| ‘Backhanded racism’: Biden supporters weigh in after GOP senator mocks Kamala Harris’s name Posted: 18 Oct 2020 02:12 PM PDT  After Sen. David Perdue mocked Kamala Harris's name, Democratic supporters launched a viral Twitter campaign and called the comments "backhanded racism."
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| Trump's rallies define his view of liberty: The right not to care about other people Posted: 19 Oct 2020 01:03 PM PDT  President Trump made a fateful decision last week to return to holding mass rallies despite warnings from health officials about doing so during a pandemic.
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| DNI Ratcliffe: Hunter Biden Emails, Laptop ‘Not Part of Some Russian Disinformation Campaign’ Posted: 19 Oct 2020 06:45 AM PDT  Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe on Monday said Hunter Biden's recovered laptop and emails, which purportedly show Joe Biden had involvement in his son's foreign business dealings, are "not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."Ratcliffe's comments, which refute claims made by House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff that the emails are a smear attempt coming "from the Kremlin," came during an appearance on FOX Business."It's funny that some of the people who complain the most about intelligence being politicized are the ones politicizing the intelligence," Ratcliffe said. "Unfortunately, it is Adam Schiff who said the intelligence community believes the Hunter Biden laptop and emails on it are part of a Russian disinformation campaign."He continued: "Let me be clear: the intelligence community doesn't believe that because there is no intelligence that supports that. And we have shared no intelligence with Adam Schiff, or any member of Congress."A New York Post report last week details emails which suggest Hunter Biden may have made an introduction between his father, then- Vice President Joe Biden, and a Ukrainian adviser to Burisma Holdings in 2015. The documents were reportedly recovered from a laptop computer that was dropped off at a repair shop in Delaware in April 2019 but never retrieved. The authenticity of the emails has not been confirmed."We know that this whole smear on Joe Biden comes from the Kremlin," Schiff said of the emails on CNN. "That's been clear for well over a year now that they've been pushing this false narrative about this vice president and his son."Ratcliffe said the claims of Russian disinformation are "simply not true.""Hunter Biden's laptop is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign," Ratcliffe said. "This is not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."He said the laptop is "in the jurisdiction of the FBI" and the Bureau's investigation "is not centered around Russian disinformation and the intelligence community is not playing any role with respect to that."
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| Many homes likely lost in north-central Colorado fires Posted: 18 Oct 2020 10:50 AM PDT  Nearly 3,000 people were forced to flee from a fast-moving fire in north-central Colorado and authorities believe a large number of homes were destroyed. The CalWood Fire started around noon Saturday near the Cal-Wood Education Center, which is about 17 miles (27 kilometers) from downtown Boulder. The National Center for Atmospheric Research's Mesa lab recorded gusts of 59 mph (95 kph) on Saturday.
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| JetBlue just revealed its newest jet, the controversial Airbus A220 that the airline will be the second in the US to operate Posted: 19 Oct 2020 09:34 AM PDT  JetBlue will only the second US airline to the fly the Airbus A220, which has been a fan favorite for travelers and will give flyers a much-needed upgrade.
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| 'Overjoyed': Missing Zion National Park hiker Holly Courtier found alive after 12 days Posted: 18 Oct 2020 03:05 PM PDT  Park rangers located Courtier after receiving a "credible tip from a park visitor," the National Park Service said in a Sunday news release.
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| Unmasked man in Washington grocery store speaks out after video goes viral Posted: 19 Oct 2020 09:08 AM PDT  In the viral video, an employee confronts Scott, who said his medical condition prevents him from wearing a mask.
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| 12 Everyday Household Items That Are Worth the Investment Posted: 19 Oct 2020 10:31 AM PDT |
| Texas Republican becomes latest to attack Trump as senate races tighten Posted: 19 Oct 2020 06:01 AM PDT  Senator compares dealing with president to unhappy marriage, says change 'doesn't usually work out very well'
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| Rudy’s ‘Russian Agent’ Pal Booted from Facebook for U.S. Election Interference Posted: 19 Oct 2020 08:18 AM PDT  Facebook has suspended the account of Ukrainian politician—and alleged Russian agent—Andrii Derkach for election interference activity.The member of Ukraine's parliament has been working with President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to gather allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson told The Daily Beast, "We removed this account and this Page for violating our policy against the use of our platform by people engaged in election-focused influence operations."Derkach was sanctioned by the Treasury Department in September for allegedly acting as an agent of Russian intelligence and being "directly or indirectly engaged in, sponsored, concealed, or otherwise been complicit in foreign interference in an attempt to undermine the upcoming 2020 U.S. presidential election."Rudy: Only '50/50' Chance I Worked With a 'Russian Spy' to Dig Dirt on Bidens and UkraineThrough his "Nabu Leaks" website, Derkach began spreading leaked recordings of conversations between Vice President Biden and former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko discussing a $1 billion loan to Ukraine and the need to fire an allegedly corrupt former prosecutor. Derkach and a number of Republican politicians have spread unsubstantiated allegations that Biden's internationally backed pressure on Ukraine to fire its prosecutor general was part of a corruption scheme involving Burisma, a Ukrainian gas company where Biden's son, Hunter, sat on the board.Giuliani has come under increasing scrutiny for his relationship with Derkach, as revelations swirl about the U.S. intelligence community's concerns that Russian spies may have tried to use the former mayor of New York as a conduit to launder disinformation from Moscow.Giuliani's relationship with Derkach blossomed as he traveled around Ukraine in search of dirt on Biden's son. Giuliani interviewed Derkach for a video series about his Hunter Biden conspiracy theories and recently told The Daily Beast, "The chance that Derkach is a Russian spy is no better than 50/50."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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| Tourist seen hand-feeding a bear on TikTok has been charged, Tennessee officials say Posted: 19 Oct 2020 08:47 AM PDT  She appeared to give the animal chocolate and watermelon, footage from a mountain town shows.
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| 3 billion people could struggle to get a COVID-19 vaccine because the world doesn't have enough fridges to store it Posted: 19 Oct 2020 03:45 AM PDT  Large parts of Asia, Latin America, and Africa lack sufficient cold storage facilities to keep a potential COVID-19 vaccine.
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| Montana federal prosecutor warns of dangers of pot legalization ahead of vote Posted: 19 Oct 2020 02:43 PM PDT  Montana's top federal prosecutor is urging voters to tread carefully before voting to legalize recreational marijuana, taking the unusual step of jumping into a political debate about a ballot initiative in the weeks before the election. In an op-ed published in several newspapers in recent days and posted on the Justice Department's website on Monday, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme told voters they should "review in detail" a pair of ballot initiatives that would legalize cannabis for adults ages 21 and older, warning that marijuana is addictive, could lead to more traffic accidents and could even "increase the risk of severe complications from COVID-19." Smoking, whether marijuana or tobacco, could increase risk of severe COVID-19 due to potential for lung inflammation.
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| Journalist went undercover with French police. He found racism, brutality and a toxic culture. Posted: 19 Oct 2020 03:13 AM PDT  "It's a police force where you can do whatever you want," Gendrot told NBC News.
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| Michigan Republican fundraised at DeVos family home while trying to downplay financial ties Posted: 19 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  John James bought ads to distance himself from Betsy DeVos as super PAC funded by family poured millions into race
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| Trump attacks kidnap plot victim Gretchen Whitmer as campaign heads to Wisconsin and Michigan Posted: 17 Oct 2020 07:17 PM PDT  Both states break records for coronavirus cases as nation enters third 'surge'
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| Sen. Schumer, McConnell spar over COVID relief bill Posted: 19 Oct 2020 02:12 PM PDT  Schumer is not impressed with McConnell's latest proposal. The Senate minority leader, Charles Schumer, believes Republicans and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell are the reason an agreement on a COVID-19 relief hasn't been made. On a call with reporters on Sunday, The Hill reports that Schumer says Senate Republicans are the "No. 1 reason there's no agreement," and they "won't even go along with what Trump is willing" to get done.
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| A preschooler who spotted a missing endangered lemur gets a lifetime pass to the San Francisco Zoo Posted: 18 Oct 2020 07:27 AM PDT  The 5-year-old, James Trinh, was walking out of school on Thursday when he spotted the elderly and endangered lemur on the loose.
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| U.S. Postal carrier charged with stealing Miami-Dade mail-in ballot, debit cards Posted: 19 Oct 2020 01:45 PM PDT  A U.S. Postal Service carrier has been arrested on charges of stealing one Miami-Dade County mail-in ballot that was sent to a Miami Beach resident earlier this month, federal authorities said Monday.
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| China denies report it may detain Americans, says U.S. mistreats its scholars Posted: 19 Oct 2020 12:56 AM PDT  China denied on Monday that foreign nationals are under threat of arbitrary detention, following a newspaper report that Beijing had warned Washington it might arrest Americans in China. The Chinese foreign ministry said it was Washington that was mistreating foreign citizens, accusing the United States of "outright political repression" of Chinese academics. "The U.S. claim that foreign nationals in China are under threat of arbitrary detention is playing the victim and confusing black and white," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a regular news briefing.
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| Chief: Indiana police recruit fired for ties to neo-Nazis Posted: 18 Oct 2020 12:45 PM PDT  A police recruit in Indiana was fired less than 24 hours after the department was notified that the officer had been involved in a neo-Nazi online chat forum.
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| Family of Moscow-Born Teen Who Beheaded Teacher Were from Chechnya Where Charlie Hebdo Cartoons Are Demonized Posted: 19 Oct 2020 06:15 AM PDT  MOSCOW—The man known as "Putin's attack dog" has spent years promoting a violent response to the publication of controversial cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. When a teenager from a Chechen family beheaded a school teacher in France on Friday for sharing these images with his class, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Putin-backed ruler of Chechnya, took to social media to lecture France about its "unacceptable attitude to Islamic values."Kadyrov has worked hard to make the French controversy a cause célèbre in the Muslim-majority region of Russia. He gathered hundreds of thousands of Chechens for an anti-Charlie Hebdo rally, just a few days after terrorists killed 12 and injured 11 people at the satirical newspaper's office in January 2015. That was the biggest rally ever seen in the Northern Caucasus. With a white vest on, Kadyrov spoke to a crowd of about a million people, calling on Muslims to rise against those who "deliberately kindle the fire of religious hostility."When Charlie Hebdo republished the cartoons on September 2 to mark the opening of a trial of those involved in the terror attack, Chechnya's official Instagram account responded with a call in the Chechen language saying, "May the Almighty punish them for their deeds as quickly as possible." Two days later Chechen Islamic jurist Salakh Mezhiyev condemned the French publication as part of "the West's well-planned attack against Islam." A rain of angry statements followed, and Instagram users called to make Charlie Hebdo "burn in hell."Parents of Student Arrested After Teacher Beheaded for Showing Anti-Muslim CartoonSvetlana Gannushkina, the head of Moscow's Civic Assistance Committee, said there could be no doubt what the Chechen leader was advocating. "The message Kadyrov has been sending his people is pretty clear, she told The Daily Beast. "He calls for Muslims to take measures against those mocking Muhammad."The son of a Chechen émigré family in the suburbs of Paris did just that on Friday. A French teacher of geography and history, 47-year old Samuel Paty, was decapitated in the street in the Conflans Saint-Honorine neighborhood by Abdullah Anzorov, 18, about a week after Paty had shown the Muhammed cartoons to his students.Witnesses heard Anzorov yell during the attack, "Allahu Akbar!" The attacker was later shot dead after firing a plastic pellet gun at police. The authorities have arrested at least ten members of Anzorov's Chechen family.The teenager himself was born in Moscow and only visited Chechnya as a young child, but Grigory Shvedov, editor-in-chief of the Caucasian Knot media site, told The Daily Beast that Kadyrov's influence stretched well beyond the republic's borders. "It has to do with so-called 'Kadyrovtsy,' they are responsible for spreading intolerance, hatred of critical thinking," he said. "The murder in France took place after Chechnya's main mufti condemned Charlie Hebdo."Kadyrov, whose hardline policies are fully supported by President Vladimir Putin, did condemn the terrorist attack at the end of his social media tirade, but he also doubled down on his criticism of the cartoonists and those who would challenge Islamic fundamentalism. "While speaking out categorically against any manifestation of terrorism," he wrote. "I also urge not to provoke believers, not to offend their religious feelings."Kadyrov has been lecturing on public morality and behavior for years. Enjoying Kremlin-backed power in his republic, he forbade smoking and drinking, banned women from entering state buildings without scarves on, and called for a crusade against his own LGBT citizens in order "to purify our blood."Chechen nationals across the world continue to follow Kadyrov, watching his videos and messages on Telegram and Instagram. His own Instagram account was blocked after U.S. sanctions, but he continues to spread his message via the republic's official account.Yekaterina Sokirianskaya, the founder of the Conflict Analysis and Prevention Center think tank, has been researching Chechen émigrés in Europe and the U.S. "Many Chechens in the West are shocked, ashamed, they condemned the murderer for spoiling their nation's reputation," she said. "As my own research showed, most young Chechen refugees blend in, learn languages, study and work on the West. They have no other home, since returning to Chechnya would be too dangerous for most of them."Judging by how much Anzorov rushed to photograph his beheaded victim and publish photographs on Twitter, he was prepared for a demonstratively violent act for some time, using the teacher as a pretext."The shocking photographs were published on Twitter in a post addressed to French President Emmanuel Macron, which read, "I have executed one of your dogs."Chechnya watchers in Russia believe that many Muslims who oppose Kadyrov's domestic policy have been seduced by his criticism of Charlie Hebdo and French politicians who support tolerance and freedom of speech. "Kadyrov makes statements about Muslims in Myanmar, Muslims in Palestine, he has ambitions of becoming the leading voice for all Russian Muslims," Sokirianskaya told The Daily Beast.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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| Supreme Court justices chastise Vermont on the limits of police power in 'deer jacking' case Posted: 19 Oct 2020 08:40 AM PDT  Vermont's high court ruled that game wardens had a legal right to wander around the land of a homeowner suspected of illegally hunting deer at night.
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| Trump reportedly invited a waiter into a top secret intelligence briefing room to order a milkshake Posted: 19 Oct 2020 07:57 AM PDT  Look, sometimes a man just needs a malted milkshake. Admittedly, there are less opportune moments to indulge in such a craving — say, when you're in a highly classified briefing about Afghanistan with your country's senior defense and intelligence officials.Nevertheless, President Trump reportedly brought such a huddle to a halt a few months after he took office in 2017, Politico reports. "Does anyone want a malt?" the commander-in-chief supposedly asked the top-ranking officials who'd assembled for the briefing at his New Jersey golf club, including the head of the CIA's Special Activities Center, "a little known unit" that is "responsible for operations that include clandestine or covert operations with which the U.S. government does not want to be overtly associated," Spec Ops Magazine explains.Trump urged, "We have the best malts, you have to try them," before inviting a waiter into the code-word-secure briefing room to satisfy his sweet tooth. "The malt episode ... became legendary inside the CIA, said three former officials," Politico writes, explaining that "it was seen as an early harbinger of Trump's disinterest in intelligence, which would later be borne out by the new president's notorious resistance to reading his classified daily briefing." (That is to say, pictures were added to the briefings to help keep him engaged).Still, this is a man who has flexed the power of the nation's highest office to … install a button on his desk in the Oval Office that summons a butler to bring him a Diet Coke. The briefings can wait! To paraphrase a queen of France who was similarly burdened with the trivialities of running a country when there were sweets to consume, let them drink milkshakes.More stories from theweek.com Will Kansas go blue? What happened to third party candidates? If Roe falls
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| Bloomberg Gun Control Group Pours $4.4 Million into Battleground States in Final Weeks Posted: 19 Oct 2020 09:05 AM PDT  Everytown for Gun Safety, the gun-control advocacy group founded by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, is spending $4.4 million on ads in six battleground states in the final weeks of the presidential election campaign, Politico reported on Monday.The group is spending a total of $60 million on ads in 2020 election races. In Texas, Everytown is running $2 million worth of ads attacking Republican candidates in the state's 22nd and 24th congressional districts over their support for gun rights. Another $1.4 million has been devoted to flipping state legislatures in Texas, Arizona, North Carolina, Iowa, and Minnesota, while $1 million is focused on voter mobilization efforts in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Arizona, North Carolina, and Texas.Some of the ads attempt to connect the coronavirus pandemic with casualties of gun violence."Deaths from Covid-19 and gun violence are on the rise, but Republicans in the North Carolina state legislature have failed to take the action required to keep us safe," one digital ad reads."At the onset of the pandemic, "everyone asked, 'was the political zeitgeist scrambled?' And we asked ourselves the same question," Everytown president John Feinblatt told Politico. "Our polling showed us, when you couple the dual carnage of Covid and gun violence to legislative failure to address both emergencies, it's particularly potent."Gun sales have surged across the U.S. during the coronavirus pandemic. The FBI has conducted record numbers of background checks, with 2.7 million in March at the start of the pandemic and 3.9 million in June, after widespread demonstrations and riots broke out in various cities.
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| A Texas woman in her 30s died of COVID-19 earlier this year while waiting for her plane to take off Posted: 19 Oct 2020 01:28 PM PDT  The woman reportedly had trouble breathing and required supplemental oxygen before she died while her plane was on the tarmac in Arizona.
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| A secret identity, hid in an overhead plane bin and potentially the first First Lady to work: Everything you need to know about Jill Biden Posted: 19 Oct 2020 12:27 PM PDT  Educator says she wants to keep on teaching if Joe Biden beats Donald Trump
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| Aeroflot Airlines crew members helped smuggle $50 million worth of stolen iPads, iPhones, and more into Russia, a government investigation has found Posted: 19 Oct 2020 12:16 PM PDT  The Department of State has revoked 113 visas of Aeroflot employees in connection to the smuggling scheme.
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| Lopez Obrador criticizes DEA role in Mexico after ex-army chief's arrest Posted: 18 Oct 2020 03:00 PM PDT  Mexico's president has criticized the historic role played by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in his country, days after a former Mexican army chief was arrested in Los Angeles on drug charges at the behest of the DEA. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador described Thursday's arrest of ex-Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos as evidence of rampant corruption in past governments. Speaking in the southern state of Oaxaca on Saturday, Lopez Obrador said the DEA had dealt for years with Cienfuegos and Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexico's security minister from 2006 to 2012, who has also been charged in the United States with drug-trafficking offenses.
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| French police target Islamist networks after teacher's beheading Posted: 19 Oct 2020 01:32 PM PDT  French police on Monday launched a series of raids targeting Islamist networks, three days after the beheading of a history teacher who had shown his pupils a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed.
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| Black officers break from unions over Trump endorsements Posted: 18 Oct 2020 10:09 AM PDT  Police unions have largely supported President Trump's reelection, amid mass demonstrations over police brutality and accusations of systemic racism. But a number of Black law enforcement officers are speaking out, saying their concerns over entering the 2020 political fray were ignored.
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| 6 Russians charged over most 'destructive series of computer attacks ever attributed to a single group' Posted: 19 Oct 2020 12:03 PM PDT  The Department of Justice has announced charges against six Russian intelligence officers in connection with a series of majorly "disruptive and destructive" cyberattacks.The DOJ on Monday said that a federal grand jury had indicted six Russian computer hackers, officers of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU), for their role in a series of "computer intrusions and attacks" conducted from 2015 through 2019 "for the strategic benefit of Russia." This allegedly included malware attacks against Ukraine's electric power grid, as well as efforts to disrupt France's 2017 elections and the 2018 Winter Olympics.Officials also said the defendants were responsible for "destructive malware attacks that infected computers worldwide" and led to nearly $1 billion in losses.The alleged hackers, The Washington Post notes, are a part of the same intelligence agency previously charged over interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, although the indictment unsealed on Monday didn't include charges related to U.S. election interference. NBC News' Kevin Collier wrote that "naming six officers (allegedly) responsible for election meddling and destruction two weeks before the election seems a pretty clear sign." The Post reports that "officials said the announcement was not timed to the current political schedule," however. Johns Hopkins University professor Thomas Rid also described the indictment as an "incredible document," which suggests intelligence communities "must have stunning visibility into Russian military intelligence operations if today's disclosures are considered dispensable."Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers in a statement on Monday said "no country has weaponized its cyber capabilities as maliciously or irresponsibly as Russia, wantonly causing unprecedented damage to pursue small tactical advantages and to satisfy fits of spite," saying the defendants were charged over the "most disruptive and destructive series of computer attacks ever attributed to a single group" and adding, "No nation will recapture greatness while behaving in this way."More stories from theweek.com Will Kansas go blue? What happened to third party candidates? If Roe falls
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| An idle Venezuelan tanker with millions of gallons of oil is creating panic in Trinidad Posted: 19 Oct 2020 04:23 PM PDT  More than 20 months after a Venezuelan oil tanker carrying nearly 55 million gallons of crude oil was abandoned off the country's northern coast following tightened U.S. sanctions, inspectors from neighboring Trinidad and Tobago will finally get a chance to see for themselves if the idle vessel's cargo could lead to a major ecological disaster off the Caribbean coast of South America.
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| Journalists Share Deceptively Edited Clip of GOP Michigan Senate Candidate John James’ Answer on Health Care Posted: 19 Oct 2020 01:28 PM PDT  A number of prominent journalists shared a deceptively edited video that purported to show Republican Michigan Senate candidate John James fumbling his response to a question about protecting patients with pre-existing health conditions."I don't see a full health care plan on your website. What do you want to replace it with?" anchor Devin Scillian of Detroit's Local 4 News asked James during an interview on Sunday."So here's the thing. I'm not a politician," James begins his response, at which point the video ends.During the rest of his answer that was not included in the clip, James goes on to outline his vision for health care and the proposals he believes could replace the Affordable Care Act."Health care is unaffordable for too many Americans, and I believe that by increasing competition, increasing choice, increasing quality of care, lowering costs, I think we can do that with some of the ways I proposed," James said.The Michigan Republican said he proposes "broadening the risk pools across state lines," as well as reforming the tort and regulatory hurdles that raise costs and allowing business association health plans "so people can make their own choice.""Those are the types of things through a legislative requirement that must protect preexisting conditions," James said.The video was put out by Michigan Democrats and subsequently shared by several prominent journalists and others with large Twitter followings.CNN White House correspondent John Harwood shared the video, as did Emily Singer and Oliver Willis of the American Independent and veteran broadcast journalist Soledad O'Brien. Several former government officials and entertainment personalities also shared the video along with Democratic Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's communications director and incumbent Gary Peters, James's opponent in the Senate race.The Michigan Senate race is now considered a toss up between James and Peters, according to RealClearPolitics.James has been advocating for replacing Obamacare since his first unsuccessful run for Senate in Michigan three years ago.In November 2017, James called the Affordable Care Act a "monstrosity" and declared Washington needs "someone who will go and work their tail off" to repeal and replace it."Our failure to repeal and replace Obamacare is the surest sign that we need new conservative leadership in Washington," James said at the time.
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| Donald Trump campaigns at Las Vegas church as congregation blesses him with ‘second wind’ for re-election Posted: 18 Oct 2020 12:33 PM PDT  President tells congregation: 'We are telling you, you better get out because we have a group on the other side who doesn't agree with us'
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| Elon Musk says SpaceX has a 'fighting chance' of sending its giant Starship rocket to Mars in 2024 — 2 years later than previously hoped Posted: 19 Oct 2020 08:28 AM PDT  SpaceX founder Elon Musk previously set an "aspirational" timeline for a Mars launch by 2022. Its Starship rocket is still a prototype.
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| Georgia: two rightwing Republicans face Democrat in special election debate Posted: 19 Oct 2020 08:30 AM PDT  * GOP's Kelly Loeffler and Doug Collins face Raphael Warnock * Virtual debate for Senate seat race with no primaryKelly Loeffler, the Republican US senator from Georgia who has embraced a follower of the toxic rightwing conspiracy theory QAnon in a desperate bid to hang on to her seat, squared off with her Trump-supporting rival and the leading Democratic candidate in their first debate on Monday.The virtual debate, staged through separate video links to ensure safety amid the pandemic, was a chance for voters to get to grips with one of the most volatile and chaotic races in the nation. Some 20 candidates are standing in a race which, as a special election, had no primary.Loeffler, who was appointed to the seat in January following the resignation of Johnny Isakson, is having to fend off a fierce challenge from Doug Collins, an avidly Trump-supporting congressman. The pair have been scrambling over each other in a rapid dash to the right, trying to outdo the other in their radical conservative credentials.An exchange between Collins and Loeffler featured sparring on a personal angle."You've attacked my hair, my makeup, how I talk, my clothes, where I'm from," Loeffler said, adding: "I am the true conservative. I don't have to have a record I have to lie about," the Gainesville Times reported.Collins shot back: "I've never mentioned anything personally – her fixtures, hair or anything else. But it's amazing what she [says] about me." Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of the Ebenezer Baptist church in Atlanta, where Martin Luther King preached for eight years, asked Collins if he would condemn QAnon.That is the virulent conspiracy theory rapidly which claims a cabal of Democrats and billionaires is running a paedophile and human trafficking ring and which the FBI has warned is a domestic terrorism threat."I don't agree with QAnon … and don't support them," Collins said.Loeffler said: "I don't know anything about QAnon."However, last week Loeffler appeared at a press conference with Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has spoken favorably about QAnon in the past, to accept the latter's endorsement.Greene, who has no Democratic opponent in a staunchly conservative House district in north-west Georgia, has made racist statements and was an early adopter of QAnonFrom 2017 Greene was an active proponent of QAnon, publicly praising its anonymous originator as a patriot who "very much loves his country" and is "on the same page as us". More recently she claimed to have moved away from the movement, telling Fox News she was not a QAnon candidate.At last week's event, Loeffler tried to bat away the controversy, telling reporters: "No one in Georgia cares about the QAnon business."Warnock, by contrast, has successfully united his party. Recent polls put Warnock at around 31%, Loeffler at 23% and Collins at 22%. Under special election rules, the race will go into a January run-off between the top two should none of the candidates secure at least 50% of the vote.Most observers expect a head-to-head between Warnock and the winner of Loeffler and Collins's bitter fight on the right.QAnon's fantasies have caused considerable difficulties for Republicans in the 2020 election cycle. Last week Trump declined to denounce the conspiracy theory, praising it for being "strongly against paedophilia".On Sunday, the chair of the Republican national committee, Ronna McDaniel, similarly sidestepped questions on QAnon during an appearance on ABC News. Asked if she would condemn it, she replied: " I knew you were going to ask me that question. I knew it because it's something the voters are not even thinking about. It's a fringe group. It's not part of our party."The Loeffler battle is one of two US Senate races in Georgia that goes to the polls on 3 November. In the second contest, the incumbent Republican David Perdue is in an exceptionally tight fight against the Democrat Jon Ossoff.Perdue he took the stage at a Trump rally last week and mangled Kamala Harris's name, which unleashed a flood of almost $2m into Ossoff's already swollen campaign coffers.Perdue's insulting jab also earned a riposte from Doug Emhoff, Harris's husband. He said: "Let me help what's-his-face pronounce this: M-V-P. If he can't remember her name, how about Madam Vice-President?"
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| Neil deGrasse Tyson says asteroid could hit day before election Posted: 19 Oct 2020 08:01 AM PDT  Famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson posted a picture of an asteroid approaching Earth saying that it could strike the planet before the election on Nov. 3. "Asteroid 2018VP1, a refrigerator-sized space-rock, is hurtling towards us at more than 40,000 km/hr," he wrote in a tweet Saturday. "It may buzz-cut Earth on Nov 2, the day before the Presidential Election."
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| Dr. Birx reportedly asked Pence to remove COVID-19 adviser pushing 'junk science' Posted: 19 Oct 2020 07:02 AM PDT  Dr. Deborah Birx has reportedly been trying to get controversial adviser Dr. Scott Atlas removed from the White House coronavirus task force.A new report in The Washington Post describes the "discord on the coronavirus task force" that has reportedly "worsened" ever since the arrival of Atlas, a neuroradiologist who has no background in epidemiology. Atlas has reportedly "succeeded in largely sidelining" other doctors on the White House coronavirus task force, has challenged analysis from Birx and others with what experts have dismissed as "junk science," and is seen by colleagues as "ill-informed, manipulative and at times dishonest."Birx, who serves as the task force's response coordinator, recently confronted Vice President Mike Pence about Atlas, telling his office he should be removed from the task force and that she "does not trust" him nor does she believe "he is giving Trump sound advice," the Post also reports. Her effort was evidently unsuccessful, and Pence reportedly "did not take sides" in the conflict.The report also describes how Atlas has baselessly claimed to the task force that the United States is close to achieving herd immunity, an idea scientists have rejected, and that all coronavirus restrictions should be lifted. This, the Post says, led Birx and Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to demand he produce data to support his claims during a "fierce debate." Atlas over the weekend also falsely claimed that masks don't work in fighting COVID-19, leading Twitter to remove the post."These days, the task force is dormant relative to its robust activity earlier in the pandemic," the Post writes. "Fauci, Birx, Surgeon General Jerome Adams and other members have confided in others that they are dispirited." Read more at The Washington Post. More stories from theweek.com Will Kansas go blue? What happened to third party candidates? If Roe falls
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| Black man given life sentence for stealing hedge clippers gets parole after 23 years Posted: 19 Oct 2020 09:25 AM PDT  The man was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1997.
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| Japan to export defense tech to Vietnam under new agreement Posted: 19 Oct 2020 07:19 AM PDT  Japan has been pursuing such pacts in recent years to bolster ties with Southeast Asian countries and sustain its own defense industry.
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| Trump’s former national security adviser says president ‘will not leave graciously if he loses’ Posted: 19 Oct 2020 06:41 AM PDT  'If it is clear what the outcome is, it is up to Republicans, not Democrats, to say, 'This is on us. He has to go'
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