| Elise Stefanik, newest star of Trumpworld, has turned impeachment into a fundraising boon Posted: 27 Feb 2020 10:00 AM PST  Leveraging her impeachment performance, Rep. Elise Stefanik raised $3.2 million in the last three months of 2019, exceeding the reelection haul of progressive darling Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
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| Man gets life for kidnapping stepdaughter, holding her captive for 19 years Posted: 27 Feb 2020 12:36 AM PST  Henri Michelle Piette kidnapped his victim in 1997, when she was 12, and subjected her to nearly 20 years of physical and sexual abuse before she escaped.
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| Americans of all parties agree: Joe Biden is old, Michael Bloomberg is rich Posted: 28 Feb 2020 12:49 PM PST  Pollsters at The Associated Press and NORC gave the public a chance to describe presidential candidates in one word or short phrase. The results were... telling.Democrats described former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg as nearly equal parts "smart," "young," and "gay." Independents and Republicans were far more likely to describe him as "gay," as well as "inexperienced," and "centrist." Philanthropist Tom Steyer was more overwhelmingly described as "rich" by Democrats, while independents and Republicans opted for "inexperienced."While former Vice President Joe Biden scored some mentions of "good person" among Democrats, he mostly got "old." Independents and Republicans also mostly called him "old," followed by "corrupt" and "creepy."Democrats and independents similarly described Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) as "old" at the highest rate, though Republicans went straight for "socialist," followed by "old," and "communist."> How poll respondents described 2020 candidates in one (or a few more) words. https://t.co/I53LZ1dSR1 pic.twitter.com/GbcahfoHCl> > — Philip Bump (@pbump) February 28, 2020Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is older than Biden and just months younger than Sanders, is universally regarded as "rich" (a fair assessment), and Republicans said he's "buying the election."Democrats were split in describing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) as "smart" and "strong," though independents and Republicans view her primarily as a "liar," as well as "crazy" and a "woman," which is hardly up for debate.While the Democratic candidates were generally regarded more positively by members of their own party, surveyed Republicans didn't come up with great words for President Trump. Most Republicans simply said "president," followed by "bumbling" and "jerk."The AP-NORC poll was conducted Feb. 12-16 via phone interviews with 1,074 adults. The margin of error is ±4.2 percentage points. View the full results at AP-NORC.More stories from theweek.com Stock markets are headed for a 40 percent plunge, says economist who predicted financial crisis A coronavirus recession would likely end Trump's presidency Court: Don McGahn can defy congressional subpoena
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| North Korea's Kim guides military drills, warns 'serious consequences' if virus breaks out: KCNA Posted: 28 Feb 2020 02:19 PM PST  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw military drills on Friday, state media KCNA said on Saturday, a rare public outing amid efforts to prevent an outbreak of the coronavirus in the isolated country. North Korea has not confirmed any cases of the virus, but state media said a month-long quarantine period had been imposed for people showing symptoms and "high-intensity" measures were taken including reinforcing checks in border regions and at airports and sea ports. On Feb. 16, Kim made his first public appearance in 22 days to visit a mausoleum marking the anniversary of the birth of his father and late leader Kim Jong Il.
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| Tucker Carlson Turns to AOC Creepshot Guy for Coronavirus Expertise Posted: 27 Feb 2020 06:38 PM PST  Amid growing fears of a coronavirus outbreak and U.S. financial markets hitting a record drop on Thursday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson turned to a conservative columnist best known for taking creepy photos of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) as his expert on the crisis on Thursday night.It should perhaps come as no surprise that Carlson's guest, Washington Examiner columnist Eddie Scarry, used his primetime cable news appearance to talk about the "Commie cough" and to claim that Chinese people eating skunks are responsible for the rise of the virus.In kicking off his Fox News program, Carlson argued that it is liberals' "attitude" towards diversity that has "left us vulnerable to the coronavirus" before welcoming on Scarry to enlighten viewers on the health crisis horrors caused by political correctness. "You spent a lot of time thinking about this mindset," the Fox News host asked Scarry. "Here we are facing what could become a pandemic. Thousands have died. Yet a certain segment of well-educated America is more concerned that people might say insensitive things. Explain the mindset."Scarry, who is hawking a new book that argues rape victims and trans people are the most privileged in American society, went on to praise Carlson for his monologue before saying the left cares "more about ideology" than what's happening with the virus."It turns out most people in America, even the Chinese, don't want the Commie cough but all we're hearing about who is the privileged and who is the victim," Scarry asserted. "In this case it's supposed to be — the victims are everyone else who is spreading this disease, where it's coming from, coming from China obviously. But we're the privileged so we're just supposed to accept it, we're just supposed to be okay with what's going on."Carlson, meanwhile, told Scarry that "everything" he said "is true," further asking him if he is surprised to see this attitude from liberals even when "facing a question of life and death." Scarry took that opportunity to bemoan Democrats calling on Americans to not "perpetuate racist stereotypes" amid coronavirus fears."We're worried about the racial implications of blaming this on anybody," the right-wing provocateur stated. "Well, no, I'm sorry. If it turns out, which I did read this time in The New York Times no less, this may have come from eating skunks in China. Maybe we should consider the idea that, all right, either food or something or somebody should not be coming from China."The Daily Beast was unable to find any reference in The New York Times to the disease being linked to Chinese people eating skunks. It would appear, however, that Scarry likely got his information from a fellow Examiner columnist's piece that cited a former Trump official's tweet claiming civet cats in China are skunks. (The Times' Maggie Haberman tweeted on Thursday that a top U.S. health official said the disease jumped from bats to civet cats, which are eaten by Chinese at feasts.)Scarry's primetime appearance appears to mark his first major return to the limelight after he sparked backlash and gained a reputation as a "creep" in Nov. 2018 after tweeting out a surreptitiously shot photo of Ocasio-Cortez. Scarry was moved from his position as media reporter to commentary by the Examiner. The paper claimed at the time that the move had been in the works prior to the infamous tweet.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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| 25 Glass Coffee Tables for Any and Every Living Room Posted: 28 Feb 2020 09:46 AM PST |
| 3 US airlines are canceling flights to global destinations outside of China as coronavirus spreads — here's the list Posted: 28 Feb 2020 10:30 AM PST  US airlines are axing flights to numerous destinations in South Korea, Italy, and Japan as coronavirus continues to spread around the world.
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| Israeli ex-general takes third jab at ousting Netanyahu Posted: 27 Feb 2020 07:45 PM PST  Former armed forces chief Benny Gantz will take a fresh shot at unseating Israel's veteran Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday after two previous electoral showdowns ended in deadlock. The 60-year-old has been in the public eye since first declaring political ambitions and running against Netanyahu in December 2018. Within months, his centrist Blue and White party shocked Israeli politics by matching Netanyahu's rightwing Likud in polls last April and then edged it in September.
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| Indiana police officer arrested for pretending to arrest 15-year-old son Posted: 27 Feb 2020 11:56 AM PST |
| Court won't let Trump pardon void guilty verdict against Arpaio Posted: 27 Feb 2020 11:00 AM PST |
| More than 30,000 pounds of yogurt spilled on New York highway after accident Posted: 28 Feb 2020 01:17 PM PST  A tractor trailer carrying more than 30,000 pounds of yogurt in western New York jackknifed on a highway Thursday afternoon.
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| Central Park Five's Kevin Richardson slams Bloomberg campaign Posted: 28 Feb 2020 08:58 AM PST  Kevin Richardson, a member of the Central Park Five, has hit out at Mayor Michael Bloomberg's presidential run and his blocking of a multimillion-dollar settlement over the group's wrongful persecution.Mr Richardson, one of the five teenagers wrongfully convicted for the shocking assault of Trishia Meili in 1989, was reported to have criticised Mr Bloomberg at an event outside his campaign office in Manhattan.
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| Montenegro's president accuses Serbia and Russia of undermining independence Posted: 28 Feb 2020 10:09 AM PST  Montenegro's president accused Serbia and Russia on Friday of using the Serbian Orthodox Church to undermine his country's pro-Western government as it seeks European Union membership. Milo Djukanovic, who has ruled for over three decades, said that a series of rallies against a religion law which have been led by Serbian Orthodox clerics in the tiny Balkan country were intended "to question Montenegro's independence." Metropolitan Ilarion, a Russian Orthodox Church cleric, has voiced support for the interests of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Montenegro.
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| Report: Michelle Obama petitioned to run as vice president to stop Bernie Sanders Posted: 28 Feb 2020 04:40 AM PST  Fearing the selection of Bernie Sanders as the Democrats' 2020 presidential nominee, a growing number of establishment party officials are reportedly considering Sherrod Brown as a late-entry "white knight" with Michelle Obama as a running mate.
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| Iran Can’t Hide Its Coronavirus Explosion, But It’s Trying Hard—and Putting the World in Danger Posted: 27 Feb 2020 02:26 AM PST  Iran's deputy health minister was drenched in sweat at the press conference on Monday where he vehemently denied Tehran was covering up the extent of the coronavirus outbreak. He kept wiping his brow with his handkerchief and was in visible distress as he said quarantines were a "Stone Age" way to address the problem, and Iran doesn't need them. Then, sure enough, that night he tested positive for the virus himself and put himself in quarantine. The irony of Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi's case would be funny almost, were Iran's conspicuous bungling of the coronavirus threat not a menace to the whole region and, indeed, to the world. As The Daily Beast's partner publication, IranWire, revealed in an exclusive report Thursday, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has tried to address the epidemic by telling doctors to shut up about it, much as Chinese authorities in Wuhan did, disastrously, when the disease was just starting to spread last December.The "official figures" from Iran give the game away. At last count, 16 people have died from COVID-19, but only 95 cases had been confirmed. As Wired UK points out, that would be a death rate of about 17 percent, when the data available from China, where there are huge numbers to work with, suggests the death rate is closer to 2 percent. The statistics don't add up. Canadian researchers cited by Wired suggest the Iran outbreak probably involves more than 18,000 people, and counting.* * *SILENCING THE DOCTORS* * *Following is the full IranWire article written by Aida Ghajar:IranWire can exclusively report that Iran's Revolutionary Guards have threatened Iranian medical specialists with reprisals if any of them were to disclose information regarding the spread of coronavirus in Iran.A group of specialist doctors met with Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi on Feb. 22, during which they reported on the latest findings regarding the spread of coronavirus in Tehran and other Iranian cities. But soon after the meeting, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) approached the doctors through the health ministry's security office and warned the doctors not to leak any information from their discussions. The doctors were told that, if any details did leak, they would be held responsible and would suffer the consequences.Despite these threats, the information received by IranWire shows the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreak, especially in Tehran. The doctors who were present at the meeting offered Harirchi their assessment of the official news and figures and told him that the figures published by the government do not match the reality of the situation.As one of these doctors—whose name is withheld because of the threats from the Revolutionary Guards—told IranWire: "The statistics published by the government have nothing to do with reality of the situation and the number of infections is much higher than what the media reports. If things go on like this and if the Islamic Republic does not cooperate with the World Health Organization, we must expect a great disaster in the coming months and, only in Tehran, tens of thousands will be infected by coronavirus. This scientific estimate does not even include other epicenters like Qom. If we cannot come up with a framework to cooperate with the World Health Organization, our situation will become many times worse than in China."This doctor pointed out that, right now, a number of clinics in Tehran have been quarantined and the government's attempts to keep the reality of the situation a secret is a "crime" in the legal sense of the word."Refusing to divulge real information to Iranians and to the international community is officially a crime because it endangers the lives of people not only in Iran but in other countries as well."Donald Trump Takes Coronavirus So Seriously He Just Put Mike Pence in ChargeIn many countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Canada, Iraq, Turkey, and Lebanon, the first cases of coronavirus infections were brought in by Iranian citizens or by travelers who had visited Iran. This has led many countries to close their borders with Iran, in the air and on the ground.According to this doctor, the outbreak of coronavirus in Iran occurred just after the outbreak in China. "But the problem started when we did not recognize that this virus is the same as China's coronavirus," the doctor said. "We made a mistake when we identified it as a variant of influenza viruses.… But, after it became known that it had been a mistake, [officials] continued as before and did not disclose the facts."* * *THE GOVERNMENT IS CLUELESS* * *The doctor said Iran's government has no plans for containing the crisis. Officials have "no other choice except secrecy," he added. "This will disgrace the Islamic Republic, if it becomes known that its government is clueless. But this can lead to a humanitarian disaster."According to this doctor, after the meeting with the health minister was over, the Revolutionary Guards contacted each doctor who had been at the meeting. "They told us that we will be held responsible for even the smallest leak. But I could not keep silent anymore," he said.On Monday, two days after the meeting and after the doctors were threatened, Gen. Hossein Salami, the top commander of the Revolutionary Guards, called Health Minister Saeed Namaki and announced that the Guards were ready to provide any and all assistance in fighting coronavirus and preventing its spread.On Feb. 25, in a televised speech, President Hassan Rouhani asked people to trust only statements by the health ministry for information about coronavirus.The Iranian Cyber Police have meanwhile reported that they have arrested a number of "rumor-mongers" about coronavirus since Feb. 21. Gen. Hossein Rahimi, commander of Tehran's Cyber Police, announced the arrests."Persons who want to create trouble for the people by spreading rumors and lying in cyberspace must know that the police surveils their behavior and will act against them decisively," he said.Earlier on Feb. 21, Gholamreza Jalali, commander of Iran's Civil Defense Organization, accused foreign media of "creating panic" by publishing inaccurate or misleading figures about coronavirus infections. He emphasized that coronavirus must not be turned into a "political crisis."Jalali is the same official who, after floods had inundated many parts of Iran in early 2019, made strange statements about extreme weather, accusing Israel of "cloud stealing." He claimed that "joint committees of Turkey and Israel" had stolen moisture and snow from the clouds over Iran.With the Islamic Republic and the Revolutionary Guards turning the coronavirus outbreak into a security issue, by treating infection figures as state secrets, by arresting people for "rumor mongering" and, now by threatening doctors whose duty is to tell the truth about infectious diseases, it seems the experts may be proved right about the likelihood of a humanitarian disaster. If the Islamic Republic continues in this way, we must expect a much bigger disaster than what is happening in China—not only for Iranians but for the world.The Russian Models Instagramming From China's Coronavirus CapitalRead 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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| A Chinese destroyer fired a weapons-grade laser at a US surveillance aircraft, US Navy says Posted: 27 Feb 2020 05:22 PM PST  "Weapons-grade lasers could potentially cause serious harm to aircrew and mariners," US Pacific Fleet said.
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| Turkey moves ahead with its threats to send refugees to EU Posted: 28 Feb 2020 05:41 AM PST  Hundreds of refugees and migrants in Turkey have begun heading for the country's land and sea borders with Greece, buoyed by Turkish officials' statements indicating they will not be hindered from crossing the frontier to head into Europe. The move comes a day after a deadly Syrian airstrike that killed more than 30 Turkish troops in Idlib, Syria, where Turkey has been engaged since 2016. WHO ARE THE REFUGEES OR MIGRANTS IN TURKEY?
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| Malaysian king hits back at Mahathir amid crisis Posted: 28 Feb 2020 02:20 AM PST  Malaysia's king struck down Friday a power play by 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad aimed at seizing momentum in a political crisis, capping a week of turmoil that has left the country effectively leaderless. Old foes Mahathir and Anwar Ibrahim are locked in a power struggle sparked by the elderly leader's resignation and their ruling coalition's collapse, following a failed bid to push out leader-in-waiting Anwar. Mahathir, currently interim leader, earlier announced the parliament session would take place Monday and the monarch, who appoints the premier, agreed with the decision.
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| Lori Vallow's niece denies knowing whereabouts of missing kids Posted: 28 Feb 2020 10:09 AM PST  Joshua Vallow, 7, and Tylee Ryan, 17, were last seen in September, according to police. Their mother has been arrested and charged with desertion.
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| 'I guess I wasn't arrested': Joe Biden reverses on claim of an arrest in South Africa Posted: 28 Feb 2020 02:10 PM PST  Joe Biden has previously told of being arrested in South Africa while traveling with black lawmakers. He reversed himself Friday in a CNN interview.
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| Trump 'could suck coronavirus out of 60,000 people' and he'd still be criticized – Huckabee Posted: 28 Feb 2020 08:17 AM PST  * Top Republican on Fox News defends Trump and Mike Pence * Vice-president leading coronavirus containment effort in US * Whistleblower: US coronavirus staff were untrained and unprotectedDonald Trump could "personally suck" the coronavirus "out of every one of the 60,000 people in the world, suck it out of their lungs, swim to the bottom of the ocean and spit it out, and he would be accused of pollution for messing up the ocean", a top Republican has claimed.Former Republican Arkansas governor and ex-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made the outlandish statement on Twitter on Thursday night and on Fox News' Fox & Friends show on Friday morning.> Mike Huckabee says Trump "could personally sick the virus out of every one of the 60,000 people in the world, suck it out of their lungs, swim to the bottom of the ocean and spit it out, and he would be accused of pollution for messing up the ocean." pic.twitter.com/X7xbC5ebDz> > — Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) February 28, 2020According to the World Health Organization (WHO) more than 82,000 cases of the coronavirus have in fact been confirmed worldwide, with about 2,800 deaths. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 60 confirmed cases in the US.In the US, Huckabee's widely ridiculed comment followed the publication of a column for Fox News in which he took aim at criticism of Trump's choice of Vice-President Mike Pence to lead US containment efforts.Critics have said Pence's religious faith, plus the decisions he took as governor of Indiana on scientific and public health matters, make him a poor choice to lead efforts undermined by budget cuts and poor organization.Huckabee said Pence was "a proven leader who knows how to get people with different perspectives working together effectively" on public health matters including the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (Mers) outbreak of 2014."Instead of calling for bipartisan cooperation in this life-or-death effort," he wrote, "liberals reacted with collective outrage, even going so far as to ridicule the vice-president's Christian faith as a way of suggesting that he's not qualified for the role."Numerous media outlets have also published and broadcast one-sided reports trashing Pence's handling of an HIV outbreak as governor of Indiana, but such criticisms are both inaccurate and irrelevant."The outbreak in question happened in 2015. Pence declared a public health emergency but many said faith-driven cuts to sexual health programs made the situation worse.Huckabee, the father of the former Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders, is not the first rightwing commentator to claim Democrats and the media are using concerns over the coronavirus outbreak to attack and undermine the president.Earlier this week, the conservative shock jock and presidential medal of freedom honoree Rush Limbaugh claimed "the coronavirus is being weaponized as yet another element to bring down Donald Trump" and said "the coronavirus is the common cold".Some experts have criticised media coverage of the outbreak as inaccurate and potentially alarmist.According to the Guardian's guide to the coronavirus, sufferers report "coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases there can be organ failure. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use … Recovery depends on the strength of the immune system. Many of those who have died were already in poor health."The outbreak began in China. The WHO has not yet declared it a pandemic but international markets, trade, travel and sporting events have been severely affected. In the US on Friday the Dow Jones Index plunged again, at the end of the markets' worst week since the financial crisis of 2008.In Geneva, a WHO spokesman said: "The outbreak is getting bigger. The scenario of the coronavirus reaching multiple countries, if not all countries around the world, is something we have been looking at and warning against since quite a while."
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| Pope cancels second day of engagements after falling ill Posted: 27 Feb 2020 06:44 AM PST  Pope Francis has cancelled official audiences for a second day in succession after being taken ill. The Vatican said the 83-year-old had celebrated morning Mass as usual and greeted participants at the end. He planned to keep his private meeting schedule as planned but decided to cancel official audiences. It did not reveal what the pontiff is suffering from, but he was coughing and blowing his nose during Ash Wednesday Mass this week. On Thursday, he cancelled a planned trip across the city to celebrate Mass with Rome priests. His illness comes amid an outbreak of coronavirus which has infected 650 people in Italy and caused disruption across the north of the country. Rome has had three cases, but all three people have recovered. On Thursday, Vatican officials refused to comment on whether Pope Francis has been tested for coronavirus, confirming only that he had missed a planned Mass for the start of Lent due to a slight illness. "This morning, the pontiff did not go to St. John Lateran basilica for the Penitential Mass with Roman clergy," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement to The Telegraph. "Due to a light indisposition, he preferred to stay near [his Vatican residence] Santa Marta. Other duties are proceeding regularly."
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| The Strange Tale of How British Commandos Attacked Hitler's Fish Oil Production Posted: 28 Feb 2020 06:10 AM PST  More important than you know.
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| Why is Iran's reported mortality rate for coronavirus higher than in other countries? Posted: 28 Feb 2020 07:53 AM PST  Iran has now suspended parliament indefinitely due to the outbreak. Secretary of State Pompeo says the U.S. has offered to help Iran respond to the virus.
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| AOC takes down Ted Cruz over coronavirus comment Posted: 28 Feb 2020 04:22 PM PST  New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has delivered an online lesson to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz after he questioned her authority to comment on matters of science.
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| Idaho targets transgender people, birth certificate changes Posted: 27 Feb 2020 12:58 PM PST  Idaho lawmakers moved forward Thursday with legislation banning transgender people from changing the sex listed on their birth certificates despite a federal court ruling declaring such a ban unconstitutional. Ohio and Tennessee are the only other states in the country where transgender people cannot change their birth certificates, according to a law firm that has challenged the practice in court. In Idaho, this is another effort by the conservative state to target the population as Republicans in the House a day earlier advanced legislation to keep transgender women from competition.
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| Sub-Saharan Africa just recorded its first coronavirus case. The WHO and Bill Gates have warned that Africa can't deal with an outbreak. Posted: 28 Feb 2020 04:07 AM PST  The World Health Organization fears Africa's "fragile healthcare systems" may not be able to cope with a serious outbreak of COVID-19.
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| Deadly riots expose India's Hindu-Muslim divide Posted: 27 Feb 2020 07:32 AM PST  Gul Mohammad had a flourishing footwear business until masked men armed with crude petrol bombs burnt down his shops during Delhi's sectarian riots, shattering the harmony between Hindus and Muslims in the neighbourhood. The Hindu-majority neighbourhood of Ashok Nagar on the northeast fringes of India's capital was once held up as an example of how people from different religious backgrounds could live side-by-side peacefully.
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| AOC says Bloomberg would lead to an 'even worse' version of Trump in the future Posted: 27 Feb 2020 10:54 AM PST  New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has warned that electing former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg as president would set the stage for a candidate "even worse" than Donald Trump in the future.Ms Ocasio-Cortez is fully against nominating Mr Bloomberg as candidate for the 2020 election.
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| Black Lives Matter activist Hawk Newsome on the current state of America Posted: 27 Feb 2020 07:33 PM PST  Newsome is chairman of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, and has spent his adult life advancing the cause of what he calls the "Second Civil Rights Movement."
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| Crime Against Humanity: China Has Never Forgotten Japan's Bloody Assault On Nanking Posted: 26 Feb 2020 10:00 PM PST  A combination of factors led to some of the worst atrocities in history.
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| A joke gone too far? Some police departments are offering to 'test' meth for coronavirus. Not everybody is laughing Posted: 27 Feb 2020 07:45 PM PST  Law enforcement agencies across the nation are jokingly encouraging meth users to bring their drugs in so they can be tested for coronavirus.
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| Christian woman in Pakistan blasphemy row: I've been invited to live in France Posted: 28 Feb 2020 10:45 AM PST  Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan, said on Friday after meeting President Emmanuel Macron that she had been invited her to live in France. Bibi was acquitted of the blasphemy conviction last year and has since been living with her family in Canada.
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| Federal appeals court rules against Trump in two major immigration cases Posted: 28 Feb 2020 11:16 AM PST  The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a block on the administration's policy of forcing migrants seeking asylum to wait in Mexico while the cases play out.
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| Bill Gates says the coronavirus is a pandemic and a 'once-in-a-century pathogen.' Here are the solutions he's proposing to fight it. Posted: 28 Feb 2020 11:06 AM PST  "COVID-19 has started behaving a lot like the once-in-a-century pathogen we've been worried about," Gates wrote in a new op-ed.
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| Defense moves delay sentencing for 'Boy Next Door Killer' Posted: 27 Feb 2020 09:18 PM PST  Sentencing for a man convicted of two murders who prosecutors dubbed "The Boy Next Door Killer" was delayed Friday over a defense motion that seeks a new trial because the prosecution failed to share information that would have compromised the credibility of a detective who was a key witness in the case. A jury recommended the death penalty for 44-year-old Michael Thomas Gargiulo, who was found guilty in August of the home-invasion murders of two women, one of whom was about to go on a date with actor Ashton Kutcher.
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| Trump Spends 45 Minutes With ‘Deep State’ Play Actors Amid Coronavirus Mayhem Posted: 27 Feb 2020 02:40 PM PST  NATIONAL HARBOR, Maryland—One day after briefing the press in an attempt to calm nerves about the spread of the new coronavirus, President Donald Trump spent 45 minutes talking to the lead actors of a low-budget conservative play about the so-called Deep State. Phelim McAleer, the playwright behind the play FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers, told The Daily Beast that the meeting with Trump had originally been scheduled for just 15 minutes but went 30 minutes longer than that. "We went for a 15-minute meeting that took 45 minutes," McAleer said. "We were there for 45 minutes in the Oval Office, and he loves it, he loves the play."Trump hasn't seen the play, according to McAleer, but praised its concept: a script based entirely on congressional testimony and the text messages between former FBI agent Peter Strzok and former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, who discussed the FBI's investigation into Trump's campaign and Russia while having an affair. The play's leads—Superman actor Dean Cain and former Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Kristy Swanson—also attended the White House meeting. Lisa Page Sues FBI and the Justice Department for Leaking Her Texts With Peter StrzokMcAleer said Trump complained in the meeting about "why some people are in prison [and] why other people aren't"—an apparent re-airing of grievances that law enforcement officials involved in investigating his campaign haven't been charged, while his own campaign staffers have been."He did most of the talking," McAleer said. McAleer said he couldn't remember whether coronavirus came up in his discussions with the president. "It was 45 minutes," he said, "we talked about a lot of things." The meeting was not listed on the president's formal daily guidance and was only announced via a press release from New Hampshire Republican Party official with ties to James O'Keefe's video sting operation, Project Veritas. What else Trump was up to on Thursday was not entirely clear. In uncharacteristic fashion, the president barely tweeted throughout the day, as the Dow Jones industrial average took another massive dive driven by fears that the spread of the virus may severely disrupt global commerce and medical supply chains. Late Thursday afternoon, he called the press in for a meeting with Trump-friendly African-American leaders and media personalities to discuss community empowerment, several of whom called him the best president since Lincoln.The White House did not return a request for comment. But according to three people who've independently discussed coronavirus with the president over the past three weeks, each said he seemed more preoccupied with his beliefs that Democrats and perceived enemies in the news media were going to try to use coronavirus panic to make him "look bad" than with the public health fallouts. "He made a joke about how he could invent a cure for the coronavirus tomorrow, and Nancy Pelosi would still find ways to criticize him for it," said one source who privately spoke to Trump in the past weekWhile the president was out of sight, Vice President Mike Pence was not. On Wednesday, the VP was tasked with spearheading the administration's response to the virus' outbreak. And by Thursday he had made several appointments to supplement the task force, including tapping a former Obama administration official, Debbie Birx, who had previously served as U.S. global AIDS coordinator. That decision was widely cheered among Democrats and medical experts. But the goodwill was quickly replaced by concerns that the VP's office was limiting public communication from various health agencies in an effort to assert control over messaging around the crisis. Officials at the office of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, told The Daily Beast that he was not able to speak to the press because the White House was handling all media requests. Meanwhile, an official at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they would not be able to return media inquiries for a matter of "days" despite the intense public interest in gathering and disseminating official information on the virus. Coronavirus May Explode in U.S. Overnight Just Like in ItalyPence himself did not brief the press on Thursday. But he did speak at a gathering of conservative activists known as CPAC. And while there, he spent time talking to two conservative media luminaries. According to the vice president's pool report, Pence met with Fox News' Sean Hannity for 15 minutes to discuss coronavirus for Hannity's show. And Eric Bolling, a Sinclair TV host and friend of the president, told The Daily Beast that he too had an audience with Pence, behind the CPAC stage. "I asked him if he thought $2.5 billion [for a federal response] was enough... I even asked him why not go further than even [Senate Minority Leader] Chuck Schumer's $8.5 billion ask...and say… $18 billion," Bolling said. "Whatever we don't spend, return to the Treasury? He said, 'President Trump has made it clear' that there will be as much funding as needed to fight an epidemic here."According to Bolling, Pence said that he and Trump had talked about the administration's coronavirus task force that day. Later on Thursday, Pence went to the Department of Health and Human Services to meet with the task force himself, during which he re-emphasized that the president's vision is a "whole of government approach" and declared that "in the days ahead the full resources of the government will be brought to bear." The vice president is slated to attend a fundraiser in Florida on Friday, hosted by former Congressman Vern Buchanon. As of now, the event appears to be still on. The VP's office did not respond to numerous requests as to whether they were considering canceling. 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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| Judge refuses to reconsider releasing secret Jeffrey Epstein-related documents Posted: 28 Feb 2020 02:36 AM PST  A federal judge has denied a motion that could have allowed the release of more than 1,000 documents related to the investigation of crimes committed by Jeffrey Epstein and others.The motion, filed by the Miami Herald and investigative journalist Julie K. Brown, asked the judge to reconsider a previous decision to keep the files secret.
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| Shocking: China and the CIA Both Helped Saudi Arabia Get Their Own Ballistic Missiles Posted: 28 Feb 2020 06:20 AM PST  Well that was a bad idea.
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| Coronavirus fallout could be 'worse than the financial crisis,' expert warns Posted: 28 Feb 2020 07:20 AM PST  Scott Minerd, Guggenheim Partners' global CIO, has a dire warning about the fallout of the coronavirus crisis: it could potentially be "worse than the financial crisis."Minerd told Axios as much on Friday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Thursday plunged 1,191 points, the worst one-day point drop ever.Amid what's set to be the worst week for the stock market since the financial crisis, former Federal Reserve official Kevin Warsh penned a Wall Street Journal piece recently joining the call for the Fed to take action. Specifically, Warsh wrote the Fed should "announce a 0.25-percentage-point interest-rate cut and make clear it's open-minded about further action," as well as "encourage other central banks to take appropriate simultaneous action to loosen monetary policy in their jurisdictions."Minerd, who is a member of the the New York Fed's investor advisory committee, told Axios he expects a statement about "some sort of monetary coordination." But he suggested that this, unfortunately, is unlikely to help that much."You can cut rates and that helps alleviate some of the problem," he told Axios. "But with a shock like this, monetary policy is pretty impotent. Cutting rates 100 basis points isn't going to do anything."Minerd previously spoke to CNN on Thursday, warning that "we are just beginning to see the sell-off." On Friday morning, the Dow was down 800 points.More stories from theweek.com Stock markets are headed for a 40 percent plunge, says economist who predicted financial crisis A coronavirus recession would likely end Trump's presidency Court: Don McGahn can defy congressional subpoena
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| 'Lost communities': thousands of wells in rural California may run dry Posted: 28 Feb 2020 03:00 AM PST  Years of pumping, drought and a thirsty agriculture industry have taken a heavy toll on the water supply – and new plans are leaving vulnerable residents behindWhen Carolina Garcia's well began pumping sand and air instead of water in 2016, she didn't know where to turn.The Garcias had been living in Tombstone Territory, a quiet four-street community in California's San Joaquin Valley, for 10 years. In the middle of the state's historic drought, many of the farms surrounding Tombstone Territory had installed new wells and deepened existing ones. Despite being just two miles from the Kings river, Tombstone was drying up.Garcia, her husband and four children spent four days without water that first time.They resolved to lower their water pump. It worked for a few months – but then, again, sand and air. When they repaired it again, they were told the new fix would only buy them a couple more years.Sitting at her kitchen table one recent afternoon, Garcia was soft spoken as she remembered the facts of this crisis. But her large dark eyes filled with tears as she recalled the pain of sending her children to school unshowered, begging neighbors to fill jugs of water and going to the bathroom outside."We are still taking care not to use too much water," Garcia said in Spanish. "We live with the fear that it's going to happen again."linksThe Garcias, like 95% of residents in California's Central Valley, rely on groundwater for home use. But that resource is growing increasingly scarce, as prolonged drought and a drier climate, coupled with a vast and thirsty agriculture industry, have drained the valley's underground stores. Much of the water that is left is poisoned by farm runoff and by natural toxins in the soil that have mixed with groundwater and surfaced amid extensive drilling and pumping. Today, more than a million Californians do not have clean water to drink at home.At the height of the drought in 2014, California passed the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (Sgma), regulating groundwater for the first time in the state's history. Sgma was meant to limit industrial use of groundwater while protecting the rights and resources of rural residents who depend on shallow wells. But as the new agencies tasked with managing the water drafted their plans, residents were largely left out. Many of the plans meant to protect groundwater would actually cause residential wells to go dry as the water table continues to drop until Sgma's 2040 sustainability deadline."They're making a decision to let farmers keep pumping at the expense of thousands of families' wells going dry, which this whole process was supposed to prevent," said Amanda Monaco, water policy coordinator at the not-for-profit Leadership Counsel.With Sgma not shaping up to be the groundwater fix many clean water advocates had hoped it would be, other projects and state funding appear poised to fill some of the gaps. But the approach is still largely reactive: disadvantaged communities are left to suffer first before help comes."The urgency might not be there for folks in the city," said Monaco. "But every single morning, folks in Tombstone Territory wake up fearing they're going to have to spend another four months without water." Two million residents depend on private wellsAs many as 2 million rural California residents rely on private domestic well water to drink, cook, bathe and flush toilets. Those wells are an artifact of a time long gone, when groundwater was plentiful and clean, and having one's own access to it meant being self-sufficient.When Ray Cano's grandparents built the third house in Tombstone Territory, they looked forward to the day when it would become a part of the nearby town of Sanger. Until then, the house would rely on its own pump to deliver groundwater to the sinks, showers and hoses on the property.Tombstone grew, but Sanger didn't extend its borders, or its municipal water system. Cano, 48, inherited the home and its well and moved in in 1988. At first, being disconnected was fine. "The water used to have almost like a sweet taste. It just tasted good," he said.In the years since, he watched neighboring farms switch from grape vineyards to growing almonds and install newer, deeper groundwater pumps. After his well first failed in the spring of 2015, he paid to have it lowered from 60ft to 105ft. Now it's sputtering again, pumping air between bursts of water that Cano filters three times before each use.According to the clean water advocacy not-for-profit Community Water Center, nearly 12,000 Californians ran out of water during the 2011-2017 drought. And because individual wells are private property, residents were ineligible for most government aid programs that would have helped repair them.Those who could afford to, like Cano, installed new pumps, dropped their wells or dug whole new ones, at a cost of upwards of $20,000. Landlords, in many cases, passed their costs on to renters. Residents who couldn't afford new wells began to rely on bottled water deliveries arranged and paid for by local aid groups. Years later, many in Tombstone are still surviving on those deliveries. A threat to 8,000 wellsWhen it passed in 2014, Sgma was supposed to protect the rights of domestic well users to access their fair share of California's groundwater. The law ordered the establishment of management agencies that would oversee the health of the Central Valley's already overdrafted underground resources. The agencies were to monitor the area's water table, plan for groundwater recharging, institute pumping restrictions for agricultural users – and protect rural residents.But in over five years of planning since, groundwater sustainability agencies established under the law did not commission analyses of how management strategies might affect those residents, to compare well depths with projected groundwater depths as pumping continues. According to engineering analyses of well data and sustainability plans commissioned by Leadership Counsel, Community Water Center and Self Help, another local advocacy group, and submitted to groundwater sustainability agencies, upwards of 8,000 wells would go dry if the San Joaquin valley's current plans were approved. In essence, the law that was supposed to protect well users could codify their wells going dry.Many agencies still lack accurate data on the most vulnerable groundwater users. The Central Kings management plan, which oversees Tombstone Territory and its surroundings, states that new domestic wells are close to 350ft deep. According to state data, the average domestic well nearby is actually shy of 190 feet. Some of the pumps in Tombstone Territory are still set at just 60ft.In response to advocate concerns, the East Kaweah agency in eastern Tulare county replied that Sgma "does not require [agencies] to prevent any wells from going dry". Leadership Counsel and other advocates contend these disproportionate impacts on disadvantaged communities are a violation of well users' civil rights."Many [agencies] have told us they wouldn't actually let it get down that low. But the fact that they're doing the bare minimum at this point means they're probably not going to aspire to more," said Monaco. Fears of contaminationAngel Hernandez calls places like Tombstone Territory "lost communities, hidden communities, forgotten communities" left behind without the lifeline of water. Even when those communities can drill deep enough, the water may be too toxic to drink.Hernandez, 46, and his neighbor Isabel Solorio sit on a rural community advisory committee for the groundwater sustainability agency that oversees their community of Lanare, south-west of Fresno. Lanare is home to roughly 550 people who lived for more than a decade with water tainted by dangerous levels of the heavy metal arsenic, which has been tied to cancer, cardiovascular disease and cognitive development problems in children. That arsenic is natural in the clays deep underground, where it has seeped into lower levels of the water table that may have been in the aquifer for tens of thousands of years."The arsenic is getting out of the ground and into people's water supplies because of the pumping – which is precisely what Sgma is supposed to be regulating," said Ryan Jensen at Community Water Center. "Almost across the board, [agencies] do not see water quality as being their responsibility."Rural residents across the Central Valley are plagued with a host of water-borne toxins. Aside from arsenic, water across the valley is also tainted with nitrates from fertilizer and animal waste associated with a variety of adverse health impacts; 123 TCP, an ingredient in pesticides which has been linked to cancer; hexachromium six, an industrial chemical linked to cancer and other health problems; and uranium, which like arsenic is leeching into groundwater more extensively because of increased pumping.Sgma tasks agencies with protecting not just the quantity of water in their underground basins but its quality – but that's been open to agency interpretation. Failure will be if contaminant levels rise by 15% or more from current levels. "Hopefully Sgma isn't going to make it worse, but clearly you can see the priorities in the way these plans were written," said Jensen.Solorio, 53, lives across the street from the Lanare community center and defunct water treatment plant, now also the site of two new deep wells established with $3.8m in state funding. Last year, those wells began pumping clean water through pipes and into homes across long-plagued Lanare – the clean water that Solorio, Hernandez and others fought for for years.But in Sgma, they are less hopeful. Their local agency has planned for a recharge basin to benefit three disadvantaged residential communities in the area. But, like in other parts of the valley, the agency's plans will threaten shallow wells. Solorio feels it's not enough. Her friend at the end of the block, she says, already has a well running dry."The priority of this new Sgma law is to protect communities too," said Solorio. "But this board doesn't want to talk about that. Their purpose is so different." 'We need long-term solutions'Sgma's passage in 2014 may have been inspired by rural communities running dry across the Central Valley, but it won't be the answer for beleaguered residents who have lived without clean water for years."Sgma is incredibly important. The situation was out of control," said Jessi Snyder, community development specialist at nonprofit advocacy organization Self Help. "But there's going to be this really challenging period between now, when the plans are finalized, and 20 years from now, when we have to achieve sustainability.""A lot of damage can be done in that amount of time," said water activist Lucy Hernandez.While sustainability agencies haven't planned to mitigate the impacts of lowered water tables over the next two decades, the passage of a new Safe and Affordable Drinking Water Fund could bridge some of the gap. Hernandez and other water activists fought for the fund for years before it was finally signed into law in July 2019. "There's been a lot of progress, but we need long term solutions," said Hernandez, 51. "Delivering water bottles is not a long term solution.The $1.4bn fund will provide support for much-needed small community system infrastructure and treatment devices, as well as consolidation projects with nearby municipal systems. And for the first time, money will be widely available to help distressed private well owners. The California governor, Gavin Newsom, has made clean drinking water a signature issue of his administration and traveled to tiny Tombstone Territory to sign the bill.Both Snyder and Hernandez sit on the fund's advisory committee. Both are cautiously optimistic about what it can actually accomplish in the face of such entrenched problems."I want to make sure we get the funding and resources here in our Central Valley, because our people are on the front lines," said Hernandez."We are all very happy to have 10 years of really robust funding, but it's not like we're going to wake up 10 years from now and it'll be done," said Snyder. "It's going to continue to be a challenge. It's really daunting." Consolidating water systemsInstead of drilling deeper wells and treating the contaminated water pumped into residents' homes, more small communities across the Central Valley are hoping to connect to larger nearby municipal systems and take advantage of water economies of scale.Maria Olivera's purple house sits on a quiet street in eastern Tulare county, past miles of winter-ripened citrus, fat and falling off lush, well-irrigated green trees. The water here in unincorporated Tooleville is good enough for the potted plants that crowd her front porch, but it isn't safe to drink."Hexachromium six, and nitrate," said Olivera, 66, who has lived in Tooleville since 1974 and holds a seat on the community water board. Tooleville has two community wells, but only one is in operation. "And in the summer there's no pressure. But it hasn't run out completely yet.""It'll spit and sputter, though," said her neighbor and fellow board member Benjamin Cuevas, who bought his home in Tooleville less than two years ago without any knowledge of the water quality issues.Olivera and Cuevas, 61, are volunteer utility district managers, collecting monthly bill payments from their 70 neighboring properties in order to keep the tainted water on. They receive some clean bottled water – five five-gallon jugs every two weeks – from the county."That's included with the flat $40 a month we pay for the water we can't drink," said Cuevas, smirking.Tooleville is hoping to connect to the nearby town of Exeter, using grants and interest-free loans from the state. But consolidation is still a daunting challenge. "We've been working on trying to consolidate Tooleville with Exeter for 15 years," said Snyder.They thought the deal was finally all but done last summer, but it fell apart at an explosive city council meeting, where the mayor said Exeter "can't afford to take on Tooleville". In Exeter, less than a mile up the road, Tooleville is perceived as the ungoverned and undeserving wilds. The crisis has not bred magnanimity. Scarcity has bred contention across the valley.This was once also the case in Porterville and East Porterville, just 18 miles south of Tooleville. East Porterville is widely regarded as the poster child for devastating point well failure – and a consolidation success story. In the dry heights of the drought, upwards of 500 shallow domestic wells in the unincorporated, low-income community failed before the city of Porterville finally extended its system to its neighbors in 2016."It was a messy thing. We built the plane in the air," said Snyder, who worked on installing meters for the new water customers. "But the city of Porterville stepped up, despite it not having been their idea."Each home that received a water connection had to abandon or destroy its well and sign a document agreeing that Porterville could annex the property into its city limits in the future. In 2016, 756 properties signed up for city water – and 341 declined.For rural residents who don't live within a mile or so of a community water system, consolidation is not an option at all. And even for those who do, it's not necessarily an attractive one. Low-income residents are faced with potentially larger water bills, and with city control come city codes and regulations. But there may be no other choice, as groundwater levels continue to drop and more wells go dry."I don't want anyone to find there's no value in their home or find it condemned," said Monte Reyes, a Porterville city councilmember and an Eastern Tule groundwater sustainability agency board member. But ultimately, he thinks they won't be forgotten communities. The board on which Reyes sits is a rare groundwater agency with municipal, not just agricultural, representation. He sees the system working, and attitudes shifting – at least in his little corner of the Valley."We can't just say stop, and wait and see. Everybody loses if we do that," said Reyes. "Transparency and the measurement of every drop is coming."But it is, to be sure, not here yet.
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| Laurene Powell Jobs says she won't pass down her and Steve Jobs' billions to their children: 'It ends with me' Posted: 28 Feb 2020 10:15 AM PST  Powell Jobs, who is worth an estimated $24 billion, said she believes a massive accumulation of wealth is "dangerous for a society."
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| Coronavirus updates: WHO increases risk to 'very high,' tells governments to 'wake up' Posted: 28 Feb 2020 05:17 PM PST  The WHO has increased the risk assessment of coronavirus to 'very high'. Here's the latest COVID-19 news.
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| Police identify victims, shooter in Milwaukee brewery shooting rampage Posted: 27 Feb 2020 03:22 AM PST  Police in Milwaukee on Thursday identified the five brewery employees shot and killed by a co-worker who later took his own life in the latest spasm of gun violence plaguing U.S. workplaces and schools. The motive for the carnage was unclear a day after the shooting at the landmark Molson Coors Beverage Co complex shook Wisconsin's largest city. "Reasons for this are still under investigation," Milwaukee Police Chief Alfonso Morales said.
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| Many Venezuelans struggle to put food on the table in crisis Posted: 28 Feb 2020 01:11 PM PST  For Yeri Guerra, getting by during hard times in Venezuela means sometimes skipping meals so her two young boys still at home can eat before heading to school. According to a survey recently published by the U.N. World Food Program, one of every three Venezuelans cope with food insecurity, unable to get enough to meet their basic dietary needs. In an apparent shift for Venezuela, people surveyed said food is now available in a country once riddled by shortages, but it's more difficult to afford because they've lost their jobs as Venezuela's crisis deepens.
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