| 'Cheap shot': Sanders fires back when Bloomberg goes after 'socialism' Posted: 19 Feb 2020 08:22 PM PST  Michael Bloomberg attacked Sen. Bernie Sanders at Wednesday's debate in Las Vegas, with the billionaire former New York City mayor claiming the self-described democratic socialist's ownership of multiple homes makes him a hypocrite.
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| Rohrabacher confirms he offered Trump pardon to Assange for proof Russia didn't hack DNC email Posted: 20 Feb 2020 05:14 AM PST  Former congressman Dana Rohrabacher confirmed to Yahoo News he told Julian Assange President Trump would pardon him if he turned over information proving Russians weren't the source of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks.
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| Americans stranded at Pakistan airport after cruise ship was denied entry to multiple countries over coronavirus fears Posted: 20 Feb 2020 02:00 PM PST  A plane full of Americans and Canadians was stranded on a tarmac at an airport in Karachi, Pakistan, for several hours on Thursday after it was turned away from multiple countries due to fears of the coronavirus, according to a family member of two of the passengers.
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| A recurring Biden campaign story about being arrested in South Africa is full of inconsistencies Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:40 PM PST  Former Vice President Joe Biden has a pretty good tale to share — but it may be a little tall.Biden, who is running for president, has been spicing up his recent campaign stump speeches with a story of how he was arrested while in South Africa trying to see Nelson Mandela, The New York Times reports. But that recollection of events has only recently come to light, and it was reportedly omitted from Biden's 2007 memoir that detailed his escapades in the country around that time.During recent campaign speeches, Biden says he "had the great honor" of meeting Mandela and "of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto." As Miami Herald reporter Alex Daugherty points out, Soweto is a ways away from Robben Island, where Mandela's maximum security prison was located.> Adding to @katieglueck's story is Biden's quote doesn't make geographical sense. "I had the great honor of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto trying to get to see him on Robbens Island." Soweto is almost 900 miles away from Robben Island https://t.co/WtlZMdkexq> > — Alex Daugherty (@alextdaugherty) February 21, 2020The arrest, which has seemingly only been brought up publicly by Biden in the last few weeks, was not found referenced anywhere by readily available news outlets, per the Times.The U.S. ambassador to the U.N. from 1977 to 1979 was Andrew Young. While Young reportedly acknowledged going to South Africa with Biden, he said he was never arrested in the country, and he told the Times he didn't think Biden had been arrested there either."I don't think there was ever a situation where congressmen were arrested in South Africa," Young told the Times, although he did say some people were being arrested in Washington.The story, which was seemingly nonexistent before a few weeks ago, has been told three times on the trail as Biden heads into Nevada and South Carolina, where he needs to pull in big numbers in order to counteract a lackluster showing in Iowa and New Hampshire.Word of advice: there are other ways to make yourself look tough to voters that don't include broadcasting a trip to the slammer.More stories from theweek.com Bernie Sanders' subtle warning to the Democratic Party How much will Medicare-for-all save Americans? A lot. Former CIA Director John Brennan says 'we are now in a full-blown national security crisis'
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| CDC is preparing for the 'likely' spread of coronavirus in the US, officials say Posted: 21 Feb 2020 12:43 PM PST  While coronavirus has not spread in the United States, CDC officials said they're preparing for the coronavirus to become a pandemic.
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| South Korea accepted that its efforts to stop the coronavirus from infecting the country failed and says it's pivoting to containment Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:55 AM PST  Cases of the coronavirus in South Korea have tripled. The government says it must now take a different approach.
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| A 15-month-old last seen in December was reported missing only this week Posted: 21 Feb 2020 10:21 AM PST  "This is a complicated case," the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation tweeted Thursday about the disappearance of Evelyn Mae Boswell. "Right now, our primary focus is finding Evelyn."
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| Don't Listen to the 'Michael Bloomberg Lost the Debate' Hype Posted: 20 Feb 2020 04:45 AM PST  The conventional wisdom will likely be that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg was the loser in Wednesday night's Democratic debate, but that wisdom is wrong.
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| Trump news: President rebuked by judge for 'totally inappropriate' tweets as Roger Stone met with ‘Lock Him Up’ chants following sentencing Posted: 20 Feb 2020 12:52 PM PST  Donald Trump was called out for his "totally inappropriate" tweets by the judge presiding over Roger Stone's trial as she handed down a 40-month sentence for the president's longtime friend, saying his crimes should cause universal "dismay and disgust".The comments came just before he took to the stage in Colorado Springs for a "Keep America Great Again" rally, as a part of a string of events he is doing this week across the country.
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| Debate shows Bernie Sanders could win most votes but be denied nomination Posted: 20 Feb 2020 08:19 AM PST  The Vermont senator was alone in saying he would back whoever won a plurality of delegates – with others open to superdelegates tipping the balance for another candidate at the conventionAmid the Mike Bloomberg pile-on and the Pete Buttigieg-Amy Klobuchar squabbling, there was a key point that slipped by almost unnoticed during Wednesday's tumultuous Democratic debate – one that could potentially prevent Bernie Sanders from becoming the nominee.Towards the end, each of the six candidates was asked if – at the Democratic national convention this summer in Milwaukee – they would support the person who has won the most delegates – even if that person hasn't achieved a majority.Five of the candidates said they would not. The Democratic socialist and Vermont senator said he would.It might seem a wonky, opaque detail, but it raises the prospect that Sanders, who has a commanding lead in the polls and has emerged as the frontrunner, could win the most pledged delegates – those allocated on the basis of votes during the marathon Democratic primaries – but be swindled, at the last, by the Democratic party elite.That's because of superdelegates.Superdelegates, who are chosen by the central Democratic party, are different from pledged delegates, who are effectively voted for during the primaries. As of 20 February, Buttigieg is in the lead in terms of pledged delegates, with 22 to Sanders' 21.But Sanders is better-placed than Buttigieg to pick up more pledged delegates in Nevada on Saturday and South Carolina the following week. He is also likely to add to his total again on Super Tuesday, when 14 states vote, yielding a total of 1,357 delegates.If Sanders' popularity endures, he could amass more delegates than his rivals by the time of the July convention, when the pledged delegates effectively vote for the nominee in a first round of voting that is meant to pick the nominee.However, if Sanders does not have an absolute majority – more than 50% – during the first ballot when the pledged delegates line up behind their chosen nominee, then it is the superdelegates who will join the vote in a second round of voting.Superdelegates, who in the past have aligned with the center, "establishment" wing of the Democratic party, will be free to wade in and vote for whomever they choose in this second ballot.With Sanders a resolute outsider in Democratic terms – he sits as an independent in the Senate, and had to sign a pledge last year committing to the party – he is unlikely to be a favorite of these party grandees.If the superdelegates vote for a more centrist figure, that could mean Sanders – even if he has secured a majority of votes in the primaries – would be pipped at the post, and not be the nominee.That's why that moment in the Nevada debate was so important. Five of the candidates were effectively saying that even if they were losing at the Democratic national convention, they were open to the unelected superdelegates weighing in in their favor, potentially gifting them the nomination even though they did not win the support of the most actual voters in the whole race.It's a prospect that would leave Sanders' supporters irate – and even upset some non-supporters. Marianne Williamson, Sanders' erstwhile rival for the nomination, was among those to criticize the process on Wednesday night."The Democratic Party should be on notice: if you even think about using superdelegates to take the nomination from someone who has the plurality of delegates going into Milwaukee, we the people will not take it lying down," Williamson wrote on Twitter.The superdelegate rules were changed in 2018 after criticism from Sanders and others. Until then, superdelegates could vote for whomever they chose in the first round of the convention, and an overwhelming majority supported Hillary Clinton in 2016, although she was also ahead of Sanders in pledged delegates and rank-and-file votes.At the time, Sanders called the 2018 change "an important step forward in making the Democratic party more open, democratic and responsive to the input of ordinary Americans".With the prospect of superdelegate interference once again looming over his presidential chances, however, it is likely Sanders feels more reforms are needed.
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| Democrat Warren, worried campaign will run out of cash, taps $3 million loan Posted: 20 Feb 2020 09:37 PM PST  NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren raised more money than most of her Democratic presidential rivals in the weeks before the Iowa caucuses, but spent so heavily that her campaign took out a $3 million loan fearing she would run out of cash. Warren raised $10.4 million in contributions in January -- more than former Vice President Joe Biden's $9 million and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg's $6 million -- but ended the month with only $2.3 million in cash, according to disclosures filed on Thursday. All of the presidential hopefuls were required to submit financial disclosures on Thursday, public documents that offer insights into how they are managing their multi-million campaign operations.
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| Police chief walked home in underwear after being fired Posted: 20 Feb 2020 08:00 AM PST  A police chief stripped down to his underwear and walked home through a snowstorm after being fired by officials in New Hampshire.
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| Iowa Professor Bound and Gagged Husband Before His Death: Cops Posted: 20 Feb 2020 11:09 AM PST  An Iowa professor has been charged for allegedly gagging and binding her husband to a chair with rope for hours before his death, authorities said on Wednesday evening.Gowun Park, a 41-year-old assistant economics professor at Simpson College, was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in the death of her 41-year-old husband, Sung Nam, on Saturday, West Des Moines police told The Daily Beast. "Ms. Park's actions and in-actions were directly responsible for Mr. Nam's death. The injuries sustained by Mr. Nam were not self-inflicted," a criminal complaint obtained by the Des Moines Register says. "Ms. Park stated that the only people present during the duration of the events were her and her husband, Sung Woo Nam."California Woman Fabricated Firefighter Husband to Scam Donors: PoliceAuthorities allege Park bound her husband's hands and feet with zip ties before tying him to a chair in their West Des Moines home on Saturday between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Park then allegedly stuffed "an item of clothing" into Nam's mouth to prevent him from yelling in protest before finally using duct tape to place a towel over his head to cover his eyes.Several hours later, at about 5:05 p.m., police say Nam asked to be untied in distress, but his wife refused to free him. Gun finally called West Des Moines police officers at around 6:45 p.m., at which point deputies found Nam unresponsive with ligature marks on the front of his neck and throat. His wife was "performing CPR" on him, authorities said."Ms. Park made efforts to hide and conceal the binding items prior to the arrival of emergency personnel," the criminal complaint said. Nam was transported to UnityPoint Health-Iowa Methodist Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead. The next day, Park emailed her students to say she was canceling classes for the following week and postponing their midterm because of a "personnel issue," according to the Des Moines Register. Park, who was hired at the small liberal-arts college in 2017, was arrested on Wednesday after faculty members saw deputies in her office. Air Force Major Charged With Murder After Missing Wife's Remains Found"I witnessed three police officers in the faculty member's office searching through papers and drawers," Brian Steffen, professor of multimedia communications, told the school's newspaper, The Simpsonian. "I did see police officers remove a computer from her office. I don't know whether they took other materials, but I did see them take a computer away."A Simpson College spokesperson told The Daily Beast that the school has suspended Park following her arrest and is cooperating with authorities during the ongoing investigation. As of Thursday afternoon, Park's staff profile page was removed from Simpson College's website, as was any mention of the assistant economics professor.Wife Kills Husband, Admits It in a Bar Bathroom"The recent news has left me and other classmates in shock," Kody Ricken, a sophomore and one of Park's advisees, told the student newspaper. "We never would have expected her to do anything like this."Park received her master's degree in economics from New York University in 2010 before teaching there as an adjunct professor for five years, a school spokesperson confirmed. She later received her doctoral degree in economics in 2017 from the City University of New York just before joining Simpson College faculty, according to alumni records. Park is being held on a $5 million bond at Dallas County Jail. It was not immediately known whether she has a lawyer. 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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| Fuel tanker explodes causing 'catastrophic' damage on Indianapolis interstate Posted: 20 Feb 2020 05:53 PM PST  The driver was able to get out of the tanker truck on his own and was met by three good Samaritans who helped usher him to safety.
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| The Diamond Princess cruise ship, where at least 634 people caught the coronavirus, is setting sail again in April. Here's how it's being cleaned. Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:24 PM PST  A spokesperson for Princess' parent company Carnival Corp. said the ship will be sprayed with a standard disinfectant after the COVID-19 outbreak.
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| Airport worker with no license takes plane for spin near D.C., almost crashes, feds say Posted: 20 Feb 2020 01:53 PM PST  Ryan Guy Parker allegedly "bounced" the landing and spun out when he touched down at the end of one harrowing flight.
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| Watch Out! U.S. Army Tanks Could Collapse Polish Bridges On Their Way to Battle Russia Posted: 20 Feb 2020 04:33 PM PST  The U.S. Army and its closest allies have a problem. The region of the world where they arguably are most likely to deploy its heaviest vehicles for high-tech combat also is peppered with flimsy old bridges that can't support the vehicles' weight.
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| Bear strolling around California city sparks media feeding frenzy Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:32 AM PST  It's not that unusual to find bears wandering around towns and cities across the U.S., especially when those cities are right next to the hills where those bears live. But one not-so-unusually lumbering around Monrovia, California, on Thursday and Friday has sparked some atypical curiosity in the bear-friendly city.The large, nameless bear has been spotted slowly making his way through yards and blocking traffic since Thursday night, not doing much besides sniffing out trash.> NOT YOUR AVERAGE BEAR: A large bear was spotted roaming the streets of Monrovia, California, seemingly taking in the sights, enjoying the amenities of residents' backyards, and not minding all the attention at all. https://t.co/E6KoREtsXn pic.twitter.com/Eo5PdTHDee> > — ABC News (@ABC) February 21, 2020Nothing fazed the bear — not even a man getting way too close with his cell phone or some barking dogs behind a fence.> A BEAR-Y GOOD STROLL: A bear strolled through a neighborhood in Monrovia, California on Friday. People came out to see the bear as it wandered through yards and got close to two barking dogs! Check out the bear's morning adventure. pic.twitter.com/xu4urom4nR> > — CBS Newspath (@cbsnewspath) February 21, 2020The bear eventually fell asleep in someone's backyard, reporter for local station KNX1070 Craig Fiegener learned from the California Fish and Wildlife Department. Officials from the department were planning to sneak into the yard, extend the bear's nap with a tranquilizer dart, and then return him to the woods where he belongs.More stories from theweek.com Bernie Sanders' subtle warning to the Democratic Party How much will Medicare-for-all save Americans? A lot. A recurring Biden campaign story about being arrested in South Africa is full of inconsistencies
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| AP Interview: Venezuela's Guaidó extols Trump alliance Posted: 21 Feb 2020 01:53 PM PST  Opposition leader Juan Guaidó said Friday that he trusts U.S. President Donald Trump's "firm and determined" backing following a White House meeting aimed at helping him steer crisis-stricken Venezuela toward a democratic transition. "For me he is very trustworthy," Guaidó said of Trump. Guaidó, leader of Venezuela's opposition-dominated congress, said he will lead a street march in the coming weeks that comes amid a turf battle to retake the legislative meeting hall in Venezuela's capital that Maduro loyalists have forcefully blocked.
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| Amy Klobuchar blanks Pete Buttigieg and avoids shaking his hand at the end of Democratic debate Posted: 20 Feb 2020 02:41 PM PST  At the end of a raucous Democratic primary debate in Las Vegas that saw multiple clashes between the six presidential hopefuls on stage, there seemed to be no love lost between two sparring partners in particular.Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar and the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, traded blows over the former forgetting the name of the President of Mexico, and the latter's relative electoral inexperience, in a heated exchange.
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| Stone’s sentencing to begin after judge refuses new trial request Posted: 20 Feb 2020 03:39 AM PST  Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Trump and a self-described political dirty trickster, is set to be sentenced on Thursday for his attempts to sabotage a congressional investigation that posed a political threat to the president.
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| Execution for a Facebook post? Why blasphemy is a capital offense in some Muslim countries Posted: 20 Feb 2020 01:08 PM PST  Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer in Pakistan, had been imprisoned for six years when he was sentenced to death in December 2019. The charge: blasphemy, specifically insulting Prophet Muhammad on Facebook. Pakistan has the world's second strictest blasphemy laws after Iran, according to U.S. Commision on International Religious Freedom.Hafeez, whose death sentence is under appeal, is one of about 1,500 Pakistanis charged with blasphemy, or sacrilegious speech, over the last three decades. No executions have taken place. But since 1990 70 people have been murdered by mobs and vigilantes who accused them of insulting Islam. Several people who defend the accused have been killed, too, including one of Hafeez's lawyers and two high-level politicians who publicly opposed the death sentence of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted for verbally insulting Prophet Muhammad. Though Bibi was acquitted in 2019, she fled Pakistan. Blasphemy and apostasyOf 71 countries that criminalize blasphemy, 32 are majority Muslim. Punishment and enforcement of these laws varies. Blasphemy is punishable by death in Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Brunei, Mauritania and Saudi Arabia. Among non-Muslim-majority cases, the harshest blasphemy laws are in Italy, where the maximum penalty is three years in prison.Half of the world's 49 Muslim-majority countries have additional laws banning apostasy, meaning people may be punished for leaving Islam. All countries with apostasy laws are Muslim-majority except India. Apostasy is often charged along with blasphemy. This class of religious laws is quite popular in some Muslim countries. According to a 2013 Pew survey, about 75% of respondents in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and South Asia favor making sharia, or Islamic law, the official law of the land. Among those who support sharia, around 25% in Southeast Asia, 50% in the Middle East and North Africa, and 75% in South Asia say they support "executing those who leave Islam" – that is, they support laws punishing apostasy with death. The ulema and the stateMy 2019 book "Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment" traces the root of blasphemy and apostasy laws in the Muslim world back to a historic alliance between Islamic scholars and government.Starting around the year 1050, certain Sunni scholars of law and theology, called the "ulema," began working closely with political rulers to challenge what they considered to be the sacrilegious influence of Muslim philosophers on society. Muslim philosophers had for three centuries been making major contributions to mathematics, physics and medicine. They developed the Arabic number system used across the West today and invented a forerunner of the modern camera.The conservative ulema felt that these philosophers were inappropriately influenced by Greek philosophy and Shia Islam against Sunni beliefs. The most prominent in consolidating Sunni orthodoxy was the brilliant and respected Islamic scholar Ghazali, who died in the year 1111.In several influential books still widely read today, Ghazali declared two long-dead leading Muslim philosophers, Farabi and Ibn Sina, apostates for their unorthodox views on God's power and the nature of resurrection. Their followers, Ghazali wrote, could be punished with death. As modern-day historians Omid Safi and Frank Griffel assert, Ghazali's declaration provided justification to Muslim sultans from the 12th century onward who wished to persecute – even execute – thinkers seen as threats to conservative religious rule. This "ulema-state alliance," as I call it, began in the mid-11th century in Central Asia, Iran and Iraq and a century later spread to Syria, Egypt and North Africa. In these regimes, questioning religious orthodoxy and political authority wasn't merely dissent – it was apostasy. Wrong directionParts of Western Europe were ruled by a similar alliance between the Catholic Church and monarchs. These governments assaulted free thinking, too. During the Spanish Inquisition, between the 16th and 18th centuries, thousands of people were tortured and killed for apostasy.Blasphemy laws were also in place, if infrequently used, in various European countries until recently. Denmark, Ireland and Malta all recently repealed their laws.But they persist in many parts of the Muslim world. In Pakistan, the military dictator Zia ul Haq, who ruled the country from 1978 to 1988, is responsible for its harsh blasphemy laws. An ally of the ulema, Zia updated blasphemy laws – written by British colonizers to avoid interreligious conflict – to defend specifically Sunni Islam and increased the maximum punishment to death. From the 1920s until Zia, these laws had been applied only about a dozen times. Since then they have become a powerful tool for crushing dissent.Some dozen Muslim countries have undergone a similar process over the past four decades, including Iran and Egypt. Dissenting voices in IslamThe conservative ulema base their case for blasphemy and apostasy laws on a few reported sayings of Prophet Muhammad, known as hadith, primarily: "Whoever changes his religion, kill him." But many Islamic scholars and Muslim intellectuals reject this view as radical. They argue that Prophet Muhammad never executed anyone for apostasy, nor encouraged his followers to do so.Nor is criminalizing sacrilege based on Islam's main sacred text, the Quran. It contains over 100 verses encouraging peace, freedom of conscience and religious tolerance. In chapter 2, verse 256, the Quran states, "There is no coercion in religion." Chapter 4, verse 140 urges Muslims to simply leave blasphemous conversations: "When you hear the verses of God being rejected and mocked, do not sit with them."By using their political connections and historical authority to interpret Islam, however, the conservative ulema have marginalized more moderate voices. Reaction to global IslamophobiaDebates about blasphemy and apostasy laws among Muslims are influenced by international affairs.Across the globe, Muslim minorities – including the Palestinians, Chechens of Russia, Kashmiris of India, Rohingya of Mymanmar and Uighurs of China – have experienced severe persecution. No other religion is so widely targeted in so many different countries. Alongside persecution are some Western policies that discriminate against Muslims, such as laws prohibiting headscarves in schools and the U.S. ban on travelers from several Muslim-majority countries.Such Islamaphobic laws and policies can create the impression that Muslims are under siege and provide an excuse that punishing sacrilege is a defense of the faith.Instead, I find, such harsh religious rules can contribute to anti-Muslim stereotypes. Some of my Turkish relatives even discourage my work on this topic, fearing it fuels Islamophobia. But my research shows that criminalizing blasphemy and apostasy is more political than it is religious. The Quran does not require punishing sacrilege: authoritarian politics do.[ Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation's newsletter. ]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Conservative Islamic views are gaining ground in secular Bangladesh and curbing freedom of expression * Imran Khan hopes to transform Pakistan but he'll have far less power than past leadersAhmet T. Kuru is a FORIS scholar at the Religious Freedom Institute.
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| First US patient has fully recovered from coronavirus in Washington state; nearly 800 still under watch Posted: 20 Feb 2020 08:28 PM PST  A Washington state man who was the nation's first confirmed case of the new, deadly coronavirus has made a full recovery and is no longer quarantined.
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| A crowd in Ukraine threw bricks at buses carrying coronavirus evacuees from Wuhan to quarantine Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:26 AM PST  The buses were attacked in Novi Sanzhary on Thursday night. Nobody on board has tested positive for the coronavirus — the quarantine is a precaution.
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| 'Not good enough' Warren says of Bloomberg's non-disclosure agreement pledge Posted: 21 Feb 2020 01:25 PM PST  WASHINGTON/LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said on Friday that his company has identified three women bound by non-disclosure agreements regarding his past conduct and that they would be released from their accords if they choose. In a statement, Bloomberg, who runs media conglomerate Bloomberg LP, said the agreements concern "comments they said I had made," and that the women should contact his company for a release. The agreements have been a source of fierce criticism from rival candidate U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, who called on Bloomberg to release the women from the agreements during the presidential debate in Las Vegas on Wednesday and again at a televised town hall on Thursday, saying she had drawn up a "release and covenant" that the former New York City mayor could use.
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| This Fighter Jet Is The Biggest Threat To Russia's Su-57 Stealth Fighter (Not the F-35) Posted: 21 Feb 2020 05:55 AM PST  And it's not American.
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| Inmate says in letter that he killed 2 molesters in prison Posted: 20 Feb 2020 07:08 PM PST  A California inmate serving a life sentence for murder confessed in a letter that he beat to death two child molesterswith another inmate's cane hours after a prison counselor ignored his urgent warning that he might become violent. In a letter to the Bay Area News Group, Jonathan Watson, 41, said he clubbed both men in the head on Jan. 16 at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison in the small central California city of Corcoran. The first attack occurred after Watson became enraged that one of the sex offenders was watching a children's television show,the East Bay Times reported Thursday.
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| Donald Trump dismisses US intelligence briefing warning Russia is working to boost his re-election Posted: 20 Feb 2020 05:38 PM PST  Donald Trump has dismissed a US intelligence assessment that Russia is meddling in the 2020 election to help his re-election as a Democrat "hoax", amid a row over a briefing with Congress last week. "Another misinformation campaign is being launched by Democrats in Congress saying that Russia prefers me to any of the Do Nothing Democrat candidates who still have been unable to, after two weeks, count their votes in Iowa," the president tweeted, adding "Hoax number 7!" It comes after America's top election security official, Shelby Pierson, warned the House Intelligence Committee that the Kremlin was interfering in the 2020 presidential campaign to aid Mr Trump's re-election in a classified briefing on February 13. More than two dozen Democrats and Republicans sit on the committee, and the details of the briefing are thought to have been related to Mr Trump. The US president was furious with his acting director of national intelligence (DNI), Joseph Maguire, and his aides for speaking to Congress and accused them of being "disloyal", according to the Washington Post.
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| Mother of missing Idaho children told police her friend had her son. The friend said she was asked to lie. Posted: 21 Feb 2020 05:29 PM PST  Tylee Ryan, 17, has not been seen or heard from since Sept. 8. Joshua Vallow, 7, was last seen alive on Sept. 23.
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| State Department reportedly overruled CDC to fly coronavirus-infected Americans home Posted: 20 Feb 2020 01:54 PM PST  Fourteen Americans who contracted coronavirus on a cruise ship in Japan were transported back to the U.S. against the wishes of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Washington Post reports.A total of 328 Americans were quarantined on the Diamond Princess ship for weeks before test results showed 14 of them had the COVID-19 virus, the Post writes. The U.S. State Department had said no one with the infection would be allowed on a flight. But it fought with the CDC to transport the infected people, who weren't showing symptoms, back anyway on the same flight and separated from those not infected by a "plastic-lined enclosure," the Post writes. State eventually won, but the CDC reportedly refused to puts its name on the press release announcing the flight.More than 600 people on the ship contracted the coronavirus, and two passengers, both in their 80s, died on Thursday. South Korea also reported its first death from the disease on Thursday as case numbers there swelled by about two-thirds, per the Post. China reported new coronavirus numbers of Wednesday that seem to show spread of the infection is slowing, with 394 new infections and 136 deaths added in the past week, CBS News reports.More stories from theweek.com Bernie Sanders' subtle warning to the Democratic Party How much will Medicare-for-all save Americans? A lot. A recurring Biden campaign story about being arrested in South Africa is full of inconsistencies
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| Chinese researchers just confirmed that patients can transmit the coronavirus without showing symptoms. A woman passed it to 5 relatives. Posted: 21 Feb 2020 03:58 PM PST  A woman tested positive for the coronavirus but she never became physically ill. Her family members, however, developed fevers.
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| Former national security adviser denounces the House's impeachment proceedings as 'grossly partisan' Posted: 20 Feb 2020 06:26 AM PST  Former national security adviser John Bolton on Wednesday denounced the House's impeachment proceedings against President Trump as "grossly partisan" and said his testimony would not have changed Trump's acquittal in the Senate, as he continued to stay quiet on the details of a yet-to-be-released book.
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| 46,000-year-old bird found in Siberia Posted: 20 Feb 2020 07:46 PM PST  Along with the ancient bird, scientists are also studying an 18,000-year-old puppy and other extremely old specimens.
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| Housing crisis: Berkeley law would put renters first Posted: 20 Feb 2020 12:48 PM PST  The mayor of Berkeley, California, proposed a new housing policy Thursday aimed at giving renters first dibs when a property goes up for sale, as the state battles a severe housing shortage and homelessness that Gov. Gavin Newsom has declared his top priority. Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin announced a proposed ordinance to give renters "the first refusal and right to purchase" when their apartment buildings or rented homes are put on the market. Berkeley's city council will vote on the idea later this month.
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| 'This is not just Roger being Roger': Stone gets 40 months – and a scolding from the judge Posted: 20 Feb 2020 02:36 PM PST  Amy Berman Jackson tore into Trump's longtime friend and reminded the court 'he was prosecuted for covering up for the president'Roger Stone, a longtime friend of Donald Trump and a self-styled dirty trickster of American politics, showed little emotion as he stood, squeezed between his defense team, at the front of the courtroom to await his sentence on Thursday."Unsurprisingly, I have a lot to say," the federal district court judge Amy Berman Jackson began.She was aware, of course, of the extraordinary public interest surrounding this high-stakes case that last week triggered a political firestorm at the Department of Justice over fears of political influence. In recent weeks, Jackson said, there have been letters and calls to the chamber, op-eds in every major newspaper, hours of punditry on cable news, and, perhaps most remarkable of all, a stream of tweets from the president of the United States, who has attacked her as biased."The only people who think this is easy [are] the people who don't have to make the decision," she lamented from the bench.Stone's presence in her courtroom on Thursday had nothing to do with his political views or personal association. He was there, Jackson said, because "Roger Stone characteristically inserted himself smack in the middle of one of the most incendiary issues of the day". His sentence had nothing to do with "who his friends are or who his enemies are," Jackson said. At issue, she explained, is only what he has been convicted of: attempting to sabotage a congressional investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. "He was not prosecuted for standing up for the president," she said. "He was prosecuted for covering up for the president."She laced into the defense offered by Stone's attorneys in response to his conviction on charges that he lied to congressional investigators and attempted to block the testimony of a witness, which she said amounted to: "'So what?'""Of all the circumstances in this case, that may be the most pernicious," Jackson said, in comments that quickly traveled far beyond the E Barrett Prettyman courthouse in Washington. "The truth still exists, the truth still matters."Stone stood unflinching, hands clasped in front of him, as she continued her excoriation."Roger Stone's insistence that it doesn't … his belligerence, his pride in his own lies, are a threat to our most fundamental institutions, to the very foundation of our democracy," she said emphatically.The judge forcefully rejected claims by Stone and his supporters that law enforcement was carrying out a political vendetta against the president by prosecuting his longtime friend."There was nothing unfair, phony, or disgraceful about the investigation or the prosecution," she said.> He lied about a matter of great national and international significance. This is not campaign hi-jinks> > Amy Berman JacksonJackson has overseen several of the high-profile cases stemming from the special counsel's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, including the prosecutions of Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman and Rick Gates, his former deputy campaign chairman. But Stone's case – which turned in part on a Godfather reference, alleged threats made against a therapy dog and a series of profane texts messages that Jackson read from the bench on Thursday – was perhaps the most colorful. She accepted that Stone had cultivated a reputation as an "agent provocateur" who is belligerent and hyperbolic – noting humorously that these are descriptions of him from "people who wrote [to the court] on his behalf"."The problem is that nothing about this case was a joke. It wasn't funny, it wasn't a stunt," she said, adding: "The defendant lied about a matter of great national and international significance. This is not campaign hi-jinks. This is not just Roger being Roger."The prosecution team had originally recommended a sentence of seven to nine years, which Trump decried earlier this month as "horrible and unfair". Almost immediately, William Barr, the attorney general, intervened and overruled the prosecutors, recommending a far more lenient sentence. Jackson called the what the justice department did "unprecedented".In what appeared to be a reference to the president's running Twitter commentary on the case, Jackson said: "The court cannot be influenced by those comments. They were entirely inappropriate."Nevertheless, she believed the initial recommendation was unduly punitive. Probation, however, would not fit the gravity of the crimes committed, she said.In the end, she arrived at her decision: Stone would be sentenced to 40 months in prison. But the case is not quite closed. Stone would not be imprisoned until the judge rules on a motion brought by his defense team requesting a new trial.Emerging from the courthouse after his sentencing, Stone looked bemused by the media frenzy. He was, after all, a man who believed the "only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." But there was no flamboyant displays, no Nixon-esque victory salute. He simply placed a hat atop his head and slipped into a waiting car. After the sentencing, a representative for Stone appealed to Trump directly."It falls on President Trump to use the power of a pardon as the final means of checks and balances to right this horrible wrong," the spokeswoman, Kristin Davis, said in a statement.Speaking in Las Vegas at a graduation ceremony for prisoners leaving incarceration on Thursday, Trump said he was following the case " very closely"."I want to see it play out to its fullest," he told the graduates, "because Roger has a very good chance of exoneration, in my opinion."
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| Ilhan Omar’s Challenger Is Literally on the Run From the Law Posted: 21 Feb 2020 01:35 AM PST  It's not unheard-of for members of Congress to resign their seats because of serious legal trouble. Now Republican House candidate Danielle Stella is trying to achieve the inverse: getting elected to Congress while being wanted by the law. Stella, one of the five Republicans competing for the right to take on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in November, has been wanted for months on an arrest warrant for felony shoplifting. Even while facing arrest, though, she's managed to achieve a respectable fundraising haul—nearly $84,000 as of the end of 2019—and built up a following on social media, where, well, she's made some waves. Stella first stirred the pot in July over tweets suggesting she supports the QAnon conspiracy theory, which claims that Trump is engaged in a ceaseless secret war against high-ranking pedophile-cannibals in the halls of power. At the same time, The Guardian reported that she had been arrested twice in the Minneapolis area's Hennepin County on shoplifting charges, including an allegation that she stole $2,300 from Target. Stella insisted she didn't break the law. According to records, though, Stella failed to show up for multiple October court hearings about her alleged felony. After Stella missed another hearing, a judge issued a still-outstanding warrant for her arrest. "We can confirm that she does have an active felony theft warrant in Hennepin County," a spokesman for the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office told The Daily Beast. Stella didn't respond to requests for comment. Stella's primary rivals have watched her mounting legal woes with surprise. Lacy Johnson, an entrepreneur who has raised nearly $500,000 in his own bid for the Republican nomination, said that negative headlines about Stella could undermine whoever eventually faces Omar in the general election. The eventual Republican nominee already faces a steep challenge in the district, which heavily favors Democrats."Candidates are reflections of the party in a way, and it's not a good reflection of the party in a sense," Johnson said. "But now, being in politics, you do learn that people do have all kinds of ways of looking at things." Sheriff's deputies aren't the only ones interested in Stella's whereabouts. Questions about her location flared anew over the weekend, when a conspiracy theorist with 50,000 YouTube subscribers claimed with no evidence during a livestream that Stella was in some unspecified danger at a hotel in Osceola, Wisconsin. Callers from across the country deluged the Osceola hotel with calls, and police were called to the scene. A spokeswoman for the Osceola Police Department declined to share an incident report about the event, citing an open investigation. Stella is facing obstacles beyond the courtroom, too. In November, Twitter suspended her campaign account after she repeated a fringe allegation that Omar is an Iranian government asset and claimed that Omar "should be tried for treason and hanged" if the allegation was true. Despite all the legal attention, Stella continues to operate her campaign—at least online. In addition to raising money for her campaign, Stella has posted messages to her supporters on Facebook and Instagram, including promotional memes about QAnon. As a candidate himself, Johnson said that anyone facing an arrest warrant would no doubt face complications while running for office. How, for example, could they show up for debates in the face of police pressure? "I wouldn't even run if I was on the run from the police," Johnson said. How the Ilhan Omar Marriage Smear Went From Fever Swamp to TrumpRead 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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| Son of powerful Mexican drug lord extradited to U.S. Posted: 21 Feb 2020 10:03 AM PST  U.S. law enforcement has described Rubén Oseguera-González, AKA El Menchito, as a former second-in-command of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel.
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| Coronavirus: Chance to contain outbreak is 'narrowing' says WHO Posted: 20 Feb 2020 06:16 PM PST  Britons will fly back and arrive in Wiltshire 'Dominoes falling' in shipping as virus grips China's economy Ukrainian protesters attack bus carrying China evacuees Covid-19 symptoms: what to look for and how to treat it Subscribe to The Telegraph, free for 30 days Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of the World Health Organization, has said he is concerned that the chance to contain the coronavirus outbreak was "closing". Although the number of cases outside China remained relatively small, the World Health Organization is worried about clusters of infections that have no clear link to China. Speaking at a press briefing earlier today, Dr Tedros said: "I believe the window of opportunity is still there, but that the window is narrowing." It comes as four die and 18 test positive for the virus in Iran as authorities struggle to trace the source of the outbreak after it emerged that none of the diagnosed patients have traveled to China or been in contact with anyone who had.
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| More than 100 wild animals in China died from poisoning in a mass die-off seemingly triggered by coronavirus disinfectant Posted: 21 Feb 2020 11:42 AM PST  Animal activists also shared distressing photos on Weibo: bloodied animals, a man hitting a dog with a stick, and an officer poking a lifeless dog.
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| Moscow says Russian official detained in Spain after U.S. request Posted: 21 Feb 2020 07:46 AM PST |
| The Culinary Union of Nevada takes a pass on endorsing – here's why that may be a winning political strategy Posted: 21 Feb 2020 04:34 AM PST  A picket line outside the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas proved to be a hot ticket for most Democratic hopefuls aiming to pick up a vote or two ahead of the Nevada caucuses.Elizabeth Warren turned up with donuts to support workers demanding a union contract, while fellow presidential candidates Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer also found time in their busy schedules to meet workers, pose for pictures and express solidarity.One candidate notable by his absence was Bernie Sanders. The reason may be related to a recent dust-up between the Vermont senator's campaign and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, known in Las Vegas as "the Culinary."Concern about damage to Sanders and the eagerness of his rivals to curry favor with the Culinary underscores the importance of the union in Nevada. Moreover, the political clout the Culinary possesses serves as an example of how unions can prosper at a time when legislators and politicans are working to limit labor rights.So who is the Culinary backing in the Nevada Democratic caucus? Nobody.The flash point in the Culinary's decision not to endorse was the "Medicare for All" proposals of Sens. Sanders and Warren.In a leaflet distributed to members, the union stated that Sanders' plan would "end Culinary Health Care" – the generous zero-deductible plan that serves 55,000 Culinary members and 70,000 of their dependents.Some of Sanders' backers countered that the union had betrayed progressive values by protecting its members while sacrificing higher standards of care for all working-class families. Online, the fight quickly turned ugly. The Vermont senator disavowed supporters who "attack trade union leaders" during a televised debate with other candidates, but not before being accused by Pete Buttigieg of being "at war" with the Culinary.The online fracas harkened back to an old trope about labor unions that is relentlessly exploited by employers: that they don't care about workers, only themselves and their own power. Which side are unions on?The spotlight on union power in Nevada comes at a time of debate within the labor movement over whether it needs to turn away from "business unionism" in order to survive. Business unionism, which organizes around specific goals for employees rather than a wider class struggle, was the dominant orientation of the labor movement in the U.S. though much of the 20th century.Some labor historians like Nelson Lichtenstein and David Montgomery point to business unions' tendency to take care of their own rather than organizing new workforces as a primary reason for the decline of the labor movement to its current nadir, representing just 6.2% of the private sector workforce from nearly 35% in the 1950s.They have argued that in order to attract more members, unions need to adopt the tactics and strategies of new social movements and become engaged in political struggles for broad-based changes that affect all workers, not just those in unions.In a recent book, I argue that the Culinary bridges this traditional divide between business and social unionism.The union has been successful despite Nevada being a "right-to-work" state where employees don't have to pay union dues to join a workforce and receive benefits. Culinary has grown its membership by touting the benefits that a strong union can bring, such as 24-hour health clinics, back-pay awards totaling hundreds of thousands dollars, and protections that have seen the return of terminated workers. At the same time, the Culinary has made political engagement a cornerstone of its value, both to its members and the wider public. In the 2016 election, the union knocked on more than 250,000 doors and was instrumental in getting Democrats elected to the state legislature, the governor's office, and the U.S. House and Senate in Nevada.The social movement aspect of the union's work is also seen in other policy areas that it used to compare the candidates: organizing rights and immigration reform. Policy changes on these issues will benefit members of the union, which include large numbers of recent immigrants. But it would also help many low-wage workers outside of the union. A brave face on JanusUnder President Trump, the National Labor Relations Board appears more intent on finding ways to limit labor rights than expand them. And the labor movement faced a major setback in 2018 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. ASCME that nonunion public sector workers could not be compelled to pay dues for services they receive. After that decision, the Culinary shows how the labor movement can adapt to the hostility of employers, government agencies and courts.It has been facing these headwinds for more than 80 years in Nevada. Today, Culinary members have wages and health care that are the envy of nonunion workers in the hospitality industry. But that standard came only as a result of historic strikes and hard-fought campaigns with multinational corporations like MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment.Other locals of the Culinary's parent union Unite Here have backed Sanders, including in Boston. The Los Angeles local co-endorsed Sanders and Warren. But they are in states with very different politics than Nevada.The Culinary has always had a good sense of where the electorate is in Nevada, sometimes leading the union to endorse Republicans like former two-term Gov. Kenny Guinn. And it has been successful at helping to keep Nevada blue in the last three presidential elections, countering one of the more predictive variables for how a state will vote for president – whether or not it has a right-to-work law. My research has shown a correlation between right-to-work laws in red states and a vote for the Republican candidate for president. In the last election, Nevada and Virginia were and the only states to buck that trend. Far from being a referendum on Medicare for All, the Culinary's non-endorsement returns the focus where they want it: getting the biggest turnout possible to meet the union's goals of immigration reform, workers' rights and better health care. The mixture of business and social unionism that made the Culinary a political force in Nevada can now serve as a model for other unions in the post-Janus era.[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: * Something Democrats and Republicans have in common: Exaggerated stereotypes about both parties * When presidential campaigns end, what happens to the leftover money?Ruben J. Garcia does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Meet Japan's Gestapo: The Kempeitai Secret Police That Americans Feared Posted: 21 Feb 2020 07:21 AM PST  The Kempeitai were the military police of the Japanese Imperial Army. Literally translated, the name means "Law Soldier Regiment." Westerners of 1930s generally called them "gendarmerie"
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| Authorities: 3 killed in rural West Texas small plane crash Posted: 20 Feb 2020 11:20 AM PST |
| Trump’s spiritual guide urges congregation to neglect bills in favour of church donations Posted: 20 Feb 2020 09:45 AM PST  Donald Trump's pastor is telling Florida worshippers to prioritise giving money to her church over paying their own mortgages.Paula White, the controversial televangelist who serves as Mr Trump's spiritual guide, warned thousands of congregants in Miami to put God before their own financial needs.
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| Mike Bloomberg's gun control group to spend $8m in Texas elections Posted: 20 Feb 2020 10:08 AM PST  Everytown for Gun Safety to back state and federal politicians who support 'gun sense' lawsDemocratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg's gun control group is planning to spend at least $8m in Texas to elect state and federal politicians who support what it calls "gun sense" laws, including requiring background checks before all gun sales.Last year, Everytown for Gun Safety poured at least $2.5m into state races in Virginia, backing candidates who supported tougher gun laws and helping to elect a Democratic state house majority for the first time in 26 years.Now, it is pledging to use the same tactics in Texas, one of the most gun-friendly states in the nation.Overall, Everytown, the nation's largest gun control group, has pledged to spend at least $60m on 2020 races across the country, as Bloomberg, the group's founder and major donor, pours hundreds of millions of dollars into his own presidential campaign.Even in the wake of multiple mass shootings, Texas's Republican-controlled state government has continued to pass pro-gun laws. The day after a mass shooting in Odessa last fall left seven people dead, multiple recently passed Texas gun laws went into effect – all of them loosening existing restrictions on guns. In 2016, state lawmakers approved a "campus carry" bill that allows licensed gun owners over age 21 to carry concealed handguns in public university classrooms, as well as in dormitories and elsewhere across campus.Four of the 10 deadliest mass shootings in modern US history, going back to 1966, happened in Texas, including a domestic violence-linked shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs in 2017, and a white nationalist attack targeting Mexican American families at a Walmart in El Paso last summer.Gun rights supporters in Texas are already preparing for a political battle."The Texas State Rifle Association will continue fighting to ensure that Bloomberg doesn't buy Texas the way he's trying to buy the Democratic nomination for president," said Mike Cox, the lobbyist and legislative director for the state affiliate of the National Rifle Association (NRA).Cox said he is also keeping a wary eye on Virginia, where the state's new Democratic majority has made passing stricter control laws at top legislative priority, sparking massive protests from pro-gun activists. Everytown has proudly touted being the largest outside spender in the Virginia election.The Texas gun rights group has already sent "the alarm and alert to all of our members on the risk we face from this narcissistic billionaire", and plans to work closely with other gun rights groups across the state, Cox said.But, he added: "It's real hard to compete with that much money."Everytown's announced goal for 2020 includes focusing on more than two dozen Texas state house races, most of them in the Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth metropolitan areas, as well as boosting several Democratic members of Congress facing tough election or re-election campaigns, including Lizzie Fletcher and Colin Allred. It will need to flip nine seats in the state house of representatives to achieve what it calls a "gun sense" majority, the group said in a call with reporters on Wednesday.Everytown's own polling indicates that a majority of likely voters in Texas own guns, but that some gun owners support some additional gun control measures."The state is becoming younger and increasingly diverse, and after years of failure by lawmakers to address gun violence, gun safety has become a top issue for voters, especially in the suburbs," said Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group that is part of Everytown for Gun Safety.Everytown does endorse and donate to Republican politicians who support gun control laws, but in practice, most candidates the group supports are Democrats. In Texas in the 2018 midterm elections, all of the candidates who earned the group's backing were Democrats, an Everytown spokesperson said.Alongside Everytown's political donations, Moms Demand Action volunteers will be doing grassroots campaign organizing across the state in 2020. Everytown, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, a youth group, claim 400,000 supporters across Texas who have volunteered or signed up for an online group or email list.The way that Bloomberg's massive political and philanthropic donations have helped him maintain political support has become a major area of scrutiny as the former New York City mayor has risen in the polls within the Democratic primary race."We're an independent organization, totally separate from Mayor Bloomberg's campaign," Watts said in a call with reporters on Wednesday. Bloomberg currently provides "between one-quarter and one-third" of Everytown's funding, depending on the cycle, and the group had more than 375,000 total donors last year, she said.
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