| There are only three viable presidential candidates, according to Mike Bloomberg's campaign Posted: 18 Feb 2020 10:46 AM PST  Only three candidates out of the more than half dozen vying for the White House have a viable path to the nomination, a senior official for the Mike Bloomberg campaign told reporters Tuesday.
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| Coronavirus updates: Quarantine ends on cruise ship as death toll passes 2,000 Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:45 AM PST  As the death toll for the coronavirus outbreak in China passes 2,000, here is the latest news for Wednesday Feb. 19.
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| Maduro accused of "disappearing" US oilmen as trial delayed Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:07 PM PST  Family members of six American oil executives jailed in Venezuela are accusing Nicolas Maduro's government of "forced disappearance" after the men were inexplicably missing for the scheduled start of their trial on Wednesday. Veronica Vadell said that lawyers for her father, Tomeu Vadell, and the five other executives from Houston-based Citgo had been waiting at a Caracas courthouse for more than six hours for the men to be transferred by the nation's intelligence police. The arrest took place the same day opposition leader Juan Guaidó met with President Donald Trump at the White House, fueling speculation the detention was politically motivated.
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| George Zimmerman is suing Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg over Trayvon Martin birthday tweets Posted: 19 Feb 2020 11:24 AM PST  George Zimmerman, who in 2013 was acquitted after being charged with murder for his fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, has filed a lawsuit against two Democratic presidential candidates seeking $265 million in damages. The complaint, reported Wednesday, accuses Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg of defamation.At issue are tweets each candidate posted on what would have been Martin's 25th birthday in early February:> My heart goes out to @SybrinaFulton and Trayvon's family and friends. He should still be with us today.> > We need to end gun violence and racism. And we need to build a world where all of our children—especially young Black boys—can grow up safe and free. https://t.co/9lXXlRnvzL> > — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 6, 2020> Trayvon Martin would have been 25 today.> > How many 25th birthdays have been stolen from us by white supremacy, gun violence, prejudice, and fear?BlackLivesMatter> > — Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 5, 2020The posts were made "for political gain in misguided and malicious attempts to bolster their standings amongst African-American voters, all at Zimmerman's expense," the lawsuit filing claims, arguing the timing was merely "a pretext to demagogue and falsely brand Zimmerman as a white supremacist and racist to their millions of Twitter followers."Zimmerman is already suing Martin's family, including his mother, whom Warren tagged in her tweet. That lawsuit seeks $100 million in damages and alleges falsified testimony.More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Has Trump solved his biggest 2016 campaign problem? Bernie Sanders aide denies report he considered a primary challenge to Obama
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| Hate crimes go unchecked at Syracuse University, students say Posted: 19 Feb 2020 01:02 PM PST  The black-led movement NotAgainSU launched the sit-in Monday to protest the administration's handling of racial incidents at the university.
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| Russia raises eyebrows with blanket ban on Chinese visitors Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:14 AM PST  Moscow is to impose a blanket ban on Chinese visitors over coronavirus fears in a move that will hit its tourism industry as experts question the need for such "draconian" measures. Moscow will ban all Chinese citizens from entering its territory from Thursday. It has already halted visa-free tourism for Chinese nationals and stopped issuing them with work visas and suspended rail links and restricted air travel.
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| 9 Rural Farms of the 21st Century Featuring Stunning Modern Design Posted: 19 Feb 2020 11:53 AM PST |
| ICE says it plans to destroy a trove of detention records, including numbers on detainee deaths and sexual assaults Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:21 AM PST  The ACLU races to retrieve years of ICE detention records that they say are critical to holding ICE accountable for abuses and misconduct.
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| Report: Obama reportedly expects he'll have to play a 'prominent role' in uniting Democrats this summer Posted: 18 Feb 2020 03:02 PM PST  The New York Magazine reports former president Barack Obama's radio silence on the 2020 Democratic primary is part of a "choreographed strategy" on the part of Obama, who is "increasingly sure he will need to play a prominent role in bringing the party back together and calming its tensions later this summer."
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| Trump attacks Bloomberg and mocks his height as Democratic candidate surges in polls Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:58 PM PST  Donald Trump attacked Mike Bloomberg at a rural water policy event in California, saying the former New York City mayor and Democratic presidential candidate "hates the farmer."The president's attack on Mr Bloomberg, who is surging in the polls as he makes his Democratic debate stage debut later on Wednesday night, was merely his latest on a possible general election foe he derisively calls "Mini-Mike," a dig at Mr Bloomberg's height.
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| Pope tenderly kissed on forehead by man in front-row seat Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:44 AM PST  Well-wishers at Pope Francis' weekly audience have thrust soccer T-shirts, flowers and many a wailing baby into his arms. On Wednesday, Francis seemed to thoroughly enjoy a surprise expression of affection: a long, tender kiss planted on his forehead by a man in one of the front-row seats reserved for ailing or disabled people at the end of his audience. Francis appeared to be smiling when the man, who stood up when the pontiff approached to greet him and others in the front row, pulled the pope's head toward him and gave a kiss lasting several seconds, pressing his nose against Francis' forehead in the process.
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| Body of missing college student found in Georgia, boyfriend arrested Posted: 19 Feb 2020 11:12 AM PST  Anitra Lashay Gunn was a senior studying agriculture at Fort Valley State University. She was found in a wooded area in Crawford County.
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| China kicked out 3 Wall Street Journal reporters after it published an op-ed using a term that invokes the biggest humiliation in Chinese history Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:32 AM PST  China's foreign ministry cited a February 3 headline, titled "China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia," as the immediate reason for the expulsions.
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| Russia Hates This: Why the Astute-Class Submarine Is the Pride of the Royal Navy Posted: 18 Feb 2020 04:45 PM PST  An excellent submarine.
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| Death toll from coronavirus surpasses 1,100; US confirms 13th case Posted: 19 Feb 2020 08:42 AM PST  The one-day death toll of 103 pushed the total past 1,000 and provided an ominous warning that the coronavirus epidemic was accelerating.
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| What liberals and conservatives get wrong about free expression on college campuses Posted: 19 Feb 2020 06:00 AM PST  When it comes to understanding disputes over free expression on college campuses, such as speakers getting disinvited or having their speeches interrupted, conservatives tend to blame liberal professors for indoctrinating students and ostracizing those who don't agree with liberal viewpoints. One prominent conservative organization, Turning Point USA, has gone so far as to create a database of faculty it says "discriminate against conservative students and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom."Liberals, in contrast, argue that concerns about free speech on college campuses are overblown. They also accuse conservatives of co-opting the language of free speech proponents in an effort to falsely position themselves as victims.Our research indicates that each of these narratives is flawed. We are researchers who study political behavior, as well as strategies for business.For the past year, we have been studying free expression issues at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a campus that has had a number of flare-ups related to free expression in recent years. We wanted to look beyond single episodes and better understand the typical student's experience concerning free expression.We found that students who identify with the political right do indeed face fears of being ostracized that students who identify with the left do not. However, we also found signs that right-leaning students worry at least as much about reactions from peers as from faculty. Much of this plays out silently in classrooms at Chapel Hill and – we believe – at other colleges and universities throughout the nation. It's not about professorsFor our research, we sent surveys to all 20,343 students – the entire undergraduate population at Chapel Hill. Two-thousand of these students (randomly selected) were offered a US$10 incentive to participate in the survey. This feature helped ensure we heard from a representative cross section of students. We received 1,087 complete responses. About half of those respondents were those who got $10 for their participation.For each student who responded, we randomly chose one class from their schedule and asked – for that particular class – how many times during the semester they kept a sincere opinion related to class to themselves because they were worried about the consequences of expressing it. We found a large liberal/conservative divide – 23% of self-identified liberals said they censored themselves at least once, while 68% of self-identified conservatives did so.You might presume that behavior by instructors is to blame for this stark difference. But the evidence we gathered does not seem to support this view.We asked students whether their course instructor "encouraged participation from liberals and conservatives alike." Only 2% of liberal students and 11% of conservatives disagreed that the instructor did so. Similarly, only 6% of liberals and 14% of conservatives disagreed that the same instructor "was interested in learning from people with opinions that differed from the instructor's own opinions." These are low numbers and the splits are small. They are simply not what one would expect if the narrative that liberal instructors try to indoctrinate their students were broadly true. Fears about peersIn contrast, students reported substantially more anxiety about how their own peers would respond to expressing sincere political views – and the divides between liberal and conservative students are larger. Seventy-five percent of conservative students said they were concerned that other students would have a lower opinion of them if they expressed their sincere political views in class. But only 26% of liberal students had this concern. Forty-three percent of conservative students were concerned about a negative post on social media. Only 10% of liberal students had this concern.Pressures that disproportionately affect right-leaning students were evident outside the classroom as well. We asked how often students hear "disrespectful, inappropriate, or offensive comments" about 12 social groups on campus. Students – even those who identify as liberal – acknowledged hearing such comments directed at political conservatives far more often than at any other group.We also examined whether liberal or conservative students might be more inclined to employ obstructionist tactics, such as blocking the entrance to a public event that featured a speaker with whom they disagree. To do this in an evenhanded way, we presented students with a list of ten political opinions. Then we asked them to choose the opinion that they find most objectionable. We chose a slate of opinions that really exist at UNC, such as ones concerning affirmative action, LGBT rights, and Silent Sam – a Confederate monument that is subject of a long-running campus controversyAfter students chose which opinion they found most objectionable, we asked whether it would be appropriate to take various actions toward people who hold that view. Nearly 20% of liberal respondents indicated it would be appropriate to prevent other students from hearing a campus speaker express the disliked view. But just 3% or less of moderate and conservative respondents indicated that doing so was appropriate.In order to better understand the typical experience of a university student, we believe it's important to go beyond singular dramatic confrontations. The deeper story about free expression on campus, as our study shows, is not just about the shouting that takes place during high-profile incidents on campus. It's also about what students say – and feel compelled to keep to themselves – in lecture halls and classrooms throughout the school year.[Expertise in your inbox. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter and get a digest of academic takes on today's news, every day.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Campus free speech laws being enacted in many states, but some may do more harm than good * Four campus free speech problems solvedThe authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Judge finds US in contempt after immigrants in suit deported Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:55 PM PST |
| Former South Korean president jailed after losing appeal Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:45 AM PST  Former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak was taken to prison Wednesday to begin a 17-year term for bribery and embezzlement after losing an appeal against a lighter sentence. Several South Korean presidents have ended up in prison after leaving office -- often as a result of investigations started by political rivals.
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| Have we reached peak Bloomberg? New poll shows potential drop off and a spike in dissatisfaction Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:59 AM PST  Insider's latest poll shows stalling support behind Michael Bloomberg, with his dissatisfaction numbers spiking between New Hampshire and this week.
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| Kent State 'gun girl' claims students started a riot over her - police say they did not Posted: 18 Feb 2020 11:11 AM PST  A campus protest against the "Kent State gun girl" Kaitlin Bennett was not "a riot," according to Ohio University police.Ms Bennett, who helps run a conservative website called Liberty Hangout and who often appears on Alex Jones' InfoWars programs, was driven off the campus of Ohio University in Athens, Ohio on Monday by a student protest according to the Athens News.
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| Crash near Orlando kills 3 members of Massachusetts family; son, 11, on life support Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:04 AM PST  The Smith and Fay families, who were vacationing together, were driving Tuesday night when a pickup truck rear-ended their vehicle, causing it to roll over.
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| 26 of the Best Stainless-Steel Bathroom Faucets Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:29 PM PST |
| What happened to winter? And where's the polar vortex? Posted: 19 Feb 2020 01:30 PM PST  The first two months of winter – December and January – were the warmest on record across the U.S.
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| Virginia lawmakers reject assault weapons ban over fears of potential civil war Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:11 AM PST  Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's push to ban the sale of assault weapons has failed after members of his own party balked at the proposal. Senators voted to shelve the bill for the year and ask the state crime commission to study the issue, an outcome that drew cheers from a committee room packed with gun advocates.
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| Obama reportedly expects he'll have to play a 'prominent role' in uniting Democrats this summer Posted: 18 Feb 2020 09:15 AM PST  Expect former President Barack Obama's radio silence on the 2020 Democratic primary to continue in the coming months. After all, he's reportedly got a very specific reason for staying out of it.Obama has intentionally remained on the sidelines throughout the primary so far, not throwing his support behind any candidate, including former Vice President Joe Biden. This, New York Magazine reports, is part of a "choreographed strategy" on the part of Obama, who is "increasingly sure he will need to play a prominent role in bringing the party back together and calming its tensions later this summer."Between now and then, Obama is "committed to not allowing his personal thoughts to dribble out" into the open, the report says, since this might make it more challenging for him to serve as an "honest broker." Apparently, this effort could be going better considering this very same report features a few of Obama's personal thoughts, including that he's supposedly "unimpressed" with Biden's campaign.A Fox Business report recently suggested Obama was considering speaking out about Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as he becomes nervous that he'll secure the Democratic nomination. But there's reportedly not much truth to that, and a source told New York Magazine, "there is no way Barack Obama is intervening, unless something very strange happens."In fact, Obama reportedly isn't paying a whole lot of attention to the "day-to-day dynamics" of the race, following it through newspaper reports but not even watching all of the Democratic debates. But Obama is reportedly "sure that he'll have to catch up" on these dynamics he's been missing out on later, meaning some binge-watching of the Democratic primary may soon be in the cards. Read the full report at New York Magazine.More stories from theweek.com How to ensure it's a boy (according to 100-year-old pregnancy guides) Has Trump solved his biggest 2016 campaign problem? Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils
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| US judge sides with migrants in case against Border Patrol Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:55 PM PST  Conditions at most Border Patrol facilities in Arizona are punitive and unconstitutional, a U.S. judge in Arizona said Wednesday while ruling in favor of migrants who have long-complained about inhumane and unsanitary conditions in holding cells. The ruling came weeks after the conclusion of a seven-day trial in which attorneys for migrants who sued in2015 argued that the agency holds immigrants in extremely cold, overcrowded, unsanitary and inhumane cells. The order makes permanent a preliminary injunction that U.S. District Court Judge David C. Bury issued in 2016 requiring the Tucson Sector to provide clean mats and thin blankets to migrants held for longer than 12 hours and to allow them to clean themselves.
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| A millionaire fashion designer is accused of sex trafficking and raping women and girls during 'pamper parties' at his exclusive Bahamas estate Posted: 19 Feb 2020 01:58 PM PST  Several women have come forward since the lawsuit was filed alleging they had been sexually abused by other men and women at the direction of Nygard, a lawyer for the plaintiffs told Insider.
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| Bloomberg To Grieving Family: Elderly Cancer Patients Are Too Expensive Posted: 19 Feb 2020 08:24 AM PST  'All of these costs keep going up, nobody wants to pay any more money, and at the rate we're going, health care is going to bankrupt us,' he said.
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| Vegas debate: Growing animosity between Buttigieg, Klobuchar could flare up Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:00 AM PST  The former South Bend mayor and the senator from Minnesota are competing for the same voters, and the fight is getting nasty.
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| The 1,600-bed Wuhan coronavirus hospital that China panic-built in a few days is less than half full 11 days after it opened Posted: 19 Feb 2020 05:02 AM PST  Leishenshan hospital was hailed a modern marvel when it was built in just 12 days. However, its promise of 1,600 hospital beds is so far unfulfilled.
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| The Coronavirus Has Brought Out the Ugly Side of Hong Kong's Protest Movement Posted: 18 Feb 2020 11:27 PM PST  Anti-Chinese resentment fuels many of the calls to close the enclave's border
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| Judge refuses to delay sentencing of Trump ally Roger Stone Posted: 18 Feb 2020 07:54 AM PST  A federal judge on Tuesday refused to delay sentencing for Trump confidant Roger Stone on his conviction for witness tampering and lying to Congress. Stone's defense team has requested a new trial and on Tuesday lobbied to delay the sentencing.
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| Secession in the Pacific Northwest? Some Oregon residents petition to join Idaho Posted: 19 Feb 2020 05:22 AM PST  Frustrated by liberal policies, some Oregon residents petition to leave the state by moving the border with Idaho.
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| University of Michigan Hit by Second #MeToo Scandal in a Month Posted: 19 Feb 2020 09:17 AM PST  The University of Michigan is looking into "disturbing and very serious" sexual-misconduct allegations made against a former athletic team physician, the school announced Wednesday.The review concerns Robert E. Anderson, who also served as director of University Health Service, which provides health care to the general student population, during his time at the campus from 1968 through 2003, when he retired. He died in 2008, according to a statement from the school.Michigan has hired law firm Steptoe & Johnson to conduct an independent review of the allegations, which were brought to the university's attention in July 2018 when a former student-athlete revealed them in a letter titled "My Michigan Me-too Moment, 1971" to Athletic Director Warde Manuel.The University of Michigan Police, in addition to the school's office for institutional equity, opened separate investigations into the accusations and interviewed dozens of people, ultimately finding "several individuals who described incidents of sexual misconduct," according to the statement.The police investigation of the case concluded in April 2019, but the independent review was ongoing."I want to urge any former student athlete with information they are willing to share confidentially to come forward," Manuel said. "The health and safety of our student athletes is our highest priority."How Michigan State Got Outplayed in $500 Million Nassar DealThe former patients said the sexual misconduct included unnecessary medical exams from the early '70s through the '90s, but the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's Office determined on Feb. 18 that it would not file criminal charges in Anderson's case, according to the university. Anderson is now at least the fourth university physician to make national news over sexual-misconduct allegations related to patients, including convicted serial sexual predator and former Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar. But the revelation of his alleged misconduct comes at a particularly fraught moment for the college, after Michigan's provost, Martin Philbert, was suspended last month over unrelated sexual-misconduct allegations."Because Dr. Anderson is deceased, no criminal prosecution of him would be possible regardless of whether the facts set for the report supported such an action," Washtenaw County Chief Assistant Prosecutor Steven Hiller told The Detroit News, which first reported on the allegations. "Furthermore, the ability to prosecute any ancillary offenses that may have been committed by others would have been extinguished by the statute of limitations decades ago. Therefore, this office's review of the report has concluded."Separately, a woman filed a lawsuit against Anderson in 1995 in which she said she felt violated during a medical exam, but the case was dismissed, The News reported."As part of our commitment to understanding what happened and inform any changes we might need to make, we now are taking the next step to reach out to determine who else might be affected or have additional information to share," said University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel. "Every person in our community should expect to feel safe and supported."Schlissel said the university was also helping former patients connect with counseling resources and "committing to a public accounting of the university's investigation, in a manner that respects the privacy and confidentiality of the former patients."Robert Julian Stone, 69, who wrote the letter about Anderson, told The News he was sexually abused by the doctor during a medical exam in 1971. Anderson spent several years as a top physician for the football teams led by famed former coaches Bo Schembechler and Lloyd Carr.Stone earned bachelor's and master's degrees from University of Michigan during the '70s, he told the paper. While he was a student, he saw Anderson for a medical exam, during which Anderson allegedly dropped his pants, grabbed Stone's hand and used it to fondle the doctor's genitals."It gave me a firsthand knowledge that these things happen to men and that wasn't a knowledge I particularly wanted to have," Stone said. "'Me too' includes men too."Two of Anderson's three children, Jill Anderson and Kurt Anderson, told the newspaper that their father could never do such a thing, calling it "ridiculous."In Philbert's case, investigations by an outside law firm and the school's police department began on Jan. 17 to look into more than 20 allegations of sexual misconduct, at least three of which had been previously reported to the university. Earlier this week, The News reported that the university paid $200,000 to settle a lawsuit involving Philbert, which claimed that he laid off an employee in order to keep on another female researcher with whom he purportedly had an inappropriate relationship. Philbert did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.The school also began proceedings to terminate a music professor, David Daniels, last summer after he was indicted in Texas in the sexual assault of an incapacitated man in 2010. He has denied the allegations.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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| Chelsea Manning's lawyers renew call to release her from jail Posted: 19 Feb 2020 10:12 AM PST  * Incarceration is form of 'punitive sanction', says lawyer * Manning in jail after refusing to testify before grand juryLawyers acting for Chelsea Manning, the former US army intelligence analyst who leaked hundreds of thousands of secret documents to WikiLeaks, have renewed efforts to secure her release after almost a year of incarceration.The former soldier's attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, has lodged a motion with a federal court in the eastern district of Virginia calling for her to be set free more than 11 months after she was detained.Manning is being held at the Alexandria detention center after she refused to testify before a federal grand jury investigating WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange.In December the UN's special rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, denounced Manning's ongoing incarceration as itself a form of torture. In addition to being jailed the former soldier is also being heavily penalized financially.For every day she refuses to testify, she is being fined $1,000. The total has already reached about $230,000.In the motion for release, Meltzer-Cohen decries Manning's prolonged incarceration as a form of unlawful "punitive sanction" on the grounds that it is serving no purpose because the inmate will never be coerced into testifying.As the motion puts it: "Over the last decade Chelsea Manning has shown unwavering resolve in the face of censure, punishment, and even threats of violence. As Ms Manning's resolve not to testify has been unwavering, and as her moral conviction has become only more developed since her confinement, her incarceration is not serving its only permissible purpose."Manning, who spent seven years in military prison for her massive intelligence dump to WikiLeaks in 2010, refused to testify to the grand jury on a point of principle.In a statement she explained her position was based on "my long standing belief that grand juries, as they function in the contemporary era, are often used by federal prosecutors to harass and disrupt political opponents and activists through secrecy, coercion, and jailing without trial".She added: "No matter how much you punish me, I will remain confident in my decision."Manning initially refused to testify before a grand jury in the eastern district of Virginia in March 2019. She was called to ask questions about WikiLeaks and Assange who had been the subject of a secret US government investigation for years.Assange is now being held in Belmarsh prison in London. He faces extradition proceedings to the US after a grand jury returned 18 charges against him relating to receiving secret diplomatic and military documents.
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| New coronavirus spreads more like flu than SARS: Chinese study Posted: 19 Feb 2020 03:31 PM PST  Scientists in China who studied nose and throat swabs from 18 patients infected with the new coronavirus say it behaves much more like influenza than other closely related viruses, suggesting it may spread even more easily than previously believed. In at least in one case, the virus was present even though the patient had no symptoms, confirming concerns that asymptomatic patients could also spread the disease. Although preliminary, the findings published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, offer new evidence that this novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 2,000 people mostly in China, is not like its closely-related coronavirus cousins.
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| Bloomberg campaign suggests other candidates drop out so Bloomberg can stop Sanders Posted: 19 Feb 2020 11:27 AM PST  Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) could soon build an "insurmountable" delegate lead, Michael Bloomberg's campaign warned in a memo, per Axios. And they think other, more centrist candidates should get out of the billionaire's way so he can stop him."The fact is if the state of this race remains status quo – with [former Vice President Joe] Biden, [former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor] Pete [Buttigieg], and [Sen.] Amy [Klobuchar (D-Minn.)] in the race on Super Tuesday — Bernie is likely to open up a delegate lead that seems nearly impossible to overcome," said Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg's top strategist. "I don't think many people understand the dire consequences here."In the memo, Sheekey and his colleague Howard Wolfson, wrote the three candidates mentioned above have "no path" to accruing delegates and would essentially block Bloomberg from ably challenging Sanders.Former President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign manager David Plouffe backed up Sheekey's claim that Sanders could be close to locking things up, saying he'll "never relinquish" his lead if projections hold true and he's still on top after Super Tuesday in March. Read more at Axios.More stories from theweek.com Mike Bloomberg is not the lesser of two evils Has Trump solved his biggest 2016 campaign problem? Bernie Sanders aide denies report he considered a primary challenge to Obama
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| Democrats Still Haven’t Come to Terms with 2016 Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:50 AM PST  In an otherwise excellent Politico article advising Democrats how to avoid the fate of 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former Obama staffer Dan Pfeiffer offers his team some self-soothing revisionism regarding the 2016 election:> When all is said and done, the 2016 election might end up being a black-swan event. The combination of Russian interference, Comey intervention and multiple third-party candidates make that election a hard one to extract guidance from.Guess what? Every election is conducted under a unique set of circumstances. Every election is a black-swan event. But that doesn't mean you should rewrite history to excuse your side's performance.The so-called "Comey intervention" has become a security blanket for Democrats unable to acknowledge that Hillary Clinton was merely acting in the same reckless and corrupt manner she always had. In reality, Democrats were incensed that the FBI director didn't bury evidence pertaining to an ongoing congressional investigation of their preferred candidate. They had demanded Comey operate as a political actor even before Trump won.Comey, a bureaucrat who likely had zero interest in angering the consensus front-runner for the presidency, had no choice but to inform Congress of this evidence. Not only because Department of Justice rules stipulate that relevant congressional committees should be apprised of new evidence when it appears, but because Comey had promised Congress after letting Clinton off the hook in July 2016 that he would notify it if new evidence emerged.New evidence did emerge, and there was nothing Comey could do about it. A high-level Hillary staffer, Huma Abedin, was in possession of classified emails that should have been handed over to the FBI. Moreover, her high-profile husband, Anthony Weiner, then under investigation for carrying on with an underaged girl, had access to those emails. If Comey had kept silent and that story had leaked out in bits and pieces later, it surely would have destroyed his career (and badly damaged Clinton).What's more, it takes some chutzpah to claim Comey doomed Clinton by revealing that story when he had previously intervened in the campaign to save her from becoming the first major-party presidential candidate to have to run under an indictment. The mass of evidence in the broader Clinton email scandal showed, at the very least, that her staff had engaged in lawlessness and obstructed justice in ways that make the actions of George Papadopoulos and Michael Flynn look piddling in contrast.What about the Russians? Well, they did not "meddle" or "interfere" in the presidential election as Pfeiffer claims. They tried but failed to interfere in the election, and probably could have changed votes, but didn't. Such an attack by a foreign power is a serious issue, but there is absolutely no evidence that a few Facebook ads or John Podesta's hacked emails changed voters' minds about the election.Nor is there any evidence that Clinton was uniquely hurt by third parties. Democrats might hate Jill Stein, but she won 1,457,218 votes, or around 1 percent of the vote. The Libertarian Party ticket of Gary Johnson and Bill Weld pulled in 4,489,341 votes, a better-than-usual performance for the party driven by antagonism toward the decidedly non-libertarian Trump. The Never Trump McMullin/Finn ticket won 731,991 votes from, one assumes, mostly disgruntled Republicans. Another 203,090 votes went to the Constitution Party, which definitely doesn't sound like a group that would appeal to most Democrats. In short, if anyone was hurt by third-party candidacies, it was probably Trump.In reality, there is plenty of guidance we can extract from 2016. "How did the party lose one of the most winnable elections in recent history?" Pfeiffer asks. Well, Trump's populism connected with voters in places such as Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, voters who had been throwing Democrats out of office for almost the entirety of Obama's two terms. Clinton was a uniquely terrible candidate undone by her own grating personality, her insincerity, and her policy positions, all of which the party was aware of when it nominated her.Pfeiffer offers three really good pieces of advice to Democrats for winning in 2020: "do not make this election solely about Donald Trump," "find ways to frame this economy on your own terms," and "get out of the liberal Twitter bubble." But like most members of his tribe, he still hasn't come to terms with the reality of 2016.
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| L.A. announces new strategy for getting homeless into permanent housing Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:08 AM PST  Los Angeles city and county officials on Tuesday announced a new strategy to speed the process of getting homeless people into permanent housing that is modeled on the federal government's response to natural disasters.
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| Russia's Su-57 Fighter Is All Hype Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:05 AM PST  Russia's Su-57 might be a media star. But it's on track to play no meaningful role in Moscow's military strategy.
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| Abbott says top Malaysian leaders suspected pilot of MH370 Posted: 19 Feb 2020 12:02 AM PST  Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said the "top levels" of the Malaysian government long suspected that the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 almost six years ago was a mass murder-suicide by the pilot. Australia, working on Malaysia's behalf, coordinated what became the largest search in aviation history, but it failed to find the plane before being ended in 2017. Speaking in a Sky News documentary to air on Wednesday and Thursday, Abbott said high-ranking Malaysian officials believed veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah deliberately downed the jet.
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| Some Americans are attempting the journey back home to Wuhan Posted: 19 Feb 2020 08:05 AM PST  "I was married in Wuhan. I had a son in Wuhan. Wuhan is my home, and I will forever be tied to this city, so I need to be there," Christopher Suzanne said.
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| Oracle Employee Speaks Out Against Her Boss Raising Money for Trump Posted: 19 Feb 2020 02:53 PM PST  Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle, one of the largest software companies in the world, hosted a fundraiser for Donald Trump's re-election on Wednesday at the tech titan's Southern California estate. The event was expected to bring in some $7 million for the incumbent president. Some of Ellison's employees were less than pleased about that, signing a protest petition and, according to Recode, planning to walk out on Thursday to demand Ellison and Oracle donate an equivalent amount to humanitarian causes and denounce what they see as the Trump administration's failings.Kristine Lessard, an Oracle sales account manager based in Massachusetts, signed the first petition with a personal appeal. "As an Oracle employee and mom of a transgender young adult," she wrote, "I have appreciated the health benefits and HR Diversity and Inclusion support I've received for 8 years working here. I object to [Ellison] enabling this President who has specifically targeted Transgender youth to take away their rights by rescinding Executive Orders covering them."Lessard's son is a trans man in his 20s, she explained to the Daily Beast in an interview around the time the fundraiser took place Wednesday. She believes the Trump administration has mounted a broad onslaught against LGBTQ civil rights (she cited a Washington Post editorial titled "Trump has a Devastating Record on LGBT rights." in a message), and that even if she might not have a history in tech activism—and even if her company is not known for its restive workforce—she had to speak out.The Silicon Valley Giant Bankrolling Devin Nunes"Oracle funds some advocacy and fundraisers on behalf of the LGBTQ+ community," Lessard said, adding that she herself has participated in LGBTQ affinity groups at Oracle as an ally. "But in one fell swoop, this fundraiser could raise multiple millions that would work against those goals and hard earned gains," she said.Oracle declined to comment to the Daily Beast, but Recode noted that employees who complained to the company had received a statement saying they could participate in politics on a personal level even as the company itself was not endorsing a candidate. "I'm disoriented. [Ellison] supporting the potential enabling of the president to get reelected doesn't match up with our corporate values of social responsibility, especially two of the top ones: equality and environmental protection," Lessard said. Lessard was surprised and disappointed Ellison spoke in favor of Trump now, given that he didn't appear to support the president in the 2016 election. The co-founder is a registered Democrat, but donated $250,000 to Marco Rubio's campaign in 2016, according to federal election records. He and other executives also have a history of backing Republican Rep. Devin Nunes. Lessard has discussed her opposition to Ellison's decision with coworkers, she said, but she did not indicate whether she intended to walk out of work Thursday. "I'm expressing my opinion as an employee about what the company represents," she said. The discussion within Oracle is not monolithic, she added—some employees feel they can only throw up their hands at Ellison's behavior, some feel compelled to speak out, and some have said little. Others may support the president.> Do you work at Oracle or another tech company? Do you agree or disagree with Larry Ellison's decision to host a fundraiser for President Trump? Contact this reporter securely at blake.montgomery@protonmail.com.Lessard said she would be watching the Democratic candidates debate onstage in Nevada in the hours after the fundraiser Wednesday, though she said she doesn't have a favorite candidate. Federal election records show no donations under her name. Oracle's workforce has not engaged in much public activism. By contrast, Google employees seem to have been in a state of constant revolt for the past three years, advocating for the search giant to drop a contract with the Pentagon, and questioning the ouster of union organizers and an employee protesting the company's work with immigration officials, among other disputes. Google has told its employees to stop talking about politics at work.The size and scope of a potential walkout remained to be seen late Wednesday. But if Lessard was any indication, some employees were increasingly willing to spar with a boss some feel has gone rogue."When you have this amount of people signing a petition, it really means it did strike a nerve," she said.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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| Married, off-duty cops interrupt 'date night' to stop armed robbery attempt at restaurant Posted: 19 Feb 2020 07:40 AM PST  Dramatic video shows a Kentucky man allegedly attempting to rob a Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers in Louisville. Then, two off-duty cops stepped in.
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