| 2020 Vision Thursday: Why Kamala Harris is struggling in the polls Posted: 19 Sep 2019 07:05 AM PDT  Pundits have been speculating about the state of Sen. Kamala Harris's campaign ever since one of her staffers accidentally left an internal briefing memo that included the phrase "summer slump" at a Manchester, N.H., restaurant earlier this month.
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| PHOTOS: Tropical Storm Imelda floods Texas Posted: 20 Sep 2019 06:30 AM PDT  The slow-churning remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda flooded parts of Texas on Thursday, leaving at least two people dead and rescue crews with boats scrambling to reach stranded drivers and families trapped in their homes during a relentless downpour that drew comparisons to Hurricane Harvey two years ago.
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| 'Free the Nipple' movement: Women can now legally go topless in 6 states Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:43 AM PDT  Women in six U.S. states are now effectively allowed to be topless in public, according to a new ruling by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.
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| 'Shocked and devastated': Connecticut father, son die in tragic fall after riding ATVs in abandoned quarry Posted: 20 Sep 2019 07:55 AM PDT  A father and son died after they both fell off a 75-foot cliff in Connecticut Wednesday, WVIT-TV reported.
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| An attorney forced out of the CIA's watchdog office is representing the Trump whistleblower Posted: 19 Sep 2019 12:07 PM PDT  Andrew Bakaj, an attorney who left the CIA in 2014 after facing professional retaliation for trying to work with intelligence community whistleblowers is now representing the U.S. official who reportedly filed a complaint alleging wrongdoing by President Trump.
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| Officials: Political donor caused deadly overdose during sex Posted: 19 Sep 2019 10:31 PM PDT  Gemmel Moore had moved back home with his mother in Texas two years ago and was missing Los Angeles when he texted a photo of syringe in an arm to a wealthy gay man he knew in California. Buck bought a plane ticket for Moore and had a car pick him up a week later at the airport. Federal prosecutors released new details Thursday as they charged Buck, 65, with distributing methamphetamine resulting in Moore's death on July 27, 2017.
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| U.S. to return about $100 million to the Treasury for an Afghanistan project due to a lack of transparency Posted: 19 Sep 2019 07:27 AM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the United States would return about $100 million to the Treasury for an energy infrastructure project in Afghanistan and would withhold a further $60 million in planned assistance to the country due to a lack of transparency.
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| With viral moments and hard facts, Democrats seek to seize the moment on gun control Posted: 20 Sep 2019 08:34 AM PDT  The fall congressional session is not a week old, but there have already been a number of events related to gun control on Capitol Hill. That suggests the furious debate over Second Amendment rights and restrictions will dominate the following months.
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| Campaigning Trudeau vows Canada assault rifle ban Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:16 AM PDT  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, campaigning for re-election, vowed on Friday to ban assault rifles but fell short on handguns, saying only that he would help cities restrict pistols and revolvers in response to a spate of shootings. "You don't need military-grade assault weapons, ones designed to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time, to take down a deer," he told a news conference in Toronto. There have been 311 shootings in Canada's largest city so far this year, with gun violence having increased incrementally each year to almost triple the rate in 2014.
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| FedEx Pilot Detained in China for Item Found in Luggage Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:51 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- A FedEx Corp. pilot was temporarily detained in southeastern China after authorities found hundreds of air-gun pellets in his luggage prior to boarding a commercial flight to Hong Kong, marking the delivery firm's latest setback in the country.The pilot, who was held in the city of Guangzhou, was later released on bail and the company is working with relevant authorities to understand the facts better, Memphis-based FedEx said in an email. Geng Shuang, spokesman at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a briefing Friday that he was detained after being found with 681 air-gun pellets in his luggage.While FedEx didn't provide details, a Wall Street Journal report earlier cited people familiar with the matter as saying Chinese authorities have started a criminal probe on the former U.S. Air Force colonel for allegedly carrying ammunition illegally. China notified the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou about the matter and the case is still under investigation, Geng said.FedEx has been under particular scrutiny in recent months, after Huawei Technologies Co. said documents it asked to be shipped from Japan to China were diverted to the U.S. instead without authorization. In another incident, FedEx said it mistakenly rejected a package containing a Huawei phone being sent to the U.S. from the U.K., a claim China rebuffed.Separately, police in China's Fujian province started an investigation into a package containing a gun delivered by FedEx to a company in China, state media reported in August. Chinese authorities also began probing FedEx on suspicion of illegally handling a package sent to Hong Kong containing knives, Xinhua News Agency reported in early September.The fracas over the Huawei packages has seen FedEx targeted in Chinese state media, with Beijing considering adding the company to a list of so-called unreliable entities it is drafting, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg in June.China Mulls FedEx Blacklisting After Huawei Delivery ErrorsAfter the U.S. slapped curbs on Huawei, China's Commerce Ministry announced the creation of the list in late May to target firms that the government says damage the interests of domestic companies.(Updates with foreign ministry comment in second paragraph.)\--With assistance from Thomas Black, Feifei Shen and April Ma.To contact the reporter on this story: Young-Sam Cho in Hong Kong at ycho2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Emma O'BrienFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| High school sparks controversy over 'ridiculous' lunch: 'It's honestly sad' Posted: 20 Sep 2019 11:24 AM PDT  A Minnesota high school is facing criticism for serving a meal that many people have since called "ridiculous."
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| Why Trump had a wad of cash in his back pocket Posted: 19 Sep 2019 07:57 AM PDT  "I don't carry a wallet because I haven't had to use a credit card in a long time," he told reporters aboard Air Force One. "I do like leaving tips to the hotel. I like to carry a little something."
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| 'They're forming like roaches.' The 6 tropical storms whirling at once have tied a record Posted: 20 Sep 2019 06:05 AM PDT  It's hurricane season, but this is ridiculous. The six storms whirling this week in the Atlantic and Pacific set a record, forecasters reported.
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| Architect Reinaldo Leandro on the Art of Building Design and Personal Style Posted: 20 Sep 2019 12:17 PM PDT |
| Son who threw his terminally ill 79-year-old mother to her death spared jail Posted: 20 Sep 2019 11:13 AM PDT  A teacher who threw his terminally ill 79-year-old mother to her death from a first-floor balcony spared jail as judge describes it as a "mercy killing". A "devoted, loving son" who killed his dying mother to end her suffering by dropping her from a first floor fire escape at a care home has been given a suspended jail term. Robert Knight, 53, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his 79-year-old mother June at an earlier hearing at Basildon Crown Court. The languages teacher had denied murder and was cleared by a jury. Judge Samantha Leigh, sentencing Knight at Basildon Crown Court on Friday, told him: "You are someone who acted out of love and desperation. "You have been punished enough and you have to live with what you have done." She went on to describe it as a "mercy killing". Knight was sentenced to 24 months in prison suspended for 24 months. The incident happened at Langley Lodge Care Home in Westcliff, Essex, where Mrs Knight was receiving end-of-life care. Credit: EAST NEWS PRESS AGENCY Knight, of The Fairway, Leigh-on-Sea, signed into the care home on the evening of December 10 and lifted his mother out of bed. He dropped her from a fire escape and there was "no planning" involved, the judge said. The judge said: "This is a very sad case - anyone listening to the details of Mrs Knight's illness and her condition couldn't fail to be moved." She added that to "watch someone you love suffer as she was suffering... is truly cruel". The court heard that Mrs Knight had dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and a post-mortem report showed she had a twisted bowel that would have caused her pain. Knight visited her regularly, brushing her hair and cutting her nails, the judge said. She added that a "do not resuscitate" notice was in place at the time and care home staff "didn't think she would survive the night" from December 9 to December 10 last year. "You were convinced that she was suffering and it was more than you could bear," the judge told Knight. "You are described as a devoted, loving son," she added. "This case, I'm sure, was a very finely balanced one as to whether it was in the interest to prosecute in the first place." Michael Levy, mitigating, said Knight had no previous convictions, was remorseful, had admitted manslaughter and had spent more than nine months in custody while criminal proceedings were under way. Knight was ordered to complete 60 days of rehabilitation as part of his sentence, before he walked free from court.
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| Let Us Show You How Iran Would Wage a War Against America Posted: 20 Sep 2019 07:11 AM PDT  A dangerous game.
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| State sending troopers to help fight St. Louis crime Posted: 19 Sep 2019 04:09 PM PDT  Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is sending highway patrol troopers and other state workers to St. Louis as part of an effort to fight the surge of violent crime that has included the killings of more than a dozen children in the region so far this year. Parson said the total cost of the state's commitment, including the 25 state employees who will work in the St. Louis region, is up to $4 million. "This is about targeting violent criminals and getting them off the street," Parson said at a news conference in St. Louis.
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| Hong Kong diners offered protest-inspired 'eyeball' mocktails and 'tear gas' eggs Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:03 AM PDT  Pro-democracy protests that have roiled Hong Kong for more than three months are providing culinary inspiration for a restaurant that offers a themed menu with spicy wasabi-spiked "tear gas" eggs and a drink shaped like a bloodied eyeball. The drink, which refers to a gruesome injury suffered by a medic, is on offer along with an "Eye for an Eye" mocktail, featuring a round rubbery longan fruit punctured by strawberry syrup, at the Chinese-ruled city's Spicy Andong restaurant. Owner Roy Ma said he was spurred to create the menu, which also offers "beating raw pork", a take-off on accusations of police brutality against protesters, after violent clashes at the end of August.
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| ‘It’s happening’: Trump is getting impeached, former White House ethics chief says Posted: 19 Sep 2019 04:54 AM PDT  A former White House ethics lawyer has said people who oppose impeachment hearings probing the Trump presidency do not respect the US constitution."It's happening, [Donald Trump] is getting impeached," Richard W. Painer said on Twitter.
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| Climate change could turn oceans from friend to foe, UN report warns Posted: 19 Sep 2019 08:28 PM PDT  Global warming and pollution caused by humanity's carbon-heavy footprint are ravaging Earth's oceans and icy regions in ways that could unleash misery on a global scale, a landmark UN report to be unveiled next week will warn. The underlying 900-page scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the fourth such UN tome in less than a year, with others focused on a 1.5-Celsius cap on global warming, the decline of biodiversity, as well as land use and the global food system. All four conclude that humanity must overhaul how it produces, distributes and consumes almost everything to avoid the worst ravages of global warming and environmental degradation.
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| This nomad couple travels the country and lives out of their custom built van! Posted: 19 Sep 2019 09:49 AM PDT  Bre and Lacey made the move from a regular home in California to life on the road, traveling across the country in their personalized sprinter van. Today, the couple has created a business out of transforming classic vans into mobile homes! Learn more on this episode of "No Place Like Home!"
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| Transgender prisoner who sued dies days before release Posted: 19 Sep 2019 01:30 PM PDT  A transgender prison inmate who sued the state of New York, saying she was raped in a men's prison, has died of cancer days before she was to be freed on parole. LeslieAnn Manning, who had been serving a 30-year sentence for shooting at a police car, died Saturday at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, near Buffalo, according to the state corrections department. Manning, 53, had lung cancer, said her attorney, Susan Hazeldean.
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| U.S. drone strike kills 30 pine nut farm workers in Afghanistan Posted: 19 Sep 2019 08:44 AM PDT  A U.S. drone strike intended to hit an Islamic State (IS) hideout in Afghanistan killed at least 30 civilians resting after a day's labor in the fields, officials said on Thursday. The attack on Wednesday night also injured 40 people after accidentally targeting farmers and laborers who had just finished collecting pine nuts at mountainous Wazir Tangi in eastern Nangarhar province, three Afghan officials told Reuters. "The workers had lit a bonfire and were sitting together when a drone targeted them," tribal elder Malik Rahat Gul told Reuters by telephone from Wazir Tangi.
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| American Airlines Mechanic who Sabotaged Plane before Takeoff Suspected of ISIS Ties Posted: 19 Sep 2019 10:41 AM PDT  A federal judge denied bail on Wednesday to an American Airlines mechanic, who has been incarcerated since July for sabotaging a plane with 150 people on board, due to suspicions the mechanic has ties to ISIS.Abdul-Majeed Alani was arrested on September 5 and confessed to tampering with a Boeing 737 at Miami International Airport weeks earlier, grounding the plane before it had a chance to take off. He told investigators at the time that he was upset over a contract dispute involving a union, and decided to ground the plane so that he could obtain overtime work.However, investigators subsequently found videos of mass murders committed by ISIS on Alani's cell phone.In the Wednesday bail hearing, prosecutors announced that Alani has a brother in Iraq who may be involved with ISIS, and that Alani had previously expressed his desire for Allah to harm non-Muslims.Alani's lawyer requested bail to be posted at $200,000 but Magistrate Judge Chris M. McAliley denied the request, deeming Alani a flight risk.Alani has been a mechanic at American Airlines for thirty years and does not have a criminal record. He is a U.S. citizen.Court documents assert that Alani used a piece of foam to obstruct the plane's air data module, which tracks air speed and other critical flight data. Security camera footage from July 17 shows Alani tampering with the aircraft.The plane had left the gate and reached the runway just before takeoff when the pilots received an error message, after which they aborted the takeoff.
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| Michelle Carter, who encouraged boyfriend to kill himself, denied early release from prison Posted: 20 Sep 2019 12:18 PM PDT  The Massachusetts Parole Board called Michelle Carter's behavior 'irrational' and lacking sincerity as the board denied her early release request.
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| Colt to stop making AR-15 rifles, weapon of choice in US mass shootings Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:53 AM PDT  Legendary US gun manufacturer Colt has said it will no longer produce the AR-15, blaming market forces rather than the semi-automatic rifle's role in some of the country's worst mass shootings. "Over the last few years, the market for modern sporting rifles has experienced significant excess manufacturing capacity," said the company's chief executive Dennis Veilleux in a statement released on Thursday. For that reason, "we believe there is adequate supply for modern sporting rifles for the foreseeable future," he said, noting that his firm would continue to make assault rifles for the US military and law enforcement agencies, as well as its world-famous revolvers.
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| The Macallan unveils Edition No. 5 -- and it looks like nothing you've ever seen from the brand before [Exclusive] Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:23 AM PDT ![The Macallan unveils Edition No. 5 -- and it looks like nothing you've ever seen from the brand before [Exclusive]](http://l2.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/FeqZrh.jX9g7ZJmMVH5dXA--/YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b247aD04Njt3PTEzMDs-/https://o.aolcdn.com/images/dims3/GLOB/crop/2700x1770+0+593/resize/1028x675!/format/jpg/quality/85/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2019-09/51dfca70-dbc2-11e9-bff6-dd3a7bbd36bc "The Macallan unveils Edition No. 5 -- and it looks like nothing you've ever seen from the brand before [Exclusive]") The newest iteration of the Macallan Edition Series, Edition No. 5, might be the most out-of-the-box yet.
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| 2nd '500-year rainfall' in 2 years will cause $8 billion in damages, AccuWeather predicts Posted: 19 Sep 2019 10:43 AM PDT  Angel Marshman wades through floodwaters from Tropical Depression Imelda after trying to start his flooded car Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, in Galveston, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) AccuWeather estimates the total damage and economic loss caused by Imelda will be $8 billion, according to the company's Founder and CEO Dr. Joel N. Myers, based on an analysis of damages expected from major flooding caused by heavy rainfall over eastern Texas and far southwestern Louisiana.The estimate includes damage to homes and businesses, as well as their contents and cars, job and wage losses, farm and crop losses, contamination of drinking water wells, infrastructure damage, auxiliary business losses and the long-term impact from flooding, in addition to the lingering health effects resulting from flooding and the possible disease caused by standing water.AccuWeather's damage estimate incorporates independent methods to evaluate all direct and indirect impacts of the storm based on a variety of sources, statistics and unique techniques to estimate damage developed over a decade.Given the major flooding with a high risk to lives and property in eastern Texas and far southwestern Louisiana, Imelda is rated as a 3 on the AccuWeather RealImpact™Scale for Hurricanes for the overall tropical storm. The AccuWeather Local StormMax™rainfall amount is projected to be 55 inches; despite that high total, Imelda is a 3 because the coverage area receiving the heaviest rain is not a large or populated area, such as Houston, during Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Imelda was never rated on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale by the National Hurricane Center."This storm is a great example of the value of the AccuWeather RealImpact™Scale for Hurricanes that we invented," Myers said. "It would be easy to dismiss Imelda since it is not a hurricane but a tropical storm, but the rain and subsequent flooding is the main source of what will be substantial damage."Deep tropical moisture will continue to stream northward from the Gulf of Mexico with heavy rain bands expected to continue impacting the area Thursday night and perhaps even early Friday. A very heavy rain band east of Houston continues to drop copious rainfall amounts of 3 to 4 inches per hour, adding to flooding that is ongoing in some areas."The rain and resulting flooding will be the overwhelming cause of damage and discomfort and threats to life and property," Myers said. "The amount of rainfall will rival records set during Hurricane Harvey, which makes this the second 500-year rainfall within two years."George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston was at a full ground stop because of the rainfall and severe weather in the area as of Thursday morning. Some parts of Texas are facing possible levee collapses and local emergency offices have asked residents of Harris, Montgomery, Liberty and Chambers counties to shelter in place in response to flood emergencies caused by Imelda.As flooding overwhelmed many access roads, access to Interstate 10 and Highway 69 from Beaumont became "extremely limited," the police department said. The City of Beaumont has closed non-essential offices for Thursday. The interstate was also closed in both directions near Highway 365 and Fannett.Click here to follow AccuWeather's extensive coverage of Imelda for more information.Download the free AccuWeather app to receive the latest forecast and tropical advisories. Stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network for Imelda coverage on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| 2019 Editors' Choice Awards: The Best Trucks, SUVs, and Vans Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:15 AM PDT |
| Woman Pleads Guilty in Chinese 'Birth Tourism' Ring Posted: 19 Sep 2019 04:29 AM PDT  She made millions cheating the U.S. immigration system.
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| In Israel, calls for unity reveal deep divisions after vote Posted: 19 Sep 2019 10:44 AM PDT  Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his chief rival, Benny Gantz, on Thursday each called for the formation of a unity government following Israel's inconclusive national election. "There is no choice but to form a broad unity government," Netanyahu said in a video statement. After failing to form a coalition following April's election, Netanyahu called Tuesday's vote, only to see the country emerge with another political stalemate.
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| Pro-China groups to tear down pro-democracy graffiti in Hong Kong Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:59 AM PDT  A pro-Beijing Hong Kong lawmaker urged supporters to pull down "Lennon Walls" on Saturday across the Chinese-ruled city, where the displays of anti-government graffiti have sometimes been flashpoints during more than three months of unrest. Legislator Junius Ho, who has taken a tough stand against the protests, called for cleanups of 77 Lennon Walls from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on "Clean Hong Kong Day", by 100 people at each site. Anti-government protesters have said they will avoid confrontation but will rebuild the walls, named after the John Lennon Wall in communist-controlled Prague in the 1980s that was covered with Beatles lyrics and messages of political grievance.
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| 6 things to know about teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg Posted: 19 Sep 2019 09:20 PM PDT  Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has addressed a UN summit, sailed across the Atlantic, and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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| Trudeau says he doesn't know if there will be more blackface photos of him because he didn't remember doing it before the photos came out Posted: 20 Sep 2019 08:20 AM PDT  Photos and videos surfaced this week showing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in racist makeup on three occasions in the 1990s and 2000s.
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| ‘House Hunters’ host Suzanne Whang dies at 56 after long battle with cancer Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:03 AM PDT  Suzanne Whang, who hosted HGTV's "House Hunters" for nearly a decade, died on Thursday after a long battle with breast cancer.
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| Police Officers Federation accuses Minneapolis lawmakers of having anti-cop agenda amid officer shortage Posted: 19 Sep 2019 05:32 AM PDT  Lt. Bob Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, says the 'ultra-left' city council does not want to increase the police department amid escalating violence.
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| India police arrest former minister after rape claim Posted: 20 Sep 2019 04:31 AM PDT  Indian police Friday arrested a former minister from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party after he was accused of sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman. Swami Chinmayanand, 73, a former internal affairs minister, is the second senior member of the right wing Bharatiya Janata Party to face sex charges in recent months. Chinmayanand runs several educational and welfare institutions in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh and the victim was a student at one of his colleges, according to media reports.
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| Just How Good Is the Impossible Burger for You or the Planet? Posted: 19 Sep 2019 01:49 AM PDT  Drew Angerer/GettyThis story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 220 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story.This month I stepped inside a Burger King for the first time in three years. I wanted to try out the new, plant-based "Impossible Whopper," and learn from an expert—a vegan, no less—about its supposed potential to save the planet, your health, and the lives of lots of cows. Short answers: truth, fiction, and truth."The first time I had a hamburger it was from Burger King," said Sarah Chandler, a longtime friend, activist, and food educator, as we devoured our Whoppers in downtown Brooklyn. "And it was, for sure, my favorite hamburger."But that was a long time ago. These days, Chandler, who recently completed a stint working at Farm Forward (tagline: "Until no animals suffer on factory farms"), is a passionate activist for reducing meat consumption and eating healthier."I pre-gamed by getting a $4 container of broccoli rabe in Koreatown this morning," she warned me.Here are three things I learned.First, the Impossible Whopper is delicious. "This tastes so good, I think there's been a mistake," I told Sarah as we dug in.Based on a Frankenstein-like fusion of soy protein and yeast (the Beyond Burger is based on pea protein), the Impossible Whopper was indistinguishable from a regular hamburger. Beyond and Impossible use clever tricks to make the burgers "bleed" like regular meat. Probably the thin patty helped, plus all the trimmings and condiments being exactly the same as regular Burger King. I was fooled. Second, in terms of global warming, the plant-substitute meats really could make a difference. Almost 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from animal agriculture, and large-scale cattle production is among the most intensive. It's a triple hit, often involving deforestation in developing countries (such as Brazil) and pesticide use, intensive water use, and transportation in industrialized ones. It's been estimated that a pound of beef produces the amount of carbon dioxide equal to 31 miles of driving a car.And then there are the farts. Cows' digestive systems excrete methane (mostly through belching, actually), and methane is 23 times as potent as carbon dioxide when it comes to global warming. While most methane pollution actually comes from oil and gas, cattle farming is still a major contributor: a single cow releases 30-50 gallons of methane every day. The key point is that the Impossible Burger, and its chief competitor, Beyond Meat, are meant for everybody, not just environmentalists who want to save the world. That's a crucial distinction. Even if every virtuous environmentalist stopped eating meat, that wouldn't make a dent in global warming. There just aren't enough do-gooders out there. (It's been estimated that 16 percent of U.S. consumers avoid animal products for environmental reasons.)Fast food, though, is a powerful aggregator.On any given day, more than one in three Americans eats fast food. That's 84.8 million adults. Even if only half of them are eating burgers, that's nearly 10 million pounds of beef every single day. What's more, most of that is industrially farmed. While small-scale cattle farming can actually be carbon negative (cows eat grass that sucks carbon dioxide out of the air), large-scale farming is fossil-fuel intensive, both in farming methods and transportation.In sum, Beyond's own study found that a Beyond Burger generates 90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions than a regular one, and Impossible's found an 89 percent reduction. Independent assessments are more conservative, but still estimate that a plant-based burger has about half the carbon footprint of a regular burger. And with the market for meat substitutes expected to hit $2.5 billion by 2023, according to Euromonitor estimates, that's a lot of cows, and cow emissions, saved.So, will it work?That's the third thing I learned, and the news isn't great.While the Impossible Whopper passed our taste test with flying colors, it fails on cost and health.First, it's expensive. A regular Whopper costs $4.19. An Impossible Whopper theoretically costs $5.59, but at the franchise we visited, it was $6.50. There's no data on how many customers that deters, but I can't imagine many will be motivated to pay 50 percent more for their lunch.Of course, regular Big Macs and Whoppers are so cheap in large part because of government corn subsidies. (Cows normally eat grasses, but in the topsy-turvy world of American farm policy, corn ends up being cheaper). Every fast-food burger you eat is basically welfare. But until that changes, it's hard to see a pricier Whopper competing seriously.Meanwhile, the health benefits of plant-based burgers are, at best, unclear.There's no question that Impossible products are heavily processed, beginning with genetically modified soybeans and continuing with an intensive process that likely removes a lot of the nutrients along the way. Do those costs outweigh the health benefits of reducing one's meat intake?It may depend on quantity. "What is healthy and not healthy is really complicated," Chandler said. "Eating lots of fried things and processed things all the time is not healthy, but eating them sparingly, as a treat, is fine."Chandler said that the comparison between a regular Whopper and an Impossible one may simply be a wash. "If I were sitting with someone, and they asked 'how do I make one change in my life to eat healthier?' The thing that I would want for them is for them to get into better habits about meal planning and making food from scratch."But how many people will do that? Probably not many. The whole point of the Impossible Whopper is to get large numbers of people to make a meaningful impact on climate change without working too hard.If health won't motivate people, what about global warming?Chandler was skeptical. "What I know from my experience as a food educator," she said, "is that health motivates people significantly more than climate change. It's very difficult to imagine that you're both the perpetrator of and solution to a big problem. It's too distant and people get overwhelmed and decide not to deal with it."Meanwhile, those who are already committed to fighting climate change are unlikely to pop into a Burger King anytime soon. Already there's been a backlash against corporate giants using plant-based offerings as a kind of "greenwashing." "I've heard a lot of people say they don't want to give money to Burger King because they're part of the problem," Chandler told me.So, yes, plant-based meats could play a significant role in fighting global warming if enough people make the switch. But it's not pure enough for ultra-environmentalists, not healthy enough for the health-conscious, and not cheap enough for the price-sensitive.All that being said, Sarah remained upbeat."If someone eats fast food four days a week and now they're going to have this, even just once a month, and they like it," she said, "that's a lot of land, that's a lot of cows, that's a lot of people, and I'm very happy about it."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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| Trump brings back 9th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:07 PM PDT ![Trump brings back 9th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee]( "Trump brings back 9th Circuit Court of Appeals nominee") A former adviser to then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions was nominated for a second time Friday to a position on the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, an effort that has been criticized by California's two senators. The White House announced that President Donald Trump would nominate Patrick J. Bumatay, an assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of California, to the busy appeals court headquartered in San Francisco.
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| UPDATE 1-Drowning of U.S.-bound Honduran mother and son underscores plight of migrants Posted: 19 Sep 2019 08:49 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Drowning of U.S.-bound Honduran mother and son underscores plight of migrants]( "UPDATE 1-Drowning of U.S.-bound Honduran mother and son underscores plight of migrants") TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras/MATAMOROS, Mexico Sept 19 (Reuters) - W hen Delia Hernandez, 44, bade farewell on Aug. 1 to Idalia Herrera, 27, and nearly two-year-old Iker Cordova, she dreamed her daughter and grandson were fleeing the arid fields of southern Honduras for a bright new life in the United States, she said. Instead, Herrera and Cordova drowned in recent days in the Rio Grande just shy of Brownsville, Texas, weeks into an anguished wait in the Mexican border city of Matamoros for an asylum hearing with U.S. authorities, migrants there and Herrera's grandmother said.
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