| Hillary Clinton to Trump on a 2020 rerun: 'Don't tempt me. Do your job.' Posted: 08 Oct 2019 02:51 PM PDT  Responding to President Trump's sarcastic suggestion that Hillary Clinton should run for president again in 2020, Clinton tweeted back: "Don't tempt me. Do your job."
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| A family found more than half a million dollars in cocaine on the beach during their vacation Posted: 08 Oct 2019 07:55 PM PDT  A man and his family discovered 20 bricks of cocaine while on vacation in South Carolina, estimated to be worth $600,000.
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| Evidence from ex-Dallas cop's murder trial fuels mistrust Posted: 09 Oct 2019 04:04 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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| Shooting in Germany was anti-Semitic attack - interior minister Posted: 09 Oct 2019 10:00 AM PDT ![Shooting in Germany was anti-Semitic attack - interior minister]( "Shooting in Germany was anti-Semitic attack - interior minister") German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Wednesday that a shooting in eastern Germany was anti-Semitic, adding that federal prosecutors who have taken on the investigation thought there were signs that it could be a right-wing extremist attack. According to the federal prosecutors' office, there are enough indications that it was possibly a right-wing extremist motive.
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| Francis Currey, one of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies at 94 Posted: 08 Oct 2019 10:09 PM PDT ![Francis Currey, one of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies at 94]( "Francis Currey, one of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies at 94") Francis Currey, one of three living World War II Medal of Honor recipients, died on Tuesday, NEWS10 reports. He was 94.Currey, from Selkirk, New York, joined the U.S. Army at 17, and was a technical sergeant. He was in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, and because he wasn't given proper winter gear, was suffering from frostbite. On Dec. 21, 1944, German tanks approached Currey and his company while they were guarding a bridge crossing. A rifleman, Currey exposed himself to enemy fire as he shot and killed several Germans. During the intense fighting, he also used anti-tank grenades and a bazooka against the Germans, and was able to rescue five Americans who were taking fire inside a building.Currey received the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and Medal of Honor, the highest decoration of valor. In 1998, his likeness was used to create the Medal of Honor G.I. Joe.
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| No, Betsy DeVos is not going to jail Posted: 08 Oct 2019 09:28 PM PDT  A judge said to Betsy DeVos' department: "I am not sending anyone to jail yet, but it's good to know that I have that ability." The internet exploded.
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| Xinjiang: The making of China's far west police state Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:14 PM PDT  China's all-encompassing security crackdown in Xinjiang has turned the northwest region -- home to most of the country's ethnic Uighur population -- into a place activists describe as an open air prison. Upwards of one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region are held in re-education camps, according to estimates cited by a UN panel in 2018. The United States blacklisted 28 Chinese entities this week over their alleged roles in rights violations in Xinjiang and said it would also curb visas for officials involved in "detention or abuse" of minorities.
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| Chevy Colorado Will Look a Little Cooler for 2021 Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:45 PM PDT  All Colorados get different badging and a tweaked front end, and the ZR2 and Z71 off-road models benefit from a new color.
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| New book says Homeland Security acting head Kevin McAleenan pushed family separation policy for migrants Posted: 08 Oct 2019 04:33 PM PDT  Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan was one of the drivers of the Trump administration's now abandoned policy of separating migrant families at the southern border — a position he has since disavowed as "not worth" the ensuing public relations disaster — according to a new book on the Trump administration's immigration policies.
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| Seven misleading arguments against impeachment by Trump and his allies Posted: 09 Oct 2019 03:36 PM PDT  As Democrats continue their impeachment inquiry, the president and his allies keep presenting certain misleading defenses.
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| The Russian Navy is Building New (Heavily Armed) Nuclear-Powered Submarines Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:10 PM PDT  How should NATO respond? Would the same old Cold War tactics work?
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| US official charged with leaking secrets to journalists Posted: 09 Oct 2019 04:15 PM PDT  A Defense Intelligence Agency official was arrested Wednesday and charged with leaking classified intelligence information to two journalists, including a reporter he was dating, the Justice Department said. Henry Kyle Frese, 30, was arrested by the FBI when he arrived at work at a DIA facility in Virginia. Frese, who has a top secret government security clearance, is alleged to have accessed at least five classified intelligence reports and provided top secret information about another country's weapons systems to the reporter with whom he was having a relationship.
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| Victor the eagle's bird's eye view of the Alps raises climate change awareness Posted: 09 Oct 2019 07:13 AM PDT  Victor, a nine-year old white-tailed eagle, set off this week on a mission to raise awareness of climate change in the Alps, which have already been hard hit by the rise in global temperatures. Equipped with a 360-degree camera mounted on his back, Victor soared above Mont Blanc and was set to take in five countries in five days, filming some of the world's most spectacular scenery. Victor is part of the Alpine Eagle Race project, which aims to raise awareness of melting glaciers and other effects of global warming through the combined eyes of the eagle, a photographer and a scientist.
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| Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says she isn't ruling out Chinese military intervention as the city's violence appears unending Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:25 AM PDT  Lam said the government hopes to resolve the crisis itself but not would not rule of Beijing's involvement if the uprising "becomes so bad."
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| Details emerge about people taken to hospital after Disney World Skyliner incident Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:43 PM PDT  After Walt Disney World Resort's new aerial cable car system, the Skyliner, stranded passengers for hours on Saturday, Disney is testing the service.
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| Zimbabwe quadruples electricity price as crisis deepens Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:51 AM PDT  Zimbabwe on Wednesday quadrupled electricity tariffs amid crippling power shortages which have plunged parts of the country into darkness for up to 18 hours as the economy lurches deeper into crisis. Zimbabwe's economy is caught in a major downturn with shortages of fuel, medicine, and currency as well as hyperinflation which has seen many families living on a single meal a day. Citing "the depreciation of the local currency," the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) said the price of electricity would jump to around 162 Zimbabwe cents (11 US cents) per kilowatt hour up from 38 Zimbabwe cents.
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| 10 Cheapest New Cars for 2020 Posted: 09 Oct 2019 02:05 PM PDT |
| Savannah Guthrie: ‘We Are Disturbed to Our Core’ by Lauer Rape Allegations Posted: 09 Oct 2019 09:42 AM PDT  Savannah Guthrie said Wednesday that she, Hoda Kotb, and everyone on NBC's Today show were "disturbed to our core" over the fresh allegations of rape against former show anchor Matt Lauer. Anchors Guthrie and Kotb addressed viewers directly after a report on allegations published in Ronan Farrow's new book, Catch and Kill. According to excerpts of the book obtained by Variety, the ex-NBC staffer Brooke Nevils claimed Lauer had raped her in a Sochi hotel room during the 2014 Winter Olympics. "I feel like we owe it to our viewers to pause for a moment," said Guthrie. "This is shocking and appalling, and I honestly don't even know what to say about it. I want to say that I know it wasn't easy for our colleague Brooke to come forward then. It's not easy now. And we support her and any women who come forward with claims. It's just very painful for all of us at NBC and at the Today show, and it's very, very difficult."Matt Lauer Blames His Accuser: 'She Certainly Did Not Cry'Kotb said she was having a flashback to two years ago when the women sat together on air to tell viewers about Lauer's firing. The women had prayed upstairs before today's show, Kotb said. "It's like you feel like you've known someone for 12 years... and all of a sudden a door opens up and it's a part of them you didn't know." The allegations were not of an affair, emphasized Kotb, but "of a crime. That's shocking to all of us who have sat with Matt for many, many years." Kotb said that they would "continue to process this part of this horrific story... Our thoughts are with Brooke. It's not easy, what she did, to come forward, it's not easy at all.""I think I speak for all of us: We are disturbed to our core," added Guthrie.Guthrie ended the segment by saying that they would "continue to keep viewers informed" as the story developed. In a statement, NBC News said: "Matt Lauer's conduct was appalling, horrific and reprehensible, as we said at the time. That's why he was fired within 24 hours of us first learning of the complaint. Our hearts break again for our colleague."In a somber opening to the Today show's third hour, both Al Roker and Craig Melvin also reacted to the news."It's a really sad, sad day," Roker told viewers about what he called "horrific allegations" against Lauer. "We feel really badly for Brooke Nevils. Our heart goes out to her."Melvin, meanwhile, praised, Nevils for the "courage it takes to come forward, knowing that this is the kind of accusation that stays with you for years to come—that's a special kind of bravery."Dylan Dreyer lamented that Nevils and her colleagues at NBC "have to re-live this all again."Later in the morning, Lauer responded to the fresh allegations with a stunning letter in which he said his involvement with Nevils was with her explicit consent during what he said was a mutual encounter in Sochi.He accused Nevils of being a liar, and saying the story she tells "is filled with false details intended only to create the impression this was an abusive encounter.""Nothing could be further from the truth," he writes. "There was absolutely nothing aggressive about that encounter. Brooke did not do or say anything to object. She certainly did not cry."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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| Minneapolis mayor responds to Trump: I don't have time to be 'tweeting garbage out' Posted: 08 Oct 2019 02:27 PM PDT  Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey hit back at President Trump regarding the use of the Target Center for a Thursday campaign rally.
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| Yes, America Probably Has Secret Stealth Drones Around Iran Posted: 09 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT  So much spying.
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| Wealthy couple gets prison terms for U.S. college admissions scam Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:56 PM PDT  The founder of a food and beverage packaging company and his wife were each sentenced to one month in prison on Tuesday for their roles in what prosecutors say is the largest college admissions scam uncovered in the United States. Gregory and Marcia Abbott received lighter sentences than the eight-month terms sought by federal prosecutors in Boston after they admitted to paying $125,000 to have a corrupt test proctor secretly correct their daughter's answers on college entrance exams. The couple's sentence by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also includes a requirement that they each pay a $45,000 fine.
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| White House and Democrats clash over rules for impeachment Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:33 AM PDT  The U.S. Constitution gives the House "the sole power of impeachment" — but it confers that authority without an instruction manual. In vowing to halt all cooperation with House Democrats' impeachment inquiry, the White House on Tuesday labeled the investigation "illegitimate" based on its own reading of the Constitution's vague language. In an eight-page letter, White House counsel Pat Cipollone pointed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's failure to call for an official vote to proceed with the inquiry as grounds to claim the process a farce.
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| ACT test changes could mean higher scores, especially for wealthy students Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:55 PM PDT ![ACT test changes could mean higher scores, especially for wealthy students]( "ACT test changes could mean higher scores, especially for wealthy students") Students will be able to retake sections of the ACT test. But the test has a fee, so wealthier students may be more able to retake it.
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| EPA: Our goal is to improve California’s air quality Posted: 09 Oct 2019 01:14 PM PDT  'If the EPA disapproves ... that triggers statutory clocks for highway funding sanctions. ... We request a response from (California) by Oct. 10'
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| Mayor in Mexico tied to a truck and dragged through streets for ‘failing to fulfill campaign promises’ Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:28 AM PDT  Angry farmers in Mexico abducted the mayor of their village and dragged him through the streets after claiming he went back on key campaign promises.Police intervened to free Jorge Luis Escandón Hernández, who suffered no major injuries after the ordeal.
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| U.S. arrested nearly 1 million migrants at border in past 12 months Posted: 08 Oct 2019 06:35 PM PDT  In fiscal year 2019, which ended last week, U.S. immigration authorities apprehended or turned away more than 977,000 migrants along the southern border
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| Expert: America Could Defeat China's Anti-Ship Missiles Posted: 08 Oct 2019 08:00 PM PDT  America's carriers would ultimately win out.
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| The Rich Really Do Pay Lower Taxes than You Posted: 08 Oct 2019 12:24 PM PDT  Almost a decade ago, Warren Buffett made a claim that would become famous. He said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, thanks to the many loopholes and deductions that benefit the wealthy.His claim sparked a debate about the fairness of the tax system. In the end, the expert consensus was that, whatever Buffett's specific situation, most wealthy Americans did not actually pay a lower tax rate than the middle class. "Is it the norm?" fact-checking outfit PolitiFact asked. "No."Time for an update: It's the norm now.For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans last year paid a lower total tax rate -- spanning federal, state and local taxes -- than any other income group, according to newly released data.The overall tax rate on the richest 400 households last year was only 23%, meaning that their combined tax payments equaled less than one quarter of their total income. That was down from 70% in 1950 and 47% in 1980.For middle-class and poor families, the picture is different. Federal income taxes have also declined modestly, but these families haven't benefited much, if at all, from the decline in the corporate tax or estate tax. And they now pay more in payroll taxes (which finance Medicare and Social Security) than in the past. Overall, their taxes have remained fairly flat.The combined result is that over the last 75 years the U.S. tax system has become radically less progressive.The data here come from the most important book on government policy that I've read in a long time -- called "The Triumph of Injustice," to be released next week. The authors are Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, both professors at the University of California, Berkeley, who have done pathbreaking work on taxes. Saez has won the award that goes to the top academic economist under age 40, and Zucman was recently profiled on the cover of BusinessWeek magazine as "the wealth detective."They have constructed a historical database that shows how much households at different points along the income spectrum have paid in taxes going back to 1913, when the federal income tax began. The story they tell is maddening -- and yet ultimately energizing."Many people have the view that nothing can be done," Zucman told me. "Our case is, 'No, that's wrong. Look at history.' " As they write in the book: "Societies can choose whatever level of tax progressivity they want." When the United States has raised tax rates on the wealthy and made rigorous efforts to collect taxes, it has succeeded in doing so. And it can succeed again.Saez and Zucman portray the history of U.S. taxes as a struggle between people who want to tax the rich and those who want to protect the fortunes of the rich. The story starts in the 17th century, when northern colonies created more progressive tax systems than Europe had. Massachusetts even enacted a wealth tax, which covered land, ships, jewelry livestock and more.The southern colonies, by contrast, were hostile to taxation. Southern plantation owners worried that taxes could undermine slavery, as historian Robin Einhorn has explained, and made sure to keep tax rates low and tax collection ineffective. (The hostility to taxes ultimately hampered the Confederacy's ability to raise money and fight the Civil War.)By the middle of the 20th century, the high-tax advocates had prevailed. The United States had arguably the world's most progressive tax code, with a top income-tax rate of 91% and a corporate tax rate above 50%.But the second half of the 20th century was mostly a victory for the low-tax side. Companies found ways to take more deductions and dodge taxes. Politicians cut every tax that fell mostly on the wealthy: high-end income taxes, investment taxes, the estate tax and the corporate tax. The justification for doing so was usually that the economy as a whole would benefit.The justification turned out to be wrong. The U.S. economy has not fared better when tax rates are lower. Lower taxes on the wealthy instead end up benefiting the wealthy, not society as a whole. The great decline in high-end taxation has happened over the same period that economic growth has been disappointing and middle-class income growth even worse.That's the maddening part of the story. The energizing part are the solutions that Saez and Zucman propose. They call for a set of policies that would raise the overall tax rate on the wealthiest Americans to about 60% (still not as high as in 1950). Doing so would bring in about $750 billion a year, or 4% of GDP, enough to pay for universal pre-K, an infrastructure program, medical research, clean energy and more. Those are the kinds of policies that really do lift economic growth.One crucial part of the agenda is a minimum global corporate tax of at least 25%. A company would have to pay the tax on its U.S. operations even if it set up headquarters in Ireland or Bermuda. Saez and Zucman also favor a wealth tax; Elizabeth Warren's version is based on their work. And they call for the creation of a Public Protection Bureau, to help the IRS crack down on tax dodging.I already know what the critics will say about these arguments -- that the rich will always figure out a way to avoid taxes. That's simply not the case. True, they will always be able to avoid some taxes. But history shows that serious attempts to collect more taxes usually succeed.Ask yourself this: If efforts to tax the superrich were really doomed to fail, why would so many of the superrich be fighting so hard to defeat those efforts?This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Florida man accused of giving beer to an alligator Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:06 PM PDT  Timothy Kepke and Noah Osborne were arrested Oct. 3. Each was charged with unlawfully taking an alligator, a felony.
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| Woman accuses Matt Lauer of rape; former anchor denies claim Posted: 09 Oct 2019 02:14 PM PDT  A woman who worked at NBC News claimed that Matt Lauer raped her at a hotel while on assignment for the Sochi Olympics, an encounter the former "Today" show host claimed was consensual. The claim outlined by Brooke Nevils in Ronan Farrow's book, "Catch and Kill," puts a name and details behind the event that led to Lauer's firing by NBC in 2017. Variety first reported Nevils' charges after obtaining a copy of Farrow's book.
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| Russia warns against actions that 'inhibit peace process' in Syria Posted: 08 Oct 2019 10:30 AM PDT  Russia's security council said on Tuesday it was important to avoid hindering the peace process in Syria, following discussions with President Vladimir Putin, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. The influential council discussed the creation of a constitutional committee in the country and "remarked that at this stage everyone should avoid any actions that can inhibit the peace process in Syria," he said. Peskov said earlier Tuesday that Russia "is following very closely how the situation is developing" and was not informed about the withdrawal of the United States from the region -- something that has sparked fears of a Turkish attack on Kurdish forces.
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| Egypt denounces Ethiopia for moving ahead with Nile dam amid water: shortage fears Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:04 AM PDT  Egypt denounced Ethiopia on Wednesday for moving forward with building and operating a hyropower dam on the Nile, which Cairo worries will threaten already scarce water supplies. Ethiopia, the source of the Blue Nile which joins the White Nile in Khartoum and runs on to Egypt, says the dam will not disrupt the river's flow and hopes the project will transform it into a power hub for the electricity-hungry region. Egypt relies on the Nile for up to 90% of its fresh water, and fears the dam, which is being built in Ethiopia close to the border with Sudan, will restrict already scarce supplies.
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| Trump legal ally tells Fox News the House impeachment push is 'regicide' Posted: 09 Oct 2019 12:23 AM PDT ![Trump legal ally tells Fox News the House impeachment push is 'regicide']( "Trump legal ally tells Fox News the House impeachment push is 'regicide'") Joseph diGenova, a lawyer aligned with President Trump and reportedly one of his "off the book" envoys to Ukraine, shared some interesting thoughts on the House impeachment effort on Laura Ingraham's Fox News show Tuesday night. In explaining why he believes the White House is right to stonewall House Democrats, diGenova called their impeachment effort "regicide" -- the murder of a king -- and compared the whistleblower whose complaint unveiled Trump's Ukraine scandal to "suicide bombers."> Fox guest accuses congressional Democrats of "regicide" and calls the whistelblowers "suicide bombers" pic.twitter.com/cyv6Y9Vxr2> > -- Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) October 9, 2019"Joe diGenova calls impeachment 'regicide' as if he's really proud of the word," tweeted conservative commentator Jonah Goldberg. "He should be ashamed. Defend Trump, denounce impeachment, but we don't have kings and impeachment isn't murder."DiGenova's main argument -- that the impeachment inquiry is illegitimate because House Democrats haven't held a formal impeachment vote, thus depriving House Republicans of subpoena power -- is also flawed. The Constitution gives the House "the sole power of impeachment," and there are no instructions on how to carry it out.In the impeachment investigations of Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton, there was a House vote, and in each case "the minority party on the investigating committee was granted the power to subpoena," the Los Angeles Times explains. But "the subpoenas were still subject to a vote of the committee, giving the majority party a way to block them," and "even if she allows a vote, there is no guarantee that [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi would grant subpoena power to ranking members, allow the president's counsel to be present during depositions, or other items Republicans say they want in the resolution.""The Founders very deliberately chose to put the impeachment power in a political branch rather the Supreme Court," Gregg Nunziata, former counsel to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), told The Associated Press. "They wanted this to be a political process and it is."
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| View Photos of the 2020 Dodge Charger Widebody Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:12 AM PDT |
| During the Vietnam War, Commandos Sunk a U.S. Aircraft Carrier Posted: 09 Oct 2019 12:05 AM PDT  It was a huge blow.
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| Politician charged in human trafficking adoption scheme Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:26 PM PDT  An Arizona elected official ran a human smuggling scheme that promised pregnant women thousands of dollars to lure them from a Pacific Island nation to the U.S., where they were crammed into houses to wait to give birth, sometimes with little to no prenatal care, prosecutors allege. Paul Petersen, the Republican assessor of Arizona's most populous county, was charged in Utah, Arizona and Arkansas with counts including human smuggling, sale of a child, fraud, forgery and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Investigators also found eight pregnant women from the Marshall Islands in raids of his properties outside Phoenix, and several more are waiting to give birth in Utah, authorities said.
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| Almost 2 million Californians will be without power through Thursday in shutdown to reduce wildfire risk Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:02 PM PDT  Californians were in the dark during a multiday power outage aimed at curbing wildfire risks amid high winds.
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| Guterres warns U.N. may not have enough money to pay staff next month Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:19 AM PDT  The United Nations may not have enough money for staff salaries next month if member states don't pay what they owe, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday. The United States is the largest contributor - responsible for 22 percent of the more than $3.3 billion regular budget for 2019, which pays for work including political, humanitarian, disarmament, economic and social affairs and communications. The U.S. mission to the United Nations confirmed the figures.
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| Trump Gives Swing-District Democrats New Cause to Back Inquiry Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:01 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump has erased any lingering doubts among the swing-district Democrats who galvanized the House impeachment move two weeks ago despite the risks to their re-election chances in 2020.The decision by seven first-term Democrats elected in Trump-leaning districts to back an impeachment inquiry after months of resisting the idea tipped the balance in the House and helped spark Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to announce the investigation.Now they are back home during a congressional break, facing voters as well as a concerted effort by Republicans to make them pay. At town halls and in interviews, members of the group express no regrets."I did the right thing, and I will be able to look in the mirror 30 years from now and say I was on the right side of history," Virginia Representative Elaine Luria told a packed town hall in her coastal district last week that's home to Naval Station Norfolk.Luria and the six other freshmen lawmakers who announced their support for an impeachment inquiry in a Sept. 23 opinion essay in the Washington Post are crucial to Democrats' chances of holding the House in 2020 and to the party's hopes of making inroads in former Republican strongholds in the presidential election. They won in 2018 by playing up their military or national security backgrounds and offering a moderate counter-balance to the Democratic Party's liberal wing.Backing an impeachment inquiry gives Republicans an opening to tie them to the progressive Democrats who've been calling for Trump's impeachment for months."Make no mistake about it: backing impeachment will cost the Democrats their majority in 2020," Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer, head of the House GOP's campaign arm, said in a statement.Counter AttackThe campaign against them has already begun. Vice President Mike Pence in planning trips in the coming weeks to the districts of four Democratic freshmen who defeated Republican incumbents.Since swinging to support an impeachment inquiry, several of the vulnerable Democrats said at meetings with voters and in interviews that the events since then have only solidified their decision. Those include the White House releasing a rough transcript of Trump's call with Ukraine's president, a whistle-blower's complaint and the president himself publicly calling on Ukraine and China to investigate a Democratic opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden."There is a national security threat in addition to the illegality of a president of the United States allegedly asking for election assistance from a foreign government," said Virginia Representative Abigail Spanberger, one of the Democrats being targeted by Pence."If calling that out is wrong and gets me into political trouble, then why am I here if I'm not here to stand up for the Constitution? Why am I in this role if I am not supposed to call out things that are endanger us and are a threat to our country?" she said.Luria also said she wasn't deterred by political threats.'The Right Thing'"I have to tell you I did not do it in regard to any political consequences. I did it knowing that in the past the district I represent has been held by a Republicans and people may say 'why would you do that? You might not be re-elected.' I don't care because I did the right thing," said Luria, a Naval Academy graduate who spent 20 years in the service.The line earned Luria a standing ovation and a smattering of boos, reflecting the political divide in her district, which she won last year with 51% of the vote against Republican incumbent Scott Taylor.Luria said of the 420 calls she's received from constituents on impeachment in the last week and a half, about two-thirds were supportive. At her town hall last Thursday, those who spoke were more evenly divided."There is no evidence so far as I'm concerned, in my option, that warrants it. They have been trying to impeach this president from Day Two," said Jim Tarr, 65, a federal geologist, echoing other Trump supporters in the audience.Many attendees interviewed said that they respected Luria's judgment, as a former naval officer, about whether Trump may have imperiled national security by withholding aid to Ukraine."I think she is a taking a political risk but I like that she said she is not worried about her re-election," Conrad Schwab, who was among the crowd, said."I just think it is a waste of their time. Our health care needs to be fixed," said Marsha Spain, a self-described independent.Plea to ChinaLuria told the Virginia Beach crowd that she "didn't go to Washington to impeach the president," but that Trump's public suggestion earlier that day that China investigate Biden and his son Hunter reinforced her decision."It was even more brazen this morning when he stood on the White House lawn and an asked China to meddle in our election," she said.Trump's decision late Sunday to abandon U.S.'s Kurdish allies in Syria -- from which he is backpedaling -- also bolstering the view by Democrats that his foreign policy presents a national security risk.Spanberger, a former CIA operative, said that while the decision is itself not impeachable, there are similarities between the Ukraine call, the televised plea to China and the Syria decision."They show a president who doesn't understand foreign policy whatsoever, who doesn't understand the lines between what is appropriate and what is not," she said.Other Democrats who flipped last month in favor of impeachment also suggested parallels, including first-term Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips.At a Friday town hall event in Rochester, Michigan, an affluent town in a GOP-leaning District, Representative Elissa Slotkin defended her support of an impeachment inquiry.She told a mostly supportive crowd that she changed her mind when Trump acknowledged that he asked for information from Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy about Biden. While most of the audience clapped in approval, Slotkin was subject to frequent heckling from about a dozen Trump supporters in the crowd."I did not take this decision lightly," she said. "It's not something I wanted to do."Slotkin was asked if she thought Trump was doing his duty by investigating the accusation that Biden helped his son avoid investigation in Ukraine."You go to the American FBI," the former CIA analyst said. When the Trump supporters responded with boos, she said, "You can boo the FBI. I will not boo the FBI. You do not go to a foreign leader if you're concerned about corruption, especially to ask about a political rival."Colorado Democrat Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger who also signed the essay with Slotkin, Spanberger and Luria, spent the last week on a delegation to Afghanistan and the Jordan-Syria border. He said in an interview Monday that he has no second thoughts."Our concerns continue to be re-confirmed," he said. "More and more information is emerging about his fast and loose approach to American foreign policy and his abuse of presidential authority."Crow said that he has found support in his community for his decision but that it was important that the inquiry stay focused and proceed efficiently."I think the process is really important here," he said. "You don't make conclusions until you have reviewed the evidence."Speaking on MSNBC Tuesday, Crow said Trump's actions represent a national security risk and have damaged U.S. credibility abroad. He declined to say whether he thinks the House will ultimately impeach Trump, adding that's it's "inappropriate" to prejudge the end result."That's why we're making sure we're following the steps right now," Crow said. "We have to make sure we're doing it the right way."(Updates with lawmaker quote beginning in the 35th paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.net;David Welch in Southfield at dwelch12@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Anna Edgerton, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Defeat: In 1979, Vietnam Gave China's Army a Beating Posted: 09 Oct 2019 12:27 AM PDT  It wasn't pretty.
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| Teacher at Elite Boarding School Used Nightly ‘Check-In’ System to Molest Sleeping Students, Cops Say Posted: 09 Oct 2019 11:01 AM PDT  Nelson Almeida/GettyA teacher at an elite boarding school in New Jersey used his position as a dorm "duty master"—who is responsible for nightly check-ins with students—to molest two teens while they slept, police said.Dominic Brown, a 23-year-old history teacher and water polo coach at The Lawrenceville School, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual contact, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said in a Monday press release.But an affidavit filed by the prosecutor's office and obtained by NJ.com shines more light on the allegations. Brown used his position as "duty master" to enter a 15-year-old student's room around 3 a.m. and touch the sleeping teen, who awoke to see Brown trying "to fall to the floor to hide from me," according to the affidavit. Police Officer Told Victim That Men's College Doesn't 'Generally' Expel or Suspend Rapists, Lawsuit ClaimsThe teacher also allegedly claimed that the teen hadn't checked in to the dorm that night, and he was making sure he was in his room. (The Lawrenceville School student handbook stipulates that students must report in person to the "duty master" each night before bed.)About an hour later, a 14-year-old boy was similarly awakened by hands touching his body, and he found Brown "crouching partially under the side of his bed," the affidavit alleges. Though Brown reportedly left the room after the student confronted him, the teen told police that he peered back inside a short time later. The students, who were reportedly in a group Snapchat message together, relayed their similar experiences and then told campus security, who notified police.Brown has since been fired, NJ.com reported. Prosecutors said he will remain in jail until a Thursday morning detention hearing. 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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| Justice Department investigating potentially serious allegations against Robert Mueller Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:09 PM PDT  Fox News has learned that Mueller was not accurate when he told Congress that he was not interviewing for the position of FBI director when he met President Trump in the Oval Office in May 2017; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports.
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