| Yahoo News/YouGov Poll: Presidential race tightens even as most voters oppose GOP's push to replace Ginsburg before election Posted: 24 Sep 2020 09:22 AM PDT  Joe Biden's lead over Donald Trump has shrunk from 10 points two weeks ago to 5 points today, according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll. Yet most voters oppose the GOP's pre-election push to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Biden supporters seem more energized than Trump supporters by the issue.
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| ‘Good guys are demonized, criminals are canonised’: One of the officers in Breonna Taylor raid speaks out in fiery email Posted: 22 Sep 2020 07:02 PM PDT  A state of emergency has been declared ahead of an expected announcement from the state's attorney general
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| GOP Sen. Cory Gardner stayed mum on meatpacking coronavirus outbreaks as he received industry donations Posted: 24 Sep 2020 02:14 PM PDT  Some of the biggest and most deadly COVID-19 outbreaks in the U.S. stemmed from the meatpacking industry. But Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) was reluctant to call for accountability, including when it came to a Colorado-based plant Gardner received donations from, Business Insider reports.Early in the pandemic, meatpacking factories' close quarters became home to massive COVID-19 outbreaks throughout the country. An outbreak at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley, Colorado led to at least 291 confirmed cases and six deaths — the biggest localized outbreak in the state. Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) explicitly called for an investigation at the facility, as did a JBS employee union, which called out Gardner for failing to provide promised coronavirus tests for workers. But Gardner wouldn't discuss the situation with Business Insider, and similarly avoided questions about JBS in a local radio interview.Throughout his Senate career, Gardner has been one of the top recipients of donations from JBS; He has received $24,000 from the company over the years. This election cycle, he received the second most money from JBS of any senator, as well as the second largest contribution total from the meatpacking industry as a whole. Gardner is considered one of the most vulnerable senators this fall as he faces former Gov. John Hickenlooper (D).More stories from theweek.com America needs to hear the bad news first A mild defense of Republican hypocrisy on the Supreme Court Trump is the only one being honest about the Supreme Court fight
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| Investigators say they found thousands of child porn images in the home of a popular kids' YouTuber Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:50 AM PDT  The science educator behind the popular children's YouTube channel "The Happy Scientist" has been indicted on child pornography charges.
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| LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman and his billions are disrupting the Democratic Party Posted: 24 Sep 2020 10:57 AM PDT  LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman is one of the Democratic Party's most prominent donors — but what does it mean to disrupt an election?
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| Low tide reveals WWII-era bomb on beach near resort town in UK Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:11 AM PDT  The World War II era explosive was found on a beach north of Weston-Super-Mare, a popular seaside vacation town in the Bristol Channel.
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| In wake of Gardner's suicide, special prosecutor offers new details about events leading up to James Scurlock shooting Posted: 23 Sep 2020 03:39 PM PDT  One day before Jake Gardner fatally shot James Scurlock outside his bar in downtown Omaha, President Trump threatened to send the military to Minneapolis in response to violent clashes between police and protesters following the death of George Floyd in police custody, tweeting "when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
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| Ted Cruz blocks resolution honoring Ginsburg after Tucker Carlson pushes conspiracy theory about her Posted: 24 Sep 2020 09:54 AM PDT  "I think Justice Ginsburg would easily see through the legal sophistry," Chuck Schumer says of Cruz's objection
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| ‘Unlike anything we’ve seen in modern history’: Attacks against journalists soar during Black Lives Matter protests Posted: 24 Sep 2020 06:15 AM PDT  Arrests of US journalists halfway through 2020 outnumber number of jailed reporters in China in 2019
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| Cindy McCain urges suburban women to vote for Biden Posted: 23 Sep 2020 08:47 AM PDT  "I think a lot of people like me and others, they're kind of suburban women, are kind of misled a little bit and kind of sad about the direction the Republican Party is going," McCain said.
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| Pablo Escobar: Money hidden in wall found in drug lord's house Posted: 24 Sep 2020 05:49 AM PDT  A plastic bag with money worth $18m (£14m) is found in a wall by one of the drug lord's nephews.
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| China’s Statist System Is No Match for Free Markets Posted: 24 Sep 2020 03:30 AM PDT  Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from the book Battlegrounds: The Fight to Defend the Free World by H. R. McMaster. Copyright © 2020 by H. R. McMaster. The book was published on September 22, 2020, by Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission. Part I of the excerpt is here.The CCP views its centralized, statist economic system as bestowing advantages, especially the ability to successfully coordinate efforts across government, business, academia, and the military. And it views America's and other nations' decentralized, free-market economic systems as rendering them unable to compete with China's centrally-directed strategies, such as Made in China 2025, OBOR, and Military-Civilian Fusion. That is why the United States and other free-market economies need to demonstrate the competitive advantages of decentralization and unconstrained entrepreneurialism while defending themselves from Chinese predation. Here, the private sector plays a vital role. Companies and academic institutions at the forefront of developing and applying new technologies must recognize that China is breaking the rules to take advantage of our open societies and free-market economies. A first step toward preserving competitive advantage is to crack down on Chinese theft of our technologies. Although there have been significant reforms in national-security reviews of foreign investments, another effective defense would be to enforce requirements that U.S. companies report investment by China-related entities, technology transfer requests, and participation in the CCP's core technology development or PLA modernization programs.There is much room for improvement in the effort to prevent China from using the open nature of the U.S. economy to promote not only its state capitalist model, but also to perfect its surveillance police state. Many universities, research labs, and companies in countries that value the rule of law and individual rights are witting or unwitting accomplices in the CCP's use of technology to repress its people and improve PLA capabilities. For dual-use technologies, the private sector should seek new partnerships with those who share commitments to free-market economies, representative government, and the rule of law. Many companies are engaged in joint ventures or partnerships that help the CCP develop technologies suited for internal security, such as surveillance, artificial intelligence, and biogenetics. Others accede to Chinese investments that give the CCP access to such technology. In one of many examples, a Massachusetts-based company provided DNA sampling equipment that helped the CCP track Uighurs in the Xinjiang region. Google has been hacked by China, used by the CCP to shut off the Chinese people's access to information, and refused to work with the U.S. Department of Defense on artificial intelligence. Companies that knowingly collaborate with CCP efforts to repress the Chinese people or to build military capabilities that might one day be used against those companies' fellow citizens should be penalized.Tougher screening for U.S., European, and Japanese capital markets would also help restrict firms' complicity in helping the CCP's authoritarian agenda. Many Chinese companies directly or indirectly involved in domestic human-rights abuses and violation of international treaties are listed on American stock exchanges. Those companies benefit from U.S. and other Western investors. There are more than 700 Chinese companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange, about 62 on the NASDAQ Composite index, and more than 500 in the poorly regulated over-the-counter market. One company that is a candidate for delisting is Hikvision, a company responsible for facial-recognition technology that identifies and monitors the movement of ethnic Uighurs. Hikvision produces surveillance cameras that line the walls of Chinese concentration camps in Xinjiang. Together with its parent company, the state-owned China Electronics Technology Group, Hikvision is on the U.S. Commerce Department Entity List (what many call "the Blacklist"). Free-market economies like ours have far more leverage than they are using because they control the vast majority of the world's capital.Defensive measures, however, are inadequate. Free and open societies need to become more competitive through reform and investments. China here has a clear advantage in the adoption of new technologies. Its centralized decision-making system, government subsidies, underwriting of risk, the relative lack of the kinds of regulations and bureaucratic hurdles typical in the United States and other democratic nations, and the lack of ethical impediments (e.g., in the areas of biogenetics and autonomous weapons) all foster fast application of technologies in the civil sector and the PLA. Although the United States and other nations should not compromise their ethics, many of the weaknesses relative to China are self-imposed. For example, the U.S. national-security institutions suffer from chronic bureaucratic inertia. The slow, inflexible nature of defense budgeting and procurement in the United States has long been studied, with little effective change. But the stakes are now too high to tolerate the lack of predictable multi-year procurement budgets, convoluted procurement systems, and deferred defense modernization. The sheer difficulty of doing business with the Department of Defense discourages the most innovative small companies from contributing to defense capabilities and makes it difficult to innovate within the life cycle of emerging technologies. The old model of multi-year research and development to design and test a capability is no longer valid. The U.S. Department of Defense and military services risk exquisite irrelevance as the PLA develops new capabilities and countermeasures that vitiate longstanding American military advantages. Reducing barriers to collaboration between the private sector and national-security and defense-related industries could release the potential of free-market innovation in this critical area.But even streamlining bureaucracy will prove insufficient to compete with the vast investments China is making in emerging dual-use technologies that will advantage its data economy and its military capabilities. That is why government and private-sector investment in technologies in the areas of artificial intelligence, robotics, augmented and virtual reality, and materials science will prove crucial for the United States to maintaining differential advantages over an increasingly capable and aggressive PLA. Defense cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region should extend to multinational development of future defense capabilities, with the ultimate goal of convincing the CCP that it cannot accomplish objectives through the use of force. Multinational cooperation in the development of space and cyberspace capabilities could also deter Chinese aggression in these contested domains. And Taiwan's defense capabilities must be sufficient to ward off China's designs for what would be a costly war with the potential of expanding across large portions of East Asia.
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| Seoul: North Korea kills S. Korean official, burns his body Posted: 23 Sep 2020 07:44 PM PDT  South Korea said Thursday that North Korean troops fatally shot a South Korean government official who may have attempted to defect and set his body on fire after finding him on a floating object near the countries' disputed sea boundary. According to Seoul, the man disappeared from a government ship that was checking on possible unauthorized fishing in an area south of the boundary on Monday, a day before he was found in North Korean waters. Later in the day, a North Korean navy boat came and opened fire at him, South Korea's Defense Ministry said.
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| She asked her neighbor to wear a mask in the elevator. Then came the attack, police say Posted: 24 Sep 2020 09:37 AM PDT  A Florida woman was arrested at her Jensen Beach condominium after she allegedly attacker her neighbor in an elevator
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| Bolton allegedly tried to share details of Trump's Ukraine dealings during impeachment, but the White House stopped him Posted: 23 Sep 2020 06:54 AM PDT  Former National Security Adviser John Bolton reportedly tried to do his part during President Trump's impeachment hearings.Bolton famously refused to testify during Trump's impeachment trial regarding the president's alleged quid pro quo with Ukraine, only confirming the deal months after the fact. But Bolton apparently did try to divulge some details from his book regarding Trump's Ukraine dealings — the White House just wouldn't let him, an official overseeing Bolton's book's prepublication review said in a Wednesday court filing.Ellen Knight, a career federal official formerly overseeing the National Security Council's records, was tasked with reviewing Bolton's book and making sure it didn't contain classified information, The New York Times describes via the filing from Knight's lawyer. During that process, Bolton requested a speedier review of a part of his book regarding Trump and Ukraine so he could release it during the impeachment trial. Knight's lawyer said at that point, Bolton's memoir The Room Where it Happened didn't have any classified information and Knight was "prepared to clear the manuscript," but White House aides still denied his request.Through her lawyer, Knight alleged that the "apolitical process" of prepublication review was "commandeered by political appointees for a seemingly political purpose." Bolton's book was the only time Knight had been asked to take several "unusual" steps within the review process, and she hadn't heard of predecessors having to do so either, her lawyer said.The court filing comes a week after the Justice Department opened a criminal inquiry into Bolton's book to determine whether it shared classified information. The White House tried to shut down the publication of Bolton's book even after copies of it were already in the hands of journalists.More stories from theweek.com America needs to hear the bad news first A mild defense of Republican hypocrisy on the Supreme Court Trump is the only one being honest about the Supreme Court fight
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| ‘They cover my shrapnel wounds’: Veteran Senate candidate responds to critics using photo of her tattoos Posted: 24 Sep 2020 01:36 PM PDT  After a Republican super PAC in Texas posted a photo of Senate candidate MJ Hegar featuring her tattoos and calling her a "radical," Hegar had a quick response on Twitter: the tattoos covered shrapnel wounds she received as an Air Force helicopter pilot in Afghanistan. A pro-Cornyn Super PAC is using a photo of my tattoos to make me seem "radical."
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| Florida attorney general on investigation into Bloomberg’s $16M felon voter donation Posted: 24 Sep 2020 07:10 AM PDT  Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody defended her investigation into billionaire Mike Bloomberg's felon voter donation on 'Fox & Friends.'
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| Pregnant woman rescues husband from shark attack in Florida Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:24 AM PDT  Margot Dukes-Eddy dived into the water to save her husband "without hesitation", police say.
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| 'Alexa, I'm being pulled over': Ring announces a new camera for the car that can record police interactions Posted: 24 Sep 2020 10:34 AM PDT  Just say "Alexa, I'm being pulled over" and the camera can record the interaction and alert specified contacts.
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| Democrats worry Feinstein can’t handle Supreme Court battle Posted: 23 Sep 2020 09:41 AM PDT  Colleagues fear the oldest senator may struggle to lead Democrats on the Judiciary Committee.
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| Texas Republicans turn on GOP Gov. Abbott over extending early voting Posted: 24 Sep 2020 05:03 AM PDT  A lawsuit has escalated an extraordinary backlash against the state leader from the right wing of his party.
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| Breonna Taylor decision: What is wanton endangerment, the charge one Louisville officer faces? Posted: 24 Sep 2020 02:18 PM PDT  One of three officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment.
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| Camp Lejeune Marines Warned to Stop Running in the Dark After 4 Coyote Attacks Posted: 24 Sep 2020 07:15 AM PDT  Three Marines and a sailor have been bitten by a coyote on the loose at Camp Lejeune.
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| Trump proposes ‘Born Alive’ executive order. Here’s what you need to know Posted: 24 Sep 2020 10:00 AM PDT  "This is our sacrosanct moral duty," Trump said.
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| The Pentagon is eyeing a 500-ship Navy, documents reveal Posted: 24 Sep 2020 05:57 PM PDT  The Pentagon is weighing a dramatically different fleet that relies heavily on unmanned ships and submarines.
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| Trump advisor diagnosed with head cancer following leave of absence Posted: 24 Sep 2020 03:06 PM PDT  Michael Caputo has been diagnosed with metastatic head and neck cancer, spokesperson says
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| Qantas put fully stocked bar carts from its retired 747s up for sale for more than $1,000, and they're already all sold out Posted: 23 Sep 2020 12:16 PM PDT  Qantas packed the bar carts full of wine, snacks, and candy, and sold them for more than $1,000 each.
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| I Was Just Denied Clemency in the State of Florida. I'm One of Many People With Past Convictions Living Without My Full Civil Rights Posted: 23 Sep 2020 10:32 AM PDT  Desmond Meade, president of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, holds a news conference in front of the Orange County Supervisor of Elections, on Jan. 7, 2019, in Orlando. In a cruel twist, they can't even inform people of the amounts they owe since there is no comprehensive database of fines and fees.
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| Man who drove into California protesters used vineyard as 'tactical training camp,' officials say Posted: 23 Sep 2020 09:16 PM PDT  Benjamin Hung, 28, is accused of possessing a machete, a Glock and other weapons in his truck and driving into a crowd of racial justice protesters in Pasadena.
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| Breonna Taylor: What happened on the night of her death? Posted: 24 Sep 2020 02:23 PM PDT  The 26-year-old was killed by police in her Louisville home, sparking protests and calls for justice.
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| 'Send me a text': Obama calls on Americans to get in touch with thoughts on US election Posted: 24 Sep 2020 05:49 AM PDT  Former president has been campaigning for Joe Biden
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| Fact check: 'Kingdom of God' comment by SCOTUS contender Amy Coney Barrett is missing context in meme Posted: 24 Sep 2020 05:38 PM PDT  A 2006 remark about the "Kingdom of God" is missing context in a meme that also falsely attributes views on ending separation of church and state.
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| Kodak Black wants out of his hellacious Kentucky prison, stat, new lawsuit says Posted: 24 Sep 2020 08:10 AM PDT  Being behind bars is certainly no fun, but for Kodak Black it's hell, a new suit claims.
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| Powerful Vatican Cardinal Becciu resigns amid scandal Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:27 AM PDT  The powerful head of the Vatican's saint-making office, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, resigned suddenly Thursday from the post and renounced his rights as a cardinal amid a financial scandal that has reportedly implicated him indirectly. The Vatican provided no details on why Pope Francis accepted Becciu's resignation in a statement late Thursday. In the one-sentence announcement, the Holy See said only that Francis had accepted Becciu's resignation as prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints "and his rights connected to the cardinalate."
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| Trump Data Guru Officially Disqualified Over ‘Shady’ Campaign Tactics Posted: 24 Sep 2020 08:01 AM PDT  LONDON—Alexander Nix, the man who was running Cambridge Analytica when it harvested the Facebook data of tens of millions of voters without their knowledge so it could be exploited by the Trump 2016 campaign, has been banned from directing any companies for seven years.The now-defunct Cambridge Analytica was a U.K. digital black-ops firm that collapsed in 2018 following revelations that it secretly collected Facebook profile information on 87 million people. The Daily Beast revealed two years ago that Team Trump used audience lists created by Cambridge Analytica to target "dark ads" on Facebook during the final months of the 2016 campaign and until Trump's inauguration.Nix gained notoriety as the face of Cambridge Analytica when he inadvertently revealed the shocking extent of its dubious operations. The company's former chief executive was secretly recorded by Britain's Channel 4 blabbing about his firm's work for Trump and effectively claiming that Cambridge Analytica was to thank for Trump becoming president.Nix said in the secret recording, "We did all the research, all the data, all the analytics, all the targeting, we ran all the digital campaign, the television campaign and our data informed all the strategy."The footage, in which he bragged about apparently illegal campaign tactics used on jobs in other parts of the world, was the beginning of his and Cambridge Analytica's swift and spectacular downfall. Nix was suspended as CEO when the tapes were broadcast in March 2018, the company collapsed in May that year. It was thereafter forced into compulsory liquidation in April 2019.Now, Nix has been slapped with a new punishment that will prevent him from directing any companies until October 2027.The British government's Insolvency Service confirmed Thursday that Nix will be "disqualified for seven years from acting as a director or directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company."In the statement, the government agency condemned Nix for allowing Cambridge Analytica to carry out what it called "unethical services," which it said included "bribery or honey trap stings, voter disengagement campaigns, obtaining information to discredit political opponents and spreading information anonymously in political campaigns."Mark Bruce, the chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said that Cambridge Analytica's parent company, SCL Elections, "repeatedly offered shady political services to potential clients over a number of years."The chief investigator went on to say in his statement: "Alexander Nix's actions did not meet the appropriate standard for a company director and his disqualification from managing limited companies for a significant amount of time is justified in the public interest."The Insolvency Service said Nix has signed the disqualification notice.Britain's punitive action against Nix comes nearly a year after the U.S. Federal Trade Commission came to a settlement with him and Aleksandr Kogan, who developed the app which allowed Cambridge Analytica to harvest the personal information of millions of Americans.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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| The partner of a protester who was shot and killed in Kenosha is suing Facebook alleging it enabled paramilitary violence against protesters Posted: 23 Sep 2020 11:43 PM PDT  The federal lawsuit says the social media company was negligent when it failed to take down an event page urging armed vigilantes to attend protests.
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| U.S. House Democrats crafting new $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief package Posted: 24 Sep 2020 12:19 PM PDT  Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are working on a $2.2 trillion coronavirus stimulus package that could be voted on next week, a key lawmaker said on Thursday, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reiterated that she is ready to negotiate with the White House. With formal COVID-19 relief talks stalled for nearly seven weeks, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal said new legislative efforts got under way this week after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said in congressional testimony that lawmakers needed to provide further support for an economy reeling from the pandemic.
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| Parents knowingly sent kids with coronavirus to school, Wisconsin officials say Posted: 24 Sep 2020 10:00 AM PDT  "A handful of irresponsible parents could be responsible for closing down entire school districts," the Washington-Ozaukee public health director said.
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| Suspect in Louisville police shooting charged with assault and wanton endangerment Posted: 24 Sep 2020 11:35 AM PDT  Police claim video footage shows Mr Johnson shooting at the officers
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| Fatah, Hamas say deal reached on Palestinian elections Posted: 24 Sep 2020 01:00 PM PDT  Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas and their rivals Fatah in the occupied West Bank agreed Thursday to hold the first Palestinian elections since 2006, united by their opposition to Arab-Israeli normalisation deals.
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| Coronavirus updates: Pac-12 football returns; Cuomo says New York will review vaccines approved by feds; fears of a second wave in Europe Posted: 24 Sep 2020 05:12 PM PDT  New York will conduct a review of any coronavirus vaccines approved by the federal government. Study says virus has mutated. Latest COVID news.
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| 'The Five' react to Trump blasting mail-in ballots Posted: 24 Sep 2020 02:40 PM PDT  The president rails against mail-in voting when asked about peaceful transfer of power
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| Navy releases documents from Cold War loss of submarine Posted: 23 Sep 2020 01:53 PM PDT  The Navy began releasing documents from the investigation into the deadliest submarine disaster in U.S. history on Wednesday, but the Navy said the documents released under a court order don't shed any new light on the cause of the sinking. The first of the documents released were 300 pages from the official inquiry into the sinking of the USS Thresher on April 10, 1963. The loss of the nuclear-powered submarine and all 129 men aboard during a test dive in the Atlantic Ocean delivered a blow to national pride during the Cold War and became the impetus for safety improvements.
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