| Key takeaways from Robert Mueller's congressional testimony Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:46 PM PDT  Robert Mueller refused to play the part. In back-to-back hearings before the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, the former special counsel in the investigation of Russian interference into the 2016 presidential elections largely honored his pledge to stick to his 448-page report . Republicans tried to get Mueller to spell out the findings that there wasn't enough evidence to prove any criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia.
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| 'Free from this nightmare': Prisoner released after rape victim's startling revelation Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:27 AM PDT  James Clay had begun serving a 25 - 50 year prison sentence for rape based on DNA. He was released following a Free Press investigation into his case.
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| Sorry, AOC: Moderate House Democrats Have Their Own Climate Plan Posted: 23 Jul 2019 01:03 PM PDT  House Democrats rolled out a climate agenda Tuesday as their caucus attempts to draw a distinction between New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's approach to tackling global warming and a more moderate plan.Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee announced they would pursue legislation calling for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a far less ambitious plan than the Green New Deal, which aims to complete the emissions target by 2030. Democrats criticized Ocasio-Cortez's idea during the roll-out."The majority of the Democratic caucus is behind aggressive, but not socialist, climate policies," Paul Bledsoe, who advised former President Bill Clinton on climate issues, told reporters, according to Bloomberg. "They worry the Green New Deal rhetoric could alienate rather than attract swing voters needed in 2020.""The climate crisis is here, and it requires serious federal leadership that's up for the challenge," Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey told reporters.Reps. Paul Tonko, head of the Environment and Climate Change subcommitee, and Bobby Rush of Illinois, head of the energy subcommittee joined Pallone in the press conference. Ocasio-Cortez didn't attend, Bloomberg reported.The GND, as it has come to be known, sought for a "10-year national mobilization" to shift the country to 100% "zero-emission energy sources" — a lofty mission given that fossil fuels account for more than 80% of U.S. energy consumption in 2018.
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| U.S. coal miners discouraged by black lung meeting with McConnell Posted: 23 Jul 2019 04:02 AM PDT  A group of coal miners afflicted with black lung disease met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday as part of an effort to convince lawmakers to restore a higher excise tax on coal companies to help fund their medical care, but several said the meeting left them discouraged. McConnell, the Republican leader who represents Kentucky - one of the states that has seen a rebound in the progressive respiratory illness - told them their benefits would be safe but gave no assurances about the excise tax and left without answering questions or offering details, several of the miners who attended the meeting said. "We rode up here for 10 hours by bus to get some answers from him because he represents our state," said George Massey, a miner from Harlan County, Kentucky who spent two decades in the mines and is on disability.
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| Infernal affairs: how triads embraced communist China Posted: 23 Jul 2019 02:44 AM PDT  The savage beating of Hong Kong protesters by a mob of triad gangsters has deepened fears about the city's notorious criminal gangs and the use of shadowy hired muscle to defend China's interests. At least 45 people were hospitalised after Sunday's attack when men armed with poles and rods assaulted anti-government protesters in the rural town of Yuen Long as they returned from another huge rally. For seasoned watchers of Hong Kong and its shadowy nexus of organised crime, the brazen beatings came as little surprise.
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| Black man trying to propose to his girlfriend interrupted by security guard accusing him of shoplifting Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:21 AM PDT  Cathy-Marie Hamlet started her Facebook post with the good news: She'd gotten engaged.But her fiance kept getting interrupted, she said, as he proposed from the lawn of hard cider company Angry Orchard's tree-filled, 60-acre property in New York's Hudson Valley.Security intruded on the couple's happy moment three times to accuse Ms Hamlet's boyfriend of stealing a T-shirt, including once while he popped the question.Staffers followed Ms Hamlet and her fiance, who are black, to the parking lot as they left, the 32-year-old wrote in her post, which had been shared more than 5,000 times Tuesday afternoon. She believes they were racially profiled."I have never been so humiliated in my life," she said. "[M]yself and some of my friends left Angry Orchard in tears."Angry Orchard has replaced members of the security team involved and removed the manager who was on duty, Jessica Paar, a spokeswoman for Boston Beer Co. – Angry Orchard's owner – told The Washington Post in a statement on Tuesday.The company is also launching new, mandatory training on "security awareness and unconscious bias" for the staff."We badly mishandled the situation and our team overreacted," Ms Paar said, adding, "The situation doesn't reflect our values of respect for all and creating a welcoming environment for all our guests."Ms Paar did not immediately respond to questions clarifying the company's actions against the employees involved.Ms Hamlet wrote on Facebook that she and her fiance, identified by NBC News as Clyde Jackson, had left New York City on Sunday for Angry Orchard's farm in Walden. The occasion: Mr Jackson's 40th birthday. Six friends came along.A woman from security at the cider company approached the couple before they'd sat down at a table outside, Ms Hamlet said. The employee apologised and said she'd have to check Mr Jackson's back pocket, explaining that someone told her Mr Jackson stole a shirt from the gift store.Mr Jackson emptied out his pockets while trying to hide the ring he was about to propose with, Ms Hamlet recalled. No T-shirt was found.Mr Jackson launched into his proposal, she said, but before he could finish, the employee was back – this time saying she needed to check Ms Hamlet's bag because someone told her Mr Jackson gave her the stolen item.Ms Hamlet said she did as asked, even though her bag was too small to fit a shirt. But she questioned the woman's motives: "I know you're just doing your job, but I can't help but wonder if this is because we're Black," her Facebook post said. "We're the only Black people here at your establishment."The woman denied that race was a factor and went away, Ms Hamlet said, leaving Mr Jackson to finish his proposal – and her to accept. People cheered. The friends who accompanied the couple to the farm joined them, hugging and congratulating the newly engaged couple.That's when the Angry Orchard employee came back a third time, Ms Hamlet said. The security woman said that she hadn't realised the friends were a group and that now she'd need to check all of their purses and pockets. More security workers came over, and Ms Hamlet says she found her party facing six employees who claimed patrons, too, had witnessed Mr Jackson stealing a T-shirt."I felt humiliated, especially after one of my white friends made a point of asking them to check her bag for the T-shirt, but they refused to do so," Ms Hamlet told NBC."Call the police! I saw you steal it," Ms Hamlet said one of the security people shouted to another.When Ms Hamlet told the employees to check their security cameras – which the staff said existed – the employees started filming the group and took a picture of Ms Hamlet's license plate, according to Hamlet. Asked whether Angry Orchard had reviewed security footage, Ms Paar said she would have to look into it.With the dispute escalating, the couple and their friends "decided to leave rather than be attacked," Ms Hamlet wrote online, saying she has "no reason to steal a $28 T-shirt."She vowed not to drink Angry Orchard again.Angry Orchard said in a statement tweeted out Tuesday that it began investigating the incident Ms Hamlet described as soon as it learned about the events. The security team involved "approached a group of guests based on what they thought was credible information at the time," Angry Orchard said in an earlier statement to People magazine.Ms Paar said she reached out to Ms Hamlet on Monday and spoke with her on the phone to apologise.Ms Hamlet did not respond to a request for a comment, and Mr Jackson could not be reached.Angry Orchard was the latest company to scramble to address stories of employees singling out black customers. Starbucks faced accusations of racial profiling last year after a store manager called the police on two black men as they waited for a meeting.The incident led the coffee chain to close more than 8,000 US stores for a day-long staff training on racial bias. Companies like Sephora, Saks Fifth Avenue, Old Navy and Walmart have grappled with similar scandals, responding with investigations, new training and firings amid outrage.Eric Yaverbaum, chairman at public relations firm Ericho Communications, said he thinks Ms Hamlet's story should prompt other companies to think more proactively about addressing racial profiling with their employees – to prevent incidents, rather than apologise afterward."The worst time to prepare is when the tide's rising," he added. "The tide's rising on this issue, period ... Address that in your workplace before it becomes a problem."Ms Hamlet's dismay at Angry Orchard was about more than the spoiling of a joyful day, and she closed her Facebook post by telling the company that if they didn't want black patrons, it should "put a sign on the door so that we know we are not welcome."She told NBC: "It's sad that in 2019 we still need to have these conversations."The Washington Post
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| Republican lawmaker asks Mueller about FBI agent who 'hated Trump' Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:07 AM PDT  Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, asked about former FBI agent Peter Strzok, who sent derogatory texts about Trump.
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| Videos of water being dumped on police officers create stir Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:30 PM PDT  Cellphone videos of people brazenly dousing uniformed New York Police Department patrolmen with water have sparked outrage and led police officials to urge the force not to tolerate the behavior. Asked about the dousings in an interview Monday with local news channel NY1, de Blasio responded that "they are two very different incidents, one of which was not confrontational, the other of which was.
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| Biden Fires Back at Booker on Crime Record: Campaign Update Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:41 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Vice President Joe Biden parried criticism of his criminal justice record from Cory Booker, saying that his Democratic presidential rival had been responsible for controversial law-and-order policies while mayor of Newark, New Jersey."His police department was stopping and frisking people, mostly African American men," Biden told reporters in Dearborn, Michigan, on Wednesday. "If he wants to go back and talk about records I'm happy to do that but I'd rather talk about the future."Earlier Wednesday, Booker repeated a charge that Biden had been "an architect of mass incarceration" because of his role in crafting a 1994 tough-on-crime bill as a senator. Booker, who is African American, served as mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013, when he was elected to the U.S. Senate.Biden said he was eager to take on Booker when the two candidates share the stage for the first time at the second Democratic debate next week. "I'm happy to debate with anybody the effects of the things that I did as a United States senator, as I did as a vice president in terms of dealing with the criminal justice system and dealing fairly with people across the board."Weld Warns GOP Could Become 'Party of Racism'Bill Weld, who is mounting a long-shot effort to wrest the 2020 Republican nomination from President Donald Trump, said the GOP could soon be seen as "the party of racism.""Unless the national Republican Party in Washington expressly, expressly rejects the racism of Donald Trump, it will become universally viewed as the party of racism in America," Weld said at a presidential town hall hosted by the NAACP in Detroit.Trump has overwhelming support among Republican voters and is likely to coast to renomination. In an average of polls by RealClearPolitics, the president beats Weld by about 72 percentage points.Weld, a former governor of Massachusetts, said it was "not a political choice" for the party but rather "a moral choice." -- Sahil KapurTrump Fundraising Email Cites Mueller TestimonyPresident Donald Trump's re-election effort is using former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's appearance before Congress to try to raise $2 million in 24 hours.The Trump Make America Great Committee sent a fundraising email as Mueller was testifying Wednesday, asking for contributions to "CRUSH our goal and send a powerful message to the entire nation that this WITCH HUNT must end."Mueller is testifying "right now, and the Democrats and Corrupt Media are going to pull out all the stops to try and TRICK the American People into believing their LIES," the email, signed by Trump, said. "How many times do I have to be exonerated before they stop?"Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler of New York, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, asked Mueller at the beginning of the hearing about Trump's repeated assertions that the special counsel's report exonerated him. "That is not what the report said," Mueller said. -- Mark NiquetteBooker Takes Another Swipe at Biden's Crime PlanCory Booker on Wednesday took another swipe at Joe Biden, saying his presidential rival had been "an architect of mass incarceration" while serving in the Senate two decades ago."I'm disappointed that it's taken Joe Biden years and years until he was running for president to actually say that he made a mistake, that there were things in that bill that were extraordinarily bad," Booker told reporters during the NAACP National Convention in Detroit, where 11 presidential candidates, including front-runner Biden, were scheduled to speak.Booker, an African American senator from New Jersey, made the comments one day after Biden released a criminal justice proposal that would reverse several key elements of a tough-on-crime bill that he helped pass in 1994. That measure has been criticized by Booker and other candidates for contributing to the disproportionate imprisonment of minorities.Biden has recently lost some ground with black voters, though he retains a strong lead. Booker and other contenders are eager to further cut into his support from a constituency that is crucial to winning the presidential nomination. -- Misyrlena EgkolfopoulouO'Rourke Education Plan Aims at Racial GapsDemocratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourkereleased a $500 billion plan Wednesday he said would close racial and income-based funding gaps in the U.S. education system.The former Texas representative said in a statement the proposal would also ban corporal punishment in schools, invest in "restorative justice" and educate teachers to address bias."The effects of a system where students of color are disciplined at alarmingly higher rates than white students, where funding favors white school districts over nonwhite districts, or where white teachers far outnumber black teachers live on well beyond students leaving the classroom," he said in the statement.O'Rourke is among the 11 Democratic candidates who will speak Wednesday at NAACP's Presidential Candidates Forum in Detroit, as they compete for the support of African Americans, who account for 20% of the party's voters and are crucial to winning the presidential nomination. -- Terrence DoppCandidates Vie for Black Vote at NAACP ForumThe leading Democratic candidates will make their case to the NAACP National Convention on Wednesday, as they compete for a voting bloc that accounts for 20% of the party's voters and is crucial to winning the presidential nomination.The event in Detroit will feature 11 of the two dozen contenders, including the race's top tier: former Vice President Joe Biden, along with Senators Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Kamala Harris. Biden, the front-runner, has recently lost some ground with black voters, though he retains a strong lead. The other candidates are likely to use the forum to try to further cut into that support.Several candidates have recently released policy proposals on issues of particular concern to African Americans. On Tuesday, Biden unveiled a criminal justice proposal that reversed several key elements of a tough-on-crime bill that he helped pass in 1994 as a senator from Delaware. The measure has been criticized for contributing to the mass incarceration of minorities.Biden's backing among black voters dropped sharply after a heated exchange in the first candidate debate in Miami last month when Harris grabbed the spotlight by criticizing his past positions on racial issues, including his stance on busing and his comments about working with segregationist senators earlier in his career.The NAACP forum could be a warm-up for a more direct confrontation for Biden at the second round of debates in Detroit next week, when he will be on stage with Harris and Senator Cory Booker, who are both black.The NAACP event Wednesday will also include Pete Buttigieg, Julián Castro, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O'Rourke, John Delaney and Bill Weld. -- Misyrlena EgkolfopoulouHere's What Happened on Tuesday:Warren introduced her student loan relief plan as a bill in the Senate, proposing to eliminate as much as $50,000 of student loan debt for borrowers making less than $100,000 a year. Higher-income borrowers would also get some benefit, with those making $100,000 to $250,000 getting one-third of their loans canceled. Warren said 95% of student loan borrowers would get at least some of their loans forgiven. Warren has proposed a wealth tax to pay for the measure.Coming Up This Week:Biden, Booker, Delaney, Klobuchar and Tim Ryan appear at a forum at the National Urban League Conference in Indianapolis on Thursday.Kirsten Gillibrand and Harris appear on Friday.\--With assistance from Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou, Terrence Dopp, Mark Niquette and Sahil Kapur.To contact the reporter on this story: Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou in Washington at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max BerleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 'Racist'? UPenn Prof. Amy Wax says U.S. better with more white than non-white immigrants Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:19 PM PDT  Amy Wax said more immigration leads to dirtier cities. Penn Law's dean said comments were bigoted and possibly racist, but didn't address her tenure.
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| Oklahoma City teens chase, attack family of undocumented immigrants with BB guns Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:45 AM PDT  A family of undocumented immigrants was injured Monday after teens wielding BBguns allegedly chased them around an Oklahoma City neighborhood
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| Iran is ready to negotiate but not if negotiations mean surrender: Iran president Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:14 AM PDT  Iran is ready for "just" negotiations but not if they mean surrender, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, without saying what talks he had in mind. Rouhani seemed to be referring to possible negotiations with the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran last year but has said he is willing to hold talks with the Islamic Republic.
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| Gambia's ex-president accused of ordering migrant slaughter Posted: 23 Jul 2019 05:32 PM PDT  Gambia's former president Yahya Jammeh ordered the massacre of some 30 migrants he said were "mercenaries" sent to topple him in 2005, a member of the former strongman's hit squad told a truth commission on Tuesday. The testimony comes a day after another army officer accused Jammeh of ordering the murder of a leading journalist who worked for an independent newspaper and wrote articles about corruption that marked Jammeh's iron-fisted rule for 22 years. Omar Jallow, a former officer in the Presidential Guard, said about 45 Europe-bound migrants comprising nationals from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo, were arrested on a beach while trying to get to Europe.
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| Father: nationwide Canada manhunt will end in son's death Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:41 PM PDT  The grim prediction came as Canadian police said they were setting up roadblocks around the remote Manitoba town of Gillam, where the two young suspects, 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky, recently left a burnt-out vehicle they had been traveling in. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Julie Courchaine said police "are coming from all over" to Gillam, which is more than 2,000 miles away from a region in northern British Columbia where an initial burnt-out vehicle was found last Friday and the three people were apparently killed.
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| The Curious Case of a Black Man Wanted for Murdering a White Child in Small-Town America Posted: 23 Jul 2019 05:00 PM PDT  HBOOral "Nick" Hillary is a military veteran and All-American collegiate soccer player (and Division III national champion) who, in 2011, became the prime suspect in the murder of his former girlfriend Tandy Cyrus' older son, 12-year-old Garrett Phillips. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, nor any rational motive, but police zeroed in on him almost exclusively from the start. In the tiny upstate New York town of Potsdam, Nick soon became notorious for supposedly committing this heinous slaying. Almost three years later, on February 2, 2015, he was indicted for the crime, this despite the case against him being completely circumstantial.Nick, by the way, is black. And the Potsdam community is predominantly white.Race is the prime factor of Liz Garbus' excellent new two-part HBO documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips? (premiering July 23 and 24), since numerous elements of its story suggest that the color of Nick's skin played a big part in his eventual prosecution. Yet while the latest from director Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?) is, first and foremost, a saga about criminal justice system inequity, it's also something more: an unsolved mystery about the death of a young boy that's woefully short on concrete answers.What's known for certain is that on the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, between approximately 4:55 p.m. and 5:08 p.m., Garrett Phillips was fatally strangled and suffocated in his apartment at 100 Market Street (he passed away from his injuries approximately two hours later at the hospital). Hearing disquieting noises from Garrett's place, neighbors called the police. The responding officer thought he heard sounds coming from inside. Once he gained entry, however, all he found was Garrett, as well as signs that the perpetrator had jumped out a rear window to the street below.'Behind Closed Doors': How a 13-Year-Old Girl's Murder Ignited Class WarfareThe Wildly Popular TV Host Accused of Killing People to Boost His RatingsThere were no eyewitnesses, but trace amounts of DNA were discovered beneath Garrett's fingernails. After speaking to the Phillips family, detectives quickly focused on Nick, a father of five who'd begun dating Tandy after meeting her at a bar, and whose relationship with her had ended over reported tensions between him and Tandy's two boys. Nick had an alibi (he was at home with his eldest daughter, and then beginning at 5:21 p.m., with his friend/colleague Ian), and his DNA didn't match what was found on Garrett. He also had no reason to commit murder, unless one believed that he wanted revenge against Garrett because he blamed the boy for his split with Tandy.Nonetheless, rather than chasing any other leads or considering other possible suspects, the Potsdam cops made Nick their sole target. In damning video presented by Who Killed Garrett Phillips?, local and state police officers call Nick in for an interview under false pretenses, then grill him on his culpability, and finally physically bar him from leaving—and, shortly thereafter, force him to strip nude for photos. They do this to see if he has injuries consistent with a scuffle with Garrett or a fall from a tall window. But given that cops later testify that such a practice was never used before, it reeks of demonizing intimidation. The fix is in, it seems, and that impression only mounts when District Attorney Nicole Duvé decides to not arrest Nick (due to lack of evidence)—and, as a result, loses an election to new DA Mary Rains, who campaigned on the promise of bringing Nick to justice.That it takes nearly 30 months to indict Nick—this after a first indictment is thrown out because Rains harassed Nick's daughter during a deposition—is merely one of many signs that something crooked is being perpetrated in Potsdam. Guided by interviews with nearly all of the principals involved (save for Tandy), Who Killed Garrett Phillips? is a real-time portrait of a racially charged railroading. The DA's office refuses to recognize the flimsiness of their circumstantial case, which is almost wholly predicated on security camera footage of Garrett skateboarding in the school parking lot minutes before his death, and Nick leaving the same area moments later in his car. Their central argument: because Nick turned left out of the lot, in the direction of Garrett, rather than turning right to return directly home (which is where he claimed he went), he was clearly "hunting" the boy minutes before the murder.Nick's inability to properly explain this behavior/discrepancy is certainly suspicious. As Garbus' film elucidates, though, it's the only thing that casts doubt on his innocence; even a late DNA test that links him to the homicide (after numerous prior exculpatory ones) proves inadmissible in court. Consequently, reasonable doubt is pervasive, and that's underscored by numerous scenes, shot over years, of Nick caring for his kids with devotion and compassion, even in the face of enormous community vilification.Nick Hillary, one of the subjects of the HBO documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips? HBOWho Killed Garrett Phillips?'s access to Nick, his lawyers, Garrett's relatives, news reporters and the trial itself is comprehensive, and its timeline-centric storytelling is lucid and nerve-wracking. If the film feels like it sides with Nick's position, it's because of both the time it gets to spend with him, and his persuasive declarations of innocence. No matter how often police officers and prosecutors contend that Nick is a cold-blooded murderer, the person seen through Garbus' lens comes across as a Wronged Man. Which means, per The New York Times' Albany Bureau Chief Jesse McKinley, that either Nick is a pathological fiend, or there's still a killer on the loose—two options that are equally chilling.Like many recent true-crime series, Who Killed Garrett Phillips? is a tale without a definitive conclusion. Still, there's no escaping the fact that, in this instance, police bias seems to have heavily influenced the circus that erupted in and around Potsdam. Nowhere is that more evident than with regard to John Jones, a sheriff's deputy who had dated Tandy until she left him for Nick, and whose role in immediate post-murder events—calling dispatchers to get intel on what was happening; staying with Tandy overnight and then accompanying her, hand in hand, to police interviews—was more than a bit fishy. Jones had a clear motive to both kill Garrett and frame Nick—namely, his furious resentment at having been replaced by a black man—but he barely registered on his fellow cops' radar. And when Jones was photographed by cops, you won't be surprised to hear, he was allowed to keep his clothes on.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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| Temperature records broke in Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands today Posted: 24 Jul 2019 11:15 AM PDT  It's back. After a June heat wave smashed national temperature records in France and broke historic June records across Europe, a mass of hot air has returned to the continent. On Wednesday, the Netherlands Meteorological Institute reported that the nation's all-time temperature record, which stood for the last 75 years, fell as temperatures hit 101.8 degrees Fahrenheit (38.8 C).Belgium broke its national heat record too, as temperatures reached 103.8 F (39.9 C), reported David Dehenauw, the head of forecasting at the Royal Meteorological Institute of Belgium. And the the German Meteorological Service announced its highest temperature in recorded history, of 104.9 degrees Fahrenheit (40.5 C).The Germany weather agency noted that this brand new record might last for one day.That's because there's substantially more heat to come. On Thursday, the UK Met Office expects temperatures to reach over 102 F (39 C), easily toppling the nation's previous temperature record by nearly 1 degree F. Meanwhile, France's weather agency, Meteo-France, predicts temperatures could reach 107.6 F (42 C) in Paris. This would smash the previous Parisian record of 40.4 C, set over 70 years ago. (Paris has temperature records going back to 1658, when Louis the Great reigned over the country.)> WednesdayWisdom > How much hotter are our summers and how has our climate changed? https://t.co/m8SpULkRFQ pic.twitter.com/beZxhXSdfS> > -- Met Office (@metoffice) July 24, 2019While heat waves are natural occurrences -- typically caused by persistent weather patterns that allow big zones of high pressure to settle over a region and bring clear skies and warm air -- Earth's relentlessly rising levels of background warming amplify heat waves, like an athlete pumping performance-enhancing drugs. This means that historic temperatures are expected to fall, have been falling, and will continue to fall. "Global temperatures are increasing due to climate change and this means that Europe can expect more record-breaking heatwaves in the future," Len Shaffrey, a climate scientist at the University of Reading in the UK, told Mashable during June's heat wave.SEE ALSO: Climate change will ruin train tracks and make travel hellBoosted global temperatures have at least doubled the probability of heat extremes in Europe, similar to last summer's scorching events, Shaffrey added.Over the last 100 years, Europe has experienced an increase in heat waves. Since 1500 AD, the region's five hottest summers have occurred in 2018, 2016, 2010, 2003, and 2002. European warming is right in line with the overall warming trend seen around the globe: Since 2001,18 of the last 19 years have been the warmest on record. June 2019 rounded out as the warmest June in 139 years of record keeping. July could soon follow in its footsteps, meaning this July is in the running to be the hottest month ever recorded.UPDATE: July 24, 2019, 3:44 p.m. EDT: This story was updated to include Germany's temperature record. WATCH: Meet Katie Bouman, one of the scientists who helped capture the first black hole image
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| DOJ won't charge William Barr, Wilbur Ross after contempt vote Posted: 24 Jul 2019 02:50 PM PDT  Lawmakers never expected the Justice Department to prosecute its own leader.
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| 7 striking photos show how massive the Puerto Rico protests really are Posted: 23 Jul 2019 06:25 AM PDT  Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has been deep in controversy over leaked text messages containing misogynistic and homophobic language.
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| Top Khamenei aide says no talks with U.S. under any circumstances Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:27 AM PDT  GENEVA/DUBAI (Reuters) - The top military adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran would not negotiate with the United States under any circumstances, an apparent hardening of its position as the Gulf tanker crisis escalates. The Swedish operator of a British-flagged oil tanker seized by Iran in the Gulf last week said it had been able to speak to crew members and all 23 of them were safe. The company said it had no evidence that the ship had been involved in a collision, one of the reasons Iran has cited for sending commandos to capture it last Friday.
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| Ray Donovan, the US special agent who obsessively pursued 'Chapo' Posted: 23 Jul 2019 06:50 PM PDT  Seven years ago, US special agent Ray Donovan began an in-depth study of the Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman saga -- and it quickly became an obsession. Now, the tall, 48-year-old New Yorker displays behind glass in his office the beige T-shirt that prisoner 3912 -- Guzman, the former head of the Sinaloa cartel -- wore when he was extradited from Mexico to the United States on January 19, 2017. It took a massive team and years of work that saw Donovan manage to identify Guzman's suppliers and partners, along with hitmen, lawyers and lovers -- intel that led to captures in 2014 and 2016.
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| Fact: U.S. and Israeli F-15s Went to War in a Simulated Fight. Who Won? Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:58 PM PDT  Noteworthy according to Times of Israel IAF Red Air gave the Blue forces a tough time during defensive missions to protect Blue forces and installations.Twelve F-15Es assigned to 494th Fighter Squadron from Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath, England recently completed biannual training in Israel in support of exercise Juniper Falcon. As told by Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew, 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs, in the article U.S. Forces complete Juniper Falcon 17-2, the Strike Eagles flew missions with the Israeli Air Force (IAF) accomplishing training on Defense Counter Air (DCA), Interdiction, Large Force Exercise (LFE), and Electronic Warfare (EW) range work.
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| Syrian father scrambles to reach his children after airstrike in Idlib Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:40 AM PDT  Intense bombing in the Syrian province of Idlib left a father scrambling to rescue his children while his baby daughter dangled off the edge of a destroyed building. The widely circulated photograph showed the aftermath of a Russian or Assad regime strike on the town of Ariha in western Idlib, the last rebel-held bastion in Syria. The man, Amjad al-Abdullah, looks on in horror as he tries to reach his children. His infant daughter, Rawan, is held up by a scrap of clothing while two older daughters are partially buried in the rubble. Rawan fell from the ledge and was last night in critical condition in hospital. One of her older sisters also survived the bombing and was being treated in hospital. Another sister, five-year-old Riham, was killed, according to Syrian activists. The children's mother, Asmaa, also died in the blast. A wheelchair amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported regime air strike on the town of Ariha Credit: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images "He was trying to calm them down and get them away from the edge but they fell in the end," said Bashar al-Sheikh, a photographer with Sy24 who took the picture. "I put the camera down and rushed to them. I have a daughter of my own the same age." The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimates that more than 600 civilians have been killed by Russian or Assad regime strikes since April, when Syrian forces began offensive to try to retake Idlib. "Civilians in northwest Syria are paying a big price in this conflict," said Mohamad Katoub, senior advocacy manager in the Syrian American Medical Society. "Our hospitals are overwhelmed with injuries, we received over 4000 injuries in SAMS hospitals in the northwest since April 26. The medical teams can hardly bear the current circumstances." The fighting has intensified in recent days and at least 59 people, including five children, were killed on Monday, according to the UN. The bloodiest airstrikes fell on the market town of Maaret al-Numan, where around 40 people died, including eight women and five children, the UN said. A number of images of wounded or dead children have gained international attention during the course of the seven-year Syrian war but none have triggered much global action. The image of Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy whose drowned body was found on a Turkish beach, was plastered on front pages around the world. Another image of an injured boy from Aleppo, Omran Daqneesh, also came to symbolise the suffering of children in the war.
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| 4 dead in southern Thailand attack on military outpost Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:41 AM PDT  Four people were killed in an attack on a military outpost in southern Thailand, where Muslim rebels are active, Thai police said. An unknown number of assailants carried out the attack Tuesday night using firearms and explosives, triggering a gunfight that left four dead and three injured, said Pol. A Muslim separatist insurgency has left about 7,000 people dead since 2004 in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.
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| See Photos of the 2020 Audi Q3 Sportback Posted: 24 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| How NASA Got the Apollo 11 Astronauts Home Posted: 24 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT  Landing astronauts on the moon is hard...getting them back home is harder.
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| Two men fined for eating raw squirrels to protest veganism as people begged them to stop Posted: 23 Jul 2019 08:38 AM PDT  Deonisy Khlebnikov, 22 and Gatis Lagzdins, 29, ate the squirrels, with the skin and fur still intact, at the Soho Vegan Food Market in late March.
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| Mueller Hearings Muddied Impeachment for Democrats Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:33 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Lyne Lucien/The Daily Beast/GettyOver the course of roughly six hours on Wednesday, Robert Mueller told lawmakers that President Donald Trump had not been exonerated by his report, could be tried for obstruction of justice upon leaving office, was "generally" untruthful or incomplete with written answers he provided, had asked staff to falsify records relevant to his investigation, had offered "problematic" praise for WikiLeaks, and had watched as his team hid potentially critical information from the Special Counsel's Office.It was a remarkable if not damning affair, though one that was, at times, overshadowed by Mueller's hesitancy in engaging on matters and difficulty following the lines of questioning. But it ultimately left Democrats right back in the place they had started: Divided, and increasingly bitterly so, over just what they should do about the president.Mueller's testimony was supposed to have helped answer the question of whether to jump forward on impeachment proceedings. And in a press conference after the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committee hearings ended, party leadership framed the testimony as a crossing-the-Rubicon moment—an instance, as House Oversight Chair Elijah Cummings (D-MD) put it, when people would look back and ask, "What did you do when you have a president who ... would throw away the guardrails." But Democrats' ultimate answer to their very own question was still to preach restraint."We still have some outstanding matters in the courts," Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, when pressed if she would drop her opposition to impeachment in the wake of Mueller's hearing, which she called an "indictment" of the administration's coverup. "This isn't endless, understand that,"said Pelosi. "But we have live cases in the courts, cases going forward—it isn't endless, but it's strengthening our hand to get that information."Robert Mueller Delivered the Goods. Will Dems Feast on Them?Though Mueller was criticized by Republicans and even some Democrats for his sputtering answers early on, Democrats began the day privately celebrating the hearings, claiming that they had successfully laid out for the American public the most important aspects of the former special counsel's report with little interruption. As the testimony dragged on, however, their mood soured. Aides and lawmakers began to worry that their self-described success during the hearings wasn't likely to translate into tangible momentum in favor of impeachment proceedings. And several Democratic sources told The Daily Beast they doubted Mueller hearings would change Pelosi's calculus on impeachment. By the end of the day, the expectation within the party was that leadership would continue to fall back on the same strategy of fighting to obtain White House documents and clinch testimonies from former Trump administration officials without launching a formal impeachment inquiry. "These hearings will likely be the pivotal inflection point which decides whether or not the House pursues impeachment," said one Democratic aide who works for a judiciary committee member during Mueller's first hearing. "For that to happen, there needs to be slam-dunk moment but so far the ball is just bouncing on the rim." Mueller Tells Congress: FBI 'Currently' Looking Into Issues of Trump Team BlackmailWhat investigative tricks the party now has in store was not entirely clear. Mueller's testimony was supposed to be the crescendo of their oversight efforts. And with other witnesses having ignored Democratic subpoenas—and with document requests being rebuffed or litigated as well—there are few other avenues to pursue. But some Democrats hinted that they would continue to hammer away at the topics that, they argue, Mueller had broached but not fully covered."It's clear he didn't look at a number of issues, from money laundering — I don't think he saw the tax returns — he did not say he looked at the president's financial dealings or business ties with Russia aside from Trump Tower Moscow," said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), a House Intelligence Committee member. "So these are all to-do's to make sure that we can protect our country from these national security risks. We're learning there is potentially more material out there. That's probably the source of the next step.""The notion that continued investigations and oversight would be enough to satisfy impeachment boosters seemed dubious, however. And those who have advocated launching a proceeding argued that Mueller's testimony had more than provided the predicate for doing so. "Oh please," said Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA), an impeachment backer, when asked about the idea lawmakers needed to hear from more key witnesses like former White House counsel Don McGahn. "There does come a point where waiting for smoke signals and chasing down compliance with subpoenas that people are blowing off in every direction... It does begin to add up to a slow walk and to an avoidance of tough decisions."For months, Pelosi has pushed back on opening an impeachment inquiry on grounds that it was both politically premature and problematic. In that vacuum, she has encouraged the Judiciary and Intelligence committees to gain access to the unredacted Mueller report, its underlying documents, and questioning former officials of the Trump administration. Her posture has prompted sometimes sharp disagreements within the party and Democratic staffers have quietly discussed ways to move forward the impeachment agenda without her blessing, according to two Democratic aides. The lingering question for the pro-impeachment camp is whether Mueller's testimony will move Democrats who have not spoken out about the issue onto their team. In the weeks leading up to the hearing, Democrats prepared by crafting questions which Mueller could answer in the affirmative, knowing that he would do little in the way of expanding outside the four corners of the report. Lawmakers worked with staffers of their own offices and within the committees to ensure their questions also included page demarcations so Mueller could follow along.Mueller responded as they predicted. But he notably did not take the bait on several attempts to read from his report out loud—which could have potentially been refashioned into video moments for Democrats to disseminate. And when he did seem to suggest that Trump would have been indicted for obstruction if not for Department of Justice regulations, he quickly dialed that declaration back, saying simply that he couldn't entertain the idea of an indictment because of those guidelines. Democratic aides said it was their hope that the media would focus on the substance of Mueller's report and not the style of his delivery. "But that can only last so long before it's an actual delay," one aide said. "The evidence we've seen demands that we take action, and a lot of us are waiting to see what that will be."Pro-impeachment members, like Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), predicted after the hearing that some colleagues would be moved off the fence. And shortly after the hearing concluded, Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA) became the latest to announce that she would support impeachment proceedings. One Democratic lawmaker predicted that maybe three or four total would change their stance because of Mueller's testimony. But others were dubious that momentum would build much beyond there. One Democratic aide to a Judiciary member said House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) would need to go on TV and say "he wants Pelosi to open an inquiry that will change things" in order to get more members on board. "Short of that, it's more of the same."Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), an impeachment supporter, conceded that the party would need to have "some serious discussions" about where it needed to go next. But, he added, Democrats "undoubtedly" need to make a decision soon on whether or not to open impeachment. "We will have to make a decision about whether or not to launch an impeachment inquiry," he said. "I have felt from the beginning that we can launch an impeachment inquiry in 2019 but it's very difficult to do it in 2020."While Democrats searched for an agreed-upon path forward after Mueller's testimony wrapped, Republicans suffered from no such internal strategic splits. President Trump spent much of the work day in his private White House residence, watching and live-tweeting the Mueller hearings, spinning the proceedings as fodder for victory laps. In his Twitter posts, the president quoted Fox News personalities who were doing live commentary on the former special counsel's testimony, and retweeted several Trump fans and allies attacking Mueller.Even before the first hearing of the day hit the halfway mark, senior Trump campaign officials were ecstatic and already plotting out new and different ways to message and fundraise off of what they viewed as Mueller's floundering performance, two sources on the campaign said.And when The Daily Beast asked Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), a top Trump ally, in the middle of the first hearing how he thought it was going, the congressman texted back, "For Democrats?" next to a GIF of a mushroom cloud.—With additional reporting by Betsy Woodruff and Sam SteinRead 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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| They exist: rare clip shows uncontacted tribe under threat in Brazil Posted: 23 Jul 2019 02:31 PM PDT ![They exist: rare clip shows uncontacted tribe under threat in Brazil]( "They exist: rare clip shows uncontacted tribe under threat in Brazil") Rare video of one of Brazil's last uncontacted indigenous tribes has been released to help raise awareness about threats to their survival, campaigners said on Tuesday. The footage, shot by indigenous filmmaker Flay Guajajara and lasting about 1 minute, shows an Awa tribe member in the woods holding a knife, seemingly unaware he is being filmed. "This video shows that they do not want to be contacted, not even by the Guajajara," said the filmmaker, himself a member of the Guajajara tribe and part of Midia India, a charity that gives voice to indigenous communities in Brazil.
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| Human sacrifice bridge rumours spark Bangladesh lynchings Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:29 AM PDT  Eight people have been killed in vigilante lynchings in Bangladesh sparked by rumours on social media of children being kidnapped and sacrificed as offerings for the construction of a mega-bridge, police said Wednesday. The victims -- which include two women -- were targeted by angry mobs over the rumours, spread mostly on Facebook, that said human heads were required for the massive $3 billion project, police chief Javed Patwary said. More than 30 other people have been attacked in connection with the rumours.
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| How to get your settlement from the Equifax data breach Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:34 AM PDT  The company has agreed to a $700 million settlement and you may be owed up to $20,000.
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| Send in the F-22s: Why Iran's F-14s Are No Joke Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:56 PM PDT  The U.S. Navy retired its last Tomcat in 2006. But with its long range and powerful radar, the F-14 remains one of the world's most capable fighters. For that reason, the Americans for many years have been trying to ground the Ayatollah's F-14s.Tensions have escalated in the Persian Gulf region in the aftermath of U.S. president Donald Trump's decision unilaterally to withdraw the United States from the agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program.The U.S. military has implicated Iranian agents in several summer 2019 attacks on civilian ships sailing near Iran. The U.S. Navy sent the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and her strike group to the region. The U.S. Air Force deployed B-52 bombers and F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.If war breaks out, American forces likely will attempt to secure Gulf air space by destroying or suppressing Iran's air forces. The regular Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force and the air wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps militia together operate around 700 aircraft.(This first appeared in July 2019.)The IRIAF's 1970s-vintage F-14s could be U.S. forces' first targets. According to a survey by Flight Global, the Iranian air force in 2019 operates around 24 F-14 Tomcats from a batch of 79 of the Grumman-made, swing-wing fighters that Iran acquired in the mid-1970s before the Islamic revolution.The U.S. Navy retired its last Tomcat in 2006. But with its long range and powerful radar, the F-14 remains one of the world's most capable fighters. For that reason, the Americans for many years have been trying to ground the Ayatollah's F-14s.
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| Governor acknowledges Native Hawaiian plight on Mauna Kea Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:39 PM PDT  After a week of tension and dozens of arrests, Hawaii's governor is vowing to find a peaceful resolution to the ongoing stalemate with Native Hawaiian activists who are trying to prevent the construction of another telescope atop a Big Island volcano. Gov. David Ige visited the protest site Tuesday evening after acknowledging that their grievances were not just about the new observatory but also the treatment of Native Hawaiians going back more than a century. Activists welcomed Ige with a nose-to-nose greeting called honi as he approached a tent where Hawaiian elders have been blocking a road prevent to construction equipment and crews from reaching the summit of Mauna Kea.
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| Community forms ‘human chain’ to stop ICE agents from seizing neighbour Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:24 AM PDT  Neighbours and activists in Tennessee gathered to support a man targeted by US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, forming a "human chain" to block the officials from seizing him.The agents had followed a man home in Heritage, a community near Nashville, on Monday, where they attempted to detain him. He was accompanied by a 12-year-old boy.The full party was met with neighbours and activists from an immigration support group, who blocked the agents' access to the man, NBC News reports.They provided food, water, and petrol to the man and the boy while protecting them, ensuring that they could stay in their car as long as necessary.The agents called officers from the Metro Nashville Police Department, who arrived with blue lights flashing in two MNPD vehicles and parked alongside the agents in front of man's home.Hours later, the police officers and ICE agents relented, abandoning the home.After they left, neighbours stayed and formed a human chain from the van to the house to protect the man and the boy as they went safely inside. "What happened this morning shows how deeply rooted immigrants are in our community. Neighbours reported that they were worried and outraged because some had known the family for more than a decade," said the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition in a statement."When multiple law enforcement vehicles surround a home and conduct this kind of operation it can be deeply traumatizing, not only for the young boy in the vehicle, but for the entire community." Neighbours told local media they had known the man and boy's family for years, telling one outlet that ICE "picked the wrong community on the wrong day." The ICE agents had attempted to stop the unidentified man's white van in Hermitage early on Monday morning.When the driver did not stop for the agents, who were driving unmarked vehicles, they followed him home, according to a statement from the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department. Once there, they blocked his van in the driveway.It was this action, according to TIRRC, that caught the attention of the man's neighbours, who alerted the organisation.They sent staffers to ensure that everyone in support of the man knew how to legally handle the situation."ICE doesn't have the authority to enter your home or private property without a warrant signed by a judge," TIRRC explained in their statement. "The majority of the time, ICE only has an administrative warrant — not a judicial one."In light of the extraordinary display of support, the group is urging people throughout the US to keep graphics displaying what to do during an encounter with an ICE agent on hand. As attempted raids continue throughout the US, the instructions have become vital knowledge for everyday people.To many, both online and in the area, the moment served as a reminder of the ability of a community to protect its vulnerable members."It was striking to watch neighbours deliver food, water, and gasoline to help their neighbour stay in his car," Nashville Councilman Bob Mendes, who ventured to the scene for part of the incident, wrote in a statement."Having watched this play out, I have a new appreciation for the practical difficulty cities face in dealing with ICE civil immigration enforcement."
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| Newborn found on doorstep at apartment complex where another baby was left 2 years ago Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:15 PM PDT  Orlando Police found a 1-day-old infant wrapped only in a T-shirt on front doorstep.
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| Disney employee punched in face by park guest angry over FastPass at Tower of Terror Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:50 PM PDT  It's a brawl world, after all
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| Beto O’Rourke Battles Meghan McCain Over Trump-Nazi Analogy Posted: 23 Jul 2019 09:43 AM PDT  The ViewBeto O'Rourke tried to ingratiate himself to Meghan McCain at the top of his latest appearance on The View. It didn't work. "Congressman, not too long ago you were a huge rising star," McCain told O'Rourke on Tuesday morning before painting a dire picture of his fledgling presidential campaign. "You're polling at zero percent. [He's actually averaging about 3 percent in recent polls.] You're trailing Marianne Williamson in the important state of New Hampshire. Your fundraising numbers have gone down by a third. This isn't great for momentum. Why do you think it's cooled?" "You know what? That's not what I feel when on the ground," O'Rourke replied before McCain cut him off to say, "Facts are stubborn things." Kamala Harris Shuts Down Meghan McCain for Siding With Joe Biden"But I think you know that at this time in many presidential races you have folks who are down in the polls, counted out, left for dead, who, through their persistence and courage and tenacity and the amazing people who comprise their campaign, rose to help lead their party and ultimately the country," he said, citing the co-host's late father Senator John McCain, who he referred to as one of his "heroes." Unimpressed, McCain replied, "Yeah, his campaign full-on imploded, it's true." Things became even more tense later in the segment when McCain brought up recent comments O'Rourke made to ABC News comparing President Trump's recent North Carolina event—where supporters chanted "Send her back!" in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)—to an "impromptu Nuremberg rally." In response to O'Rourke's denunciation of right-wing "extremism," McCain said, "You're talking about Trump supporters, comparing them to Nazis in Nuremberg, that sounds extreme to me as well. When Democrats come on here and wax poetic about extremism—I'm not saying Trump isn't doing it, but you're calling everybody who was in that North Carolina rally a Nazi. From my standpoint, it seems like the left is pretty extreme as well." Insisting that he was not calling "everyone" who was at that rally a Nazi, O'Rourke said, "We all have accountability for our actions and everyone who shouted to send them back is responsible as well." Trump May Not Be Coming for the Jews, but the Next Trump WillAs The View's audience cheered forcefully in response to that line, McCain glared at them and said, "I agree, but there were people in that rally that didn't and you're going to have to win over some of these people that voted for Obama and voted for Trump again." "You have to understand how it looks for people in the middle," she added, "thinking that maybe I don't agree with everything that the left is saying so automatically you're Nazis?" "I do''t care who you voted for last time," O'Rourke told her in response. "I don't care if you're a Trump supporter or a Republican. You're an American first before you are anything else and I call you to this country's greatness." 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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| China Says It Will Not Rule out Using Force to Reunify Taiwan With the Mainland Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:38 AM PDT  China said it will not renounce the use of force in efforts to reunify Taiwan with the mainland and vowed to take all necessary military measures to defeat "separatists."
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| Race of officer not a defining factor in US police shootings: study Posted: 23 Jul 2019 11:19 AM PDT  White police officers in the United States are not more likely to fatally shoot members of minority groups than black or Hispanic officers, according to a new study. Recent police shootings of unarmed African-Americans have stirred outrage in the United States and led to the creation of the Black Lives Matter movement. "We found no relation between the race of the police officer and the race of the person shot," Joseph Cesario, an associate professor of psychology at MSU and the senior author of the report, told AFP.
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| View Photos of the 2019 BMW X2 and 2020 Range Rover Evoque Posted: 23 Jul 2019 01:14 PM PDT |
| RIP: Another Iranian F-14A Tomcat Just Bit the Dust Posted: 22 Jul 2019 11:00 PM PDT  The U.S. Navy retired the iconic Tomcat on Sep. 22, 2006 and today the F-14 remains in service with IRIAF.The picture in this post features the Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force (IRIAF) F-14A Tomcat that crashed yesterday .According to Scramble Facebook News Magazine, it is now (still unconfirmed) reported that the aircraft involved is F-14A 3-6003. According to the picture of the fatal Tomcat, the airframe is completely destroyed.(This article by Dario Leone originally appeared on The Aviation Geek Club in 2019.)As we have reported yesterday, one of the few remaining IRIAF F-14A Tomcat fighter jets was involved in a crash at home base Esfahãn-Shahid Beheshti International Airport (Iran).The IRIAF F-14A from the 8th Tactical Air Base crashed while it was landing. The aircraft reported an emergency to air traffic control during its training flight, subsequently the fighter was approved to make a quick landing at Esfahãn, but the aircraft was not able to hold position and skidded of the runway. Both pilot and Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) were forced to eject. They parachuted safely to mother earth.
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| The Latest: Iran diplomat warns Brazil over 2 stranded ships Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:49 AM PDT  Iran's ambassador says Tehran will reconsider imports from Brazil if it continues to refuse to refuel two Iranian vessels stranded there. Seyed Ali Saqqayian was quoted by Iran's semi-official Fars news agency as saying Wednesday Iran could easily find new suppliers of corn, soybeans and meat. Iran's Foreign Ministry hasn't commented on the issue of the two Iranian vessels, one reportedly loaded with corn, stranded at a Brazilian port due to lack of fuel.
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| Philippines mulls tourists for Thitu, bolstering South China Sea claims Posted: 22 Jul 2019 11:24 PM PDT  The Philippines is considering inviting tourists to its biggest and most strategically important outpost in the South China Sea, part of efforts to assert its claim to sovereignty over some of the world's most contested islands. Thitu island in the Spratly archipelago is in the midst of major upgrades to its dilapidated facilities, playing catch-up with China and Vietnam, which have been developing facilities on islands they either occupy or have built from scratch on top of submerged reefs. "We are on track in rebuilding or repairing our runway in Pagasa," said Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, referring to Thitu, some 280 nautical miles off the Philippine coast.
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| ‘Fox & Friends’ Host Apparently Believes McDonald’s Workers Make Tips Posted: 23 Jul 2019 09:47 AM PDT  Reacting to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) calling for the federal minimum wage to be raised to $20 an hour, Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt insisted on Tuesday that minimum wage jobs were meant to give workers a start in the workforce before falsely claiming that fast-food workers supplement their incomes with tips.Following the House of Representatives passing a bill last week that would raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour, Tlaib said that due to the price of goods and services, the true minimum wage should be "$18 to $20 an hour at this point." She also blasted the federally mandated minimum wage for tipped workers, which is currently set at $2.13 an hour.Discussing Tlaib's remarks on Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy seemed genuinely surprised about tipped workers' wages, saying he "did not realize" that their minimum wage was $2.13 an hour before saying Tlaib wants to exponentially increase it. He then used a presidential contender's campaign to make a point."However, as we heard from Bernie Sanders in the last 48 hours or so," Doocy stated. "He will start paying his employees $15 an hour, but he will have to cut back their hours because they cannot afford it."Earhardt chimed in, asserting that small businesses can't afford minimum wage increases before claiming they would engage in widespread firings in wages went up significantly. Doocy, meanwhile, highlighted Congressional Budget Office estimates that showed there was a chance that increasing the minimum wage could impact unemployment.Co-host Brian Kilmeade then waxed nostalgic about his time as a busboy, saying it was "one of the best jobs" he could have breaking in because "you work hard" and "you get great tips," adding that any paycheck you get at that point is a bonus. He also had some advice to those not earning enough from one job."If one job doesn't pay enough, guess what you do, you, you get another job," he exclaimed. "That's what you do in your twenties. Having two part-time jobs while going to school is something people have done since the turn of the last century." Earhardt, meanwhile, piggybacked on Kilmeade's commentary while adding some questionable "facts" of her own. "Minimum wage job is not meant to be a career—it's meant to help you get a start," she said. "We were in high school or college when I was waiting tables. Most of those people, at very fine restaurants, that is their career, but they make tons of money."She continued: "If you're working at McDonald's or a small little restaurant where you're making tips, you are right. If you are nice to the people, you make a lot of money."Needless to say, workers at McDonald's or other similar fast-food restaurants generally don't make tips.This isn't the first time that Earhardt has made an embarrassing on-air gaffe. Last summer, she defended America's greatness by saying the United States "defeated communist Japan" in World War II.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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| Former Trump Campaign Staffer Loses Case Over Non-Disclosure Posted: 23 Jul 2019 04:03 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump's presidential campaign was awarded $52,230 in a dispute with a former campaign staffer over her breach of a non-disclosure agreement.Jessica Denson, a Los Angeles-based actress who worked on Trump's campaign in August 2016, sued in federal court to void her NDA in order to pursue a separate state lawsuit in which she claims she was harassed and defamed by her superiors.Denson sued in state court in November 2017 seeking $25 million in damages for the alleged harassment and defamation. The Trump campaign then made a $1.5 million arbitration claim, saying Denson had breached the confidentiality and non-disparagement obligations of the NDA.In August, U.S. District Judge Jesse M. Furman ruled the case would be arbitrated, as required by the agreement. The arbitrator awarded the campaign $49,508 plus interest, which was then confirmed by a state-court judge in Manhattan. Furman ruled Tuesday that the decision of the state court is conclusive, declining Denson's request that he throw it out.To contact the reporter on this story: Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe SchneiderFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Titanic explorer to search for Amelia Earhart's plane Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:18 PM PDT  Robert Ballard, the underwater explorer who found the Titanic, has a new quest -- searching for the plane of famed aviatrix Amelia Earhart, who disappeared over the Pacific in 1937. National Geographic said Ballard plans to leave from Samoa on August 7 to carry out the hunt with his state-of-the-art research vessel E/V Nautilus. National Geographic said it plans to film the expedition and air a documentary about it on its television channel on October 20.
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