| 'A global conspiracy against God and humanity': Controversial Catholic archbishop pushes QAnon themes in letter to Trump Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:40 AM PDT  The letter by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. and outspoken adversary of Pope Francis, hit many of the favorite themes of the pro-Trump conspiracy theory.
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| A New Jersey cop sent sexually explicit texts to an 18-year-old woman hours after he arrested her, prosecutors say Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:52 AM PDT  Damien Broschart is facing multiple charges, including cyber harassment, and might lose his job if convicted, according to New Jersey prosecutors.
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| Fact check: There is no Sen. Rob Donaldson, so posts of his speech about Barrett are fake Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:53 AM PDT  A post on new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett originated as a hypothetical. It took off, with many people assuming it was from a real senator.
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| US election: Don Jr told Trump supporters to ‘have some fun’ before Biden vehicles ‘rammed by armed group’ Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:01 PM PDT  Trump's eldest son called on supporters 'get out there, have some fun'
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| Dem Rep. Tells Hunter Biden’s Business Partner He Will Defend Him against ‘Partisan Hack’ Attack Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:36 AM PDT  A Democratic congressman told Hunter Biden's former business associate, Tony Bobulinski, that he will defend him from attacks calling Bobulinski a "partisan hack" over his decision to go public with claims about the Biden family's foreign business dealings.Democratic Representative Ro Khanna sent an email to Bobulinski, who has donated to Khanna in the past, wishing him well and saying he vouched for him that he has "never been a 'partisan hack' in our interactions and have talked about putting country over party," Fox News reported."Tony, hope you are doing okay. I did give an on the record statement to The NY Times that I know you, you have always acted honorably with me, and you and other family members supported me," Khanna wrote in his message. "I have told any media outlets that have asked the same thing."The California Democrat said that he "refused to comment on the details of your allegations because I don't have personal knowledge about that, but have said I respect your service to our country and that you have never been a 'partisan hack' in our interactions and have talked about putting country over party."In a Fox News interview that was aired Tuesday, Bobulinksi accused Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden of "lying" about whether he was directly involved in his son's foreign business dealings.The former U.S. Navy lieutenant and corporate investor was the former CEO of SinoHawk Holdings, which he said was a partnership between the CEFC China Energy conglomerate and the Biden family. He was the recipient of a May 13, 2017 email that discussed a plan to have 10 percent in their related joint venture, Oneida Holdings, "held by H for the big guy?" The "big guy" was Joe Biden, and "H" was Hunter, Bobulinski confirmed.Bobulinski said he had several meetings with the former vice president, one on May 2, 2017, according to text messages about the meeting.Bobulinski said he decided to go public with documents and information on the Bidens after Democratic congressman Adam Schiff said on television that this "smear" of Biden "comes from the Kremlin," a claim Bobulinski called "absolutely disgusting.""I also have made it clear that I do not think you are a Russian agent," Khanna added in his email to Bobulinski. "I will continue to make that statement to any media that asks.""I remain appreciative for your past support and your requesting your family members to support," Khanna said. "After the heat of the election, if you want to, I am happy to chat."Bobulinski also said he was warned by former partner Rob Walker that going public with his claims against the Bidens would "bury all of us.""Throughout 2015 and 2016 while Joe was still the sitting vice president of the United States, these guys had been doing extensive work around the world," Bobulinski said in the Fox News interview, adding that "the only qualification they had was the Biden name."
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| Philippines evacuates nearly 1 million as world's strongest 2020 typhoon approaches Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:54 PM PDT |
| 'They give me the willies': scientist who vacuumed murder hornets braces for fight Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:00 AM PDT  Chris Looney helped dismantle the first nest of Asian giant hornets in the US. Now he's preparing for the next stepThe eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets on US soil somewhat resembled a science fiction depiction of an alien landing site. A crew of government specialists in white, astronaut-like protective suits descended upon the hornet nexus to vanquish it with a futuristic-looking vacuum cleaner, to the relief of onlookers.The nest of the fearsome invasive insects, notoriously known as "murder hornets", was found in a tree crevice near Blaine, in Washington state, via a tracking device attached to a previously captured worker hornet. The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the nest had been successfully removed, with dozens of live captives taken back for inspection."It was cold so they were docile, so between their slowness and the protective gear no one was hurt," said Chris Looney, a WSDA entomologist who was tasked with vacuuming up the hornets.Wielding a lengthy, toxic stinger, the hornets can cause renal failure and death in people, as dozens of people in Japan have found out to their cost. One entomologist in Canada described the feeling of being stung as like "having hot tacks pushed into my flesh".They can also squirt venom, as Looney saw first-hand when his lab workbench was sprayed by hornets as they roused themselves following capture. "I was more worried about getting permanent nerve damage in the eye from the squirted venom than being stung," said Looney, who wore goggles for the capture. "They are pretty intimidating, even for an inch-and-a-half insect. They are big and loud and I know it would hurt very badly if I get stung. They give me the willies."Murder hornets do not earn their moniker from killing people, however, with honeybees far more likely to be targeted. A honeybee colony can be decimated within a few hours, with the hornets decapitating their victims and feeding severed body parts to their young. This poses a gnawing concern for hobbyist beekeepers and even farmers in the US north-west, where managed honeybees are crucial for the pollination of crops such as blueberries and raspberries.Asian giant hornets were first discovered in North America last year, popping up in British Columbia, Canada, before a handful of specimens made it south of the border to Washington state. The hornets, native to east Asia, most likely arrived on the continent clinging to imported goods sent via sea or air. A close relative of the hornet has already made separate inroads into France and the UK.A key, and unnerving, question is how far they will manage to spread across America. Looney said the removal of the first nest found in the US was just a "small victory" in a battle likely to rage for several years to contain the insects. Thousands of sightings have been reported in Washington, and while many are false or mistaken, Looney said it was likely the hornets had spread, potentially establishing dozens more nests."It's hard to say how they will behave here compared to their native range, but the fear is that there are large apiaries of bees that could be sitting ducks, while as the hornets move south to warmer weather their colonies could grow larger," he said. "The object of our work is to avoid finding this out."Scientists who have modeled the potential spread of the hornets predict they will be able to extend down the west coast into California. The Rocky Mountains and drier interior of the US pose major barriers to an eastward push but environs on the east coast such as New York would be ideal homes for the murder hornets should they inadvertently be transported there.Looney said he was "troubled" by evidence that overwintering hornet queens like to bury themselves in straw and hay, commodities that are regularly shifted around the US by train or truck. A hornet queen that hitched a ride would still face challenges establishing a nest even if moved to the east coast – it could immediately be crushed underfoot, after all – but the potential pathway is there."I'm more worried about human transportation of these hornets than I initially was," Looney conceded.The Asian giant hornet is just the latest invasive species to make its mark on North America. Burmese pythons are now legion in southern Florida, while Asian carp are common in the Mississippi river system. In the insect world, the spotted lanternfly is a growing agricultural pest and emerald ash borers have arrived to lay waste to stands of trees.These arrivals are symptoms of the growth in international trade and tourism, while climate change is making many parts of the US more hospitable for certain invasive species. The Asian giant hornet, for example, is thought to favor the sort of elevated temperatures that the US is experiencing as the planet heats up. This could help it spread at the rate of its cousin species in France, which has been able to advance up to 78km a year. If it is not controlled, the murder hornet could fundamentally change ecosystems across the US.Still, even in a fraught year racked by a pandemic, social unrest and economic disaster, Looney said any fears of being assailed by a murder hornet should be "low on the anxiety meter".He added: "We should be concerned about it but we will do our best until the money runs out or the battle is won or lost. If we fail, it will be unpleasant. But there are other things to be much more worried about right now."
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| Texas early voting exceeds total of all 2016 ballots cast Posted: 30 Oct 2020 12:26 PM PDT  Texans have already cast more ballots in the presidential election than they did during all of 2016 — an unprecedented surge of early voting in a state that was once the country's most reliably Republican, but may now be drifting toward battleground status.
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| Tensions between left and right-wing protesters in Vancouver, Washington, after a Black man was shot dead by police officers in a drugs bust Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:11 AM PDT  Kevin E. Peterson Jr, 21, produced a handgun and was shot dead by deputies, said Clark County Sheriff's Office.
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| David Perdue: Georgia senator pulls out of final debate after 'brutal' takedown by Democrat goes viral Posted: 29 Oct 2020 11:25 PM PDT  Video of debate where Democrat Jon Ossoff calls Republican incumbent a 'crook' has been viewed more than 11m times on Twitter
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| Thai protest leaders, in hospital, face possible new charges Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:53 AM PDT  Three Thai pro-democracy protest leaders -- all in hospital after chaotic scenes that erupted when they were released from prison -- were facing possible new charges late Saturday.
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| 'Duck Dynasty' star Sadie Robertson calls COVID a 'really dark sickness' Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:36 PM PDT  "I'm not going to lie, I cried a lot," said the pregnant "Duck Dynasty" alum.
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| Death of Nebraska man whose body was mistaken for Halloween prank in 2016 still unsolved Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:37 PM PDT  Cornelius Hodges, 30, was found dead behind a house at 3009 Hamilton Street in Omaha, Nebraska, on Sunday, October 30, 2016. He had been missing since he left his mother's home at 41st and Ohio Streets around 1 a.m. on October 24 to walk to his apartment in downtown Omaha. His death was ruled a homicide but has never been solved. The Omaha Police Department is investigating.
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| Zeta's toll on a Louisiana island: 'Like a bomb was dropped' Posted: 29 Oct 2020 10:00 PM PDT  Mark Andollina remembers stinging rain and a howling wind that peeled the roof off part of his Cajun Tide Beach Resort on Grand Isle, the Louisiana barrier island town where residents were among the first to feel the ferocity of Hurricane Zeta. "Because we got the most damage on the island right here, basically in the middle of the island." "The middle of the island looks like a bomb was dropped," said Dodie Vegas, who with her husband owns Bridge Side Marina on the west side of the island.
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| Despite suppression tactics, young voters are 'raising hell' with historic early voting turnout Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Young voters face voting obstacles from cumbersome voter ID laws to a lack of polling places. Still, they're turning out in historic numbers.
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| China destroys domes of famous mosques as cultural whitewash continues Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:24 AM PDT  China's campaign to suppress Islam is accelerating as authorities remove Arab-style onion domes and decorative elements from mosques across the country. Stark changes have been observed at the main mosque in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia province, where most of China's Hui ethnic Muslim minority live. The bright green onion-shaped domes and golden minarets that used to soar into the sky atop Nanguan Mosque have all been pulled down. Golden Islamic-style filigree, decorative arches, and Arabic script that before adorned the mosque have also been stripped away. What remains is unrecognisable – a drab, gray, rectangular facility with "Nanguan Mosque" written in Chinese, as shown in photos posted online by Christina Scott, the UK's deputy head of mission in China, on a recent trip. "TripAdvisor suggested the Nanguan Mosque in Yinchuan well worth a visit," Ms Scott wrote on Twitter, along with 'before and after' photos. "Only this is what it looks now, after 'renovations.' Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing."
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| A high school newspaper has exposed how state police quoted Adolf Hitler and advocated violence in a training manual Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:54 AM PDT  The training manual quotes from Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, calling for the "perpetually constant and regular employment of violence."
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| Trump rally organisers fire water at crowd as supporters pass out in Texas heat Posted: 30 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Just two days ago Trump rally left many supporters hospitalised due to freezing cold
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| All-seeing French frigate flies flag in tense east Mediterranean Posted: 30 Oct 2020 01:52 AM PDT  Deep in the bowels of a French frigate cruising the tense eastern Mediterranean waters, a dozen men and women scan radar screens through the dark.
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| Pro-Choicers, Not Christians, Are Today’s Abortion Fundamentalists Posted: 30 Oct 2020 12:01 PM PDT  The New York Times columnist Nick Kristof begs a number of questions in his new pro-abortion column, "Er, Can I Ask a Few Questions about Abortion?" I'll leave Christians to debunk his more tendentious theological assertions. It is quite odd, however, to read enlightened secular pundits attempting to appropriate biblical text to argue that Jesus would have been completely cool with ending life for the sake of convenience.What would Jesus do? Avoid injecting potassium chloride into the beating heart of the unborn child, I suspect.Again, I'm no theologian, but I also strongly suspect that the "Jesus says nothing about abortion!" argument isn't dispositive of anything. The Sermon on the Mount wasn't about nationalized health-insurance schemes, after all. Yet progressives demand that Christians adopt a narrow, hyperliteral interpretation of the Bible on abortion while also demanding that they take a broad, malleably metaphoric approach to the text when it comes to things like socializing medicine or open immigration.These are often the same people who sincerely believe that the Constitution was written to protect the deliberate termination of a pregnancy but not the principled right to self-defense or free expression — because, well, those old white guys and their parchment paper and muskets.Kristof points to the views of Baptists in the 1970s as proof of the Christian regression on abortion rights. Many secularists have convinced themselves that actual Christians are just as incurious and stultified as the Christians of their imagination. The Christians I know, and I happen to know many, often grapple with how scientific advances affect faith. When it comes to abortion, it's the progressives who act like fundamentalists.Just today, I ran across a story about a boy named Logan Ray — born at 23 weeks, weighing just 1.5 pounds and measuring twelve inches long — celebrating his first birthday. One day soon, there will be babies celebrating birthdays who were born at 21 weeks. And then 20. And those who treat abortion as both rite and right will continue to make arbitrary distinctions between "fetal life" and life itself, just as Kristof does. For those who believe in actual science, the concept of life isn't contingent on a mother's decision, the public's perception, or a pundit's policy arguments.On that note, Kristof makes this assertion:> Partly because Obamacare covers contraception, the number of abortions in the United States has plunged to its lowest level since Roe v. Wade, including in states that support a woman's right to an abortion. If you're troubled by abortions, shouldn't you thank President Barack Obama for reducing them?First of all, had it not been for a few now-extinct Blue Dog Democrats, Barack Obama's signature legislation would already be forcing taxpayers to fund not merely abortifacient drugs but in-person late-term abortions. More than any president in history, Obama helped radicalize Democrats on the issue. They've been transformed from the party that advocated for "safe, legal, and rare" to one that filibusters bills that would protect babies who survive abortion attempts from negligent homicide.Moreover, there is no evidence that Obamacare did anything to lower abortion rates, which, for a host of reasons, had been dropping steadily for decades before the ACA was passed. Contrary to Kristof's claim, the trajectory shows no perceptible impact from passage of the law. Why would it? The notion that birth control was unavailable to women before 2010 is simply a myth.One could just as easily argue, in fact, that restrictions pushed by state-level Republicans, many of whom came into office beginning in 2010, helped decrease overall abortions. After all, I am constantly told there is an unprecedented and dangerous attack on "reproductive rights" — for progressives, that euphemism never gets old — as we speak.What isn't mentioned in Kristof's column — or in most of the pieces attempting to convince social conservatives that abortion is a nonissue in 2020 — is that the Democratic Party nominee supports overturning the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except to save the life of the mother. Which is to say, Democrats want to compel taxpayers to participate in funding abortion up through the ninth month of pregnancy.Now, again, I don't claim to speak for Christians or anyone other than myself. But perhaps Kristof should ask one of the nuns Biden says he plans to sue if he wins the presidency about the theological implications of compelling the faithful (or anyone else) to support abortion — since he's curious.
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| Air Force Moves Forward with Plan to Turn Giant Cargo Planes into Bomb Trucks Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:34 AM PDT |
| A new tropical depression formed in the Caribbean. It could become Tropical Storm Eta Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:13 PM PDT  A new tropical depression has formed in the Caribbean, putting the 2020 hurricane season within reach of breaking a slew of meteorological records.
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| They protested to oust their scandalous governor. Tuesday they'll vote to usher in a new era. Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:49 AM PDT  The election on the island follows the historic protests following the scandal that led to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló's resignation.
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| Indonesia condemns France attacks, but warns against Macron's remarks Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:34 AM PDT  Indonesian president Joko Widodo on Saturday condemned what he called "terrorist" attacks in France, but also warned that remarks by President Emmanuel Macron had "insulted Islam" and "hurt the unity of Muslims everywhere." Conservative Islamic organizations in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, have called for protests and boycotts against France, sharing an image of Macron as a red-eyed devilish snail. "Freedom of speech that injures the noble purity and sacred values and symbol of religion is so wrong, it shouldn't be justified and it needs to stop," the Indonesian leader, who is known by his popular name Jokowi, said in a televised address.
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| How Kimberly Guilfoyle, the 'human Venus flytrap,' has groomed boyfriend Don Jr. into a political powerhouse and turned herself into a conservative star Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:19 AM PDT  Former Fox News host Kimberly Guilfoyle has transformed Donald Trump Jr. into a force, and made a name for herself among Trump lovers along the way.
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| SBA presses big businesses to justify aid, sparking uproar Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:00 PM PDT  The questions posed by the SBA have rattled banks, which issued the loans and would be responsible for delivering the questionnaires to the agency.
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| ‘I thought I was the only one’: This carrot-chopping ‘hack’ is shockingly popular Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:23 AM PDT  This is for anyone that despises — like, really despises — doing dishes.
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| Former Venezuelan treasurer charged with accepting millions in Miami corruption case Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:26 AM PDT  A former Venezuelan national treasurer and her husband accepted massive bribes from a politically connected billionaire who paid them through U.S. bank accounts so he could gain access to the government's lucrative currency exchange system, according to a new federal criminal case filed in Miami.
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| The battle for Senate control looks more volatile than the presidential race Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:13 AM PDT  First Read is your briefing from "Meet the Press" and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.
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| Tsunami Warning in Turkey After 7.0 Quake Levels Buildings in Coastal City of Izmir Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:43 AM PDT  A massive earthquake erupted in the Aegean Sea early Friday, causing multistory buildings to collapse in the coastal Turkish city of Izmir and sending water surging through the streets amid tsunami warnings.Eyewitness videos captured terrifying scenes. A seven-story residential building crumbled to the ground. Waist-high water gushed through the streets of the nearby town of Seferihisar. Environment Minister Murat Kurum said there were reports of people trapped under debris, mostly in Izmir's Bayrakli neighborhood, according to televised remarks reported by The New York Times.> Bornova'da deprem sonrası binanın yıkılma anıdeprem İzmir> > — gzt (@gztcom) October 30, 2020> Another tsunami footage from the earthquake in Izmir province of Turkey. > > This one is really dangerous pic.twitter.com/62zfddWSi8> > — Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 30, 2020The 7.0-magnitude quake hit just off the Greek island of Samos, according to Turkish authorities. It rattled parts of Greece and was reportedly felt 200 miles away in Istanbul. On Samos, a wall collapsed, killing two children in the town of Vathy, according to Greek news outlet Skai. An "extreme alert" tsunami warning was issued to island residents, sending panicked people running into the streets to get away from the shoreline and large buildings.Water reportedly flooded some streets but the damage was unclear. Giorgos Dionysiou, deputy mayor of Samos, described it as "chaos." > tw // earthquake > > i'm just in shock pray for everyone's safety.. :(( izmir pic.twitter.com/sNaDgvMXHO> > — 홍 �� (@hongflake) October 30, 2020Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city with four million residents, appeared to take the brunt of it. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that four people were killed and at least 120 were injured, and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that at least six buildings were flattened. Rescue crews were on the scene searching for survivors.It was the "biggest quake I have ever experienced," Izmir resident Cenk Hosfikirer told the Times. "The lamps swung and the apartment door opened. At that moment, I thought, 'Am I going to die?'"Haluk Ozener, director of the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, told the Associated Press that a small tsunami hit Seferihisar, in Izmir Province. Footage posted to Twitter appeared to show an ominous retreat of the water line near the coastal city, leaving boats marooned on sand and mud.> Right Now in izmir Turkey > > People worries about a new tsunami wave due to the sea has retreated for metresDeprem earthquake pic.twitter.com/Om5otCh37V> > — Kondektur Bus™ (@kondekturbus_) October 30, 2020Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said the earthquake happened at a depth of 10.3 miles in the Aegean Sea—a relatively shallow epicenter. Because of this, aftershocks could continue for weeks, AP reported.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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| Russian MMA star attacks 'brute' Macron over Islam Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Retired mixed martial arts champion Khabib Nurmagomedov on Friday denounced French President Emmanuel Macron as a "brute" and invoked God's wrath against him.
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| Armed Right-Wing Groups Aren’t ‘Militias’—We Need to Stop Calling Them That Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:12 AM PDT  Over the last month, ever since the indictment of 13 men for plotting to kidnap the governor of Michigan, the word "militia" has appeared in thousands of newspaper headlines and TV news reports. The Detroit News: "Feds Say They Thwarted Militia Plot to Kidnap Whitmer." Because there is no such thing as a legal private paramilitary militia.
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| Turkey farmers in limbo as people scale back Thanksgiving plans Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:19 AM PDT  Millions of Americans are expected to have scaled-down Thanksgiving celebrations amid the pandemic, heeding official warnings against travel and large indoor gatherings.
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| 'An incredible scar': the harsh toll of Trump's 400-mile wall through national parks Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:15 AM PDT  Samuel Gilbert visited four distinct wilderness areas near the new border wall, which is fragmenting protected habitats and threatening endangered species In the 1980s, when Kevin Dahl first began visiting the Organ Pipe Cactus national monument in southern Arizona, the border was unmarked, save for a simple fence used to keep cattle from a ranch in the US from crossing into Mexico. In those days, park rangers would call in their lunch orders at a diner located just across the border.Since then, a 30ft steel bollard wall has replaced the old barbed wire fence at Organ Pipe. The towering steel barrier cuts through the Unesco reserve like a rust-colored suture."It's this incredible scar," said Kevin Dahl, a senior program manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, describing the wall that snakes its way through a pristine track of Sonoran desert, dwarfing the giant cacti that give this desert its name. "What was once a connected landscape is now a dissected one."That dissection is now a reality across much of the US border. It is a landscape increasingly defined by walls, roads, fences and associated border infrastructure that is fragmenting critically protected habitats, desecrating sacred cultural sites and threatening numerous endangered species in some of the most biodiverse and unique places in North America."Border construction has had a huge impact on some of the most remote and biodiverse landscapes on the continent," said Dan Millis, a campaigner at the Sierra Club. "The Trump administration is taking it even further."Four days before the US election, this is how the new border wall has affected four distinct wilderness areas. 'An environmental and human disaster'Donald Trump entered the Oval Office with a campaign promise to build 450 miles of a new "border wall system" – a combination of infrastructure including bollard barriers, roads, perimeter lighting, enforcement cameras and other technology – even amid the pandemic, has continued at an increasing pace. According to Customs and Border Protection, 400 miles of the border wall system has been completed so far, with physical barriers from 18-30ft tall. If he wins, he may well aspire to wall off the border in its entirety.Construction is occurring mostly on public, often protected lands, because the Department of Homeland Security has sweeping powers to waive environmental protection laws, like the Endangered Species Act, which would otherwise bar construction.Protected lands "belong to the government because they are so unique and fragile. Because of that same fact, they are being demolished," said Laiken Jordahl, borderlands campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, noting the relative ease of border wall construction on public lands compared with the lengthy process of taking private property.mapThe eastern terminus is the Lower Rio Grande Valley wildlife refuge in south-eastern Texas – 100,000 acres of lush protected lands that US Fish and Wildlife have spent four decades restoring. The 135 individual tracts of land, described as a "string of pearls" connecting various habitats, extend along the 275 miles of the Rio Grande River before entering the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of the most biodiverse places in the country, supporting 700 species of terrestrial animals such as the jaguarundi, a wild cat, as well as myriad plants and a vibrant ecotourism industry.The landscape is now being bisected by a 15ft concrete base surmounted by 18ft steel bollards."It's going to make it that much harder to preserve the very little that is left of the ecosystem," said Norma Herrera of the Rio Grande Equal Voice Network."This is some of the best birding in the world," said Elise Wort, a tourist who traveled from her California home to see some of the 500-plus bird species that reside in the valley. "The border is an environmental and human disaster."Much of the construction in the south-western border states is occurring in remote and mountainous terrain. Critics say it makes little sense to construct a physical barrier in these areas because most are lightly trafficked corridors for unauthorized migration, and they are also crucial habitat for animals. Ninety-three endangered and threatened animal species are found in the borderlands.One such area is the Madrean Sky Islands, rugged linked mountain ranges in New Mexico and Arizona that boast the highest biodiversity in inland North America."It's like going from the climate on the Mexican border to Canada," said Emily Burns, program director of the Sky Island Alliance, with ecosystems ranging from subtropical lowlands and deserts to temperate mountaintops.The 30ft steel wall and stadium lighting are adversely affecting the ocelot, javelina, Mexican grey wolf and the North American jaguar, the latter of which has made a surprising comeback in the US since being hunted to extinction in the late 1980s, according to Burns's organization."We don't expect there will be any hope for the jaguar's recovery in the US if [the border is] completed," said Burns, because it will cut off the main Jaguar population in Mexico from that in the US. 'Destruction'Further east in Arizona, new sections of steel bollard wall are being built in the largest area of protected Sonoran landscape. At the San Bernardino national wildlife refuge, groundwater pumping to mix concrete for the wall is draining a crucial wetland and imperiling four threatened or endangered species for which San Bernardino was created to protect. Government documents obtained by environmental groups revealed that the US Fish and Wildlife Service repeatedly warned the Department of Homeland Security about the imminent threat to these species. Their warning went unheeded."I started my career as a biologist at the Refuge, and 20 years later, I came full circle to witness its destruction," said Myles Traphagen, borderlands program coordinator for the Wildlands Network, an environmental group. 'Our tribal sovereignty is not being upheld'Construction during the Trump administration has severely affected tribal lands along the border, leading to a growing protest movement in response to desecration of sacred sites and barred access to ancestral lands."Our tribal sovereignty is not being upheld," said Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan, a doctoral candidate of Indian studies at the University of Arizona and a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation, who lands have been split by the wall, stifling cross-border cultural and religious events between O'odham members in Mexico and the US. "I don't think it ever has been when it comes to the border wall or the border in general."At Organ Pipe Cactus national monument in Arizona, part of the ancestral lands of the Tohono O'odham nation, a particular flashpoint has been the impact of the border wall on the sacred Quitobaquito springs. A recent analysis by data scientists at the investigative journalism website Bellingcat found that water levels at Quitobaquito springs are declining at unprecedented rates, with border wall construction a likely culprit because crews have tapped the underlying aquifer for water to make concrete. 'This wall has done nothing more than divide our communities'On 12 October – Indigenous Peoples' Day – O'odham members and their allies blockaded the highway passing through Organ Pipe. Border officers responded with force, including teargas, arresting eight in the process.Earlier this year, construction crews used dynamite to blow up Monument hill in Organ Pipe to make way for the wall, disturbing O'odham burial grounds and uprooting numerous Organ Pipe and Saguaro Cactus scattered along the service roads, which evoked felled green monoliths.A recent decision by a federal appeals court has provided at least one win for border wall critics, and a blow to Trump's ambitions to complete the 450 miles of the wall by year's end.The ninth circuit court of appeals ruled that the president's use of emergency powers to allocate military funds for border wall construction was illegal. Even so, construction will continue on projects where military money was not used – including the four described here."This wall has done nothing more than divide our communities, disrespect our values, and inflict enormous environmental harm," said the Arizona congressman Raúl Grijalva, whose district includes Organ Pipe. "It's time for wall construction to end once and for all."
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| The New Yorker ’s Hit Piece on Scalia’s Labor Dept. Was Too Good to Fact-Check, Emails Show Posted: 30 Oct 2020 02:37 PM PDT  President Trump's election led to an explosion in fact-checking as a journalism genre unto itself, but The New Yorker has been at it for nearly 100 years as part of the normal course of its work. And it takes pride in that pedigree.A 2009 piece in the magazine laid out the process, in which writers submit their stories and the fact-checking department painstakingly vets every detail that can possibly be vetted."Each word in the piece that has even a shred of fact clinging to it is scrutinized, and, if passed, given the checker's imprimatur, which consists of a tiny pencil tick," longtime editor Sara Lippincott, who worked in The New Yorker's fact-checking department from 1966 until 1982, once said. The firewall is real, and writers enjoy it. "The process of independently verifying every assertion of fact in a story — every detail and hypothesis — is such a valuable and endangered art these days," staff writer Evan Osnos wrote in 2009.But it seems the supposedly airtight process broke down in the case of a 7,000-word article by contributor Eyal Press on Labor secretary Eugene Scalia's alleged mishandling of COVID-related regulations, which appeared in The New Yorker's October 26 issue.Last week, the Department of Labor published a blog post claiming The New Yorker profile is "error-ridden" and relies on a combination of omission, inaccuracy, and outright spin to cast Scalia as "a wrecking ball aimed at workers" amid the ongoing pandemic.The Scalia article centers around the DOL's current practices at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), its regulatory agency.Press uses a number of anecdotes to make the case that Scalia's Labor Department poses a unique threat to worker safety: a former OSHA official who detailed how the agency "pulled off" inspectors doing a COVID-19 fatality inspection at a Walmart; a Virginia woman fired for requesting to work remotely who was "pressured" by an OSHA representative to "withdraw her complaint"; a McDonald's employee in Chicago who wrote to OSHA multiple times to complain about his working conditions and accused the agency of "not doing the job they're supposed to be doing."The allegations are certainly serious. But, according to emails and documents obtained by National Review, The New Yorker did not ask the DOL — which asked for and was given questions in writing — about any of the cases during their storied fact-checking process.Instead, The New Yorker asked DOL to verify easily searchable or outright absurd claims, including that "Secretary Scalia has a modest temperament," "Secretary Scalia graduated from the University of Chicago Law School where he was editor of the Law Review," and "Mr. Scalia was nominated by President George W. Bush as solicitor of the DOL, but he was not confirmed and instead was given a one-year recess appointment."Fact-checker Natalie Meade did state in a follow-up email that she could "have other questions that might be OSHA specific," but the only question that came was whether OSHA had "hired 40-50 new field safety inspectors/investigators across the country in recent months." DOL told her it was actually 114, but the detail was not included in the final piece.The article also prominently features an April policy memo on how OSHA would lower the requirements for tracking work-related coronavirus cases — a development "so roundly criticized that Scalia scuttled it." One critique of the proposed plan came from Joseph Woodward, a former OSHA associate solicitor from 1992 to 2014, who wrote an April 25 letter to the Labor Department urging a change.According to the article, Woodward's request was granted but Scalia wasn't happy about it."Scalia has bristled at criticism of his handling of the pandemic, accusing Woodward and others of failing to show 'due respect for the steps the dedicated men and women at OSHA are taking,'" Press wrote.The New Yorker does not attribute the "due respect" quote to anyone in particular, but an Internet search revealed that it comes from an April 30 letter Scalia wrote to AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka in response to a letter in which Trumka laid out his concerns about the DOL's COVID regulations."President Trumka, thank you again for your letter," the closing paragraph reads. "To reiterate, you make points we will consider. The coronavirus presents grave and shifting challenges that require sustained attention; we evaluate daily what additional steps we can and should take. I certainly share your concern for the workers who have died from COVID-19. And I respect all that the AFL-CIO and other unions have done through the years to protect workers. I ask that you show due respect for the steps the dedicated men and women at OSHA are taking now."Based on the letter's text, Press's claim that Scalia bristled at the request and accused Trumka of failing to show OSHA respect is misleading at best. And the implication that the letter — which does not even mention Woodward — could be construed as Scalia's expressing his discontent with Woodward is laughable; Woodward has told The New Yorker as much and asked them to correct the record."This is incorrect as to me," Woodward wrote in a subsequent letter obtained by National Review, which he sent to The New Yorker after Press's profile was published. "I appreciated that the Department took the issues discussed in my letter seriously and reversed its position. Scalia did not criticize me for writing the letter."Whether The New Yorker will publish Woodward's follow-up remains to be seen — a magazine spokesperson told National Review that "we stand by the story."Editor's Note: This piece has been updated with a comment from The New Yorker.
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| Tanzania, once envy of the region, watches democracy slide Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:14 AM PDT  Vote-counting was far from over when Tanzanian opposition leader Seif Sharif Hamad was frustrated enough to call people onto the streets. As thwarted observers alleged the most blatant election fraud in the country's history, and with no way to challenge the results in court, there was little to do but protest. As they walked toward a roundabout in the semi-autonomous region of Zanzibar on Thursday, police fired tear gas, then arrested them — Hamad's second arrest in a week.
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| Indian doctor duped into buying 'Aladdin's lamp' for $41,600 Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:59 AM PDT  The alleged con artists said the lamp would make him rich, and pretended to conjure spirits from the lamp.
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| Pattern flip to bring big changes across the US during 1st week of November Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:21 AM PDT  In stark contrast to the wild weather during the last week of October, a tranquil and mild pattern is forecast to set up across a large swath of the United States during the first week of November. Forecasters say that residents in the Plains who were in the grips of bone-chilling cold, snow and ice this past week will be basking in September-like warmth by the middle of next week. Meanwhile, areas of the Northeast are also likely to turn milder, following a wintry blow from Sunday into Tuesday. "Next week will feature a much needed break in the active weather across most of the country. Outside of the Pacific Northwest, very little rainfall is expected," AccuWeather Long-Range Meteorologist David Samuhel said. The rather benign weather pattern will be thanks to a northward shift in the jet stream, or the fast river of air at the level that jets cruise which guides weather systems along. In its orientation for most of next week, the jet stream will guide storms into the Pacific Northwest and Canada, as opposed to the central or eastern U.S. This general west-to-east positioning of the jet stream allows mild air from the Pacific Ocean to flow freely across the country, with no intrusions of Arctic air from Canada. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP As a result, daytime temperatures during the second half of next week may be upwards of 50 degrees Fahrenheit higher than during the core of the cold last week. Factoring in how it feels to residents in the area, the swing from the last week of October to the first week of November may be as high as 70 degrees. For example, Amarillo, Texas, had highs in the upper 20s with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures in the teens this past week, but may near the 80-degree mark by Thursday. "Temperatures will soar to well above-normal levels across the Rockies and Plains, with highs 10-15 degrees above average in some places," Samuhel said. This will result in highs in the 60s and 70s across the region with lower 80s possible in the southern Plains. "Temperatures will rebound to near normal across the Eastern states during the middle of the week, then back above normal late week into next weekend," Samuhel said. After spending Monday in the 40s with even lower AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures, temperatures in Boston and New York City are expected to rebound into the 60s by Thursday. Baltimore and Washington, D.C., could be up near 70 by next weekend. The stretch of mild and dry weather will offer up excellent traveling conditions and plenty of opportunities for people to get outside, do yard work or construction projects to be completed and farmers to tend to their crops. In addition, millions of Americans will be able to turn off the heater and at least get a brief reprieve from high heating bills ahead of the winter months. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Lawyers say deportees to Cameroon would be flying on 'death planes' Posted: 31 Oct 2020 04:07 AM PDT  Members of Cameroon's English-speaking minority sought refuge from violence in the U.S. The Trump administration is sending many of them home.
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| A Kansas business magnate's secret collection of more than 130 antique cars hidden in barns just sold for $2.5 million — see 16 of the priciest vehicles Posted: 31 Oct 2020 05:18 AM PDT  Kansas-based businessman Bob Regehr, the late inventor of the bounce house, kept his enormous car collection under wraps for decades.
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