| Buttigieg, surging in Iowa, has a plan to win it all. Here it is. Posted: 21 Oct 2019 08:52 AM PDT  Reminder: There are 105 days until the Iowa caucuses and 379 days until the 2020 election. It happened to Kamala Harris during the summer. Now it's starting to happen to South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who was widely proclaimed one of the "winners" of last week's Democratic primary debate in Westerville, Ohio.
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| Turkey-U.S. Sparring Escalates as Bank Spurns NY Court Posted: 22 Oct 2019 03:51 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Turkey is snubbing U.S. demands for one of its biggest banks to face charges that it helped Iran evade sanctions amid escalating tensions fueled by Turkey's incursion into northern Syria.U.S. prosecutors charged Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS last week with enabling a sanctions-evasion scheme that helped Iran tap $20 billion in frozen foreign oil sales revenue sitting in foreign bank accounts, at a time when the U.S. was trying to maximize leverage over the country in negotiations to abandon its nuclear program.The timing of the indictment led Turkish officials to dismiss the charges as false and politically motivated. The bank and its U.S. lawyers have refused to accept a legal summons or acknowledge U.S. legal authority in the matter. At a hearing Tuesday, no lawyers or executives showed up to represent the bank. A day earlier Turkey named a former executive at the bank, who'd been convicted in the U.S., to head the Istanbul stock exchange.Tensions between Turkey and the U.S. have heightened since President Donald Trump ordered the removal of U.S. troops from northern Syria, opening the door for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to send his forces to attack Kurds in the region.The incursion spurred the U.S. to sanction Turkey with Trump writing a letter last week to Erdogan imploring him not to be a "tough guy" or a "fool." Erdogan reportedly threw the letter in the trash.Earlier, Trump threatened Turkey in a statement on Twitter.U.S. authorities had been pursuing a criminal case against the bank for at least a year, seeking to impose a massive financial penalty for its role in the scheme. But the case idled for months amid diplomatic wrangling until the charges were filed along with other sanctions last week.Read more on the charges hereFederal prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. attorney's office have now deemed Halkbank a "fugitive," and told U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman they may seek contempt sanctions if the bank fails to respond to renewed demands for its presence in court. Halkbank has no employees or offices in the U.S., though it does have a correspondent bank account and shares that are listed and traded as American depositary receipts in U.S. markets.The judge said he would consider the request but also said he wanted to give the bank two weeks to review the matter and reconsider its position.If Turkey's current position on the issue is any indication, it may take more than two weeks: on Monday, it named a former Halkbank executive who was convicted in a U.S. trial over the sanctions scheme as the new chief executive of the Istanbul stock exchange. The executive, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, was released from U.S. custody in July. In making the appointment, Turkish finance minister Berat Albayrak, who is also Erdogan's son-in-law, said Atilla was the victim of an "unjust conviction."(Corrects bank's name in second paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Berthelsen in New York at cberthelsen1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe SchneiderFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| An Air France flight was forced to turn back in midair when staff found an unattended cellphone that wasn't claimed by any of the passengers Posted: 22 Oct 2019 04:34 AM PDT  Air France flight 136 to Chicago from Paris landed at Ireland's Shannon Airport, where the police scanned a cellphone found on board.
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| For Syrian Kurds, a leader's killing deepens sense of U.S. betrayal Posted: 22 Oct 2019 06:00 AM PDT  Kurdish politician Hevrin Khalaf spent the final months of her life building a political party that she hoped would help shape Syria's future, drawing the attention of U.S. officials who said it would have a say in what happened once the war ended. To her colleagues in the Future Syria Party and Kurdish communities in Syria's northeast more broadly, her killing became a symbol of betrayal by the United States. As recently as Oct. 3, State Department officials reassured her at a meeting that Washington would safeguard northern Syria from a threatened Turkish assault by mediating between Kurdish-led forces and Ankara, according to a colleague who was present.
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| Iraq: U.S. troops crossing border from Syria don't have approval to stay Posted: 22 Oct 2019 04:34 AM PDT  U.S. forces that crossed into Iraq as part of a withdrawal from Syria do not have permission to stay and can only be there in transit, the Iraqi military said on Tuesday.
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| US far-right activists get four years in jail for attacking leftists Posted: 22 Oct 2019 11:44 AM PDT  Two members of a US far-right group were each sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday for brawling with anti-fascist demonstrators in New York, prosecutors said. The sentencing comes as tensions between white supremacists and leftists simmer in the United States. Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman, members of the Proud Boys group, were found guilty in August by a state court of several counts of attempted assault and rioting.
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| Seattle Public Schools Want to Teach Social Justice in Math Class. That Hurts Minorities. Posted: 22 Oct 2019 02:05 PM PDT  Seattle's public-school district has proposed a new math curriculum that would teach its students all about how math has been "appropriated" -- and how it "continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities."A draft of the curriculum, which was covered in an article in Education Week, would teach students how to "explain how math and technology and/or science are connected and how technology and/or science have (sic) been and continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities of color," as well as to "identify and teach others about mathematicians* of color in their various communities: schools, neighborhoods, places of worship, businesses, etc."Education Week reports:> If adopted, its ideas will be included in existing math classes as part of the district's broader effort to infuse ethnic studies into all subjects across the K-12 spectrum. Tracy Castro-Gill, Seattle's ethnic studies director, said her team hopes to have frameworks completed in all subjects by June for board approval.> > If the frameworks are approved, teachers would be expected to incorporate those ideas and questions into the math they teach beginning next fall, Castro-Gill said. No districtwide—or mandated—math/ethnic studies curriculum is planned, but groups of teachers are working with representatives of local community organizations to write instructional units for teachers to use if they wish, she said.As strange as it may sound, this proposed curriculum is not the first time that someone has argued for teaching math in this way. In fact, in 2017, an online course developed by Teach for America -- titled "Teaching Social Justice Through Secondary Mathematics" -- instructed how to teach their students how "math has been used as a dehumanizing tool." Also in 2017, a University of Illinois math-education professor detailed what she saw as some of the more racist aspects of math, claiming that "mathematics itself operates as Whiteness."I wrote columns about both of these stories that year -- and, at the time, most people likely saw them simply as examples of "fringe" beliefs, confined to only super-progressive, ultra-woke circles. With the announcement of this Seattle proposal, however, we can no longer reassure ourselves that this is the case. Now, the social-justice approach to teaching math has officially entered the mainstream (and taxpayer-funded!) arena.This concerns me, and, believe it or not, that's actually not because I despise "people and communities of color." In fact, it's quite the opposite: It's because this approach to teaching math will only end up harming the very groups it claims it champions. As The American Conservative's Rod Dreher notes:> The young people who are going to learn real math are those whose parents can afford to put them in private schools. The public school kids of all races are going to get dumber and dumber.Guess what? Minority students are far more likely to attend public school than whites. In fact, according to Private School Review, "[t]he average percent of minority students in private schools is approximately 28 percent."In other words? The minority students, the members of the very groups that this curriculum presumably aims to aid, are actually going to be learning less math than they would have without it -- because they will be spending some of that class time learning about how math's racism has hurt them. Ironically, one of the curriculum's goals is to teach students how to "critique systems of power that deny access to mathematical knowledge to people and communities of color," and yet, that's exactly what the district itself would be doing with it.The historical contributions of communities of color are important, and students should study them. A better place to study them, though, would (quite obviously) be a history class, not a mathematics one. Mathematics classes should be for mathematics lessons; this is especially important considering the fact that math is exactly where American students (of all races) struggle compared to students in other countries. In fact, according to a Pew Research study from 2017, American students ranked 38th out of 71 countries in the subject. If we want to fix this, we need to focus more on math, instead of looking for ways to teach less of it in the very classes where our students are supposed to be learning it.The bottom line is: If Seattle's school district really wants to help minority students excel in mathematics, the last thing it should be doing is proposing a math curriculum that would teach less of it in the schools that they're most likely to attend.
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| Democrats' 2020 race has a new shadow: Hillary Clinton Posted: 22 Oct 2019 08:06 AM PDT  Some Democrats are putting up caution signs for Hillary Clinton as she wades back into presidential politics by casting 2020 candidate Tulsi Gabbard as a "Russian asset," mocking President Donald Trump's dealings with a foreign leader and drawing counterattacks from both. Bernie Sanders, who lost the 2016 nomination to Clinton and is running again in 2020, took to Twitter with implicit criticisms of his erstwhile rival. Larry Cohen, one of Sanders' top supporters, was more conciliatory but warned in an interview that Clinton could harm the eventual 2020 nominee by weighing in against specific candidates, even a longshot like Gabbard.
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| Silicon Valley CEOs Appear to Have Chosen Their 2020 Candidate Posted: 22 Oct 2019 01:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The technology industry is looking for something different in a president in 2020. And it appears Pete Buttigieg is their candidate.While Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren are topping national polls in the contest for the Democratic Party's nomination, California's deep-pocketed Silicon Valley is donating to the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana over the former vice president by a 5-to-1 margin."Pete is a clean slate for the party in ways Biden can't be," said Cyrus Radfar, a 35-year-old technology entrepreneur and Democratic donor. "There's new life and new energy that Pete brings, especially as the base of the Democratic Party is getting younger. I think he's going to be on the national stage for a long time."Buttigieg has staged a fundraising blitz in posh Northern California communities, holding events hosted by technology executives such as Netflix Inc. Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings, Nest Labs home-automation company co-founder Matt Rogers, and Chelsea Kohler, director of product communications at Uber Technologies Inc., among others.Were he to win, Buttigieg would not only be the youngest president, but also the first openly gay one. While he is successfully raising money, Buttigieg has struggled until recently to enter the top tier of candidates nationally.But there are signs that he could be a moderate voter's alternative to Biden. While raising money in California, Buttigieg is campaigning heavily in Iowa, and it appears both efforts are paying off. A USA Today/Suffolk University poll of likely Iowa caucus goers put Buttigieg just behind Biden and Warren for the first time. Biden had 18% support, Warren 17% and Buttigieg 13%.Millennial voters in the tech industry say they appreciate that Buttigieg's liberal policies seem grounded in reality and recognize "a cutthroat world," as Elizabeth Moran, 28, put it at a debate watch party in Silicon Valley's Sunnyvale. Moran, who works at Poshmark, a social commerce platform, said she likes Buttigieg's grasp of economics."Well-educated recognizes well-educated," Moran said, adding that Buttigieg could have come to Silicon Valley after graduating from Harvard as many Ivy League graduates do.In other words, in their eyes, Buttigieg is like them."There's a big move on the Democratic side to more heavily regulate tech, and that hasn't been part of Buttigieg's message," said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. "His message is consistent with innovation and forward-looking technology. He has not given the impression that he would threaten their interests."While he hasn't said much about competition and antitrust, Buttigieg has focused on improving regulations as opposed to breaking up big tech."We're going to need to empower the FTC to be able to intervene, including blocking or reversing mergers, in cases where there's anti-competitive behavior by tech companies," he said in a CNN town hall in April, referring to the Federal Trade Commission.Buttigieg was his high school's valedictorian and went on to Harvard, where he befriended two roommates of future Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and was one of the first 300 users on the social media platform. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, joined McKinsey & Co. as a consultant, and volunteered for Barack Obama's tech-savvy 2008 presidential campaign before joining the U.S. Navy Reserve and serving in Afghanistan.His relationship with Zuckerberg persisted. Zuckerberg, 35, visited South Bend in 2017 while doing research for his philanthropic organization, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and got a personal tour from Buttigieg. That relationship lasted into this year, when Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, recommended two people that Buttigieg ultimately hired for his campaign. Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Zuckerberg and Chan, said the couple hasn't yet decided whom to support for president.The Golden StateCalifornia voters have an unusually large influence in choosing the party's nominee this cycle. The state primary next year is in March instead of its previous June slot and its donors contributed 1 of every 5 dollars raised by the party's presidential candidates in the first six months of this year, data from the Center for Responsive Politics show.Buttigieg is second only to home-state senator Kamala Harris in the percentage of his campaign money that comes from California. Harris got 45% of her donations from Californians, Buttigieg got 22%.Harris, who was the state's attorney general, raised $1 million from California lawyers, more than twice as much as any other candidate. She was also the top recipient of donations from employees of the entertainment industry. But California employees of tech companies, including giants like Facebook, Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., backed Buttigieg more than any other candidate.Silicon Valley bundlers -- fundraisers who gather money from numerous employees of a firm -- have raised concerns about both Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders, who are relying primarily on small-dollar contributions from online donors.Warren is particularly thorny for the tech industry. She has vowed that she will not meet with big donors who want to "buy access" -- and perhaps more troubling for them, has promised to break up big technology companies. Some technology workers are contributing to Warren and Sanders, but few are writing the $2,800 checks that Buttigieg and Biden are relying on, likely because they've been quieter on the question of how to handle big tech.Buttigieg is positioning himself as a younger alternative to 76-year-old Biden. Like Biden, he has not embraced the progressive wing's Medicare for All, instead proposing government-run health care "to those who want it," without eliminating private insurance.In other areas, he hasn't taken many unique stances, but his Midwestern and military background seeps into some plans. An issue page on his campaign website is simply called "Unleash rural opportunity," and he has proposed eliminating some student debt in exchange for national service.Paul Holland, a California venture capitalist and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, said he believes a moderate has the best chance of winning. In his circles, Biden hasn't attracted the same kind of enthusiastic support that other candidates have."It's Mayor Pete and Cory Booker who are getting most of the attention," he said.Buttigieg himself drew the contrast between his candidacy and Biden's during a Marin County event."Every time we've won in our party it's been with a candidate with new ideas, who hasn't been on the scene for too long," Buttigieg said. "That's what works. Also, Americans are most likely to support the opposite of what's in the Oval Office."Among Buttigieg's donors are Ron Conway, an investor who has guided San Francisco mayors to back tech-friendly policies; Scott Belsky, the chief product officer and executive vice president at Adobe Inc.; Tony Xu, CEO of Doordash Inc.; David Marcus, the head of Facebook's Libra cryptocurrency project and Wendy Schmidt, wife of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.Buttigieg's fundraising has been prodigious, but he's still behind in national polls. He stands at just 5% in the RealClearPolitics national average, compared with 26% for Biden. And that raises pragmatic questions about who can win the Democratic nomination."Even with his flaws, Biden is the guy who's probably going to satisfy the moderates," Holland said.To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Allison in Washington DC at ballison14@bloomberg.net;Jeffrey Taylor in San Francisco at jtaylor184@bloomberg.net;Sophie Alexander in San Francisco at salexander82@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Peter EichenbaumFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UK police to interview U.S. diplomat's wife about fatal crash Posted: 22 Oct 2019 03:07 AM PDT ![UK police to interview U.S. diplomat's wife about fatal crash]( "UK police to interview U.S. diplomat's wife about fatal crash") British police officers will travel to the United States to interview the wife of a U.S. diplomat who was given diplomatic immunity after her alleged involvement in a car crash which killed a British teenager. Harry Dunn, 19, died in August after his motorcycle collided with a car driven by Anne Sacoolas near RAF Croughton, an air force base in Northamptonshire, central England, used by the U.S. military.
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| See Photos of the New Honda Fit Posted: 22 Oct 2019 06:04 PM PDT |
| A Colorado woman has been charged with murdering her terminally ill 7-year-old daughter and defrauding insurers out of over $500,000 Posted: 22 Oct 2019 07:40 AM PDT  Douglas County Sheriff said Kelly Renee Turner's arrest came after a year-long investigation following the death of her daughter in 2017.
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| This Is the Robot Tank Russia Used in Syria Posted: 21 Oct 2019 03:15 AM PDT  (But it didn't fight well.)
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| Support for Trump's impeachment reaches new high in CNN poll, but GOP backing declines Posted: 22 Oct 2019 05:08 AM PDT ![Support for Trump's impeachment reaches new high in CNN poll, but GOP backing declines]( "Support for Trump's impeachment reaches new high in CNN poll, but GOP backing declines") Support for President Trump's impeachment and removal from office is continuing to climb, but not among Republicans.That's according to new CNN/SSRS poll released Tuesday showing support for Trump's impeachment and removal at 50 percent, a new high. This is up three points since CNN asked the question last month in the days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) officially announced the impeachment inquiry; that September poll already saw a six point jump in impeachment support since May. Forty-three percent said they don't support impeachment in the new poll. Republican support for impeachment has cooled since the September poll, though, with only six percent of GOP respondents now in favor compared to 14 percent last month. Among Democrats, 87 percent support impeachment, while 50 percent of independents support it. Trump's approval has also risen two points since before the official impeachment inquiry was announced. This poll comes as Democrats are continuing to investigate whether Trump abused the power of the presidency to push Ukraine to launch investigations that might benefit him politically. In the poll, 49 percent said Trump used the presidency improperly to gain advantage in the 2020 presidential election, up one point since last month, while 43 percent said he didn't, up four points since last month. Among Republicans, 87 percent say Trump didn't use the presidency improperly, up from 71 percent in September.CNN's poll was conducted by speaking to a random national sample of 1,003 adults over the phone from Oct. 17-20. The margin of error is 3.7 percentage points. Read more results at CNN.
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| Japanese Emperor Naruhito ascends Chrysanthemum Throne Posted: 22 Oct 2019 06:13 AM PDT  Three booming cheers of "Banzai!" rang out Tuesday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo as Naruhito formally declared his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne as the nation's 126th emperor. As a driving autumn rain briefly gave way to sunshine and 2,000 guests looked on, Naruhito pledged at an elaborate, ritual-laden ceremony to serve as a symbol of the state for his people. The enthronement ceremony is the high point of several succession rituals that began in May when Naruhito inherited the throne after the abdication of Akihito, his father.
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| A Tenn. county official called Pete Buttigieg a slur. It sparked calls to boycott Dollywood Posted: 22 Oct 2019 05:46 PM PDT  Following his remark, Commissioner Warren Hurst went on to say, "I'm not prejudice, but by golly a white male in this country has very few rights."
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| UPDATE 3-China plans to replace Hong Kong leader Lam with 'interim' chief executive -FT Posted: 22 Oct 2019 01:53 PM PDT ![UPDATE 3-China plans to replace Hong Kong leader Lam with 'interim' chief executive -FT]( "UPDATE 3-China plans to replace Hong Kong leader Lam with 'interim' chief executive -FT") China is drawing up a plan to replace Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam with an "interim" chief executive, the Financial Times reported, citing people briefed on the deliberations, which would bring to a close Lam's rule after months of often-violent pro-democracy protests. Lam has become a lightning rod for protests over fears that Beijing is tightening its grip, limiting the freedoms enjoyed under the "one country, two systems" principle enshrined when colonial ruler Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997. Sources told the FT that officials in China want the situation in Hong Kong to stabilise before making a final decision, as they do not want to be seen to be giving in to violence.
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| Canadian Court Rules against Transgender Activist Jessica Yaniv in Fight with Beauticians over Waxing Posted: 22 Oct 2019 01:57 PM PDT  The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has ruled against Canadian transgender activist Jessica Yaniv in a case stemming from a complaint Yaniv filed against multiple female beauticians who refused to wax Yaniv's male genitalia."Self-identification does not erase physiological reality," said Jay Cameron, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which represented the beauticians. "Our clients do not offer the service requested. No woman should be compelled to touch male genitals against her will, irrespective of how the owner of the genitals identifies."The Tribunal said in its decision that Yaniv had had filed the "complaints for improper purposes," and had contradicted herself in "disingenuous" testimony. Yaniv, who is sexually attracted to women, brought 15 complaints against a number of beauticians in the Vancouver area, seeking as much as $15,000 in damages from each one."Most of the women who were the target of Yaniv's complaints work out of their own home, are of immigrant background, and have small children with them in the house during the day," the Justice Centre's report said. Yaniv also apparently accused immigrants during the trial of discrimination for refusing service on religious grounds, writing earlier this year on Facebook that "we have a lot of immigrants here who gawk, judge and aren't the cleanest of people, they're also verbally and physically abusive, that's one reason I joined a girl's gym."Yaniv is being ordered to pay $2,000 to three of the accused women, one of whom was forced out of business due to the case.In August, Yaniv was arrested for owning a taser, after brandishing it on camera during an interview about Yaniv's alleged history of predatory behavior toward children. Screen-captured messages allegedly from Yaniv highlighted intimate questions to underage girls, and legal documents showed an attempt to organize a topless pool party for such girls.
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| These rats learned how to drive tiny little cars so they could eat Froot Loops, and it's so precious Posted: 22 Oct 2019 08:53 AM PDT  If you think you can't get your driver's license, these rats did.
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| Nadler Defens Stzok Texts to Mistress as 'Highest Tradition' Posted: 22 Oct 2019 10:02 AM PDT  But the Inspector-General called them 'antithetical to the core values of the FBI.'
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| Newt Gingrich and Whoopi Goldberg go at it on 'The View' over Trump's 'lynching' comments Posted: 22 Oct 2019 11:19 AM PDT  Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Whoopi Goldberg go toe to toe over Trump's "lynching" comments on Twitter.
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| Donald Trump calls for public identification of Ukraine whistleblower Posted: 21 Oct 2019 02:34 PM PDT  Railing against impeachment, President Trump called for the identification of the whistleblower who accused him of improperly pressuring Ukraine.
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| California governor wants investigation of high gas prices Posted: 22 Oct 2019 01:45 AM PDT  California's governor has asked the attorney general to investigate why the state's gas prices are so high, pointing to a new report suggesting big oil companies are "misleading and overcharging customers" by as much as $1 per gallon. The commission said California drivers paid an average of 30 cents more per gallon in 2018, with the difference getting as high as $1 per gallon in April of this year. The result is California drivers paid an additional $11.6 billion at the pump over the last five years.
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| Catholics in Haiti demand president step down Posted: 22 Oct 2019 09:48 AM PDT  Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Thousands of Catholics demanding the resignation of Haiti's president marched through the capital Tuesday, becoming the latest group to join an outcry against him. Over the past year, Haiti has sunk into political crisis amid anti-corruption protests demanding Moise's resignation. No food, no hospitals, no schools," said protester Fausta Maisonneuve, who held a rosary in her hand.
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| WikiLeaks founder Assange appears confused at extradition hearing Posted: 21 Oct 2019 09:58 AM PDT  WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared confused at a London court hearing on Monday, struggling to recall his name and age in his first public appearance in months as he sought to fight extradition to the United States. Assange, 48, who spent seven years holed up in Ecuador's embassy before he was dragged out in April, faces 18 counts in the United States including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law.
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| Hong Kong Police Already Have AI Tech That Can Recognize Faces Posted: 22 Oct 2019 06:44 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong law enforcement authorities have access to artificial intelligence software that can match faces from any video footage to police databases, but it's unclear if it's being used to quell months-long pro-democracy protests, according to people familiar with the matter.Police have been able to use the technology from Sydney-based iOmniscient for at least three years, and engineers from the company have trained dozens of officers on how to use it, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn't public. The software can scan footage including from closed-circuit television to automatically match faces and license plates to a police database and pick out suspects in a crowd.In addition to tracking criminals, iOminiscient's artificial intelligence can be used for everything from finding lost children to managing traffic. In one training session that took place after the protests began in June, the people said, officers asked how to automatically identify license plate numbers using dashboard cameras.Questions over the use of facial recognition technology have loomed over the protests, stoking fears that Hong Kong is moving closer to a mainland-style surveillance state. Demonstrators have worn masks, destroyed CCTV cameras, torn down so-called smart lampposts and used umbrellas to hide acts of vandalism. Authorities in turn used an emergency law this month for the first time in more than half a century to ban face masks, a move that triggered increased violence."Hong Kong people are afraid of being captured by the CCTV cameras," said Bonnie Leung, a district councilor and a former leader of the Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized some of the biggest protests in the past few months. "Why are people still wearing face masks? Because of the police surveillance."While Hong Kong's government has disclosed some ways it uses facial recognition technology, Chief Executive Carrie Lam's administration and the police haven't publicly confirmed whether they are using it to monitor the protests. Patrick Nip, secretary for constitutional and mainland affairs, said in June that no government department had procured or developed automated facial recognition-CCTV systems or applied the technology in CCTV systems.Nip's office referred all questions on facial recognition technology to the police, which didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.iOmniscient declined to comment on whether Hong Kong's police use its facial recognition technology. The company said that its technology also has the capability to keep identities anonymous for such uses as crowd control. Its systems are used in more than 50 countries and only a small portion of overall revenue comes from Hong Kong, where business opportunities are relatively limited given privacy concerns and fewer cameras compared with other cities, according to the firm.Under Hong Kong's privacy laws, which are more stringent than the mainland, members of the public must be informed if they're subject to surveillance. If authorities are matching faces or names to identity markers, that would fall under the privacy ordinance, according to Stuart Hargreaves, a law professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong who researches surveillance and privacy issues. However, police can claim an exemption if the data is being used to detect or prevent crime."Is the 'facial recognition' simply the police combing through video footage for 'known individuals,' or is there some kind of automated AI system at play?" Hargreaves said. "The truth is we simply do not know."The world's five most-watched cities are all in China, with the top city of Chongqing having about 168 cameras per 1,000 people, according to estimates by Comparitech. By comparison, Hong Kong's 50,000 CCTVs are one-tenth the number in London and not enough to put it in the top 20 most-watched cities.Hong Kong authorities have tried to appease concerns by pointing out that there is no in-built facial recognition in recently installed smart lampposts or in CCTV cameras at China government offices. Still, the technology has been used in the city for more than a decade, including at the airport and Shenzhen border for immigration control.Next year a new electronic identity system is scheduled to come into effect in which as many as 100 public services will make use of biometric authentication, including facial recognition, eye scans, and finger and voice prints. A unit of Ping An Insurance Group Co., whose shareholders include the Shenzhen government, is responsible for the design, implementation and support of the core system, as well as facial recognition and imaging processing, according to a government statement in April.Some Chinese companies recently blacklisted by the U.S. over human rights concerns in the far west region of Xinjiang have their tech in Hong Kong. Face scan technology from AI startup Yitu Technology will be among the options that staff can choose to access the headquarters of the government's electrical and mechanical services department, according to a June statement on the three-month trial project. Yitu didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Co. cameras with facial recognition capabilities are installed outside of buildings including the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, though the facial recognition function hasn't been turned on, according to responses from government agencies to lawmaker Charles Mok. The department told him it sent footage from its cameras to police seven times since the protests began."The whole thing is: do you trust the government with your data?" said Mok, who has been in the information technology industry for more than 20 years. "That's the problem, if there's a whole breakdown of trust."A Hikvision spokesperson said its products are sold through third parties, so it cannot confirm camera locations or whether a specific function is turned on. The group opposes the U.S. sanctions and is working to address concerns, recently retaining former U.S. Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper to advise on human rights and compliance.On Hong Kong's streets, riot police have sought to avoid the cameras even while arresting more than 2,000 protesters, including nearly 100 people for violating the mask ban. They've used flashlights to disrupt media coverage, and some officers removed ID numbers and donned masks to hide their identities for fear that they could become victims of personal attacks online, known as doxxing. Apple Inc. recently pulled a live mapping app used by protesters to track some police deployments including of water cannons.Hong Kong protesters have continued distributing masks at rallies, telling demonstrators to take one "if you aren't feeling well" to take advantage of exemptions in the law.At least one Hong Kong company, TickTack Technology, pulled out of the smart lamppost program after protesters tore one down and found a Bluetooth Beacon the company used to signal its location to devices including smartphones. Demonstrators then doxxed some of the group's founders."We prefer to be low-profile till things cool down," a TickTack spokesman said by email.Hong Kong's Innovation and Technology Bureau said in a statement that it "deeply regrets" that a local enterprise was cowed into stopping the supply of its technology, calling it a "serious blow" to local innovation. The government has denied that the lampposts have facial recognition capabilities.Hong Kong's colleges are also involved in facial recognition. Tang Xiaoou, a professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong's Department of Information Engineering, is a founder of SenseTime, the world's most valuable artificial intelligence startup.The developer of facial recognition was among eight Chinese companies blacklisted by the U.S. over Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has implemented a massive program of surveillance and re-education camps to monitor the local mostly Muslim population. The company said it sees its technology as a "global force for good" and is disappointed with the U.S. sanctions, and will work to address any concerns.Sensetime said its focus in the city is on education and it does not have any contracts with the Hong Kong government. The group published Hong Kong's first textbook on artificial intelligence for secondary schools.Banks including HSBC Holdings Plc allow clients to open accounts with selfies under guidelines of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, which is also considering allowing face scans for ATMs. Customs guidelines allow firms to use face scans for security.The current protests may dampen enthusiasm for greater use of facial recognition. As demonstrations have become more violent and intense over the weeks, the number of masks has grown -- including, more recently, those of Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Guy Fawkes mask associated with the Anonymous movement."The government is just trying to take away our rights," Angus, a 22-year-old student wearing a surgical mask and black clothes, said on the day Lam announced the ban. "They're just the tool of the Chinese government. We don't want to be China."(Updates with Hikvision comment.)To contact the reporter on this story: Blake Schmidt in Hong Kong at bschmidt16@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Adam Majendie, Chris KayFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Supreme Court Throws Out Michigan Gerrymandering Ruling in Win for GOP Posted: 21 Oct 2019 09:45 AM PDT  The Supreme Court granted the Michigan Republican party a win on Monday by throwing out a lower court ruling that required dozens of congressional and legislative districts to be redrawn due to concerns they had been gerrymandered by Republicans.The high court's 5-to-4 decision reverses a ruling by the Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, which demanded the state redraw nine congressional districts and 25 state districts by August 1.Monday's decision also follows the Supreme Court's ruling in June that it would leave gerrymandering cases to state courts."Partisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the June decision, which dealt with district boundaries in Maryland and North Carolina.That ruling divided the court along ideological lines with Roberts serving as the swing vote.Roberts joined conservative Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neil Gorsuch to strike down the lower court's ruling, while liberal Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagen, and Stephen Breyer voted to preserve the lower court's finding that the districts must be redrawn.The majority in the June case cited the lack of an adequate test to determine when "political gerrymandering has gone too far."The League of Women Voters of Michigan sued the Republican-controlled state legislature last year, accusing the party of rigging districts to keep the party in power, resulting in the overturned Sixth Circuit ruling, which said Republicans infringed on voters' First and 14th Amendment rights "by diluting the weight of their votes.""The Enacted Plan gives Republicans a strong, systematic, and durable structural advantage in Michigan's elections and decidedly discriminates against Democrats," the nixed Sixth Circuit decision read. "This court joins the growing chorus of federal courts that have, in recent years, held that partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional."Because of the Supreme Court's Monday ruling in favor of the GOP, districts will not be redrawn until 2022, when a bipartisan redistricting commission resulting from a state referendum last fall will assume the task of redrawing the boundaries.
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| View 2020 Nissan Titan XD Photos Posted: 21 Oct 2019 11:00 AM PDT |
| Top Ukraine diplomat says Trump did use military aid to secure Biden investigation Posted: 22 Oct 2019 03:08 PM PDT  America's top Ukraine diplomat has testified that Donald Trump made the release of military aid to the country conditional on investigations into the Bidens and the 2016 election being announced, contradicting White House denials. William Taylor told the impeachment inquiry that he was informed Mr Trump wanted the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to personally announce the investigations, because such a statement would put him in a "public box". The explosive testimony, which was delivered in a 15-page opening statement, directly challenges Mr Trump's claim that he made no "quid pro quo" in holding back the aid to secure probes that were politically helpful. Elsewhere Mr Taylor laid out the deep disquiet he and other US officials felt at Mr Trump's decision to hold back almost $400 million in military assistance to Ukraine for more than a month as he pushed for the investigations. Mr Taylor said he "sat in astonishment" upon hearing that no more spending on military assistance was going to be approved, noting later that "more Ukrainians would undoubtedly die without the US assistance." He also claimed that four US cabinet members – the defence secretary, secretary of state, CIA director and national security adviser – all tried to see Mr Trump to convince him to stop holding back the aid, but found the meeting was "hard to schedule". Donald Trump has denied there was a 'quid pro quo' between sending Ukraine military aid and securing politically helpful investigations Credit: Brendan Smialowski / AFP The testimony, delivered behind closed doors to congressional committees leading the impeachment inquiry, was jumped on by Democrats, who called it a "sea change" in their investigation, which could lead to a vote on Mr Trump's removal from office. His opening statement was obtained by various US media outlets. At the heart of the impeachment inquiry is a claim that Mr Trump pressured the Ukrainian president to launch an investigation into Joe Biden, the Democrat who he could face at the 2020 election, and his son Hunter Biden, who once worked for a Ukrainian gas company. Mr Trump is accused of holding back US military aide to Ukraine, a country gripped in civil war against Russian-backed forces, to secure an investigation into Burisma – the company that hired Hunter Biden – as well as Ukraine's alleged meddling in the 2016 election. The president has always denied there was a "quid pro quo", in other words that there was no agreement that aid would flow only once the investigations were announced. However the testimony of Mr Taylor, who served as US ambassador to Ukraine between 2006 and 2009 and came back to serve in an interim basis as 'charge d'affaires' in the Ukraine embassy in July, provided a detailed rebuttal to that claim. The most eye-catching part of his opening statement came when he described conversations with Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the EU who was familiar with Mr Trump's thinking. Process of impeachment Mr Sondland, a one-time Trump donor turned diplomat, was part of an "irregular" channel for Ukraine policy that also involved Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump's lawyer, and other US officials, according to Mr Taylor. Mr Taylor described learning that Mr Trump could be linking the release of military aid to the announcement of investigations into Burisma - the company that employed Hunter Biden - and Ukraine's 2016 election involvement. He then reached out to Mr Sondland for guidance. "Ambassador Sondland said that 'everything' was dependent on such an announcement, including security assistance," Mr Taylor said, recounting a phone call in early September. "He said that President Trump wanted President Zelenskiy 'in a public box' by making a public statement about ordering such investigations." Mr Taylor also recounted another phone call later in the month with Mr Sondland. In the call he said that Mr Sondland noted that Mr Trump said there was not a "quid pro quo". Joe Biden and his son Hunter at a basketball game together in 2010 Credit: AP Photo/Nick Wass However Mr Sondland also said that Mr Trump wanted the Ukrainian president to "clear things up" or there would be a "stalemate", according to Mr Taylor. Mr Taylor added that he took the word stalemate to mean that the military assistance would not be handed over. At one point, Mr Taylor said that Mr Sondland defended the US president's behaviour by citing his business past. "When a businessman is about to sign a check to someone who owes him something, he said, the businessman asks that person to pay up before signing the check," Mr Taylor said, describing Mr Sondland's comments. Mr Taylor was also critical of the role Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump's personal attorney, played. He said there was an "irregular" Ukraine policy-making channel that involved Mr Giuliani which "undercut" official US foreign policy. Last week, Mr Sondland pushed back on claims that he had been a central figure in securing investigations into the Bidens when he gave testimony to the inquiry He said then: "I recall no discussions with any State Department or White House official about Former Vice President Biden or his son, nor do I recall taking part in any effort to encourage an investigation into the Bidens." Mr Sondland is not known to have commented on Mr Taylor's testimony. Democrats said he may be asked to return for further questioning. The White House and Mr Trump are yet to respond to Mr Taylor's testimony.
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| Lawsuit: ICE agent threatened immigrant, raped her for years Posted: 22 Oct 2019 03:29 PM PDT ![Lawsuit: ICE agent threatened immigrant, raped her for years]( "Lawsuit: ICE agent threatened immigrant, raped her for years") An immigration agent threatened a Honduran woman living in Connecticut with deportation if she didn't have sex with him, then raped her as often as four times a week for seven years, impregnating her three times, the woman says in a federal lawsuit. The woman, identified in the lawsuit only as Jane Doe, sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and former ICE agent Wilfredo Rodriguez on Saturday. An ICE spokesman said he couldn't comment on litigation but confirmed Rodriguez no longer works for the agency.
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| Teenagers charged with urinating on black classmate and shouting racist abuse Posted: 21 Oct 2019 08:43 AM PDT  Two 17-year-old boys from New Jersey have been charged with harassment, lewdness and bias intimidation after allegations that they urinated on a black middle school student at a high school football game while calling her the n-word.Social media posts from at least one parent of a Lawrence High School student alleged that the boys used racist language while urinating on the girl during a Friday night game.
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| Brothers who allegedly left their grandma to die in a fire, but saved meth lab equipment indicted Posted: 21 Oct 2019 03:10 PM PDT ![Brothers who allegedly left their grandma to die in a fire, but saved meth lab equipment indicted]( "Brothers who allegedly left their grandma to die in a fire, but saved meth lab equipment indicted") A Steuben County grand jury two men in connection with a May fire that was reportedly caused by a meth lab and killed their grandmother.
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| Warren Steps Into Repo Turmoil, Asks Mnuchin for Answers Posted: 22 Oct 2019 07:29 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren waded into last month's turmoil in short-term funding markets, warning Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin not to use the incident as a rationale for weakening post-financial crisis regulations.Warren, a front-runner in the race to challenge Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. presidential election, sent a letter to the Treasury on Friday. In it, she sought Mnuchin's views on what triggered the spike in rates for repurchase agreements and expressed concern about potential costs to businesses and consumers if strains persist.She also set herself up for another fight with Wall Street, citing a Reuters article reporting that large banks were using the repo-market chaos to pressure the Federal Reserve to weaken liquidity rules "they have long despised." Warren said she's concerned the Financial Stability Oversight Council, whose chair is Mnuchin, might support those efforts."These rules were designed to ensure that banks have enough cash on hand to meet their obligations in the event of another market crash," Warren said. "Banks are reporting profits at record levels, and it would be painfully ironic if unexplained chaos in a small corner of the banking market became an excuse to further loosen rules that protect the economy from these types of risks."The Treasury Department declined to comment on Warren's letter. On Oct. 16, in response to a reporter's question, Mnuchin rejected the notion that the U.S. government's heavy issuance of debt contributed to the tumult and instead blamed a corporate tax deadline for draining money from the banking system. The jump in rates on Sept. 17 "had nothing to do with our issuance, it had to do with the big tax day, that we were taking cash out of the market," he said.Banking industry complaints about regulations have gotten louder since the mid-September dislocation. JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon said Oct. 15 that the bank had the money and inclination to step in when rates surged, but liquidity rules prevented it from doing so.Regulations introduced after the 2008 crisis oblige financial institutions to hold more cash and cash-like assets as a buffer against times of stress, and systemically important banks -- JPMorgan is the largest in the U.S. -- face year-end reviews to determine how much more common equity they must carry. Analysts at JPMorgan argued this week that money-market stress is likely to get much worse despite the Fed's attempts to fix the problem.The central bank has been injecting liquidity into the funding markets since Sept. 17, when the rate on overnight general collateral repo jumped to 10% from around 2%. The Fed has also begun buying Treasury bills to add reserves back into the system. These efforts have mostly calmed repo rates."While the Federal Reserve has taken the necessary action to ensure that markets continue to function, I am alarmed that it has been required to engage in money market interventions that have not been used since the 2008 financial crisis," wrote Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts.Warren came to prominence because of her criticisms of Wall Street and calls for tougher oversight of the financial industry after the 2008 financial crisis. Her advocacy was pivotal to the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and helped lock in her election to the Senate.Warren asked that Mnuchin respond to these and other questions no later than Nov. 1:What are the underlying causes of the spike in borrowing rates for overnight repurchase agreements?Has FSOC learned why the Fed announced on Oct. 11 that overnight operations meant to keep the calm would be extended at least through January of next year?How will FSOC and Treasury use data on centrally cleared repo transactions to gain a further understanding of the market? Is further information needed to sufficiently monitor the short-term lending market?(Updates with Mnuchin comment on repo from last week in fifth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Michael Shepard, Saleha Mohsin and Anna Edgerton.To contact the reporters on this story: Emily Barrett in New York at ebarrett25@bloomberg.net;Alexandra Harris in New York at aharris48@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Purvis at bpurvis@bloomberg.net, Nick Baker, Jenny ParisFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| This 1 Invention Made Swedish Submarines Among the Best Posted: 22 Oct 2019 10:00 AM PDT  A silent, powerful new engine.
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| US awarded ownership of seized North Korean vessel Posted: 22 Oct 2019 01:06 AM PDT  A New York court has formally handed the US ownership of a North Korean cargo ship seized for violating international sanctions, the Justice Department said. The 17,061 ton bulk carrier Wise Honest -- the first North Korean vessel seized by Washington for sanctions violations -- was caught carrying a $3 million shipment of coal in Indonesian waters last year and later handed over to US authorities. The court in the Southern District of New York ordered the vessel to be forfeited to Washington and for the Treasury Department to "dispose of" it, an order released by the Justice Department showed.
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| The lost river: Mexicans fight for mighty waterway taken by the US Posted: 21 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT  The Colorado River serves over 35 million Americans before reaching Mexico – but it is dammed at the border, leaving locals on the other side with a dry delta * This is the first story in our new series about 'environmental justice' - learn moreThe temperature is rising toward 45C (113F) as young brothers Daniel and Dilan Rodríguez skip towards a bridge over the Colorado River in the Mexican border town of San Luis Río Colorado. But there is no water flowing through the channel of one of the world's mightiest waterways. The pair run down the river bank and cheerfully splash through stagnant puddles dotted about the riverbed."We wish we had a river, so we could swim, and jump and sail my cousin's boat," said Daniel, 12. "At least we have puddles to make mud balls, that can be fun."Colonia Miguel Aleman family Dilan Rodríguez, eight, fishing in the canal that runs adjacent to the dry Colorado River at the border of Mexico and the US on 6 September 2019. Photograph: Meghan Dhaliwal/The GuardianThe Colorado originates in the Rocky mountains and traverses seven US states, watering cities and farmland, before reaching Mexico, where it is supposed to flow onwards to the Sea of Cortez.Instead, the river is dammed at the US-Mexico border, and on the other side the river channel is empty. Locals are now battling to bring it back to life. There are few more striking examples of what has come to be known as "environmental injustice" – the inequitable access to clean land, air and water, and disproportionate exposure to hazards and climate disasters. Water in particular has emerged as a flash point as global heating renders vast swaths of the planet ever drier.Today the Guardian is launching a year-long series, Our Unequal Earth, to investigate environmental inequalities and discrimination in the US and beyond. It will also reveal how the climate crisis is making things worse for activists and scientists on the ground."We've heard stories from my mum about how she used to play and swim in the Colorado River when she was little, but we've never experienced it," said Evelin Bautista, 14, who is a member of an indigenous tribe, the Cucapá, which means the River People. "I've heard that over the border, the water is so clear that they can even see the fish."Indeed, a mere 30 miles north, over the border at Gateway park in Yuma, Arizona, siblings Damien Navarro, 12, and Dariana, eight, spent the day fishing, diving and swimming in the free flowing river.David Barraga plays ball with his daughter Dariana and his stepson Damien in the Colorado River in Gateway park, Yuma, Arizona, on 7 September 2019. Photograph: Meghan Dhaliwal/The Guardian"It's so hot, we come here all the time, the kids love the water, and we often catch catfish, bass and bluegill," said their father, David Barraga. "I didn't know there's no river in Mexico. Wow, that's a shame.""At school in science we've been learning about drought, that the planet is getting hotter," said his son, Damien. "But we've never been told about the dam or the river in Mexico, maybe when we're older. It's really too bad for those kids." 'It took away part of our identity'Because the 1944 treaty did not allocate Mexico any water for the river itself, the channel is mostly dry. The loss of the river in Mexico has been devastating.Nancy Saldano, 54, an architect and activist in the Sonoran town of San Luis Río Colorado, recalls boat rides and fishing with her family during the 1980s, when the US occasionally released "extra" water to deal with heavy snow and rain that risked overwhelming its dams. Her mother, an evangelical pastor, conducted baptisms in the river until it disappeared."Taking away the river had a huge impact on us, it took away part of our identity. I felt anger, sadness and grief. My children had never seen the river flow."The disparities on both sides of the border are stark.In the US, the Colorado serves more than 35 million people, including several native tribes, seven national wildlife refuges and 11 national parks, and supports $26m tourism and recreational industries, as well as farming. California has rights to the largest quantity, with 4.4m acre-feet per year – or 29% of the total – while Utah is allocated 1.7m and Nevada 0.3m.At the Morelos dam, located between Los Algodones, Baja California, and Yuma, Arizona, the river is diverted to a complex system of irrigation canals which nourish fields of cotton, wheat, alfalfa, asparagus, watermelons and date palms in the vast surrounding desert valley. This is good for farmers – and less so for ordinary Mexicans.Following the dry riverbed south towards the Gulf of California evokes an eerie sadness. The sound of gunfire in one wide, dusty section led to a couple from San Diego hunting wild pigeons, and a bucketful of feathered corpses. A few miles west along dirt farm roads, dozens of herons, egrets and ducks were staking out a wonderfully lush wetland – though it is only an accidental byproduct created by agricultural runoff from surrounding wheat and alfalfa fields. Prolonged drought and global heatingThe Colorado basin is one of 276 watersheds that cross international borders and Mexican supporters of the binational treaty argue that it resolved longstanding diplomatic disputes and enabled the region's economic development, even if there is mostly no longer a river in the channel."We're the only place in Mexico with a secure water supply, that is a privilege," said Francisco Bernal, the International Boundary and Water Commission (Cila) representative in Mexicali.But the treaty didn't foresee prolonged drought, global heating and mounting demands. Now, water is running out, and things must change.The population of Baja California grew from 1.67 million in 1990 to 3.5 million in 2018. Most of the river water still goes to farmers. Groundwater reserves are dwindling, pollution goes unchecked, and urban neighborhoods face shortages."If agriculture was forced to be more efficient there would be enough for everyone else," said Dr Jorge Ramírez, a leading water scientist at the Autonomous University of Baja California. "We have enough water, what we lack is planning. Water is the currency here and politics always wins."Dry Colorado riverIn recent years, protests have erupted in response to allegations of corruption and poorly policed pollution standards that favor big landowners and water guzzling industries, such as a controversial US brewery under construction in the Mexicali valley. In 2020, both countries will for the first time implement rationing. Mexico must cut usage by 3%. The US must save 247m cubic metres. The plan would have been much stricter if not for record snowfall in parts of the Colorado basin last year. The reductions can only be accomplished if farmers waste less and participate in reforestation efforts.Even so, scientists are optimistic that the delta can partially recover. 'The Gabachos [Americans] should leave some water for us'In the scorched and barren delta, visitors may encounter an incongruous sight: 700 acres of flourishing native trees and shrubs in three reforestation sites.They are the product of what is called a "pulse flow".In 2014, an environmental experiment driven by not-for-profits on both sides of the border resulted in 105,392 acres-feet (130m cubic metres) of extra water being released into Mexico over two months, simulating the natural spring floods of yesteryear.The pulse flow bolstered parched wetlands and reforestation zones where native cottonwood and willow trees naturally germinated. And for a few days, for the first time in years, the river reconnected to the Sea of Cortez: fish stocks increased, dolphins returned and the number of migratory birds rocketed by 43%.restorationBut for some scientists, the community response was perhaps the most surprising and satisfying. Thousands flocked to the river as it returned, briefly, to its former glory."I grew up with my mum's stories about the river in the old days, but couldn't believe it until I saw it myself," said Ulises Monroy Saldaña, 13. "I'll never forget putting my hand in the water for the first time: it was cold, but it felt so nice because it was so hot here."Daniel Rodríguez was just seven years old, but still remembers the excitement of watching the river fill with water. "We'd come every day after school and keep jumping off the bridge until the police chased us away."His grandmother, Lupe Aderete, 53, set up portable toilets for the massive influx of visitors. "It was beautiful to see the river alive again, everyone was so happy, and I made some extra money." She added: "It's not fair, the Gabachos [Americans] should leave some water for us.Lupe Aderete at home in the neighborhood of Miguel Alemán, Baja California, on 6 September 2019. Photograph: Meghan Dhaliwal/The GuardianThe restoration site at Laguna Grande is a shady oasis of gangly cottonwood and willow trees surrounded by desert and farmland, visited by over 2,000 people last year."For most children, it's the first time they've seen a forest, and for the adults it brings back memories. Connecting to nature is emotional, and visitors cry all the time," said Gabriela González, education coordinator at the Sonora Institute which runs Laguna Grande.There's little or no chance that the river will ever flow freely again, but plans are afoot to repeat the pulse flow, this time flooding only the spots which most benefited last time. And there is hope of expanding native forests to create a green corridor with wetlands and lagoons channelling into the sea.An indigenous community, the Cucapá, has been involved in dredging efforts, paid to shovel out thick mud to create connectivity channels that are crucial to sustainable ecosystems. Patches of native salty grass and flocks of raucous brown and white pelicans at the lower part of the estuary indicate that plentiful fish were swept in by recent high tides.The next pulse flow should take place in 2021 or 2022. Regardless, this region will remain more desert than delta.At home in Miguel Alemán, a poor makeshift neighbourhood with little shade, the Rodríguez brothers ditch their school stuff, grab a plastic bucket and rush back across the parched terrain to the concrete drainage canal running parallel to the littered riverbed.They fearlessly dive into the polluted waterway, which emerges under the metal border wall, to cool down and catch some fish for dinner.To contact Nina Lakhani, the Guardian's new environmental justice reporter, e-mail nina.lakhani@theguardian.comDesign by Juweek Adolphe
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| Mark Levin: ‘Hasn’t Even Been a Hint of Scandal’ in Trump’s Presidency Posted: 22 Oct 2019 09:15 AM PDT  Right-wing talker and Fox News host Mark Levin hilariously claimed this week that President Donald Trump, who is currently embroiled in an impeachment inquiry for allegedly pressuring a foreign leader to dig up dirt on a political rival, hasn't even had a "hint of scandal" during his time in the White House.During a recent broadcast of his Blaze TV show, Levin—who also hosts a Fox News weekend program—took aim at Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) over the former GOP presidential nominee ramping up his criticism of Trump as the Ukraine scandal has deepened. With it recently being revealed that Romney had a clandestine Twitter account used for criticizing Trump's behavior, among other things, Levin took the opportunity to claim that Romney "known nothing about" the personal lives and behavior of former President Barack Obama or ex-Vice President Joe Biden "outside of what we've been told.""And they kept the [John] Kennedy stuff hidden for decades, they kept the [Lyndon] Johnson stuff hidden for decades, they kept the FDR stuff hidden for decades, and his affairs and so forth," the conservative commentator added, implying that Obama/Biden had skeletons in their closets.Levin proceeded to go on a largely confusing rant in which he said he wanted to question Romney about the Founding Fathers' sexual affairs and whether he thought it was right for Franklin Roosevelt to team up with Russia during World War II."What do you think about that, Willard?" Levin grumbled. "I can go through history, one case after another, about how people are so terribly imperfect.""But I will say this about our president," the pro-Trump host continued: "While he's been president there hasn't even been a hint of scandal. Not a hint!"Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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