| Trump promise to deny New York, Seattle and Portland federal funds is an empty threat, expert says Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:48 PM PDT  The Department of Justice on Monday designated New York City, Seattle and Portland, Ore., as jurisdictions that permit "anarchy, violence and destruction," a distinction that the Trump administration hopes to use to strip those cities of federal funding.
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| SCOTUS Battle Pours Lighter Fluid on South Carolina’s Senate Race Posted: 22 Sep 2020 01:36 AM PDT  Most everyone following the heated U.S. Senate contest in South Carolina recognizes that the opening of a U.S. Supreme Court seat—six weeks before Election Day—has shifted the balance of the race.Which candidate will ultimately benefit, though, depends on who you ask.Sen. Lindsey Graham was already facing a determined challenge from Democrat Jaime Harrison before Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death last Friday. Less than a day later, Graham officially discarded his stance from 2016 that high court appointments shouldn't be made in an election year—and fully embraced his role as President Donald Trump's warrior in securing a third Supreme Court justice.The dramatic turn of events has already drawn passionate reactions on both sides of the aisle as the South Carolina race, once in the long shot column for Democrats, enters a critical stretch.Top officials from both parties in South Carolina were quick to believe Graham's approach was actually helping their respective candidate's chances in November, as control of the Senate lies in the balance."This issue is going to be nothing but a plus for (Graham's) campaign," South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Drew McKissick said."Sen. Graham is basically digging his own grave by siding with Trump on every single issue" said Kenneth Glover, the chairman of the Orangeburg County Democratic Party. "He's lost his independence."Some Democrats see two big opportunities with Graham's high court machinations under the microscope. One is a chance to galvanize South Carolina's Black voters—who Harrison will need to turn out in historic numbers to secure a win—with a laser-like framing of the stakes of the race on core issues like health care, voting rights, and racial justice, all issues in which the court has disproportionate impact.And the party also sees opportunity in replaying Graham's words from 2016—when he defended blocking Barack Obama's pick for the high court until the November election—over and over again on the TV airwaves with the tens of millions of dollars Harrison has raised so far. Even more money is likely to flow to Harrison from a national liberal base outraged by Graham's moves.While the senator has explained away his 2016 declarations, some Democrats believe that the hypocrisy of Graham's statements will be clear enough to peel away a number of independent or even GOP-leaning voters.Whether that sentiment is strong enough to help tilt a Senate seat in a more conservative state to the Democratic column, though, remains unclear—and Democratic party officials recognize the challenge."That's my impression, that this is the nail in Lindsey Graham's coffin and if we ever had a chance to flip this is it, this has done it," said Debbie Smith, the chair of the Georgetown County Democratic Party, said about the state of the Senate race. "I've been wrong before."But other Democrats watching the race agree that while a court fight doesn't entirely favor Graham, it still gives the incumbent an undeniable advantage in South Carolina, where Democratic candidates have long struggled to crack 45 percent of the vote statewide. "Lindsey Graham brings out every one of Donald Trump's supporters and he wins," said a Democratic operative. "If this does that, it's not a net gain for Jaime… Graham doesn't have to appeal to any Democrats."The Harrison campaign declined to comment on how Graham's stance on the open Supreme Court seat was impacting the race. The Graham campaign did not respond to an email seeking comment Monday night.As chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Graham will run any confirmation hearing for a Trump pick. If that hearing happens before the election, or in the so-called "lame duck" session in the weeks after the Nov. 3 election, it ensures Graham's place in the center of the wall-to-wall media coverage that accompanies a high court confirmation battle.It also guarantees fresh relevance for his past statements and moves on judicial appointments. Only hours after Ginsburg's death was announced, clips began to circulate on social media showing Graham defending Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) decision to block Obama's nomination of Merrick Garland to the high court following Justice Antonin Scalia's death in 2016. Back then, said the GOP, the voters needed to decide in November who would get to confirm his replacement."I want you to use my words against me," Graham said at the time. "If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said 'Let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination.'"Graham has, of course, backtracked on that position, leaning on two main reasons: one, he and fellow Republicans argue, the GOP now controls the Senate and the White House, so there's no ambiguity as to what voters want. "No Senate has confirmed an opposite party president's Supreme Court nominee during an election year," Graham wrote in a Monday letter to Judiciary Committee members. With Trump's win in 2016 and the GOP's hold of the Senate in 2018, Graham said "we should honor that mandate."The second reason is what Graham described as Democrats' alleged misconduct during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation process in 2018—"the destruction of this fine man," he tweeted—amounted to a final straw for decorum on judicial matters, making total war acceptable. Those hearings, in the eyes of many Republicans, were central to Graham's rehabilitation among Trump's supporters, and Graham has raised them repeatedly in recent days.Lindsey Graham Backflips on SCOTUS Vow: I Support 'Any Effort to Move Forward'"After the treatment of Justice Kavanaugh I now have a different view of the judicial-confirmation process," Graham said in his Monday letter. "It's clear there are one set of rules for a Republican president and one set of rules for a Democrat president."In South Carolina, Republicans see the confirmation fight as an invaluable boost for Graham—not that he desperately needed one, they're quick to say—that shores up his biggest weakness at a pivotal moment in the 2020 campaign."It's a godsend for Sen. Graham," said Nate Leupp, chairman of the GOP in Greenville County, traditionally the Palmetto State's greatest bastion of Republican votes. Graham-backers like Leupp have long been most concerned about the senator losing votes among a hardcore Trump-supporting base that has never fully come around to trusting him."This goes right to the base of supporting Trump and promoting a conservative justice," said Leupp. "The only thing Sen. Graham had to shore up are people who voted against him in the Republican primary… This probably is what solidifies their vote for him."Some Democrats in the state were quick to point out that while Graham had been able to win some goodwill from Democrats in the past, Trump's election and the senator's support of the president has given them an opportunity to capitalize. But even amongst Democrats in the state there were differing opinions about whether Graham's new Supreme Court stance merely further drives the Democratic base in the state or if it will broaden chances at moderate defections from Graham to Harrison.Local Democratic leaders like Dorchester County Democratic party chairman Tim Lewis are hopeful that Graham's backtracking will hurt the Republican's appeal with "middle of the road" voters."These are good people and they see the hypocrisy," Lewis said.Even before the Supreme Court vacancy fight, it was clear the Graham-Harrison showdown was increasingly prominent on the national Senate map, where Democrats are aiming to flip several GOP-held seats to attain a majority. While key races in battleground states like North Carolina and Arizona have gotten plenty of attention so far this cycle, Harrison has continued to build a determined effort to unseat the incumbent as the race entered the final 50-day stretch to election day. Aside from Amy McGrath, the Democrat challenging McConnell in Kentucky, no other Democratic Senate candidate has raked in more than Harrison, who's reported raising roughly $30 million—a staggering sum for this relatively small state.That, say Democrats, has fueled Harrison's rise. A Quinnipiac University poll released last Wednesday showed Graham tied with Harrison, each with 48 percent of the vote.But Harrison's team had also found themselves on the defensive recently after The Washington Free Beacon reported on a pair of Harrison's key staffers' offensive past social media history, which included one of them using a derogatory and homophobic term. The staffers are not leaving the campaign but both apologized and Harrison has denounced the tweets, The Post and Courier reported last week.Yet the death of the beloved liberal icon and the promise of a SCOTUS battle has ratcheted up the emotion in the race even further.Deborah Rodriguez, chair of the Colleton County Democratic Party, said she thinks it will "matter to people who maybe are on the fence," as she pointed to it creating trust issues with the senator."I think it just cements anybody who was already going to vote Republican and I think for people who are on the fence or maybe independent, I think this is going to be something that will help them, move them over to Jaime Harrison," Rodriguez said.Still, some others like Terri Jowers, executive committeewoman for the Barnwell County Democratic Party, were less optimistic about the impact even as she feels good about Harrison's chances at an upset. But that didn't mean she was giving up on raising the issue."This doesn't surprise me at all. Does it make me nauseated? Yes it does," Jowers said. "It makes me absolutely heart-sick. But I just don't think that the average voter understands how absolutely critical this moment is and why this is so important. I wish they did. And I'm going to be doing everything I can to help people understand how impactful this moment is and how disingenuous it is of (Graham)to be flipflopping on this."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Pregnant Bindi Irwin reveals baby's sex: 'You are our world' Posted: 22 Sep 2020 07:21 AM PDT  Irwin and her husband, Chandler Powell, are about to become a family of three.
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| At UN, Trump raps China for virus as US deaths top 200,000 Posted: 21 Sep 2020 09:11 PM PDT  President Donald Trump urged world leaders to hold China accountable for the spread of the coronavirus, in a video address to a scaled-down U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday as America's death toll topped 200,000. Beyond criticizing China, Trump took aim at the very foundation of the United Nations by urging other leaders to put their own countries first, a message that echoed his "America First" campaign mantra. "Only when you take care of your own citizens, will you find a true basis for cooperation," Trump said.
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| Russia touts nuclear-powered icebreaker as proof "the Arctic is ours" Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:51 AM PDT  The 570-foot-long "Arktika" is designed to smash Putin's Russia a path of "sovereignty" through ice 9 feet deep in the sensitive northern region.
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| Army gives green light to shape vehicle electrification requirements Posted: 21 Sep 2020 08:56 AM PDT  The Army has been given the go-ahead to develop requirements to provide electric power to tactical and combat vehicles.
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| Ren Zhiqiang: Outspoken ex-real estate tycoon gets 18 years jail Posted: 22 Sep 2020 02:22 AM PDT  Ren Zhiqiang went missing earlier this year after writing an essay said to be critical of President Xi.
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| 28-year-old Texas doctor dies after two month battle with coronavirus Posted: 21 Sep 2020 10:58 AM PDT  Young doctor fell ill after ER coronavirus rotation and suffered 'massive brain bleed
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| Arctic summer sea ice second lowest on record: US researchers Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:02 PM PDT  Arctic summer sea ice melted in 2020 to the second smallest size since records began 42 years ago, US scientists announced Monday, offering further stark evidence of the impact of global warming.
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| Rapid coronavirus tests can give results in 15 minutes, but they aren't a pass for partying or seeing your parents Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:34 PM PDT  It's still not time to use a rapid COVID-19 tests to get into a concert, play a sport, or visit aging parents in a carefree way.
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| Bloomberg raises millions to help Florida felons vote Posted: 22 Sep 2020 03:11 AM PDT  Just days after after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won a court victory to keep felons from voting until they've paid off fines, restitution and court fees, billionaire Mike Bloomberg has stepped in to help them pay off the debts. The former Democratic presidential candidate has helped raise more than $20 million so that felons who completed their prison sentences can vote in the presidential election. Bloomberg also has pledged $100 million to help Joe Biden win Florida.
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| Curious mountain lion seen on video watching children play in California neighborhood Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:49 AM PDT  "I was really afraid for the kids and it was just pure adrenaline."
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| Humpback whale swims free after getting stranded in Australian crocodile-infested river Posted: 21 Sep 2020 06:55 AM PDT  A humpback whale has found its way back to sea weeks after getting lost in a murky, crocodile-infested river in northern Australia. In the southern part of the country, an estimated 270 pilot whales were stranded.
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| U.S. to put convicted killer to death as spate of federal executions continues Posted: 22 Sep 2020 04:04 AM PDT  The Department of Justice says it will put LeCroy, 50, to death using lethal injections of pentobarbital, a barbiturate, at its execution chamber in Terre Haute, Indiana. The execution had been scheduled for 6 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT), but was delayed as the U.S. Supreme Court weighed a petition from LeCroy to stay his execution until his lead lawyer, who has a chronic illness, could travel safely to Terre Haute without fear of getting COVID-19.
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| Ilhan Omar says no Republicans have even privately condemned death threats against her Posted: 21 Sep 2020 09:10 AM PDT  Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, has faced constant threats of violence since her election in 2018. They include public threats from Republicans set to join her in the House in January — and absolutely no condemnation from congressmembers on the other side of the aisle, she tells the The New York Times Magazine.In an interview with the Times, Omar discussed "hateful" attacks against her from Fox News' Tucker Carlson, as well as the rise of Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Republican House candidate in a far-right Georgia district who held a gun next to a photo of Omar's "Squad" in a campaign video. Greene's video is just one of many "dangerous" people spouting "bizarre, ill-informed conspiracies" about Omar and other Democrats and "terrorizing so many of us," Omar said.But despite receiving "a few death threats that have been very publicized where people have been arrested and are incarcerated for it," Omar said she has received no support or condemnation from Republicans. "I can't remember a public statement or private comment of support," she continued.> Interesting juxtaposition here between Biden-esque cries that there are good and decent Republicans who are simply too scared to speak out publicly against Trump and the reality that Ilhan Omar describes. pic.twitter.com/hxAjTS6XSV> > — Eoin Higgins (@EoinHiggins_) September 21, 2020Despite being "discouraged" by this lack of unity "sometimes," Omar said she has "hope" that "the lived reality of what exists in American cities and towns" isn't the same as what's online. Read more at The New York Times Magazine.More stories from theweek.com Trump supporters boo Ohio's GOP lieutenant governor for encouraging mask use Democrats have a better option than court packing Vanessa Bryant sues L.A. Sheriff's Department over photos deputies reportedly shared from crash site
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| Hawaii Health Department Chemist Cooked Up LSD for Air Force Members: Prosecutors Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:16 PM PDT  A government chemist in Hawaii cooked up batches of LSD for active-duty members of the U.S. military who responded to ads for the powerful hallucinogen posted on social media, prosecutors allege.Trevor Keegan, an "extract tech" in the Disease Outbreak Control Division of the state Health Department, was charged earlier this month on one count of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. His alleged co-conspirator, Austin White, is not known to be affiliated with any government agency. He is facing the same charges as Keegan.The case came to the attention of investigators last September, when a confidential informant tipped off the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) about "an individual [who] was utilizing...Snapchat to advertise and conduct drug sales, particularly with active duty military service members." The existence of the investigation has not been previously reported.Air Force Vet Who Shot Woman for Stealing His Nazi Flag Claims He's Actually the Victim OSI turned the investigation over to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which was soon able to identify the Snapchat dealer as White, prosecutors said."White's public Snapchat account showed the public advertisement of various controlled substances for sale with listed prices," says a criminal complaint filed in Hawaii federal court. "One of the advertised controlled substances was Lysergic Acid Diethylamide ("LSD"), more commonly known as 'acid,' which is a schedule I controlled substance."LSD use within the armed forces has become an issue of late. In 2018, rampant LSD consumption by members of the Air Force's nuclear missile corps was exposed by the Associated Press. Since then, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service has reportedly launched nearly 200 investigations into LSD-related offenses, with cases spiking by 70 percent in the first four months of 2020. As recently as 2006, LSD use in the Air Force was so rare it was removed entirely from the standard drug tests given to airmen.In December 2019, an undercover DEA agent contacted White on Snapchat to arrange a purchase. During that meeting, White allegedly sold the agent 20 grams of "a suspected LSD mixture in the form of ingestible gummies" for $200. The following month, White sold the same undercover agent about $1,400 worth of gummies and tabs of blotter acid, the complaint states. White's source "work[ed] in chemistry," he told the undercover agent, and said he "makes his own stuff." White then agreed to have "the cook" make another 300 blotter tabs in advance of their next meeting, according to prosecutors.That's when White got sloppy. After getting $2,500 from his customer, White pointed to a car parked nearby. White allegedly told the undercover that the vehicle's driver—and lone passenger—was his supplier, before walking over to retrieve the drugs. DEA agents were able to identify the driver as Keegan, according to court filings.Both men were arrested at the beginning of May. The blotter acid tested positive for LSD, although the gummies did not."You would think that employees at the state disease outbreak control center would be too busy these days for such extracurricular activities," Dan Grazier, an ex-Marine Corps officer who now works for the nonprofit Project on Government Oversight, told The Daily Beast. "I don't recall a single instance of anyone testing positive for LSD when I was in the Marine Corps. I have heard it is becoming more common because it is quickly passed through the system and can't be detected in a urinalysis after 2 to 3 days."Former U.S. Air Force squadron commander Cedric Leighton, who retired from the service as a colonel, said he discovered at least three of his airmen using LSD during his 26-year career."Our service members are good people, but, like anyone else, they can be one bad decision away from ruining their careers and their lives," Leighton told The Daily Beast. "I saw it as my job to help them avoid those bad decisions."Keegan and White's attorneys did not respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations.Both men are free on $50,000 bail. Keegan is expected to plead guilty at the end of October.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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| France can’t bring peace to Lebanon if it continues to ignore the Hezbollah problem | Opinion Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:38 PM PDT  Lebanon's future is at stake, and its oldest European ally, France, holds the key to making a difference. To his credit, President Emmanuel Macron has invested considerable time and effort since the Aug. 4 explosion at Beirut's port left almost 200 dead and thousands injured.
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| Single plane passenger infected 15 people with Covid-19, CDC says Posted: 21 Sep 2020 09:26 AM PDT  Despite her symptoms, the 27-year-old woman boarded her March 1 flight from London to Hanoi, Vietnam.
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| Lost whale swims free from crocodile-infested river in Australia Posted: 20 Sep 2020 06:13 PM PDT  A humpback whale has found its way back to sea weeks after it got lost in a murky, crocodile-infested river in northern Australia. There have been no previous recorded sightings of whales in remote East Alligator River in the Northern Territory's World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, and no one can explain why at least three of the blue water mammals ventured so deep inland in a river with little visibility. The last of the trio managed to navigate its way through shallow channels at the broad river mouth and back into Van Diemen Gulf over the weekend, Kakadu National Park manager Feach Moyle said. "It made its way out on the high tides and we're pleased it appeared to be in good condition and not suffering any ill effects," Moyle said in a statement. Humpbacks follow the western Australian coast in their annual migration from the tropics to Antarctica. A group of recreational sailors first spotted the lost trio on Sept. 2 more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the river mouth. Two of the whales had disappeared before wildlife authorities arrived a week later. Northern Territory government whale and dolphin scientist Carol Palmer said it was a mystery why a whale would stray so far up a shallow river full of crocodiles. "It could have been chased up by some big sharks or maybe it was just a wrong turn," Palmer said. Despite the river's name, there are no alligators in Australia. It was named after the river's many crocodiles by European explorers who apparently couldn't tell the difference. Authorities thought the whale was too big to be attacked by crocodiles, unless it became weak or sick.
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| Sen. Chuck Grassley indicates he won't break rank with Republicans on Supreme Court hearings Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:19 PM PDT  It's a reversal for Grassley, who in 2016 was the face of Republican efforts to block President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee.
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| Pakistan fire: Two to hang for Karachi garment factory inferno Posted: 22 Sep 2020 06:32 AM PDT  The men were found guilty of starting Pakistan's deadliest industrial fire, killing some 260 people.
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| Angered by Arab-Israel ties, Palestine quits chairing Arab League sessions Posted: 22 Sep 2020 04:19 AM PDT  RAMALLAH, West Bank/GAZA (Reuters) - Palestine has quit its current chairmanship of Arab League meetings, the Palestinian foreign minister said on Tuesday, condemning as dishonourable any Arab agreement to establish formal relations with Israel. Palestinians see the accords that the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain signed with Israel in Washington a week ago as a betrayal of their cause and a blow to their quest for an independent state in Israeli-occupied territory. Earlier this month, the Palestinians failed to persuade the Arab League to condemn member nations breaking ranks and normalising ties with Israel.
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| Facebook says it is ready for violent unrest in the US election, and has plans to restrict the spread of inflammatory posts Posted: 22 Sep 2020 03:06 AM PDT  Nick Clegg, Facebook's head of global affairs, told The Financial Times that the company is preparing in case of chaos after the November election.
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| South China Sea Watch: Taiwan alarm and Indonesia standoff Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:14 AM PDT  A look at recent developments in the South China Sea, where China is pitted against smaller neighbors in multiple territorial disputes over islands, coral reefs and lagoons. China flooded the Taiwan Strait at the northern end of the South China Sea with warplanes over two days last week in an apparent attempt to intimidate the self-governing island democracy it claims as its own territory. The drills were timed to coincide with the visit to Taiwan by a high-ranking U.S. envoy for talks and to attend a memorial service for former Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui, who led the island's transition to full democracy in the face of Chinese threats.
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| A Georgia woman robbed Florida senior citizens of $1 million, feds say — with a phone Posted: 22 Sep 2020 10:22 AM PDT  The director and guiding voice behind a phone scam that stole $1 million from senior citizens in Broward, Palm Beach and other Florida counties has been charged in West Palm Beach federal court, prosecutors say.
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| Florida's governor is proposing a law that would protect drivers who kill or injure people if they're fleeing a 'mob,' following a spate of incidents of people driving through protest crowds Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:11 PM PDT  People have hit protesters with cars dozens of times since the US erupted with protests following the death of George Floyd in May.
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| Mueller didn't investigate Trump's finances or question Ivanka Trump due to blowback fears, prosecutor recounts Posted: 22 Sep 2020 04:08 AM PDT  Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian election interference and President Trump's 2016 campaign treated Trump's family and personal finances with kid gloves, mostly out of concern that Trump would shut down the investigation, former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann writes in a new book, Where Law Ends.At one critical juncture in 2017, the Mueller team issued a subpoena to Deutsch Bank for records about Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort's Ukraine income, and even though the subpoenas were secret, the White House found out and demanded to know if Mueller was seeking financial information on Trump, Weissmann recounts, according to The New York Times.Mueller authorized his cautious deputy, Aaron Zebley, to assure the White House they had not subpoenaed Trump's financial records, and "at that point, any financial investigation of Trump was put on hold," Weissmann writes. "That is, we backed down — the issue was simply too incendiary; the risk, too severe." He points to other dropped leads, like "payments linked to a Russian oligarch" turning up in the same account from which Trump paid two purported paramours, and Trump's active efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.Weissmann also reveals that even though Ivanka Trump spoke with a Russian delegation that met in Trump Tower with Donald Trump Jr. and other campaign officials about handing over Russian dirt on Hillary Clinton, Mueller's investigators did not try to question her because they "feared that hauling her in for an interview would play badly to the already antagonistic right-wing press — look how they're roughing up the president's daughter — and risk enraging Trump."Those fears might have been justified early on in the investigation, before they got up and running, Weissmann told the Times, but he and other team leaders believed they should have gotten more aggressive later on. "We would have subpoenaed the president after he refused our accommodations, even if that risked us being fired," he wrote. "It just didn't sit right. We were left feeling like we had let down the American public, who were counting on us to give it our all."More stories from theweek.com Democrats have a better option than court packing Republican advocates are concerned the party could cost them 'ticket splitters' with Supreme Court vote Trump supporters boo Ohio's GOP lieutenant governor for encouraging mask use
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| Wisconsin Black man falsely arrested at his own home sues city Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:47 PM PDT  As reported by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Keonte Furdge was arrested in his home after a neighbor called the police because he was sitting on the patio. Two police officers entered the house with their guns drawn and handcuffed Furdge, 23.
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| Two new studies indicate COVID-19 can spread on long airline flights, promote distancing Posted: 22 Sep 2020 11:08 AM PDT  Both studies, taking different approaches, found clusters of COVID-19 cases traced back to long airline flights.
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| Nasa outlines plan for first woman on Moon by 2024 Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:38 AM PDT  The US space agency (Nasa) formally outlines its $28bn plan to return astronauts to the Moon by 2024.
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| A new startup is recruiting gig workers to help landlords evict people from their homes, calling it the fastest-growing moneymaking gig because of COVID-19 Posted: 21 Sep 2020 09:34 AM PDT  The startup has been described as the Uber for evicting people.
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| Asia Today: India adds 87K cases, New Zealand easing rules Posted: 20 Sep 2020 08:06 PM PDT  India recorded nearly 87,000 new coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours as it edged closer to the United States in having the most reported cases in the world. The Health Ministry also Monday reported 1,130 deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the total reported fatalities to 87,882. India now has over 5.4 million reported cases, and the nation of 1.3 billion people is expected to become the pandemic's worst-hit country within weeks, surpassing the United States, which has 6.8 million.
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| US-China fight over fishing is really about world domination Posted: 21 Sep 2020 05:15 AM PDT  China's aggressive, sometimes illegal fishing practices are the latest source of conflict with the United States.China has the world's largest fishing fleet. Beijing claims to send around 2,600 vessels out to fish across the globe, but some maritime experts say this distant-water fishing fleet may number nearly 17,000. The United States has fewer than 300 distant-water ships. According to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, nations control marine resources within a 200-mile "exclusive economic zone"; beyond that are international waters. While the U.S. never signed the treaty, it has declared a 200-mile offshore exclusive economic zone.Bolstered by generous subsidies and at times protected by armed coast guard cutters, Chinese fishermen have been illegally fishing near the Korean Peninsula and in the South China Sea, a hotly contested area claimed by six countries. By exploiting these waters China has come to dominate the international squid market. Nearly half of this catch is exported to other Asian nations, Europe and the United States.Chinese ships have even pushed as far as Africa and South America, where fishermen have been known to remove their identifying flags to avoid detection. In 2017 Ecuador caught 20 Chinese fishermen in the environmentally protected Galapagos Marine Reserve and sentenced them to four years in prison for capturing thousands of sharks, the primary ingredient in a Chinese delicacy, shark fin soup.In August, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo criticized China for "predatory fishing practices" that violate "the sovereign rights and jurisdiction of coastal states." China's Foreign Ministry said Pompeo was just trying "stir up trouble for other countries."But Pompeo's rebuke is about more than fish. Governments often use the fishing industry to advance their diplomatic agenda, as my work as a historian of fishing and American foreign relations shows. The United States used fishing, directly and indirectly, to build its international empire from its founding through the 20th century. Now China's doing it, too. Fishing its way from independence to imperialismBefore the 1800s, when international law began to define maritime rights, restrictions on fishing depended wholly on what a given nation could enforce. That's why, at the Paris negotiation to end the Revolutionary War in 1783, future president John Adams insisted that Great Britain recognize the right of Americans to fish the North Atlantic. Its rich waters were full of cod and mackerel, but that's not all: The fishing rights Adams won in 1783 extended the young country's presence well into the sea.Because American fishing rights were recognized alongside American statehood, my research shows, generations of U.S. diplomats associated the two. In 1797, Secretary of State Timothy Pickering called American fisheries "the fairest fruits of independence." Even so, for decades after independence, the U.S. and Great Britain quarreled over international fishing, leading to many new and renegotiated treaties. At each turn, the Americans uniformly defended their right to fish the North Atlantic, even threatening war to do so. By the 1860s, international fishing had become a key component of America's newly expansionist foreign policy. Between 1850 and 1898, the U.S. annexed numerous overseas territories, among them Alaska, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines. Today this empire gives both American fishing vessels and the U.S. military a global reach.Secretary of State William Henry Seward, who purchased Alaska and its rich North Pacific waters under Andrew Johnson in 1867, also tried unsuccessfully to buy Greenland and Iceland, hoping to further extend American fishing claims across the North Atlantic. During archival research I learned that Seward's like-minded successor, Hamilton Fish, toyed with the idea of purchasing the Canary Islands, near northwest Africa, as a naval depot and a base for American fishermen. Cold War fishFor a time around the turn of the 20th century, fishing took a back seat to military might in the U.S.'s international power plays. After World War II, though, Washington again turned to marine resources to serve its foreign policy agenda. This time the government used what I call "fish diplomacy" to help build a more America-friendly world order.American diplomats of the 1940s used the notion of "maximum sustainable yield" – that is, the idea that there is a level of fishing that maximizes the number of fish caught without damaging the long-term health of fisheries – to expand American maritime influence. The idea was more political tool than scientific discovery, as historian Carmel Finley has thoroughly explored. But the U.S. used this faux sustainability argument to pass laws and agreements that limited foreign incursions into American waters while giving American fishermen freer reign over the world's oceans. Citing maximum sustainable yield, the Truman administration declared conservation zones to protect certain fisheries in 1945. This move essentially barred Japanese salmon fishermen from Alaska's Bristol Bay. Just a few years later the State Department cited maximum sustainable yield to argue against restricting U.S. tuna fishing in Latin American waters.As the Cold War developed in the 1950s, fish diplomacy helped the U.S. shore up allies to counter the Soviet Union. Washington gave generous subsidies to expand the fishing fleets of various countries – most notably Japan, whose war-ravaged economy was revived in part by the U.S. boat-building subsidies that resurrected its own once vital empire-building fishing industry. The U.S. also lowered tariffs for strategically located fishing nations like Iceland, making their main export, cod, cheaper for Americans to buy.[The Conversation's science, health and technology editors pick their favorite stories. Weekly on Wednesdays.]Of course, the U.S. also fought communism with mutual defense alliances, arms sales to friendly nations and direct military interventions. But fishery politics was part of its Cold War plan. This history helps explain why the U.S. now sees China's enormous fishing fleet and international trawling as threat. In sending its fishermen far and wide, Beijing has, wittingly or not, followed America's lead.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * Why China may want a military base in Indonesia — and why Indonesia is right to reject the idea * How the decline in Chinese tourists around the world has hit the luxury sectorBlake Earle 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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| Trump suggests, without evidence, that Justice Ginsberg’s “fervent wish” about her replacement was written by Democrats Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:09 PM PDT  During an interview on "Fox & Friends" Monday morning, President Trump theorized that a quote attributed to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was manufactured by Democrats. Trump did not offer any evidence for his suggestion. According to NPR, Justice Ginsburg told her granddaughter that her most "fervent wish" was that she would not be replaced until a new president was sworn in.
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| Rush Limbaugh calls for GOP to skip hearings for Trump SCOTUS pick and go straight for floor vote Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:19 PM PDT  The conservative radio host hopes to avoid confirmation hearings like Brett Kavanaugh's or Clarence Thomas's
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