| I Worked With Joe Biden. Here’s What to Know About the Frontrunner Myth Growing Around Him Posted: 04 Apr 2019 02:52 AM PDT  Former White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri writes about the growing frontrunner myth around Joe Biden.
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| Person claiming to be missing child was Ohio ex-convict Posted: 04 Apr 2019 03:53 PM PDT  The person who told Kentucky police he was missing Illinois teen Timmothy Pitzen is a grown man with a criminal record, the FBI and state records said. Brian Michael Rini, 23, told neighbors in the Kentucky town of Newport that he had escaped kidnappers and was Timmothy, who would be 14 years old, briefly raising hope that the long-lost boy had been found, FBI spokesman Todd Lindgren said. Lindgren, of the agency's Cincinnati bureau, told Reuters Thursday that DNA tests conducted at the Cincinnati Children's Hospital showed that the person who claimed to be Timmothy was in fact Rini.
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| Trump says '100%' ready to shut down Mexico border Posted: 02 Apr 2019 09:29 PM PDT  President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is "100 percent" prepared to close down the US-Mexico border, warning Congress and Central American governments to take action to stem the flow of migrants into the country. Delays were already increasing at several key border crossings as Trump ratcheted up pressure on Democrats in Congress to toughen US laws against illegal immigrants, threatening to hurt the US economy in the name of border security.
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| Pilots 'followed Boeing procedures' but were unable to control Ethiopia Airlines plane as it nosedived Posted: 04 Apr 2019 02:02 AM PDT  The crew of the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed last month killing 157 people, repeatedly followed procedures recommended by Boeing, but were unable to regain control of the jet, the Ethiopian transport minister said on Thursday. "The crew performed all the procedures repeatedly provided by the manufacturer but was not able to control the aircraft," said Dagmawit Moges, unveiling results of the preliminary probe into the crash. She said the report recommends "the aircraft flight control system shall be reviewed by the manufacturer." "Aviation authorities shall verify that the review of the aircraft flight control system has been adequately addressed by the manufacturer before the release of the aircraft for operations". Ms Moges did not make specific reference to the automatic anti-stalling system which has been implicated in the crash, but did mention a "repetitive nose down" movement of the aircraft. Flight ET302's final moments in the air The Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) is designed to automatically lower the aircraft's nose if it detects a stall or loss of airspeed.
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| Is There a 5G Network Near You? Posted: 03 Apr 2019 05:00 PM PDT  The age of 5G network service is finally here. On Wednesday, Verizon officially turned on 5G service in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis. Motorola has also started selling a $200 attachment that...
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| Uganda hunt for kidnapped US tourist enters third day Posted: 04 Apr 2019 04:46 AM PDT  Ugandan security forces scoured dense bush on Thursday in the hunt for a US tourist and her safari guide who were kidnapped by gunmen in a national park. "The operation to rescue the tourist is still ongoing," Uganda's tourism minister, Godfrey Kiwanda, told AFP on Thursday. Four kidnappers stopped a group of tourists at gunpoint around dusk on Tuesday as they drove through the Queen Elizabeth National Park on safari to see wild animals.
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| BB&T, Wells Fargo Get Failing Grades From Gun-Control Group Posted: 04 Apr 2019 11:59 AM PDT ![BB&T, Wells Fargo Get Failing Grades From Gun-Control Group]( "BB&T, Wells Fargo Get Failing Grades From Gun-Control Group") JPMorgan Chase & Co. also received an F, for providing $273 million in financing and failing to ban gun-company investments, while Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Bank of America Corp. received C grades. Citigroup Inc. got a B, the highest grade among the banks scored. Key InsightsThe scorecard comes as corporate America faces pressure to take stands on controversial political issues.
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| Timmothy Pitzen vanished in 2011. His mom wrote a note that said 'you will never find him' Posted: 04 Apr 2019 01:13 PM PDT  "You will never find him." That was the startling claim in a suicide note discovered in a hotel room in Rockford, Illinois in 2011.
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| LGBT progress seen in Lightfoot's win, rise of 'Mayor Pete' Posted: 03 Apr 2019 08:19 PM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — "Mayor Pete," as he's known to his growing fan base, is running a surprisingly strong and well-funded campaign for president. Lori Lightfoot has just won a landslide victory to become Chicago's mayor.
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| From Soup to Salmon: Slow-Cooker Recipes for a Fast and Healthy Dinner Posted: 03 Apr 2019 01:04 PM PDT |
| Biden vows to keep pace with the changing boundaries of 'personal space,' hints at presidential bid Posted: 03 Apr 2019 12:35 PM PDT  After a series of accusations of inappropriate behavior from multiple women, former Vice President Joe Biden said he will be more mindful of personal space, but he stopped short of offering an apology.
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| SDF says Syria's Raqqa hit by mine blast, not suicide attack Posted: 03 Apr 2019 08:32 AM PDT ![SDF says Syria's Raqqa hit by mine blast, not suicide attack]( "SDF says Syria's Raqqa hit by mine blast, not suicide attack") A blast in Syria's Raqqa on Wednesday that wounded people was caused by an unexploded mine left by Islamic State going off, not by suicide attacks, the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said. The head of the SDF's media office Mustafa Bali told journalists in an online message that earlier information it provided about suicide bombings in the city, captured from IS in 2017, was wrong. A string of bombings have in recent months targeted the northeastern corner of Syria held by the SDF, even after its capture of the last Islamic State enclave in the area.
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| Boeing 737 MAX Crashed After System Forced Its Nose Down 'Uncommanded,' Ethiopia Says Posted: 04 Apr 2019 03:37 AM PDT  The pilots of a Boeing 737 Max jetliner that crashed in Ethiopia last month struggled as the plane's automated commands pushed the nose down, investigators said.
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| Jail Jussie Posted: 04 Apr 2019 11:16 AM PDT  Lock him up!The FBI and Justice Department are investigating the shocking, inexplicable dismissal of a Chicago grand jury's 16 felony counts against actor Jussie Smollett. The charges could have cost serious prison time for a ham-handed hoax in which Smollett allegedly paid two body-building brothers to attack him and blame it on supporters of President Donald Trump.Dueling demonstrations brought this simmering controversy to an even higher boil this week: The local Fraternal Order of Police protested Cook County state attorney Kim Foxx's velvet treatment of Smollett. Meanwhile, the Reverend Jesse Jackson rallied those who, somehow, still believe the Empire cast member's story.Smollett, 36, claimed that he walked through Streeterville, his fashionable neighborhood, at about 2 a.m. on January 29. The area was unusually empty, thanks to a polar vortex that had driven temperatures to 9 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind chill of 4 below zero. Nonetheless two white, masked men concisely called the gay, black thespian an "Empire f****t n****r." Smollett said that they loosely placed a white rope around his neck, doused him with bleach, and then declared: "This is MAGA country"— startling news in a city that went just 12.5 percent for Trump.As this bizarre tragicomedy unfolded, police acquired a cancelled personal check from Smollett to Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, two sculpted American brothers of Nigerian descent. The $3,500 payment ostensibly financed workout services. Closed-circuit TV captured the Osundairos buying rope and ski masks — under which, Smollett's attorneys insist, they wore whiteface.Like rope, Smollett's tall tale unraveled. He was arrested on February 20 and eventually accused of 16 felonies, including disorderly conduct, filing a false police report, and repeatedly lying to cops. He was in serious legal jeopardy until March 26, when Foxx's office dropped all charges, even though she had "recused" herself — but in "a colloquial use of the term rather than in its legal sense," as her spokeswoman Keira Ellis explained.Smollett surrendered his $10,000 bond and volunteered 16 hours at Jesse Jackson's Operation PUSH. "There was no court-ordered community service here," PUSH announced. Smollett reportedly helped PUSH record a video and organize a choir.Prosecutors let Smollett off the hook, although they got their man. "I do not believe he is innocent," First Assistant State's Attorney Joe Magats said as he let Smollett waltz away last Tuesday. "Based on the facts and the evidence," Foxx told WLS-TV, "this office believes that they could prove him guilty." Regardless, she called the tender love and care that Smollett enjoyed "a just outcome based on the circumstances."Smollett never admitted guilt — step one in a typical leniency arrangement. In fact, he defiantly pleaded innocent to stunned courthouse journalists: "I've been truthful and consistent on every single level since day one."His attorneys went further. "It is the mayor and the police chief who owe Jussie — owe him an apology — for dragging an innocent man's character through the mud. Jussie has paid enough."Chicago officials disagree."From top to bottom, this is not on the level," Democratic mayor Rahm Emanuel fumed at a subsequent press conference. In a March 28 letter, Corporation Counsel Edward N. Siskel told Smollett that "the City requires immediate payment of the $130,106.15 expended on overtime hours in the investigation of this matter." Adding yet another cinematic layer to this saga, Siskel's late uncle was the legendary Chicago Tribune film critic Gene Siskel.Smollett deserves severe punishment, including lengthy incarceration, not just for this six-digit incineration of taxpayer money, but for the far graver diversion of police manpower that he triggered.CBS Chicago reports that 24 detectives were yanked off other cases to spend some 1,000 hours probing Smollett's complaint — before overtime. "We interviewed over 100 individuals in a canvass of the area and a follow-up canvass as our investigation expanded," said police commander Edward Wodnicki. Along with federal officials, Chicago cops executed 50 subpoenas and warrants for financial documents, phone records, and social-media posts. Police also pored over surveillance video from 55 city security cameras and private devices. "Those are resources and time spent that we can never get back," police superintendent Eddie Johnson said in disgust.There was plenty of crime to fight while cops, instead, performed their roles in Smollett's psychodrama.Statistics that match the precise dates of l'affaire Smollett have proved doggedly elusive. The Chicago Police Department reports these figures by week, and this outrage's timing does not fit this format. However, these numbers are from January 28 (the day before Smollett first called police) to February 17 (three days before his arrest). Behold the 2,654 offenses that cops could have investigated or prevented had they not wasted 23 days chasing the rope-and-bleach-wielding figments of Smollett's imagination:• Murders: 20• Criminal sexual assaults: 134• Robberies: 342• Aggravated-battery cases: 288• Burglaries: 505• Thefts: 734• Motor-vehicle thefts: 559• Shooting incidents (offensive and defensive): 72"In Chicago, 74 percent of homicides tracked over the past decade went unsolved," according to an outstanding graphic database in the July 24 Washington Post. Across the 55 U.S. cities that the Post analyzed, 49.6 percent of murders, on average, resulted in arrests. That's nearly double the Windy City's ten-year, 26 percent handcuff rate. (Chicago's 2017 homicide-arrest rate was a woeful 17 percent.) Among the 5,534 homicides in Chicago that the Post scrutinized between 2007 and 2017, police made arrests in some 1,439 incidents. Hence, Chicago cops could have investigated any of 4,095 cold murder cases rather than hunt make-believe homophobic racists.Smollett gleefully stirred this country's already steaming pot of sociopolitical division. The last thing America needed was another reason for blacks and whites, straights and gays, and liberals and conservatives to distrust each other. Rather than promote healing, Smollett tightened tensions for more than three weeks.These dismissed charges send a dreadful message: If you want to call 911 and lie about fake crimes, go for it! Cops have coped with the Duke lacrosse "rape" case, the UVA "rape" conspiracy, the anti-Kavanaugh "gang rape" tale, and countless bogus claims of "hate crimes" perpetrated by Trump supporters. (Even as Trump fans actually get flogged.) These accusers rarely, if ever, suffer any consequences for lying and cremating law-enforcement resources. If Smollett stays free, he will inspire fresh reports of fictional crimes.Conversely, good luck to anyone black, gay, or both who reports a genuine act of racist, homophobic violence. Thanks to Smollett, such true crimes will engender undue skepticism and needlessly rolled eyes. Way to go, Jussie!The FBI and Justice Department announced last week that they are on this case. If Smollett mailed himself the menacing letter that he said he received before his "attack," he will be ripe for a federal mail-fraud and postal-threat prosecution. Let's hope that officials find Smollett's fingerprints all over that envelope and his DNA on the dried saliva on its seal. If this sends Smollett to federal prison for several years, then God Bless America.Despite his dropped-charge jackpot, Smollett still awaits justice. His $10,000 forfeited bond and 16-hour hangout at Jesse Jackson's office do not negate these facts:At the expense of President Trump and his supporters, Jussie Smollett staged a hate crime to boost his brand, fraudulently score a raise on Empire, and, thus, deepen the income inequality between himself and the average U.S. worker. There is enough here to infuriate every American, from left to right.Michael Malarkey contributed research for this opinion piece.
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| Woman fired after berating man with pro-Trump hat at Starbucks Posted: 04 Apr 2019 01:14 PM PDT  Victor, a 74-year-old man from Palo Alto, California, said a woman began screaming and calling him a racist after she spotted him wearing a 'Make America Great Again' hat outside a Starbucks. Victor, who is Jewish, also said the woman called him a Nazi. The woman was later fired from her job at a guitar sales and repair shop, after the store owner was made aware of the altercation.
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| Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido stripped of parliamentary immunity Posted: 03 Apr 2019 07:36 AM PDT  The Venezuelan government has stripped president Nicolas Maduro's rival Juan Guaido of his parliamentary immunity, opening the door for his possible arrest and prosecution. Mr Guaido, head of the opposition-controlled national assembly, declared himself president on January 23 and has been recognised as Venezuela's legitimate leader by more than 50 countries. Until now, Mr Maduro has given Mr Guaido a remarkably free rein, unwilling to risk antagonising supporters of the 35 year old – including the United States and neighbouring Colombia and Brazil. On Tuesday, however, the constituent assembly – a pro-Maduro rival parliament to the national assembly – voted unanimously to strip Mr Guaido of his immunity, on the recommendation of the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Mr Maduro's allies argued that Mr Guaido should be prosecuted for violating an order banning him leaving the country while under investigation by the attorney general. He is also accused of inciting violence through street protests, and of receiving illicit funds from abroad. Venezuela's foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, on a visit to drum up support for Mr Maduro in Beirut and then Syria, warned on Wednesday that Mr Guaido was in breach of the constitution and the judiciary had to "take care" of it. Mr Guaido, however, brushed off the threat. "The regime believes that by attacking me, they will stop us," he told supporters outside his house on Tuesday night. "There's no way back in this process." He said that he knows he now runs the risk of being "kidnapped" by Mr Maduro's allies. His chief of staff, Roberto Marrero, was snatched from his home at 2am on March 21, and is being held on terrorism charges. Mr Maduro has so far stopped short of detaining Mr Guaido himself, but the youthful politician said he knew it was a possibility. "We are aware of that," he said. "But we will not change our path." Juan Guaido's wife Fabiana Rosales, at the White House on March 27 The Trump administration has threatened the Maduro government with a strong response if Mr Guaido is harmed, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio - who has Mr Trump's ear on Venezuela policy - said nations should take any attempt by Mr Maduro's government to "abduct" him as a coup. "And anyone who cooperates with this should be treated as a coup plotter and dealt with accordingly," said Mr Rubio. However, Diosdado Cabello, the head of the constituent assembly and one of the most powerful men in Venezuela, accused the opposition of naively inviting a foreign invasion and of inciting a civil war. "They don't care about the deaths," said Mr Cabello. "They don't have the slightest idea what the consequences of war are for a country." Geoff Ramsey, a Venezuela researcher at the Washington Office on Latin America, said the Maduro government may be assessing its strength within the global community. "This seems like an attempt to test the waters, weighing how the international community would react to detaining Guaido," he said. "The government is reasserting its authority while also sending a clear signal to the opposition: we are in control."
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| Will Moisturizers With SPF Protect Your Skin? Posted: 03 Apr 2019 12:08 PM PDT  If your morning beauty routine involves applying both sunscreen and moisturizer, you may have decided to simplify things by using a moisturizer with SPF instead. That's a fine move, assuming you ...
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| Hundreds gather for funeral of Samantha Josephson, student killed after getting into wrong car Posted: 04 Apr 2019 09:03 AM PDT  Family and friends gathered to mourn the death of the New Jersey woman killed after getting into a car she thought was her Uber.
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| Google’s $900 Pixel 3 XL is only $522 on Amazon if you get a refurb Posted: 04 Apr 2019 06:49 AM PDT  Before you go and blow $900 or more on a new Pixel 3 XL, there's a limited-time deal on Amazon that you'll definitely want to check out. Pixel Phone 3 XL Smartphones in Just Black with 64GB of storage are down to just $522 and change right now. Or, if you want white instead of black, you can snag one for $530. These awesome Pixel phones are factory unlocked and they come with US warranties. Hurry before they sell out!Here are the bullet points from the product page: * This Certified Refurbished product has been tested and certified to work and look like new, with minimal to no signs of wear, by a specialized third-party seller approved by Amazon. The product is backed by a minimum 90-day warranty and may arrive in a generic brown or white box. Accessories may be generic and not directly from the manufacturer. * Create, share and stay connected with this black or white Google Pixel 3 XL smartphone. Its 64GB of storage lets you save important files and apps, and the 12.2-megapixel rear camera has autofocus to take professional-looking photos easily. The 6.3-inch touch screen on this Google Pixel 3 XL smartphone is water-resistant and dust-resistant. * Google Pixel 3 XL (64GB, 6.3") Factory Unlocked US Warranty, Brand: Google, Model: Pixel 3 XL Factory Unlocked, GSM MPN: G013C, Operating System: Latest Android 9 Pie (3 years of OS and security updates), Cellular Band: Unlocked, Lock Status: Network Unlocked, Screen Size: Fullscreen 6.3 inches QHDplus OLED at 523ppi * Glass: Corning Gorilla Glass 5, Network: Unlocked World-wide network/carrier compatibility with GSM/EDGE: Quad-band (850, 900, 1800, 1900 MHz) CDMA EVDO Rev A: BC0/BC1/BC10 WCDMA: W1/W2 Camera Resolution: 12.2MP HDR Support (UHDA certification), 4K Video Recording Rear Camera: 12.2MP dual pixel, f/1.8 aperture, Autofocus and dual pixel phase detection, Optical and electronic image stabilization, Spectral and flicker sensor Dual Front Cameras: 8MP wide angle and normal FoV cameras. * RAM: 4 GB, Storage Capacity: 64GB, Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (2.5GHz plus 1.6GHz), 64Bit Octa Core Adreno 630 ,Battery: 3430 mAh battery, 18w fast charging, Qi wireless charging, 18w/2A USB Type C charger, Wireless and Location: Wi Fi 2.4GHz plus 5.0GHz 802.11a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0 LE Materials: Aluminum frame plus hybrid coating, Style: Bar
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| Amazon's Bezos, wife reach biggest divorce deal in history Posted: 04 Apr 2019 04:42 PM PDT  Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, finalized the biggest divorce settlement in history on Thursday, leaving him with 75 percent of their stock in the tech giant and giving her nearly $36 billion in shares. MacKenzie Bezos said she would give all of her stake in The Washington Post and the space exploration firm Blue Origin to her husband -- the world's richest man -- as well as voting control of her remaining Amazon stock. Jeff Bezos, 55, and MacKenzie, 48, a novelist, married in 1993 and have four children.
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| 'We cannot have perfection as a litmus test': Stacey Abrams defends Biden amid allegations Posted: 04 Apr 2019 02:56 PM PDT  Abrams said there was no truth to the reports that Biden approached her about entering the 2020 race as his vice presidential running mate.
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| Breaking Down the Complicated Relationship Between Russia and NATO Posted: 04 Apr 2019 03:36 AM PDT  Tensions have long simmered between Russia and NATO. Here's why Russia never joined the alliance — and whether it was a missed opportunity
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| ‘It Was a Clusterf*ck’: How the Waco Biker Shooting Case Fell Apart Posted: 03 Apr 2019 10:23 AM PDT  Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald via APKiller bikers could still be walking free in Waco, Texas, according to the county's top prosecutor.McLennan County District Attorney Barry Johnson on Tuesday dropped all remaining charges related to the biker shooting in 2015 that left nine men dead and another 20 injured. Johnson told The Daily Beast he dropped the charges against 24 people because he claims his predecessor botched the case. As a result, he said, some people who may be responsible for murder may never face justice.On May 17, 2015, a gun battle broke out between members of the Cossacks and Bandidos motorcycle clubs at a Twin Peaks restaurant at a quiet outdoor shopping mall. The bedlam ended in seconds, and—with bodies piled in the parking lot—then-District Attorney Abel Reyna arrived on the scene and began working with police to round up the more than 200 motorcyclists who were being held at gunpoint by officers.Most were arrested and sent to jail on identical charges of engaging in organized criminal activity. A grand jury indicted 155 of those people, but only one man, Bandidos Dallas County chapter president Jacob Carrizal, was tried. Carrizal's six-week trial ended in a mistrial in November 2017. Johnson said the trial that failed to convict Carrizal cost the county $1.5 million. After Carrizal's mistrial, Reyna dropped all but 24 of the bikers' charges."They were trying to get the whole group on a conspiracy theory," Johnson told The Daily Beast on Wednesday. "They spent a lot of resources trying to go that route. That's the train that they got on."Johnson listed several charges that may have been successfully pursued by Reyna, including aggravated assault, attempted murder, and felony with a deadly weapon. But the statutes of limitations on those charges have expired, he said. "In my opinion, had this action been taken in a timely manner, it would have, and should have, resulted in numerous convictions and prison sentences against many of those who participated in the Twin Peaks brawl," Johnson said in a statement on Tuesday. "Over the next three years the prior district attorney failed to take that action, for reasons that I do not know to this day."As it stands, some of the shooters may be walking free. Preliminary autopsy reports showed that four of the bikers were killed by three police officers. The Waco Police Department, Texas Rangers, and a McLennan County grand jury cleared the officers of any wrongdoing last year. Unfortunately, Johnson said authorities don't know exactly who killed the other five men. "There still may be some open murder cases that may develop down the road, but that's probably unlikely," Johnson acknowledged."We were not able to meet our burden by putting a gun in the hand of whoever it was that shot and killed those other five people," he said. "We just weren't able to meet our burden to prove a murder.""You just had 25 officers and over 200 combatants in basically a war zone when the police got there," he explained. "We watched those videos hundreds of times," Johnson continued. "It was just my opinion that it was going to end up being another two to three years worth of trials back to back and it was not the right decision to go down that road."Reyna declined to respond to specific questions but provided a statement to The Daily Beast on Wednesday: "I absolutely disagree with the overall result as well as several statements and accusations within Mr. Johnson's press release; however, it is solely his decision on how to proceed with any case in the District Attorney's Office. I respect the fact that the voters of McLennan County chose Mr. Johnson to make these types of decisions."Meanwhile, the bikers' defense attorneys threw their hands up in collective relief on Wednesday, pointing the blame squarely at Reyna for arresting innocent people and letting potential murderers go free."I don't think we can conclude who shot who," said San Antonio attorney Alfonso Cabanas, whose client's case was dismissed in May 2018. "I don't think we're ever going to find out.""The case was tainted the minute that Abel Reyna stuck himself into the process at the scene and started telling people what to do, arresting everyone," said Cabanas. "The only people who should have been arrested are the shooters themselves. Not just the people there drinking iced tea, like my clients."Houston lawyer Paul Looney claimed "the case was dead before Johnson ever got elected.""He just didn't have a chance," Looney added."We have 177 people whose lives were just utterly devastated," Looney continued. "There's no winner whenever the law is manipulated that badly."Dallas attorney Clint Broden, meanwhile, called the prosecution "a clusterfuck.""It fell apart because they charged too many people and tried to create a false narrative," said Broden, who at one point represented five defendants involved in the case. "When the false narrative—that bikers were out to get Waco residents—was exposed, it was too difficult to convince people that the prosecution was in good faith. You had a hard time sorting the guilty from the not guilty at that point.""A lot of people's lives were ruined because they were innocent, but a lot of people did die," said Broden. "There are victims and victims' families who are being denied closure. The mess that was created prevented anyone who was guilty from being prosecuted. There's enough injustice to go around on both sides of this."Seth Sutton, who was the first attorney hired after the shooting, said his client, Bandido and Marine veteran Jeffrey Lee Battey, was "vilified by the courts, by the prosecution.""And every biker here paid the price for the false narrative," said Sutton. "They were so treated like cardboard cutout monsters and villains." "The motorcycle culture is a tight-knit group; it's a family," Sutton added. "He's a real victim here at the hands of the state."More than 130 of the bikers have filed civil rights lawsuits against Reyna, the city of Waco, McLennan County, and officers who were involved in the arrests.Even Judge Ralph Strother, who presided over dozens of hearings on the case, told The Daily Beast on Wednesday that he was glad to be done with it."No matter what perspective you view this episode from, it leaves an unpleasant taste in your mouth," Strother said.Read more at The Daily Beast.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Meet the Trump supporter trying to take her down through campaign finance complaints Posted: 03 Apr 2019 03:48 PM PDT  The man trying to bring down Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her staff for allegedly breaking campaign finance laws during the 2018 midterm elections, is a devout partisan and proud Donald Trump supporter, known for his distaste for the very campaign finance regulations he is using to try and stir up controversy.Dan Backer, a Virginia attorney, filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Wednesday, alleging that Ms Ocasio-Cortez and her chief of staff Seikat Chakrabarti engaged in a "scheme" to undercut normal "market value" for campaign services for her and several other progressive candidates.It is a complaint that Mr Backer says shows Ms Ocasio-Cortez's "hypocrisy" as an advocate for campaign finance reform, even if he does not personally agree with the underlying law. And, it is Mr Backer's own duality on these issues that campaign finance experts say illustrates how easy it is for partisan complaints to be filed with the FEC and make news with little in-depth scrutiny."I think much of what they set out to do SHOULD be legal, and the provisions restricting people from engaging in robust political activity in this way are likely unconstitutional, but it's still the law," Mr Backer told The Independent in an email.He continued: "And it's self-aggrandising 'reformers' like [Ms Ocasio-Cortez] who seek to make the laws even more burdensome. I would be thrilled if the adjudication here resulted in overturning some of these restrictions, but until then it's still the law and a self-professed reformer ought to follow the laws."A request sent to Ms Ocasio-Cortez's office seeking comment on Mr Backer's allegations received no reply. She has previously claimed the campaign finance allegations against her originated from a "conspiracy machine".In the newest complaint, Mr Backer charges that Ms Ocasio-Cortez and Mr Chakrabarti controlled three overlapping entities — the Justice Democrats PAC, the Brand New Congress PAC and Brand New Congress LLC — with a goal to "subsidise cheap assistance for Ocasio-Cortez and other candidates at rates far below market value".The complaint details a string of allegations, with multiple different ways that Mr Backer says Ms Ocasio-Cortez may have violated campaign finance laws."Dan Backer is a longtime actor in this space who has scored some notable victories. He has won, but he also has a reputation for taking a kind of kitchen sink approach," said Daniel Weiner, the senior counsel for the Brennan Centre for Justice."He sues the FEC constantly and loses much more often than he wins, though he has won," Mr Weiner continued. "He's also, frankly, he's a very, very committed partisan. Not unlike many people in this bar. He's also a committed — one might even say ferocious — opponent of campaign finance regulation generally."Mr Backer's complaint was filed on Wednesday on behalf of the Coolidge Reagan Foundation, a conservative activist group that has challenged Ms Ocasio-Cortez for campaign finance violations on at least one other occasion.The foundation is run by Mr Backer and by Shaun McCutcheon, a Republican donor and delegate for Mr Trump who once challenged — and won with Mr Backer's help — the FEC over limits on aggregate campaign donations to federal candidates during a two year period.In addition to his complaints against Ms Ocasio-Cortez, Mr Backer has been active in Republican politics organising against former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.Mr Backer helped to establish the Stop Hillary PAC, for instance, which was highly critical of her handling of the 2012 attacks on US government facilities in Benghazi, Libya, where a US ambassador was killed. The PAC was later renamed following Mr Trump's election as the Committee to Defend the President.Mr Backer was also involved in a complaint accusing the Clinton campaign in 2016 of campaign violations related to payments to Fusion GPS – the company that helped produce the dossier compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele.With Mr Backer's signature behind it, the Committee to Defend the President and a separate pro-Trump PAC called Great America PAC have already begun spending big to support the president's re-election bid. By mid-February, for instance, those two groups had already spent $441,038 and $821,280, respectively, according to the Centre for Responsive Politics.
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| Dalai Lama lauds New Zealand PM for handling mosque attacks Posted: 04 Apr 2019 04:17 AM PDT  NEW DELHI (AP) — The Dalai Lama on Thursday praised New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her compassionate handling of a recent attack on two mosques by a gunman that left 50 Muslim worshippers dead in Christchurch.
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| Apple cuts iPhone XR prices in India: sources Posted: 04 Apr 2019 03:08 AM PDT  The price of the 64 GB iPhone XR has been reduced by at least 17,900 rupees ($259) due to a price cut and a credit card cashback campaign, two people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday. "Apple is going to change their game," one of the people said, adding the company could also adjust prices for other devices depending on their demand. On Apple's India website, the price of the 64 GB iPhone XR was unchanged at 76,900 rupees, but is on sale for less than 59,000 rupees at stores, the people said.
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| 4 arrested after video shows wild fight inside Atlantic City McDonald's Posted: 03 Apr 2019 04:05 AM PDT  Police said a 21-year-old and three 17-year-old girls are being charged for attacking McDonald's employees and using pepper spray.
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| Wife of ex-Defense secretary defends Biden, says viral photo of them used 'misleadingly' Posted: 03 Apr 2019 07:32 AM PDT  "The Joe Biden in my picture is a close friend helping someone get through a big day, for which I will always be grateful," Stephanie Carter wrote.
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| Boeing’s Starliner is officially delayed, again Posted: 03 Apr 2019 03:04 PM PDT  It hasn't been a great year thus far for Boeing. The company has been dealing with a whole bunch of its commercial planes being grounded due to a pair of crashes that claimed hundreds of lives, and its contract with NASA to deliver a crewed spacecraft has resulted in nothing but cost overruns and massive delays. Now, after several weeks of whispers, NASA has officially announced the delay of the Boeing Starliner.The Starliner, which along with SpaceX's Crew Dragon was supposed to be NASA's ticket to sending astronauts into space without paying for help from Russia, has had a long and bumpy development. In order to have any hope of salvaging the work done and money already spent on Starliner, NASA was essentially forced to extend its agreement with Boeing or come up empty-handed."NASA and Boeing have agreed to extend the duration of the company's first crewed flight test to the International Space Station after completing an in-depth technical assessment of the CST-100 Starliner systems," NASA says in a statement. "NASA found the long-duration flight to be technically feasible and in the best interest of the agency's needs to ensure continued access and better utilization of the orbiting laboratory."As upbeat as this might sound, it's a terrible admission of failure on the part of Boeing, which has made a habit of coming up short in its Starliner milestones. NASA wants the Starliner to work, and it needs reliable transportation for its astronauts for trips to and from the International Space Station, but it will now be forced to wait even longer and shell out even more cash for the program.Meanwhile, SpaceX, which also failed to meet deadlines with its Crew Dragon capsule but has already completed an uncrewed test flight to the ISS, is now clearly ahead of its competitor. It was just last year that many analysts assumed that Boeing would handily beat Elon Musk's team in delivering a spacecraft to NASA, but things have shifted dramatically in the months since.At present, Boeing's Starliner isn't scheduled for an uncrewed test flight until late summer or fall of this year, and squeezing in a launch with crew on board before the end of 2019 seems like a big stretch.
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| Teen Found Wandering Around Kentucky Is Not Missing Boy Timmothy Pitzen. He’s Actually a 23-Year-Old Man. Posted: 04 Apr 2019 01:58 PM PDT  Photo Illustration The Daily Beast/ReutersThe person who claimed to be Timmothy Pitzen after he was found wandering in Kentucky is not the Illinois boy who vanished in 2011, but a 23-year-old man, the FBI confirmed through DNA testing on Thursday.The young man, who was found battered and alone in Newport, Kentucky, on Wednesday, told police he was the 6-year-old boy who went missing seven years ago after his mother picked him up at his Aurora, Illinois, elementary school for a road trip. In 2011, police found Pitzen's mother dead by suicide alongside a note saying her son was with people who "would care for him and love him." "You will never find him," the note added. Investigators confirmed the person claiming to be Pitzen was not the missing teen after a 24-hour DNA test. Furthermore, Newport police said, the boy was no boy at all: He is a 23-year-old man named Brian Michael Rini from Medina, Ohio."We know that you are out there somewhere, Tim, and we will never stop looking for you, praying for you and loving you," Pitzen's aunt, Kara Jacobs, said in a press conference after the DNA results were released.The FBI said in a tweet that a local investigation continues "into this person's true identity.""To be clear, law enforcement has not and will not forget Timmothy, and we hope to one day reunite him with his family. Unfortunately, that day will not be today," the agency said.Pitzen's grandmother, Alana Anderson, said the family has been on "tenterhooks," hopeful that their Timmothy was coming home."I feel so sorry for the young man who's obviously had a horrible time and felt the need to say he was someone else in hope that they can find his family," Anderson said.On Wednesday, Rini told Campbell County police that he escaped two male kidnappers while they were staying at a Cincinnati Red Roof Inn and ran across a bridge just over the Ohio River before knocking on a car window to ask for help, authorities said."He walked up to my car and he went, 'Can you help me? I just want to get home. Can you just please help me?' And I asked him what was going on and he told me he's been kidnapped," a good Samaritan who called police told WCPO.The Campbell County Sheriff's Office immediately contacted other nearby law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI field office, and searched all of the Red Roof Inns in its jurisdiction, according to the police report. Rini described his alleged captors as having "bodybuilder-type build" and were last seen in a "newer" Ford SUV with Wisconsin plates. Police were unable to find the described men. According to the police report, one of the men allegedly wearing Mountain Dew shirt and jeans was described as having "black curly hair...and a spider web tattoo on his neck," while the other "is short in stature and had a snake tattoo on his arms."Newport Police confirmed they are looking into Rini's claim of being kidnapped and acknowledged that he has given false statements in the past 24 hours when he claimed to be a kidnapped teenager. His motive is still unknown, and it's unclear whether he'll be charged with a crime.The 23-year-old man has reportedly been arrested three times, once in 2015 for allegedly making false reports that involved an Ohio law-enforcement agency, according to the Medina Post. Along with three other men, Rini was also arrested in 2017 for allegedly hosting a party in Medina, Ohio, and causing over $1,250 of damage in a model home, according to The Medina Gazette."Although we are disappointed that this turned out to be a hoax, we remain diligent in our search for Timmothy, as our missing person's case remains unsolved," Aurora police spokesman Sgt. Bill Rowley said in a press conference Thursday, adding that they will be investigating "this hoax."The FBI tested genetic material belonging to the man claiming to be Pitzen and compared them to a DNA sample from the missing teen, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast, adding that the results were "top priority.""We still have no confirmation of the identity of the person located, but hope to have something later this afternoon or early this evening," an Aurora Police spokesperson told The Daily Beast. "Unless or until his identity is confirmed, we have no official statement to mark, and nothing of substance to add."On May 11, 2011, 43-year-old Amy Fry-Pitzen checked her 6-year-old son out of his elementary school for a three-day vacation, which included a trip to a local zoo and a waterpark. She did not inform the boy's father of her intentions. The pair were last seen at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells, Wisc., according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.Three days later, Fry-Pitzen was found dead inside a motel room and her son missing. Aurora police told The Daily Beast on Thursday that the mother who openly struggled with depression suggested in her note that she might have "dropped her son off with a friend.""We never forgot, never stopped thinking about him everyday, stayed in touch with the police," Anderson, told NBC Chicago on Wednesday when she heard the news. "It just went cold and I just prayed that when he was old enough that he would remember us and contact us—that was kind of the best I could hope for for a long time."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| Remains of Israeli soldier missing since 1982 Lebanon war returned Posted: 03 Apr 2019 09:58 AM PDT  Israel announced Wednesday that the remains of a soldier missing since the 1982 Lebanon war had been returned to the country, bringing to a close a highly sensitive case for Israelis. Sergeant First Class Zachary Baumel had been missing since what is known as the Battle of Sultan Yacoub, said Israeli military spokesman Jonathan Conricus. "It is one of the most moving moments in all my years at the head of the country," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address from his Jerusalem office.
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| The 2019 Nissan Altima Just Outcornered the New BMW 3-Series Posted: 03 Apr 2019 07:30 AM PDT  The tire-squealing details behind this surprising one-upmanship.
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| Less debate time for Trump picks after Senate rules change Posted: 03 Apr 2019 03:05 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's Senate GOP allies, frustrated by delays in confirming dozens of lower-profile nominees, rammed through a rules change Wednesday that cuts back debate on most of his picks.
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| Roadmap for Syria's Manbij moving slower than desired: Turkish military sources Posted: 04 Apr 2019 06:39 AM PDT  Work between Turkey and the United States to implement an agreement over the Syrian town of Manbij is proceeding more slowly than desired, Turkish military sources said. Turkey is making efforts to speed up the process, the sources said, referring to an agreement between the NATO allies to a complete withdrawal of the Kurdish YPG militia from the town. Turkey and Russia have conducted three coordinated patrols in the mainly Kurdish-controlled northern Syrian region of Tel Rifaat and plan to continue the patrols, the sources said.
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| April freebies: Your monthly guide to food specials, meal deals and more Posted: 04 Apr 2019 03:00 AM PDT  April brings big freebie and deal days including National Burrito Day, National Beer Day, Tax Day and National Pretzel Day.
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| Timmothy Pitzen found? Here's a list of kids found alive after their disappearances made headlines Posted: 04 Apr 2019 03:55 PM PDT  Officials are working to determine if a boy found Wednesday is Timmothy Pitzen, missing since 2011. Here's a list of other missing kids found alive.
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| U.K. Parliament Acts to Block a Potentially Chaotic No-Deal Brexit Posted: 04 Apr 2019 01:25 AM PDT  Britain took a decisive step away from a damaging no-deal Brexit as members of Parliament and political leaders backed efforts to prevent a disorderly departure from the European Union. The House of Commons vote shortly before midnight Wednesday to block a no-deal divorce destroyed the dream of some of Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservative Party members for a clean break with the bloc as soon as next week. The vote makes a no-deal split from the EU "very unlikely," Health Secretary Matt Hancock told BBC Radio on Thursday.
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| Turkey recounts Istanbul votes after Erdogan's party appeals loss Posted: 03 Apr 2019 09:17 AM PDT  Turkish electoral authorities on Wednesday recounted votes in more than a dozen Istanbul districts after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AKP challenged results giving the opposition a narrow victory in a weekend election. The AKP won most votes nationwide in Sunday's municipal ballot, but tallies also showed the party lost the capital Ankara and the country's economic hub Istanbul in one of its worst setbacks in a decade and a half in power. AKP officials on Tuesday filed a challenge with electoral authorities saying they had found irregularities in ballots in both Ankara and Istanbul.
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| Audi, Infiniti, Nissan and more: a look at the latest Shanghai Motor Show sneak peeks Posted: 03 Apr 2019 03:28 AM PDT  On Monday and Tuesday, a handful of car manufacturers published their first teasers of concept models and production vehicles that will debut at the Shanghai Motor Show, which takes place in two weeks' time.
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| Trump just a blowhard on windmills, lawmakers say of 'idiotic' comments Posted: 04 Apr 2019 11:08 AM PDT  Chuck Grassley and Nancy Pelosi reach the same conclusion about the president's remarks on wind power.
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| Boeing's new 737 MAX flight control system 'seems foolproof': Norwegian CEO Posted: 03 Apr 2019 02:41 PM PDT ![Boeing's new 737 MAX flight control system 'seems foolproof': Norwegian CEO]( "Boeing's new 737 MAX flight control system 'seems foolproof': Norwegian CEO") Boeing's new MCAS flight control system for its 737 MAX aircraft appears foolproof, Norwegian Air Chief Executive Bjoern Kjos said on Wednesday after visiting the plane maker in Seattle. Kjos, a former fighter pilot, said in a series of tweets he had tested the old system versus the new one in a MAX simulator. More than 300 Boeing 737 MAX jets have been grounded worldwide after two fatal crashes in the past five months in Ethiopia and Indonesia killed nearly 350 people.
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| The 2020 Toyota Supra Gets Better MPG Than a Lot of Other Sports Cars Posted: 04 Apr 2019 10:43 AM PDT |
