| 'This was a direct attack on U.S. assets': Trump's aborted Iran strike draws criticism from Republicans Posted: 21 Jun 2019 12:14 PM PDT  Congressional Republicans were divided Friday following President Donald Trump's decision to abort a planned missile strike against Iran.
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| Georgia death row inmate becomes 1,500th person to be executed since US brought back death penalty Posted: 21 Jun 2019 01:08 PM PDT  The United States has executed the 1,500th person since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, according to a database keeping track of executions.Marion Wilson Jr was killed by lethal injection at 9.52pm on Thursday at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, Georgia after the US Supreme Court denied a stay of execution.The state's Department of Corrections confirmed his death. According to their press release, he was the 73rd person executed in Georgia since 1976, and the 51st put to death by lethal injection.Nationally, lethal injection counts for 1,323 of the 1,500 deaths, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.In 1997, WIlson was convicted along Robert Earl Butts Jr in the March 1996 slaying of 24-year-old Donovan Corey Parks.Prosecutors said Parks, a stranger to the two men, was killed after agreeing to give the two men a ride outside a Walmart in rural Georgia.Butts was sentenced to death as well; his death by lethal injection was fulfilled last year.The state's Department of Corrections says Wilson was given a final statement and a prayer before the state administered deadly injection of pentobarbital."I ain't never took a life in my life," Wilson said.To his friends and family he added: "I love y'all forever. Death can't stop it. Can't nothing stop it."Outside the prison where Wilson's death was administered, protestors of the death penalty held signs that read "1,500 executions and counting. Abolish the death penalty."Around 2,500 prisoners currently face the death penalty in America. The largest numbers are in California (740), Florida (354), and Texas (228).
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| ICE Plans to Target 2,000 Undocumented Immigrants in New Deportation Operation Posted: 21 Jun 2019 12:21 PM PDT  U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement will begin an operation Sunday targeting over 2,000 undocumented immigrants who have received deportation orders, according to reports.The operation will last several days and target families in up to ten U.S. cities, including those with large immigrant populations such as Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and Miami. Agents plan to use hotel rooms to hold undocumented individuals until all the members of their family are together, at which time they will be deported.Acting ICE head Mark Morgan stressed that the U.S. must send a message to potential immigrants that bringing a child into the country does not grant you immunity."Do not risk it. Do not pay the cartels an exorbitant amount of money, because once you receive due process and get a final order, you will be removed," Morgan said. "The message has gotten out that if you bring a kid, nothing will ever happen to you. We need to make sure we're sending the message that will not be tolerated any more."Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan has also suggested an effort to more specifically target about 150 families who were given attorneys but fled the legal process.Despite McAleenan's recommendation that immigration resources be directed toward the crisis at the southern border, President Trump has made the interior raid a priority and announced the upcoming operation earlier this week."Next week ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States," Trump wrote on Monday. "They will be removed as fast as they come in.""I don't want to send ICE agents to their workplace," Morgan said of the plans for mass arrests. "I don't want to send ICE agents to their home. I don't want to send ICE agents to try and track them down and apprehend them in their communities and town. But we've applied due process. We've tried to work with them."
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| Despite gaffes, Biden holds strong support among blacks in South Carolina Posted: 21 Jun 2019 02:41 PM PDT  As nearly two dozen Democratic presidential candidates here for a ritual fish fry event that marks the symbolic kickoff of the South Carolina campaign, former Vice President Joe Biden appears to be enjoying considerable early support, especially from the capital's tight-knit black community. South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn's "World Famous Fish Fry" gathers African-American party leaders, deep-pocketed Democratic donors, presidential candidates and reporters in a backyard-style cookout full of free food and hokey line dances during the state's customary Democratic weekend. While the state's black Democrats are hardly monolithic, interviews with prominent Democratic operatives and Columbia locals reflect what the polls already appear to indicate: Biden, in spite of his recent gaffes, appears to have a clear leg up with black voters here.
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| California governor proposes a $21 billion wildfire fund Posted: 21 Jun 2019 12:31 PM PDT  California Governor Gavin Newsom has proposed helping utilities create a fund of up to $21 billion to compensate future victims of wildfires sparked by the companies' equipment or employees, an aide said on Friday. The proposal by the Democratic governor follows the bankruptcy filing earlier this year of San Francisco-based utility PG&E Corp, which anticipates $30 billion in liabilities from wildfires that have been blamed on its equipment, including the state's deadliest blaze which killed more than 80 people last year. The state's other two large utilities, Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, have seen their credit ratings downgraded over wildfire concerns.
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| NRA sues ex-president Oliver North, saying he harmed the NRA Posted: 21 Jun 2019 05:19 AM PDT  The National Rifle Association has sued its former president, Oliver North, for what it called "conduct harmful to the NRA" as turmoil that was exposed publicly when North resigned two months ago continued Thursday when the organization also turned against its longtime chief lobbyist. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York sought a judge's declaration that the NRA isn't required to pay North's legal bills. North stepped down from the post in April after serving for a year.
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| Russians hit out at Kremlin ban on flights to Georgia Posted: 22 Jun 2019 03:50 AM PDT  Russia's travel industryhit out Saturday at a decision by the Kremlin to suspend flights to Georgia as a politically motivated move that has little to do with safety concerns. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning Russian airlines from flying to Georgia from July 8 late Friday in response to anti-government rallies in the ex-Soviet neighbour. The outbreak of protests was sparked by a parliamentary address in Tbilisi by a Moscow lawmaker earlier this week.
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| Oh My God, the Marines Have a Laser Now Posted: 21 Jun 2019 06:00 PM PDT  Wow Brace yourselves: Marine grunts now have their hands on a drone-killing laser cannon.Marines are currently evaluating a Compact Laser Weapons System (CLaWS) as "the first ground-based laser approved by the Department of Defense for use by warfighters on the ground," Marine Corps Systems Command announced on Wednesday.Unlike the Army's vehicle-mounted directed energy system, the CLaWS is "not intended to be a standalone system," according to MARCORSYSCOM, but the prototype will "serve as a component to an overall system" designed for counter-drone operations downrange."This was all in response to a need for counter unmanned aerial systems to take down drones," Ground Based Air Defense (GBAD) program manager Don Kelley said in the MARCORSYSCOM release. "We're providing CLaWS to Marines as a rapid prototype for evaluation ... Depending on the results, CLaWS could become part of a larger capability set."
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| These Brunch Cocktails Are What Your Mom Really Wants For Mother's Day Posted: 21 Jun 2019 01:11 PM PDT |
| The Trump administration is trying to make war with Iran inevitable Posted: 21 Jun 2019 11:00 PM PDT  We should view Iran's recent posturing for what it is: retaliation to the Trump administration's unnecessary and deliberate provocation'Like the recent oil tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman, the Trump administration has framed the drone incident as if it occurred in a vacuum – providing an aura of legitimacy to a possible American military response.' Photograph: Darren Ornitz/ReutersLast night, in response to Iran shooting down an American drone earlier this week, the United States came within one whim of an erratic and unstable president from launching a military strike on Iran.Like the recent oil tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman, the Trump administration has framed the drone incident as if it occurred in a vacuum – implying that the Iranians are launching these (alleged) attacks without provocation, and providing an aura of legitimacy to a possible American military response.And that's exactly what the Trump administration's Iran hawks – led by the national security adviser, John Bolton, and the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo — have seemingly planned all along: to cultivate conditions that make military conflict with Iran the only option.The current Iran predicament is the result of a years-long campaign by the same people who pushed for invasion of Iraq. Instead of learning from the Iraq debacle, they've decided that any means, including a potentially catastrophic war with Iran, are justified in order to achieve regime change in Tehran. Their public arguments for escalation with Iran have generally been cloaked as criticism of Barack Obama's Iran nuclear agreement, by disingenuously calling for what they know is an unachievable "better deal".The facts are indisputable. When Trump assumed office, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – as the nuclear deal is formally known – was working as advertised, blocking Iran from building a nuclear weapon. The United Nations' atomic energy watchdog has even confirmed more than a dozen times that Iran is, thus far, complying with the deal.But instead of capitalizing on these gains, the Trump administration threw it all away to take a different path. Slowly, over time, Trump officials ramped up their bellicose rhetoric toward Iran; falsely accused Tehran of coordinating with al-Qaida (presumably to invoke the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force as legal justification for a possible attack); pulled out of the JCPOA; and imposed sanctions so devastating that the Iranians were almost certain to lash out, whether in the form of the minor skirmishes we've seen in recent weeks or rejection of the terms of the 2015 nuclear accord.In early May, Bolton – an unrepentant Iraq war cheerleader who has been calling for war with Iran for nearly two decades – announced a military build-up in the region to counter purported threats from Iran. But we later found out that Team Trump was not only blowing that intel way out of proportion, but also that US intelligence agencies had assessed that Iran's new and threatening activity was actually in response to the Trump administration's aggression.We should view Iran's recent posturing for what it is: retaliation to the Trump administration's unnecessary and deliberate provocation.Although Trump backed down this time, the possibility of war with Iran is very real. Even a "limited strike" scenario could quickly spiral out of control.Thankfully it appears that, for now, Trump is holding to his campaign promises of wanting to extricate the US from its Middle East forever wars and refrain from starting any new ones. But we're dealing with Donald Trump and the primary factor in determining whether we go to war with Iran is whether he believes it will benefit him politically at home. Everything Trump says or does must be viewed through that lens.To fight the Trump administration's efforts to escalate conflict with Iran, we must call on Congress to speak out more forcefully against war with Iran, and get Congress to pass recently introduced legislation that would bar funding for any unauthorized war. It might also mean, however distasteful it may feel, promoting voices calling for restraint from the only television news outlet Trump cares about, like Tucker Carlson at Fox.But of course there are no guarantees. There still remains a well-funded, influential, and eager pro-Iran war lobby pushing Trump towards conflict. The only question that remains is whether it will box him in far enough to the point of no return, or whether a public campaign against war can provide the off ramp that will be required. * Ben Armbruster is the communications director for Win Without War and previously served as National Security Editor at ThinkProgress
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| Woman falls asleep on flight and wakes up in pitch dark on locked and empty plane Posted: 22 Jun 2019 08:09 AM PDT  A woman has claimed she was left alone in a dark and locked plane after falling asleep on a flight.Tiffani Adams took a 90-minute Air Canada flight from Quebec to Toronto on 9 June.Ms Adams fell asleep during the journey but woke up to find the aircraft empty, cleared and parked in Toronto.She had somehow been left inside the dark plane, which appeared to have been locked for the night."I fell asleep probably less than halfway through my short 1.5 hour flight," she said, in a message posted on Air Canada's Facebook page."I wake up around midnight (few hours after flight landed) freezing cold still strapped in my seat in complete darkness (I'm talking pitch black)."Ms Adams described her ordeal as "terrifying" and said she thought she was having a bad dream.The stranded passenger called a friend but her phone died around a minute into the call. Ms Adams then attempted to charge the phone but found that the plane's power had been switched off."I can't charge my phone to call for help I'm full on panicking [because] I want off this nightmare asap," she said."As someone with an anxiety disorder as is I can tell you how terrifying this was," she wrote"I think I'm having a bad dream bc like seriously how is this happening!!?"Ms Adams said she found a torch in the plane's cockpit and eventually made her way to the aircraft's main door.She eventually opened the door, only to find herself around 50 ft above ground and unable to negotiate the drop beneath her.The passenger said she sat with her legs dangling out of the aircraft while sending out distress signals with her torch.Ms Adams said she was unable to tell how much time had passed before she saw a man driving a luggage cart, who passed the plane.She said she flagged the startled airport employee down, saying he was "in shock" to see her. "He [asked] how the heck they left me on the plane," Ms Adams said, describing her rescue."I'm wondering the same."The man then accompanied Ms Adams to the airport building, where she was met by Air Canada representatives.Ms Adams said being forgotten on the plane had left her with recurring "night terrors".She said she struggled to sleep and would wake "anxious and afraid [she was] locked up someplace dark".An airline spokesperson confirmed the account and told The Independent that Air Canada was reviewing the incident and remained in contact with the passenger.
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| Fellow SEALs say chief shot girl and old man in Iraq Posted: 21 Jun 2019 07:50 PM PDT  Two Navy SEALs testified Friday that their platoon chief gunned down a young girl and an old man in Iraq in 2017 from his sniper's perch, though neither witnessed him pulling the trigger. The SEALs said shots came from the tower where Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher was posted and they watched through their scopes as the civilians fell to the ground. Dalton Tolbert said he and another sniper were in a neighboring tower in Mosul on June 18, 2017, and had fired warnings shots to scatter civilians by the Tigris River because the Islamic State was operating in the area.
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| Pentagon secretly struck back against Iranian cyberspies targeting U.S. ships Posted: 21 Jun 2019 04:45 PM PDT  On Thursday evening, U.S. Cyber Command launched a retaliatory digital strike against an Iranian spy group that supported last week's limpet mine attacks on commercial ships, according to two former intelligence officials.
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| ICE confirms plans to arrest more than 2,040 undocumented family members in deportation raids beginning Sunday Posted: 21 Jun 2019 06:39 PM PDT  Immigration and Customs Enforcement top official told ABC News on Friday that the agency plans to arrest more than 2,040 undocumented family members, adding that "there has to be consequences" to entering the United States illegally.
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| U.S. cannot unilaterally remove Turkey from F-35 program: Turkish defense official Posted: 21 Jun 2019 01:15 AM PDT  The United States cannot unilaterally remove Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program as the partnership agreement does not allow it, Turkey's head of Defense Industries Directorate said on Friday. "No single country can say they don't want you and then remove you from the program," Ismail Demir told reporters. Ankara and Washington have been at loggerheads for months over Turkey's planned purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense system.
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| Trevor Noah Schools Audience Member Who Wants Reparations for White People Posted: 20 Jun 2019 07:27 PM PDT  Comedy CentralAmerica's great reparations debate made its way to The Daily Show on Thursday night. But it wasn't on the air. In his latest "Between the Scenes" segment, host Trevor Noah fielded a question from a member of his audience who wanted to know if he thought reparations should "just go to one group" or perhaps to members of the "same socioeconomic group." In case the question wasn't clear enough, he added, "There are white people that have been disenfranchised recently." "'Recently' is the key," Noah replied. "I think you have to understand what the word 'reparations' means first." As the host put it, reparations are about "repairing" something "that you have broken" or "paying for something that you were supposed to pay for." "I'm not saying that there aren't people living in America today who are suffering and who are going through pain and strife because of what's happening when it comes to, you know, machines taking jobs, factories becoming industrialized, etcetera," he continued. "But reparations is a specific conversation about a specific time in America, and that is black people were slaves, you know what I mean?" In response to those who would argue that Irish indentured servants also deserve reparations, Noah said that if you were a slave, "you could not work toward your freedom" and "you lived and died as a slave." "And so that's what reparations is about," he told the audience member. "And so I hear what you're saying, but I think that's a completely separate conversation." If you're "not careful," he said you could "combine everybody's suffering in the same bowl and make it seem like all injustices have the same weighting. And they don't." Laura Ingraham Dismisses Reparations: 'No Do-Overs...We Won, You Lost, That's That'It's Juneteenth, and a White Nationalist Is PresidentNoah went on to express sympathy for any white person who is "suffering" and can't see their own "white privilege" because they are poor. "It is hard to accept that you have benefits because of the color of your skin if you cannot see the benefits that you have," he said, going on to use the analogy of a golf handicap to explain why black people deserve a leg-up in America. When you look at everything from slavery to Jim Crow laws to continued institutional racism, Noah said, "I think it's safe to say that black Americans have a conversation that they need to be having with the United States." "It doesn't involve me, it doesn't involve white people," he concluded. "It's like, 'Yo, American government, meet the black people.' That's it. Have that conversation." 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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| How the B-2 Bomber Could Destroy Iran In a War Posted: 21 Jun 2019 01:59 AM PDT  The need to penetrate advanced air-defense networks in the post–Cold War era led to B-2s acquiring a conventional strike capability. The bomber can carry up to sixteen Joint Directed Attack Munition (JDAM) satellite-guided 2,000 pound bombs. In the past it has also carried CBU-87 Combined Effects Munitions and CBU-90 Gator mine dispensers, but submunition-dispensing munitions are being phased out in U.S. inventories. The bomber also carries the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon, a glide bomb with a range of up to fifty miles and a GPS-based guidance system. For standoff attacks, the Spirit can carry the AGM-158 Joint Air Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) and the new, longer-range JASSM-ER (extended range). Finally, the B-2 can carry two 30,000 pound twenty foot long Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs for attacking hardened targets, one per weapons bay.The B-2 Spirit is one of three strategic heavy bombers in U.S. Air Force service. Originally conceived to infiltrate the Soviet air-defense network and attack targets with nuclear weapons, over the decades its mission has grown to include conventional precision attack. The B-2 is the most advanced bomber in U.S. service, and the only one of three types that still carries nuclear gravity bombs.(This first appeared in 2017.)
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| 9/11 first responder pleads for victims fund from his hospice bed Posted: 21 Jun 2019 10:19 AM PDT  Luis Alvarez, who testified with Jon Stewart, asked Congress to 'do the right thing' in what he expects to be his last interviewAn emergency first responder who was diagnosed with cancer following his work at Ground Zero in New York has spoken from his hospice bed just days after he testified alongside Jon Stewart about funding for those who fell ill from their work after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.Retired New York police department detective Luis Alvarez used what he expects to be his final interview to make a final impassioned plea to Congress to renew the 9/11 victims fund and deal with an "epidemic" of Ground Zero-related illnesses.Alvarez said on Thursday that after nearly 70 rounds of chemotherapy, doctors had told him there was nothing more they could do. He was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2016 that has spread to his liver."It's an epidemic. There's going to be more and more first responders getting sick. And our government has to take care of them. It's just a matter of decency, a matter of doing the right thing. We did the right thing when we went down there. Now it's the government's turn to do the right thing by us," Alvarez, 53, told Fox News.> UPDATE: 9/11 first responder Luis Alvarez does an interview with @FoxNews as his liver is failing after breathing in toxic dust after the Twin Towers fell https://t.co/cIUomvx6OJ> > — Nikki Schwab (@NikkiSchwab) June 20, 2019Alvarez said going through cancer has been stressful for his whole family. "We need to ease the stress on the first responders," he added. "And let them know that they're not alone. That the government is here to back them up, to give them the support they need, the financial support that they're going to need when they get sick. It's just a matter of time. You know, most of us that were down there – it's just a matter of time before we get sick."It came just nine days after he received a standing ovation in Washington DC, where Stewart and other first responders addressed the House judiciary committee, to speak out against plans to cut 9/11 compensation by up to 70%."You made me come down here the day before my 69th round of chemo, and I'm going to make sure that you never forget to take care of the 9/11 responders," he said at the hearing. But the following day his health took a downturn and doctors concluded that his liver had shut down.Speaking with his son David by his side from a hospice in Long Island, near New York City, Alavarez said to Fox News host Shepard Smith on Thursday: "We need this bill passed, Shep. It's got to be passed quickly and efficiently so we never have to come down to Washington again and lobby."He said he was comfortable and "at peace" surrounded by his family and that he had "no regrets whatsoever".He insisted that he was just doing what any fire, police or emergency worker would have done when he spent three months at the site of the 9/11 attacks, searching for remains and clearing up in a smoldering, toxic pile after terrorists flew hijacked passenger jets into the World Trade Center. He added: "I'm nobody special. I did what all the other guys did. And now we're paying the price for it."He said he is leaving his sons David, 29, Tyler, 19, and Ben, 14, "without a father".While he said he was "lucky" to have had the heathcare that he has, there are people in his position who do not.He said it was time for the government to act: "We just want the money to be there for our families so that God forbid they do get sick, they're covered."He said they were told the air was safe – which it was not – but even if they had known it was unsafe they would have gone in regardless, "because that's what we do".He said the problem is a US-wide issue among first responders who travelled to New York after the 9/11 attacks to help and warned others to be vigilant."I just want them to know, hey if you were down at Ground Zero … get yourself checked out. Because you could be sick from ground zero," he added.
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| Court tosses black man's murder conviction over racial bias Posted: 21 Jun 2019 01:44 PM PDT  The Supreme Court on Friday threw out the murder conviction and death sentence for a black man in Mississippi because of a prosecutor's efforts to keep African Americans off the jury. The removal of black prospective jurors deprived inmate Curtis Flowers of a fair trial, the court said in a 7-2 decision written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The long record of Flowers' trials stretching back more than 20 years shows District Attorney Doug Evans' "relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals," with the goal of an all-white jury, Kavanaugh wrote.
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| Wisconsin governor vetoes 'born alive' legislation and other abortion measures Posted: 21 Jun 2019 04:25 PM PDT  Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers vetoed four abortion bills Friday, a day after GOP lawmakers made a show in the Capitol of formally sending them to him.
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| Trump vows new Iran sanctions, Tehran warns US against attack Posted: 22 Jun 2019 05:19 PM PDT  US President Donald Trump on Saturday pledged to hit Iran with "major" new sanctions as Tehran warned Washington that any attack would see its interests across the Middle East go up in flames. The war of words heated up after Trump had pulled back from military action against Iran in response to its downing of a US reconnaissance drone. Iran has denied responsibility for those attacks.
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| School will no longer be recognised as Catholic after refusing to fire gay teacher, church officials say Posted: 22 Jun 2019 11:50 AM PDT  A school that refused to fire a gay teacher as ordered by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis says it has been told by church officials that it will no longer be recognised as Catholic. But school leaders pledged to keep the institution's religious identification.The archdiocese announced in a statement that it would no longer recognise Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, an independently operated school, because it was not insisting that all employees "be supportive of all teachings of the Catholic Church," the Catholic News Agency reported. The church is against homosexual activity.A statement by the Reverend Brian G Paulson, who heads the Midwest Province of Jesuits, said the archdiocese told Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School two years ago not to renew the contract of a teacher whose "marital status does not conform to church doctrine." He also said the decision, to be formalised in a church decree, would be appealed through a church process and would go as high as the Vatican "if necessary."Leaders of Brebeuf Jesuit posted an open letter to their community on the Indianapolis school's website saying the archdiocese had directly inserted itself into a school governance matter in an "unprecedented" way and that it would not do what Archbishop Charles Thompson had demanded.The letter said in part: "Specifically, Brebeuf Jesuit has respectfully declined the Archdiocese's insistence and directive that we dismiss a highly capable and qualified teacher due to the teacher being a spouse within a civilly-recognised same-sex marriage."The unidentified teacher was said by Mr Paulson to be "a valued employee" who does not teach religion. He wrote that Brebeuf Jesuit became aware through social media "that one of its teachers entered into a civil marriage with a person of the same sex."According to the Associated Press, a school operated by the archdiocese, Indianapolis Roncalli High School, has fired or suspended two guidance counsellors in the past year because they are in same-sex marriages.Brebeuf Jesuit's leaders who signed the open letter are the Reverend William Verbryke, the school president; W Patrick Bruen, chair of the school's Board of Trustees; and Daniel M Lechleiter, chair-elect of the trustees board. They promised in the letter that the school's mission would not change as a result of this conflict with the archdiocese."We understand that this news will likely spur a host of emotions, questions and even confusion in the days ahead. Please be assured, the Archdiocese's decision will not change the mission or operations of Brebeuf Jesuit."On Friday, the school's name was not on the archdiocese's list of Catholic schools in its region.The church says there are 68 Catholic schools - 57 elementary schools and 11 high schools - in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, according to its website. Collectively, they enrolled some 23,200 students during the 2018-2019 school year.Most of those schools are operated by a school division within the archdiocese, which is headed by Superintendent Gina Kuntz Fleming, who did not return phone calls about Brebeuf Jesuit. While Brebeuf Jesuit is a Catholic school within the archdiocese, it is independently operated. The school has nearly 800 students in grades nine through 12.The school leaders' letter said that, while the archdiocese "may choose to no longer attend or participate in the school's Masses and formal functions, Brebeuf Jesuit is, and will always be, a Catholic Jesuit school."It also said church leaders assured them that "Jesuit priests may continue to serve at Brebeuf Jesuit and will retain their ability to celebrate the sacraments of the Catholic Church."The Washington Post
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| Hannity and Manafort’s Gushing Text Messages Revealed: ‘We Are All on the Same Team’ Posted: 21 Jun 2019 03:22 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast / Photo GettyThroughout Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecution of Paul Manafort, he found a willing and enthusiastic ally and confidant: Fox News host and presidential pal Sean Hannity. On Friday, a D.C. federal judge released dozens of pages of private text messages between the former Trump campaign chairman and Hannity, who at one point offered "anything I can do to help."The messages show Hannity apparently reached out shortly after the FBI raided Manafort's Alexandria, Virginia apartment in August 2017. Hannity checked in on Manafort throughout the course of the special counsel's investigation and prosecution of him, asking if he was OK. Like many other higher-ups in Trump's orbit, Manafort maintained a friendly relationship with Hannity during the 2016 election and kept in touch after he left the Trump campaign in August 2016. The Special Counsel's Office charged Manafort with tax and bank fraud counts in Virginia and tried him in a separate case in Washington, D.C., for acting as an unregistered foreign agent, money laundering and obstruction of justice. Trump to Hannity: You're 'Not Really' a Patriot, You Just Want 'Great Ratings'Hannity spent large portions of his texts with Manafort discussing (and rehashing) episodes of his own television show. He complained about never-Trumpers, Hillary Clinton, and the special counsel's investigation. Hannity also repeatedly invited Manafort on TV, saying it would give him a chance to defend himself against Mueller's prosecutors. Hannity told Manafort to connect him with his lawyer to get information on important developments. Manafort repeatedly declined, citing a court gag order restricting him from publicly discussing his case. But the text messages were perhaps the most blatant behind-the-scenes look at how cozy the host was with Manafort, the subject of hours of news coverage on Fox and Hannity's show in particular.Hannity in one instance declared he was "NOT a fair weather friend," and told Manafort how unfairly he believed he was being treated. "We are all on the same team," he said. Manafort also had plenty of compliments for Hannity, saying he was on "fire," "great" on radio, and declared that "in a fair world, you would get a Pulitzer prize for your incredible reporting." He said he loved Hannity's interview with former Trump adviser Roger Stone, and in one instance, Manafort said he watched the show with his three-month-old grandson, who was apparently mesmerized."I swear to God. He was totally focused. Your audience is growing demographically," he said."You help me keep my hope and sanity," Manafort said on another occasion. And throughout the investigation and trial, Hannity repeatedly publicly called for the charges against Manafort to be dropped. Hannity even hinted at insider knowledge of attempts to retaliate against those involved in the Russia investigation. When Manafort said he hoped that then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions would appoint a new special counsel to investigate the Russia inquiry, Hannity texted "He has to [do] it [or else] he is gone. Talked to a friend." While it's unclear who Hannity was talking about, he often speaks to Trump.After the text messages were revealed on Friday, Hannity appeared to shrug them off, writing on Twitter that his views on the Russia investigation and Manafort "were made clear every day to anyone who listens to my radio show or watches my TV show." Manafort is currently serving a 7.5-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of financial crimes by a Virginia jury and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice and defraud the United States in a separate D.C. case.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Despite the US ban, Huawei is still China’s most attractive employer Posted: 20 Jun 2019 10:58 PM PDT  The Trump administration's inclusion of Huawei on a blacklist that bans US companies from doing business with the Chinese consumer electronics giant has generated at least one surprising side effect.Despite the fact that international vendor firms are starting to cut off the company, which stands to lose critical partners like Google and Facebook as a result of the ban, Chinese engineering students have for the second year in a row voted Huawei as the most attractive employer in the country -- the place where many of them are still highly interested in finding a job.Per CNN, Shenzhen-based Huawei beat out companies like Alibaba and Tencent on the survey of more than 50,000 Chinese students by research firm Universum that sought to identify China's most sought-after workplaces.It's a rare bright spot at the moment for a company that had ambitions perhaps as soon as this year of dethroning Samsung as the biggest smartphone maker in the world. US-led opposition pretty much ground that effort to a halt, with the company forecasting a revenue miss that equates to several billion dollars, a problem that's compounded by the potential future loss of official apps from Facebook and Google -- which are must-haves for Huawei's customers outside of China who comprise around half of its user base.Perhaps even more concerning for the company is the likelihood that it will be cut off soon from Google's Android mobile OS, precluding future Huawei handsets from getting Android and its security updates as well as denying those future handsets access to official apps from the Google Play Store.No wonder that Huawei has started promising full, 100% refunds to some customers if they buy a handset and the Google and Facebook apps that are on it now stop working because of the US ban. All of which makes it all the more interesting that there's a kind of rally-round-the-home-team feeling among Chinese students who, despite all of the above, still see the company as the place where they want to be.
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| UPDATE 2-Democratic presidential hopefuls seek black support at South Carolina fish fry Posted: 21 Jun 2019 08:54 PM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Democratic presidential hopefuls seek black support at South Carolina fish fry]( "UPDATE 2-Democratic presidential hopefuls seek black support at South Carolina fish fry") A fish fry in South Carolina on Friday drew the largest crowd of Democratic presidential candidates yet and gave them a chance to gauge support among black voters, who will be a crucial voting bloc in the early primary state next year. Twenty-one of the 24 major candidates seeking the party's 2020 nomination attended the gathering in Columbia hosted by U.S. Representative Jim Clyburn, the highest-ranking black lawmaker in Congress. The event acts as an unofficial kickoff to the Democratic primary race in South Carolina, and gave contenders a chance to hobnob with Clyburn's political network while attendees ate an estimated 4,400 pounds of fried fish and 6,400 slices of bread.
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| Texas sends an additional 1,000 troops to the US-Mexico border Posted: 22 Jun 2019 06:20 AM PDT  Governor Greg Abbott says the surge of illegal immigration can't go unchecked.
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| Spain's top court convicts 5 men in gang rape case Posted: 21 Jun 2019 12:13 PM PDT  Spain's Supreme Court on Friday overruled two lower courts and sentenced five men to 15 years in prison for raping an 18-year-old woman. The case had triggered an outcry because the lower courts last year convicted the men of the lesser crime of sexual abuse and handed down nine-year sentences. Women's rights advocates had expressed anger about what they saw as the lower court's leniency and the confirmation of that sentence by a second court.
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| Why India’s Hypersonic Missile Could Trigger A Nuclear War Posted: 21 Jun 2019 10:00 AM PDT  India's test of a hypersonic missile signifies more than the advance of Indian weapons technology.It also is one step closer to triggering a nuclear war with Pakistan.Ironically, the first launch of the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle, or HSTDV, was a failure. The HSTDV, which is shaped almost like a sailing ship, is supposed to be a testbed for developing future hypersonic weapons such as cruise missiles. It is launched atop an Agni 1, an Indian ballistic missile."The vehicle was test launched using the Agni 1 missile platform that was to take it up to a predetermined altitude where scramjet technology—the ability to fly at speeds in excess of Mach 6 while using atmospheric oxygen as oxidizer—had to be validated with separation of the platform and a short flight at high altitude," according to India's Economic Times."Sources said that while the missile on which the platform was mounted successfully took off from the range, the test could not be completed to demonstrate the vehicle at hypersonic speed as the Agni 1 did not reach the desired altitude for the test. Scientists are looking at the technical reasons behind this and are studying all available data."
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| Iran executes 'CIA spy' amid Gulf tensions Posted: 22 Jun 2019 09:42 AM PDT  Iran has hanged a CIA informer said to be a former member of the military unit that downed the US drone on Thursday. Iran's Judiciary Unit for Armed Forces confirmed an earlier report by Iran Human Rights organisation (IRH) that Seyyed Jamal Haji-Zavareh was executed last week on charges of "spying for an enemy state and the CIA". Hajizavareh was reportedly executed at the Rajai Shahr prison in Karaj, west of Tehran. The justice department has denied Haji-Zavareh had been a senior member of the military unit and has referred to him as "a subcontracted former employee of the Ministry of Defence who had left his job nine years ago". However, according to the rights group, prior to his arrest in September 2017, Seyed Jamal (also known as Siavash) Haji-Zavareh was an employee of the Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He had been arrested along with his wife, Leila Tajik. Iran said earlier this week it had dismantled a 'new' US spy network in the country linked to the CIA The force was established in the late 1980s after the end of Iran-Iraq war as part of theIRGC's air force and is currently in charge of Iran's strategic missile forces. Pictures on Iranian national TV today showed the commander of the Guards' aerospace division General Amirali Hajizadeh inspecting the retrieved sections of the US surveillance drone and admitting that his force's missile had downed it on Thursday. Iran has accused US of violating its national sovereignty by flying the drone over the waters of the Strait of Hormuz, but Washington has maintained that the spying unmanned plane had been in international airspace when hit by a missile. "A well-informed source told IHR Jamal was held in a place called the death cell. He was tortured severely", the rights group said, adding that Jamal's wife, Leila Tajik, has been sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment and is held at Kachouei prison of Tehran. "They could not have a lawyer of their own choice," the source said, "Siavash (Seyed Jamal) was in solitary confinement at an unknown place owned by the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence." The report comes days after Iran said it had dismantled a "new" US spy network in the country linked to the CIA, amid escalating tensions between Tehran and Washington. In what it termed a "wide-reaching blow" to US intelligence, state news agency IRNA said on Tuesday that Tehran had carried out the operation in cooperation with "foreign allies", without naming any state. President Donald Trump said Friday the United States was "cocked & loaded" to strike Iran but pulled back at the last minute as it would not have been a "proportionate" response to Tehran's shooting down of the unmanned drone. The downing of the drone came after tensions spiked between the two countries following a series of attacks on oil tankers the US has blamed on Iran.
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| Philippine ex-official critical of China denied Hong Kong entry Posted: 21 Jun 2019 03:20 AM PDT  Former Philippine foreign minister Albert del Rosario was denied entry to Hong Kong on Friday, in what critics called retaliation for his attacks on Beijing's contested claims over the South China Sea. Del Rosario was behind two prominent legal initiatives against China, including a 2013 case at an international tribunal which ultimately ruled against Beijing's claim to most of the resource-rich waterway. Del Rosario said he flew to Hong Kong early Friday using a Philippine diplomatic passport but was taken to an immigration holding area on arrival, where he remained "for nearly three and a half hours".
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| The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is the brand's most powerful car Posted: 21 Jun 2019 07:12 AM PDT  This week, Ford announced that the 2020 Mustang Shelby will be equipped with the most powerful V8 engine "in the world," making it the company's highest performing street-legal car to date. This week, however, Ford revealed the model's engine specs: the supercharged V8 will be able to produce 760 horsepower and 625 lb.-ft of torque.
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| 'An existential threat': Bernie Sanders faces mounting opposition from moderate Democrats Posted: 20 Jun 2019 10:00 PM PDT  Moderates are increasingly vocal in their disdain for socialism, and Sanders, but the question of how to constrain him is complicatedThe Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at George Washington University on 12 June on his policy of democratic socialism. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/APModerate Democrats have stepped up their opposition to Bernie Sanders as part of a concerted effort to isolate him from the sprawling field of otherwise "mainstream" and "electable" presidential candidates running for their party's nomination in 2020.Last week, Sanders delivered a searing defense of democratic socialism that set himself apart from the rest of the Democratic party, whose opposition he said he not only anticipated but welcomed.Days later, at a gathering of nearly 250 political moderates convened by the centrist thinktank Third Way in South Carolina, some of the party's most prominent center-left voices took the bait."I believe a gay midwestern mayor can beat [Donald] Trump. I believe an African American senator can beat Trump. I believe a western governor, a female senator, a member of Congress, a Latino Texan or a former vice-president can beat Trump," said Jon Cowan, president of Third Way, hours before Donald Trump formally launched his re-election campaign with a rally in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday."But I don't believe a self-described democratic socialist can win."> I don't believe a self-described democratic socialist can win> > Jon CowanIn speeches and on panels over the course of two sticky days in Charleston earlier this week, moderate lawmakers, strategists and donors inveighed against the Vermont senator's populist economic vision. The approach elevated a conversation that has largely taken place behind closed doors about how to thwart Sanders, who moderates believe would alienate crucial voting blocs in a general election."He has made it his mission to either get the nomination or to remake the party in his image as a democratic socialist," Cowan told the Guardian. "That is an existential threat to the future of the Democratic party for the next generation."Sanders – who maintains his political identity as an independent– has made it clear he intends to run against the Democratic establishment even as he seeks the party's nomination. Third Way's public criticism of the senator, days before the first presidential primary debates next week, reflects sharp new dividing lines in the battle for control of the party. 'Anybody but Bernie'"The cat is out of the bag," Sanders tweeted on Wednesday, sharing a Politico story about how mainstream Democrats are warming to Elizabeth Warren, his closest ideological ally. "The corporate wing of the Democratic party is publicly 'anybody but Bernie'."His campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, said in a statement that the party's moderate faction had effectively "declared war on Senator Sanders" and denounced Third Way as a "Washington thinktank that takes Wall Street money."Sanders and his allies believe that the Democratic party's turn toward corporatism led to Trump's rise and that the theory of political electability advanced by group's like Third Way is no match for the mood of the electorate in a populist moment.As Democrats becomes more liberal, their views on socialism, especially among young people, are warming. Earlier this month at a party event in California earlier this month, the Democratic hopeful John Hickenlooper was booed by the audience for saying socialism is "not the answer".> The cat is out of the bag. The corporate wing of the Democratic Party is publicly "anybody but Bernie." They know our progressive agenda of Medicare for All, breaking up big banks, taking on drug companies and raising wages is the real threat to the billionaire class. https://t.co/zimci7JRO6> > — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) June 19, 2019But after more than two years of standing by as the party's progressive faction flexed its newfound power, moderates again feel ascendant. Emboldened by the results of the 2018 midterm elections, which saw pragmatic Democrats win in dozens of Republican-held districts to deliver a majority in the House of Representatives, they are increasingly vocal in their disdain for socialism – and Sanders.But the question of how to constrain Sanders is complicated. In 2016, Trump defeated a wide field of more experienced and more qualified candidates with a populist message that appealed to the right's anti-establishment anger. In a race with a similarly large field of candidates, Sanders enters with far more advantages than Trump did: the Vermont senator is both experienced and qualified, with a dedicated following, a prodigious small-dollar fundraising operation, a developed economic platform and a populist appeal that surges when he is attacked by the political establishment he ran against to great effect in 2016.Trump and Republicans continue to hurl the socialism label at the Democrat field. On Tuesday night, Trump warned in a speech formally launching his re-election campaign: "A vote for any Democrat in 2020 is a vote for the rise of radical socialism and the destruction of the American dream."Democratic hopeful John Hickenlooper was booed by the audience for saying socialism is 'not the answer'. Photograph: Stephen Lam/ReutersNone of Sanders's 23 competitors have embraced the democratic socialism label. Warren, who is nipping at his heels in some recent polls, distinguishes herself as a capitalist.Attitudes toward socialism are shifting in the US. Recent surveys have found that young people and women associate socialism with European countries rather than Soviet Russia. Yet socialism remains broadly unpopular: less than half of American voters say they would vote for a "qualified presidential candidate who is a socialist", according to a Gallup poll released in May. 'Who's better on the economy?'The mood at the conference vacillated from nervous optimism to nervous pessimism about Democrats' prospects for beating Trump in 2020."If we don't nominate a self-proclaimed socialist, we'll probably be OK," said Jen Psaki, who was White House communications director under Obama. "I hope so."But the former North Dakota senator Heidi Heitkamp, who lost re-election in 2018, warned that Democrats would continue to lose the White House and the US Senate unless the party makes inroads with rural voters.> If we don't nominate a self-proclaimed socialist, we'll probably be OK> > Jen Psaki"We have stopped talking to the middle of the country," said Heitkamp, who launched One Country Project that seeks to "re-engage rural America". "People feel like we've abandoned the bread-and-butter issues, and people in rural America feel it more accutely."Emphasizing her point, she said that if farmers from her state were asked to name the three biggest problems in rural America, "not one would say: antitrust".During the final panel of the day, Jim Messina, Obama's 2012 campaign manager, predicted the 2020 election will be extremely close."We could be sitting on election day not knowing who will win," he said. 'Get off Twitter'Several speakers urged those in the room to "get off Twitter" and venture into the real world, where far fewer Democrats are engaged in "faculty lounge debates over political ideology"."There is a potential that the hyper-hyper-engaged – the extremely online voters that are paying attention right now – might be able to drive the direction of the campaigns," said Lanae Erickson, a senior vice-president at Third Way.She presented a poll conducted by the thinktank that found only one in 10 Democratic primary voters tweet regularly. When compared with the wider Democratic electorate, this cohort of "extremely online" Democrats are far less likely to identify as moderate, are more likely to have participated in a protest and support progressives policies such as Medicare for All.Moderates' theory on how to win in 2020, as described by one panelist during the conference, is to appeal to the "woke and the still waking". The best candidate, they argue, is someone who can mobilize a Democratic base that is increasingly young, diverse and liberal, while still appealing to independents, moderate Republicans and working-class voters who could decide the election.This is not achieved with "warmed-over 1990s centrism", said Cowan, but neither is it achieved by "1960s Nordic-style socialism".> People feel like we've abandoned the bread-and-butter issues, and people in rural America feel it more acutely> > Heidi Heitkamp"Voters do not want mushy, bland, empty Democratic centrism," Cowan said. "But that's not who this rising generation of swing district winners are."On Monday evening, one of those new House members, the South Carolina congressman Joe Cunningham, welcomed the group to his district, which the 37-year-old flipped last year after decades of Republican control.Cunningham said he did not win his race by promising Medicare for All or by demonizing Republicans. Rather, he said he won by positioning himself as a moderate who was willing to work across the aisle and occasionally buck his own party.Like a football coach rallying his team before a game, Cunningham said Republicans who run to the right to embrace Trump are "ceding more and more ground in the middle"."There is so much middle ground to gain in 2020," he shouted. "I say we take it!"
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| How to Mow Your Lawn in Hot Weather and Keep It Green Posted: 21 Jun 2019 01:05 PM PDT  With the dog days of summer finally here, it's time to re-evaluate how you mow your lawn. While a low-cut, manicured lawn might seem ideal, turf grass actually does better in the summer heat when...
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| Photos of the 2020 Peugeot 2008 SUV Posted: 21 Jun 2019 08:46 AM PDT |
| Mini Glock Gun: Why the Glock 42 Is One Dangerous Weapon Posted: 21 Jun 2019 07:00 PM PDT  In the right hands, the Glock 42 pistol could conceivably become as deadly as its larger caliber brethren. The smallest Glock, it is also suitable for whom concealability is a major purchase factor. While not for everyone, the combination of Glock's pistol platform and John Browning's small automatic caliber is still a compelling choice for users who combine both skill and discretion.(This article originally appeared earlier this month.)A combination of the successful Glock pistol design and a caliber invented by armsman John Moses Browning, the Glock 42 is certainly worth taking a look at.The pistol combines the Austrian gun manufacturer's gun operating system with the .380 ACP pistol cartridge. The result is both a pistol for concealed carriers who desire a low recoil pistol and the smallest pistol in Glock's lineup.Austrian gun manufacturer Glock has taken a tree-like approach to its pistol lineup, with the original Glock 17 9-millimeter pistol the trunk each major caliber it forays into a branch. The company will typically introduce the full-sized Glock in a new caliber, then quickly follow with compact, sub-compact, and competition-sized pistols to round out the caliber offering.Unlike other branches, like the .45 ACP and the .40 Smith & Wesson, the .380 ACP branch of the Glock tree is the smallest of them all, consisting of a single pistol: the Glock 42. The smallest and least powerful of all calibers the company has endorsed, the nature of the .380 ACP round makes it only suitable for a modern subcompact design.
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| Jussie Smollett: Judge orders special prosecutor to review State Attorney Kim Foxx's handling of 'Empire' actor's case Posted: 21 Jun 2019 09:09 AM PDT  A Cook County judge ruled Friday to appoint a special prosecutor to review State's Attorney Kim Foxx's handling of the Jussie Smollett case.
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| Conservative U.S. justices draw criticism by overruling precedent again Posted: 21 Jun 2019 09:38 AM PDT  For the second time in six weeks, the U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority on Friday overruled a decades-old legal precedent set by the court, this time involving property rights, raising alarm bells among its liberal members. The ruling, written by Chief Justice John Roberts, overruled a 1985 Supreme Court decision that had forced property owners facing a government-led takeover of land for public purposes to seek compensation under state law before bringing a claim in federal court. The ruling comes amid rising concern among abortion rights advocates and Democratic politicians over whether the court may overrule Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.
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| US, Taliban to hold more talks on ending war Posted: 22 Jun 2019 11:18 AM PDT  The United States and the Taliban will open fresh negotiations next week, the US negotiator said Saturday, as he voiced hope for progress in ending America's longest war. Zalmay Khalilzad, the US special representative on Afghanistan, said the two sides would start their seventh round of talks on June 29. "Based on my recent visits to Afghanistan and Qatar, I believe all sides want rapid progress," Khalilzad wrote on Twitter.
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| NASA just set preliminary dates for its commercial crew launches, with SpaceX in the lead Posted: 22 Jun 2019 11:08 AM PDT  There's a space race happening right now. It's not between the United States and Russia, or any nations at all, for that matter, but it's definitely happening. It's a race between SpaceX and Boeing to be the first company to deliver a crew-capable spacecraft to NASA, and it's been filled with twists, turns, and delays since the very start.Now, a new preliminary planning schedule for NASA's "Commercial Crew" program hints that SpaceX might ultimately be the victor, but it's far from a sure thing.NASA hired Boeing to build the Starliner, and threw money at SpaceX to build the Crew Dragon. Both spacecraft will eventually take NASA astronauts into space from U.S. soil, which is a big deal for the space agency, but neither company has followed through on its promises yet.Both programs have been slammed with delays and setbacks, and neither the Starliner nor Crew Dragon has carried a human off Earth at this point. SpaceX sent an empty Crew Dragon to the International Space Station, which is a meaningful milestone, but an explosion (sorry, "anomaly") threw its progress into question. It seemed to open the door for Boeing to take the lead and be the first to fulfill its pledge to NASA. However, if the dates issued in a new planning schedule hold true, SpaceX will be the first to carry NASA crew into space.https://twitter.com/ChrisG_NSF/status/1141738478390194177?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1141738478390194177&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.teslarati.com%2Fspacex-crew-dragon-new-astronaut-launch-target%2FAs NASASpaceflight.com explains, the dates are far from being set in stone, and they're not even considered official target dates at this point. The dates in the report are based entirely on the available windows within which the space station could receive the spacecraft and when crew would be available to ride aboard them.Still, while the dates aren't even close to being set in stone, they show that NASA has some serious faith in SpaceX to correct whatever issue caused the explosion of its Crew Dragon during testing and get its program back on track swiftly. Perhaps even more than that, it shows that NASA doesn't think Boeing's Starliner will be ready to carry humans any time soon.
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| Trump says he abruptly canceled retaliatory strike on Iran after drone attack Posted: 22 Jun 2019 12:31 PM PDT  There are no indications that Trump's decision will be reversed, the official said.
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| Take A Cruise In This Olive Green 1977 Toyota FJ40 Posted: 21 Jun 2019 10:16 AM PDT  Take the top off, while you're at it. This 1977 Toyota FJ40 runs and drives like new, despite having 100,044 original miles on the dash. For sale by Vintage Cruisers, this 'Jeep' is the perfect vehicle to go anywhere and do anything regardless of the season. It's a 4x4 dream and dates all the way back to 1960, when it was first introduced.This Toyota utility vehicle was in production from 1960 to 1983, and all the way up to 2001 in Brazil! Importation to the United States started in 1963 and, within just two years, the FJ40 Land Cruiser became the best-selling Toyota in America. Cosmetically, the FJ ultimately remained the same until it ceased production in 1983. However, it did see a gradual progression of trim tweaks and functional improvements throughout the years. It went from a bare-bones rock climber to a relatively modern SUV that was 30 years ahead of its time.This 1977 Toyota FJ40 is a beautifully restored two-door hardtop convertible body in a unique Olive Green exterior paint. That's right, this bad boy is ready for its next owner and for some new summertime adventures. From Arizona, this Land Cruiser contains a rust-free steel body with a fresh paint job and new interior Marine-grade upholstery. The undercarriage has been completely stripped and PPG undercoated for a rust-proof finish. The cabin also features upgraded waterproof floors, full factory bucket seats with headrests, a padded dashboard, and new A/C and heater unit.It's powered by a big 4.2-liter 2F motor mated to a four-speed manual transmission with three-speed transfer case gears. This FJ40 includes updated turn signals, power disc brakes, and a roll bar. It also has HD suspension, shackles, and urethane bushings. The front bumper sports a custom rectangular front bezel that certainly sets it apart. It matches the new factory white wagon wheels wrapped in 33-inch BFGoodrich tires.The disc brakes, 2F motor, and drive trans have been recently serviced. This Toyota FJ40 contains all new belts, hoses, and fluids. It's ready for daily use and then some. Read more.. Take The Whole Family Off-Road In This Custom Toyota FJ45 Troopy Restomod FJ45 Pickup Is The Model That Made Toyota
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| Witness in Navy SEAL trial takes blame for killing Posted: 20 Jun 2019 09:08 PM PDT  When the prosecution called a special forces medic to testify, they expected him to bolster their murder case against a decorated Navy SEAL accused of stabbing an Islamic State fighter in his care. Corey Scott delivered on that count, saying Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher had unexpectedly plunged a knife into the adolescent detainee after treating his wounds in 2017 in Iraq. Scott called the asphyxiation an act of mercy.
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| The Latest: Refinery fire controlled but still burning Posted: 21 Jun 2019 02:09 PM PDT  A fire at a refinery complex in Philadelphia is controlled and contained but still burning more than 12 hours after it started. Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy says the blaze at Philadelphia Energy Solutions started in a tank that holds a mix of propane and butane. Murphy says five employees had minor injuries and were treated at the scene.
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