| Trump turns to Pence to calm fears over coronavirus, but leaves many questions unanswered Posted: 26 Feb 2020 05:50 PM PST  President Trump announced that he was putting Vice President Mike Pence in charge of the U.S. response to coronavirus.
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| Missing Mennonite woman, 27, found dead 250 miles from home Posted: 27 Feb 2020 08:09 AM PST  Authorities quickly found the missing woman's vehicle at a church near her home, but she was nowhere to be found.
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| MSNBC Benches Contributor Who Smeared Bernie Sanders Staffers Posted: 26 Feb 2020 12:30 PM PST  Following MSNBC contributor Dr. Jason Johnson's inflammatory remarks about supporters and campaign staffers of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the academic has been temporarily benched by the network, sources confirmed to The Daily Beast. In recent months, Johnson—a fixture of the network's Democratic primary analysis—has drawn considerable heat for his relentlessly anti-Sanders commentary on MSNBC, which has also come under fire from the left for its skeptical and largely negative coverage of the democratic-socialist senator. During an interview last week on SiriusXM's The Karen Hunter Show, Johnson claimed "racist white liberals" support Sanders and that the senator has done "nothing for intersectionality." The MSNBC contributor then took aim at the women of color who work for Sanders. "I don't care how many people from the island of misfit black girls you throw out there to defend you," Johnson exclaimed.The remark prompted Sanders' national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray to retort on Twitter: "I hope we can have political disputes without engaging in open racism and sexism. This misogynoir is disappointing, but not surprising from @DrJasonJohnson."Johnson's over-the-top remarks also sparked wider calls for MSNBC to fire him, but the network has not officially responded. Johnson's temporary sidelining included him not being involved in coverage of last weekend's Nevada caucuses or the post-game coverage of Tuesday evening's South Carolina debate, which aired on CBS. In an email to media outlets hyping its post-debate plans, Johnson's name was nowhere to be found.The punishment appears to have also cost Johnson his chance to be on-air during the network's coverage of this past Saturday's Nevada caucuses, which Sanders won in a landslide.Johnson's absence has been noticeable, as he has become a staple of MSNBC's Democratic primary analysis roster. Prior to his benching, he made nearly 40 appearances on the network in 2020 alone. Besides being regularly featured on high-profile programs like Morning Joe, Deadline: White House, The Beat with Ari Melber, and The 11th Hour, MSNBC turned to him to provide analysis during last month's impeachment trial, the early-state primary votes, and several Democratic primary debates.In fact, during last week's Nevada debate, Johnson was a fixture on the network's panels, beginning the day with an appearance on Morning Joe and staying on through MSNBC's post-debate analysis, which didn't wrap until after midnight.His most recent MSNBC appearance came during the Feb. 21 broadcast of The Last Word, which aired hours before his fateful radio interview that resulted in his benching.MSNBC declined to comment for this story.Seth Meyers Unloads on Chris Matthews for 'Deranged' Bernie Sanders AttacksRead 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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| A former Microsoft engineer stole more than $10 million from the company and used it to buy a $1.6 million lakefront home and a Tesla Posted: 27 Feb 2020 12:26 PM PST  He stole $10 million-worth of "currency stored value," like online gift cards, and resold them online in exchange for bitcoin, a court ruled.
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| Doctors Inside Iran Believe Coronavirus Is More Serious Than Reported, and Getting Worse Posted: 27 Feb 2020 04:54 AM PST  Medical professionals inside the Islamic Republic tell TIME they believe the country is now grappling with an "epidemic"
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| U.S. CDC aggressively evaluating whether coronavirus survives on surfaces: agency chief Posted: 27 Feb 2020 02:10 PM PST |
| Strike Fast! Japan Develops a Mach-5 Aircraft Carrier-Killer Missile Posted: 27 Feb 2020 02:33 AM PST  The Japanese military is considering developing a hypersonic anti-ship missile with a special warhead for penetrating the decks of Chinese aircraft carriers.
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| Betsy DeVos orders probe after USA TODAY finds college evidently without faculty, students Posted: 27 Feb 2020 10:29 AM PST  Betsy DeVos has launched an Education Department investigation after a USA TODAY report showed a college apparently had no faculty or students.
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| Limbaugh and Trump fuel coronavirus conspiracy theories Posted: 26 Feb 2020 12:28 PM PST  Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh is telling his listeners that the coronavirus is a plot to bring down President Trump and attacked the CDC official who warned on Tuesday that the virus will spread in the U.S.
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| Over 200 Native Americans Ask Elizabeth Warren to ‘Make Clear Public Statement’ Disavowing Past Claims of Heritage Posted: 26 Feb 2020 07:05 AM PST  More than 200 Cherokees and other Native Americans sent a letter to Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) urging her to issue a public apology after "vague and inadequate" past steps to apologize for her claims of Cherokee ancestry."Your history of false claims to American Indian identity and the defense of these claims with a highly publicized DNA test continue to dog your political career," the letter reads. "For Native Americans, this moment is more than an annoyance; it represents the most public debate about our identity in a generation."The letter cites reporting detailing how white people have scammed more than $800 million in no-bid federal contracts intended to support minority business owners by falsely claiming Native American and other minority heritages. The scammers routinely cite family legacy and the results of commerical DNA tests to substantiate their claims, as Warren did throughout her career. In light of those similarities, the letter asks for Warren to publicly denounce her family story of Native ancestry."When you still defend yourself by stating you believed what you heard growing up, you set a harmful example for these white people stealing Native identity and resources with stories very similar to your own," the letter states.Warren claimed to have Cherokee heritage for many years, which critics have charged allowed her to rise in academia before she entered politics. After withering criticism from President Trump, Warren released an infamous DNA test — which she quietly deleted evidence of a year later — showing that she was between 1/64th and 1/1024th Native American.The Massachusetts Democrat took widespread criticism from Native Americans in the aftermath of her DNA test, and last February she apologized to the Cherokee Nation for publicizing her results."I am sorry for harm I have caused. I have listened and I have learned a lot, and I am grateful for the many conversations that we have had together," Warren told the Native American Issues Forum in Sioux City, Iowa, in August.Warren responded to the letter on Tuesday night by reiterating her apologies for promoting herself as Native American, but distanced herself from the letter's main criticism by saying "my situation differs from these cases because I never benefited financially or professionally" from her claims.In response, three of the authors of the original letter told the Los Angeles Times that they were disappointed Warren did not directly address her family story."We hope that after further dialogue with the campaign, Warren will bravely and publicly tell the truth about her family," they said in an email.
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| 'He fought us every single step of the way': How Bloomberg embraced stop-and-frisk as mayor Posted: 27 Feb 2020 12:50 PM PST  "He dug in and fought us all the way to his last day in office," an activist who opposed stop-and-frisk recalled.
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| Doomsday Mom Told Her Husband’s Kids Their Dad Was Dead Via Text Message Posted: 27 Feb 2020 11:57 AM PST  The saga of doomsday couple Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell—from the missing kids to the dead spouses—has been one strange twist after another. But even those who have been following along may be shocked by a series of newly emerged text messages.The messages, obtained by East Idaho News, start with Vallow informing her then-husband Charles' grown children that their father had "passed away" the day before.Of course, Charles Vallow had not simply passed away. He was shot dead on July 11 by Lori's brother, Alex Cox, who told police it was a case of self-defense. But Lori refused to tell her stepsons that, or provide them with any useful information, the text messages reveal."Hi boys. I have very sad news," she wrote. "Your dad passed away yesterday. I'm working on making arrangements and I'll keep you informed with what's going on. Im still not sure how to handle things. Just want you to know I love you and so did your dad!!"The sons pressed for more information over the course of the afternoon, but received nothing in response."Lori it's been 3 hours. You're not that busy. I don't care what you're doing," one wrote.She replied, "I'm sorry you are so upset. I'm so upset too... I'm waiting to hear back from the Medical examiner to make sense out of all this for myself. Please be patient with me. It's a crushing situation all around."It's not clear why she would have needed to hear from the medical examiner to make sense of Charles' death; police have said she was there when Cox shot her husband, in front of 17-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old J.J.—Lori's two children who are now missing.Doomsday Writer Claimed Dead Wife Helped Him Find New OneThe increasingly exasperated sons pressed for funeral arrangements and explanations. None came. "Okay Lori. It's been 3 days. You let us know our father passed away over a text message," one wrote to her. "We need any information you have. What happened, when did it happen, how did it happen. Where is he now. Are there any funeral plans and can [we] be a part of it..."This isn't a nonchalant topic you can just throw a text at and be done with it."Lori's response was that "these are your dads wishes.""He and I discussed this a lot over the years we have been together. My plan is to have him cremated as he wished and then take all 5 of you kids to Hawaii to spread his ashes. He did not want a funeral. He wants a celebration of his life," she wrote.One of the sons told East Idaho News that he and his brother figured out which mortuary had their father's body and just showed up, but the funeral director was just as tight-lipped as their stepmother."He was very shaky and nervous. We asked him for information, and he said something like, 'I can't tell you that. It was requested that I tell you nothing,'" the son said.Idaho Doomsday Couple Found in Hawaii—Without Missing KidsThe sons arranged a memorial service for their dad. Lori didn't show up.At the time Charles was shot dead, he and Lori were estranged. She had begun reading the writings of Chad Daybell, a prolific Idaho-based author of apocalyptic novels for Mormon audiences, and she got involved with Preparing a People, a community of doomsday preppers where Daybell was a prominent voice.According to a divorce petition Charles Vallow filed in February 2019 and later withdrew, she had become "obsessive about near-death experiences and spiritual visions" and claimed to be "a god assigned to carry out the work of the 144,000 at Christ's second coming in July 2020." He also claimed she threatened to kill him if he interfered with her plans.By July, Charles was living in Texas and Lori was in Arizona with Tylee and J.J., who was adopted and autistic. Charles traveled to see the children and, according to Lori, got into a physical confrontation with her, forcing Cox to rush to her rescue and shoot him.After Charles was killed, Lori moved with Tylee and J.J. to Idaho, where Daybell lived with his wife of nearly 30 years, Tammy. By October, Tammy was dead, too.Doomsday Writer Claimed Dead Wife Helped Him Find New OneDaybell said she felt sick, went to bed and never woke up. He declined an autopsy, and authorities listed the cause of death as natural. Two weeks later, he married Lori in Hawaii—where she had once lived with Charles and where she supposedly had planned to scatter his ashes.It does not appear that Tylee and J.J. were at the wedding. In fact, no one has seen Tylee since a family trip to Yellowstone National Park in early September, and J.J. has not been seen or heard from since Sept. 23.He stopped going to school, Lori got rid of his service animal, and some of the children's belongings were put in a storage bin. According to Idaho police, Lori and Chad lied to neighbors about whether she even had children, or where they were.Alerted by extended family, police in Rexburg, Idaho turned up in December to check on the children. A police narrative included in court documents says Lori claimed J.J. was with a friend in Arizona and then called the friend in an unsuccessful effort to get her to lie.When cops returned the next day to probe further, Lori and Chad were gone. After they surfaced in Hawaii, an Idaho judge issued a court order demanding Lori return within a few days and produce the children.She didn't show, and the judge signed an arrest warrant—allowing Hawaii police to take her into custody. Held on $5 million bail, she agreed Wednesday to waive extradition and return to Idaho to face charges of child desertion, contempt of court, and promoting criminal behavior.Through their Idaho attorney, both Vallow and Daybell have denied wrongdoing. In court in Hawaii on Wednesday, Vallow's lawyer said the only reason she didn't comply with the court order was because the judge planned to put the children in foster case—though he also provided no details about their whereabouts.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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| The US Navy orders ships in the Pacific to stay at sea at least 14 days between port calls over coronavirus concerns Posted: 27 Feb 2020 02:24 PM PST  Ships have been instructed to remain at sea for at least 14 days, the maximum incubation period for the coronavirus.
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| A man convicted for killing his high school girlfriend was freed by decades-old DNA evidence. Now he's on a mission to find the real killer. Posted: 27 Feb 2020 03:14 PM PST  Leah Freeman's shoes were the only clue police had in her murder — and the only evidence that her high school boyfriend Nick McGuffin wasn't her killer.
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| Biden says he's not worried about Trump refusing to leave if defeated in November Posted: 27 Feb 2020 06:40 AM PST  Joe Biden says he isn't worried about the prospect of President Trump refusing to leave his post if he's defeated in November.
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| Nigeria's Islamists targeting Christians to provoke religious war, says minister Posted: 27 Feb 2020 09:20 AM PST  Islamist militant groups in Nigeria have begun targeting Christians in an attempt to provoke a religious war, the information minister said on Thursday. Islamist insurgents in Nigeria have killed around 35,000 people and displaced at least two million in the past decade, driven first by Boko Haram and more recently by its offshoot, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). "They have started targeting Christians and Christian villages for a specific reason, which is to trigger a religious war and throw the nation into chaos," he told reporters.
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| There Aren't Enough Medical Masks to Fight Coronavirus. Here's Why It's Not Going to Get Better Anytime Soon Posted: 26 Feb 2020 10:42 PM PST  Manufacturers are struggling to keep up with astronomical worldwide demand
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| Trump Pardon Won’t Erase Arpaio’s Criminal Past in Comeback Bid Posted: 27 Feb 2020 11:47 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio will have to pursue his comeback with a guilty verdict on his resume.The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Thursday refused to expunge the criminal contempt finding made against Arpaio for defying a judge's orders related to his crackdown on undocumented immigrants.The 87-year-old lawman -- once known as "America's toughest sheriff -- is again vying for the job that he held for 24 years in Maricopa County. He lost the 2016 election and was found guilty the following year. A month after the verdict, he became the first person to be pardoned by President Donald Trump.The three appellate judges, one who was appointed by Trump and two by George W. Bush, were unanimous that Arpaio's guilty verdict had no legal consequence because technically he was never convicted."Here, the issuing of a presidential pardon, and Arpaio's acceptance of the pardon, preempted his sentencing," the panel said. "Thus, there is no final judgment of conviction in this case."After he was pardoned, Arpaio asked the trial judge to set aside his guilty verdict. She refused -- a ruling that was upheld by the appeals court which said it could never be used against him in a future case.Arpaio's lawyer Jack Wilenchick declared victory, saying that has exactly the same effect as an order "vacating" the guilty finding."The court gave us exactly what we asked for, which is a finding that the guilty verdict is legally meaningless," Wilenchick said in a statement. "The trial judge's final order had said just the opposite; it had indicated that the guilty verdict may, or even should, be used against Arpaio in the future in a court of law."Arpaio made a name for himself targeting Latinos in the Phoenix area with traffic stops only on the suspicion they were undocumented immigrants. In 2017, a federal judge convicted him of criminal contempt of court for violating orders to stop.The case took an unusual turn after the U.S. Justice Department, which had started the proceedings against Arpaio under the Obama administration and secured his conviction, said it wouldn't fight Arpaio's appeal.That prompted groups of civil rights organizations, legal scholars and members of Congress to ask the court to appoint an independent prosecutor as well as to challenge the underlying validity of Arpaio's pardon.A judge found the pardon was valid, but Arpaio fought on to try to get his offense expunged from court records.Read More: 'America's Toughest Sheriff' Wants More From Trump PardonTo contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Blumberg at pblumberg1@bloomberg.net, Joe SchneiderFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Oregon Democrats subpoena boycotting GOP lawmakers Posted: 27 Feb 2020 06:42 PM PST  Stymied by a walkout by Republican lawmakers in the Oregon Legislature over a climate change bill, Democrats on Thursday said they will issue subpoenas to try to compel their return. Oregon has become a front line in the battle over how to address global warming, with Democrats prioritizing a bill that would charge polluters for carbon credits, and the minority Republicans objecting, saying it would increase costs for Oregonians. The Republicans walked out of the Senate on Monday before the bill come to to the floor for a vote.
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| Patient who wasn't immediately tested could be first coronavirus case without clear source Posted: 27 Feb 2020 07:44 AM PST  The patient did not fit CDC criteria for COVID-19, so a test was not immediately administered.
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| A tour guide in Japan tested positive for the coronavirus for a 2nd time, less than a month after recovering Posted: 27 Feb 2020 02:22 AM PST  How this woman in her 40s contracted the virus again is not yet known. Experts say it is possible that humans can get sick from it more than once.
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| Mom Enlisted Son to Murder Husband, Daughter for Insurance Money: Prosecutors Posted: 27 Feb 2020 01:08 PM PST  A New Jersey woman faces murder charges after allegedly enlisting her son and his friend to brutally kill her daughter and husband 25 years ago by promising them a cut of his life-insurance policy. Dolores Morgan, 66, and her 47-year-old son, Ted Connors, were indicted by a grand jury Wednesday evening on seven counts, including murder and conspiracy, in relation to the 1994 stabbing death of Ana Mejia and the fatal shooting of Nicholas Connors in May 1995, the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office told The Daily Beast.Prosecutors allege that while Connors murdered his father and sister with his best friend, Jose Carrero, Morgan was the true mastermind behind the scheme. After her husband was killed, Morgan allegedly collected a $200,000 life-insurance policy and moved to Florida with her son.Suspect in New Jersey Family's Torching Is Brother and Business Partner to Victim"Killing for money and drugs, the state's position, you cannot get more violent," prosecutor Meghan Doyle said at the pair's detention hearing after their original arrest in January. "[Morgan] has done nothing but hide her involvement and manipulate the system to ensure she was protected."Last week, Carrero, 48, pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to commit murder, admitting that both murder plots were hatched on Morgan's New Jersey kitchen table and that he had witnessed both of the slayings. He is expected to be sentenced to up to 20 years in state prison for his role in the gruesome schemes and has agreed to testify against his former accomplices.Carrero told Superior Court Judge Ellen Torregrossa-O'Connor in February that Morgan offered him up to $3,000 to kill her daughter, Meija, because she believed the 24-year-old had alerted police about her drug dealing, according to the Asbury Park Press. The 48-year-old admitted he held Mejia down and covered her face with his hand, while Connors stabbed his sister to death. Her two children, ages 3 and 1 at the time, were present at the apartment but were left unharmed.Mejia, 24, was found dead inside her Long Branch apartment on Dec. 8, 1994, where she had been stabbed 23 times, authorities said. A white substance was found smeared across her mouth and nose—which was eventually determined to be baby formula, prosecutors said.Estranged Husband, Girlfriend of Missing NYC Teacher Charged With MurderFive months later, Carrero said Morgan asked for his help again: to help her son murder her husband so they collect his life-insurance policy. Prosecutors said that Nicolas Connors, 51, was found dead on a sofa in his Long Branch home with "multiple gunshot wounds to the head" on May 14, 1995. According to Carrero, Conners retrieved a gun and cut a hole through the screen door to make the crime look like a robbery gone wrong. "Dolores Connors wanted him killed for insurance purposes,"' Carrero said.After the murder, Morgan allegedly cashed the $200,000 insurance policy—which Carrero said she originally believed was worth $1 million—and moved with her son to Florida. Morgan, Connors, and his then-girlfriend traveled to the Dominican Republic after the second murder, prosecutors said. During the trip, Connors' ex-girlfriend told authorities that Morgan said, "We already have two deaths on our hands. We can't afford another. We can't afford the police snooping around our house again."Morgan's attorney, Jason Seidman, told The Daily Beast on Thursday his client has been cooperative with police "to help capture the killer or killers who took her husband and daughter" and maintains "her innocence as she has for over 25 years.""She has waited for 25 years to have those responsible brought to justice," he said, noting that while he normally does not comment on ongoing cases, the state's decision to put "every moment of this case before the media thus far" has compelled him to speak out. Seidman insisted that Carrero's "completely inconsistent" confession does not accurately state the chain of events."They have chosen to run with his story, and turn a blind eye to facts and reason," he said. "There are no less than 8 people who had either greater motive or better opportunity to commit these murders, including several drug dealers who were out large amounts of money or drugs, based upon the actions of the victim and her boyfriend one week prior to her murder." 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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| Bloomberg tumbles heading into Super Tuesday Posted: 27 Feb 2020 01:30 AM PST  Sources close to Bloomberg's campaign acknowledge his polls are not looking good.
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| Louisiana governor: Judge should resign after racial slurs in text messages Posted: 27 Feb 2020 09:00 AM PST  Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards called Wednesday for a judge to step down after she admitted to using racial slurs in angry text messages. The Democratic governor said the "state deserves better."
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| U.N.'s Bachelet urges Saudi to release women activists, uphold rights Posted: 27 Feb 2020 01:52 AM PST  U.N. human rights chief Michelle Bachelet urged Saudi Arabia on Thursday to uphold freedoms of expression and peaceful assembly and review convictions of activists, religious leaders and journalists as it prepares to host a G20 summit this year. Bachelet, in a speech to the U.N. Human Rights Council, called on Riyadh to release several Saudi women activists jailed for demanding "reforms of discriminatory policies".
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| Critic Says Trump Is 'Ignorant' and 'Incoherent' On Coronavirus. Others Call It 'Trump' Virus. Posted: 27 Feb 2020 08:44 AM PST  Can President Trump keep the American people prepared but not panicked?
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| Coronavirus: latest developments worldwide Posted: 27 Feb 2020 12:54 PM PST  The list of countries hit by the coronavirus grows. Mecca suspends entry for pilgrims. Several countries close their schools, stock exchanges plunge.
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| Belarus leader says nation being forced to merge with Russia Posted: 27 Feb 2020 04:26 AM PST  The president of Belarus said Thursday that his country is "being forced into integration" with Russia and insisted that real integration of the two countries' economies implied "sovereignty and independence" for Belarus. "We remain committed, as always, to real integration without being forced into integration," President Alexander Lukashenko said at a meeting with Mikhail Myasnikovich, chair of the Eurasian Economic Commission.
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| Grandfather of toddler who died in cruise ship fall to plead guilty Posted: 26 Feb 2020 06:44 AM PST  Salvatore Anello, Chloe Wiegand's grandfather, will change his plea in a deal to avoid jail time, a family attorney told NBC News.
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| People can get the coronavirus more than once, experts warn — recovering does not necessarily make you immune Posted: 27 Feb 2020 11:51 AM PST  People who have gotten the coronavirus before could still get it again. This happened to a tour guide in Japan.
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| Seattle Is Socialism’s Laboratory, and It’s Not Pretty Posted: 27 Feb 2020 05:16 AM PST  Democratic socialists are in the middle of a hostile takeover of the Democratic Party. Led by the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign and the "squad" of newly elected congresswomen, the hard-left coalition has laid out an ambitious agenda to transform the United States into a democratic socialist nation. While many commentators have dismissed the rhetoric around the Green New Deal, Housing for All, and End Cash Bail as pie-in-the-sky abstraction, in Seattle, the socialist coalition is quickly translating this agenda into a political reality.After the socialist Left's stunning victory over business-backed moderates in last year's municipal elections, Seattle has effectively become the nation's laboratory for socialist policies. Since the beginning of the year, the socialist faction on the Seattle City Council has proposed a range of policies on taxes, housing, homelessness, and criminal justice that put into practice the national democratic-socialist agenda. In the most recent session, socialist councilwoman Kshama Sawant and her allies have proposed massive new taxes on corporations, unprecedented regulations on landlords (including rent control and a ban on "winter evictions"), the mandated construction of homeless encampments, and the gradual dismantling of the criminal justice system, beginning with the end of cash bail.Seattle's socialists have established a narrative that provides the rhetorical basis for their policies. They argue that the corporate-technological elite, led by companies such as Amazon, has hoarded the rewards of the digital economy and created widespread misery for workers, renters, and people of color. As Seattle-based commentator and Marxist theoretician Charles Mudede has written: "We are in the 21st century. We are in one of the richest cities on earth. And yet, the old war between those who employ labor and those who sell their labor is still very much with us."In the socialist vision, the "new class war" is now entering a more direct phase of conflict. They have launched a political campaign to dramatically curtail the power of corporations, landlords, and traditional neighborhood interests, and to build a coalition of socialists, progressives, unions, and the dispossessed that is capable of achieving power. In short, the solution to the class war is to win the class war.While conservatives and moderates have typically dismissed the socialist movement as a "big-city problem," the new socialist agenda is no longer confined to the municipal boundaries of places such as Seattle, San Francisco, and New York. Increasingly, the hard-left coalition has turned these cities into "laboratories for socialism," with the goal of eventually commercializing their policies through the national Democratic Party. Already, Bernie Sanders, the current front-runner in the Democratic primary, has proposed a nationalized version of the Seattle agenda: Tax Amazon, enact national rent control, construct public housing, and end cash bail.But Seattle's socialists have gone one step further. In order to consolidate their newfound power, the progressive-socialists have begun to manipulate the democratic process in their own favor: first, by providing all Seattle voters with $100 in taxpayer-funded "democracy vouchers," which are easily collected by unions, activists, and socialist groups; and second, by implementing a ban on corporate spending in local elections by companies like Amazon. At the same time, black-bloc activists and Antifa militants intimidate any potential opposition by disrupting events, vandalizing homes, and even orchestrating death threats against political adversaries.What can opponents of socialism do? First, recognize that it must be fought on all fronts. While the socialists form a small minority of the national electorate, they have demonstrated the capability of seizing power in America's major cities, which are home to much of the digital "means of production" in tech, media, advertising, entertainment, and research. The business sector in cities such as Seattle must recognize that the progressive-socialists are no longer interested in gaining reasonable concessions; they intend to overthrow capitalism itself.Over the past decade, the dominant corporate strategy has been to quietly advocate for neoliberal economic policies, while pandering to the cultural mandates of "diversity and inclusion." That era is now over. As the experience in Seattle reveals, the socialist Left cannot be appeased on cultural issues — they are fighting a war against capital and they intend to win it.If the business sector wants to protect its own interests, it must rapidly adapt to this new reality. It's no longer enough for local Chambers of Commerce to drop leaflets before local elections; they must build a permanent counterbalance to the progressive-socialists. They must begin by commissioning original policy research, funding local neighborhood groups, and building a political alliance of conservatives, moderates, and old-line liberals. In other words, they must reestablish a balance of power in America's cities.If nothing is done, the laboratories of socialism in America's cities will become a national problem. It's time to shut them down.
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| Bloomberg campaign reportedly trying to recruit Andrew Yang Posted: 27 Feb 2020 12:58 PM PST  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may be looking for a bump from the Yang Gang.The Bloomberg campaign has been seeking an endorsement from entrepreneur and former 2020 candidate Andrew Yang and even floated him as a potential running made, The Wall Street Journal reports. "Aides to the former New York City mayor reached out to discuss ways the two entrepreneurs-turned-politicians could work together as Mr. Bloomberg seeks the Democratic nomination," the Journal writes, although Yang reportedly "didn't commit to join forces."The Bloomberg campaign told the Journal that Yang isn't being seriously considered to be his running mate, and a senior Bloomberg aide denied to NBC's Josh Lederman that he never was. Since dropping out of the race, Yang has been a contributor for CNN. He recently took part in a CNN discussion about Bloomberg's debate debut, during which he said the former mayor came across as "lethargic and uninterested" and was not "properly prepared." Yang also theorized Bloomberg has no one on his team "who could be like, 'That was terrible. This is going to potentially damage your campaign to a very, very high degree.'" Meanwhile, Bloomberg in an interview with MSNBC on Thursday said he'd "consider everybody" to be his running mate should he win the Democratic nomination, but when asked who he's talked to, he shot back, "Why would I tell you?" More stories from theweek.com Harvard scientist predicts coronavirus will infect up to 70 percent of humanity What it's like to be in Venice during coronavirus lockdown Turkish official: Airstrike in Syria kills 29 Turkish soldiers
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| The Senate Sits on Commonsense Gun Reform While Americans Die Posted: 27 Feb 2020 10:57 AM PST  An estimated 38,000 Americans have died in gun related deaths since the House passed a bill on gun reform. Why won't the Senate act?
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| Democratic candidates' drilling ban would cost U.S. economy $7 trillion: oil group Posted: 27 Feb 2020 09:36 AM PST  Banning hydraulic fracturing and halting new drilling on federal land would cost the U.S. economy $7 trillion in the next decade and kill millions of jobs, the U.S. oil industry's main lobby group said on Thursday in a report targeting the climate plans of top Democratic presidential candidates. The report from the American Petroleum Institute underscores mounting concern in the U.S. drilling industry over the possibility a candidate in favor of rapidly ending the fossil fuel economy to fight global warming will win the Democratic Party's nomination to face Republican President Donald Trump in the November election.
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| Obama demands TV stations stop airing 'despicable' anti-Biden ad from Pro-Trump PAC that misuses his words Posted: 27 Feb 2020 06:29 AM PST  The ad plays an audio passage from Obama's 1995 memoir, "Dreams from My Father," to allude that Biden supports "plantation politics."
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| AOC says she feels unsafe because Trump’s 'wack job' tweet with her is fueling white supremacist threats Posted: 26 Feb 2020 04:14 PM PST  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has admitted she feels unsafe in Washington D.C. over her home in the Bronx, New York — which is fueled, in part, by the threats she's received after President Trump tweeted against her.
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| Jay-Z helps 150 inmates at Mississippi prison sue over 'barbaric conditions' Posted: 27 Feb 2020 06:45 AM PST  Inmates at the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman "live a miserable and hopeless existence confronted daily by imminent risk of substantial harm," the suit said.
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| The grandfather of a toddler who fell from the 11th floor of a Royal Caribbean cruise ship is pleading guilty to negligent homicide to help end his family's 'nightmare' Posted: 27 Feb 2020 08:53 AM PST  Salvatore Anello had lifted his granddaughter up to a railing behind an open window, believing there was glass there, before she fell to her death.
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| No, Michael Mann, You Aren’t Going to ‘Ruin’ this ‘Filthy Organization’ Posted: 27 Feb 2020 12:48 PM PST  A few days before launching his lawsuit against what he called "this filthy organization," Michael Mann wrote that there "is a possibility that I can ruin National Review." Nearly a decade later, we are still fighting his attempt to do precisely that.From the beginning of this affair, National Review has maintained that the case that Mann filed is frivolous, malicious, corrupt, and lacking entirely in legal justification. We maintain that still. The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment is predicated upon "a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open," and that matters of political dispute are in consequence exempt from superintendence. By attempting to litigate against his critics, Michael Mann has chosen to stand firmly on the other side of that national commitment. Were he to prevail, he would set a host of terrible precedents against free inquiry and open argument, and in favor of censorship.That this case has been open-and-shut from the start was obvious not only to National Review, but to all who believe in the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press — which is why the amicus briefs that have been filed in our behalf range so widely across the political spectrum.We've said we'd use every tool and argument at our disposal to defeat Mann, and that's what we've done. Mark Steyn posted the blog item in dispute in July of 2012. Mann sued in October of that year, and we filed our first motion to dismiss in December of 2012.When that was denied by the trial court, we filed a motion to reconsider. When that, too, was denied, we appealed to the D.C. Court of Appeals — twice. This brings us to 2014. After oral arguments, the Court of Appeals sat on the case for two years. Then, the court denied our appeal. This was in December of 2016. Because the opinion had myriad obvious flaws, we petitioned for a rehearing. Incredibly enough, the court then delayed for yet another two years. When the court finally issued an amended opinion, all it did was add one footnote and amend another.Because the amended opinion didn't fix any of the flaws of the original opinion, we petitioned for a rehearing yet again. This, too, was denied. Then, last May, we filed a cert petition before the U.S. Supreme Court. All indications are that the court seriously considered it, before denying the petition (with Justice Alito issuing a strong dissent).Now, we are back in the trial court, with expensive and time-consuming discovery underway.Mann's plan to "ruin" us, as he put it in an email produced under discovery, is plainly to get to a trial with a politically sympathetic D.C. jury and hope that the finer points of the law and the First Amendment are lost. (Short of that, he is surely happy for the case to drag out further, draining us of energy and resources.)But it's clear that the case should never get to that point — hence our latest motion. Under the First Amendment, Mann has to prove that National Review published the Corner post with "actual malice." That would require him to show that National Review actually believed that the post was "false" (or likely false) at the time of publication. That is absurd for a number of reasons, including -- given the nature of The Corner -- we didn't even know about the post until after it was published. The case against National Review is thus nonsensical at its core. It is also barred by a federal statute, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which protects online publishers for hosting content posted by outside contributors.To be clear, the content of the post itself is also plainly protected First Amendment speech, as we have argued consistently and at length from the first letter our lawyers wrote in response to Mann's initial legal threat to our brief before the Supreme Court.So far, the courts have, to quote Churchill, elected to "go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent." They brushed past the anti-SLAPP statute that was designed to prevent this from happening. Our hope is that the same won't happen with Section 230, which is also meant to protect the free-speech rights of online publishers.It is a matter of considerable irony that the only "malice" that the discovery process has uncovered is that exhibited by Michael Mann. When planning his suit, Mann described National Review as a "threat to our children," beholden to "greedy fat cat corporate masters." His stated intention was to bring us "down for good." Needless to say, this is not how a country with a First Amendment or a culture of free speech is supposed to work. It's past time that this suit is dismissed as incompatible with both, and a failure on the facts and the law.
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| US Army, Marines want to make the Hellfire missile replacement more deadly at sea Posted: 27 Feb 2020 01:45 PM PST  After working out kinks related to the Hellfire missile replacement's lethality in a maritime environment, the Army and Marine Corps are heading into more tests of the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile against targets at sea.
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| Coronavirus: How Fox News and other right-wing media endanger our health Posted: 27 Feb 2020 04:04 PM PST  Despite steady warnings from health organizations worldwide, right-wing media are clogging airwaves with conspiracy theories and inaccurate reporting.
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| Iowa Recount Confirms Buttigieg Caucus Win: Campaign Update Posted: 27 Feb 2020 06:58 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The Iowa Democratic Party said Thursday that a partial recount of the Feb. 3 caucuses confirmed Pete Buttigieg's lead with 14 delegates and Bernie Sanders in second place with 12.The Buttigieg and Sanders campaigns had asked for the recount of 23 precincts after the reporting of the results was marred from the beginning by problems with a smartphone app that didn't work and a backup telephone hotline that was jammed by calls from supporters of President Donald Trump.The Iowa Democratic Party's state central committee is expected to certify the results Saturday. The Associated Press, which hasn't called the race, said it would update its tally of the national delegates won after that vote.Biden Says He'd Pick Michelle Obama (8:55 p.m.)Michelle Obama has made clear she has no plans to run for office but Joe Biden said Thursday he would ask her to be his running mate "in a heartbeat" if he thought she'd agree to the job.The former vice president to Barack Obama made the comment in response to a voter's question about whether he'd choose the former first lady as his vice president. He pointed out that the Obamas have found being out of the White House "somewhat liberating," suggesting they wouldn't want to be back in the political spotlight.Last year, the former first lady said there was "zero chance" she'd run for president, yet commentators and activists often say that her presence on the Democratic ticket in November could guarantee President Donald Trump's defeat.An article in the New York Times on Thursday cited a Democratic National Committee member suggesting that Michelle Obama should be the vice-presidential pick to give the party someone to rally around regardless of who the nominee ends up being. -- Jennifer EpsteinButtigieg Meets With Black Lawmakers (7:02 p.m.)Pete Buttigieg met with about 10 members of the Congressional Black Caucus Thursday, as polls show the candidate struggling to win African-American support and to expand his coalition in southern states like South Carolina, which holds its party primary Saturday.Representative Anthony Brown, a Maryland Democrat who has endorsed the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor and hosted the get-together, said Buttigieg was "well received and will continue to engage and listen." Only about a fifth of the caucus participated."This morning, Mayor Pete Buttigieg had a candid, two-way conversation with members of the Congressional Black Caucus," Brown said in a statement. "Pete leaned into his record and experience, outlined his vision to uplift communities of color, and shared his strategy to build a broad coalition not only to beat Donald Trump but to govern effectively from day one."Buttigieg also met members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, arranged by the group's political action committee, BOLD PAC. He was the sixth Democratic presidential candidate to sit down with the group."The pathway to win the White House runs through the Latino community and the eventual Democratic Presidential nominee will need to make it a priority to engage and message to Latino voters," the PAC said in a statement after the meeting. -- Billy HouseWarren Promises Change to Presidential Clemency (3:13)Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren said Thursday that she would seek to give more power to the president to grant clemency and pardons.Warren said that her administration would remove the process from the Department of Justice and instead create a clemency board that would work directly with the White House to prioritize cases of older individuals who were incarcerated for "unduly long sentences." If the board decides that those individuals don't pose a danger to public safety, they'd be granted a presumption of release."The president has significant powers to grant clemency and pardons, and historically presidents have used that power broadly," Warren wrote on Twitter on Thursday. "But today's hierarchical process at DOJ results in relatively few and conservative clemency recommendations."Warren said prison conditions in the U.S. make long sentences "inhumane." The proposal, which was adopted from a plan offered by former 2020 candidate Cory Booker, comes two days before the primary in South Carolina, where more than half of the Democratic electorate is African American.SEIU Targets Infrequent Minority Voters (1:35 p.m.)The Service Employees International Union said it will spend an unprecedented $150 million trying to turn out infrequent minority voters in battleground states on behalf of Democratic candidates.The union, which has so far held off on endorsing a candidate in the Democratic primary, is looking to boost the eventual presidential nominee with a massive canvassing project in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.Targets include Filipinos in Las Vegas, Puerto Ricans in Florida and black voters in Detroit and Milwaukee.Canvassers will attempt to individually contact more than 6 million individual voters, in as many as five different languages. The goal is to reach registered voters who haven't voted regularly in the past few elections and follow-up regularly until Election Day.It will build on a similar effort involving tens of millions of dollars that the SEIU mounted in the 2018 midterm elections. -- Josh Eidelson and Ryan Teague BeckwithCOMING UPSouth Carolina will hold its primary on Saturday, Feb. 29. Fourteen states and one U.S. territory will vote on Super Tuesday, March 3.(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)\--With assistance from Josh Eidelson, Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou, Billy House and Jennifer Epstein.To contact the reporters on this story: Ryan Teague Beckwith in Washington, D.C. at rbeckwith3@bloomberg.net;Max Berley in Washington at mberley@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 38 killed in Delhi religious violence as India balks at U.S. reaction Posted: 26 Feb 2020 09:47 PM PST  A U.S. government commission urged Indian leaders to stop the "unchecked violence" as mobs attack people, including journalists, in the capital.
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| Canada to stop providing security for Harry and Meghan Posted: 27 Feb 2020 09:23 AM PST  Canada will no longer provide security for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Canadian government said on Thursday, once the couple are no longer working members of the British royal family in the coming weeks. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have been assisting London's Metropolitan Police with security for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex "intermittently" since November, when the couple began a six-week holiday in Canada, according to a statement from the federal Office of the Minister of Public Safety.
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| One of Iran's vice presidents has been infected with coronavirus Posted: 27 Feb 2020 10:20 AM PST  Ebtekar, one of Iran's vice presidents, was the English-language spokesperson known to the media as "Mary" during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis.
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