| Ocasio-Cortez's progressive PAC makes first round of endorsements Posted: 21 Feb 2020 09:54 AM PST  The freshman congresswoman announced support of seven women challenging for legislative seats, including two opposing Democratic incumbents.
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| U.S. vs. Huawei: Is future of the internet at stake? Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:39 AM PST  The U.S. government is trying to stop Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from dominating the 5G market. The outcome of the dispute could change the future of the internet.
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| Girl, 11, gave birth to baby allegedly fathered by brother Posted: 22 Feb 2020 11:40 AM PST  The 17-year-old boy told police he had sex with his sister about 100 times but did not know she was pregnant, according to charging documents.
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| With information from China scarce, U.S. spies enlisted to track coronavirus Posted: 21 Feb 2020 09:36 AM PST  As Chinese officials face allegations of locking down information about the spread of the coronavirus, U.S. intelligence agencies have been helping in governmentwide efforts to gather information about the disease's global spread.
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| 10 Amazing Facts About Polar Bears Posted: 22 Feb 2020 12:00 PM PST |
| US accuses Russia of huge coronavirus disinformation campaign Posted: 22 Feb 2020 09:17 AM PST  US officials say thousands of social media accounts linked to Russia are part of a coordinated effort to spread disinformation about the new coronavirus.The campaign allegedly aims to damage the US's image and spread unfounded conspiracy theories that it is behind the outbreak which has infected nearly 78,000 globally and killed over 2,500 people.
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| Archaeologists unveil possible shrine to Rome's first king Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:19 AM PST |
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s progressive PAC makes first round of endorsements Posted: 21 Feb 2020 10:46 AM PST  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Friday her political action committee's first round of endorsements, which will include two progressive candidates challenging sitting Democratic members of Congress.
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| Judge dismisses Nunes lawsuit against Fusion GPS Posted: 21 Feb 2020 05:50 PM PST |
| The Vegas way: Buttigieg backer pulls winning card to break tie at Nevada caucus Posted: 22 Feb 2020 03:28 PM PST  That's how Democrats settle matters in the state that's home to the nation's most famous gaming mecca.
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| Man wrongfully convicted of murder sues New York for $100 million Posted: 20 Feb 2020 06:21 PM PST  Christian Pacheco was released from prison last week.
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| 'Chaotic' but 'fun': Las Vegas casino workers cast votes Posted: 22 Feb 2020 12:43 PM PST  Las Vegas (AFP) - The gambling never stops in Las Vegas.
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| A New York lawmaker wants to treat white supremacists like foreign jihadists. Is this the solution, or a new war on terror? Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST  Rep. Max Rose wants the federal government to recognize that white nationalists groups are as serious threats to American citizens as the Islamic State or al-Qaida. The FBI has also acknowledged that threat, recently deeming homegrown extremists a "national threat priority."
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| Charter bus rollover kills 3, injures 18 outside San Diego Posted: 22 Feb 2020 12:58 PM PST  A charter bus swerved on a rain-slicked Southern California highway and rolled down an embankment Saturday, killing three people and injuring 18 others, authorities said. Several passengers were thrown from the bus, and one of the dead was trapped under the vehicle after it landed on its roof shortly after 10 a.m. off Interstate 15 in Pala Mesa, an unincorporated community about 45 miles (72 kilometers) north of San Diego, North County Fire Protection District spokesman John Choi said. "There were no seat belts on this bus," Choi said.
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| Family of man killed by Connecticut trooper seeks more than $10M in wrongful death damages Posted: 21 Feb 2020 07:24 AM PST  Relatives of a black Connecticut man killed by a state trooper are seeking more than $10 million in wrongful death damages from state and local police, according to legal notices filed Thursday.
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| Bloomberg campaign accuses Bernie Sanders camp of inciting vandalism on their offices Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:14 PM PST  The Bloomberg campaign listed five incidents of vandalization they said mirrored Sanders' campaign rhetoric
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| Chinese jails have become hotbeds of coronavirus as more than 500 cases have erupted, prompting the ouster of several officials Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:11 PM PST  Over half of the cases are in prisons in Hubei province, the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak. The rest are in Shangdong and Zhejiang provinces.
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| Cop who told driver not to record police demoted Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:45 AM PST  The North Carolina officers apparently did not know that Jesse Bright was a defense attorney when they told him it was illegal to film cops last month
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| Former Marine planks for over 8 hours, setting Guinness record Posted: 22 Feb 2020 03:13 PM PST  Guinness World Records certified 62-year-old George Hood's Feb. 15 planking record in Illinois. The official time: 8 hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds.
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| What Barr hath wrought Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:35 AM PST  This is the editor's letter in the The Week magazine.Bill Barr has some concerns. He got his job as attorney general by telling President Trump that the Constitution gives him "illimitable discretion" over Justice Department prosecutions; therefore, Trump's numerous attempts to block or end the Mueller investigation did not constitute obstruction of justice. Trump's Article II authority is so expansive, Barr has stated, that neither Congress nor the courts can interfere in his policy decisions or compel him to release information. A delighted Trump has taken Barr's imperial theory of the presidency both seriously and literally. "Article II," he has said, "allows me to do whatever I want as president." Barr, however, is now complaining that the president's tweeting about criminal cases was "making it impossible for me to do my job." Dr. Frankenstein has his regrets.The president, on the other hand, feels freed of all restraints. Proclaiming himself the country's "chief law-enforcement officer," Trump has demanded that a federal judge order a new trial for Roger Stone, a convicted felon who, abundant evidence shows, served as Trump's secret conduit to WikiLeaks and Russian military hackers in 2016. Trump has also raged at the injustice of a prison term for former campaign manager Paul Manafort (another conduit to the Russians) and wants his former national security adviser Michael Flynn — who hid a $600,000 payment from the Turkish government — to go free, too. Sooner rather than later, Trump will pardon them all. This week, Trump suddenly issued a blizzard of pardons to swampy public figures convicted of bribery, tax fraud, corruption, and making false statements — crimes that, for some reason, Trump doesn't consider serious. Why would he stick his neck out for crooks and con men as he heads into a re-election campaign? After surviving the Mueller investigation, impeachment, and innumerable scandals, Trump has concluded he has "an absolute right" to do whatever he wants, just as Bill Barr told him. And he may be right.More stories from theweek.com A moderate's 2020 lament The stunning Southern Baptist controversy over Donald Trump and Russell Moore, explained Do Bernie Sanders' opponents know he's winning?
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| I Live in South Korea Where Coronavirus Cases are Rising. Not Much Has Changed Posted: 22 Feb 2020 05:28 AM PST  It is important to keep perspective. There are fifty-three million people in South Korea. Only four hundred thirty or so of them have corona, and only two have died. The sensationalism of disease outbreak coverage does not help. We have all seen too many movies, and overwrought invocations of Contagion or zombie apocalypse movies generate paranoia and unnecessary anxiety. South Korea is safe.
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| Wave of racist attacks against Asian Americans in wake of coronavirus outbreak Posted: 22 Feb 2020 08:12 AM PST  Misinformation and exaggeration about the coronavirus have led to a wave of racist attacks on Asian Americans across the US.The attacks are both physical and verbal, and there are also cases of people either from East Asia, or of East Asian descent, being turned away from businesses.
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| Body of 2nd firefighter killed in California library blaze recovered Posted: 20 Feb 2020 09:33 PM PST  Fire Capt. Raymond Figueroa and firefighter Patrick Jones went into the burning building to make sure everyone was out.
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| Pete Buttigieg Is Not Intersectional Enough Posted: 21 Feb 2020 01:06 PM PST  Last Friday, a group of disgruntled "queer activists" interrupted Pete Buttigieg's campaign event in San Francisco. One of the protesters, Adiel Pollydore, told the Guardian that she decided to protest in part because "Pete Buttigieg represents a very small percentage of the experiences of queer and trans people in this country, being white and being cisgender and being a man, being someone who is highly educated. We know queer and trans folks of color, especially black queer and trans folks, live at the intersection of so many systems of oppression in this country."We would not want the "highly educated" speaking on Ms. Pollydore's behalf.The protester's objection to Buttigieg's melanin count and intact genitalia — "Why aren't you a trans black woman, Mr. Mayor?" — highlights an ongoing debate on the left about the former mayor's sexuality, and whether he is, in the words of Masha Gessen of The New Yorker, "gay enough" to represent the LGBT community.One would think Buttigieg's gay bona fides are obvious. He is "married" to another man, and frequently drones on about how Mike Pence "hates" him for his sexual preferences. Buttigieg is nevertheless accused of lacking a metaphysical "gayness," one that obtains not by participation in certain sex acts but instead through the approval of the identity eunuchs in the commentariat and American sociology departments. The operative question, then, is not whether Pete Buttigieg is a homosexual — that much is beyond dispute — but instead whether he is gay, or "gay enough."Gessen attempted to explain the contempt "some queer people" hold for Mayor Pete, who they doubt "is gay enough" to represent their political interests. What the mayor's relative "gayness" has to do with his aptitude as a political vessel for the interests of "queer people" is unclear, as is her operative definition of "gay." Gessen nevertheless proceeds with an empiricist's certainty, picking apart moments in Buttigieg's life and asserting that "the notion that some of us think that Buttigieg is not gay enough has an identifiable relationship to the facts."Unlike those who are noticeably "queer," Gessen argues, Pete Buttigieg has always appeared relatively normal (he can "pass" as a straight man) and therefore could "choose the circumstances and timing of his coming out." This experience, in turn, led him to adopt a political platform that — in Gessen's telling — is "profoundly, essentially conservative." She concludes that Pete Buttigieg's life experience and ideological commitments make him "a straight politician in a gay man's body."It's difficult to think of a sense in which a candidate who supports unfettered abortion access, compelling religious business owners to violate their consciences, abolishing the Electoral College, reengineering the Supreme Court, decriminalizing illicit border crossings, granting amnesty to more than 11 million illegal aliens, and banning all new fracking ventures might be understood to be "profoundly, essentially conservative."("Facts.")Gessen defends characterizing Buttigieg as "conservative" by citing his aversion to "revolutionary change," a posture that signals to straight people that "we are just like you, and all we want is the right to have what you have: marriage, children, a house with a picket fence, and the right to serve in the military." His refusal to embrace "revolutionary change"— a pars pro toto of his rejection of the gay "separatist" politics described by Andrew Sullivan — makes Buttigieg, in Gessen's telling, "an easy and reassuring choice for these older, white, straight people, and a disturbing possibility for the queer people who seem to be criticizing him for not being gay enough."One is reminded of Anthony Kennedy's famous ex cathedra decree that one "would misunderstand" the Obergefell plaintiffs "to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves." Ultimately, he said, they "ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law." The Court was advancing a fundamentally progressive suggestion at the time of Obergefell -- at stake was the heretofore unchanged definition of a bimillennial institution — and within five years of Kennedy's paean, Masha Gessen considers the Obergefell "ask" a sign of dyed-in-the-wool conservatism.All of Gessen's argument could, in earnest, be reduced to "Pete Buttigieg isn't really gay because he doesn't agree with me about politics." That implication is clear enough in the "straight politician in a gay man's body" quip, suggesting that gay men are authentically gay only if they hew to the political program prescribed by Masha Gessen. I do not, for what it's worth, think much of "authentic gayness" — as moral lodestars go, I prefer the Pauline epistles to the fleeting approbation of a New Yorker columnist; chacun à son goût — but to the sort of person who suggests that Buttigieg is "not gay enough" to earn their vote, I echo the question recorded by the evangelist: What lackest he yet?
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| Texas woman sentenced to eight years for illegal voting paroled, faces deportation Posted: 22 Feb 2020 09:45 AM PST  Rosa Maria Ortega's eight-year sentence for illegal voting in Texas was decried as a political prosecution. She was paroled in December and faces deportation.
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| Klobuchar congratulates herself for 'exceeding expectations' as early Nevada results show her in distant 5th Posted: 22 Feb 2020 04:48 PM PST  Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-Minn.) 2020 momentum may be sputtering, but she doesn't seem to notice.While the Democratic presidential candidate turned out a surprising third place finish in New Hampshire's Democratic primary earlier this month, that luck hasn't seemed to extend to Nevada's caucuses. Still, Klobuchar delivered a self-congratulatory speech on Saturday where she praised her team for having "exceeded expectations," despite early results showing her in a distant fifth place.With four percent of caucuses reporting Saturday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had secured more than 6,000 votes to former Vice President Joe Biden's 2,700 and Klobuchar's 1,068. That put Klobuchar in the bottom half of candidates as Saturday's results came in, and entrance polls taken earlier in the day didn't show a more positive future. Still, Klobuchar thanked her team while thousands of miles away from Nevada, saying "as usual, I think we have exceeded expectations," Klobuchar said. "A lot of people didn't even think that I would still be standing at this point," or at several other points in her campaign, she continued.> WATCH: Amy Klobuchar speaks to supporters as Nevada caucus results come in https://t.co/4xhlHorGDS pic.twitter.com/NJk2beSLw6> > — CBS News (@CBSNews) February 23, 2020Former Vice President Joe Biden's Saturday speech sounded even more victorious, though even his second-place standing at the time he spoke was tenuous. Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg had only about 250 votes less than Biden, but Biden said he could still "win this state outright" when speaking in Nevada. Ironically, NBC News cut away from Biden's speech to project that wasn't happening.More stories from theweek.com A moderate's 2020 lament The stunning Southern Baptist controversy over Donald Trump and Russell Moore, explained Do Bernie Sanders' opponents know he's winning?
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| Trump's son gets permit allowing him to hunt Alaska grizzly bear Posted: 21 Feb 2020 09:59 PM PST  Donald Trump Jr. has been granted the right to hunt a grizzly bear in northwestern Alaska near the Bering Sea town of Nome, a state official said on Friday. The son of U.S. President Donald Trump was one of three people who applied for 27 spots for non-resident hunters targeting grizzlies in a designated region of northwestern Alaska's Seward Peninsula, said Eddie Grasser, the wildlife conservation director for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. The state conducts periodic drawings for permits to hunt bears, caribou, moose and other animals in various regions.
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| Coronavirus: Could It Takedown China's Communist Party? Posted: 22 Feb 2020 04:52 AM PST  It's up to Xi himself.
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| FBI agents search home, business of Tennessee state senator Posted: 21 Feb 2020 12:36 PM PST  Federal authorities in Tennessee conducted searches Friday at the home and business addresses of Democratic state Sen. Katrina Robinson, the FBI said. Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman Joel Siskovic confirmed that agents executed search warrants at two locations in Memphis.
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| Trump mocks 'Parasite' film at Colorado rally Posted: 21 Feb 2020 06:38 AM PST  President Trump took aim at "Parasite" and its historic Oscar wins at a Colorado rally on Thursday. "How bad were the Academy Awards this year?" he asked, prompting jeers from the crowd. "Did you see it?"
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| Ilhan Omar accuses Meghan McCain of hypocrisy towards 'Bernie bros' over online attacks Posted: 21 Feb 2020 10:35 AM PST  Representative Ilhan Omar has accused The View's Meghan McCain of hypocrisy for her opinions about Bernie Sanders supporters and their online attacks given her own social media behaviour."The same people who chastise the progressive movement regularly traffic in anti-Muslim smears and hate speech against me and those I represent," the freshman representative wrote in a tweet Thursday.
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| 'The message he’s sending is I don’t care': Mexico's president criticized for response to killings of women Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST  Andrés Manuel López Obrador offered vague plans for 'moral regeneration' after string of gruesome killings of women and girlsMexico's president has cast himself as the victim of feminist activists, amid an outburst of fury at the alarming violence targeting the country's women and girls – and the seeming impunity that accompanies each crime.A string of especially gruesome killings of women and girls has prompted widespread protests, especially in the capital. In one incident last week, masked women splashed blood-red paint on the doors of the national palace and sprayed the walls with graffiti.But Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has been accused of a tone-deaf response to the crisis as he offers vague plans for "moral regeneration" and protestations that all murders matter.At his morning press conference on Thursday, he mused about the a "feminist collective" that had descended on the palace. "They opposed the moral regeneration we're promoting. I respect their views but don't share them. I believe we have to moralise the country, purify public life and strengthen cultural, moral and spiritual values," he said."I'm not going to give up my lifelong beliefs because they came and protested. We're going to struggle to achieve a material change, a spiritual change."Endless stories on horrific murders – and daily indignities such as harassment, catcalls and being groped on public transit – have prompted a burgeoning women's movement, whose members have protested online and in the streets and called for a national women's strike on 9 March.In recent years, Mexican women have become increasingly ready to call out callous and inept responses from public officials, police and prosecutors in cases of femicides, but in some cases politicians have appeared to show more concern over feminist graffiti than the crimes committed against women. Much of the recent outrage, however, has targeted López Obrador, who identifies as left-leaning but has appeared exasperated by calls to confront the issue.This month, he responded to a question about the federal prosecutor's proposal to scratch the concept of femicides from the criminal code by saying the issue "has been manipulated by the media".He also showed annoyance that the question interrupted his plans to talk about his pet project of raffling off the presidential airplane, saying: "I don't want femicides to overshadow the lottery."Women's groups say he is treating femicides in the same way as his predecessors: as a political and public relations problems rather than a crisis claiming the lives of women."The message he's sending women is: I don't care," said Maricruz Ocampo, an activist in the state of Querétaro."They've all had the same attitude toward the problem," she said. "This is a Mexican problem, not a women's issue."Several recent high-profile crimes have been especially gruesome.Ingrid Escamilla, 25, was murdered on 9 February by her husband, who skinned her corpse and disemboweled her. A tabloid newspaper fueled further anger by publishing photos of her corpse on its front page.In the second crime, a seven-year-old girl, Fátima Aldrighetti Antón, was abducted and tortured after her mother got stuck in traffic and was late to pick her up from school. Her body was found in a plastic bag four days later, showing signs of torture. Two suspects were arrested on Wednesday – but not after Mexico City officials leaked information on the complicated domestic situation in Fátima's home.López Obrador responded Tuesday to questions about the femicides by blaming family breakdowns, along with "neoliberal" policies implemented over the past three decades.He also cast the blame on his predecessors – including those in Mexico City, where he governed from 2000-2005 and has heavily influenced local politics since leaving office."Not only is nothing being done today, but what's being said is discrediting women," said Regina Tamés, director of Gire, a reproductive rights organisation.López Obrador swept to power promising widespread social change but has consistently showed conservative tendencies on social issues. "What's unfortunate about now, in comparison to before, is people have put a lot of hope of change in this government," Tamés said.
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| Tennessee executes man convicted in four killings Posted: 20 Feb 2020 06:37 PM PST  Tennessee death row inmate Nicholas Todd Sutton was executed Thursday night by the electric chair. Sutton was convicted of killing four people.
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| Germany's extreme right under pressure after attacks Posted: 22 Feb 2020 09:34 AM PST  The extreme political right in Germany is on the defensive and stands accused of inciting last week's racist attacks in Hanau and others with its anti-migrant diatribes. Some have even asked that the hard right be subjected to police surveillance. "We have known for a long time that words can be followed by action and the elected representatives of the people cannot shirk this responsibility," said the chairman of the chamber of deputies, Wolfgang Schauble, in an interview with the daily Handelsblatt on Saturday.
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| Poll: Trump Expected to Double 2016 African American Support if He Draws Buttigieg Challenge Posted: 21 Feb 2020 11:46 AM PST  President Trump would double the support he received from African American voters in 2016 if he ends up facing former South Bend., Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg in the upcoming election, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Friday.Trump, who recorded eight percent of the African American vote against Hillary Clinton in 2016, hits 16 percent in the 2020 estimate against Buttigieg. Both men are tied with three percent of "enthusiastic" black voters — with Buttigieg having the lowest percentage of enthusiasm in the entire Democratic field.Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducted the survey with Democrat Jeff Horwitt, told the Journal that Buttigieg has "simply not made a connection with African Americans," and added that he thought Buttigieg would struggle "anywhere where African Americans are a chunk of the vote."A further breakdown of the vote by gender shows that African American women support Buttigieg overwhelmingly by an 87-6 margin over Trump. Among African American men, however, the margin shrinks to 59-29 in favor of Buttigieg.Despite strong performances in Iowa and New Hampshire, Buttigieg has been dogged by weak support among minority voters.In November, Buttigieg's campaign made headlines for being "intentionally vague" in promoting endorsements from prominent black leaders in South Carolina as part of the rollout of Buttigieg's "Douglass Plan for Black America." ABC News reported on Tuesday that Buttigieg described how he had "proudly partnered" with two local restaurants in a South Carolina op-ed last week as part of investing in African American small businesses, only for one of the owners to say she had never agreed to be in a partnership.The president featured African Americans prominently in his State of the Union address earlier this month, prompting CNN commentator Van Jones to issue a "warning to Democrats" that Trump was making a play for black voters.
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| India Should Buy the F-15EX from America. Here's Why. Posted: 21 Feb 2020 07:30 PM PST  A good idea? What about the F-35?
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| Nurse sentenced to 13 years in prison for harming infants Posted: 21 Feb 2020 04:01 AM PST |
| Twitter Has Reportedly Suspended 70 Pro-Bloomberg Accounts for Violating Its Platform Manipulation Policy Posted: 22 Feb 2020 08:26 AM PST  Twitter said the accounts violated its "rules against platform manipulation and spam"
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| Mountain lion believed to have attacked 6-year-old is caught and killed Posted: 20 Feb 2020 11:14 PM PST  The California girl was attacked at a Bay Area nature preserve and survived with minor injuries.
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| South Africa's lobster catchers suffer in coronavirus fallout Posted: 21 Feb 2020 03:20 AM PST  The lobster catchers of South Africa's Western Cape have become an unexpected casualty of the coronavirus after China halted imports of the West Coast rock lobster last month as part of measures to contain the outbreak. "I am stuck now because they are putting our catches aside now, the factory doesn't want to take our fish, there is no market for our fish," said Lorraine Brown, 60, as she waited for the day's catch to arrive at Witsand's slipway, used by the Ocean View fishing community, some 40 km from Cape Town. Before China halted seafood imports on Jan. 25, Brown could earn 340 rand ($22) per kg for live exported lobster.
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