| Trump has run out of options and is asking US allies for help with Iran, but they've already abandoned him Posted: 08 Jan 2020 12:56 PM PST  Trump has spent much of his presidency insulting NATO allies and went against the UK, France, and Germany in withdrawing the US from the nuclear deal.
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| Philippines Orders Citizens to Leave Iraq Amid Tensions Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:23 PM PST |
| New York opens celebrity chef probe after sex assault deal Posted: 08 Jan 2020 09:29 AM PST  Prosecutors in New York have said they will investigate celebrity chef Mario Batali after a business associate of his agreed to compensate former employees over sexual harassment allegations. New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office's probe of restaurateur Ken Friedman had unearthed information regarding Batali's alleged behaviour at a trendy Manhattan gastropub. Friedman, the majority owner of The Spotted Pig, will pay $240,000 to 11 women and give them a share of his restaurant's profits for ten years under a settlement negotiated by James, announced on Tuesday.
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| Mexican authorities remove almost 100 Mexican migrants from border camp Posted: 08 Jan 2020 10:33 AM PST  Mexican authorities on Tuesday removed almost 100 Mexican migrants seeking asylum in the United States from a camp in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, according to a Reuters witness, after state police threatened to separate parents from their children.
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| Judge threatens jail-time for Harvey Weinstein after producer caught texting in court Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:41 AM PST  A judge threatened to revoke bail and jail former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein after he was caught texting in court, marking a second explosive day in his trial for sexual assault charges.Jury selection is under way for Mr Weinstein's trial in New York, where he is accused of assaulting two women, one in 2006 and the other in 2013.
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| Carlos Ghosn: I Have Documents Showing Nissan, Japan Officials Set Me Up Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:48 AM PST  TOKYO—Carlos Ghosn, the former chairman of auto giant Nissan, who was under house arrest in Japan until he escaped on Dec. 29, came out swinging at his two-hour press conference in Beirut today. In an effort to get back in shape after more than four months altogether in solitary confinement, he started training in boxing this summer in a gym in this city's Minato-ward. A 45-year-old banker who trained at the same place told The Daily Beast, "For a 65-year-old guy, he had quite a punch. Which is to say, when you hit the boxing mitt right, it makes a kind of delightful thwacking sound. That's a good hit. Ghosn was making a lot of thwacks." Today, Ghosn was parrying, jabbing, and hitting back with dignity and grace. There were no knockout blows and he pulled his punches on the issues of Japanese government involvement in his prosecution for alleged financial misconduct, but he was clearly on the offense and no one was able to back him into a corner. The press conference started at 10 p.m. Japan time and was watched worldwide. He had been scheduled to face trial in 2021. Ghosn tried to hold a press conference in April last year after more than three months in detention after the initial 2018 arrest. He was immediately re-arrested by prosecutors and put back in solitary, in an apparent attempt to muzzle him. He pointed out that the Tokyo prosecutors issuing an arrest warrant for his wife, Carole, on Tuesday appeared to be another attempt to make him shut up. Carlos Ghosn's 'Great Escape' Writes a Hollywood Ending to Japanese ImprisonmentAfter being kept quiet for months by Japan's prosecutors, under a Damocles sword threatening that if he held a press conference, he would be re-arrested and thrown into what he called "the pig box," Ghosn spoke out today. Ghosn asserted that he had "actual evidence" and documents that would show that Nissan executives had planned his downfall in conjunction with the Japanese government. He expressed his belief, at the conference, as he expressed to me last July, that he was set up for a downfall because Japan did not want Renault to take over Nissan. He named several Nissan executives as being instrumental in the attempt to put him in prison for the rest of his life. Ghosn said his treatment in a Japanese jail was brutal. He was confined to a cell with a tiny window and only allowed to shower twice a week, in solitary confinement. He was questioned eight hours a day without a lawyer present, or being informed of the charges against him. The prosecutors kept shouting at him to confess and told him if he would only confess that he would go free. "I was brutally taken away from my work as I knew it, ripped from my work, my family and my friends," he said. Ironically, the Japanese media, which except for a few periodicals, kept leaking information from Nissan and the prosecutors without scrutiny, was supposed to be completely shut out of the press conference. That was not quite the case but the usual swarm of Japanese media was not to be seen. Ghosn questioned whether his prosecution had been good for anyone. He pointed out the value of Nissan's shares had fallen severely and so had confidence in the automaker. When questioned as to how far the alleged conspiracy against him went, he minced his words and said, "I don't think Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was involved…"The Japanese government has been placing great pressure on the government of Lebanon to keep Ghosn in line, and requesting his extradition. When a Japanese reporter indirectly accused him of resenting Japan, Ghosn replied that he loved Japan and that he would hope the country could be improved, to a place where justice would be evenly distributed. In addition, after enduring months of being written up poorly by the Japanese press, he pointed out to the Japanese reporter talking to him that for a prosecutor to talk to the press is illegal but it happens all the time—accusing the prosecutors of also breaking the laws that they are supposed to uphold. It was an uppercut that made the Japanese press wince, from across the globe. Ghosn kept pounding in one point again and again: He was willing to face a trial but only in a venue where he could have a fair shot of proving his innocence. In Japan, with its 99.4 percent conviction rate, it seems like the fight would be fixed before it even started. 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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| Russia's Putin makes rare visit to Syria, meets Assad Posted: 07 Jan 2020 06:14 AM PST  BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin met Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, the Russian leader's second trip to Syria since Moscow intervened decisively on the Syrian president's behalf in the country's civil war. The visit comes at a time of heightened regional tension - Assad's other main military ally, Iran, has said it will retaliate against the United States for the killing of an Iranian general in a drone strike. Qassem Soleimani, who was one of the key figures in Syria's war as the architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, had just arrived in Iraq from Syria when he was killed by a U.S. drone on Friday at Baghdad airport.
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| Pakistan and China launch joint naval drills. Should India be concerned? Posted: 08 Jan 2020 10:00 AM PST  A nine-day Sino-Pakistani naval exercise commenced in Pakistan's port of Karachi this week with the arrival of a Chinese naval task group. Find out what ships were in attendance.
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| 5 Stunning Buildings in Africa Inspired by Nature Posted: 08 Jan 2020 12:35 PM PST |
| Photos show the devastating aftermath of the Ukraine International Airlines crash that killed 176 people Posted: 08 Jan 2020 03:00 AM PST  The plane crashed minutes after it took off from Iran's Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport early on Wednesday local time.
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| Warren Takes Aim at Biden With Plan to Bolster Bankruptcy Rights Posted: 07 Jan 2020 06:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Elizabeth Warren rolled out a plan Tuesday to restore bankruptcy protections repealed in a 2005 law championed by Joe Biden, taking an implicit shot at the Democratic presidential front-runner just weeks before the first nominating contests next month.The 2005 law raised eligibility requirements and financial costs for Americans to file for personal bankruptcy, a last resort for many to eliminate debt. Warren's proposal would eliminate obstacles erected by that measure and allow Americans to clear out student debt in bankruptcy.Her plan would also allow people to protect their homes and cars in the process.The battle over the bankruptcy measure is part of a longstanding struggle within the Democratic Party between a business-friendly faction and a populist wing hungry for confrontation with Wall Street. In 2005, Biden, then a U.S. senator from Delaware, clashed with Warren, a Harvard law professor whose specialty was bankruptcy and who waged an unsuccessful campaign to thwart the legislation, which was enacted by President George W. Bush."I lost that fight in 2005, and working families paid the price," Warren wrote in her policy paper, saying that the law allowed banks to squeeze struggling Americans to bolster their profits.Her new plan, she said, would "repeal the harmful provisions in the 2005 bankruptcy bill and overhaul consumer bankruptcy rules in this country to give Americans a better chance of getting back on their feet."Although she doesn't mention his name, Warren's message in the policy paper is that Biden helped break the bankruptcy system and that she is trying to fix it. She cites the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency she helped create in 2009 before becoming a U.S. senator from Massachusetts.Warren has previously accused Biden and other proponents of the bankruptcy measure of siding with banks and credit card companies, which have a major presence in Delaware, over cash-strapped Americans.Warren said that if elected president, she would create a single bankruptcy system that would be available to all consumers. It would replace the two main types of personal bankruptcy that are available now and that she says are flawed: Chapter 7, under which individuals have to surrender their property, and Chapter 13 which requires debtors to enroll in multiyear repayments.Instead, Warren would offer a "menu of options" that she says would help cater to the needs of each case, including surrendering property or choosing to enroll in a payment plan."The 2005 bill imposed the same onerous paperwork requirements on a middle-class American filing bankruptcy that it did on a wealthy real-estate developer," Warren said. "My plan would make the bankruptcy system simple, cheap, fast, and flexible."Warren would also reverse the provision of the 2005 bill that requires people to seek prefiling credit counseling and would waive filling fees for anyone below the poverty line.She vowed to loosen the spending limitations on people who are in a bankruptcy process and make it easier to get relief from student loan debts in bankruptcy by making them dischargeable like other consumer debts. Her plan would modify the law to allow people undergoing bankruptcy to modify their mortgages, which is mostly prohibited.Warren vowed to increase accountability for creditors and crack down on bankruptcy practices that the wealthy and big corporations use to shield their assets. Her plan would ensure that assets placed in self-settled trusts and revocable trusts are not exempt from creditors' claims in bankruptcy.She would stop companies from collecting debts that are no longer valid and would allow people to sue creditors who try to collect debts that have already been discharged.Reinforcing ImageIn national polls, Biden has a consistent lead and Warren places third, behind Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. But Biden is weaker in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, where Warren is hoping for a strong finish that bolsters her prospects in subsequent states.Sanders also took aim at the former vice president over the 2005 legislation, saying Monday evening on CNN that "Joe Biden pushed a bankruptcy bill which has caused enormous financial problems for working families."The new Warren plan reinforces her image as a progressive candidate who's pitching herself as an anti-Wall Street crusader who sweats the details of policy. In her policy paper, she wrote that even with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "there are still serious problems with our bankruptcy laws today, thanks in large part to that bad 2005 bill."To contact the reporters on this story: Sahil Kapur in Washington at skapur39@bloomberg.net;Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou in Washington at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Serbian church protests 'suffering' of Serbs in the Balkans Posted: 08 Jan 2020 08:56 AM PST  Orthodox priests led a procession through downtown Belgrade to the landmark St. Sava Temple, one of the world's largest Orthodox churches, to pray about the "suffering" of Serbs living in Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia and elsewhere in the Balkans. The demonstration featured religious iconography, including Serbian church flags and paintings. The focus of the protest was a religion rights law adopted last month by the Parliament of Montenegro.
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| Heartbreaking photos show animals impacted by Australia's bushfires Posted: 08 Jan 2020 04:28 AM PST  As the bushfires in Australia continue to rage, they are taking a toll on animals as well as humans.
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| Kansas City Sues Gun Manufacturer for Illegal Trafficking in First Such Suit in Ten Years Posted: 08 Jan 2020 06:48 AM PST  Kansas City, Mo. announced Tuesday that it is filing suit against a gun manufacturer and several firearms dealers, accusing the group of running a trafficking ring that supplied guns to known felons.The public nuisance lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, marks the first time a U.S. city has sued a gun manufacturer for illegal trafficking in over a decade.The city alleges that firearms manufacturer Jiminez Arms and local firearm dealers Conceal & Carry, CR Sales Firearms, and Mission Ready Gunworks aided and abetted in a gun trafficking ring run by former Kansas City fire captain James Samuels.Samuels was arrested in October and faces criminal charges of trafficking guns from 2013 to 2018, including to individuals he knew were felons who informed him they planned to shoot people. He has pled not guilty and remains in federal custody.The lawsuit states that Nevada-based Jimenez Arms repeatedly shipped dozens of firearms to Samuels "knowing that he was not a licensed dealer and knowing that he was going to resell these guns."Mayor Quinton Lucas, who has promised to curb gun violence in the city, cited a "significant problem with illegal gun trafficking in our city.""While a lot of our criminal justice partners certainly try to make sure that they root this out, that they address it, there are a lot of private actors that, each day, create new threats for the citizens of Kansas City — frankly to the citizens of our entire region," Lucas said."Gun dealers and manufacturers have a legal responsibility not to ignore suspicious purchasing behaviors that indicate illegal gun trafficking or straw purchasing," said attorney Alla Lefkowitz, of Everytown Law, which is representing Kansas City.Lawsuits against firearms manufacturers and dealers are few and far between since such businesses are generally protected under federal law from charges when their weapons are used to commit crimes. However, the city argues such protections do not apply when the businesses violate federal gun laws by selling weapons to people they know to be felons.
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| In rebuke to Lebanese leaders, U.N. says "irresponsible" to leave country without government Posted: 08 Jan 2020 12:41 AM PST |
| Ghosn lawyers in Japan refuse to comply with seizure warrant Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:16 PM PST  Lawyers for former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn on Wednesday refused to turn over a computer used by the auto tycoon before he jumped bail and fled the country last month. Prosecutors arrived at the offices of one of Ghosn's Japanese lawyers with a warrant for seizure of the machine -- only to be told to go away. Ghosn was out on bail in Japan on financial misconduct charges before he fled the country for Lebanon in late December.
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| Iran threatens to hit American bases with medium- and long-range missiles Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:40 AM PST  Iranian military forces have said they are prepared to use medium- to long-range missiles to attack U.S. bases in the Middle East, in revenge for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was the commander of Iran's Quds Force.
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| An Iranian-American who fled during the 1979 revolution is commanding the US aircraft carrier posted to the region Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:16 AM PST  Capt. Kavon Hakimzadeh spent his early childhood in his father's home country of Iran, but the family was forced to flee during the 1979 Revolution.
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| Texas governor picks new fight over homeless after attack Posted: 07 Jan 2020 06:35 AM PST  Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Tuesday that last week's seemingly random knife attacks by a homeless man at an Austin shopping plaza magnified a "sense of lawlessness" in the liberal state capital city, whose mayor has accused the governor of demonizing people living on the streets. Since the attacks Friday, which included the fatal stabbing of a restaurant kitchen manager, Abbott has sought to draw a link to relaxed camping ordinances that have made homelessness more visible in one of the nation's fastest-growing cities. "What Austin has done over the past half year is to perpetuate a sense of lawlessness in this city about the homeless," Abbott told reporters in the Texas Capitol.
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| Australia’s Wildfire Crisis: Key Numbers Behind the Disaster Posted: 08 Jan 2020 02:04 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Australia is in the grip of deadly wildfires burning across the country, triggering an emotive debate about the impact of climate change in the world's driest-inhabited continent. The unprecedented scale of the crisis, and images of terrified tourists sheltering on beaches from the infernos, has shocked many Australians.With summer only just beginning and the nation affected by a prolonged drought, authorities fear the death toll will continue to mount as more homes and land are destroyed. Here are some key details of the crisis:How many people have died?Since the fire season began months ago during the southern hemisphere winter, at least 25 people have died. Among the fatalities are volunteer firefighters, including a young man who died when his 10-ton truck was flipped over in what officials have described as a "fire tornado." Australia's worst wildfires came in 2009 when the Black Saturday blazes left 180 people dead.How big an area has burned?Massive tracts of land have burned. More than 10 million hectares (25 million acres) have been destroyed -- that's an area larger than Scotland. In New South Wales state alone, more than 5 million hectares of forest and bush has been destroyed, while more than 1.2 million hectares has been burned in Victoria. The fires are so large they are generating their own weather systems and causing dry lightning strikes that in turn ignite more. One blaze northwest of Sydney, the Gospers Mountain fire, has destroyed about 512,000 hectares -- about seven times the size of Singapore.The scale of the blazes dwarfs the California wildfires in 2018, which destroyed about 1.7 million acres, and about 260,000 acres in 2019.How many homes have been destroyed?Some 1,800 homes have been destroyed in New South Wales alone this fire season and the tally is rising daily as the fires continue to burn and authorities assess damage. Scores of rural towns have been impacted, including the community of Balmoral about 150 kilometers southwest of Sydney, which was largely destroyed before Christmas.What's the economic impact?The near-term cost is mounting. Toxic smoke shrouding Canberra has shuttered businesses and government departments and forced national carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. to cancel flights. The direct impact on the economy from the fires will be between A$2 billion and A$3.5 billion in the fiscal year ending June 30, stemming from factors such as lower tourism spending and lost agricultural production, said Terry Rawnsley, an economist at consultancy SGS Economics and Planning. Additionally, he estimates smoke haze in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra will cost another A$200 million to A$800 million as people reduce outdoor activities and get sick. Combined, the impact equates to a drag on GDP growth of between 0.1 and 0.25 percentage point for the 2019/20 fiscal year, he said. The Insurance Council of Australia says almost 9,000 claims worth A$700 million ($481 million) have been lodged.How has wildlife been affected?The University of Sydney estimates that 800 million animals have been killed by the bushfires in New South Wales alone since September and one billion have died nationally. The "highly conservative figure" includes mammals, birds and reptiles killed either directly by the fires, or later due to loss of food and habitat. The fires have raised concerns in particular about koalas, with authorities saying as much as 30% of their habitat in some areas had been destroyed. Images of the marsupials drinking water from bottles after being rescued have gone viral on social media.(Updates with new figure on animal deaths in last paragraph)\--With assistance from Jason Scott.To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Edward Johnson at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net, Jason ScottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Clips from 2003 Interview Contradict Biden’s Claim to Have Turned on the Iraq War ‘The Moment’ It Began Posted: 08 Jan 2020 11:07 AM PST  Joe Biden has claimed repeatedly on the campaign trail that he reversed his support for the invasion of Iraq as soon as it began, but resurfaced clips from a 2003 interview suggest he continued to defend his pro-war vote for years after the conflict was launched.Speaking with journalist Fareed Zakaria in September 2003, Biden defended his initial support for the war, saying he "still probably would have voted" to invade Iraq even if "the Lord Almighty" had told him the U.S. occupation would go poorly. When asked by Zakaria if it was a "good idea" for Democrats to "take a strong anti-war position in the next election," Biden said "I do not.""I think there's a need for more enlightened foreign policy, and I think to make the case that the use of force against Saddam was unjustified is, I think, the wrong case to make," Biden explained.> ZAKARIA: Do you think its a good idea though for the Democratic Party to take a strong anti-war position in the next election?> > BIDEN: I do not….I think to make the case that the use of force against Saddam was unjustified is, I think, the wrong case to make.> > (September 2003) pic.twitter.com/0GAN1xNWiZ> > -- Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) January 7, 2020The interview came two years before Biden first called his 2002 vote to authorize military force in Iraq a "mistake."But the former vice president has suggested multiple times on the campaign trail that he was against the war immediately after it began.During the Democratic debate in July, Biden said that "from the moment 'shock and awe' started, from that moment, I was opposed to the effort, and I was outspoken as much as anyone at all in the Congress and the administration."In a September interview with NPR which The Washington Post later called him out for, Biden said "before you know it, we had 'shock and awe.' Immediately, the moment it started, I came out against the war, at that moment."And on Saturday, Biden told an Iowa voter "from the very moment" President George W. Bush launched "shock and awe" Biden "opposed what he was doing, and spoke to him."Biden has repeatedly couched his comments with the claim that his vote for the war happened after Bush privately promised that he was only trying to get weapons inspectors into the country, a characterization that Bush denies."I'm sure it's just an innocent mistake of memory, but this recollection is flat wrong," Bush spokesman Freddy Ford told NPR in an email.During the 2012 race, Biden also seemed to imply that he opposed the war effort, saying that while Paul Ryan voted "to put two wars on a credit card . . . I was there. I voted against him."While campaigning in New Hampshire in August, Biden fabricated a war story about awarding a medal to a reluctant Navy captain by stitching together details from three separate stories.
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| Russia Wants 50 of These Deadly 'New' Bombers Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:00 PM PST  Buying 50 Tu-160Ms could prove too expensive for the cash-strapped Kremlin. And that's assuming the contractor actually can build the giant, swing-wing bombers.
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| India asks refiners to stop buying Malaysian palm oil after political row - sources Posted: 07 Jan 2020 01:28 AM PST  MUMBAI/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has informally asked palm oil refiners and traders to avoid buying Malaysian palm oil, government and industry sources said on Tuesday, following Malaysian criticism of India's actions in the Kashmir region and its new citizenship law. India is the world's biggest buyer of the oil and palm oil inventories could spike in Malaysia, putting prices under pressure if Indian refiners reduce purchases from the country. Malaysian prices are the global benchmark for palm oil prices.
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| An Instagram model deactivated her account after posting a wet T-shirt photo to promote Australian bushfire relief efforts Posted: 07 Jan 2020 03:24 AM PST  Tammy Hembrow deleted the photo and temporarily deactivated her account after people accused her of striking the wrong tone.
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| Taiwan takes a sobering lesson from Hong Kong Posted: 07 Jan 2020 07:04 AM PST |
| Quake hits near Iran nuclear plant, injuring seven Posted: 08 Jan 2020 10:26 AM PST  A magnitude 4.5 earthquake on Wednesday rattled an area less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant near the country's Gulf coast, a US monitor said. The quake, which had a depth of 10 kilometres, struck 17 kilometres south-southeast of Borazjan city at 6:49 am (0319 GMT), the US Geological Survey said on its website. State news agency IRNA said the earthquake was felt in Bushehr.
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| Pakistani air force jet crashes in training, 2 pilots killed Posted: 07 Jan 2020 05:17 AM PST |
| Oregon woman sues Mormon church for $10 million for revealing husband's child sex abuse Posted: 08 Jan 2020 01:21 PM PST  A man confessed to child sex abuse to clergy, which led to his arrest. His wife is suing the church for violating "priest-penitent privilege."
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| Strike Over Modi’s Economic Policies Disrupts Banks, Transport Posted: 08 Jan 2020 02:59 AM PST |
| Japan seeks arrest of Ghosn's wife amid efforts to snare him Posted: 06 Jan 2020 05:53 PM PST  TOKYO/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Japanese prosecutors on Tuesday issued an arrest warrant for Carlos Ghosn's wife for alleged perjury, as officials stepped up efforts to bring the fugitive car industry boss back to face trial on financial misconduct charges. The former Nissan Motor, and Renault chairman fled to Lebanon last month from Japan, where he has alleged there was a government-backed coup to oust him. A senior Japanese Ministry of Justice official said staff were poring over Lebanese laws to find a way to bring back Ghosn and that Japan "will do whatever it can" to put him on trial.
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| Australian teens rescued a carload of koalas from an island where more than 25,000 of the animals have died Posted: 08 Jan 2020 08:08 AM PST  In a video that has gone viral, teenager Micah Lovegrove and his cousin loaded at least six koalas into their car on Kangaroo Island on January 2.
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| Progressive Governments’ Economic War on the NRA Fails in Court Posted: 08 Jan 2020 03:30 AM PST  Some politicos just can't stop grandstanding, even if it means their court case goes down in flames. Consider what just happened in a federal court in Los Angeles.Not long ago, progressive state and local officials nationwide were vowing to take down the hated National Rifle Association by targeting its pocketbook. When city authorities in Los Angeles and San Francisco gave that idea a try, they were following the lead of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had unleashed New York financial regulators to go after the gun-rights organization's access to insurance and banking services.Now all three are facing a reckoning in court, based not on the Second Amendment but on the First. Without needing to even consider the issue of gun rights, federal courts are recognizing that boycotts enforced by government power can menace free speech and free association.The amusing part is that the public officials themselves are helping to provide the basis for these rulings by tweeting and speechifying about how much damage they intend to do the NRA.In December, a federal court in California granted a preliminary injunction against a Los Angeles ordinance requiring city contractors to disclose any business links to, or memberships in, the gun group. It found the evidence "overwhelming" that the city's intent in passing the law was "to suppress the message of the NRA."* * *Public officials have been on notice about this sort of thing for at least two decades, since the 1996 Supreme Court case Board of County Commissioners v. Umbehr. In that case, the Court held that a county's having terminated a government contract in retaliation for the contractor's persistent and annoying political speech could violate the First Amendment. Controversial and unpopular speech is protected speech; officials cannot yank a contract from some business, or threaten to, just because it has donated to, or partnered in some venture with, the Sierra Club, the NAACP, or the NRA.Lawyers for Los Angeles tried to defend their ordinance by saying all it did was require disclosures from contractors, which wouldn't necessarily amount to punishing or chilling speech. But this sort of First Amendment claim comes down to a question of intent. And the court found that the city's lawmakers had made their intent to suppress speech and association utterly clear. They had done so in the text of the ordinance itself, in its legislative history, and in the statements made at the time by its chief sponsor, Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell (Hollywood-Silver Lake).The ordinance starts off with a long preamble that, amid much demagogy, cites the NRA's $163 million (2015) in membership dues and asserts that those dues go toward foiling beneficent legislative ends. That helped establish nicely that part of the bill's aim was "to cut off revenue to the NRA because of its pro-firearm advocacy," as the court put it.Then there were O'Farrell's various pronouncements. Earlier in the year, he had motioned the city to "rid itself of its relationships with any organization that supports the NRA" and further moved that the city's chief legislative analyst "report back with options for the City to immediately boycott those businesses and organizations" that do business with the NRA "until their formal relationship with the NRA ceases to exist."Were doubt left about his intentions, O'Farrell's Twitter outbursts through 2018 told of his efforts to jawbone businesses such as FedEx and Amazon into cutting off business relations with the NRA, often tagging friendly accounts such as @everytown, @momsdemand, @shannonrwatts, and @bradybuzz. It was unnecessary to show that the city had actually cut off any businesses, or that any such businesses had cut ties with the NRA for fear of city displeasure. So long as the ordinance was intended to chill speech and association, as it was, it would fall.* * *San Francisco's similar ordinance, although also the subject of a brief challenge in court, collapsed as a practical matter even more quickly. The measure's tantrum-like preamble branded the NRA a domestic terrorist group, in a move calculated to draw wide national attention. The text of the ordinance proclaimed that the city should "take every reasonable step to limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San Francisco from doing business with" the gun-rights organization. Commentators promptly pointed out that any such step would fail in court as unconstitutional.Soon thereafter, San Francisco mayor London Breed issued a memo clarifying that "the City's contracting processes and policies have not changed and will not change as a result of the Resolution" because only an actual ordinance can enact changes to city law. The NRA is suing anyway, but by the city's own account the measure at this point does nothing except beam out vain hostility.* * *Governor Cuomo was shrewder. He avoided the blatant statements of intent that tripped up his California counterparts. But did he retain enough deniability to survive a court challenge? In April 2018, he issued a statement saying he was directing "the Department of Financial Services to urge insurance companies, New York State-chartered banks, and other financial services companies licensed in New York to review any relationships they may have with the National Rifle Association and other similar organizations." Review such relationships for what, exactly? Well, "the companies are encouraged to consider whether such ties harm their corporate reputations and jeopardize public safety." In a press release, he made things a tad more explicit, saying that he was directing his financial regulators "to urge insurers and bankers statewide to determine whether any relationship they may have with the NRA or similar organizations sends the wrong message" (emphasis added).Those regulators, of course, have the discretion to make life very unpleasant for insurers and banks dense enough not to take the hint. Sure enough, the NRA in short order was cut off by some long-term business partners, notable among them one major insurer and one major insurance broker. The state declared that it had found regulatory infractions in NRA-branded insurance-affinity offerings, and in the ensuing settlements with the insurer and the broker it got them to promise never to do business with the NRA again, in New York or anywhere else. Yet at the same time, the NRA says, the state took no action against similarly marketed affinity products sold by others. Cuomo's financial regulator made things a little more explicit still: "DFS urges all insurance companies and banks doing business in New York to join the companies that have already discontinued their arrangements with the NRA."In November 2018, a federal court in New York found that all in all, there was enough plausible evidence of "direct and implied threats to insurers and financial institutions because of these entities' links with the NRA" to allow the group to proceed with a First Amendment suit. While Cuomo was of course free to express his own views, the Constitution would have something to say about it if he or his appointees had made veiled threats against banks and insurers to encourage them to disassociate from the NRA. The court also asked for more evidence documenting a selective-enforcement claim, and this summer, against stiff legal resistance from the state, the NRA succeeded in getting discovery of some state files. In a filing on December 20, the NRA said it had found new documentation of both the pressure and the selective enforcement.* * *One reason the California disputes went so well for the NRA is that the officials just couldn't help grandstanding at every turn in search of followers' applause. That's how O'Farrell, in Los Angeles, helped tweet his side of the case right out of court. But Cuomo, while he's been more circumspect, has not covered himself as thoroughly as he might have. "If I could have put the NRA out of business, I would have done it 20 years ago," he declared in response to one legal development.Tell us more, Governor.
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| US allies see Mideast strategy vacuum that Putin can fill Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:37 AM PST  He was the leader on the world stage, visiting troops stationed in a far-flung war zone for the holidays, shoring up alliances and economic deals in the Mideast, requesting a meeting with the German chancellor in his capital, portraying himself and his country as reliable partners in an increasingly uncertain world. Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a busy week, stepping into the aftermath of the American drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Putin's visit Tuesday to Syria was emblematic of a reality that has been playing out in recent months: The U.S. strategic position in the Middle East is a mystery to many of its allies, and Russia is more than ready to fill any vacuum.
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| What Trump Could Do To Scare Iran: Give Israel's Air Force B-52 Bombers Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:29 AM PST  A bad idea.
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| Timeline set to get troubled flattop Ford to sea Posted: 08 Jan 2020 01:36 PM PST  In a message last month to the fleet, the Acting SECNAV pushed for a renewed sense of urgency to deploy the carrier.
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| Ex-Trump Adviser Michael Flynn Should Get Jail Time, Prosecutors Say Posted: 07 Jan 2020 02:33 PM PST |
| American families are paying a hidden $8,000 'poll tax' to cover their healthcare costs, 2 economists argue Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:31 AM PST  Two Princeton economists say that American families pay an exorbitant amount of money to access healthcare in the US compared to other countries.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: 'In any other country, Joe Biden and I would not be in the same party' Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:04 AM PST  When asked how she would fit into Congress during a potential Joe Biden presidency, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez replied with a groan, "Oh, God."
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| Stowaway found dead at Paris airport after Ivory Coast flight: airline Posted: 08 Jan 2020 03:37 AM PST |
| A Border Patrol agent who separated migrant families says it was 'the most horrible thing I've ever done' Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:37 AM PST  A Border Patrol agent told PBS's "Frontline" that he had to separate a devastated two-year-old boy from his family and he refused to do it again.
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| Italy, Autostrade exploring ways to resolve concession stand-off: sources Posted: 08 Jan 2020 10:28 AM PST  ROME/MILAN (Reuters) - The Italian government and Atlantia's motorway unit are exploring ways to break a stand-off over the group's road concession which some members of the ruling coalition want to revoke, two sources close to the matter said on Wednesday. A senior government official said there were contacts with Autostrade per l'Italia and the office of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was overseeing the issue, which has turned into a hot potato for Rome's fragile coalition government. A second source close to the matter spoke of "smoke signals" between the government and the company which were keeping open a communication channel through third parties.
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| Newly empowered Virginia Democrats promise action Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:12 PM PST  A new era in Virginia politics began Wednesday, as Democrats took full control of the state house for the first time in a generation and promised to reshape many of the state's laws. "It's a proud moment to look out and see a General Assembly that reflects, more than ever, the Virginia we see every day," said Northam, who has rebounded from his pariah status and won praise from Democrats for his new focus on addressing longstanding racial inequities in a state with a history of institutional racism. Northam outlined a broad agenda Wednesday that includes changing the law to allow local governments to remove Confederate statues.
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| Ukrainian jet crash kills 176, sets off mourning in Canada Posted: 07 Jan 2020 07:41 PM PST  The crash of a Ukrainian jetliner that killed 176 people in Iran touched off mourning Wednesday in both Ukraine and Canada — where many of the victims were from or were headed — and raised a host of questions about what went wrong. The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at U.S. forces. While the timing of the disaster led some aviation experts to wonder whether it was brought down by a missile, Iranian officials disputed any such suggestion and blamed mechanical trouble.
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| California governor proposes more than $1 billion toward homelessness Posted: 08 Jan 2020 03:50 PM PST  Responding to a growing crisis on the streets of California's major cities, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday his state budget proposal would include more than $1 billion in funds directed at homelessness.
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| India Could Become the Next Breeding Ground for Radicalism Posted: 07 Jan 2020 07:34 AM PST  The way India has clamped down on Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state of India since August and the systematic violation of human rights there and across the country can only be described as state-sponsored Islamophobia.
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