| U.S. military took defensive action against second Iranian drone last week Posted: 23 Jul 2019 10:15 AM PDT ![U.S. military took defensive action against second Iranian drone last week]( "U.S. military took defensive action against second Iranian drone last week") A U.S. Navy ship took defensive action against a second Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz last week, but did not see the drone go into the water, the U.S. military said on Tuesday. The United States said on Thursday that a Navy ship had "destroyed" an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz after the aircraft threatened the vessel, but Iran said it had no information about losing a drone. "This was a defensive action by the USS Boxer in response to aggressive interactions by two Iranian UAS platforms in international waters," Lieutenant Colonel Earl Brown, a U.S. Central Command spokesman, said.
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| FBI Director: White-Supremacist Violence Accounts for Majority of Domestic-Terrorism Arrests Since Last October Posted: 23 Jul 2019 11:47 AM PDT  FBI director Christopher Wray told Congress on Tuesday that the majority of domestic-terrorism arrests since last October have been linked to white supremacy."I will say that a majority of the domestic-terrorism cases that we've investigated are motivated by some version of what you might call white-supremacist violence, but it does include other things as well," the FBI chief said in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.Wray explained that since October, the FBI has arrested about 100 people on international-terrorism charges and about the same number of individuals on charges related to domestic extremism.The FBI director emphasized that his investigators' "focus is on the violence.""We the FBI don't investigate the ideology, no matter how repugnant. We investigate violence. And any extremist ideology, when it turns to violence, we're all over it," Wray said. "We take domestic terrorism or hate crime – regardless of ideology – extremely seriously, I can assure you, and we are aggressively pursuing it using both counterterrorism resources and criminal investigative resources and partnering closely with our state and local partners."President Trump has repeatedly come under fire for using rhetoric that his opponents say encourages violent, racist tendencies. Critics have warned that violence resulting from white-supremacist ideologies has been on the rise since Trump took office."I don't, really," Trump said in March when asked if he thinks white nationalism is a growing threat. "I think it's a small group of people that have very, very serious problems."The highest-profile act of violence perpetrated by a white supremacist over the last few years occurred at a 2017 white-nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., where one of the male rally-goers murdered one counter-protesters and injured dozens of others by mowing them down with his car. The man has received several life sentences for his crimes.
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| When ICE Tried to Arrest an Undocumented Man in Tennessee, Neighbors and a Network of Volunteers Formed a Human Chain to Protect Him Posted: 23 Jul 2019 02:42 PM PDT  The man was with his 12-year-old son
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| Border Patrol Has Kept a Teenage U.S. Citizen Locked Up for Nearly a Month Posted: 23 Jul 2019 07:34 AM PDT  Despite his family's lawyer providing his U.S. birth certificate, law enforcement refuses to release him.
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| World Leaders React to Boris Johnson Becoming the UK's New Prime Minister Posted: 23 Jul 2019 10:26 AM PDT  Boris Johnson will succeed Theresa May as the UK's prime minister after he defeating Jeremy Hunt in a Conservative Party leadership race. World leaders have been showing their support on Twitter.
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| Chris Kraft's Greatest NASA Accomplishments Posted: 23 Jul 2019 03:08 PM PDT |
| Fox News’ Shep Smith Grills Embattled Puerto Rico Governor: Can You Name Anyone Who Supports You? Posted: 22 Jul 2019 01:21 PM PDT  During his first television interview since the scandal broke out over leaked private chats that have resulted in near-unanimous calls for his resignation, Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló struggled to come up with a single name when Fox News anchor Shepard Smith pressed him to offer up anyone who currently supports him.With hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans taking to the streets of San Juan on Monday to demand Rosselló's resignation after the governor said he wouldn't step down on Sunday, Smith pointed out that "corruption is rampant" on the island before highlighting why the profanity-laced leaked chats have caused such backlash."So attacks on women, attacks on gays, attacks on the dead relatives of your own residents on your own island and after that who is left to support you?" Smith asked the governor. "Is it even safe for you to govern?"Rosselló, meanwhile, meekly said he has apologized and is trying to make amends, prompting the Fox anchor to ask him what exactly he's apologized for.After claiming he's apologized for the chats, the embattled governor attempted to say he wants to move on to battling corruption, leading Smith to remind him that the corruption is within Rosselló's own administration.Noting the widespread calls for him to step down, Smith grilled the governor on his lack of support in Puerto Rico, wondering aloud: "Who has come forward to support you?""There are folks who have supported me, who have come forward," Rosselló muttered, causing Smith to demand a name. The governor, however, struggled to answer the Fox News host."Can you give me one name?" Smith pressed. "Just one name, governor."Finally, after Smith continued to confront Rosselló, noting that the governor wasn't able to come up with anyone who had his back, Rosselló finally tossed out the name of the mayor of one city: San Sebastian Mayor Javier Jimenez.Moments after the interview aired, however, Jimenez told CBS News' David Begnaud that he did not, in fact, support the governor."There are other folks that have established people in the legislature and people in the Senate, as well, said that have supported me," the governor added. "They have supported the fact that I will not run and I shouldn't seek reelection but they have established it's important to follow the rule of law."Smith went on to relentlessly grill Rosselló, questioning whether the governor has "appropriately apologized" while highlighting that Rosselló has so far refused to meet with the Puerto Rican people who are demanding his resignation.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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.
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| House Democrats unveil more 'realistic' climate change plan Posted: 23 Jul 2019 03:52 PM PDT  A group of U.S. House Democrats on Tuesday unveiled a climate change plan they said featured a "more realistic" goal to cut carbon emissions to net zero by 2050 rather than by 2030 as envisioned under the Green New Deal introduced early this year. Solar and wind companies have criticized the Green New Deal, introduced by Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey in February, as unrealistic and politically divisive. Representatives Frank Pallone, Paul Tonko, Bobby Rush and others said on Tuesday they would draw up legislation late this year that aimed to avoid the worst effects of climate change including intense droughts, storms and floods.
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| France seeks European surveillance to secure Gulf traffic Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:31 PM PDT  France says it's working with its European partners on an observation mission to ensure maritime security in the Persian Gulf, where tensions have climbed with Iran's seizure last week of a U.K.-flagged oil tanker. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian made no mention of a Europe-led "maritime protection mission" announced a day earlier by his British counterpart, Jeremy Hunt, offering instead what seems to be a softer version. France is working "at this moment on a European initiative" with Britain and Germany, he told lawmakers, without elaborating.
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| Australian clubbers busted in Bali over cocaine Posted: 22 Jul 2019 10:44 PM PDT  Two Australian clubbers arrested in Bali for cocaine possession were paraded in front of local media Tuesday as they faced a possible 12-year jail term, police said. William Cabantog, 36, and David Van Iersel, 38, were nabbed Friday night at a nightclub in Canggu, a popular tourist hotspot on the Indonesian holiday island. Police said they found a bag with 1.1 grams of cocaine in Cabantog's trousers during the raid.
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| Why No Enemy Would Dare Sink a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Posted: 22 Jul 2019 12:58 PM PDT  Circumstances obviously matter for an attack on a U.S. aircraft carrier. An out-of-the-blue attack from a conventionally armed state actor would enjoy the highest levels of success, but would also have an impact on elite and public opinion in the United States that might drive calls for dire retribution. Since the 1950s, the supercarrier has been the most visible representation of U.S. military power and maritime hegemony. Although supercarriers have participated in nearly every military conflict since the commissioning of USS Forrestal in 1955, no carrier has come under determined attack from a capable opponent. In part, this is because supercarriers are very difficult to attack, but the symbolic grandeur of the massive ships also plays a role; no one wants to know what the United States might do if one of its carriers came under attack.(This first appeared several months ago.)What would happen if a foe attacked a United States Navy (USN) aircraft carrier during a conflict? How would the United States react, and how would it respond?Circumstances:
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| A boy stole two planes for a joyride. Pilots now want to teach him how to fly Posted: 22 Jul 2019 12:26 PM PDT  The boy trespassed a small airport in Huzhou, a city in eastern China, piloting and crashing a seaplane onto a guard rail and driving another one.
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| 'Let me guess, you want to nuke them all': Trump constantly baiting John Bolton in front of officials, report says Posted: 22 Jul 2019 12:57 AM PDT  Donald Trump likes to goad his national security adviser John Bolton about his lust for military action, according to officials who have spoken out on their relationship.As Iran claims to have captured spies working for the US and accuses Mr Bolton of trying to start "war of the century", new details have emerged of the president's fondness for baiting his adviser in the company of top officials – including foreign dignitaries.During a White House Situation Room meeting last year, Mr Trump reportedly said to his hawkish national security chief: "Ok, John, let me guess, you want to nuke them all?"According to the report by the Axios website, Mr Trump turned to Mr Bolton in an Oval Office meeting with Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar and said: "John, is Ireland one of those countries you want to invade?"Quoting unnamed senior administration officials, the account claimed the president recently joked that "John has never seen a war he doesn't like", repeating sentiments made in public. "If it was up to him he'd take on the whole world at one time, okay?" Mr Trump recently told NBC's Meet the Press.Yet the president is said to get "quite touchy" if critics of Mr Bolton complain the national security adviser could pull the US into unnecessary conflict against Mr Trump's will. "He doesn't want anyone to believe he's anybody's pawn."Sources said Mr Trump likes to keep Mr Bolton on his team because his aggressive reputation gives the president the opportunity to play "good cop" to his adviser's "bad cop" routine."He thinks that Bolton's bellicosity and eagerness to kill people is a bargaining chip when he's sitting down with foreign leaders," said one official. "Bolton can be the bad cop and Trump can be the good cop. Trump believes this to his core."On Sunday Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif tweeted about the White House hawk as Tehran's dispute with both the UK and US threatened to escalate over the seizure of a British oil tanker."Make no mistake. Having failed to lure Donald Trump into a War of the Century, and fearing collapse of his B Team, John Bolton is turning his venom against the UK in hopes of dragging it into a quagmire."> Make no mistake: > > Having failed to lure @realDonaldTrump into War of the Century, and fearing collapse of his B_Team, @AmbJohnBolton is turning his venom against the UK in hopes of dragging it into a quagmire. > > Only prudence and foresight can thwart such ploys.> > — Javad Zarif (@JZarif) > > July 21, 2019On Monday Iran announced it had arrested 17 people allegedly recruited by the CIA to spy on the country's nuclear and military sites.Intelligence chiefs said some of the group have already been sentenced to death following arrests made over the past few months. Iranian media published pictures purportedly showing intelligence "officers" working for the US."The identified spies were employed in sensitive and vital private sector centres in the economic, nuclear, infrastructure, military and cyber areas ... where they collected classified information," read a ministry of intelligence statement.The US has yet to respond to the claims.
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| 2021 Cadillac Escalade's Interior Spied for Real Posted: 23 Jul 2019 01:46 PM PDT  The next-gen SUV will be getting a large curved touchscreen atop the dashboard.
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| After 110 years, a North Dakota bridge yields to a load of beans Posted: 23 Jul 2019 06:56 AM PDT ![After 110 years, a North Dakota bridge yields to a load of beans]( "After 110 years, a North Dakota bridge yields to a load of beans") The 56-foot wooden bridge over the Goose River collapsed on Monday as the driver of a tractor trailer truck tried to haul a load of dried beans over it, the Grand Forks County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. While the cab of the 2005 Peterbilt truck made it to the other side, pictures posted online by the sheriff's office showed the trailer "hung up" on the west side of the now V-shaped bridge that had bottomed out in the shallow river about 30 miles southwest of Grand Forks.
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| South Bend police warn of 'mass exodus' under Mayor Pete Buttigieg Posted: 23 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT  The South Bend Fraternal Order of Police says morale has tanked over the 2020 hopeful's handling of an officer-involved shooting.
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| A priest, a car crash and bags full of stolen parish money Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:15 PM PDT  Emergency workers responding to a car crash in a California town last month found a priest with a fractured hip and, much to their surprise, bags of cash he allegedly stole from the local parish. The Diocese of Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco, said in a statement on Monday that $18,000 in church collections were found in Father Oscar Diaz's car at the time of the accident on June 17. It added that further investigation revealed "a prolonged history of theft," with more than $95,000 stolen from parishes where the 56-year-old Diaz had served over the past 15 years.
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| Lawmaker, conservative group seek ethics probes of Rep. Omar Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:23 PM PDT  A Minnesota state legislator and a conservative group announced Tuesday that they are seeking ethics investigations into U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar for a range of alleged offenses. Steve Drazkowski, a Republican, and Judicial Watch both say Omar may have committed immigration fraud by marrying someone they say is her brother. Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who came to the U.S. as a refugee from Somalia, previously denied the allegation and called such claims "disgusting lies." A spokesman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
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| Airbus designed a plane prototype to look like a 'bird of prey' – take a look Posted: 23 Jul 2019 05:13 AM PDT  Airbus is working to inspire the latest and greatest in flight innovation – and using a "bird of prey" conceptual design to do so.
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| Kyoto Animation arson killings didn't get much attention because we couldn't demonize guns Posted: 23 Jul 2019 11:39 AM PDT  The Kyoto Animation killing left 34 dead, but it didn't have much impact because we don't pay attention to mass killings without guns. We should.
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| What It Was Like To Be a Pilot During the Hellish Iran-Iraq War Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:04 AM PDT  'Meanwhile, my wingman had engaged another MiG-21 and shot it down using two Sidewinders. He later reported that after seeing my F-14 exiting on the other side of the explosion, he was sure that it was badly burned and the crew dead.Retired by the U.S. Navy on Sep. 22, 2006 the iconic F-14 Tomcat remains the backbone of Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) interceptor fleet.However, as told by Tom Cooper and Farzad Bishop in their book Iranian F-14 Tomcat units in combat, the F-14's service in Iran is characterised by an implausible series of controversies and 'educated guesstimates' that are completely wrong.(This article by Dario Leone originally appeared on The Aviation Geek Club in 2019.)
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| France, Germany Refuse Italy's Demand to Open Ports to Migrants Posted: 22 Jul 2019 12:39 PM PDT ![France, Germany Refuse Italy's Demand to Open Ports to Migrants]( "France, Germany Refuse Italy's Demand to Open Ports to Migrants") (Bloomberg) -- France and Germany widened the group of countries willing to accept asylum seekers arriving by boat across the Mediterranean, but made no move to accept demands by Italy's Matteo Salvini that they accept migrant ships directly in their ports.Salvini, in his capacity as Italian interior minister, said Monday's meeting of European interior ministers was a "flop" that "basically said Italy must continue to be the refugee camp of Europe," according to a statement.France and Germany had organized the informal meeting in Paris to try to improve Europe's ad-hoc system for dealing with humanitarian aid ships that collect migrants from rickety boats leaving North Africa and attempt to deliver them to Europe.Salvini has largely shut Italian ports to humanitarian ships, meaning that each approach of a migrant-laden boat has set off negotiations across Europe that eventually result in the boat being allowed to dock in Malta and sometime Italy, but only once other countries, mostly France and Germany, have signed up to accept asylum seekers. Boats have spent weeks at sea while these agreements are hashed out.French officials said Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal , Lithuania, Croatia and Ireland had committed to accepting asylum seekers. And they pledged financial and technical assistance to facilitate the swift return of migrants not entitled to asylum protection, without providing details.'Legal and Practical'But France has refused to waver from the principle that those saved at sea should be taken to the nearest safe port, which is almost always Italy or Malta for boats leaving North Africa. Nor has it agreed to share the majority of migrants who do not qualify for asylum protection."We must respect humanitarian and maritime law, which means that once a boat is in international waters it must find refuge in the nearest safe port," French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters after the meeting. "This a legal and practical necessity. The only way to handle this is through cooperation."Salvini, who didn't attend Monday's meeting, had asked without success for other EU countries to agree to rotate arrival ports throughout Europe for migrant vessels, arguing that maritime laws about nearest safe ports were written for shipwrecks, not migration flows.Read more: Italy to Push for New European Plan to Control MigrationSalvini has seen his popularity grow in Italy ever since his coalition government with Luigi Di Maio's Five Star Movement came to power last year because of his success in stemming immigration to Italy, even if the previous government had already greatly reduced flows.Since the start of this year, 3,353 migrants have arrived by boat in Italy and 1,048 in Malta, according to United Nations figures. That's a much slower pace than the 24,000 that arrived in Italy for all of 2018 or the 120,000 that came in 2017 and 180,000 in 2016.The Italian government estimates it spent 4.3 billion euros ($5 billion) aiding migrants in 2017, while receiving only 77 million euros in EU aid.To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Viscusi in Paris at gviscusi@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Girl tossed into the air by charging Yellowstone National Park buffalo Posted: 23 Jul 2019 03:46 PM PDT  The girl, from Odessa, Florida, was in a group of roughly 50 people who were standing near the bison for about 20 minutes in the Old Faithful Geyser area on Monday before it charged, Yellowstone officials said in a written statement. The victim, who was not identified, was treated by emergency personnel at Old Faithful Lodge and released. In June 2018, a Yellowstone bison gored a woman after a crowd surged within feet of it, according to the park.
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| Thousands Have 'Signed Up' to 'Storm Loch Ness' and Find 'That Big Boy.' Here's the History Behind the Mythical Sea Monster Posted: 23 Jul 2019 06:39 AM PDT  Everything you need to know before searching for Nessie
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| View 2019 Toyota Yaris XLE Photos Posted: 23 Jul 2019 04:59 AM PDT |
| Iran caught UK by surprise in Gulf: audio company Posted: 22 Jul 2019 01:44 PM PDT  The man behind the dramatic audio of Iran's seizure of a British-flagged tanker in the Gulf says the episode played out over a chaotic 20-40 minutes while a UK warship raced in from an hour away -- too far to be of any help. The HMS Montrose "really didn't have much chance of having an impact on the scene," Dryad Global shipping risk management company head Philip Diacon told AFP. Diacon refused to discuss how his London-based firm obtained the audio of Friday's high-seas drama over the Stena Impero.
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| Every police officer in Stebbins, Alaska, has pleaded guilty to domestic violence charges Posted: 22 Jul 2019 10:38 AM PDT  There are seven police officers in Stebbins, Alaska, and all of them have beenconvicted of domestic violence
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| Kim inspects new sub, wants North Korea's military bolstered Posted: 23 Jul 2019 04:16 AM PDT  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has inspected a newly built submarine and ordered officials to further bolster the country's military capabilities, state media reported Tuesday, as the North increases pressure on the United States ahead of the possible resumption of nuclear diplomacy. Last week, North Korea said it may lift its 20-month suspension of nuclear and missile tests to protest expected military drills between the United States and South Korea that Pyongyang says are an invasion rehearsal. The submarine report comes as the U.S. and North Korea work to resume talks after a meeting late last month on the Korean border between Kim and President Donald Trump.
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| Trump news: Impeachment case 'to be made by Mueller this week', as president attempts to defend his racism in press conference Posted: 22 Jul 2019 09:30 AM PDT  Donald Trump's "high crimes and misdemeanours" will be made public when Robert Mueller gives testimony before Congress later this week, says House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler.Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Mr Nadler said the former FBI special counsel has "substantial evidence" that the president violated the law "six ways from Sunday", which will be made clear to the American people when Mr Mueller discusses the evidence contained in his 448-page report into the administration before his panel and the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.In a new embarrassment for the administration, US Customs and Border Protection has been forced to admit that no new stretches of Mr Trump's much-promised border wall have actually been built since he took office in January 2017 - all the work ongoing so far has been to repair pre-existing barriers.Donald Trump said officials in Iran "lie a lot" while refuting Tehran's insinuations the US did not take down one of its unmanned drones. "We took down one of their drones. Instead of saying 'yeah that happened,' they lied. They say it didn't happen," he said. "So there's a lot of proof. It's called, take a look at it on the ocean floor."Mr Trump meanwhile said on Monday he could win the war in Afghanistan in a week, but that he doesn't want to kill millions of people and wipe Afghanistan "off the face of the earth."The president met with the prime minister of Pakistan at the White House to start the week, while trying to persuade Pakistan to help get a deal with the Taliban that would end America's longest war."I could win that war in a week" but "I don't want to kill millions of people," he said.Afghanistan is high on Mr Trump's agenda as he meets with Pakistan's prime minister, Imran Khan. Their testy relationship may be improving. Mr Trump says Pakistan can use its influence with the Taliban to help the US "extricate" from Afghanistan.Pakistan, which is suffering economically, wants to reset relations with the US in hopes of securing more investment, trade and possibly a restoration of American aid that Mr Trump cut.Mr Khan said he's never believed that there was a military solution to the war. He said he thinks the US and the Taliban are closer to a peace deal than ever before.Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
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| State Department stops publishing data on crimes against Americans in Jamaica – but why? Posted: 23 Jul 2019 06:09 AM PDT  For the first time in seven years, the State Department has stopped publishing crime stats involving U.S. tourists in Jamaica. But it won't say why.
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| Dashcam captures man riding a Lime scooter on the highway during rush hour Posted: 23 Jul 2019 07:12 AM PDT  You think your commute is bad? Imagine being stuck behind some clown who either craves danger or made a wrong left turn at the juice bar. Taking eco-friendly transport to the extreme, dashcam footage captured a commuter on a Lime scooter making his way downtown, not so fast, on I-35 in Dallas, Texas, just before 9 a.m. on Monday. "What? Bro, are you on a Bird scooter on the highway? Bro! What are you doing? Bro!" yells someone driving behind the scooter in the video. The rider even switches lane, from the far left to the far right lane. It's worth mentioning that the electric rental scooter has a top speed of about 15 mph. The speed limit on I-35 is 70 mph, according to local news outlet Fox 4 News. Mashable reached out to Lime for comment, and they mentioned that while a state law allows motorized scooters on roads where the speed limit is 35 mph or less, what this person is doing is clearly not that, and therefore, neither illegal or safe. But we're just left scratching our heads -- how did he even get on the highway in the first place?
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| Internal Probe Reveals SEAL Team 10 Operators’ Cocaine Use Posted: 22 Jul 2019 03:15 PM PDT  AFPSome SEAL Team 10 special warfare operators allegedly used cocaine or spiked their alcohol with it, according to an internal investigation obtained by the Navy Times following a Freedom of Information Act Request. In Little Creek, Virginia, six SEALs were caught using cocaine and other illicit substances, the report says. SEALs told investigators that the urinalysis tests were easy to beat, as they were not screened very often, and when they were, they'd often switch out tainted urine for clean urine samples, according to the report. No SEALs went to court-martial in the wake of the urinalysis screening, in Virginia, Naval Special Warfare Command spokeswoman Commander Tamara Lawrence told Navy Times, adding that four were administratively separated from the sea service. The urinalysis program has now been updated, said Lawrence, and will be given more often. The test administers will also be retrained. A command report obtained by the Navy Times shows that in mid-2018, the testing program "suffered from serious deficiencies, which did not maintain accountability for substance abuse and adversely affected readiness." 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.
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| 40+ Easy-To-Make Halloween Cookies That Taste Scary Good Too Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:52 PM PDT |
| Israel says 12 Palestinian buildings destroyed in controversial demolition Posted: 23 Jul 2019 04:09 AM PDT  Israel said Tuesday a total of 12 Palestinian buildings it considered illegally constructed were demolished in a controversial operation the previous day, while a UN preliminary assessment showed 24 people displaced. The demolitions of Palestinian homes, most of which were still under construction, drew condemnation from the European Union and UN officials. Israel says the homes south of Jerusalem were built too close to its separation barrier cutting off the occupied West Bank, posing a security risk, and the demolitions were approved by its supreme court following a lengthy process.
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| Georgia woman gets cold fries at McDonald's, barges into kitchen and fires gun Posted: 23 Jul 2019 08:50 AM PDT  A Georgia woman who reportedly fired a gun into the floor of a McDonald'skitchen Monday afternoon had a pretty wild motivation for her crime: coldfrench fries
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| Mexico sets 1st half murder record, up 5.3% Posted: 22 Jul 2019 04:51 PM PDT  Mexico set a new record for homicides in the first half of the year as the number of murders grew by 5.3% compared to the same period of 2018, fueled partly by cartel and gang violence in several states. Mexico saw 3,080 killings in June, an increase of over 8% from the same month a year ago, according to official figures. The 17,608 killings in the first half of 2019 is the most since comparable records began being kept in 1997, including the peak year of Mexico's drug war in 2011.
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| Trump Wins? House Democrats Probably Won’t Like Budget Deal Posted: 23 Jul 2019 01:27 AM PDT  The Trump administration and congressional leaders from both sides of the aisle struck a budget deal Monday, and House Democrats may not react well to some of its details.House Democrats will find it hard to negotiate for policy changes using the deal, like pushing for federal funding of abortion as prohibited by the Hyde Amendment or clamping down on President Donald Trump using Pentagon funding for building a U.S.-Mexico border wall.Congressional leaders agreed to prevent such measures, known as "riders" or "poison pills," as part of Monday's deal. House Democrats may make things tough and argue that certain policy pushes are not poison pills, however, reported The Washington Post. They already passed abortion and wall funding provisions in this year's party-line spending bills, reported Politico.Trump emphasized the poison pills ban in his Twitter announcement of the deal Monday evening.
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| Thanks to climate change, parts of the Arctic are on fire. Scientists are concerned Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:42 PM PDT  Satellite images are showing that areas of the Arctic have been catching fire. These wildfires, while not uncommon, are concerning scientists.
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| Trump reportedly eyeing big spending cuts if reelected Posted: 22 Jul 2019 07:44 AM PDT  The president has reportedly instructed White House aides to look for ways to slash the federal budget if he wins a second term.
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| U.S. to expand rapid deportation nationwide with sweeping new rule Posted: 22 Jul 2019 11:41 AM PDT ![U.S. to expand rapid deportation nationwide with sweeping new rule]( "U.S. to expand rapid deportation nationwide with sweeping new rule") The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said on Monday it will order more speedy deportations of immigrants who crossed illegally and are caught anywhere in the United States, expanding a program typically applied only along the southern border with Mexico. The rule set to be published in the Federal Register on Tuesday would apply "expedited removal" to any illegal crossers who cannot prove to immigration agents that they have been living in the country for two years. Legal experts said it was a dramatic expansion of a program that cuts out review by an immigration judge.
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| Praying for a Conversion Miracle for Dr. Leana Wen and Other Pro-Choice Women Posted: 22 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  One of the most beautiful, under-the-radar things I have seen in the passing political frenzies of the summer thus far was one doctor's response to the upheaval at Planned Parenthood: "I am an Obgyn like you, and I just wanted to say how sorry I am for your loss."Dr. Monique Ruberu reached out to Dr. Leana Wen after news hit that Wen was no longer the president of Planned Parenthood. The news came not too long after Wen had an op-ed published by the Washington Post explaining that her recent miscarriage made her more committed to her Planned Parenthood work.So Ruberu reached out to Wen with compassion: "I have lost two little ones in the past and I believe that they are in heaven and we will meet again." She went on:> Until then they are praying for us as saints in heaven. I believe the same of your little one. With such huge changes in your life, loss of job, loss of child you may be in a difficult place know that I and many others are praying for you for your healing. When things look darkest God can create something beautiful and new. I pray that one day we can serve women on the same side and provide them with what they need so they don't have to choose abortion.She signed off with "God bless you!"This is the way Ruberu operates. "When a loving peaceful prayerful person is present," she has said, "offering life-saving resources, we have a shot at saving lives." When a Pennsylvania elected official harassed a pro-life woman praying outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in Philadelphia recently, Ruberu was outside at a rally days later praying for a "Saul-to-Paul-like conversion" for him. Saint Paul, of course, was as far away from being a Christian before his conversion, when he persecuted Christians.But it's far from just one bright shining tireless Philadelphia doctor. Abby Johnson also had dramatic conversion story. She's the former Texas Planned Parenthood director who left the industry after having to participate in an ultra-sound-guided abortion, where it became all too undeniably clear about what happens in an abortion, especially a late-term one. Johnson implored people to avoid being snarky to or about Wen, writing to the pro-life community in a tweet:> Our job is to reach out to Dr. Leana Wen in love. Snarky memes and words will not bring about conversion. Let us also remember that she is a woman grieving the loss of a miscarried child. Let us treat her with care, not callousness. Let's be the people we say we are.It all echoes the spirit of one of the most unifying documents of recent decades. Pope John Paul II's "Gospel of Life" calls upon our better angels to be wholly committed to a civilization of love that will help people see the possibilities of life more than the problems, in no small part by receiving all fears with love and resources:> You are called to bear witness to the meaning of genuine love, of that gift of self and of that acceptance of others which are present in a special way in the relationship of husband and wife, but which ought also to be at the heart of every other interpersonal relationship. The experience of motherhood makes you acutely aware of the other person and, at the same time, confers on you a particular task. "Motherhood involves a special communion with the mystery of life, as it develops in the woman's womb. . . . This unique contact with the new human being developing within her gives rise to an attitude towards human beings not only towards her own child, but every human being, which profoundly marks the woman's personality.And I've got to say, rereading it, I think it's not very far away from Wen, who in her Post op-ed on her miscarriage talked about how excited she and her husband had been to be welcoming a second child into their lives: "We measured the spare room to turn it into a nursery. We started teaching Eli to be more gentle. I began to plan my maternity leave." About her heartbreaking miscarriage she wrote:> As I recover . . . with my family, I decided to write about my experience because I want to break the silence and shame that often come with pregnancy loss. I also write because my miscarriage has made my commitment to women's health even stronger. If we truly care about the health of women, children and families, we must commit to policies that provide pregnant women with the care, humanity and dignity that all people deserve.Planned Parenthood insists it is about women's health, but abortion rips at what's most wondrous about a woman: motherhood, a reality that many women, including Wen long for (she and her husband had been trying for months for a second child). The pro-life movement is its most authentic when it puts out a welcome mat out for anyone who wants to genuinely join in the cause of helping women embrace life. The more converts, the healthier this culture of ours will be. To Dr. Leana Wen, and anyone else: We have more in common than much of politics or Planned Parenthood would have you believe.This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal's Newspaper Enterprise Association.
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| Kazimierz Albin, early Auschwitz prisoner, dies in Poland Posted: 23 Jul 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Kazimierz Albin, the last survivor of the first convoy of prisoners sent by the Nazis to the Auschwitz death camp has died at the age of 96, the camp museum said on Tuesday. "With great sorrow we received information about the death of Kazimierz Albin, the last living survivor of the first transport of Poles to the German Auschwitz camp (No. 118)," the Auschwitz Memorial said on its official Twitter site. Born in 1922 the southern Polish city of Krakow, Albin was arrested by the Nazis in January 1940 in Slovakia where he had fled after Germany occupied Poland in 1939.
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| Georgia mother allegedly drops, kills her 3-month-old baby during a fight Posted: 23 Jul 2019 09:42 AM PDT  A Georgia mother is accused of dropping and killing her baby during a fight ata beauty supplies store on Friday
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