| Trump lashes out at Fox News over impeachment poll numbers: 'Whoever their Pollster is, they suck' Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:23 AM PDT  President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to vent his frustration over a new Fox News poll that found a majority of Americans want to see him impeached and removed from office.
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| PHOTOS: California wildfires threaten homes in Los Angeles Posted: 11 Oct 2019 06:28 AM PDT  The Saddleridge fire flares up near a firefighter in Sylmar, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. (Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP) A wildfire fueled by Santa Ana winds has closed two freeways, is threatening homes and has forced evacuations around Los Angeles. Fire officials say the Saddleridge fire had consumed more than 4,600 acres by Friday morning. It broke out after 9 p.m.
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| 'Trey is a joke among us': Gowdy is a divisive addition to Trump's legal team Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:08 AM PDT  The president's decision to bulk up his legal team with former Rep. Trey Gowdy amid a widening impeachment inquiry is drawing criticism from one of his high-profile supporters.
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| Egypt discovers archaeological industrial zone in Luxor's 'Valley of the Monkeys' Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:39 AM PDT  Egypt on Thursday unveiled two archaeological discoveries in Luxor including an industrial zone at the southern city's West Valley, also known as the Valley of the Monkeys. Egyptian archaeologists have discovered 30 workshops in the industrial area, the Ministry of Antiquities said in a statement. The area is "composed of houses for storage and the cleaning of the funerary furniture with many potteries dated to Dynasty 18," the excavation team's leader, Zahi Hawass, said in the statement.
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| California governor slams PG&E, saying 'greed,' 'mismangement' led to widespread power cuts Posted: 10 Oct 2019 07:09 PM PDT  California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized PG&E; for greed, mismanagement amid power cuts
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| Sasse Condemns Beto O’Rourke’s ‘Bigoted’ Call to Strip Churches of Tax Exempt Status Posted: 11 Oct 2019 08:57 AM PDT  Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) released a statement Friday condemning Beto O'Rourke for "extreme intolerance" after O'Rourke advocated revoking tax-exempt status from churches that refuse to perform same-sex marriages."This bigoted nonsense would target a lot of sincere Christians, Jews, and Muslims," wrote Sasse. "Leaders from both parties have a duty to flatly condemn this attack on very basic American freedoms.""This extreme intolerance is un-American," Sasse went on. "The whole point of the First Amendment is that…everyone is created with dignity and we don't use government power to decide which religious beliefs are legitimate and which aren't."O'Rourke touted his LGBT rights platform at a CNN town hall event on Thursday, telling the crowd he supported removing tax-exempt status from churches, religious schools, and charities if they are against same-sex marriages."There can be no reward, no benefit, no tax break for anyone … that denies the full human rights and the full civil rights of every single one of us," O'Rourke told the audience.O'Rourke previously drew condemnation from conservatives after pledging at the third Democratic primary debate to confiscate semi-automatic rifles from their legal owners. O'Rourke is currently polling nationally at just below two percent of the Democratic vote.Meanwhile on Thursday, Senator Elizabeth Warren released her own LGBT rights platform in which she promises to provide government funding for gender transition surgeries for inmates. In addition, she pledged to incarcerate transgender inmates with prisoners of the opposite biological sex, meaning that a transgender man would be placed in a women's prison.
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| Evidence from ex-Dallas cop's murder trial fuels mistrust Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:20 PM PDT  Evidence from the trial of a former Dallas police officer convicted of killing her neighbor has fueled new questions about whether accused officers are treated differently than other suspects, including testimony that a camera in the cruiser where the officer sat after the shooting was flipped off and that her sexual text messages with her partner were deleted. It also has led Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall to announce the internal affairs department would look into the deleted texts and deactivated camera. The Dallas County District Attorney's Office declined to comment Wednesday on whether it is also investigating.
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| Kamala’s Fake Lover: Jacob Wohl Told Me It Was for a Spike TV Show Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:27 PM PDT  Inept conservative operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman held another bizarre press conference in Burkman's driveway on Wednesday, this time to smear Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) with obviously fake allegations of an extramarital affair. And like past efforts to manufacture sexual claims against Trump foes—from Robert Mueller, to Pete Buttigieg, to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—the Harris charade fell apart quickly. The pair's bogus accuser—26-year-old Sean Newaldass—told The Daily Beast on Friday that he had no idea the event in which he alleged that he was in a romantic dalliance with the Senate was real. That's because Newaldass had met Wohl and Burkman by replying to an ad posted on Craigslist seeking a "male actor" for "performance art." When he showed up at Burkman's Virginia home and delivered his lines alleging an affair, Newaldass was under the belief that the press conference was actually an audition for a Spike TV show. He said he had no idea that Harris was a politician. Indeed, he assumed she was a fictional person. "I thought I was acting for a role in a movie, like a role in a TV series," Newaldass said. "I thought everything was staged, I'm thinking everyone is an actor." Jacob Wohl Faked Death Threats Against HimselfNewaldass insists that he believed that everyone at the event, from Wohl and Burkman, to the reporters asking questions, and a heckler dressed as a corncob, were all actors. Wohl promised Newaldass $500 to appear at the event—money that Newaldass said he still has yet to receive."I'm thinking this is going to be like The Office," Newaldass said. "The Office has super dry humor."Newaldass's allegations are shocking even by Wohl and Burkman's standards. The duo are known for hamfisted attempts to manufacture smears against political figures and for roping unwitting participants into their schemes. But they have never concocted a fake TV show in order to execute their plans before. As Newaldass realized Wednesday afternoon that the event was real, and that he was being treated as an outright liar on social media, he said he became afraid to leave his home."To me, it was the most hurt I've ever received from anything in the world," Newaldass said.Asked over Instagram direct message whether he had tricked Newaldass, Wohl responded with only a laughing-crying emoji. Burkman, a lawyer and lobbyist whose membership in the D.C. Bar was recently suspended over unpaid dues, didn't respond to a request for comment. Jacob Wohl's Bogus Warren Accuser Exaggerated His Military Service RecordThis isn't the first time one of Wohl and Burkman's fake accusers has turned on them. Their Mueller accuser, Carolyne Cass, failed to show up at a much-hyped press conference and later said Wohl and Burkman had made up the claims. College student Hunter Kelly, whose name Burkman and Wohl used to accuse Buttigieg of sexual assault, turned on the pair even faster than Cass, sending out mocking tweets about their press conference announcing his claims as it happened. Their missteps don't end there. Wohl is set to be arraigned on a felony charge for unlawful sale of securities later this month in California.Newaldass said he first entered Wohl's orbit by replying to the Craigslist ad, which makes no mention of politics, Burkman and Wohl, or Harris. Shortly after responding, according to Newaldass, he was contacted by Burkman and Wohl. The phone number that Newaldass said Wohl used to contact him is the same as a number Wohl has used in the past to text and make phones call to a reporter at The Daily Beast. On Tuesday night, Wohl and Burkman got Newaldass an Uber to Burkman's home in Rosslyn, Virginia. Newaldass said he was told the house belonged to Spike TV, a network that no longer exists after parent company Viacom changed the channel's name to the Paramount Network in 2018. "I was told, 'This is the audition for a TV show that's going to be on Spike,'" Newaldass said. "And I can be a personal trainer on the show, right?" Newaldass said Burkman and Wohl showed him the statement he would read on Wednesday , but described it as a "script." Newaldass found the claims in the statement bizarre, but considered that he had seen similarly strange things in other movies and TV shows."It's hard for me to hold my laughs back because I'm like, 'This is funny,'" Newaldass said. "What kind of comedy is this?" Burkman and Wohl later emailed him the "script," according to Newaldass, but not without their signature ineptness. Newaldass initially received a statement from the pair making a series of different sexual allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden—apparently because Wohl or Burkman mixed up their smears and attached the wrong file to the email. After he asked Wohl for clarification, they sent the Harris statement instead. Newaldass began to practice what he thought would be his lines.Newaldass arrived at Burkman's house around noon Wednesday, a few hours before the press conference. He said two other people—a singer and a purported minister who would perform a blessing at the press conference—were just as nervous as he was, preparing their lines as though they were getting ready for a performance. It wasn't clear to Newaldass whether the other two people were also actors or similarly oblivious to what was actually happening, but the "minister" later told The Daily Dot that he was not actually a reverend and appeared "confused" about the event.As hecklers and a handful of reporters gathered on Burkman's sidewalk, inside, Burkman and Wohl encouraged Newaldass by talking up his future Hollywood career. Newaldass said Wohl claimed to be a "director," and both men encouraged him to sign the statement making allegations against Harris—a signature they would later use as proof that he really believed the claims."They're encouraging me like, 'Man, you're going to be a star, you're a lead actor,'" Wohl said. Newaldass's press conference devolved into farce almost as soon as it began, with a mystery man delivering an apparently fake cease-and-desist notice that Burkman claimed was from Harris' campaign and Wohl threatening to spray hecklers with a garden hose. Newaldass read the statement to the crowd, convinced, he said, that Harris was a fictional character. "I'm completely oblivious to who this person is," Newaldass told The Daily Beast.While Newaldass was able to read from his statement, he became confused when asked to answer questions from the crowd, since he thought he needed to read lines. In an interview later with a Daily Dot reporter, Burkman and Wohl repeatedly cut in whenever the reporter asked Newaldass a question.Newaldass said he left the event with promises from Burkman and Wohl for future opportunities in Hollywood, and even the prospect of an entire TV series and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Newaldass began to think about how a role on a hit TV show would enable him to provide for his family financially."So that's what really sucked me in, thinking, 'Man, I can take care of everybody,'" Newaldass said.When he got home afterwards, though, Newaldass said he slowly began to realize he had been tricked. His Instagram page filled up with accusations that he was a liar. Newaldass began to doubt Wohl and Burkman's claim that they were just filming a show for Spike TV, and he became afraid to go outside."I was scared out of my mind," Newaldass said.Newaldass felt that he had embarrassed his family, and worried about what his family and friends would think of him. "The people that actually pay attention to this stuff are really judging me," Newaldass said. Newaldass insists that he had never heard of Harris before the press conference. And on that front, he isn't alone—12 percent of respondents in a Morning Consult poll this month said they had never heard of the senator. After researching Harris, Newaldass said he's now likely to vote for her presidential bid. Newaldass said the ruse especially stings because, like Harris, Newaldass is of mixed Indian and Caribbean ancestry. "That's what's hurtful, because I'm hurting my own ethnicity," Newaldass said. 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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| ‘I’m standing here in the middle of climate change’: How USDA fails farmers. Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:57 PM PDT !['I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA fails farmers.]( "'I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA fails farmers.") Rick Oswald is standing on the doorstep of the white farmhouse he grew up in, but almost nothing is as it should be. "This house is 80 years old," Oswald says, stepping inside the darkened living room, which now smells faintly of mold. American farmers are reeling after extreme rains followed by a "bomb cyclone"—an explosive storm that brought high winds and severe blizzard conditions—ravaged the heartland, turning once productive fields into lakes, killing livestock and destroying grain stores.
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| More hazing complaints hit Ohio University, leading to the suspension of the marching band, 3 sororities, a professional fraternity, and all social fraternities Posted: 11 Oct 2019 02:21 PM PDT  After suspending all its social fraternities for hazing allegations, Ohio University received complaints against sororities and the marching band.
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| Trump is calling Mitch McConnell up to 3 times a day and raging about GOP senators he views as disloyal: CNN Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:23 AM PDT  President Trump calls Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell up to three times per day in a frenzy over the congressional impeachment inquiry, CNN reported, citing a person familiar with the conversations.
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| Trump's stonewalling could speed up impeachment Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:36 PM PDT  Democrats believe they have enough evidence to impeach Trump, in the form of a whistleblower complaint and a partial transcript of a phone call between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump asked Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and his son.
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| Trump EPA proposes overhaul of lead in drinking water rule, critics call plan weak Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:17 PM PDT  The Trump administration on Thursday proposed retooling a 1991 rule on lead and cooper contamination in drinking water, but critics said the change slows by 20 years the timeline for removing aging lead service lines that could expose children to a toxin known to harm developing brains. Under the rule, community water systems would be required among other things to identify the most impacted areas to find and fix sources of lead when a sample in a home exceeds 15 parts per billion. The EPA said water systems would also have to follow new, improved sampling procedures and adjust sampling sites to better target locations with higher lead levels.
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| View Photos of 2021 Toyota Mirai Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT |
| Migrant Alleged to Have Raped Woman Immediately after Sheriff’s Office Ignored ICE Detainer and Released Him Is Arrested Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:22 PM PDT  An undocumented Salvadoran immigrant accused of raping a woman immediately after he was released from custody by the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office, which failed to honor an Immigration and Customs Enforcement order to detain him, was arrested by ICE agents on Wednesday, the agency has announced.Antonio Ulises Perez, 38, was released from the Oklahoma County Jail on Wednesday and went "almost immediately" to the house of the woman he is accused of raping. ICE arrested Ulises Perez later on Wednesday, the agency said in a statement.ICE filed a detainer request with the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, before Ulises Perez was released, asking that he be transferred to immigration authorities, but the Sheriff's Office refused to honor it "in direct contravention of federal immigration law," ICE said in a statement."Unfortunately, this is not an isolated event," the statement said. "A few months ago, Oklahoma County decided to no longer honor ICE detainers and began releasing criminal aliens back into the local community at the expense of law-abiding citizens.""It is unconscionable that someone who is sworn to uphold the law would find it acceptable to release an alleged rapist who is illegally present in the U.S. back into the community when there are other options available under federal immigration law," read a statement from Marc Moore, the field-office director for ICE Dallas. "Within a few hours of being released, this illegal alien was back at the home of the rape victim where he was free to re-victimize her and harm other members of the community.""Fortunately, ICE deportation officers were able to quickly locate this individual and safely take him back into custody," Moore said.
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| New fresco with gladiators discovered in Pompeii Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:36 AM PDT  Archeologists excavating what may have been an ancient Roman drinking den in the ruined city of Pompeii said Friday they have unearthed a well-preserved wall painting of gladiators in action, complete with realistically gory wounds. The 3ft by 4.5ft fresco is located in the Regio V site, in the northern section of Pompeii's archaeological park, in an area not currently accessible to visitors. "Very probably the fresco decorated a place used by gladiators, perhaps a watering hole .
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| German suspect admits anti-Semitic attack, far-right motive Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT  The German suspect in a deadly attack targeting a synagogue has admitted to the shooting rampage, confessing it was motivated by anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, federal prosecutors said Friday amid government warnings of an "elevated" risk of further attacks. Stephan Balliet, 27, made a "very comprehensive" confession during an interrogation lasting several hours, said a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe. Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned meanwhile in a ZDF television interview that there was now an "elevated" threat of another anti-Semitic or terrorist attack saying around half of 24,000 suspected far-right extremists had an "affinity" with firearms and could engage in violence.
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| Greta Thunberg's fans are upset she didn't win the Nobel Prize, but a peace expert says she should have never been a contender Posted: 11 Oct 2019 06:44 AM PDT  Greta Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize after leading strikes that push leaders to address climate change. Here's why she didn't win.
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| Southwest Airlines flight diverted after intoxicated passenger assaults other travelers, police say Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:40 AM PDT  The Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas was headed to Los Angeles International Airport when it had to make an unplanned stop in Tucson, Arizona.
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| Lindsey Graham dishes on Trump in hoax calls with Russian pranksters Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:37 PM PDT  Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has in the last year become something of a congressional point man for President Trump's negotiations with Turkey, leading discussions on everything from Ankara's purchase of a Russian missile system over the summer to its more recent incursion into northern Syria.
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| WWII Lesson for Trump: Turkey Was in Bed With the Nazis Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:42 PM PDT  The Nazis melted gold dental fillings from concentration camp victims and found the best price for it was in neutral Turkey.At the same time, Turkey kept selling Germany the chromium ore it needed to build weapons and continue the war. But in harkening back to World War II in an effort to justify giving Turkey a green light to crush the Kurds, President Donald Trump ignored such damning truths. He instead said of the Kurds, "They didn't help us with Normandy."Never mind that present day Kurds have suffered thousands of casualties as our most effective allies against ISIS.Trump's Crazy Syria Move Will Wipe Out America's Allies and Set Up a Big ISIS ComebackNever mind that the Kurds of 1944 were scattered across a half dozen countries in the Middle East and were in no position to help even themselves.And never mind that Turkey started out World War II pledged to support the Allies only to suddenly switch when it looked like the Nazis would win."Turkey began World War II bound to Britain and France by the military alliance of October 1939, moved to non-belligerency in June 1940 after the fall of France, and adopted a policy of 'active neutrality' in the spring of 1941 after German occupation of the Balkans and the conclusion of a German-Turkish Treaty of Friendship in June 1941," notes a 1998 report on Holocaust restitution by the House Committee on Banking and Financial Services. The report cites a November 1943 assessment by German Munitions Minister Albert Speer "that much of Germany's manufacture of armaments would come to a halt within 10 months if Turkey's chromite exports to Germany were ended."In the meantime, the Germans sold ingots of absolute evil in Turkey."Two German banks with branches in Turkey, the Deutsche Bank and the Dresdner Bank, took advantage of the high prices on the Turkish free gold market to sell looted gold provided by the Reichsbank in return for foreign currency, particularly Swiss francs," the report says. "Some of the gold provided by the Reichsbank came from the infamous 'Melmer account' in which the SS deposited the gold jewelry, coins, bars, and dental fillings robbed from its victims at the killing centers and concentration camps." The Reichsbank was the central financial institution of Germany. Deutsche Bank would go on to become the lone financial institution in the 1990's willing to risk making huge loans to Donald Trump. Even as he condemns the Kurds for failing to do what they could not possibly have done at Normandy without a nation-state of their own, Trump says nothing about Deutsche Bank's Nazi past or about Turkey's continued sales of chromium ore to Germany until April 1944. Turkey finally returned to our side in August 1944—two months after Normandy—when it appeared that the Nazis were going to lose after all.U.S. forces that fought their way from Normandy into Germany recovered ledgers showing that Deutsche Bank had sold at least 998 kilograms of what the congressional report terms "gold looted from individual victims of Nazi persecution."The report adds, "Other German gold acquired by Turkey during and after the War included coins and ingots from the account of German Foreign Minister Joachim Ribbentrop at the Reichsbank, which had been stocked with gold looted from occupied Europe."At war's end, Turkey had done exactly nothing to assist the Allies besides no longer selling chromium to the Nazis. Turkey nonetheless argued that since it had been at war with Germany, it should not be expected to turn over whatever Nazi wealth it retained."Turkey, an 11th hour ally, returned no looted gold… and turned over no money," the report notes.Turkey also kept the money it made selling the Nazis chromium ore that kept the war going. The report says Turkey only stopped after President Franklin Roosevelt threatened Turkey with "economic war."Our current president made a similar threat this week, when he tweeted, "As I have stated strongly before, and just to reiterate, if Turkey does anything that I, in my great and unmatched wisdom, consider to be off limits, I will totally destroy and obliterate the Economy of Turkey."The major difference is that this threat seems to be having no effect.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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| Rubio, Cruz ask Trump to keep Citgo in Venezuela opposition's hands Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:18 PM PDT  U.S. lawmakers including Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz wrote a letter to President Donald Trump this week requesting that he take executive action to prevent holders of Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA's bonds from seizing U.S. refiner Citgo. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido earlier this year assumed control of Citgo - a PDVSA subsidiary whose three refineries process 750,000 barrels per day (bpd) of crude - after Washington recognized him as the OPEC nation's leader, arguing socialist President Nicolas Maduro's 2018 re-election was a fraud.
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| Gabbard Threatens to Boycott Debate, Alleges DNC ‘Rigging Election Again’ Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:22 AM PDT  Democratic Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii) announced Thursday that she is "seriously considering" a boycott of the upcoming Democratic debate on Oct. 15, alleging that "the DNC and corporate media are trying to hijack the entire election process.""They are attempting to replace the roles of voters in the early states, using polling and other arbitrary methods which are not transparent or democratic, and holding so-called debates which are not debates at all but rather commercialized reality television meant to entertain, not inform or enlighten," Gabbard said in the statement.Gabbard's campaign, which is currently polling at just over half a percentage point, has focused in recent weeks on grassroot efforts in early primary voting states."There are so many of you who I've met in Iowa and New Hampshire who have expressed to me how frustrated you are that the DNC and corporate media are essentially trying to usurp your role as voters in choosing who our Democratic nominee will be," Gabbard says in the announcement, before stating that she will announce her final decision in the coming days.Gabbard qualified for the upcoming debate but missed out on the last one this past month, after reaching the donor threshold but falling two DNC-approved polls short of clearing the public support threshold. Gabbard's campaign slammed the committee's decision-making, arguing that the standards were arbitrary and lacked transparency."It creates a lack of faith and trust in the process," Gabbard told Fox News' Tucker Carlson in August. "… Really what [the voters] see is a small group of really powerful political elites, the establishment making decisions that serve their interests and maintaining that power while the rest of us are left outside. The American people are left behind."Gabbard was the most-searched candidate after the first and second Democratic debates earlier this year.
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| Board strips Little Rock teachers' union bargaining power Posted: 10 Oct 2019 05:43 PM PDT ![Board strips Little Rock teachers' union bargaining power]( "Board strips Little Rock teachers' union bargaining power") The Arkansas Board of Education on Thursday stripped the collective bargaining power of the Little Rock teachers' union, sparking fears of a strike even as the panel backed off a plan that critics said would be a return to a racially divided system 62 years after the integration of Central High School. A packed auditorium chanted "shame" at the board as it adjourned after abruptly passing a proposal to no longer recognize the Little Rock Education Association as the district's bargaining agent when the union's contract expires Oct. 31. The move came shortly after the panel voted to return local control of Little Rock's schools to a board that will be elected in November 2020.
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| 500 Years Later, MIT Proves That Da Vinci's Bridge Design Works Posted: 10 Oct 2019 09:59 AM PDT  If accepted at the time, the design would have likely revolutionized architecture.
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| The obscure law that explains why Google backs climate deniers Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Company wants to curry favour with conservatives to protect its 'section 230' legal immunity * Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniersEric Schmidt being interviewing on Bloomberg in 2014. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty ImagesWhen Eric Schmidt was asked on a radio show in 2014 why Google was supporting an ultra-conservative climate-denying pressure group in Washington, the then chairman of the internet giant offered an unequivocal response: it was wrong and Google was not going to do it again."The consensus within the company was that that was some sort of mistake and so we're trying to not do that in the future," Schmidt told NPR. People who opposed or questioned climate science were making the world "a much worse place", he added, and Google "should not be aligned with such people".But five years later, Google still funds more than a dozen organisations that deny the climate crisis and oppose political action to try to solve it. Among them is the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the group that launched the notorious Cooler Heads Coalition two decades ago, a group of conservative and libertarian pressure groups dedicated to dispelling the "myths" of global heating.The Guardian has collaborated with leading scientists and NGOs to expose, with exclusive data, investigations and analysis, the fossil fuel companies that are perpetuating the climate crisis – some of which have accelerated their extraction of coal, oil and gas even as the devastating impact on the planet and humanity was becoming clear. The investigation has involved more than 20 Guardian journalists working across the world for the past six months.The project focuses on what the companies have extracted from the ground, and the subsequent emissions they are responsible for, since 1965. The analysis, undertaken by Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute, calculates how much carbon is emitted throughout the supply chain, from extraction to use by consumers. Heede said: "The fact that consumers combust the fuels to carbon dioxide, water, heat and pollutants does not absolve the fossil fuel companies from responsibility for knowingly perpetuating the carbon era and accelerating the climate crisis toward the existential threat it has now become."One aim of the project is to move the focus of debate from individual responsibilities to power structures – so our reporters also examined the financial and lobbying structures that let fossil fuel firms keep growing, and discovered which elected politicians were voting for change. Another aim of the project is to press governments and corporations to close the gap between ambitious long-term promises and lacklustre short-term action. The UN says the coming decade is crucial if the world is to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of global heating. Reining in our dependence on fossil fuels and dramatically accelerating the transition to renewable energy has never been more urgent.For Google, providing financial backing to groups such as CEI and the Cato Institute – staunch free marketeers – has nothing to do with climate science, and everything to do with its effort to curry favour with conservatives on its most pressing issue in Washington: protecting an obscure section of the US law that is worth billions of dollars to the company.The law – known as section 230 of the Communications Decency Act – was established in the 1990s, at a time when the internet was in its infancy, and helped to give rise to internet giants, from Google to Facebook, by offering legal immunity to the companies for third party comments, in effect treating them as distributors of content and not publishers.Section 230, in effect, allowed Google and Facebook to be shielded from the kinds of libel laws that can ensnare other companies, such as newspapers.The law has important advocates across the political spectrum, from Democrats who hail it as a triumph of free speech, to Republicans who say it has promoted free enterprise and innovation.But now some lawmakers, including Republicans, think it might be time to revise section 230. The senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, has said Google's alleged bias in favour of Democrats means it is not a neutral platform and should not be protected from liability.Google's decision to give to groups such as CEI reflects an attempt to win friends in Republican and conservative circles, and support those lawmakers on the right who are champions of section 230."I think the future of conservatism is up for grabs in the Trump era," said one person who is familiar with the company's thinking on political giving. "We are in a moment where Google has been injected in a lot of culture wars … and there is a lot of hostility in conservative circles."There is little doubt that Google has a loyal friend in CEI. In a recent letter to members of Congress, CEI and other conservative groups called for the protection of section 230, saying it had created "new venues for conservative speech", and that lawmakers who wanted to upend it were "well-meaning but mistaken".CEI has also defended Google in other realms. In a recent op-ed published in the Atlantic, a CEI senior fellow named Mario Loyola argued that the launch of a recent antitrust investigation into Google by 48 state attorneys general, led by the Texas attorney general Ken Paxton – a strong supporter of Ted Cruz – would not do anything to help the public.A CEI spokesperson, who declined to comment on questions about Google, told the Guardian: "CEI is a nonprofit organisation that advocates free-market solutions to public policy issues. CEI's research programmes and positions are developed independently by policy experts and reflect a longstanding, steadfast dedication to principles of economic liberty and limited government."When Google was asked about its support for CEI and groups like it, a company spokesperson said: "We sponsor organisations from across the political spectrum that advocate for strong technology policies. We've been extremely clear that Google's sponsorship doesn't mean that we endorse that organisation's entire agenda – we may disagree strongly on some issues."Google employees have privately spoken out about the company's support for some conservative groups. In a discussion with employees in March 2018 – a recording of which was heard by the Guardian – Adam Kovacevich, who at the time served as head of public policy at Google (he has since left the company), defended the company's alignment with some conservatives.He said he had been directed to forge the relationships after the 2016 election of Donald Trump. It reflected a view that the company was seen as too close to Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democrats.The discussion took place after a controversy over Google's sponsorship of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual meeting of conservatives, where Google hosted a party.To the consternation of many employees, its logo appeared on banners next to the NRA's. In his opening remarks on the call, Kovacevich said it was important to build relationships not only with people in power "but also the people who influence them"."It can be hard sometimes to reconcile our business interests with our stated values, and finding that balance is something our team has to navigate really on a daily basis, and it has gotten more and more complicated," Kovacevich can be heard saying in the recording.While Google staff seemed to accept Google needed to forge ties across the political spectrum, the majority of the employees on the call expressed concern that the company was too far out of step with its values. The Wall Street Journal and Wired have previously reported on the meeting.This year, Google did not sponsor CPAC. But big technology companies were frequently named – and lambasted – by conservative participants in their speeches. In one case, the rightwing provocateur James O'Keefe encouraged tech employees to secretly record colleagues in their offices in order to expose their alleged biases."We will equip you with a camera," O'Keefe said. "If they're lying, cheating, scamming, we're going to find them, make them famous internet celebrities, expose them for all the world to see."
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| Felony charge for girl, 13, who pointed finger-guns at other students, officials say Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:10 PM PDT  There were previous encounters involving the student that resulted in classmates being "fearful" of her, according to police.
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| Swath of Atlantic still at risk for tropical development into next week Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:19 AM PDT  While the window for tropical systems to brew will soon be closing for some zones in the Atlantic, the risk of tropical development is shifting southward into next week."Two areas we have been monitoring for tropical or subtropical development just off the East Coast of the United States to east of Bermuda are running out of time," AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski explained. This image, taken on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, shows much of the tropical Atlantic Basin. There was a non-tropical swirl of clouds well east of Bermuda and a weak, broad area of showers and thunderstorms over the western Caribbean Sea. (NOAA/GOES-East) One such area is a storm located southeast of the New England coast, which has strengthened some Thursday night. Should it continue to gather tropical characteristics into Saturday, it could briefly become a subtropical storm.More long-term, meteorologists are also watching areas in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa over the next week for possible tropical trouble.Tropical disturbances, or tropical waves, continue to move westward off the coast of Africa every three days or so.These waves make up the Cabo Verde season, which is named for the disturbances that originate near the Cabo Verde Islands just off the west coast of Africa.Even though we are past the peak of the Cabo Verde season and the hurricane season in general, these disturbances and other areas can still evolve into tropical depressions, storms and hurricanes over time."A somewhat stronger tropical wave is forecast to move off the Africa coast this weekend and move westward," Kottlowski said. "There is a low chance this becomes an organized system next week," he added.There remains a broad area of weak counterclockwise winds over the western Caribbean and Central America. This feature is called a gyre.Occasionally, as tropical waves move into this gyre, they have a greater chance at becoming a tropical depression or storm, since there is extra moisture in place and there already is a weak circulation to begin with."As a result, the area from the western Caribbean to Central America, including adjacent eastern Pacific waters, could give birth to a tropical system or two through next week," Kottlowski said."However, the chance of tropical storm formation is probably significantly higher on the Pacific side as opposed to the Caribbean side," Kottlowski added. Hurricane season continues until the end of November, and Kottlowski feels there will be another named system or two over the Atlantic Ocean before the season comes to a close. Download the free AccuWeather app to see the exact forecast for your area. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| United States threatens Turkey with 'very significant' sanctions Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:25 PM PDT  U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that President Donald Trump had authorized U.S. officials to draft "very significant" new sanctions to target Turkey after it launched an offensive in northeast Syria, adding that banks were being notified. Mnuchin said the United States was not activating the sanctions at this time but would do so if necessary. "We are putting financial institutions on notice that they should be careful and that there could be sanctions," Mnuchin said.
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| US to send 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia as it withdraws from Syria Posted: 11 Oct 2019 09:54 AM PDT  The United States is to send an additional 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia "to assure and enhance" the country's security in the wake of the Aramco oil attacks, the Pentagon announced on Friday. Mark Esper, the defence secretary, said the US was sending two more Patriot missile batteries, one THAAD ballistic missile interception system, two fighter squadrons and one air expeditionary wing. It came as Iran claimed yesterday that one of its oil tankers had been struck with missiles off the coast of Saudi Arabia in an incident shrouded in mystery. The new deployment means that, since May, the US has sent an additional 14,000 members of the armed forces into the region. "Secretary Esper informed Saudi Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Muhammad bin Salman this morning of the additional troop deployment to assure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia," the Pentagon said. "As we have stated, the United States does not seek conflict with the Iranian regime, but we will retain a robust military capability in the region that is ready to respond to any crisis and will defend US forces and interest in the region." The announcement came just days after Mr Trump declared all US troops would be pulled out of Syria, complaining about "ridiculous endless wars". Mr Trump had campaigned on a promise to get US servicemen out of the Middle East, putting America First, and the decision is unlikely to go down well with his base. Iranian state television said the explosion damaged two storerooms aboard the unnamed oil tanker Credit: twitter Iranian media claimed its vessel was hit on Friday morning about 60 miles from the Saudi port of Jeddah, causing it to leak oil into the Red Sea. The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said the ship was damaged but stable and denied reports it had been set ablaze. Tensions have been high since the Spring after an Iranian tanker suspected of carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions was seized off Gibraltar. In retaliation, Iran's Revolutionary Guard impounded British-flagged tanker Stena Impero. Then last month Saudi's oil fields were hit by a large-scale missile and drone attack it blamed on Tehran, which saw production plummet and oil prices soar. Iran's foreign ministry claimed the vessel, which was first named as Sinopa before it was identified as the Sabiti, had been "targeted twice" but did not provide further details. On Friday morning, an unnamed source told Iran media the vessel was struck by missiles "probably" originating from Saudi Arabia, but Iran's national oil company later denied the claim. Pictures released on Iranian media later showed no discernible damage and no evidence of any fire. TankerTrackers, which monitors oil exports, told the Telegraph there was no independent evidence to suggest the vessel had been hit. Iranian tanker attack "Had she been struck, they wouldn't be sailing back as fast as they are sailing right now. She's moving at 10 knots an hour," they said. "(Iran is) fishing for higher prices, trying to remind the world that geopolitical risk is its way of controlling the oil market." Oil prices surged two per cent on the news. Publicly available ship tracking records show both ships are currently in the Red Sea. The Sinopa turned its transmitter on earlier this week for the first time in more than 50 days. The Sabiti, meanwhile, turned its tracker on early Friday after nearly 60 days of no transmissions. It is common for Iranian tankers to turn off automatic identification systems (AIS) to avoid detection - often to evade international sanctions or harassment from Saudi Arabia. TankerTrackers said this suggested the Sabiti, laden with one million barrels of oil may have been heading for Syria. However, it declared the Gulf as its destination. Thina Margrethe Saltvedt, an analyst at Nordea Markets, said it was not the particulars of the latest incident that were worrying traders but the fear of worse to come. "The risk premium is rising... not because the tanker per se contains enough oil to squeeze the market," she said. "But the risk that this incident will be retaliated or more attacks would come either in Iran, Saudi Arabia or Iraq."
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| Is The U.S. Navy Planning To Put Hypersonic Missiles On Submarines? Posted: 11 Oct 2019 04:11 AM PDT  Russia and China are on notice.
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| Ruling leaves Ohio ban on Down syndrome abortions on hold Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:47 PM PDT ![Ruling leaves Ohio ban on Down syndrome abortions on hold]( "Ruling leaves Ohio ban on Down syndrome abortions on hold") A federal appeals court on Friday upheld a judge's decision to put on hold an Ohio law prohibiting doctors from performing abortions based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome. The 2-1 ruling from a panel the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati said the law signed in 2017 by former Republican Gov. John Kasich is likely unconstitutional but didn't make such a declaration outright. The Ohio Attorney General's Office said the state will seek reconsideration by the full 6th Circuit.
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| Kia Telluride, Subaru Forester Owners Complaining to NHTSA about Windshields Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:04 PM PDT  NHTSA has received dozens of complaints of broken or cracked windshields on the two vehicles, along with beefs that it takes too long to get replacements.
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| Could Chelsea Clinton run for a New York House seat? Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:58 PM PDT  "If you care about what's happening in the world, you have to care about running for and holding elected office," Chelsea Clinton said last year.
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| El Paso mass murder suspect pleads not guilty, accused of targeting Mexicans Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:17 AM PDT  The Texas man accused of deliberately targeting Mexicans in a shooting spree that killed 22 people at an El Paso Walmart store pleaded not guilty on Thursday in his first court appearance. Patrick Crusius, 21, was indicted last month for capital murder and will face the death penalty if he is convicted, the El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza said. Crusius strolled into the courtroom trailing his two lawyers.
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| The Royal Caribbean has named the world's next biggest ocean liner, set for China Posted: 10 Oct 2019 12:31 PM PDT  Make that five: Royal Caribbean's Oasis class, which is synonymous with some of the biggest cruise ships in the world, will officially welcome in 2021 its newest creation, the name of which was unveiled on October 10, during a keel-laying ceremony held at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, France. Come 2021, the Royal Caribbean cruise line will be the proud owner of a new ocean liner, dedicated to the Chinese market. It will also be the first of the Oasis class to cruise the waters of the Asia-Pacific.
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| Three dead in China bridge collapse Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:12 PM PDT  Three people were killed and two injured in eastern China when a highway overpass collapsed and crushed cars below it, local officials said Friday. Videos posted online showed a large section of the bridge in Jiangsu province swaying before falling on top of moving vehicles on Thursday night. Other images showed crushed cars, with only their front sections or headlights visible under a huge block of grey concrete.
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| A week inside the Fox News bubble: From daytime sanity to prime-time Hannity Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:09 PM PDT  One of the most startling things about Fox News is just how quickly it managed to embed itself in American culture.Despite being younger than, say, Logan Paul, it has an outsized level of clout which has only increased with the election of Donald Trump.
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| Number of black students at Cambridge University rises by 50 per cent as 'Stormzy effect' is cited Posted: 10 Oct 2019 04:01 PM PDT  The number of black students at Cambridge has risen by 50 per cent in a year, with a university chief citing the "Stormzy effect". This year 91 black students have been admitted to Cambridge, up from 61 last year. There are currently over 200 black undergraduates studying at the university, which is the highest in the institution's 800 year history. Over a quarter (26.8 per cent) of all undergraduates at Cambridge are now from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds. Professor Graham Virgo, Cambridge's senior pro-vice-Chancellor for education, said that the rise was partly down to a new scholarship for black students which was launched by the grime artist Stormzy last year. "A number of factors are thought to be behind the increase in black students applying and being admitted," he Prof Virgo said. "One is likely to be the "Stormzy effect". In August 2018, the award-winning British grime artist announced he would fund tuition fees and living costs for two students each year for the duration of their study at Cambridge. "Since then the University has seen an increase in the number of black students engage in its outreach activities and enquire about its courses." In 2018, Stormzy, the rapper, launched a scholarship to Cambridge University which pays for tuition fees and living costs for two young black students. Earlier this year he announced that he will cover the costs of another two students from black, Asian or minority ethnic backgrounds. Cambridge University's Afro-Caribbean Society Prof Virgo said that the record number of black students at Cambridge is "a credit to their hard work and ability", adding that the university has not lowered its entry standards. He explained that the university as well as individual colleges and student societies have run a number of successful information campaigns that have encouraged more black students to apply, including a series of short films presented by a You Tube influencer and Cambridge graduate, Courtney Daniella which aimed to "challenge the misconceptions" surrounding a Cambridge degree. Earlier this year, Prof Virgo said that black students were failing to apply to Cambridge due to a lack of Afro-Caribbean hairdressers in the city. He told an event at King's College, Cambridge that the "unexpected" finding arose during research into what deters black students from considering the institution. Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, urged other universities to look at "new and innovative" ways to encourage underrepresented groups to apply. "I think we should always be looking at every single way to encourage people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds to be going to some of our top universities, going to all of our universities," he said.
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| South Korea Is Working on a Stealth Fighter Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:43 AM PDT  Be skeptical. The world's biggest economies barely can support the development and acquisition of a true radar-evading fighter. South Korea is unlikely to join that exclusive club.
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| The Latest: Pritzker board member resigns amid senator probe Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:29 PM PDT  An appointee of Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has stepped down from the Illinois Tollway board after he was mentioned as part of a federal investigation into a state senator. Cesar Santoy resigned Friday at Pritzker's request after an unredacted search warrant released Friday indicated that authorities sought information involving Santoy and his architectural firm Studio Arq.
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| Report: Pompeo's senior adviser resigns as Ukraine controversy intensifies Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:06 PM PDT ![Report: Pompeo's senior adviser resigns as Ukraine controversy intensifies]( "Report: Pompeo's senior adviser resigns as Ukraine controversy intensifies") Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's senior adviser, Michael McKinley, is stepping down, The Washington Post reports. McKinley is not happy that Pompeo has not publicly supported diplomats who have been mentioned as part of the Ukraine scandal, the Post says. A career diplomat who has served as ambassador to Afghanistan, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru, McKinley was not directly involved in Ukraine policy, but as a top aide, he lets Pompeo know the mood inside the State Department.Like McKinley, many inside the State Department are disheartened by Pompeo not backing up the diplomats, especially Marie Yovanovitch. Now on leave from the State Department and a fellow at Georgetown University, Yovanovitch was U.S. ambassador to Ukraine until May, when she was recalled. She was the target of a right-wing smear campaign, spread by President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and accused of being disloyal to the administration. As part of the impeachment inquiry, she has been summoned to testify before three House committees, and is scheduled to appear on Friday.
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| Former California police officer convicted of sexually assaulting five women while on duty Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:07 PM PDT ![Former California police officer convicted of sexually assaulting five women while on duty]( "Former California police officer convicted of sexually assaulting five women while on duty") A California jury on Wednesday found former police officer Noah White Winchester guilty of sexually assaulting five women while on duty.
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| Photos of the 2019 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Lightning Lap Posted: 11 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT |
| Putin's test missile failed and exploded in deadly nuclear accident Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:54 AM PDT  An Aug. 8 nuclear accident near Nyonoksa, Russia, was caused by a nuclear reaction that occurred while Russians were attempting to recover a nuclear-powered cruise missile submerged in the White Sea after a failed test last year.
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| SDF Commander Claims Alliance With Assad ‘Could Happen’ If Kurds ‘Become Hopeless’ Following U.S. Withdrawal Posted: 11 Oct 2019 08:11 AM PDT  Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, told Bloomberg in a phone interview Thursday that, without U.S. support, the Kurds may turn to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to help resist recent Turkish offensives in northern Syria."If our allies do not stop this catastrophe to our people, the situation will become worse," he said. "I think an alliance with Assad could happen. If we get to this point, where we are hopeless."President Trump announced on Monday that U.S. troops would withdraw from northeast Syria, a move followed by an invasion of the area by Turkey. The Turkish government plans to set up a "safe zone" inside Syria to resettle Syrian refugees who fled their country's civil war, as well as to fight the Kurdish YPG, which it considers a terrorist organization.The SDF, which has said it has lost more than 10,000 fighters in the war against the Islamic State, warned in a statement Monday that with Turkey invading, it would be forced to divert forces from operations against ISIS in the south, destroying "all that has been achieved in terms of stability over the last years."The SDF has over 11,000 ISIS prisoners in custody. Abdi told Bloomberg that, for now, the Kurds are continuing to guard the prisoners but may not be able to continue to do so as the fight against the Turkish incursion escalates. He also said that some militia members fighting along side the Turks are former jihadists.Following several days of a Turkish offensive into northern Syria, President Trump suggested Thursday that the U.S. may use soft power tactics to halt the bloodshed."We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!" Trump tweeted.Abdi urged Trump to reconsider his withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region in the Thursday interview."I believe the only person capable of preventing this disaster is President Trump," he said.According to Reuters, Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Maqdad said Thursday that the Kurds were "armed groups had betrayed their country and committed crimes against it. We won't accept any dialogue or talk with those who had become hostages to foreign forces."The Syrian Kurdish YPG helped the Syrian government in the early days of the Syrian civil war, but Damascus has threatened that the Kurds must submit to state authority or risk defeat to Turkey.
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