| 'Impeach them': Trump accuses Buttigieg and Klobuchar of 'quid pro quo' with Biden Posted: 02 Mar 2020 05:12 PM PST  Donald Trump, in signature fashion, tried to accuse his Democratic rivals of a "quid pro quo," just the allegation House Democrats used to impeach him.The president, however, was not talking about US military aid in return for Ukraine investigating Americans. Rather, he was accusing moderate former Democratic presidential candidates of dropping out of the 2020 race while also endorsing former Vice President Joe Biden and promising him their delegates – in return for promises he would give them Cabinet posts, if the former VP secures the nomination then wins in November.
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| Founder of South Korea church at center of virus outbreak regrets 'great calamity' Posted: 01 Mar 2020 06:10 PM PST  SEOUL/GAPYEONG, South Korea (Reuters) - The founder of the church at the center of South Korea's coronavirus outbreak apologized on Monday after one of its members tested positive for the virus and infected many others, calling the epidemic a "great calamity". South Korea reported 599 new cases on Monday, taking its national tally to 4,335. The church's suspected role in the outbreak has caused significant public anger.
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| Conservative News Giant Newsmax Is Funding a Super PAC for Its Publisher’s GOP Senate Ally Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:01 AM PST  As the competitive Maine Senate race heated up last summer, the conservative news outlet Newsmax blared a warning to its audience: Democratic moneymen were pouring cash into an effort to flip one of Republicans' most endangered Senate seats."Progressive big-money donors are stepping up their crusade against centrist Sen. Susan Collins," Newsmax senior editor David Patten wrote. "Advertising Analytics reports none of the $1.3 million spent on the Senate race so far has come from Republican sources." Collins' Senate campaign quickly promoted the piece on its own website.Exactly one week later, Newsmax took steps to even the odds. The company donated $50,000 to 1820 PAC, a deep-pocketed super PAC linked to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supporting Collins' re-election. It was just the fifth time the company had donated directly to a federal political committee, and the first time it had done so since 2015. And it was by far Newsmax's largest-ever donation.Days after the donation, Patten wrote another story relaying allegations of election law violations by Collins' Democratic opponent, Maine State House Speaker Sara Gideon. The following month, Newsmax ran a story touting Collins' lead in the polls—and reporting on a new 1820 PAC ad supporting her. Neither of those articles disclosed the news outlet's donation to the group, nor has any article on the Maine Senate race in the ensuing months.Newsmax is among the web's most popular right-of-center news outlets, boasting about 3.7 million unique visitors in January, according to web analytics service ComScore. It also runs a cable-news channel that the company claims reaches 100 million homes. Newsmax founder and publisher Christopher Ruddy is a friend and acquaintance of President Donald Trump, and is known to frequent the president's Mar-a-Lago club, a short drive from the Newsmax headquarters in Boca Raton.The company has made some high-profile hires in the Trump era, including bringing on former Fox News news executive Michael Clemente as CEO in 2018 (Clemente stepped down after about a year, but still consults for the company). Most recently, Newsmax hired former White House press secretary Sean Spicer to host a weekday news and opinion show. Its regular guests include prominent names such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, disgraced former Fox News primetime host Bill O'Reilly, and far-right columnist Michelle Malkin.Newsmax does not hide its conservative leanings. But its five-figure donation to 1820 PAC in August crossed a line from ideologically driven coverage of politics and current events into outright and quantifiable support for an explicit partisan outfit. It's the most apparent illustration to date of the overt politicization of a news organization where, according to a former anchor for the outlet, executives micromanage and tailor news coverage to fit a political agenda."Newsmax tightly controls its on-air and website content to cater to its conservative viewing audience. Executives... are intimately involved in selecting the topics of news stories and how they are covered," alleged Miranda Khan, a former Newsmax TV host, in a lawsuit filed last year. "Prior to joining Newsmax, [Khan] had substantial on-camera experience, particularly in the news industry," the lawsuit added. She said she "had never experienced the level of control she experienced at Newsmax."The lawsuit was settled before Newsmax officially responded to those allegations. Khan declined to comment on her allegations, which have not been previously reported.Ruddy did not respond to inquiries about the allegations, or the ethical issues raised by its political contributions.Ruddy himself is a longtime Collins supporter. "Throughout Susan Collins' 21-year career as a U.S. senator, the Maine Republican has faced criticism from both sides of the aisle, but has always come out with her head held high and her principles intact," he wrote in a glowing opinion column in 2018.That column is now featured on the homepage of 1820 PAC's website. Of the six news items posted in the site's "news" section, three are Newsmax stories or columns.Ruddy has also supported Collins financially ahead of her 2020 re-election fight. He has made just two federal political contributions this cycle: $2,500 to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and $5,200 to the Collins Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee that dispersed the money to Collins' campaign and her leadership PAC. The transfers to her campaign came in June, shortly before Newsmax chipped in to 1820 PAC.It's common for large media companies' political action committees to donate to congressional candidates. But that political giving is usually spread among dozens of recipients of both parties, and generally aligns more with the business interests of parent companies such as News Corp, CBS Entertainment Group, or Disney than with the editorial positions of its news properties.That giving is also almost uniformly done by way of the parent companies' PACs, not by the companies themselves. Corporations can't donate to political candidates directly, but they can set up PACs, generally funded by their employees, that can give up to $5,000 per election cycle to federal political candidates.Corporations can also donate unlimited sums directly to super PACs. But it's extremely rare for a media company to so heavily fund such a group set up for the express purpose of electing a single political candidate. Newsmax's donation to 1820 PAC is all the more noteworthy due to its alignment with the political activity of Ruddy, the company's top executive, and the company's simultaneous promotion of Collins' candidacy through its regular coverage of the Maine Senate race. The contribution also came just months after Khan recounted Newsmax executives' meddling in the company's news coverage.Newsmax has in the past scrutinized and been critical of political donations by journalists and media executives that could be seen as conflicts of interest. When it was revealed during the 2016 presidential campaign that ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos had donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, Newsmax's print and TV arms ran a number of stories relaying allegations of a breach of journalistic ethics. None mentioned Newsmax's own $1-million financial pledge to the foundation."WikiLeaks email revelations from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta," a Newsmax columnist wrote the following year, "show that not only is there a deep connection with the media—reporters, opinion writers, and news anchors—but it also reaches as high as the corporate executive suite."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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| An armed gunman held 70 people hostage in a Philippines mall for 10 hours before letting everyone go and holding an impromptu news conference Posted: 02 Mar 2020 01:29 PM PST  After opening fire in a mall in Manilla, and taking dozens of people hostage, an armed gunman shared why he did it before police tackled him.
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| LA district attorney sorry husband aimed gun at protesters Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:22 AM PST  The husband of the first black woman to lead the country's largest local prosecutor's office pointed a gun and said "I will shoot you" to Black Lives Matter members demonstrating outside the couple's home before dawn Monday, prompting an apology from his wife on the eve of her primary election. In an emotional press conference, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said she and her husband, David, were awakened and frightened by the demonstration that occurred before 6 a.m.. She said he ran downstairs, where she heard him talking to someone, and that when he returned he said there were protesters. The encounter came ahead of a Tuesday primary election in which Lacey is seeking a third term.
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| Bloomberg rips Sanders for boycotting AIPAC, calls his bigotry comments 'dead wrong' Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:27 AM PST  The Vermont senator had said the pro-Israel lobbying group provides a platform "for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights."
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| Putin proposes to enshrine God, heterosexual marriage in constitution Posted: 02 Mar 2020 08:38 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to parliament a number of constitutional changes, including amendments that mention God and stipulate that marriage is a union of a man and woman. Shortly afterwards, the lower house unanimously approved the constitutional reform bill in a first reading after less than two hours of debate. Ahead of a second and key reading set for next week, Putin submitted 24 pages worth of new proposals, said State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.
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| Russia Is Using Its Oil Exports to Make One Nation Surrender Posted: 01 Mar 2020 01:01 AM PST  Will it work?
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| Eddie Gallagher: 60 Minutes segment profiling Navy SEAL accused of 'normalising' war crimes Posted: 02 Mar 2020 01:01 PM PST  CBS news program 60 Minutes is facing criticism and calls for boycott for a piece the program aired profiling alleged war criminal Eddie Gallagher, whose punishment after posing for a "trophy photo" with a dead teenage ISIS fighter was reversed by President Donald Trump.The program featured 60 Minutes correspondent David Martin interviewing Mr Gallagher - a Navy SEAL who was tried for war crimes - at his home in Florida, conducting interviews and questioning him about his life since his war crimes trial. Mr Martin doesn't shy away from asking Mr Gallagher about his involvement in the death of a wounded, sedated teenage ISIS fighter who he was accused of stabbing in the neck while he was deployed in Iraq.
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| Brief elation, then crushing disappointment for migrants who sent children across U.S. border Posted: 01 Mar 2020 06:26 PM PST |
| MSNBC Host Chris Matthews Resigns After Accusations of Sexism and Harassment Posted: 02 Mar 2020 04:02 PM PST  Longtime MSNBC host Chris Matthews announced on air Monday night that he was resigning following a slew of on-air fumbles and allegations that he made sexually inappropriate remarks to a political columnist in 2016."I'm retiring," he said. "This is the last Hardball on MSNBC, and obviously this isn't for lack of interest in politics."Over the past several weeks, the cable news veteran has been under increasing scrutiny due to allegations about previous offscreen conduct, as well as a number of eyebrow-raising on-air statements. Observers took note when Matthews, normally a staple of election coverage, did not appear on air on Saturday during the South Carolina primary."After my conversation with NBC, I decided tonight will be my last Hardball," Matthews said on air Monday night. "I'll tell you why. The younger generations are ready to take the reins. We see them in politics, the media, they have proven in the workplace. They grew up with better standards, fair standards. Compliments on a woman's appearance some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were OK were never OK. Certainly not today. For making such comments in the past, I'm sorry."In an article for GQ, published Friday, freelance political columnist Laura Bassett wrote that when she appeared as a guest on Matthews' show, he repeatedly made inappropriate remarks about her appearance while off-camera. In one instance, she recounted, Matthews asked, "Why haven't I fallen in love with you yet?" and urged the makeup artist to "Keep putting makeup on her, I'll fall in love with her."After Matthews delivered his resignation announcement, Steve Kornacki took over for the remainder of the hour, expressing shock over his colleague's retirement."That was a lot to take in just now, I'm sure, and I'm sure you're still absorbing that and I am, too," the MSNBC host solemnly said. "Chris Mathews is a giant. He's a legend. It's been an honor for me to work with him, to sit in here on occasion."Matthews has repeatedly found himself in hot water for various on-air comments about the Democratic presidential primary. On Monday, Matthews apologized to Bernie Sanders for likening the senator's Nevada caucus victory to when the Nazis invaded France during World War II.Embattled Chris Matthews Left Out of MSNBC's S.C. Primary CoverageThe Hardball host again drew outrage last week after repeatedly pressing Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a post-debate interview about why she believes a woman over former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's denial of accusations that he made inappropriate remarks about female colleagues at his financial information company. Critics slammed Matthews for casting doubt on Bloomberg's accuser, prompting women's advocacy group UltraViolet to call for his ouster. "This is good news. This is what needed to happen," UltraViolet executive director Shaunna Thomas said in a statement after Matthews retired on air. "While tonight is a win, there is still much work to be done to hold Comcast and NBCUniversal accountable and ensure that women and people of color receive fair treatment in the workplace, especially from those in the news media. The fight is far from over, but we'll celebrate tonight's victory."Over the course of Matthews' decades-long career at the network, he has made degrading comments about the women at MSNBC and guests who have appeared on his show.He once joked about using a "Bill Cosby pill" on Hillary Clinton before a 2016 interview and has made cracks about the physical appearances of then-CNBC stars Erin Burnett and Margaret Brennan, and political figures including Sarah Palin and Melania Trump. He was also formally reprimanded in the late '90s for inappropriate comments and jokes he made about a woman in front of CNBC staff. That woman was reportedly given a separation payout from the network.Over the past several decades, Matthews has been one of the most high-profile political commentators in America. A former aide to Jimmy Carter and Tip O'Neill, he has been a fixture on MSNBC since the '90s.The move also adds further uncertainty to MSNBC's lineup. The network has been in the middle of a daytime reshuffle following the departure of host Ali Velshi for a weekend MSNBC show.Seth Meyers Unloads on Chris Matthews for 'Deranged' Bernie Sanders AttacksRead 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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| A Democrat asked Mike Pompeo to point to things on a blank map in a nod to his awkward geography quiz Posted: 02 Mar 2020 01:32 PM PST  "To your left, you'll see a map of the world," the lawmaker told Pompeo.
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| Ex-guard frees dozens of hostages in Manila mall, is subdued Posted: 01 Mar 2020 09:26 PM PST  A recently dismissed security guard freed dozens of hostages and was subdued by police after walking out of a shopping mall in the Philippine capital on Monday, ending a daylong hostage crisis in an upscale commercial district near the police and military headquarters, officials said. The former guard at the Greenhills shopping center, identified by police as Archie Paray, left the mall in San Juan City in metropolitan Manila with the remaining hostages, who were then secured by police.
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| Republican Senator to Issue First Subpoena in Hunter Biden, Burisma Probe Posted: 02 Mar 2020 03:39 PM PST  The Republican chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee plans to issue the first subpoena related to the committee's probe of Hunter Biden and Ukrainian energy Burisma Holdings.Senator Ron Johnson said that it is his "intention to schedule a business meeting to consider a committee subpoena," in a letter the Wisconsin Republican sent to members of the committee on Sunday.Johnson plans to subpoena former Ukrainian embassy official Andrii Telizhenko, who worked as a consultant for the Washington-based Blue Star Strategies, a firm Burisma hired to combat accusations of corruption within the energy company."As part of the committee's ongoing investigation, it has received U.S. government records indicating that Blue Star sought to leverage Hunter Biden's role as a board member of Burisma to gain access to, and potentially influence matters at, the State Department," Johnson wrote in his letter.Internal State Department email exchanges reported last year showed that Blue Star leveraged the Biden name to secure a meeting between the gas company and State Department officials and then brought his name up again during that meeting. The meetings were part of a longstanding campaign to rehabilitate Burisma's reputation in Washington following a corruption probe.Biden obtained a lucrative position on the board of Burisma in 2014 after his father, Democratic 2020 candidate Joe Biden, became vice president. In that role, court records suggested he earned at least $50,000 a month advising the energy company on "transparency, corporate governance and responsibility, international expansion and other priorities," as his position was described by Burisma.Biden resigned from the board in April of last year, and it is unclear whether he was aware his name was being used by Blue Star in discussions with the State Department.
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| John Roberts is the Supreme Court's new middle. Here's what that means for abortion. Posted: 02 Mar 2020 01:30 AM PST  The question of whether or not the court will respect precedent is a big one.
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| Shrinking shores: Half the world's beaches could disappear because of climate change, study says Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:59 AM PST  A new study warned of "the near-extinction of almost half of the world's sandy beaches by the end of the century" because of climate change.
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| This Is the Horrific Evil American Soldiers Saw in Nazi Germany's Concentration Camps Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:00 AM PST  A horror the world must never forget.
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| UN says Greece has no right to stop accepting asylum requests Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:38 AM PST |
| 7 Examples of Centuries-Old Design That Combat Climate Change Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:00 AM PST |
| South Korea sect leader wears controversial watch during virus apology Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:06 AM PST  When the leader of a South Korean religious sect knelt before the nation on Monday, he had hoped to defuse public anger over his church's role in spreading the coronavirus.
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| Navy is overhauling education system as US advantages erode Posted: 02 Mar 2020 12:03 PM PST  The U.S. Navy is overhauling its approach to education because the nation no longer has a massive economic and technological edge over potential adversaries, according to a strategy released Monday. The Education for Seapower Strategy 2020, provided to The Associated Press ahead of its release, is the first unified, comprehensive education strategy for the Navy and Marine Corps, said John Kroger, who is implementing the strategy as the Navy's first chief learning officer. It is very much a response to the nation's geopolitical position in the world today, versus the advantages it had at the end of the Cold War, Kroger said, noting China's economic strength and investments in 5G networks, energy storage and other major technologies that matter for war-fighting.
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| Super Tuesday: Professor who predicted last 9 elections says Democrats could face first brokered convention in nearly 70 years Posted: 02 Mar 2020 04:31 AM PST  Days out from Super Tuesday, when voters in 14 states will cast ballots in the Democratic primary, a professor who predicted the past nine elections says that the United States may well be staring down its first brokered convention in nearly 70 years.It's a prospect that has stirred considerable consternation among Democratic Party officials and voters, many of whom have said their primary concern is beating Donald Trump in November — even as an enthusiastic debate over the future of democratic politics has raged on the campaign trail.
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| Fox News Host Claims Chinese People Eating ‘Raw Bats’ to Blame for Coronavirus Posted: 02 Mar 2020 03:44 PM PST  Fox News host Jesse Watters demanded a formal apology from China on Monday before pushing unproven rumors that the new coronavirus came from Chinese citizens "eating raw bats and snakes."With fears heightening around the virus as the death toll in the United States jumped to at least six on Monday, Watters began Monday's broadcast of Fox News chatfest The Five by lashing out at China, which has been the epicenter of the growing pandemic."I would like to just ask the Chinese for a formal apology," Watters said. "This coronavirus originated in China, and I have not heard one word from the Chinese. A simple 'I am sorry' would do."As the rest of his colleagues appeared somewhat embarrassed and tried to laugh off his rant, Watters then insisted that the virus originated from the Chinese eating diseased uncooked animals."Let me tell you why it happened in China," he declared. "They have these markets where they were eating raw bats and snakes.""No, Jesse," co-host Dana Perino pleaded as the other hosts could be seen face-palming."They are very hungry people," Watters continued, causing more laughter. "The Chinese communist government cannot feed the people. And they are desperate, this food is uncooked, it is unsafe. And that is why scientists believe that's where it originated from.""And according to The New York Times, Dana, the Chinese government has been very deceitful and deceptive in the communicating the extent of the infections to the world," Watters concluded. "So, as I said, tomorrow I will expect an apology."Except it is not clear that COVID-19, as it the disease is officially known, originated at a Chinese market in which shoppers purchased bats to eat. Earlier this year, right-wing media was abuzz over claims that "bat soup" was to blame for the disease spreading, based largely on a viral video that was later debunked. (The video was actually of a travel show host in a Pacific island nation, and bats aren't considered a delicacy in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus first exploded.)Furthermore, while a "wet market"—markets that sell live animals for food and medicine—was initially believed to be the origin of the outbreak, it appears that specific market may not have been the cause at all, as the earliest known victims had no contact with it. And while the virus likely originated with bats, it still hasn't been fully established how it moved from the bats to humans.Watters, meanwhile, has a history of making culturally insensitive remarks and innuendo, particularly about Asians. The Fox personality sparked outrage in 2016 for a Chinatown segment that featured blatantly racist mockery of Asian-Americans, prompting an apology.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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| Former Bloomberg employees, citing confidentiality agreements, say they fear speaking out about a toxic workplace culture Posted: 02 Mar 2020 08:47 AM PST  At least a dozen former Bloomberg LP employees said they signed agreements with the company that limited their ability to speak freely, with some describing a powerful sense of fear at risking the ire of Mike Bloomberg.
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| Klobuchar Forced to Cancel Home-State Rally Due to Black Lives Matter Protestors Posted: 02 Mar 2020 05:18 AM PST  Senator Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) cancelled a rally in her home state on Sunday night after dozens of Black Lives Matter and Minneapolis NAACP protestors stormed into the event and took over the stage to protest Klobuchar's prosecutorial record.A Klobuchar spokesperson said the senator offered to meet with the protestors privately, a request reportedly turned down by the civil rights activists, who delayed the event by around 40 minutes before it was cancelled."The campaign offered a meeting with the senator if they would leave the stage after being onstage for more than an hour," the spokesperson said. "After the group initially agreed, they backed out of the agreement and we are canceling the event."But protestors contested the narrative, saying they had never backed out of a deal to meet with Klobuchar."We thought that Amy Klobuchar speaking about Myon's case with Myon's family onstage was a reasonable request and a good way to let attendees know why we were there," Nekima Levy Armstrong, a civil rights lawyer and Black Lives Matter activist, tweeted. "Instead of responding to this request, Amy's team decided to cancel the event. We didn't know until media told us."The activists chanted, "Klobuchar has got to go," and "Free Myon" — a reference to Myon Burrell, who was sentenced to life in prison following the 2002 shooting death of an 11-year-old girl, when Klobuchar was the top prosecutor in Hennepin County, Minn.> ST. LOUIS PARK, MN — Protesters in Senator Klobuchar's home state have stormed the stage at her campaign rally, with dozens chanting, "Free Myon!" and "Klobuchar has got to go!" pic.twitter.com/n0MLZK3mO7> > -- Nicole Sganga (@NicoleSganga) March 2, 2020Calls for Klobuchar — who participated in a civil rights event Sunday with other 2020 candidates to commemorate the 55th anniversary of Selma's "Bloody Sunday" — to end her campaign have intensified in recent weeks over the Burrell case, after an extensive report from The Associated Press highlighted a number of inconsistencies in the case. Burrell, his family, and activists say he was wrongfully convicted, and while Klobuchar has said the case should be reviewed if the lack of evidence warrants it, activists say she is complicit in the case."This is a tale of two cities. There's a real distinction between how we see Amy Klobuchar, and it's because she keeps hiding behind her progressive background or values, but she's actually not as progressive as she comes across," Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis NAACP, told USA Today.
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| Judge orders Hillary Clinton deposition in email flap Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:01 AM PST |
| Mexico speeds up extraditions of cartel bosses to U.S. Posted: 02 Mar 2020 12:38 PM PST |
| Virus hammers garment industries in Cambodia, Vietnam Posted: 02 Mar 2020 02:59 AM PST  Cambodia's multi-billion-dollar garment industry is at risk of chain disruption from the deadly coronavirus, its strongman premier said Monday, as the outbreak cripples Southeast Asia's key industries, bringing border trade to a trickle. The death toll from the virus, which emerged from Wuhan in central China, has reached over 3,000 worldwide -- the bulk of the fatalities in the mainland. Beijing issued unprecedented lockdowns for cities and provinces most affected, bringing to a shuddering halt the so-called "Factory of the World" -- key to a global supply chain.
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| Waste of Time: Trump Wants to Cut Taxes to Battle the Coronavirus. Posted: 29 Feb 2020 06:21 PM PST  Simply put, coronavirus's impact on the economy is both a consumer confidence issue, as well as a supply-chain and labour-supply issue, which cannot be fixed by any policy.
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| Friends say Tijuana woman was stalked even after death Posted: 01 Mar 2020 09:04 PM PST  The man was obsessed with Marbella Valdez. The man — identified by Mexican rules only by his first name, Juan — has insisted on his innocence. Authorities in the border state of Baja California confirmed that the suspect is the man seen in photographs depositing flowers on Marbella's coffin as it was lowered into the ground on Feb. 14.
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| California's rules for independent party voters could suppress the Bernie vote Posted: 02 Mar 2020 12:46 PM PST  The state's arcane and complex voting system could steal hundreds of thousands of votes from Bernie SandersIn February, California mailed 3.7m primary ballots that, to the astonishment of many who received them, excluded the presidential candidates. These ballots do have candidates for all other primary races, including for Congress, but not the race for president.Within this mountain of primary ballots, artifacts of California's arcane and complex voting system, lies the potential to cripple the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, the favored candidate among independent party voters.Particularly at risk of losing their vote are 18- to 24-year-olds and Latinx voters, groups that strongly favor "Tio Bernie". A quarter of independent voters, more than 1 million people, are Latinx, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.Even if Sanders, as expected, wins the plurality of California's votes, he could well be shorted out of hundreds of thousands of votes and scores of delegates. The other candidate at risk in California's odd, troubled balloting: Mike Bloomberg.How did this happen? While Californians, including independent voters, vote overwhelmingly for Democrats in general elections, 5.3 million Golden state voters register "NPP",: no party preference.These 5 million independents legally have the right to vote in the Democratic primary, but the Democratic party has created an inscrutable obstacle course for them to do so, one that amounts to another type of voter suppression.dividerThe problem begins with a postcard.Last autumn, all 5 million NPP voters were mailed a postcard allowing them to request a ballot with the Democratic party presidential choices. However, as many states have learned, postcards with voter information largely look like junk mail and get thrown out.If the independents don't respond to the postcards, they get a ballot without presidential choices. But they have one more chance to vote for a candidate in the primaries: at the ballot box.At the polling station, though, things remain confusing. According to rules set by the national Democratic party, the independent voters have to bring in their NPP ballot to the polling station and request to exchange it for a "crossover Democratic" ballot that lists the candidates.However, if the voter fails to ask for the "crossover" ballot by its specific name, the poll worker is barred from suggesting it and they won't receive it.Jen Abreu, a poll worker, told me about the disaster this created in 2016: "If this NPP voter did not specifically ask for a Democratic crossover ballot, they were given an official NPP ballot, which did not list presidential candidates."There's another, new way NPP voters may obtain a presidential ballot: re-register from NPP to Democrat right at the polling station on election day and thereby get a presidential ballot.However, this same day registration option is little known, not advertised by the state – and I found not a single sign at the four voting centers I visited that mentioned the new option.dividerWhat's the impact of this labyrinthine ballot dance? A lot, according to the statistician Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc, a private firm employed by both the Republican and Democratic parties.Mitchell recently completed a poll of 700 independent voters and found that while 61% wanted to vote in the Democratic primary, nearly half (45%) were clueless about how to get a Democratic ballot. Another third of NPP voters believed that they could not exchange their no-candidate ballots – though the law says they may.This year, hundreds of thousands of these voters have already mailed back the NPP ballot without presidential candidates because, according to Mitchell's polling, they assumed they had no ability to exchange it.This past week, Mitchell's pollsters also asked 300 NPP voters whom they'd vote for if they had obtained the correct ballot. About 26% preferred Sanders, which translates to 553,000 potential lost votes, by Mitchell's estimates. Mike Bloomberg, meanwhile, could come up 383,000 votes short.dividerThe Democratic National Committee chiefs, who created and uphold the rules, show little sympathy for the millions of non-Democrats who want to exercise their right to vote in their primary but refuse to register as Democrats.And that could be because they will continue to back only establishment candidates. Notably, Joe Biden is endorsed by the California official who directs this tragi-comic voting process, the secretary of state, Alex Padilla.By contrast, in Colorado, another vote-by-mail state, the secretary of state simply ignores the DNC, sending every independent voter both a Republican and a Democratic party primary ballot – providing an easy way to vote as they choose.Will California's voters choose the Democratic candidate ... or will the DNC obstacle course bend the outcome? * Greg Palast has investigated vote suppression for 20 years for the Guardian, Rolling Stone and the BBC's Newsnight
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| South Korea’s Creepy Coronavirus Cellphone Alerts are Useful, But They May Be TMI Posted: 02 Mar 2020 02:49 AM PST  SEOUL–In high-tech South Korean society millions of mobile phones are beeping at once with the disturbing words "Emergency Alert."In the midst of a medical crisis that refuses to go away, the messages are more than urgent warnings to wash hands and avoid crowds. They offer details tailored to the city, the ward, the place where the latest patient is known to have been. This as as the number of those suffering from COVID-19 soared to nearly 4,000 and the 20th death was reported Sunday.Coronavirus Spread by a Second Coming 'Cult' Has Put South Korea on 'Maximum Alert'One example: In Dongdaemun, an historic part of Seoul normally seething with shoppers and diners we suddenly learn one person with the virus "visited the Jung-yuk Restaurant between 7 and 9 p.m. on 29 February. We sanitized the place at 3:50 p.m., 1 March, and closed the restaurant." Anyone with a mobile phone is getting dozens of alerts like that, even as a deathly calm has settled over cities and towns.March 1 is a big day in South Korea. This was the 101st anniversary of a revolt against Japanese rule in 1919, and crowds normally fill the broad streets and parks to mark the occasion, but the only sign of the observance this year was a televised appearance by President Moon Jae-in, who spent much of his time parrying criticism of the way he's handled the novel coronavirus outbreak."All the people will come together and overcome even today's crisis," Moon said at a ceremony in a girl's high school, but the words were hardly reassuring as the alerts poured in."Moon is too kind to China," said Choi Tae-hyun, an opposition politico. "He should have stopped the Chinese from coming here." Then Choi clicked on his mobile as more messages flashed on the screen:In Incheon, the port city west of Seoul where Choi has been campaigning for a seat in the National Assembly, the local government confirmed another patient. "Do not go to public events," the message implored. "Please wear face masks."Another message, from central Seoul, offered still more detail. "We have confirmed a patient from another ward went to Jigae Restaurant," it said. "This person visited between 9:30 and 11:00 pm. We sanitized the area, and the restaurant closed." The message concluded, "If you visited this restaurant, please contact the ward office." Although most of the cases reported so far have been in the city of Daegu and the nearby town of Cheongdo, where the first deaths were reported in a local hospital, the fear is the disease can spread around the country as it did in China after the first outbreak in the industrial city of Wuhan. As reports pop up on mobile screens, the sense is the virus might strike anywhere, indiscriminately, in defiance of efforts to contain it. In Seongbuk ward, where billionaires and millionaires live in splendid isolation on a twisting road in the hills of northern Seoul, "One case is confirmed," said an alert. The bulletin did not say where but urged, "If you have any fever or respiratory illness, contact our office." On the southern fringe of the capital, in a town named Kwacheon, shared by several government ministries and a prison, "a woman in her 50s is confined as a patient," said an alert. "She is a worker in the ward office." For those wanting to know where she had been, the message advised, "her whereabouts can be traced on our home page." The technical efficiency and cold crispness of the messages fueled rising resentment of Moon and the people around him. "Merchants are angry," said Shim Jae-hoon, a writer who grew up in Daegu but has lived in Seoul for years. "They are attacking the government for misleading them into believing this virus would be over in a few days." In his call for unity Moon did not mention China, but his eagerness to get along with South Korea's biggest trading partner keeps coming up, and is turning into a political liability. "He should have closed the border against China," said Shim. "Instead he opened the door." It was from China that members of the Shincheonji cult, which claims 210,000 adherents around the country, are assumed to have caught the bug while visiting fellow church members in Wuhan. North Korea's Secret Coronavirus Crisis is Crazy ScaryNow, as once huge numbers of Chinese tourists are gone, about 10,000 young Chinese are due to return to university campuses here after their spring break. The students may stay away while the government here, as in China and Japan, suspends classes, but some conservatives are calling for keeping them out much longer.In Daegu, Hwang Kyo-ahn, who was prime minister and acting president before Moon's victory in the snap election three years ago, promised during a tour of the ancient central market to set matters straight. "I will do my best to get things done as soon as possible," Hwang, wearing a black face-mask, told a scrum of journalists pursuing him past thousands of shuttered shops and dining places. The inference was clear—Moon and his government have failed. And every alert on the phone just drives that point home.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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| Bloomberg News' former Washington editor Al Hunt was accused over the course of years by multiple women of giving unsolicited massages and verbally berating employees for minor infractions Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:45 AM PST  Al Hunt, Bloomberg News' former Washington editor, was accused by multiple women of giving unsolicited massages and verbally berating employees.
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| Roger Stone Jurors Will Get Free Legal Help During Bias Dispute Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:07 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Jurors who convicted Republican operative Roger Stone for lying to Congress during the Russia investigation will get free legal representation while a journalist attempts to access a jury questionnaire.In a decision on Monday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson appointed Alan C. Raul to represent the jurors. The ruling was made in response to an attempt by journalist and right-wing provocateur Michael Cernovich to intervene in the case and gain access to information about the jurors, including their responses to a series of questions before the trial to vet who could be impartial.Stone has requested a new trial on the grounds that the jury foreperson was biased against him and President Donald Trump.The court determined "it would be in the interest of justice and that it would aid the court in the full and fair resolution of this miscellaneous matter to appoint pro bono counsel to represent any juror or jurors who choose to participate in it," the judge said in an order in Washington.To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter JeffreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| As riots engulf India's capital, two friends cross religious divide to document violence Posted: 01 Mar 2020 01:00 AM PST  At least 30 people were killed and more than 200 injured in sectarian riots engulfing the Indian capital.
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| U.S. Supreme Court blocks another cross-border shooting claim Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:44 AM PST |
| No handshake for Merkel as Germany coronavirus cases reach 150 Posted: 02 Mar 2020 08:17 AM PST  Germany's interior minister rebuffed Chancellor Angela Merkel's attempt to shake hands with him on Monday as the number of novel coronavirus cases in the country rose to 157 with Berlin reporting its first infection. When Merkel reached out to greet Horst Seehofer at a meeting on migration in Berlin, he smiled and kept both his hands to himself. Health experts have recommended avoiding handshakes as a way of preventing the spread of the novel coronavirus.
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| Snowy Wyoming highway pileup kills 3, injures dozens Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:32 AM PST  At least three people died and dozens were injured in a pileup involving more than 100 vehicles amid blowing snow that closed part of Interstate 80 in Wyoming, officials said Monday. About 30 people were taken to the emergency room at Memorial Hospital of Carbon County in the small city of Rawlins, hospital spokeswoman Stephanie Hinkle told the Casper Star-Tribune. The smaller pileup, on I-80 just 4 miles (6 kilometers) away from the larger pileup, injured at least seven people, including one person who was hospitalized in critical condition, Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jason Mower said.
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| Israeli exit polls: Netanyahu just short of majority Posted: 02 Mar 2020 03:42 PM PST  Two prior elections failed to produce a functioning government.
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| Cuomo Reveals First NYC Coronavirus Patient Is a Health Care Worker Posted: 02 Mar 2020 06:23 AM PST  New York Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed Monday that the first person to test positive for coronavirus in New York city was a health worker who had recently traveled to Iran.Cuomo cited the patient's background during praise for the "textbook way" the 39-year-old woman operated after returning home from Iran. He added that the patient was "not symptomatic" upon returning to New York, and was self-isolated in her apartment in Manhattan."She was not on any public transportation, she has been in her home virtually isolated and she is isolated once again," Cuomo told CNN. "So in this case, because of those circumstances — because of her knowledge — she acted in a textbook way."In his initial release detailing the case, Cuomo made no mention of the patient's status as a healthcare worker.> We have learned of the 1st positive case of COVID-19 in NY. The patient contracted the virus while in Iran & is isolated> > There is no reason for undue anxiety—the general risk remains low in NY. We are diligently managing this situation &will provide info as it becomes available. pic.twitter.com/rLnObvrg3R> > -- Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) March 2, 2020Cuomo also admitted that while "at this point we have no reason for concern," it is "inevitable" that there will be "community spread.""You can't have it be in this many places in the globe and this many places in the country and not be in New York. So that is going to happen," he stated.U.S. officials announced Sunday night that the second American had died from the virus, with both mortalities occurring in the same hospital in Kirkland, Wash. As of Sunday night, 88 cases of coronavirus have been identified in the United States.
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| A CDC lab is said to be under investigation after contamination fears, another sign the US botched its rollout of coronavirus testing kits Posted: 02 Mar 2020 03:39 AM PST  An FDA official raised the alarm about possible contamination in the lab, where there had been a "manufacturing issue," Axios reported.
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| Mexico’s Peso Hits Five-Month Low as President Lauds Resilience Posted: 02 Mar 2020 06:55 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The Mexican peso fell for an eighth consecutive day Monday, its longest losing streak since 2011, taking it to the lowest since October as the coronavirus infected more people.The peso weakened 0.7% as of 8:49 a.m. local time, bringing its decline in the past month to 4.8%, the worst performance in emerging markets after Brazil's real. The Latin American nation has now reported five confirmed cases of coronavirus.In a morning press conference, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador preferred to highlight the rally in the peso since he took office in late 2018. While he agreed that the peso has taken a hit, he said that the starting point as one of the world's best performing currencies meant it had further to fall."Our economy has resisted, especially the peso," Lopez Obrador told reporters. "It endured this first stage of coronavirus spread. There has been a depreciation, but it was already very strong."The spread of the virus has potential to hurt Mexico's already moribund economy, which registered a 0.1% contraction in gross domestic product last year. Since Lopez Obrador's election, the peso remains the third-best performing major currency, but the sixth worst year to date.Recent declines are "a reflection of the market anticipating the virus situation in Mexico," said Danny Fang, a New York-based strategist at BBVA.Global coronavirus cases reached 89,000 on Monday, with the death toll rising to 3,044. Mexico reported its first case on Thursday last week.To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Villamil in Mexico City at jvillamil18@bloomberg.net;Lorena Rios in Mexico City at lriost@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Carolina Wilson at cwilson166@bloomberg.net, Philip SandersFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Stepmom of Missing Colorado Boy Gannon Stauch Charged With Murder Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:05 AM PST  The stepmother of Gannon Stauch, an 11-year-old who has been missing for five weeks in Colorado Springs, was arrested in South Carolina and charged with first-degree murder, Colorado authorities confirmed Monday.Letecia Stauch, who was the last person to see the boy, faces several other charges including child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a body, and tampering with physical evidence.The El Paso County Sheriff's Office, which has been leading the search for the 11 year old, announced the charges at a press conference in Colorado Springs on Monday."As you can see by the arrest, we no longer believe that Gannon is alive," Lt. Mitch Mihalko said.Sheriff Bill Elder said that investigators will remain "steadfast and diligent until the final prosecution." Letecia Stauch is being held without bond and has been extradited to Colorado, he added. "Justice will be served because my boy does not deserve this," said Gannon's biological mother, Landen Hiott, standing alongside the boy's father, Albert Stauch, at the press conference. "She will pay 100 percent for this thing that she did," Hiott added, "because I want to live on this Earth knowing that justice will be served for my little boy."Gannon's father said in a statement that was read aloud during the press conference, "The person who committed this heinous, horrible crime is one that I gave more to anyone else on this planet, and that is a burden that I will carry with me for a very long time."Letecia initially reported Gannon missing, telling authorities that he walked over to a friend's house at 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 27 and never returned. She told El Paso County police that she believed the child had been abducted.But a video provided by the family's neighbor in Colorado Springs called her story into question, as it appeared to show the child entering his stepmother's truck and leaving with her on the day he disappeared. The video apparently shows Stauch returning home without her stepson.It was later revealed that he did not attend school that Monday.'Come Home': Search Is on for Colorado Boy Who Vanished Two Weeks AgoIn February, El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Deborah Mynatt cast doubt on Gannon's alleged kidnapping, saying, "We are really trying to also ensure that the community knows if there was a threat of some sort of public safety statement, if there was an abduction of some sort, if that information was revealed to us… we would absolutely put that out," according to People magazine.Landen Hiott said in a video statement released earlier in February, "I don't even have answers for my feelings, other than I'm afraid," adding, "Afraid that I will never hear his voice, that I will never hear him run and say, 'Mommy!,' that I will never hear those corny jokes that he always tells. I am afraid I will never see that again or hear it."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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| Democratic voters in Texas and California view Sanders's socialism more favorably than capitalism, new poll shows Posted: 02 Mar 2020 10:24 AM PST  Joe Biden now has a convincing Democratic presidential primary win under his belt after he soundly defeated the field in South Carolina on Saturday. But Sen. Bernie Sanders remains the national favorite for the nomination, and a new poll from CBS suggests he's not giving up that standing anytime soon.
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| Argentine president to send abortion legalization law to Congress Posted: 01 Mar 2020 11:09 AM PST  Argentine President Alberto Fernandez announced on Sunday that he will send to Congress a bill to legalize abortion, an initiative that has broad social support but is also strongly opposed by religious groups in Pope Francis' home nation. The center-left Peronist president, who took office in December, will also capitalize on his strong electoral mandate to reform the judiciary and Argentina's intelligence services, he told Congress in a speech to open the body's ordinary sessions. Fernandez was accompanied by a crowd waving the flags of his "Frente de Todos" coalition and presented to the house by his vice president and the senate head, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
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| Superpower Tank Showdown: Is China, America, or Russia the Best? Posted: 02 Mar 2020 06:20 AM PST  Let's take a look.
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| Did You Know Your Battery Can Explode If Not Recycled Properly? Posted: 02 Mar 2020 08:47 AM PST |
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