| Massachusetts police officer charged with repeatedly raping 16-year-old homeless girl while on duty Posted: 28 Jun 2019 08:28 AM PDT  A 49-year-old Massachusetts police officer was arraigned Thursday on twocharges of rape after he allegedly sexually assaulted an underage homelessgirl multiple times while on duty
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| Uruguay withdraws from OAS meeting over Venezuela opposition delegation Posted: 27 Jun 2019 04:13 PM PDT  Uruguay on Thursday withdrew from a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) being held in Medellin, Colombia, in protest of the presence of what it said was an illegitimate delegation from Venezuela. The incident, on the first of two days of meetings, laid bare a lack of consensus in the organization over whether to increase pressure on embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is backed by some member states but called a dictator by others. The country's opposition, lead by National Assembly head Juan Guaido, appointed Gustavo Tarre as its representative to the body.
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| Supreme Court allows partisan districts, blocks census query Posted: 27 Jun 2019 08:23 AM PDT  In two politically charged rulings, the Supreme Court dealt a huge blow Thursday to efforts to combat the drawing of electoral districts for partisan gain and put a hold on the Trump administration's effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. On the court's final day of decisions before a summer break, the conservative justices ruled that federal courts have no role to play in the dispute over the practice known as partisan gerrymandering. The decision could embolden political line-drawing for partisan gain when state lawmakers undertake the next round of redistricting following the 2020 census.
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| 'A colossal mistake': GOP-controlled Senate votes down measure blocking Iran military strike Posted: 28 Jun 2019 02:09 PM PDT  The GOP-controlled Senate defeated a bill that would have required Donald Trump to get explicit congressional approval for a military strike on Iran.
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| Stealth vs. Russia: U.S. F-22s and F-35s vs. Russia's S-300 and S-400 (Who Wins?) Posted: 27 Jun 2019 08:00 PM PDT  Physics dictate that a tactical fighter-sized stealth aircraft must be optimized to defeat higher-frequency bands such the C, X and Ku bands, which are used by fire control radars to produce a high-resolution track. Industry, Air Force and Navy officials all agree that there is a "step change" in an LO aircraft's signature once the frequency wavelength exceeds a certain threshold and causes a resonant effect—which generally occurs at the top part of the S-band.Russian air defenses may appear formidable as part of Moscow's increasingly sophisticated anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capability, but areas protected by these systems are far from impenetrable bubbles or 'Iron Domes' as some analysts have called them.While it is true that a layered and integrated air defense may effectively render large swaths of airspace too costly—in terms of men and materiel—to attack using conventional fourth generation warplanes such as the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet or Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcon, these systems have an Achilles' Heel. Russian air defenses will still struggle to effectively engage fifth-generation stealth aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor or F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.(This first appeared in August 2016.)
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| Ethics panel launches Gaetz investigation over Cohen tweet Posted: 28 Jun 2019 10:50 AM PDT ![Ethics panel launches Gaetz investigation over Cohen tweet]( "Ethics panel launches Gaetz investigation over Cohen tweet") Matt Gaetz sent a tweet in February in which he threatened to release embarrassing personal information about Michael Cohen.
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| Mother of Missing Virginia 2-Year-Old Previously Convicted for Child Neglect Posted: 27 Jun 2019 01:39 PM PDT  It has been four days since a Virginia toddler was last seen. Police are continuing their search for 2-year-old Noah Tomlin.
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| Video: Parents fight off woman trying to kidnap their child at airport Posted: 27 Jun 2019 10:26 AM PDT  Dramatic footage released by police shows every parent's worst nightmare at a busy Atlanta airport.
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| Supreme Court Backs Partisan Voting Maps, Opening Path for More Posted: 27 Jun 2019 09:08 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Supreme Court ruled it has no constitutional authority to throw out voting maps for being too partisan, effectively giving parties that control state legislatures license to redraw districts to cement their political advantages.The justices' 5-4 decision Thursday -- divided along ideological lines -- upholds disputed congressional maps drawn by Maryland Democrats and North Carolina Republicans, while dooming similar challenges being pressed against Republican-made maps in Ohio and Michigan, boosting that party's prospects in the 2020 elections.Writing for a majority comprised of Republican-appointed judges, Chief Justice John Roberts said, "partisan gerrymandering is nothing new. Nor is frustration with it." But he said courts can't fashion a remedy because the problem requires a political solution, not a judicial one."We have no commission to allocate political power and influence in the absence of a constitutional directive or legal standards to guide us in the exercise of such authority," he said. Siding with the chief justice were Trump appointees Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch, along with justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.The decision reverses lower court rulings that invalidated the Maryland and North Carolina redistricting efforts. In addition, lower courts had deemed the Ohio and Michigan maps as too partisan and ordered them redrawn for 2020. The high court put those cases on hold pending Thursday's ruling.Republicans are currently the more frequent beneficiaries of gerrymanders because their electoral success in 2010 let them draw many of the current maps. The ruling will shape the next round of map-drawing, which will take place around the country after the 2020 census. Those lines will apply starting in 2022.Dissenting Justice Elena Kagan briefly choked up as she read her opinion from the bench. She called the majority ruling "tragically wrong" and said it was "with respect but deep sadness," that she and justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor disagreed. Each of them were nominated by Democratic presidents.Kagan said it was the first time the court was refusing to remedy a constitutional violation "because it thinks the task beyond judicial capabilities." She added that partisan gerrymanders "debased and dishonored our democracy, turning upside-down the core American idea that all governmental power derives from the people."Independent CommissionsThe decision could spur efforts to establish independent redistricting commissions in states where those are permissible. The Supreme Court in 2016 upheld a commission in Arizona, one of about a dozen states where commissions now have primary responsibility for drawing district lines. Some of those states let politicians serve on the commissions, limiting their independence.Critics say gerrymandered districts undermine democracy, letting representatives choose their voters, rather than the other way around. Freda Levenson, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union chapter that challenged the Ohio map, assailed the high court ruling in an emailed statement."The court's decision to allow the practice of gerrymandering to continue, to flourish, and to evade review by the judicial system, leaves it in the hands of those who will continue to abuse their awesome power whenever they can to defeat the will of the voters," Levenson said.Those on the other side say no principled way exists to distinguish legitimate political considerations from unconstitutional gerrymandering.Opponents say the North Carolina map was explicitly crafted to have 10 generally safe Republican seats out of 13 overall. In November's election, Democrats won 48% of the state's overall House vote but could end up with only three districts. A fourth will be decided in a special election in September, after an earlier Republican nominee's campaign was tainted by allegations of ballot fraud.North Carolina State Representative David Lewis, a Republican who helped lead the redistricting effort, said in 2016 that he supported drawing the map with 10 Republican-heavy districts "because I do not believe it's possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats."A three-judge panel said the North Carolina map violated the Constitution's equal protection clause and First Amendment. The panel also said the North Carolina map runs afoul of the Constitution's elections clause, which guarantees "the people" the right to select their representatives.In the other case, a three-judge panel had ordered Maryland to redraw the boundaries of a congressional district in the western part of the state, saying Democrats improperly drew it to squeeze out an incumbent Republican."The fight is far from over," said Paul Smith, vice president of the Campaign Legal Center, which pressed the North Carolina fight. "We must redouble our efforts outside the courtroom to keep advancing efforts that put the voices of voters first."The North Carolina case is Rucho v. Common Cause, 18-422. The Maryland case is Lamone v. Benisek, 18-726.(Updates with reactions from gerrymandering opponents.)\--With assistance from Kimberly Robinson.To contact the reporters on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net;Andrew Harris in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Anna EdgertonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| U.S. will sanction any countries that import Iranian oil: special envoy Posted: 28 Jun 2019 04:19 AM PDT  The United States will sanction any country that imports Iranian oil and there are no exemptions in place, the U.S. special envoy for Iran said on Friday. U.S. President Donald Trump targeted Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials with sanctions on Monday, taking an unprecedented step to increase pressure on Iran after Tehran's downing of an unmanned American drone last week. "We will sanction any imports of Iranian crude oil," Brian Hook said when asked about the sale of Iranian crude to Asia, adding that the United States would take a look at reports of Iranian crude going to China.
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| Mourning dog pictured at former owner's hospital bed finds new home Posted: 27 Jun 2019 03:30 PM PDT ![Mourning dog pictured at former owner's hospital bed finds new home]( "Mourning dog pictured at former owner's hospital bed finds new home") Moose, a 3-year-old lab mix, was recently photographed waiting at his former owner's hospital bed, spurring an adoption rush for the dog.
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| Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser Is Incredibly Active Right Now, and We Don't Know Why Posted: 27 Jun 2019 06:09 AM PDT  Yellowstone National Park's Steamboat Geyser blasted steam and water into the air at 12:52 p.m. local time on June 12. Then, three days, 3 hours and 48 minutes later -- at 4:40 p.m. on June 15 -- it blasted steam and water into the air again, according to the U.S. Geological Survey's (USGS)'s Volcano Hazards Program. That's a new record for the geyser, according to the Billings Gazette: the shortest time ever recorded between eruptions.But don't worry. Increased activity at a single geyser doesn't indicate any new threat from the Yellowstone caldera -- the "supervolcano" hiding under the park -- according to USGS."Geysers are supposed to erupt, and most are erratic, like Steamboat," the agency wrote. [Infographic: Yellowstone Geology, Geysers, and Volcano]Additionally, records of Steamboat's eruptions go back only to 1982, the Billings Gazette noted. Yellowstone's history is much older than that.The newspaper also reported that the eruptions were especially dramatic, large and loud, with one ejecting a rock that shattered a wooden post. Researchers don't have good, tested theories to explain why geysers like one this slip in and out of active periods, according to the Gazette.Mostly, the eruptions suggest that now is a particularly good time to go see Steamboat Geyser blow its lid. The geyser set a record for total number of eruptions in 2018, with 32 in the calendar year, according to USGS. Already in 2019 there have been 24 eruptions, six of them in June as of this writing. * Yellowstone and Yosemite: Two of the World's Oldest National Parks * All Yours: Top 10 Least Visited National Parks * The Grand Canyon in PicturesOriginally published on Live Science.
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| Police: 'Multiple items of evidence' found in home searched in Mackenzie Lueck's disappearance Posted: 27 Jun 2019 10:15 PM PDT  Police served a warrant on a home in Utah in connection to the disappearance of University of Utah student Mackenzie Lueck.
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| Sparks fly as Kamala Harris challenges Joe Biden's record on race Posted: 27 Jun 2019 08:03 PM PDT  The California senator sharply criticized the former vice president for his fond recollection of serving with two segregationist senators, and for opposing integration through busing in the 1970s.
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| SCOTUS Blocks Trump Administration from Including Census Citizenship Question Posted: 27 Jun 2019 08:00 AM PDT  The Supreme Court on Thursday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the decennial national census on the grounds that it failed to provide an adequate justification for doing so.In a split decision, the Court sent the matter back to a lower court for review, setting up a protracted and high-stakes legal battle that will likely last throughout much of the summer, surpassing the July deadline that administration attorneys have said they would need to meet to include the question on the upcoming census.In his decision, Chief Justice John Roberts explicitly criticized Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross for failing to adequately justify his decision to add the citizenship question to the census for the first time since 1950."The evidence tells a story that does not match the explanation [Ross] gave for his decision," Roberts wrote. "The sole stated reason seems to have been contrived."Ross claimed last year that he added the citizenship question at the behest of the Department of Justice in order to facilitate the enforcement of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which, in certain circumstances, requires that government lawyers know how many minorities live in a certain area for the purpose of drawing election districts.Critics of the administration have suggested the rationale was a disingenuous ploy intended to conceal a true desire to weaken Democratic congressional representation by eliminating illegal immigrants from the census rolls.Writing in dissent, three of the Court's four conservative justices said they would have approved the administrations's request to add the citizenship question because they accepted the justification Ross provided."For the first time ever, the court invalidates an agency action solely because it questions the sincerity of the agency's otherwise adequate rationale," said Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. Justice Samuel Alito Jr. wrote a separate dissent.The liberal justices concurred with Roberts's decision to send the matter back to a lower court.The ruling comes after U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman of New York blocked the citizenship question, arguing that the question would discourage participation in the census and lead to significant undercounting.
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| UPDATE 3-Apple moves Mac Pro production to China from U.S. - WSJ Posted: 28 Jun 2019 07:03 AM PDT ![UPDATE 3-Apple moves Mac Pro production to China from U.S. - WSJ]( "UPDATE 3-Apple moves Mac Pro production to China from U.S. - WSJ") Apple Inc is shifting manufacturing of its new Mac Pro desktop computer to China from the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter. The move comes at a time when the Trump administration has threatened to impose new levies to cover nearly all imports from China and pressured Apple and other manufacturers to make their products in the United States if they want to avoid tariffs. Last week, Apple asked its major suppliers to assess the cost implications of moving 15% to 30% of their production capacity from China to Southeast Asia, according to a Nikkei report.
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| Controversial 'Straight Pride' parade gets approval from Boston to be held in August Posted: 27 Jun 2019 12:02 PM PDT  The city approved the event application for the group Super Happy Fun America to host the parade Aug. 31.
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| First Democratic Debate Shows What the Party Stands For Posted: 27 Jun 2019 10:07 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- If nominations are about defining the party to itself, the Democrats on Night One of the first round of debates made it pretty clear who they are. Demographically diverse. Pragmatic. Liberal. Programmatic. Group-oriented. Competent.Yes, Elizabeth Warren has a plan for that, but so do Julian Castro, Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker. Some of the others, too, but those are the four who stood out to me. Yes, Klobuchar is relatively moderate, and Warren is relatively more progressive, and the other eight can probably be arrayed on an ideological spectrum based on their answers; still, however, they were very much of the same approach to politics. Take policy seriously. Show solidarity with various party-aligned organized groups and demographic groups: Moms Demand, unions, climate activists, women and more – and demonstrate it with concrete, specific policy solutions.What Democrats are really like was, I think, best demonstrated by the candidate who in my view had the worst night, Washington Governor Jay Inslee. Inslee is supposedly running on climate. In his closing statement, he tried to differentiate by arguing that he alone is pledging to make it his number one priority if he is elected. And yet Inslee utterly failed to do what a candidate with that kind of plan is supposed to do: Connect every question back to "his" issue to demonstrate that in fact he really would govern that way. Instead, he wound up talking about unions when he got an economy question, and immigrant communities when he got an immigration question – and then, most embarrassingly, he was not among the four candidates who volunteered climate as the nation's biggest geopolitical threat. Inslee said "Trump," which is a perfectly good Democratic answer. All his answers were perfectly fine Democratic answers. They just weren't about climate, and so instead of standing out he faded in with the rest of the candidates who may not qualify for the September debates.In other words, Democrats aren't really very good at running single-issue campaigns because they are trained, as Democratic politicians, to take policy seriously in all the areas in which Democratic groups want something.Whether this is good or bad, I suppose, depends on one's sense of what politics is supposed to be about and what one wants from a president. I tend to think it's very healthy for a party, and a very nice contrast to the bluster and ideological preening that tends to dominate Republican debates even when Donald Trump isn't one of the candidates.But whether that's correct or not, what was on display tonight is what the Democrats are.I counted six very plausible nominees going into the evening – Warren, Castro, Klobuchar, Booker, Inslee and Beto O'Rourke. Of those, I suspect that fans of all except Inslee and perhaps O'Rourke will believe their candidate did very well. None of the other four did anything to make me think that they are anything other than distant longshots. But that's mostly guesswork. As several pre-debate pieces have emphasized, it's what happens next that determines the winners – what the pundits say, which clips get used on TV news, and which clips go viral on social media. That may take a few days to sort out, especially with a second debate coming Thursday night.Hey, for all I know, the contentious argument between Tulsi Gabbard and Tim Ryan over war in Afghanistan could wind up getting plenty of attention and help one of them (or both) to move up in the polls a little. It was, for whatever it's worth, one of only two real active arguments, along with Castro and O'Rourke debating immigration policy. It's not always predictable what the media will do or which clips people will find appealing. What I would say is that neither Gabbard nor Ryan appears to have the support from party actors to take advantage of any surge. Castro and O'Rourke, and Klobuchar, Booker and Warren, are in much better position to leverage a small uptick into something more substantial.Other than that, I'll stick by my initial sense that this Wednesday group is in fact at least as strong as the Thursday group, even though their polling numbers are far weaker at this point. As a group, they were reasonably impressive despite the difficult logistics of a 10-candidate debate, in which all of them have to fight for time and candidates tend to go missing for half an hour here or fifteen minutes there.And with that, on to the second night.(Corrects spelling of Senator Booker's name in second paragraph. Corrects name of group in second paragraph.)To contact the author of this story: Jonathan Bernstein at jbernstein62@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Philip Gray at philipgray@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He taught political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio and DePauw University and wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 14 Refreshing Hard Ciders To Drink This Fall Posted: 28 Jun 2019 10:12 AM PDT |
| Shot American woman who miscarried faces homicide charge Posted: 27 Jun 2019 04:30 PM PDT  An American woman who miscarried after being shot five times has been charged by Alabama authorities in the death of her fetus, a move abortion rights groups condemned on Thursday. The arrest of Marshae Jones came amid heightened tensions around abortion after more than a dozen states in the southern and midwestern United States, including Alabama, passed restrictive abortion laws that are currently being challenged in court. "Marshae Jones was indicted for manslaughter for losing a pregnancy after being shot in the abdomen five times.
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| Volcano, dormant for almost 100 years, erupts in 'spectacular' fashion Posted: 28 Jun 2019 05:25 AM PDT  Smoke billowed from the volcano on Raikoke in satellite images as the uninhabited island saw its first volcanic eruption since 1924.
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| Long Island Mother Allegedly Admitted to Killing Twins with Her 'Bare Hands' Posted: 28 Jun 2019 02:38 PM PDT  A mother allegedly admitted to killing her twins with her "bare hands" before attempting suicide by cop, court documents and officials revealed Friday.
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| 'Liberalism Is Obsolete,' Russian President Vladimir Putin Says Amid G20 Summit Posted: 28 Jun 2019 06:37 AM PDT  He also spoke about Europe's migrant crisis and LGBTQ rights in Russia
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| Catholic Bishop Escorts Migrants over Border to Protest U.S. Immigration Policy Posted: 28 Jun 2019 12:22 PM PDT  A Catholic bishop escorted migrants across a bridge spanning the U.S.–Mexico border on Friday in an act of protest against U.S. immigration policy.El Paso bishop Mark Seitz escorted groups of migrants back and forth across the Lerdo International Bridge as part of his "Faith Action" protest against the Trump administration's Migrant Protection Protocols, which require that certain asylum-seekers remain in Mexico while their claims are being adjudicated.Some 15,000 asylum-seekers are now waiting in crowded conditions along the border in Mexico for their claims to be adjudicated, according to El Paso's KVIA-TV. "There is a critical lack of access to shelter, food, legal aid, and basic services" in Ciudad Juarez, where many of the migrants are waiting to enter the U.S., Seitz said.Seitz, 65, condemned U.S. authorities for treating migrants as "worse than animals" and for viewing "fleeing children and families as threats" and demanded that they be allowed to remain in the U.S. while awaiting a decision on their asylum applications."Standing here at the U.S.–Mexico border, how do we begin to diagnose the soul of our country?" Seitz asked reporters in both Spanish and English.Seitz was joined by Reverend Javier Calvillo, director of Casa del Migrante, the diocesan migrant shelter. Together, the two clergymen escorted a group of migrants back across the border to Mexico after they were turned away by Border Patrol.Some 144,000 migrants arrived at the border seeking asylum in May. The record numbers have overwhelmed federal resources and led to unhygienic and, in some cases, inhumane conditions in Border Patrol and Department of Health and Human Services detention facilities.Congress on Thursday passed a $4.6 billion emergency spending bill to alleviate the humanity crisis.
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| Kevin Durant Sells Oceanfront Malibu Beach House for $12.15 Million Posted: 27 Jun 2019 01:08 PM PDT  The NBA star bought the sleek four-bedroom home just last April for $12.05 million
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| Former allies of Turkey's Erdogan plan rival party after Istanbul defeat Posted: 27 Jun 2019 05:51 AM PDT  Two senior figures in Turkish President's Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party are planning to launch a rival political group this year, people familiar with the matter said, a move that could further erode support for the country's long-time leader on the heels of a stinging electoral defeat in Istanbul. Behind the breakaway plans are former deputy prime minister Ali Babacan and former president Abdullah Gul, both founding members of Erdogan's AK Party (AKP), according to two political advisers. Sunday's re-run mayoral election delivered the second loss in recent months for the AK Party (AKP) in Turkey's largest city, a bitter setback for the president who has ruled for 16 years.
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| Biden, Harris spar over desegregation at Democratic debate Posted: 27 Jun 2019 09:34 PM PDT  The senator from California said she was personally impacted as she was bused to school as a girl.
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| More white supremacist propaganda showing up on US campuses Posted: 27 Jun 2019 04:49 PM PDT ![More white supremacist propaganda showing up on US campuses]( "More white supremacist propaganda showing up on US campuses") Colleges in the U.S. are seeing more racist rhetoric on campus, a new report finds. Instances of white supremacist propaganda showing up on college campuses trended higher in the recently completed academic year, according to the Anti-Defamation League report published Thursday. The just-completed spring semester saw more extremist propaganda on campus than any preceding semester, the ADL said, with 161 incidents on 122 different campuses across 33 states and the District of Columbia.
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| Oklahoma woman caught on own CCTV camera firebombing and shooting into neighbour’s home Posted: 27 Jun 2019 12:46 PM PDT  An Oklahoma woman was arrested after being caught on camera firing gunshots and throwing a lit towel into her next door neighbour's home. Firefighters were called to the burning property in Del City on June 10th, responding to 911 calls that reported flames coming from the garage door.Having contained the blaze, fire investigators learned there was an ongoing conflict between the owner of the burnt home and the next door neighbour, Annie Durham, 59.Shocking footage of the incident was captured on CCTV, showing Durham firing two shots into the side of the home before throwing a flaming object into the door, setting the house ablaze.The video released by the Del City Fire Department came from the accused woman's own surveillance camera.According to the fire department, Durham was initially resistant to giving up the footage, claiming the camera had not been switched on.However, it was eventually obtained with the help of the City Police Department's Computer Forensic Division.Durham was arrested on Monday June 17 and is charged with second degree arson and discharge of a firearm into a dwelling.
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| FAA finds new 'potential risk' in Boeing 737 Max, a setback that could delay plane's return to the skies Posted: 27 Jun 2019 11:45 AM PDT  The jet has been grounded since two deadly crashes. The FAA says Boeing's software fixes aren't enough to get it flying again.
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| Trump is wrong about Iran. He needs approval from Congress for a military strike. Posted: 28 Jun 2019 12:00 AM PDT  Congress must reassert its constitutional authority. This president could stumble into a conflict beyond his comprehension or ability to control.
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| House sends Trump $4.6B border bill, yielding to Senate Posted: 27 Jun 2019 05:19 PM PDT  The Democratic-controlled House voted Thursday to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan, Senate-drafted, $4.6 billion measure to care for migrant refugees detained at the southern border, capping a Washington skirmish in which die-hard liberals came out on the losing end in a battle with the White House, the GOP-held Senate and Democratic moderates. Trump has indicated he'll sign it into law. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reluctantly brought the Senate bill to a vote by after her plan to further strengthen rules for treatment of migrant refugees ran into intractable opposition from Republican lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence.
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| SCOTUS Won’t Revive Alabama Law Banning Dismemberment Abortion Posted: 28 Jun 2019 08:25 AM PDT  The Supreme Court declined Friday to revive an Alabama law that would ban dismemberment abortions.The state was forced to appeal to the High Court after a lower court ruled that its 2016 Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment Abortion Act, which bans so-called "dilation and evacuation" abortions, violated the precedent established by Planned Parenthood v. Casey in placing an "undue burden" on abortion access.Justice Clarence Thomas was the only justice to comment on the Friday decision. In his concurring opinion, Thomas agreed that the law should not be revived on procedural grounds, but lambasted the legal "aberration" that constrained the court."The more developed the child, the more likely an abortion will involve dismembering it," Thomas said. "The notion that anything in the Constitution prevents States from passing laws prohibiting the dismembering of a living child is implausible. But under the 'undue burden' standard adopted by this court, a restriction on abortion — even one limited to prohibiting gruesome methods — is unconstitutional if 'the purpose or effect of the provision is to place a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability.'""This case serves as a stark reminder that our abortion jurisprudence has spiraled out of control," he added.The declination comes after a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit ruled in August that dismemberment abortions, which are the most popular form of second-trimester abortion, cannot be prohibited because there are no alternatives that would not present an "unsurmountable obstacle" to women.Writing for the panel, Chief Judge Ed Carnes, like Thomas, held that he and his colleagues were bound by what amounts to an "aberration" in constitutional law."Some Supreme Court Justices have been of the view that there is constitutional law and then there is the aberration of constitutional law relating to abortion," Carnes wrote, referring to previous dissents from Thomas and the late Justice Antonin Scalia. "If so, what we must apply here is the aberration."
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| El Salvador president says China relations fully established Posted: 27 Jun 2019 03:12 PM PDT  El Salvador's new president said on Thursday that relations with China were complete and established, giving the strongest signal yet that the small Central American nation will not take up ties again with Taiwan. "At the moment, we have diplomatic relations with China that are complete, that are established," President Nayib Bukele said at a business conference in the capital. El Salvador, which for many years had close relations with the United States, in August broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China during the previous administration.
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| The Story of How America's Mach 3 SR-71 Spy Plane Out Ran Missiles Posted: 27 Jun 2019 12:42 PM PDT  "The spikes are full aft now, tucked twenty-six inches deep into the nacelles. With all inlet doors tightly shut, at 3.24 Mach, the J-58s are more like ramjets now, gulping 100,000 cubic feet of air per second. We are a roaring express now, and as we roll through the enemy's backyard, I hope our speed continues to defeat the missile radars below."On Apr. 14, 1986, Operation El Dorado Canyon launched air-strikes against Libya in response to Libya's bombing of a Berlin discotheque frequented by US military personnel. The attack was performed by a strike-group of 18 U.S. Air Force (USAF) F-111s supported by numerous U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) A-6, A-7 and F/A-18 aircraft.On Apr. 16, 1986 after the raid, SR-71 64-17960 piloted by Maj. Brian Shul with RSO Maj.Walter Watson, entered Libyan airspace at a blistering 2,125 mph to photograph the targets for bomb damage assessment (BDA). As they neared the end of their sweeps, they started receiving launch indications from Libyan surface-to-air missile (SAM) sites below.
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| Norwegian man sentenced to 16 years for abusing hundreds of boys Posted: 28 Jun 2019 07:29 AM PDT  A Norwegian man was sentenced to 16 years in prison on Friday for the sexual abuse, including rape, of several hundred underage boys in what was described as the largest such case in the country's history. The man, who was also a football referee, impersonated a young girl and promised sweets, smart phones, naked photos or sexual favours to lure his victims to send him videos -- and in a few cases to meet him -- and then demanded more by threatening to publish the videos. The sentence is among the tougher handed out for sexual abuse in the Scandinavian country, in line with the prosecution's claim that it was "the largest case of sexual abuse in Norway".
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| Watch This Controversial Electric Shelby Cobra Daytona In Action Posted: 28 Jun 2019 12:41 PM PDT  It's fast, but there are some drawbacks. Renovo, a company better-known for creating software for self-driving cars, caused a huge wave of praise and despair when it revealed a fully-electric Shelby Cobra Daytona it had created. While this isn't the first classic car to be given the electrification treatment, the fact the racer is rare and highly coveted is what really angered some enthusiasts. To them, it's the equivalent of drawing on the Mona Lisa with crayon. Renovo said it purposely picked an American icon as an act of patriotism.The Renovo Coupe isn't exactly cheap, considering the original price was set at $529,000 when it released in 2015. All the cars were made in Silicon Valley.While you might groan at a classic car being electrified, especially one as iconic as the Shelby Cobra Daytona, there admittedly are some advantages. That electric powertrain produces 1,000 lb.-ft. of torque from a standstill, so the car can really scoot in a hurry. In fact, it does 0-60 mph in a smoking 3.4 seconds, blowing away the original acceleration. Yeah, it does all that with an eerie whining instead of the rumbling and roaring of a V8 engine, but even without all the saber rattling the car is just plain fast.Of course, there are drawbacks to electrification. We're spoiled with gas, because you just stick a nozzle in and the tank is full in only a few short minutes. While this Shelby has been outfitted to work with a fast charger, you still have to wait 30 minutes before the battery is replenished. To keep the curb weight down, Renovo skimped on the battery. That means a range of about 100 miles. But who would take this out for a weekend trip?The interior has some interesting features. There's still a shifter, so you get the exhilaration of rowing through gears, but the gauges are digital by necessity.Is the Renovo Coupe an atrocity or an undeniably American supercar of the future? You decide. More Cars Sound The Alarm For This 1968 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 1997 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 30th Anniversary Calls For Celebration 1977 Porsche 911 Strosek Puts A Spin On A Beloved Original VIDEO: Driving a KITT Replica to Knight Rider Filming Locations!
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| All of the Highlights From Night 2 of the 2020 Democratic Debate Posted: 27 Jun 2019 02:08 PM PDT  Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Kamala Harris, clashed during night two of the 2020 Democratic debate. Here are the biggest moments
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