration agreement, under which Turkey stemmed the bulk of refugee flows to Europe in exchange for financial assistance. Even though options for targeted sanctions were mandated by the bloc's leaders last month, they are not being activated at this stage.An EU diplomat said the bloc in its Monday decision will seek a balance between sending a clear message to Ankara and agreeing on measures that won't harm the interests of EU nations or cut all ties with Turkey. The EU wants to keep some lines of communication open in areas such as migration and terrorism, the diplomat said, asking not to be named discussing sensitive issues.\--With assistance from Viktoria Dendrinou and Jonathan Stearns.To contact the reporter on this story: Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Jerrold Colten, Chris ReiterFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| South Africa sends troops into 'warzone' township Posted: 12 Jul 2019 11:56 AM PDT  South African president Cyril Ramaphosa ordered troops into the suburbs of Cape Town to quell a crime wave that municipal officials say has turned the city into a "warzone." Hundreds of soldiers will be deployed into sprawling area of townships known as the Cape Flats to combat gang-related violence that saw 14 people killed in 24 hours last week. More than 900 people have been killed in gang-related violence in the Cape Flats in the past year. Last Friday, six women between the ages of 18 and 26 were murdered by unknown gunmen at a home in a shanty town in the area. The next day another five men, aged 18 to 39, were shot dead and one was injured in two separate shooting incidents in the township of Philippi. The victims included three members of the same family: Sonwabo Zwilibi's, 17, and his brother Aphiwe, 18, and their cousin Sikelela Zwilibi, 25. Six policemen have also been shot and injured in the past week. Bheki Cele, the Police Minister, said the military deployment would last three months and see troops backing up police officers. "We'll go door to door, we'll collect every illegal firearm, we'll collect all criminals that we want, we'll collect all outstanding criminals that have been on bail and that is happening from two o'clock this morning," he said. The opposition Democratic Alliance, which control Cape Town and the Western Cape province, welcomed the move. "We have truly reached a state of emergency, which threatens the stability and reputation of the city," said Jean-Pierre Smith, a DA mayoral committee member for safety and security. He said the people of the Western Cape needed the army "because they want safety." More than 20,000 people, or 57 per day, were murdered in South Africa last year. Under apartheid, South Africa's Group Areas legislation assigned all the different racial groups to separate residential and business districts, mostly in urban areas Many people of mixed race who used to live close to the heart of Cape Town were uprooted from their homes in the 1950s and moved to the Cape Flats, a treeless, sandy area of ancient former beaches, so that the inner city would be exclusive to white people. "This situation has its roots in the history of South Africa. People were removed from their homes and dumped far away to areas where there was nothing, no society no shops, nothing," said Jakkie Cilliers, head of African Futures & Innovation at South Africa's influential Institute for Security Studies. "This created a generation of alcoholics which had a particularly violent impact in the Western Cape."
|
| Afghan women note Taliban shift after Doha talks Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:30 PM PDT  An Afghan campaigner who took part in breakthrough talks with the Taliban said Thursday that she saw subtle improvements in the attitude towards women of the insurgents, who severely curtailed their rights while in power. The conference, co-organized by Germany, came as the United States negotiates with the Taliban to pull troops from Afghanistan -- with women's rights not explicitly on the agenda. Asila Wardak, a women's rights campaigner who works for the Afghan foreign ministry, said she was surprised at the positive atmosphere in Doha as women mingled directly with the Taliban over dinner and tea breaks.
|
| Former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka screamed in a journalist's face in the Rose Garden as supporters cheered Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:21 PM PDT  An onlooker told the reporter that Gorka could "kick your punk a--" as some looked on in shock and others cheered in support of the former Trump aide.
|
| Inventive Butternut Squash Recipes, From Stuffing to Soup Posted: 11 Jul 2019 12:31 PM PDT |
| Tennessee governor signs 'Forrest Day' proclamation, honoring the Confederate general Posted: 12 Jul 2019 04:06 PM PDT  Tennessee law instructs the governor to do so, though Lee said he is not currently considering changing the law.
|
| Texas judge rejects part of state's 'sanctuary city' lawsuit Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:13 PM PDT ![Texas judge rejects part of state's 'sanctuary city' lawsuit]( "Texas judge rejects part of state's 'sanctuary city' lawsuit") A Texas judge has dismissed substantial parts of the attorney general's first "sanctuary cities" lawsuit that alleges the San Antonio police chief obstructed enforcement of immigration law. Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit accuses Police Chief William McManus of releasing 12 immigrants suspected of entering the U.S. illegally. It was a rare enforcement of Texas' 2017 Senate Bill 4, which penalizes local officials who restrict federal immigration enforcement.
|
| Radioactive uranium, whiskey and rattlesnake found in stolen car pulled over by police Posted: 12 Jul 2019 05:52 AM PDT  A pair of alleged car thieves were found with radioactive uranium, whiskey and a rattlesnake in their vehicle when they were pulled over in a routine traffic stop, police said.Driver Stephen Jennings and passenger Rachael Rivera were arrested after the unusual items were found in their car on Wednesday morning in Guthrie, Oklahoma.They were initially stopped after police noticed their vehicle's licence plate had expired, but officers soon noticed the timber rattlesnake in a box on the backseat.Mr Jennings, 40, then told police he had a gun in the vehicle and police discovered that the car was stolen."So now he's got a rattlesnake, a stolen vehicle, firearm, and somebody under arrest," Guthrie Police Sergeant Anthony Gibbs told local broadcaster KFOR-TV.After a further search of the car, police found an open bottle of Kentucky Deluxe whiskey and a container of "yellowish powder" that was labelled "Uranium."Mr Jennings told officers he was trying to create a "super snake" after the uranium was discovered, ABC reported."When that happens, of course, we call in a company that deals with that specifically, and it's taken safely into possession," Mr Gibbs said. "The uranium is the wild card in that situation."Bodycam footage from the arrest shows one officer spotting the snake in the backseat, before saying: "That sucker is huge."Timber rattlesnakes are highly venomous and their fangs are long enough to penetrate clothing and boots, according to the Ohio Public Library Information Network.> Uranium, a rattlesnake, and an open bottle of Kentucky Deluxe found after police pulled over a couple in a stolen vehicle in Guthrie. @kfor pic.twitter.com/6bh4MUuHcO> > — Cassandra Sweetman (@CassandraOnTV) > > July 11, 2019Mr Jennings was charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, transporting an open container of liquor, operating a vehicle with a suspended license, and failure to carry a security verification form, ABC reported.Ms Rivera, 30, was charged with possession of a firearm after a former felony conviction.Mr Jennings had a valid lifetime hunting and fishing license so possession of the rattlesnake was legal.The pair were not charged in connection with the uranium as officers are still looking into a potential motive.
|
| Swedish Government Won’t Sign ‘Problematic’ UN Nuclear Treaty Posted: 12 Jul 2019 05:22 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Sweden has decided not to sign the UN treaty on nuclear arms, calling it problematic and unrealistic.The decision was announced by Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom at a press conference in Stockholm, who said the country will remain a "strong voice" against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.Reality is complicated and the treaty is problematic, but the decision was made as a militarily alliance-free nation, said Wallstrom. Sweden will become an observer nation to the treaty and won't close the door on signing it, she said.Backed by Sweden, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons passed in 2017 in the UN General Assembly by a vote of 122 in favor with just the Netherlands, a NATO member, voting against. The negotiations were boycotted by the world's nine nuclear-armed countries -- the U.S., China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the U.K. as well as most NATO members.Sweden, which has close ties with NATO, has been pressured not to sign the treaty by the U.S., newspaper Svenska Dagbladet has reported.To contact the reporter on this story: Jonas Bergman in Oslo at jbergman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| INTERVIEW-Serbia wants billions in foreign loans to invest in infrastructure - minister Posted: 12 Jul 2019 06:53 AM PDT ![INTERVIEW-Serbia wants billions in foreign loans to invest in infrastructure - minister]( "INTERVIEW-Serbia wants billions in foreign loans to invest in infrastructure - minister") Serbia plans to borrow billions of euros from China and other foreign countries in the coming years to fund investment in regional projects, its infrastructure minister Zorana Mihajlovic said on Friday. China views Serbia and other Balkan countries as part of its ambitious One Belt, One Road initiative to open trade links for Chinese companies. Serbia wants to join the European Union and to do so it must strengthen economic links with its neighbours including former Yugoslav republics, most of them foes from the bloody wars of the 1990s.
|
| We Lightened Up All Your Favorite Casseroles Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:24 PM PDT |
| Palestinian child shot in head during West Bank clashes: ministry Posted: 12 Jul 2019 11:36 AM PDT  A Palestinian child was seriously wounded Friday during clashes between Israeli forces and protesters in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry and official media said. Official news agency Wafa named him as Abdelrahman Shteiwi, saying he was 10 years old and was wounded during clashes in Kafr Qaddum near Nablus in the northern West Bank.
|
| Why the Sexual Predator in the White House Needed to Get Rid of Acosta Posted: 12 Jul 2019 01:32 PM PDT  Brendan Smialowski/GettyMany of Donald Trump's "best people" have left in disgrace but none more so than Alexander Acosta, who showed no conscience or remorse in letting pedophile Jeffrey Epstein off the hook when he was a federal prosecutor. In a press conference ordered up by Trump to save his job, Acosta failed miserably. And on Friday morning, Trump perp-walked Acosta, wearing his now familiar smirk, out to face the press corps on the south lawn of the White House, to announce that Acosta had decided to tender his resignation. Much that's wrong with Trump came out in the next few minutes. As he's shoving Acosta out the door, he is at pains to prove he wasn't wrong about him, praising his (second) choice for labor secretary as "fantastic" and insisting, "I'm with him." He's mystified at the revulsion over Acosta: "He made a deal that people were happy with, and then 12 years later they're not happy with it." Acosta Resigns Over Epstein Plea Deal, Says It Isn't 'Fair' to Be 'the Focus'Turning to himself, like a guilty man on the stand in a Law & Order rerun, Trump pointed a finger at others who were the real unindicted collaborators in the Epstein mess, those others who joined Epstein on his island. For good measure, he decided to smear all Hispanics, gratuitously mentioning Acosta's heritage, on the eve of launching his weekend of deportation raids.It will take a few days now until someone, who despises working for Trump but doesn't have the gumption to leave, inevitably leaks that the voluntary resignation was Trump Lie Number Ten Thousand and Something. We know it didn't happen because Trump's eyes were opened by the Miami Herald's November 2018 investigation of Epstein's victims, exposing anew that Acosta looked evil in the eye and saw a deal to be cut. It definitely couldn't be because evangelicals or Senate Republicans suddenly remembered they had a modicum of integrity before being sucked into Trump's vortex. No, it only happened once New York prosecutors re-indicted Epstein on similar charges of recruiting young girls and paying them to come to his lair to service him. That put the whole mess front and center again, and Trump, binge TV watcher, was forced to watch (anytime he wasn't tuned to Fox News) replays of the Access Hollywood tape, or pictures of him with Epstein, or discussions of the lawsuit filed by a 13-year old girl against him (since dropped), or mentions of the party for two—Trump and Epstein—at Mar-a-Lago with a bevy of 28 beauties imported for the occasion. That's not to mention the two dozen women who've accused Trump of sexually abusing them.It's rare to have a beleaguered Trump official go so quickly, rather than be Zinked, Tillersoned, or Pruitted, drip by drip. Acosta hurt himself by not doing a full Kavanaugh, complete with righteous fire and fury, instead coldly admitting nothing and excusing all, even his secret meeting with opposing counsel at a restaurant because the office wasn't open at that hour, no less. He proceeded to promise Epstein counsel Jay Lefkowitz, a partner at his former firm Kirkland & Ellis, that rather than abide by the law that requires he inform victims, he would hide the plea that let Epstein plead to two charges of prostitution (by law, it's sexual assault and rape, not prostitution, when young girls are solicited for sex). The sweetheart part of the deal is the lawyer-on-lawyer friendliness. Acosta would never see Epstein's victims, but if he were lucky, he would intersect with Epstein's defenders again—princes of the bar like Lefkowitz, Ken Starr (yes, the one who was appalled by Clinton), Roy Black, and Harvard's Alan Dershowitz. They would slap each other on the back and settle another case.While lying is expected, Acosta's didn't rise to Trump's level. He blamed Epstein's victims—36, on the record, some with signed statements backed up by a 53-page indictment—for being unable to stand up to testifying in court, as if it weren't 2008 but, say, 17th-century Massachusetts Bay Colony during the Salem Witch Trials—when girls would be slut-shamed on the stand. The clincher was the whopper about the state's attorney failing to step up to the plate. In one of the quickest hip-checks in history, those prosecutors were right back at him, credibly defending themselves and hurling the onus back on Acosta, the guy with the badge and the white hat who came to save the day, and then didn't. We can be sure that Acosta didn't wake at dawn Friday and realize that his desperation to remain a guy with a palatial office and power over a huge workforce (and, ironically, sex traffickers) wasn't worth the strain on his family. He's not built that way, or he would have known at the time that what he was doing in Palm Beach was a travesty. And that if it didn't haunt him with its mendacity at the time, it would catch up with him someday. It did, but it only resulted in his losing his cushy job, and you can be sure there's some bottom-feeding law firm who will soon want his services. His resignation by no means provides closure, not for the abused girls, and not for the Palm Beach police who did their jobs, if you read the files. And not for the public that questions how a United States Attorney, who was the entire system at the moment he stood astride justice for the Southern District of Florida, was faced with a starker choice between good and evil, right and wrong, than most of us will ever confront. And he chose to side with the bad guys. Democrats are busily sending out subpoenas to get answers. Was it someone higher up at Justice, someone higher up in society, something promised him down the road that turned Acosta away from his duty to protect the children? The sick feeling left behind by Acosta's departure—pretending, without remorse, that he simply no longer wanted to distract from the great economy—is that it is too unfathomable. How Acosta committed such an injustice goes too deep for any mortal to see. For his part, Trump is relieved, as he names another "acting" secretary he can keep under White House arrest, that the fickle finger of press coverage may move on to another scandal, away from his days palling around with Epstein, that "great guy" who just happened "to like young girls," and his own ugly behavior. For the moment, there are two people on our minds who are worse than the Access Hollywood braggart. It's the monster Epstein and the man who saved the monster from going to prison for the rest of his life. We will remember, however, that as Acosta was leaving the stage, Trump was still calling him "fantastic." Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
|
| Dozens of birds fall from the sky like 'a horror movie.' They were poisoned, experts say Posted: 12 Jul 2019 07:44 AM PDT  Sarah King, founder of local nonprofit Casper's Bird Rescue, was contacted by a member of her staff who discovered corella birds falling out of nearby trees and the sky.
|
| Video: Family members attack woman's murderer in Ohio courthouse Posted: 12 Jul 2019 07:34 AM PDT  Two family members were supposed to give victim impact statements when they lunged at Dale Williams. Both family members were subdued, one with a Taser, and arrested.
|
| Pete Buttigieg unveils agenda to help black Americans Posted: 11 Jul 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Facing dismal poll numbers among black voters, Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg released a multipronged plan addressing everything from promoting black history and culture and ensuring Washington, D.C., statehood to tackling the racial wealth gap.
|
| The Latest: Shoppers fill carts with supplies ahead of Barry Posted: 12 Jul 2019 05:32 PM PDT  Ahead of Tropical Storm Barry's landfall, residents of southwestern Louisiana have been filling their shopping carts with supplies, including bottled water, canned goods and bread. A Walmart Neighborhood Market in Lake Charles was packed with shoppers late Friday afternoon. Fifty-five-year-old Scott Daley maneuvered two shopping carts that carried bottled water, gallons of milk and frozen meat.
|
| US Coast Guard filmed raiding moving submarine filled with £185m of cocaine Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:32 PM PDT  The US Coast Guard has released bodycam footage of a raid on a moving submarine-type vessel filled with £185m of cocaine.A crew member on board US Coastguard cutter Munro can be heard shouting "stop your boat now" in Spanish over the sound of the waves as he draws up beside the semi-submersible vessel, nicknamed a "narco-submarine".The coastguardsman can then be heard saying "that's going to be hard to get on", before he and another crew member, both dressed in green camouflage uniforms, leap on top of the self-propelled vessel in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.The first man bangs his fist on the hatch of the hull before a man opens it and raises his hands in the area as commands are screamed at him.Inside was 17,000lbs of cocaine worth about $232 million (£185m).The drugs bust was just one of 14 similar raids by the US Coast Guard off the coasts of Mexico, Central America and South America between May and July this year.In total, they have recovered more than 39,00lbs of cocaine and 933 lbs of cannabis worth an estimated $569m (£454m).Lieutenant commander Stephen Brickey, a spokesman for the US Coast Guard Pacific Area, said pursuing the drug-smuggling boats was like the "white whale".He told the Washington Post: "They're pretty rare. For us to get one, it's a significant event."Around 80 per cent of drugs that enter the US come from the Pacific corridor and authorities stop about 11 per cent of semi-submersible boats, he said.The Coast Guard increased US and allied presence in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Basin, which are known drug transit zones off the coast of Central and South America, as part of its Western Hemisphere Strategy.
|
| Iran calls on Britain to release seized oil tanker immediately Posted: 11 Jul 2019 10:36 PM PDT  Iran called on Britain on Friday to immediately release an oil tanker that British Royal Marines seized last week on suspicion it was breaking European sanctions by taking oil to Syria, a foreign ministry spokesman told state news agency IRNA. Iran has warned of reciprocal measures if the tanker is not released. Britain said on Thursday that three Iranian vessels tried to block a British-owned tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which controls the flow of Middle East oil to the world, but backed off when confronted by a Royal Navy warship.
|
| Apollo 11 Had 3 Men Aboard, But Only 2 Walked on the Moon. Here’s What it Was Like to Be the Third Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:28 PM PDT  "I was about to kiss Buzz Aldrin on the forehead. And I decided maybe no, no, I think the history books wouldn't like that."
|
| Four Britons held in China, two days after drugs bust Posted: 11 Jul 2019 09:01 PM PDT  Four Britons have been arrested in an eastern China province, the British embassy said Friday, two days after Chinese police announced a drug bust there involving 16 foreigners. Police in the city of Xuzhou in Jiangsu province said on Wednesday that a total of 19 people were arrested in a drugs case centring on a local branch of a language school. "We are in contact with the Chinese authorities following the arrest of four British people in Jiangsu province, and are providing consular assistance," a spokeswoman with the British embassy in Beijing told AFP.
|
| Dolphin impaled in the head found dead, wildlife officials seek clues Posted: 11 Jul 2019 06:22 PM PDT  Investigators are looking for who or what made a gash in the head of a bottlenose dolphin found dead in May.
|
| Cuba's Dependency on Venezuela Makes it Vulnerable to Economic Turmoil Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:45 PM PDT ![Cuba's Dependency on Venezuela Makes it Vulnerable to Economic Turmoil]( "Cuba's Dependency on Venezuela Makes it Vulnerable to Economic Turmoil") The economic crisis in Venezuela has turned millions of its citizens into refugees who are fleeing the country's hyperinflation and shortages in food and medicine. A plunge in aid from Venezuela, along with a hardened trade embargo by the United States, has brought Cuba to its worst economic crisis since the post-Soviet depression in the 1990s, Carmelo Mesa-Lago, professor emeritus of economics and Latin American Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and Pavel Vidal Alejandro, associate professor economics at the Pontifical Xavierian University in Cali, Colombia, write in their report.
|
| Airline CEOs: Subsidized Gulf airlines are violating trade agreements, threatening US jobs Posted: 12 Jul 2019 02:00 AM PDT  The Trump administration knows a trade violation when it sees one. It should put other countries on notice by holding Qatar and the UAE accountable.
|
| Hong Kong Is Asia’s Canary in a Coal Mine Posted: 12 Jul 2019 09:47 AM PDT  Editor's Note: This is a speech Senator Pat Toomey delivered on July 9 in support of the millions in Hong Kong protesting against Chinese efforts to erode their autonomy and calling for greater democratic freedoms.Mr. President,I rise today to speak about the very high-stakes political and social crisis, really, that has been unfolding in Hong Kong over the past several weeks. Hong Kong is a very exceptional city. It boasts of a very robust free-market economy that has thrived for centuries. It's got a very vibrant free press, an independent judiciary, and a partially democratic election system.Those freedoms -- combined with Hongkongers' natural entrepreneurial spirit and appreciation for individual liberty -- have made Hong Kong a jewel of the financial and business world, one of the freest places in Asia, and a great place to live, for a time anyway, as I did back in 1991.The economic and political achievements are particularly impressive when you consider that Hong Kong is, after all, a part of China -- which has neither a free economy nor a politically free society. Back in 1997, Great Britain transferred Hong Kong back to China on the condition -- an explicit, written agreement -- that Hong Kong's social and economic systems would remain unchanged under a one-country, two-systems arrangement that would last for at least 50 years, until 2047.The Chinese government also made a pledge at the time, a pledge that Hong Kong's legislative and executive leaders would be elected through universal suffrage.Yet, here we are 22 years later. Hongkongers still do not enjoy complete universal suffrage and Hong Kong has faced deep and persistent efforts by the mainland to erode the independence and the authority of Hongkongers.On the surface, this ongoing crisis in Hong Kong was clearly caused by the Hong Kong government, probably at the behest of the Chinese leadership in Beijing, to pass a deeply unpopular extradition bill. Now, this bill would diminish Hong Kong's independent legal system very dramatically.It would do so by allowing/exposing individuals in Hong Kong -- including Hong Kong citizens, foreigners, even tourists -- to being extradited to China. The accused would then face prosecution by an authoritarian government in mainland China that does not uphold the rule of law, nor does it practice the fair and impartial administration of justice. Let's face it, the judicial system in China is politicized and controlled by the Chinese Communist party. Some people are concerned that, if this bill were to become law, it would even pave the way for Chinese state-sponsored kidnapping of dissidents.It certainly would have a chilling effect on freedom in Hong Kong. A chilling effect on the ability of Hong Kong people to live their lives and express their views without the fear of political repercussions. It's simply a fact, mainland China is a legal black hole and Hong Kong's extradition bill would be a step to exposing Hong Kong residents directly to mainland China's opaque, and often blatantly unfair, legal system.So, in response to this threat, the people of Hong Kong have for weeks poured into the streets calling for a withdrawal of this bill and deeper democratic reforms. Remarkably, last month one of these protests, one of these demonstrations, brought together an estimated two million Hongkongers' into the streets. Now, that's just stunning anywhere in the world that 2 million people would come out to protest anything; but in Hong Kong it's truly staggering because the population of Hong Kong is only 7.4 million. About one in four Hongkongers were on the streets protesting.Now, just today the Hong Kong Chief Executive said that that bill is dead; but, it has not been formally withdrawn, as I understand it. I think the threat remains. It's also important to note that, on a deeper level, these ongoing protests are really a response to efforts by the Chinese government to mainland-ize Hong Kong. It's an effort in which political, cultural, and even physical distinctions between Hong Kong and mainland China are meant to be diminished, the differences blurred, the distinction eroded. The extradition bill is just the latest example of Hong Kong people struggling for the freedom, the democracy, the respect for human rights that they cherish, that they want to hold on to, that were promised to them when the handover occurred in 1997.Hongkongers really have a rich history of protest and I think that history reveals their enduring grassroots desire for these freedoms that they have grown to love and cherish, and for a democratic form of government that they deserve. Back in 1989, the Tiananmen Square Massacre that we all remember. The 30th anniversary was just last month. On the eve of the massacre, once it was clear that the Chinese communist government would respond to peaceful protesters with bullets and tanks, about 1.5 million Hongkongers marched in the streets of Hong Kong in solidarity with the students in Tiananmen.In 2003, the Hong Kong leadership proposed an anti-subversion bill. Hongkongers rightly saw this bill as an attack on their freedom of speech and freedom of association. The Hong Kong leadership that opposed it began doing it at the behest of mainland Chinese government. Five hundred thousand Chinese protested and eventually forced the government to withdraw the bill.In 2014, the Hong Kong government announced a reform to change how Hong Kong's Chief Executive was selected. The proposal was really meant to continue what already existed, which was mainland Chinese communist control over the election process in Hong Kong. One of the mechanisms they used to achieve this was that only candidates vetted by a committee of mostly pro-Beijing supporters would be allowed to seek the office of Chief Executive.Well, in response to this undemocratic measure, Hong Kong students staged a campaign of civil disobedience and peaceful protest to oppose this effort. Up to a half million people participated in the movement, and students famously used umbrellas to shield themselves from tear gas and pepper spray that was being launched at them by the police -- so much so that the pro-democracy protesters were quickly termed the umbrella movement.All of these protests and these acts of civil disobedience make it clear that Hongkongers want more freedom, not less freedom. Mr. President, I think this matters. This matters obviously in Hong Kong, but it matters beyond Hong Kong. It matters to us. It should matter to us because what's happening in Hong Kong is not just important for those residents, but for the rest of the world.Today, the people of Hong Kong are fighting against an unpopular and unfair extradition bill; but, they're really fighting for a future in which they can enjoy basic human rights -- natural rights that everyone should have -- including the right to free speech, the right to a fair trial, the right to be confident that your government will follow the laws of the society in which it exists, and participation in a just and fair representative system of government.If the Chinese officials in Beijing, the communist Chinese who rule mainland China, have their way, they will extinguish these rights for the people of Hong Kong. If the extradition bill became law, it would threaten all of those rights because of the chilling effect of the threat of being extradited to the lawlessness of the Chinese judicial system.In some important ways, I think Hong Kong can be seen as a canary in the coal mine for Asia. What happens in Hong Kong will at least set expectations, create a climate that will affect maybe what happens in Taiwan over time, other Asian nations that are struggling for freedom in the shadow of China.The fact is, China itself is controlled by an authoritarian government, interested primarily in its own survival. That's the top priority of Beijing's leadership.They've created a modern-day police state. They use mass surveillance, censorship, internet applications in order to control their own citizens. They've imprisoned over a million of their own citizens, the Muslim Uyghurs minority's in concentration camps. China's authoritarianism system threatens societies all over the world.A democratic Hong Kong is a direct threat to the communist government in Beijing because people across China would naturally ask the question: Why do Hongkongers get to have more rights and a better life and more freedom than we have? That's the threat that the government in Beijing is trying to extinguish.Well, Mr. President, we recently had the blessing of being able to celebrate our own Independence Day -- when Americans reflect on our own struggle against tyranny, against an unjust government, and our successful effort to throw that off and establish this, the world's greatest, most vibrant, and freest democratic society.In many ways, the Hongkongers are fighting for some of the very same values as our founding fathers did during the American Revolution. I think it's important that we here in the United States not turn a blind eye to the struggle for freedom that's happening outside of our borders. I think it's important that Americans continue to stand in support of the voices in Hong Kong that are calling for freedom, for democracy, respect for basic human rights.I'll do what I can in the senate to support the people of Hong Kong in their peaceful protests for their own freedom, and I call on my colleagues and this administration to join me.And I yield the floor.
|
| Man eaten by his own pet dogs Posted: 10 Jul 2019 11:58 PM PDT  A man who had been missing for months was eaten by his own pet dogs, police have said.The pack of 18 mixed-breed dogs apparently devoured Freddie Mack's body, clothing and hair at his home in Texas.Bone fragments measuring between 2-5in were all that remained."Never have we ever, or anyone we've spoken to, heard of an entire human being consumed," said Deputy Aaron Pitts."The bones were completely broken up and eaten." Mack had serious health problems and it is unclear whether the dogs killed their owner, or ate his body after he died.A relative reported the reclusive man missing from his home near Venus in May, saying the family had not heard from him since mid-April.The aggressive dogs stopped the family from entering Mack's property, and posed problems for deputies, who were eventually able to look around while keeping the dogs away with a "distraction method," the sheriff's office said.After days of searching the property, investigators discovered animal faeces containing bits of human hair, clothing and bone amid the high grass.The larger fragments were sent to the University of North Texas Center for Human Remains Identification, and were eventually matched to Mack through family DNA testing. Deputy Pitts said two of the dogs were killed by their mates, 13 were put down because of their "aggressive nature" and three have been put up for adoption. The deputy said the dogs were well fed and cared for. "This man loved his animals," he said.Additional reporting by Associated Press
|
| Hawaii's Maui Island wildfire forces evacuations Posted: 12 Jul 2019 12:44 AM PDT  The 3,000 acre brush fire in Maui's central valley was uncontrolled Thursday night, Maui Mayor Mike Victorino told a news conference. A National Weather Service satellite photo showing smoke hanging over the island was posted on local media and social media sites. The brush fire was reported about 10:30 a.m., local time, and steady winds of up to 20 mph fanned the flames, officials said.
|
| Fewer F-35s? Air Force Looks to Buy 80 F-15Xs Instead Posted: 11 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT  Nevertheless as Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst with the Teal Group of Fairfax, Virginia, said in an email to Bloomberg "The U.S. Air Force fighter budget is unlikely to grow by much, so the fear is that replacing the F-15 fleet, rather than upgrading the old F-15s, would take cash away from F-35 procurement."As we have reported, the U.S. Air Force (USAF) is reportedly requesting an upgraded version of the Boeing F-15 Eagle fighter jet in its 2020 budget, despite pushback from lawmakers and earlier skepticism from top USAF officials.The first batch of eight F-15X Advanced Eagle aircraft (fewer than the expected 12 fighters) could be proposed in the fiscal 2020 budget that will be unveiled next month.However the USAF is planning to acquire as many as 80 F-15Xs over a period of five years.According to Bloomberg, the Air Force will propose buying the F-15X without reducing the fleet of 1,763 F-35s that it has long planned, the people said. The service would purchase 48 of the 84 F-35s that were called for last year in the Pentagon's plan for 2020, with the remainder going to the Navy and Marines, according to program documents.
|
| Florida deputy arrested for planting meth, other drugs in nearly 120 cases: what we know Posted: 11 Jul 2019 11:47 AM PDT  Former Jackson County, Florida deputy Zach Wester was arrested for allegedly planting drugs on unsuspecting motorists before arresting them.
|
| Venezuela seeks extradition of suspect accused of burning man to death Posted: 11 Jul 2019 03:37 PM PDT  Enzo Franchini Oliveros accused over death of Orlando José Figuera, 21, who was set alight during anti-government protestsVenezuela's government has insisted Figuera was the victim of a political hate crime, who was targeted for supporting the government. Photograph: Carlos Eduardo Ramirez/ReutersVenezuela is seeking the extradition from Spain of a man accused of burning another man to death during anti-government protests in Caracas two years ago.Enzo Franchini Oliveros is accused over the death of Orlando José Figuera, 21, who was beaten, stabbed, doused in petrol and set on fire during street clashes on 20 May 2017.Franchini was arrested on Monday in a town near Madrid, according to a Spanish national police spokesperson.Venezuela's top prosecutor, Tarek William Saab, made the arrest public on Wednesday, accusing Franchini of crimes including "attempted murder and terrorism".Protests against Nicolás Maduro rocked Venezuela for several months in 2017, prompting a brutal response from security forces. More than 130 people died in the unrest and thousands were injured – most of them anti-government protesters caught in the crackdown.Venezuela's government has insisted Figuera was the victim of a political hate crime, who was targeted for supporting the government.But the country's top chief prosecutor at the time of the incident, Luisa Ortega Díaz, concluded that Figuera was stabbed after an altercation over a job application. Figuera's assailant then accused him of being a thief; he was beaten, doused with petrol and set alight.Ortega now lives in exile, having broken with Maduro's government in August that year.The conditions that led to the 2017 protests continue today, as Maduro fends off challenges to his power from opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who is recognised as the legitimate leader by the US and most of the world's democracies.The United Nations' refugee agency estimates that 4 million Venezuelans have left the country to escape food shortages, insecurity and economic collapse.Last week, the UN's human rights chief accused Maduro's security forces of committing a series of "gross violations" against Venezuelan dissenters, including more than 5,000 extrajudicial executions.
|
| Fossil of 99 million-year-old bird with giant toe found in Burma Posted: 11 Jul 2019 10:24 PM PDT  The fossilised remains of an ancient 99-million-year-old bird with a freakishly long toe have been discovered in a chunk of amber from Burma. Researchers found the third digit of the sparrow-like creature's foot was 9.8 millimetres long, about 41 percent longer than its second-longest digit, and 20 percent longer than its entire lower leg, reported Science News. Palaeontologists are unsure what purpose the extra-long toe served, but it may have helped the cretaceous period bird find food in difficult-to-reach places such as holes in trees. The bird may have been a tree-dweller, also using its extended claw to grasp on to branches. The formation of its foot was so unique that a team examining the fossil, led by paleontologist Lida Xing from the China University of Biosciences in Beijing, decided to declare a new species, calling the bird Elektorornis (amber bird) chenguangi. Their findings were published in Current Biology on Thursday. The New York Times reported that the remains had lain undisturbed in hardened tree resin until amber miners found the fossil in Burma's Hukawng Valley in 2014. It was first presented to Chen Guang, a curator at China's Hupoge Amber Museum, and initially suspected to be an extinct lizard. However, Mr Chen decided to consult Ms Xing who specialises in Cretaceous birds and the tiny creature was discovered to be related to an extinct group of toothed, clawed birds called Enantiornithes, which was bountiful during the Cretaceous period of 145.5 million to 66 million years ago. The ancient bird was found fossilized in amber Credit: Lida Xing/PA "I was very surprised at the time," Dr Xing told the Times, recalling that the fossil was "undoubtedly the claw of a bird." Dr Xing's team compared the toe size ratios with other known birds starting from the Mesozoic era, which began 252 million years ago, and found that no other species had such a dramatic difference in toe sizes. The Elektorornis chenguangi died out with other species in its family along with non-avian dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous period.
|
| Colin Kaepernick's skin appears darkened in Republican campaign fundraiser ad Posted: 11 Jul 2019 06:45 AM PDT  A fundraising email sent by the National Republican Congressional Committee included a picture of Colin Kaepernick that appeared noticeably altered to make his skin darker, an attack ad tactic that is considered by many as racist.
|
| View 2020 Porsche 718 Cayman GT4/Spyder Photos Posted: 12 Jul 2019 12:00 PM PDT |
| Harley-Davidson's electric Hog: 0 to 60 mph in 3 seconds Posted: 11 Jul 2019 12:10 PM PDT  Harley-Davidson is releasing details about the electric motorcycle it's rolling out this year that it hopes will capture the imagination of a new generation of riders and put a charge into its diminishing sales. The LiveWire, which will soon be available in a limited number of dealerships, will cost nearly $30,000 and can go zero to 60 mph in three seconds. The company said Thursday that buyers will have access to free charging at participating LiveWire dealers for the first two years.
|
| UPDATE 1-China's June exports fall after U.S. tariff hike, imports shrink more than expected Posted: 12 Jul 2019 01:27 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-China's June exports fall after U.S. tariff hike, imports shrink more than expected]( "UPDATE 1-China's June exports fall after U.S. tariff hike, imports shrink more than expected") China's exports fell in June as the United States ramped up trade pressure, while imports shrank more than expected, pointing to further strains on the world's second-largest economy. China's manufacturers are struggling with sluggish demand at home and abroad, and a sharp U.S. tariff hike announced in May is threatening to crush already-thin profit margins, reinforcing views that Beijing needs to announce more stimulus measures soon. "The latest U.S. tariff hike probably contributed to this drop, alongside a broader slowdown in foreign demand," Capital Economics said in a note.
|
| 8-Year-Old Killed, Several Injured After Truck Crashes into Horse-Drawn Carriage on Missouri Highway Posted: 11 Jul 2019 09:14 AM PDT  The Missouri State Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal crash involving a pickup truck and a carriage. An 8-year-old died during the crash, according to police.
|
| AOC weeps while hearing mother’s story of toddler who died after being detained by ICE Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:08 AM PDT  US congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was moved to tears by the testimony of a woman whose 19-month-old daughter died after being detained by immigration authorities.Yazmin Juarez told a House oversight and reform hearing in Washington that she had left her home in Guatemala to seek a safer life in the US. Instead she saw her baby Mariee die. After the pair were detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) last spring, they were held with 30 other people including sick children, Ms Juarez said. Despite being healthy beforehand, she said her daughter fell ill with a high fever, vomiting and diarrhoea.Nurses at the south Texas family residential centre in the city of Dilley – the largest such facility in the US – failed to thoroughly examine the child, Ms Juarez said, merely sending her away with painkillers.Mariee eventually died of a lung infection some weeks after they were released, having spent two weeks in custody.Her death was "like they tore out a piece of my heart", Ms Juarez said. "I wanted to have a better life for her and a better future so that she could keep growing, but now we won't be able to do that and she is gone."She added, through a translator: "There are days I just want to give up. It's been so painful for me to see so many children and not my little girl."Ms Juarez said she missed being hugged by her daughter.As she recounted her story, tears could be seen rolling down Ms Ocasio-Cortez's cheeks. The 29-year-old Democrat, who became the youngest woman ever elected to Congress last year, was seen wiping them away with a tissue. Six children have died in government detention in recent months, either in the custody of Border Patrol, where people are first held when they cross the border, or that of Health and Human Services, the agency responsible for sheltering unaccompanied children.Ms Juarez has filed a legal claim seeking $60m (£48m) from the government over her baby's death. She said she had testified because she wanted everyone to know about the conditions in which people are held under Donald Trump's administration after they migrate to the US or seek asylum.Lawyers, doctors and government documents have brought to light claims of people being served spoiled food, wrongly isolated, held in cells filled to double their capacity and denied access to showers while being detained for more than a month.Children have been made to sleep on the floor, blocked from washing their hands and refused clean clothes despite being kept in sometimes squalid cells.Mr Trump's hardline stance on immigration has been one of his signature policies. Last week, he tweeted: "If Illegal Immigrants are unhappy with the conditions in the quickly built or refitted detentions centers, just tell them not to come".Additional reporting by agencies
|
| Human remains found as man arrested in search for missing woman Savannah Spurlock, authorities say Posted: 11 Jul 2019 12:19 PM PDT  Human remains that may belong to Savannah Spurlock, a Kentucky mother missing since January, discovered in Garrard County.
|
| Hezbollah warns Iran able to bombard Israel if war started Posted: 12 Jul 2019 03:41 PM PDT  The head of Lebanon's Tehran-backed Hezbollah said Friday that US ally Israel would not be "neutral" if a war broke out between the United States and Iran. "When the Americans understand that this war could wipe out Israel, they will reconsider," Nasrallah said.
|
