| UPDATE 1-Any conflict in region could spread - Iran general Posted: 22 Jun 2019 11:56 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Any conflict in region could spread - Iran general]( "UPDATE 1-Any conflict in region could spread - Iran general") Any conflict in the Gulf region may spread uncontrollably, a senior Iranian military commander was cited as saying on Sunday by the semi-official news agency Fars. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he aborted a military strike to retaliate for Iran's downing of a drone because it could have killed 150 people, and signaled he was open to talks with Tehran. Iran said on Saturday it would respond firmly to any threat against it.
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| The Latest: Company linked to motorcycle crash cooperating Posted: 22 Jun 2019 06:10 PM PDT  The owner of a company that employs the truck driver identified as involved in a deadly collision with motorcycles says he can't reach the driver. Dartanyan Gasanov is the owner of Westfield Transport of Springfield, Massachusetts.
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| The First 2020 Democratic Debate Is Almost Here. Here’s Everything You Need to Know Posted: 23 Jun 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Democratic candidates will face off in the first primary debate in Miami on June 26 and 27. Here's what to know before they take the stage.
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| Utah Woman Tortured Puppy for Days to `Keep the Dog Quiet,` Police Say Posted: 22 Jun 2019 07:45 AM PDT  A puppy is in need of surgery and a woman is facing a felony charge for what she allegedly did to keep her dog quiet.
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| How an Aircraft Carrier and a Submarine Hunted Each Other During the Falklands War Posted: 22 Jun 2019 08:00 PM PDT  On the afternoon of April 30, 1982, the War Cabinet of Prime Minister Margret Thatcher transmitted a message to three Royal Navy submarines in the South Atlantic—designating the carrier Veinticino de Mayo a priority target to be hunted down and destroyed.The Argentine carrier—ironically, of British origin—posed an unpredictable threat to the Royal Navy taskforce commencing amphibious operations to retake the disputed Falkland Islands following their seizure by Argentinian troops on April 2, 1982.The ensuing nine-day game of cat-and-mouse between British submarines and the anti-submarine aircraft onboard the Veinticinco is recounted in A Carrier at Risk by Mariano Sciaroni, who compares interviews with Argentine sources with Reports of Proceedings filed by British submariners to shed new light on a formerly obscure subject.Sciaroni's book not only serves as a primer for the anti-submarine tactics and technology of the time, but features many maps plotting day-by-day movements of the combatants and numerous photos and color illustrations depicting the vessels and aircraft engaged. Sciaroni also captures the routines and human foibles of wartime life at sea, such as quarrels over stocking snacks in the pilot ready room and fearful crewmen sleeping at their stations in life vests.
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| Italy holds Netherlands, EU 'responsible' for migrant boat Posted: 23 Jun 2019 09:00 AM PDT  Italy's hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said he would hold the Netherlands and the European Union "responsible" for the fate of 42 migrants that Rome has blocked from disembarking at Italian ports for over a week. The Dutch-flagged rescue boat Sea-Watch 3 has been stuck in the Mediterranean since rescuing 53 migrants drifting in an inflatable raft off the coast of Libya on June 12. While 11 of those on board the Sea-Watch have been allowed to disembark -- including two pregnant women -- the vessel has been denied permission to dock in Italy.
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| Thomas Roberts on Stonewall 50: ‘I Want LGBTQ Kids to Know It’s OK. It’s OK to Be Different, and OK to Be Gay’ Posted: 22 Jun 2019 07:28 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast / Photos GettyIn this special series, LGBT celebrities and public figures talk to Tim Teeman about the Stonewall Riots and their legacy—see more here.Thomas RobertsJournalistWhen/how did you first hear about the Stonewall Riots, and what did you make of them?I learned of the Stonewall Riots in 2006-2007. It was shortly after coming out publicly. I was utterly impressed at the bravery protesters showed. They put it all on the line for us. The Stonewall Riots: What Really Happened, What Didn't, and What Became MythWhat is their significance for you?Without Stonewall where would we be today? It was the spark.How far have we LGBT people come since 1969?Since 1969 we've come out of the shadows of shame and intolerance. In 50 years the LGBTQ community is a force to be reckon with, but we still have battles ahead. And it's not solely on LGBTQ rights. We need to show up wherever people are marginalized and oppressed. We need to show up when we aren't personally the sole beneficiaries.What would you like to see, LGBT-wise, in the next 50 years?I'd love to see an LGBTQ President. And I believe in my lifetime we just might. But in the meantime I want LGBTQ kids to know it's OK. It's OK to be different. It's OK to be gay. The world is a big and wonderful place... eventually we all find our peace. However, it doesn't come without ups and downs. There will be high highs and low lows. Keep going. It will all be OK. 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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| Nasa's Curiosity rover detects methane in latest hint at life on Mars Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:36 AM PDT  Nasa's Curiosity rover has detected another methane "spike" on Mars, in what could be a sign of alien life on the red planet. According to the New York Times, which obtained an email about the discovery written by senior scientists at Nasa, the rover detected "startlingly high amounts of methane in the Martian air." The detection of methane hints at an even greater discovery - life on Mars - as the gas is often generated by microbes underground known as methanogens,which can survive without oxygen. "Given this surprising result, we've reorganized the weekend to run a follow-up experiment, " wrote scientist Ashwin R. Vasavada in the email published by the New York Times. It is not the first time Nasa's robot has detected methane levels on the planet, and scientists are still not sure whether the gas is caused by living microbes. This is because geothermal reactions, with no biological life involved, can also create methane. When Curiosity landed on Mars in 2012 it could find barely any traces of methane, with less than one part per billion in the atmosphere. Then in 2013 the rover detected a sudden increase in methane levels, with seven parts methane per billion, which endured for several months and then vanished. The most recent discovery of Methane is 21 parts per billion, three times higher than the "spike" in 2013. While increased methane levels measured by @MarsCuriosity are exciting, as possible indicators for life, it's important to remember this is an early science result. To maintain scientific integrity, the science team will continue to analyze the data before confirming results. pic.twitter.com/zSrONQHuc5— Thomas Zurbuchen (@Dr_ThomasZ) June 22, 2019 Scientists are also not ruling out the possibility that the methane was not recent, having been trapped underground for millions of years, and only now is gradually emerging through cracks in the surface. Thomas Zurbuchen, from Nasa's science mission directorate, advised people not to jump to any conclusions about the methane detection in a message on Twitter. "While increased methane levels measured by Mars Curiosity are exciting, as possible indicators for life, it's important to remember this is an early science result," he wrote. "To maintain scientific integrity, the science team will continue to analyse the data before confirming results."
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| Syria says sabotage damaged underwater oil pipelines Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:40 AM PDT  Five underwater pipelines have been damaged and put out of order after a sabotage attack off the coastal town of Banias, Syria's oil ministry said Sunday. The damage was discovered after divers checked to see what was behind an oil leakage, the ministry said. Banias is home to one of Syria's two oil refineries.
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| Bolton to Iran: Don't mistake US 'prudence' for weakness Posted: 23 Jun 2019 01:17 PM PDT  National security adviser John Bolton warned Iran that "no one has granted them a hunting license in the Middle East."
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| Militia member arrested for impersonating US Border Patrol agent Posted: 23 Jun 2019 03:06 PM PDT ![Militia member arrested for impersonating US Border Patrol agent]( "Militia member arrested for impersonating US Border Patrol agent") A member of an armed group known for stopping migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border has been arrested after authorities charged him with impersonating a U.S. Border Patrol agent, according to court documents. Jim Benvie, spokesman for the Guardian Patriots, who have been camped at the border near Sunland Park, New Mexico, was arrested on Friday in Oklahoma after a warrant was issued on Wednesday in southern New Mexico. The U.S. Department of Justice filed two federal charges, alleging that Benvie, 44, passed himself off as a Border Patrol agent in mid April.
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| Istanbul Revote Pits Erdogan's Party Against Deposed Challenger Posted: 23 Jun 2019 05:12 AM PDT ![Istanbul Revote Pits Erdogan's Party Against Deposed Challenger]( "Istanbul Revote Pits Erdogan's Party Against Deposed Challenger") (Bloomberg) -- Polls are open again in Istanbul as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party tries to extend its quarter century of rule in Turkey's biggest city after forcing a controversial rerun of a mayoral election.More than 10 million people are eligible to vote, and the candidates put a priority on getting some of the 1.7 million who didn't cast ballots in the last round to go to the polls on Sunday.The March 31 tally, overturned on appeal to the elections board, gave the opposition challenger, CHP's Ekrem Imamoglu, a margin of only about 14,000 votes over a former prime minister and candidate of the ruling AK Party, Binali Yildirim.Gizem Konak, 26, said she's always supported the pro-Kurdish HDP party -- until now."This time I voted for Imamoglu," she said in Kucukcekmece, a suburb of Istanbul. "This guy may be the only one to unite opposition parties under one roof in so many years. I think Imamoglu has the potential to change the destiny of this country."The AK Party's narrow defeat in March laid bare new vulnerabilities Erdogan faces after 16 years of increasingly authoritarian rule. With Turkey's economy reeling, it was a stinging slap in the president's hometown just a year after he was re-elected with sweeping new powers.Polls can't be published within the last 10 days before the vote but earlier surveys suggested that Imamoglu, a former Istanbul district leader, was in the lead. Erdogan has said he'd accept the results of the vote.Days before the election, Imamoglu received critical support from a prominent Kurdish politician who's been in prison since 2016 on terrorism-related charges he denies. Selahattin Demirtas, the former HDP leader, called on voters to support Imamoglu instead of voting for "revenge, hatred or grudges" in Turkey's acutely polarized political climate.Turkey Orders Istanbul Vote Rerun After Erdogan Rejects DefeatDefeat in the nation's commercial hub, home to about a fifth of Turkey's more than 82 million people, would strip Erdogan's party of a major source of patronage and handouts. By some estimates, the city absorbs a quarter of all public investment and accounts for a third of the country's $748 billion economy.'Correct Decision'"I believe the voters will make the correct decision for Istanbul," Erdogan said after casting his vote on Sunday.After the board's decision in May, the lira weakened the most in emerging markets and stocks were battered as investors fretted over what they saw as the erosion of the rule of law. Although unemployment has stabilized, the economy remains in distress.Erdogan's party had already lost the capital, Ankara, and some other big cities in the March balloting as inflation, unemployment and a plunge in the lira took their toll. But he refused to concede defeat in Istanbul, crying voter fraud, and Turkey's top election board concurred.Turkey Nailbiter Is Market's Worst Nightmare, No Matter Who WinsIn a last-ditch effort to tar Imamoglu, Erdogan alleged on Tuesday that he was backed by enemy forces: the U.S.-based preacher the president accuses of mounting a failed 2016 coup attempt against him, and a party Erdogan sees as the political wing of the autonomy-seeking Kurdish PKK group Turkey's been battling since the 1980s.Erdogan also called for prosecuting Imamoglu for allegedly insulting a provincial governor. The Turkish leader himself lost his seat as the mayor of Istanbul after he was imprisoned for four months in 1999 for reciting an Islamic poem deemed a threat to Turkey's secular order."Like how my mayoralty was nullified, so could his be canceled if he's sentenced" long enough, Erdogan said.An Imamoglu win could touch off an early presidential vote to prevent his gaining political traction, said Murat Gezici, head of the Gezici polling company.It could "create political havoc within the ruling AK party, possibly leading to the formation of new political parties and bringing about early elections later this year or early next," Gezici said.\--With assistance from Cagan Koc and Taylan Bilgic.To contact the reporters on this story: Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at shacaoglu@bloomberg.net;Firat Kozok in Ankara at fkozok@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Paul Abelsky, Nicholas LarkinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Report: Dubai plane that crashed followed others too closely Posted: 23 Jun 2019 06:23 AM PDT  A plane involved in a fatal crash that killed four people working on improvements at Dubai International Airport had followed other larger aircraft landing there too closely as air traffic controllers offered inconsistent warnings about the hazard, a preliminary investigative report released Sunday found. The May 16 crash of the Diamond DA62 saw the aircraft roll upside-down in air and smash into a park near the airport at high speed, killing the three Britons and one South African on board, according to the report by the United Arab Emirates' General Civil Aviation Authority. The twin propeller-engine light aircraft first lost control in the wake of a Thai Airways Airbus A350 landing at Dubai's airport, the world's busiest for international travel.
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| Georgian protesters slam 'Putinism' as Moscow tensions soar Posted: 23 Jun 2019 12:09 PM PDT  Several thousand protesters took to the streets of Georgian capital Tbilisi for a fourth day on Sunday as tensions rose between Moscow and its ex-Soviet neighbour. Some protest placards took aim at Bidzina Ivanishvili, the oligarch leader of the ruling party, believed by many to be the power behind the scenes in the Western-backed country of 3.7 million people. Others slammed Russian President Vladimir Putin who in response to the protests has banned Russian airlines from flying to Georgia and Georgian air carriers travelling to Russia.
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| 8 Can't-Miss Towns Near Great Driving Roads Posted: 23 Jun 2019 01:00 PM PDT |
| Would You Pay This Much For A Corvette Body? Posted: 22 Jun 2019 05:52 AM PDT  This isn't exactly a budget-friendly deal... Quite a few people love the look of a classic Chevy Corvette Stingray, and why not? The iconic lines are like nothing you find on any other vehicle around, making it a real standout even among other classics. While that's certainly true, you might be wondering why this 1966 Chevrolet Corvette convertible body is so pricey.At $18,000 for a body that not long has the original Rally Red paint, it's understandable why anyone would question the sanity in paying so much. All you get is the body, doors, hinges, rear exhaust valance, convertible decklid, bird cage, and windshield frame, plus the glass. Nothing from the black vinyl interior, drivetrain, chassis, etc. comes along, meaning you need to source the rest.Consider this: you could easily spend upwards of $125,000 or more for a clean, low-mileage 1966 Chevrolet Corvette Convertible. That's not exactly a low price, because quite a few people love the look of the C2, especially when it comes topless. Even higher-mileage examples tend to go for somewhere between $80,000 and $100,000 or more, with prices constantly climbing.It's not like GM is making any more of these classic bodies. While you might have your heart set on a complete Stingray, this body offers up all kinds of possibilities. It works for restoring a car with serious body damage, including rust. Alternatively, you could use that impeccable styling for a potent restomod project, making for a unique creation. Add a compatible chassis, whatever motor you desire, plus a great interior for something which turns heads and breaks necks.When you start to realize just how much a 1966 'Vette sells for these days, and consider that they're going to keep going up in value, suddenly this body seems like a much better deal than before. Classic Corvettes are definitely hot items, making it a solid idea to snatch up whatever you can when possible.
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| Skydiving Plane in Deadly Hawaii Crash Was Still Operating After Earlier Mishap Posted: 22 Jun 2019 06:00 AM PDT  LUCKYWELIVE.COMThe skydiving plane that crashed and burst into flames in Hawaii on Friday night, killing 11 people, had been involved in an earlier mishap in Northern California in which it reportedly stalled and spun out of control. Citing an investigative report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Associated Press reports that the Beechcraft 65 King Air stalled three times and spun out before the pilot managed to land it in the earlier incident. Fourteen skydivers who were on board at the time had jumped earlier than planned to get to safety. That incident was blamed on pilot error, with investigators determining that a piece of horizontal stabilizer was missing and that the elevator had broken off. Three years after that incident, investigators have begun sifting through the charred wreckage of the same aircraft after it suffered what is believed to be the worst U.S. civil aviation accident since 2011. Eleven people, including the pilot, died after the small twin-engine plane crashed and burst into flames at around 6:30 p.m. Friday in Hawaii as family and friends hoping to watch their loved ones skydive looked on. The plane, operated by Oahu Parachute Center, had just taken off on a "sunset tandem" skydiving excursion near Dillingham Airfield in Oahu when the accident occurred.Timothy Sakahara, a spokesman for the Hawaii Department of Transportation, said Saturday that authorities have confirmed there were 11 people on board the plane that went down shortly after taking off Friday night from Dillingham Airfield, a small North Shore airport.Honolulu Fire Department Chief Manuel P. Neves said witnesses reported seeing the plane coming straight down before it hit a fence line shortly after take-off. Justin Kepa, a witness, told Hawaii News Now that he watched the plane go down. "We saw big smoke. We saw big fire, firemen trying to put it out. Crazy," he said. Footage shows smoke rising high into the air, visible from a distance."It is very difficult," Neves told local reporters at the scene. "In my 40 years as a firefighter here in Hawaii, this is the most tragic aircraft incident we've had."The crash is one of the deadliest civilian air disasters in Hawaiian history, according to Hawaii News Now, which interviewed a local skydiving coach who knew those on board. The diver said that there were three students, five skydivers and the pilot onboard when the plane went down.Some of the divers' families were reportedly waiting at the airport at the time of the crash.The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board have taken over the investigation into the tragedy. 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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| 'The only one that matters is me': Trump backs Bolton amid Iran tensions Posted: 22 Jun 2019 09:18 AM PDT !['The only one that matters is me': Trump backs Bolton amid Iran tensions]( "'The only one that matters is me': Trump backs Bolton amid Iran tensions") There has been speculation in recent months that Trump is frustrated with Bolton.
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| White supremacist who killed woman after driving car into Charlottesville protesters begs judge to show him ‘mercy’ Posted: 23 Jun 2019 01:24 PM PDT  The self-avowed white supremacist who ploughed his car into protesters opposing a far-right rally in Virginia two years ago, killing one person and injuring dozens of others, has asked a judge for mercy and a sentence shorter than life in prison.James Alex Fields Jr's legal team has argued in a new sentencing memo that the 22-year-old defendant should not spend his entire life in prison because of his age, a traumatic childhood and a history of mental illness.Fields has pleaded guilty to federal hate crimes in relation to the Charlottesville attack and is set to be sentenced on 28 June."No amount of punishment imposed on James can repair the damage he caused to dozens of innocent people. But this Court should find that retribution has limits," his attorneys wrote in a court document submitted on Friday.Fields' attorneys said that giving him something less than a life sentence would be akin to an "expression of mercy" and a "conviction that no individual is wholly defined by their worst moments".The attorneys highlighted his difficult upbringing and history of mental illness, but many of the details were redacted. The document did reveal he was raised by a paraplegic single mother and suffered "trauma" by growing up knowing his Jewish grandfather had murdered his grandmother before committing suicide.In their own sentencing memo, prosecutors said Fields had shown no remorse since he drove the car into the counter-demonstrators on 12 August, 2017, killing anti-racism activist Heather Heyer and injuring others protesting against the white nationalists.They argued that Fields deserves a life sentence, adding that would help deter others from committing "similar acts of domestic terrorism".Prosecutors focused on years of documented racist and antisemitic behaviour by Fields, which they said included keeping a picture of Adolf Hitler on his bedside table. They also said that he was recorded on a jail phone call making disparaging remarks about Ms Heyer's mother as recently as last month.They also argued that while Fields has a history of mental illness issues, it did not excuse his behaviour in a way that would demand a lenient sentence. "Any mental health concerns raised by the defendant do not overcome the defendant's demonstrated lack of remorse and his prior history of substantial racial animus," prosecutors wrote.Under a plea deal, federal prosecutors agreed not to pursue the death penalty against Fields after he pleaded in March to federal hate crime charges and admitted that he intentionally drove his car into a crowd of anti-racism protesters.The charges he pleaded guilty to call for life in prison under federal sentencing guidelines.In December last year he was convicted in a Virginia court of first-degree murder and other state charges for killing Ms Heyer and injuring others who were protesting. Sentencing on the state charges is scheduled for next month.The 2017 rally drew hundreds of white nationalists to Charlottesville to protest the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Hundreds of counter-protesters demonstrated against the white nationalists.Donald Trump infamously said there were "very fine people on both sides" of the clashes in the Virginia city.Additional reporting by AP
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| Hotel owner sues insurance company after Vegas mass shooting Posted: 22 Jun 2019 02:01 PM PDT  More than 4,000 people are seeking damages from MGM Resorts International related to the Las Vegas Strip mass shooting that left 58 people dead, the casino giant said in a lawsuit alleging its insurance company has failed to pay promised legal costs. Las Vegas-based MGM Resorts alleges breach-of-contract and accuses Illinois-based Zurich American Insurance Co. of failing to pay defense costs for damage claims stemming from the 2017 shooting. MGM Resorts owns the Mandalay Bay hotel, where the shooter opened fire from a 32nd-floor window, and the Route 91 Harvest festival venue where country music concert-goers died and more than 850 people were injured.
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| Two Nazi Soldiers Proved How Deadly a Sniper Can Be on the Battlefield Posted: 23 Jun 2019 02:00 AM PDT  The three Soviet tanks edged forward slowly as the drivers scanned for the concealed Germans that lay ahead. The lead tank suddenly clanked to a stop and swung its long barrel around. It looked much like one of Hannibal's elephants with its trunk raised, sniffing the air before its planned lunge forward toward the hapless enemy.The Wehrmacht troops were in a precarious situation. They lacked air support there as the Soviets mounted a heavy attack in mid-August 1943 along the length of the Donets Front in eastern Ukraine. Antitank panzerfausts were not available to the 3rd Gebirgsjager (Mountain) Division, and the unit had few, if any, sticky charges to blow the tracks from the Soviet T-34 tanks. All they had were their wits and their bolt-action Mauser rifles against the three steel titans that loomed in front of them with scores of Red Army soldiers trailing.Suddenly, the lead tank's hatch opened about 10 inches and a head appeared with binoculars to scan the scene. Sniper Josef "Sepp" Allerberger brought the Soviet tanker's head into the center of his scope, and at some 500 feet he squeezed off a round. A splat of blood hit the hatch as the head sank into the bowels of the tank.
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| CPD will not cooperate with planned ICE raids, Lightfoot says Posted: 22 Jun 2019 05:54 AM PDT  Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Friday that the Chicago Police Department will not cooperate with planned raids by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency this weekend.
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| Chevy’s 2020 Silverado 1500 3.0L Duramax Is the Brand’s Ultrasmooth Answer to the Half-Ton Diesel Truck Wars Posted: 22 Jun 2019 09:01 PM PDT  Refined and quiet, Chevy's Duramax inline-six is the latest light-duty diesel in the segment.
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| Oregon Statehouse Shut Down After Lawmakers Team Up With Right-Wing Militias Posted: 22 Jun 2019 10:12 AM PDT  REUTERSOregon's statehouse shut down for safety concerns on Saturday. But the threats weren't coming from anonymous trolls or foreign fighters—they were coming from the state's Republican senators, who have teamed up with right-wing militias to threaten violence over a climate change bill.Eleven of Oregon's Senate Republicans fled the state this week to avoid a vote on a bill that would cap greenhouse emissions. The group, believed to be hiding in Idaho, left the state senate with too few lawmakers to hold a vote. But the move is more than a legislative maneuver. The missing senators have partnered with right-wing paramilitary groups to threaten violence, should they be brought back to Oregon.The state senate had scheduled sessions on Saturday, but cancelled them after reports of several militias' two-day "Rally to Take the Capitol" this weekend."Oregon State Police has recommended that the Capitol be closed tomorrow due to a possible militia threat," a spokesperson for the senate president told the Associated Press on Friday night.The trouble started this month, when state Senate Democrats advanced plans for a bill that would cut carbon emissions. Modeled after a similar policy in California, Oregon's proposed cap and trade bill would restrict fossil fuel emissions, particularly for the industries that create the most pollution. The bill's proponents say it's part of a plan to cut emissions by 80 percent by 2050. (Climate scientists and the European Union call for effectively eliminating carbon emissions by 2050, in order to prevent out-of-control climate change.)But Oregon's state Republicans weren't on board, citing increased expenses for Oregon residents and businesses. This week, every Republican in the state senate walked out, rather than vote on the bill.Armed Militias Pledge to Fight for Fugitive Oregon GOP Lawmakers 'At Any Cost'Walkouts are not unique to Republicans. Democrat lawmakers fled their states in 2003 and 2011 to prevent votes on redistricting and curbing union rights, The Daily Beast previously reported. Oregon has a long history of senate walkouts, including a four-day walkout in May, when Republicans refused to vote on a tax package that would fund schools. They returned to session with the agreement that they would not walk out again.But this walkout also came with violent threats. Multiple senators are believed to have fled to Idaho, with right-wing militias flocking to their aid. While leaving the statehouse before the walkout, Republican Sen. Brian Boquist implied that police officers who pursued them should be ready to die. "Send bachelors and come heavily armed," Boquist warned police in a televised interview shortly before his walkout. "I'm not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon. It's just that simple."State police said they were aware of Boquist's remarks, but were not commenting on them. Boquist and his colleagues are supported by several right-wing militias that made more explicit threats.After Oregon Gov. Kate Brown called on state troopers to return the lawmakers to the capital, the paramilitary group the Oath Keepers suggested violence against her. "Gov. Brown, you want a civil war, because this is how you get a civil war," the Oath Keepers wrote on their public Facebook page. Beneath the post, Oath Keeper fans suggesting hanging, arresting, or taking up arms against Brown.Idaho militia insiders previously told The Daily Beast that paramilitary members in Oregon and Idaho had "mobilized" in defense of the Republican lawmakers, and that they were willing to die for the legislators. One leader compared the situation to the 2014 Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation, in which members of a right-wing militia led an armed standoff inside a wildlife sanctuary building. The standoff ended with the death of a militia member.But on Twitter, Oregon's Republican party criticized state Democrats for cancelling Saturday sessions over the militias' planned protests, tweeting, "Oregon senate Democrats canceled their weekend session citing a fear that Republican voters may show up."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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| Donald Trump announces two-week delay on planned family deportation raids Posted: 22 Jun 2019 08:12 PM PDT  Donald Trump delayed weekend immigration raids across the United States on Saturday but threatened deportations in two weeks if Democrats failed to agree changes to the law on asylum. The announcement by the US president was made on Twitter after he spoke with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who asked Mr Trump over the phone to cancel the expected raids. Mr Trump reportedly made no commitments during the 12-minute call but ultimately bowed to Ms Pelosi's request, though he made clear he would continue to use deportations to pressure Democrats . "At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks," Mr Trump posted, before adding that if there was no progress, "Deportations start!" Raids that threatened family separation have faced widespread criticism Credit: Getty Ms Pelosi also issued a statement calling on the cancellation of raids. She later tweeted: "Mr. President, delay is welcome. Time is needed for comprehensive immigration reform. Families belong together." Before Mr Trump's reversal, immigration agents had been planning to swoop into several US cities including Miami, Los Angeles and Chicago on Sunday to detain illegal immigrants in pre-dawn raids. Mark Morgan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who won his job by pushing for deportations on Fox News, has said family raids would act as a deterrent. Mr Trump had tweeted: "ICE will begin the process of removing the millions of illegal aliens who have illicitly found their way into the United States. They will be removed as fast as they come in." But the raids planned for the weekend had drawn condemnation because even though they are not uncommon, they targeted adults with children and raised the possibility of family separation. Apprehensions on the US-Mexico border Top officials within the Department of Homeland Security had also expressed concern over the operation, given severe overcrowding at the limited-capacity family detention facilities. With his last minute-stall and threats, Mr Trump suggested he was hoping to pressure Democrats in Congress to make changes to the law surrounding asylum they had long previously resisted. There are several bills on immigration currently being considered, including a proposal to send $4.5bn in aid to the US southern border. Some Democrats had threatened to withhold support over the raids. And a similar measure in the Senate that carried both Republican and Democrats' support came with the caveat that none of the $4.6bn in that bill would go toward the raids scheduled for Sunday. Going ahead with the family raids ran the risk of imperiling the measures and jeopardizing the emergency money that the Trump administration had requested from Congress, Democrats said. The Trump administration has faced record numbers of migrant families illegally crossing the southern border, causing difficulties for a president who campaigned on reducing illegal immigration.
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| Curtis Flowers: Death row inmate has conviction quashed due to lack of black jurors Posted: 22 Jun 2019 03:20 AM PDT  The US Supreme Court has quashed the murder conviction of a black man on death row in Mississippi because of a prosecutor's "relentless" efforts to stop African Americans appearing on the jury at successive trials.Curtis Flowers, 49, has already been tried six times and now could face a seventh trial following the decision by the country's highest federal court.He has been in jail more than 22 years, ever since his arrest after four people were found shot dead in a furniture store in Winona, Mississippi, in July 1996.The removal of black jurors deprived inmate Mr Flowers of a fair trial, the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 decision written by Justice Brett Kavanaugh.A series of trials stretching back more than 20 years shows District Attorney Doug Evans made a "relentless, determined effort to rid the jury of black individuals," with the goal of an all-white jury in Flowers' case, Justice Kavanaugh wrote."The numbers speak loudly," Justice Kavanaugh said in a summary of his opinion that he read in the courtroom, noting that Mr Evans had removed 41 of the 42 prospective black jurors over the six trials. "We cannot ignore that history."Mr Flowers was found guilty in his first three trials, but the three convictions were overturned by the Mississippi Supreme Court due to "prosecutorial misconduct". The fourth and fifth trials ended in mistrials.He was convicted again on the sixth trial in 2010, when the jury was made up of 11 whites and one African American and Mr Evans struck five black prospective jurors – a conviction overturned on Friday.In a dissenting view, Justice Clarence Thomas called Justice Kavanaugh's opinion "manifestly incorrect" and wrote that Mr Flowers "presented no evidence whatsoever of purposeful race discrimination".Justice Thomas, the only African American currently on the Supreme Court, said: "The state is perfectly free to convict Curtis Flowers again."Mr Evans said he remained confident of Mr Flowers guilt but had not yet decided whether the state of Mississippi would order a retrial, according to American Public Media. He denied trying to exclude African Americans from the jury.Mr Flowers' defence lawyers have argued that witness statements and physical evidence against him are too weak to convict him of the killings of four furniture store workers."A seventh trial would be unprecedented, and completely unwarranted given both the flimsiness of the evidence against him and the long trail of misconduct that has kept him wrongfully incarcerated all these years," said Sheri Lynn Johnson, who represented Mr Flowers at the Supreme Court."We hope that the state of Mississippi will finally disavow Doug Evans' misconduct, decline to pursue yet another trial and set Mr Flowers free."In the course of selecting a jury, lawyers can excuse a juror merely because of a suspicion that someone would vote against their client using "peremptory strikes", but they have been the focus of the complaints about discrimination.The Supreme Court tried to stamp out discrimination in the composition of juries in the Batson v Kentucky decision in 1986, ruling that jurors couldn't be excused from service because of their race.Additional reporting by AP
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| UPDATE 3-Yemen's Houthis hit Saudi airport, killing one expat, Saudi-led coalition says Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:50 AM PDT ![UPDATE 3-Yemen's Houthis hit Saudi airport, killing one expat, Saudi-led coalition says]( "UPDATE 3-Yemen's Houthis hit Saudi airport, killing one expat, Saudi-led coalition says") Yemen's Houthi movement launched an attack on Abha civilian airport in southern Saudi Arabia on Sunday that killed one person and wounded seven others, the Saudi-led coalition battling the group in Yemen said. Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV earlier said that the Iran-aligned movement had targeted Abha and Jizan airports in the south of the kingdom with drones attacks. "A terrorist attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militia targeted Abha airport, killing a Syrian resident and wounding seven civilians," the coalition said in a statement carried on Saudi state television.
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| The Latest: NTSB investigates deadly Hawaii skydiving crash Posted: 23 Jun 2019 03:23 PM PDT  The National Transportation Safety Board says it will examine repair and inspection records on the skydiving plane that crashed and killed 11 people on Oahu's North Shore. The NTSB's Jennifer Homendy told reporters at the crash site Sunday that those and other records will all become part of the investigation and final report. Some details are starting to be released about the 11 victims who died when a plane carrying sky divers crashed near a small airport on the North Shore of Oahu.
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| When Japan Lost This Battle It Lost World War II For Good Posted: 22 Jun 2019 11:00 PM PDT  In the predawn hours of June 15, the U.S. attacking force was poised a few miles off the beaches. Time-Life correspondent Robert Sherrod later wrote: "[Saipan] was a shadowy land mass, purple against the dim horizon. Set against the reddish tint of the morning sun, it seemed unbelievable that this island paradise could prove to be so menacing."Peering through his binoculars, Vice Adm. Chuichi Nagumo was in awe of the nearly 800 ships from Vice Adm. Raymond A. Spruance's 5th Fleet. Just three years before he had led the carrier force at the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that initiated hostilities between Japan and the United States. But this was no time to gloat over past victories. As he lowered his glasses, Nagumo realized that the Americans must be stopped here. If the invading forces captured Saipan, their Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers could easily reach Japan itself.Saipan, about 85 square miles in size, is the southernmost island in the Marianas chain. It was the next important step in the Allied planning to conquer Japan. One of Saipan's dominating features is Mount Tapotchau, over 1,500 feet high, situated near the center of the island. Also, a ridge runs from the southern end all the way to Mount Marpi at the extreme northern tip. To make things worse, steep cliffs dominate the region and a plateau is located in the southern area.
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| How You Can Modernize Your Old Beater with the Latest Tech Posted: 22 Jun 2019 04:30 AM PDT |
| After high arsenic reports, Keurig Dr Pepper pulls bottled water sold at Target, Walmart Posted: 23 Jun 2019 08:46 AM PDT  All bottles of unflavored Peñafiel mineral spring water are part of a voluntary withdrawal, Keurig Dr Pepper said in a statement Friday.
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| Mexico’s Other Border Is Rattled by Armed Crackdown Along River Posted: 22 Jun 2019 01:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The rafts, made of plywood planks lashed to fat inner tubes, float back and forth all day, piloted by camareros who push poles deep into the riverbed to guide their vessels in a rough echo of Venetian gondoliers.The cargo depends on the direction. From Mexico to Guatemala, it's usually cans of cooking oil or bags of rice, cases of Corona and cartons of eggs. It's mostly people going the other way, many headed for the U.S. All of it, technically speaking, is illegal, but the customs and immigration officials on the international bridge never paid much mind, allowing the Suchiate River crossings to build into the cornerstone of a thriving economy in an impoverished region.The possible end to it all reared up last week, with the arrival of a few of the thousands of troops Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is sending to the border. "The soldiers came with their M-16s and told us that they didn't want us to work," said a 31-year-old who goes by the nickname Rooster. He has been making a living with his raft for more than a decade. Like the hundreds of other camareros (Spanish for tubers, though the word can also mean waiters or stewards), Rooster can earn as much as $39 a day, decent money in Ciudad Hidalgo, a town of about 15,000 that spreads out from the river.The new show of force on the border is meant to stem the stream of migrants escaping violence and poverty in Central America, a move made to appease President Donald Trump after he threatened to impose tariffs on Mexican imports to punish the country for failing to control the masses trying to make their way to the U.S.But the ripple effects could be devastating in the state of Chiapas, the poorest in Mexico, and in the administrative district of San Marcos in southwestern Guatemala, where almost two-thirds of people live in poverty. A network of suppliers and couriers pedaling tricked-out tricycles on the Mexican side keeps the camareros stocked with products that are either unavailable or prohibitively expensive in Guatemala — Ace detergent, Nivea skin cream, Nescafe instant coffee, mayonnaise, PediaSure nutrition drinks, toilet paper, McCormick spices and on and on. Rafts have been known to ferry washing machines across.While the river trade has existed for generations, it exploded over the past five years as the Mexican peso lost one third of its value against the Guatemalan Quetzal. There are no official statistics on the value of the commerce, but according to locals it's the biggest, and almost only, business around."This industry maintains the tricycles, the raft operators, the taxis, buses, everyone lives off of this. What happens if it's gone?" said Bertha Alicia Fuentes, 71, who has been running a supply store in Ciudad Hidalgo for four decades, selling mostly yogurt and milk for river-export to Guatemala. "Forget it. Everyone would be poor." She shook her head and lifted her hands in exasperation. "The merchandise needs to continue to flow."AMLO has acknowledged that there are 68 points on Mexico's 700-mile frontier with Guatemala and Belize that aren't well policed and has promised to secure them. Maximiliano Reyes, undersecretary of foreign relations for Latin America and the Caribbean, said on a recent trip to the area that the Suchiate rafts "are one of the primary points of irregular immigration" and that they are "something we'll need to be looking at." Francisco Garduno, the new head of the national migration agency, went further and said the raft traffic would be stopped.Rooster, who declined to give his name for fear of reprisal, said he understands what the president and troops are up against. "The soldiers are workers, just like us, and they need to do their duty," he said, leaning against a crate of beer in the shade of a tarp. And "AMLO did what he had to do," under pressure from Trump.What the policy makers in Mexico City might not comprehend, though, is what a diligently patrolled border with Guatemala would really mean, Rooster said. "This town and Tapachula would be bankrupt. The majority of the people who buy here are Guatemalans."Stores in nearby Tapachula, a city of more than 300,000 that's the largest near the southern border, could be hurt. They include Walmart, Sam's Club and Chedraui, all popular with Guatemalans who can afford to raft over — the 5-minute trip usually costs about $2 — to stock up.Mexico's frontier with Guatemala has been porous or even undefined for centuries, and Rooster is a typical free-flowing resident of the region. He is Guatemalan but lives on the Mexican side. His parents took him to the U.S. when he was 4 and he grew up in California, where his mother still lives. He said he joined a gang as a teenager, was arrested on drug-possession charges and deported when he was 20.He switches seamlessly between English and Spanish. He is married to a Mexican and they have a 9-year-old son. His wife voted for AMLO; she religiously watches broadcasts of the president's daily news conferences. They approve of his proposals to pay higher pensions to the elderly and give more scholarships to students. Like many expert observers, they don't have confidence that his troops-to-the-border strategy will work.Enrique Vidal Olascoaga, a lawyer at the Fray Matias Human Rights Center in Tapachula, said he sees just downsides. "The only thing that a militarization of the border is going to do is make the crossing of people more dangerous and expensive."Maynor Guillen, a skinny 19-year-old from Honduras who had just come over the river, said the lawyer is right: Guillen was making his second attempt to reach the U.S. and has no intention of giving up. "I've read that they're going to send more soldiers to keep us from crossing," he said, standing outside outside the Tapachula office of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid. "But I'm not afraid."There's concern in Guatemala too, even though the river trade hurts businesses there and the government collects no taxes on the contraband that's floated over. If the rafts were grounded, "there would be consequences," said Paulo de Leon, the economic director for Central American Business Intelligence, an analysis firm in Guatemala City. So many people depend on the Suchiate economy, he said, that there might be a "blood bath" if the river crossing was actually closed.Rooster said he has hopes for a peaceful solution. "But if they're forceful with us," he said, "we will need to be forceful as well." \--With assistance from Michael McDonald.To contact the author of this story: Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Anne Reifenberg at areifenberg@bloomberg.net, David PapadopoulosFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Long Island man becomes 11th to die on Dominican Republic vacation Posted: 23 Jun 2019 04:04 PM PDT  A pizzeria owner from Long Island has apparently become the 11th American tourist to die in nearly a year after or during a visit to the Dominican Republic.
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| Trump Suspends ICE Raids, Demands Swift Legislative Action Posted: 22 Jun 2019 12:33 PM PDT  REUTERSIn a surprise move hours before ICE agents were scheduled to conduct raids in search of undocumented immigrants in cities across the country, President Trump announced on Twitter that he was suspending the order scheduled for Sunday, but issued a stern warning that he wanted a swift legislative solution or the "Deportations start!""At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border," Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon. "If not, Deportations start!"The ICE raids were expected to target undocumented immigrant families in 10 U.S. cities and target about 2,000 people. Leaders in several major cities, including Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles, issued statements condemning the expected raids.Trump's announcement came amid political battles over the raids: between political parties, and within Trump's own administration.Republicans are currently pushing congressional Democrats to increase funding for ICE. But Sunday's planned mass deportations were a sticking point with prominent Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who called the raids "heartless" on Saturday, and called on Trump to "stop this brutal action."After Trump's Saturday announcement, Pelosi said she "welcomed" the delays. "Time is needed for comprehensive immigration reform. Families belong together," Pelosi said in a statement.> New York Attorney General Letitia James echoed that sentiment. "With news of a delay of mass raids on migrant families across the nation, New Yorkers can breathe a short sigh of relief. Immigrants should have never been placed in jeopardy by a president who is willing to rip families apart in order to score points with his base," she said in a statement. Some within the Trump administration reportedly saw the Sunday raids as a political misstep. In the lead-up to the planned deportations, Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan was reportedly apprehensive about the optics of deporting families, and worried that the move could lose Republicans leverage in their push for more ICE funding, CNN reportedFormer ICE director Tom Homan fueled speculation of a rift during a Saturday Fox News segment where he accused McAleenan of "resisting what ICE is trying to do."In his Fox News appearance, Homan seemed to imply that McAleenan or his staff had been responsible for leaking information about the Sunday raids to the media. Current administration officials seemed to share that suspicion, with two reportedly telling BuzzFeed News that McAleenan or his staff had put the raids at risk by slipping information to the media.The mass deportations might be stalled, but immigrant rights organizations have accused Trump of using the families as a bargaining chip in the funding battle with Democrats."Trump is psychologically torturing & holding thousands of families ransom to get what he wants," RAICES, a Texas-based immigrant legal service group tweeted after Trump's announcement Saturday. "We demand that Democrats give Not1Dollar more to this admin for more internment camps/raids & asylum laws not be changed. We ask the community to be ready to mobilize."The cancellation of the raids comes amid new reports of horrific conditions in migrant detention facilities, where children have reportedly been found in filthy conditions, or unresponsive from untreated medical issues.Until his announcement, Trump appeared wholeheartedly behind the raids, even defending them on Saturday morning."The people that Ice will apprehend have already been ordered to be deported," he tweeted Saturday morning. "This means that they have run from the law and run from the courts. These are people that are supposed to go back to their home country. They broke the law by coming into the country, & now by staying."The tweet was consistent with his long-running threats about mass deportations.He was also reportedly upset with McAleenan, whom Homan and current Trump administration officials have blamed for the raids' delay. On Saturday, McAleenan was at the White House, a source told CNN, and "not in a good way."This is a developing story.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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| Erdogan's party loses controversial re-run of Istanbul election Posted: 23 Jun 2019 09:47 AM PDT  The opposition candidate in the controversial replay of Istanbul's mayoral election was headed for a comfortable victory on Sunday, dealing a blow to the ruling party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan's candidate, Binali Yildirim, conceded defeat as initial results showed his opponent ahead with 53.69 percent of the vote with more than 95 percent of ballots counted. "According to the result, as of now my competitor Ekrem Imamoglu is leading the race. I congratulate him and wish him good luck," Yildirim said. Imamoglu, a little-known district mayor at the start of the year, had portrayed the re-run as a test of Turkish democracy after he was controversially stripped of his first victory in March. Election authorities annulled that result after Erdogan claimed irregularities in the counting - but that galvanised Imamoglu, who vowed "a battle for democracy" to take back the city of 15 million. Critics say Erdogan was simply reluctant to give up control of Istanbul, Turkey's economic powerhouse and a crucial source of patronage for Islamic conservatives since he won the mayorship himself a quarter-century ago. Imamoglu, who represents the secular Republican People's Party, said after voting earlier on Sunday: "Today our people will make the best decision... for the sake of our democracy, for Istanbul and also for the legitimacy of all future elections." His upbeat message under the slogan "Everything will be fine" contrasted with the usual aggressive name-calling of Turkish politics and struck a chord with voters. But he faced the juggernaut of the AKP, which has ruled Turkey since 2002 and remains the most popular political force nationwide thanks to years of dramatic growth and support for previously excluded religious conservatives. Yildirim, a mild-mannered Erdogan loyalist who oversaw several huge transport projects and served as prime minister, had already struck a conciliatory tone earlier on Sunday. "If we have wronged, knowingly or unknowingly, one of our fellow Istanbulites or our challengers, if we have done something unjust, I ask for your forgiveness," he said. Analysts said the re-run was a lose-lose proposition for Erdogan: a second defeat would undermine his image of invincibility and embolden rivals within his party, while a victory would forever be seen by the opposition as stolen. It came as an economic slump and rising prices have dented the president's reputation for economic stewardship, with the AKP also losing the capital Ankara in March. For many conservatives, Erdogan remains a hero who brought prosperity and has fiercely defended the country's interests. Most accepted the line that the re-run was necessary. "If there's something like stolen votes, I think it's better to redo the election in the name of democracy," said 45-year-old Huseyin as he queued to cast his ballot. Erdogan maintained his allegations of irregularities as he voted on Sunday, saying the last election "should not have happened like that". But the controversy over the re-run may have explained his relative silence, with no repeat of the tireless rallying for the March polls, which included 102 appearances in just 50 days. Erdogan has played down the importance of the re-run, saying last week that the choice of mayor was "only a change in the shop window" since the AKP controls almost two-thirds of the city's districts. Fearing fraud, the opposition mobilised an army of lawyers from across Turkey to monitor Sunday's election, with the Istanbul Bar Association unfurling a huge banner at their headquarters reading: "Stand guard for democracy".
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| Syria regime air strikes kill 5 civilians: monitor Posted: 23 Jun 2019 09:08 AM PDT  Syrian regime air strikes killed five civilians including two children Sunday in a northwestern bastion of the opposition, a war monitor said. An air raid by Damascus aircraft on Sunday killed five civilians, including two sisters under the age of 10, in the village of Josef in Idlib province, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The strikes also wounded several people, some of whom were in serious condition, said the Observatory.
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| Member of armed border group charged with impersonation Posted: 23 Jun 2019 01:33 PM PDT ![Member of armed border group charged with impersonation]( "Member of armed border group charged with impersonation") A man who has been a spokesman for a small group of armed civilians patrolling the U.S.-Mexico border was charged with impersonating a U.S. officer or employee. An indictment returned Wednesday by a grand jury in New Mexico charged James Christopher Benvie, 44, of Albany, Minnesota, with two counts of false personation of a U.S. officer or employee, federal prosecutors said in a news release Friday. The news release from prosecutors does not provide details on the allegations, including what kind of officer or employee Benvie is accused of impersonating.
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| Best New-Car Deals for July 4th Posted: 22 Jun 2019 03:03 AM PDT  As the nation commemorates Independence Day, car dealerships celebrate with discounted prices on new cars. But you don't have to wait until the busy, long weekend to shop. Our latest analysis sho...
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| Take a Peak: Meet the YF-22A Stealth Fighter (This Became the F-22 Raptor) Posted: 23 Jun 2019 07:30 AM PDT  The interesting photo in this post shows F-22 less known older brother, the YF-22A. Actually, the YF-22A was the Raptor's technology demonstrator. This fighter, in fact, was Lockheed Martin's design for the Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) Competition for the U.S. Air Force (USAF) where it was picked over its competitor, the Nothrop YF-23A.As we have already explained the origins of the ATF program trace back to late 1970s, when a new generation of Soviet fighters and Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) prompted the USAF to find a replacement for the F-15 Eagle air superiority fighter.The Advanced Tactical Fighter entered the Demonstration and Validation phase in 1986. The prototype aircraft (YF-22A and YF-23A) both completed their first flights in late 1990.The extensive flight tests conducted demonstrated that the YF-23A (named Black Widow II) was stealthier and faster while the YF-22A (named Lightning II) was more agile.
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| How will the Philidelphia oil refinery fire affect gas prices? Posted: 23 Jun 2019 10:18 AM PDT  Patrick DeHaan of GasBuddy says wholesale gas prices are already up 6 to 8 cents, which suggests retail prices may start rising in the next few days.
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| 10 deals you don’t want to miss on Sunday: $8 wireless charger, $79 soundbar, AirPods 2 and iPad deals, more Posted: 23 Jun 2019 04:32 AM PDT ![10 deals you don't want to miss on Sunday: $8 wireless charger, $79 soundbar, AirPods 2 and iPad deals, more]( "10 deals you don't want to miss on Sunday: $8 wireless charger, $79 soundbar, AirPods 2 and iPad deals, more") Sunday's daily deals roundup is so good, you won't even know what hit you. Highlights include an awesome smartwatch with 30-day battery life for just $79.99, the upgraded faster version of Amazon's best-selling Wi-Fi range extender for just $24.99, the first big discount on AirPods 2 with Wireless Charging Case, brand new Apple iPads starting at just $249, nearly $100 off the excellent Roomba 690 robot vacuum with Alexa support, a terrific Vizio soundbar for just $78.99, multi-color LED smart light bulbs for $15 a piece, a wireless keyboard you never need to charge for $39.99, a fast wireless charging pad for only $8.49, and more. See all of today's best bargains below.
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| VIDEO: New Vs Old Shelby GT350R Posted: 22 Jun 2019 10:02 AM PDT  Does the 2016 model hold up against the original 1965? Recently, V8TV took a comparative look at the original 1965 Shelby GT350R, a race car that ruled the tracks during the muscle car golden age, and the 2016 Shelby GT350R. Despite these two vehicles sharing a nameplate, there's a lot that's different about them. How exactly do they stack up? The results may surprise you.Shelby ditched pretty much everything it could to shed weight on the 1965 car, using plexiglass for windows, dumping the heater, and not including a radio, to name a few things. Shedding that weight freed up the blue-printed 289ci V8 to pull hard on straightaways with about 315-horsepower. The car gained a roll cage, racing seat, harness, and performance gauges for track use.Bigger and heavier than the 1965 model, the 2016 Shelby GT350R has some big shoes to fill. There's no denying its capabilities. It packs some serious heat with an aluminum flat-plane 5.2-liter V8, putting 526-horsepower to the wheels. The exhaust note sounds raw and exotic, but it's different in sound from the original racer and not nearly as loud.What you get with the modern GT350R is reliability. You can actually use the 2016 model on the daily basis, driving through the city, something the 1965 would not do well at in the least. Also, the newer model is actually pretty plus on the inside, while the old-school snake is stripped-down to ditch any extra weight.While the 1965 Shelby GT350R is a real racer, it comes with all the real racer needs. The car isn't exactly easy to drive, plus you need a trailer to get it to the track. On top of that, to keep that engine running smoothly you'll need an experienced pit crew. With the 2016 model, pretty much anyone can handle the car, thanks to the wizardry of onboard electronics and other modern aids.Ultimately, both cars use the same philosophy of upgrading the street version of the GT350 with track-proven methods, resulting in a highly-capable racer. But which will get you around the track faster? That's the true question. More American Muscle Take To The Track With A 2008 Ford Mustang FR500S Head Turning Restomod 1966 Pontiac GTO With LS3
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| Supreme Court set to decide major census, electoral maps cases Posted: 23 Jun 2019 04:06 AM PDT  The U.S. Supreme Court, approaching the end of its current term, is due to issue rulings in the coming days in major cases including the Trump administration's bid to add a contentious citizenship question to the 2020 census and efforts by voters to curb the partisan manipulation of electoral district boundaries. The court, which has a 5-4 conservative majority, has 12 cases left to decide during its current term, which began in October and is expected to conclude by the end of June, with some rulings scheduled to be issued on Monday. Eagerly awaited rulings in legal challenges to the proposed census question and a practice called partisan gerrymandering could have enduring effects on elections for seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and state legislatures.
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| The Best Travel Mugs to Keep Your Coffee Hot (or Cold) Posted: 23 Jun 2019 11:00 AM PDT |
| Biden’s Media Strategy: Duck The Press Unless You’re Under Duress Posted: 22 Jun 2019 07:14 PM PDT  Bloomberg via GettyThe first time former Vice President Joe Biden spoke to national media reporters in nearly a week of campaigning was to address a political minicrisis of his own making.On Wednesday evening, hours after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) had admonished him for fondly recalling the collegiality of segregationist senators of the '70s, the former vice president was asked if he would apologize. "Apologize for what? Cory should apologize, he knows better," Biden responded, standing outside an SUV on his way into a fundraiser. "There's not a racist bone in my body, I've been involved with civil rights my whole career. Period. Period. Period."The moment marked a new level of aggression in a still-nascent Democratic primary. It also put the spotlight on what Democratic officials say is a risky and often confusing campaign blueprint being deployed by the party's presidential frontrunner. Increasingly, Biden seems to speak publicly or talk with reporters only when he is under duress. "It is not a tenable strategy," said David Axelrod, who worked with Biden as the top communications adviser on the 2008 campaign, and in the Obama White House. "His message is that he's the guy who can beat Donald Trump and he is viewed as the least risky choice. Over time, if the only interactions he has is around these screwups and gaffes, then he is going to start losing that message." Booker, Harris, Warren Tee Off on Biden for His Nostalgia for Segregationist SenatorsOver the past few weeks, Biden has been forced to grapple with a number of minicontroversies and self-inflicted wounds. His nostalgia for former Sens. James O. Eastland (D-MS) and Herman E. Talmadge (D-GA) was preceded by a 24-hour flip-flop on a law banning federal funds from funding abortion (Biden went from supporting the Hyde amendment to opposing it). Those two instances came after Biden was criticized for not offering a full apology to Anita Hill and for humorously dismissing accusations that he made women uncomfortable by invading their space. Virtually every candidate running for president has to clean up the messes he or she makes. That's especially true for the frontrunners and those who, like Biden, have a proclivity for speaking with limited filters. But what makes Biden's current approach so confusing for other Democrats is that much of his public-facing campaigning has involved doing only that. Elsewhere, the former vice president has kept a notably low profile, taking little opportunity to push his larger campaign message or make proactive defenses of his political baggage.Biden hasn't appeared on national television since the day after he officially declared his run for president. Since then, the campaign has repeatedly declined invitations from television and cable news outlets. One network source told The Daily Beast that over the past several months, Biden has been offered a number of appearances on MSNBC, including telephone interviews. And a CNN insider said the network reached out to the former vice president in the months before he even launched his campaign, inquiring whether he would be interested in participating in upcoming town hall events.In addition to missing many of the forums packed with 2020 Democratic prospects, Biden was the only 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to decline an interview by The New York Times as part of its package this week comparing the various candidates (and wouldn't respond to questions when asked why he didn't participate)."I think that it is never a good idea to sit on a lead. That rarely works out well, and that's what they're doing," said Axelrod.While in South Carolina this weekend, Biden worked the rope line well into the evening, mingling with press and voters, but his campaign has previously restricted press access, running the vice president's press availabilities in a vastly different manner from the rest of the candidates. Biden's campaign has at points sealed off the press at events, only allowing a single reporter to represent the campaign press pool at Biden fundraising events. Occasionally, the Biden campaign has even seemed to forget or reverse course on planned media appearances. Earlier this month, the former vice president's staff told campaign reporters that he was going to be holding a press gaggle following an event in New Hampshire. But reporters were left hanging when Biden left the event and got into a waiting SUV without taking questions. For communications specialists, the reticence seems not just at odds with the realities of modern media, but also unwise, leaving the impression that Biden—who has a reputation for joviality—is almost afraid of the scrutiny. "If you are only interacting with the press when there is an issue of concern, you reinforce that perception that there are only problems," said longtime Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis, who runs Park Street Strategies. "You're in a turtle mode instead of being proactive about what you're pushing out."Biden's defenders argue that the reason that he appears to interact with the press during times of duress is largely because those episodes are over-emphasized by the media itself. They point to polling data showing his consistent lead in the primary as evidence that the national press corps has fundamentally different priorities than the Democratic electorate. The campaign has created its media strategy around that theory as well. Instead of doing national interviews, they have focused the vast majority of their attention on smaller local news outlets in the early primary states. Since jumping into the race in April, Biden has sat down for at least a dozen interviews with local TV and radio stations in Iowa and New Hampshire.Biden hasn't been entirely closed off from national outlets. His campaign is the only one in the primary that allows a print pooler into his fundraising events. And on Thursday, senior Biden adviser Symone Sanders told CNN that the former VP would be sitting down for an interview this weekend. Sources told The Daily Beast that Biden would likely be one of several candidates sitting down with host Al Sharpton at an event for 2020 presidential contenders in South Carolina that MSNBC has exclusive rights to broadcast. Nevertheless, Biden's caution when dealing with the press has stood out in a field of candidates where many others seem willing to accept any media request or live-streaming opportunity. Former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) has been comfortable enough with campaign reporters to invite them on jogging outings, while South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is so willing to sit for interviews he took questions while drinking brown-bagged beer in a park in New York City.Campaign veterans say it would be unwise for Biden to go to those extremes, and not just because of his history of saying things that cause him political headaches. According to their logic, the former VP is already well known to the public and instead of re-introducing himself to voters, he can afford to spend that time on other campaign functions. The question now being asked of the Biden campaign is not just whether they took that theory too far but whether he could actually maneuver through the current media landscape if he tried. "You are not in the Hyde amendment era in the Democratic Party, and you are not in the James O. Eastland era of the party," said James Carville, a longtime Democratic operative. "How can you have the give and take [with the press] when your instinct is to get on the wrong side of two great issues of the modern Democratic Party, and that's abortion and racial relations? The world has changed."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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| Mexico officials detain more migrants as crackdown steps up Posted: 23 Jun 2019 03:45 PM PDT  Authorities reinforced efforts over the weekend to deter Central Americans and others from crossing Mexico to reach the United States, detaining migrants in the south and stationing National Guardsmen along the Rio Grande in the north. In Arriaga, a town in the southern state of Chiapas, The Associated Press saw about 100 migrants bused to detention Sunday, while Milenio TV reported that 146 more were pulled from a private home in the central state of Queretaro and more than 100 were taken away from a hotel in the Gulf state of Veracruz. Pressured by the U.S., Mexico's government has deployed some 6,000 agents of the National Guard, its new militarized policing force, along its southern and northern borders this month.
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