| White House fires Vindman, the officer who testified to House about Ukraine call, in ongoing purge Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:57 PM PST  Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a star witnesses in the inquiry that led to the impeachment of President Trump, was dismissed from his post on the National Security Council and escorted from the White House Friday, according to his lawyer.
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| Two-dozen US Marines were discharged after an investigation over their alleged involvement in drug crimes and a human trafficking operation along the border Posted: 08 Feb 2020 11:33 AM PST  One of the ex-Marines will face time in military prison, others did not face judicial action after chargers were dropped following an unlawful arrest.
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| UK woman loses challenge aimed at restoring her citizenship Posted: 07 Feb 2020 03:53 AM PST ![UK woman loses challenge aimed at restoring her citizenship]( "UK woman loses challenge aimed at restoring her citizenship") A U.K. woman who as a teenager ran away to join the Islamic State group lost a legal challenge Friday aimed at restoring her citizenship, which was revoked on national security grounds. Shamima Begum, one of three east London schoolgirls who traveled to Syria in 2015, resurfaced at a refugee camp in Syria last year and told reporters she wanted to come home. Former Home Secretary Sajid Javid revoked her citizenship, but she challenged the decision before the Special Immigration Appeals Commission.
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| Death of Chinese doctor fuels anger, demands for change Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:29 AM PST  The death of a whistleblowing doctor whose early warnings about China's new coronavirus outbreak were suppressed by the police has unleashed a wave of anger at the government's handling of the crisis -- and bold demands for more freedom. Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was among a group of people who sounded the alarm about the virus in late December, only to be reprimanded and censored by the authorities in central Hubei province. After Li's death was confirmed early Friday, the 34-year-old was lionised as a hero on social media, while officials were vilified for letting the epidemic spiral into a national health crisis instead of listening to the doctor.
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| Amy Klobuchar has clearly been trawling Pete Buttigieg's old tweets Posted: 07 Feb 2020 05:43 PM PST  If there's one important rule for preparing for a political debate, it's do your homework. And Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) just earned herself an A.During a debate about healthcare in New Hampshire on Friday, Klobuchar blasted Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (D) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for their ambitious plans to implement Medicare-for-all. And although the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, now supports a public option, Klobuchar had brought her receipts: "Pete, while you have a different plan now, you sent out a tweet just a few years ago that said: 'henceforth, forthwith, indubitably, affirmatively, you are for Medicare-for-all,'" she said.> Amy Klobuchar on Medicare for All: "I keep listening to this same debate, and it is not real. It is not real, Bernie, because two-thirds of the Democrats in the Senate are not on your bill, and because it would kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance." pic.twitter.com/BEXzg0nHW0> > — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 8, 2020While the casual viewer watching at home might have assumed Klobuchar was just riffing on Buttigieg's manner of speaking, it turns out she was actually pretty accurately quoting his two-year-old reply to the progressive platform, the People's Summit:> Gosh! Okay... I, Pete Buttigieg, politician, do henceforth and forthwith declare, most affirmatively and indubitably, unto the ages, that I do favor Medicare for All, as I do favor any measure that would help get all Americans covered. Now if you'll excuse me, potholes await.> > — Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 19, 2018Well played.More stories from theweek.com American democracy is dying America's pig problem Ireland's general election exit poll suggests 'unprecedented' 3-way split
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| This Hot Wheels Camaro Is Worth More Than an Actual Camaro Posted: 07 Feb 2020 11:07 AM PST  Even an expert in collectible toys didn't know—at first—that he had found the Hot Wheels car of a lifetime.
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| Turkish Jets and Howitzers Blasted Syrian Army in Retaliation for Deadly Rocket Barrage Posted: 08 Feb 2020 05:00 AM PST  What is going on in the Middle East now?
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| Mike Bloomberg Is Paying ‘Influencers’ to Make Him Seem Cool Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST  One day after the Iowa caucuses were effectively botched by the disastrous rollout of a new vote-counting app, billionaire Mike Bloomberg announced that he intended to capitalize on chaos from the Hawkeye State by doubling the advertising budget of his presidential campaign.But in addition to a flood of traditional advertising on television, radio, and online outlets targeting Super Tuesday voters, the campaign's advertising budget includes a strategy familiar to every other startup with a ton of cash and a questionable business model: paying influencers to make it seem cool.The Bloomberg campaign has quietly begun a campaign on Tribe, a "branded content marketplace" that connects social-media influencers with the brands that want to advertise to their followers, to pitch influencers on creating content highlighting why they love the former New York City mayor—for a price.For a fixed $150 fee, the Bloomberg campaign is pitching micro-influencers—someone who has from 1,000 to 100,000 followers, in industry parlance—to create original content "that tells us why Mike Bloomberg is the electable candidate who can rise above the fray, work across the aisle so ALL Americans feel heard & respected.""Are you sick of the chaos & infighting overshadowing the issues that matter most to us? Please express your thoughts verbally or for still image posts please overlay text about why you support Mike," the campaign copy tells would-be Bloomberg stans under the heading "Content We'd Love From You," asking influencers to "Show+Tell why Mike is the candidate who can change our country for the better, state why YOU think he's a great candidate."Tribe, which works with nearly 70,000 aspiring influencers, offers brands—and, in this case, presidential campaigns—the ability to solicit custom-made content from aspiring influencers, who create custom social within the brand's parameters for submission. If the brand accepts the content, the influencer is paid in exchange for the ability of the brand to license the content and place it on their own social channels—or, if the campaign prefers, the influencers post the sponcon to their own feeds, targeting followers that the brand might not otherwise reach.The campaign post, reviewed by The Daily Beast, encourages submissions to be well lit, mention why the influencer thinks "we need a change in Government," and for the creator to "be honest, passionate and be yourself!"Influencers are asked not to use profanity, nudity, or "overtly negative content," as well as be U.S. residents to participate."Mike Bloomberg is a middle class kid who worked his way through college," the posting states under an "About Us" section, describing Bloomberg as "a self-made businessman, proven supporter of progressive values & can get things done." The post also highlights his work on gun violence, creating a clean-energy economy, and "flipping 21 of 24 down-ballot House races he supported in 2018."The Bloomberg campaign declined to comment on the Tribe post, and an email to Tribe about whether it had worked with other political campaigns was not immediately returned.The Bloomberg content campaign appears geared toward collecting content that can later be shared by the campaign, essentially creating a stock-image library of well-crafted, "organic"-seeming still images and videos custom-made for the campaign. The relatively low $150 cost per post also makes the investment comparatively cheap—some influencers can command fees in the five or even six figures for a brand campaign, and that's not even including celebrity accounts, who can earn enough money per post to make even billionaire Bloomberg blush.The approach is novel. No other high-polling candidates reached by The Daily Beast said that their campaigns have ever paid influencers to create content for the campaign, or for influencers to post such content on their own channels in exchange for money.But the notion that one of the richest people on the planet is paying micro-influencers in exchange for authentic-seeming endorsements from Instagrammers risks giving off what might be described as a Monty Burns-entering-a-film-festival vibe.Bloomberg's posting also sidesteps some of the more un-millennial aspects of his three-term mayoralty, from his years-long endorsement of the New York Police Department's "stop-and-frisk" policy that disproportionately targeted black and Latino men to his unsuccessful war on large soft drinks.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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| Mexican president: Raffle winners will get $1M — not the presidential plane Posted: 07 Feb 2020 10:50 AM PST  Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Friday gave details about a raffle aimed at covering the cost of a luxury presidential plane he has struggled to sell, clarifying that winners will get $1 million in cash rather than the plane itself.
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| Trump backs idea to 'expunge' impeachment Posted: 07 Feb 2020 10:21 AM PST  President Trump on Friday endorsed an idea floated by some Republicans that his impeachment be "expunged" from the congressional record.
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| Massachusetts man tries to save neighbor from dog attack, accidentally kills him with crossbow Posted: 06 Feb 2020 08:21 PM PST  A Massachusetts man trying to be a good Samaritan accidentally killed his neighbor with a crossbow, according to officials.
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| Furious Democrats call for Tom Perez's resignation after Iowa fiasco Posted: 07 Feb 2020 04:05 PM PST  Apparent attempts by Democratic National Committee Chair Tom Perez to absolve himself of responsibility over the Iowa caucus fiasco have sparked many in the party to begin calling for his resignation. "It's a lack of leadership," Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told The Hill in an interview Friday. "If you have the Iowa situation you don't throw them under the bus, you stand up and you support and you try to fix it. He doesn't lead on anything."Party insiders have been particularly rankled by Perez's treatment of Iowa Democratic Party Chair Troy Price, who has publicly taken heat over the scandal that resulted from a failed app on election night and a week's worth of confusion over the winner. Perez took three days after the Iowa debacle to speak publicly about the caucuses, Politico reports, after having failed to appear alongside Price during an initial public address. "Loads of state party chairs are pissed that [Perez] would treat one of their peers like this," one state party official told Politico.Perez has repeatedly attempted to distance himself from the scandal. On Thursday, he demanded a recanvass — essentially, a recalculation — of the election results, while Iowa Democrats were still counting votes. On Friday, asked by CNN's John Berman "how much of this is on you?," Perez dodged. "Well, again, the Iowa Democratic Party runs the caucus," he said. "Okay? And they — what happened was unacceptable."The American Prospect's David Dayen blasted Perez, writing that the chair was "seeking to be an independent actor trying to 'clean up' the Iowa mess, when he was fully implicated in making the mess in the first place." Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), speaking with Politico, called Perez's leadership "virtually nonexistent ... It's just a matter of time before he's going to go."More stories from theweek.com American democracy is dying America's pig problem Ireland's general election exit poll suggests 'unprecedented' 3-way split
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| CORRECTED-WRAPUP 8-American dies of coronavirus in China; five Britons infected in French Alps Posted: 07 Feb 2020 07:37 PM PST  A 60-year-old American has died of the new coronavirus, the first confirmed non-Chinese death of the illness, U.S. officials said, as millions of Chinese began returning home after a Lunar New Year break that was extended to try to contain the outbreak. While the vast majority of cases have been in China, the virus has spread to some two dozen countries abroad, including five British nationals infected in a French mountain resort. The American man died on Thursday in Wuhan, epicentre of the virus outbreak in the central Chinese province of Hubei, a U.S. embassy spokesman said in Beijing on Saturday.
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| Billy Mitchell Redux: The Heavy Bomber is Returning as a Navy-Killer Posted: 08 Feb 2020 08:30 AM PST  Could these weapons of war become the real carrier-killer missiles?
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| EU official's 'Greta syndrome' remark riles protesters Posted: 07 Feb 2020 08:40 AM PST  A top EU official questioning the sincerity of young climate protesters and joking that they have "Greta syndrome" sparked blowback in Brussels on Friday among politicians and students demonstrating against climate change. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell triggered the row by saying he believed school students had been galvanised by teen Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg without fully realising the costs they would have to bear to ensure a carbon-neutral future. It "can be called 'Greta syndrome'," Borrell, 72, said during a meeting at the European Parliament on Wednesday.
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| Trump's acquittal confronts Dems with election year choices Posted: 06 Feb 2020 09:25 PM PST  Donald Trump's impeachment ended with a reminder of why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi resisted the idea for so long — an acquittal everyone saw coming, followed by a bombastic presidential victory lap and a bump in his poll numbers just as the 2020 campaign officially began. Now Democrats have to decide how to navigate the legislative and political landscape that they've helped reshape. Pelosi's nationally televised ripping of her copy of Trump's State of the Union address Tuesday night underscored the acrid atmosphere that will make partisan cooperation on any issue difficult.
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| Jehovah's Witnesses reportedly under investigation by Pennsylvania attorney general Posted: 08 Feb 2020 10:37 AM PST  The Pennsylvania attorney general's office is reportedly investigating if the Jehovah's Witnesses failed to report child sexual abuse to authorities.
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| Fear in Mexico as twin deaths expose threat to monarch butterflies and their defenders Posted: 08 Feb 2020 07:19 AM PST  The deaths of two butterfly conservationists have drawn focus to a troubling tangle of disputes, resentments and violenceThe annual migration of monarch butterflies from the US and Canada is one of the most resplendent sights in the natural world – a rippling orange-and-black wave containing millions of butterflies fluttering instinctively southward to escape the winter cold.The spectacle when they reach their destination in central Mexico is perhaps even more astonishing. Patches of alpine forest turn from green to orange as the monarchs roost in the fir trees, the sheer weight of butterflies causing branches to sag to the point of snapping. Tens of thousands of the insects bounce haphazardly overhead, searching replenishment from nearby plants.Monarch butterflies weigh just half a gram but are able to undertake an epic migration of up to 3,000 miles – a unique phenomenon in the insect world.A voracious eater, the monarch caterpillar can consume an entire milkweed leaf in less than five minutes. The species is entirely dependent upon milkweed for its propagation.The monarch's bodies retain the toxins present in the milkweed, making them an unappetizing snack for birds.Scientists believe that monarchs navigate using the angle of the sun, setting off on their southward journey when the sun hits a certain point in the sky, no matter the stage of their journey.The species roosts in huge numbers in fir trees situated more than 3,000 metres above sea level in the forested volcanoes of central Mexico, having travelled from as far north as southern Canada.Monarchs are an important tourist drawcard for communities in and around the protected reserve in Mexico. The species has long had a cultural resonance, too – pottery unearthed from the era before Spanish conquest features depictions of the butterflies.To witness this sight is as if to enter a waking dream. "People have a spiritual and emotional connection to monarchs," said Sonia Altizer, a monarch butterfly researcher at the University of Georgia. "Many people tell me that seeing them was a highlight of their life."The recent deaths of two butterfly conservationists in the region has, however, drawn attention to a troubling tangle of disputes, resentments and occasional bouts of harrowing violence that has lingered over the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, a sprawling world heritage site situated 60 miles north-west of Mexico City.> En el Santuario El Rosario Ocampo Michoacan miles de Monarcas buscando agua .....El más grande del mundo pic.twitter.com/hXgAYk1Ztb> > — Homero gomez g. (@Homerogomez_g) January 13, 2020Mustachioed and gregarious, Homero Gómez González tirelessly promoted the El Rosario sanctuary, a section of the butterfly reserve that receives the bulk of tourists who come from around the world to see the monarchs. He featured in mesmerizing social media videos – posing with butterflies fluttering around him – and called the creatures "a marvel of nature". Gómez, who was 50, disappeared on 13 January after attending a patron saint festival in the municipality of Ocampo; his body was found two weeks later at the bottom of a watering hole. His death has yet to be ruled a murder, although police say he suffered a blunt trauma to the head.The incident raised fears that gangs, possibly tied to the illegal logging of the butterfly reserve, had targeted Gómez for his advocacy of ecotourism over the felling of trees in this rugged swath of Mexico where communities, often beset by poverty, have traditionally relied upon the harvesting of timber, potatoes and wheat.Those concerns were further heightened this week after the death of a part-time tour guide from another nearby butterfly sanctuary, called Raúl Hernández Romero. His body was found 1 February with injuries possibly inflicted by a sharp object."The panorama for the community, the forest and the monarch butterflies is now very complicated and uncertain," Amado Gómez González, one of Gómez's nine siblings, told the Guardian."There are now these two crimes and it has spread fear. You find yourself thinking 'What if this is a group that is coming to try and take the sanctuary away from us?"Investigations into the two deaths are ongoing. But some conservationists fret they are a byproduct of the violence that has long troubled the state of Michoacán, which stretches from the mountains of central Mexico to the west coast.As they have done across the country, organized crime groups linked to the drug trade have diversified into many other activities, including kidnapping, avocado cultivation, land theft – and the lucrative market in pine, fir and cedar wood.Logging is supposedly under tight controls, but high prices mean lumber mafias often stray into protected areas – and are prepared to use violence. "In Michoacán, a tree is worth more than a human life," said one former state official."Homero Gómez was in conflict with these loggers," said Homero Aridjis, an environmentalist and poet, who is a longtime defender of the monarch butterfly sanctuaries. "They've always been a very dangerous group because there are always politicians, businessmen involved in deforestation."Aridjis said his own activism against illegal logging, the planting of avocado orchards and the proposed construction of a mine near the sanctuaries has brought threats. He largely stays away from the butterfly sanctuaries due to security concerns.But others suggest Gómez may have fallen foul of a backlash to his buccaneering self-promotion and questions over his role as the former leader of the El Rosario community, which is run as an ejido – a traditional Mexican collectivist arrangement where residents share ownership of the land and its bounty."In this system, it's easy for a leader to become abusive with the community's income," said a Michoacán conservationist who was familiar with Gómez and the sanctuary but did not want to be named. The conservationist insisted it was still safe for butterfly guardians to do their work."He was an outspoken person, he drew a lot of attention to himself. I don't know why he was killed, but because of the non-transparent management of the ejido he had a lot of enemies. It's difficult to say this in Mexico because the press has portrayed him nearly as a saint."Regardless, Amado Gómez's fears that "large groups" might seize the sanctuary are not without foundation. Criminal groups have already moved in on resources such as water, forests and minerals – most famously in the indigenous Purépecha community of Cherán, where locals rose up in 2011 to halt illegal loggers, backed by a drug cartel, from clearcutting their forests.The demise of Gómez also highlights the misery suffered by Mexico's beleaguered environmental defenders, who have been murdered with impunity in shocking numbers. Fourteen defenders were murdered in Mexico in 2018, according to Global Witness.monarch mapSecurity concerns are rife in the region, and many prefer silence. "It's very difficult [to speak out], and even more so for those who live here," said a local researcher, who preferred to remain anonymous.While the reasons for the deaths of the two men have yet to fully emerge, concerns are already swelling that the incidents will hurt tourism. The fragile security situation across Mexico has been blamed for a quiet winter for visitors in one of the major sanctuaries, Sierra Chincua, even before the deaths.The monarch butterflies themselves are also coming under growing pressures. A historic low in overwintering populations was recorded in 2013-14, amid a longer-term slump that has prompted mayors in cities across North America to promise remedial action. It's suspected that butterfly numbers have been winnowed away by the use of toxic pesticides and razing of critical monarch habitat in the US and Canada.The decline was reversed somewhat last year but scientists warn the annual monarch migration faces an existential threat due to the climate crisis. The oyamel firs preferred by monarchs in Mexico are being stressed by rising temperatures and drought, with predictions the trees will be virtually wiped out by the end of the century.Global heating is also reducing the viability of milkweed, the sole plant where the monarch reproduces, in US and Canada. This trend is set to restrict the butterflies to isolated pockets and end their epic migration to Mexico, a journey that can stretch for 3,000 miles. A separate monarch migration, which brings butterflies to the warmth of coastal California, has shrunk from millions of insects in the 1980s to fewer than 30,000 individuals now."It's so obvious that it's painful," said Orley Taylor, a biologist and co-founder of Monarch Watch, a group of US volunteers focused on studying and conserving the species. "Within 30 years or so we probably won't be talking about the monarch migration. We risk losing something very special indeed."The demise of the overwintering monarchs would send an economic and cultural shock through central Mexico, although there are currently more pressing concerns in a region beset by crime and few economic opportunities."People are all for protecting the butterflies, but people have to have the necessities to survive," said Father Martín Cruz Morales, a local priest, on a break from a community lunch of tacos and aguas frescas to celebrate the anniversary of a colleague's ordination.In El Rosario this week, Gómez's friends and family packed a billiards hall – emblazoned with the image of Homer Simpson – to pray the novena, or nine days of prayer.Over pastries and hot cups of fruit punch, Amado Gómez remembered his brother, a former logger, as an ambitious but often altruistic man, who graduated from Mexico's premier agricultural university and mostly worked in government until launching his activism in favour of the monarch butterflies.Homero Gómez led tree-planting initiatives in El Rosario. He also helped organize patrols to protect the forests; teams of 10 persons still head out day and night into the hills to guard against incursions from illegal logging – something that locals say hasn't occurred in the butterfly reserve for at least two years."They know that people are organized here and know that it's difficult to cut down a tree and escape," Amado Gómez said. "Nobody trusts the local police so they do [security] themselves with sticks, with guns, with whatever they can use themselves."Altizer, the University of Georgia researcher stressed that she didn't think the reserve was too dangerous to visit and argued that tourism and conservation efforts should continue as before."El Rosario has so much to offer tourists, it's right in the core of the biosphere reserve," said Altizer. "If you think any place should be safe for monarchs and people it should be there, which makes this shocking. It makes me wonder if this will deter tourists from going there in the future. It sends a worrying message."She said scientists have long been advised to be cautious in the region, to not drive around at night and to avoid certain areas. A vehicle owned by the WWF had to cover its logo up on a previous visit due to fears of attack."You see federal police patrolling the forest in military-style vehicles which is a little disconcerting," she said."There is drug cartel violence in Michoacán, and if that bleeds over into logging operations I don't know what the best strategy to combat that is. People in these communities already have to deal with a lot of hardships. It's difficult to promote ecotourism when logging continues even after the designation of the biosphere reserves."
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| Biden mocks Buttigieg's mayoral accomplishments in new campaign ad Posted: 08 Feb 2020 09:27 AM PST  Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign team is out with a new ad, and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg probably won't like it.Biden clearly isn't a fan of Buttigieg going after his record vice president, even daring his younger competitor to openly call the Obama administration a failure. So it's not shocking to see his campaign go after the mayor's record, especially as he tries to establish himself as a legitimate contender for the nomination following a strong showing in the controversial Iowa caucuses.The ad pits Biden's record against Buttigieg's in an effort to show that while Buttigieg was achieving small scale goals in South Bend like putting colorful lights underneath bridges, Biden was helping the Obama administration make changes on the global and national level, including negotiating the Iran nuclear deal and passing the Affordable Health Care Act. Be warned, though -- they're not particularly nice about the distinctions. Watch the ad below. > Oh wow...Biden ad makes fun of Pete Buttigieg's mayoral record, joking he "revitalized the sidewalks" of South Bend while Biden negotiated Iran deal/helped with auto bailout https://t.co/AqjH0UJdS4> > -- Liz Goodwin (@lizcgoodwin) February 8, 2020More stories from theweek.com American democracy is dying America's pig problem Ireland's general election exit poll suggests 'unprecedented' 3-way split
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| As China returns to work, it is hardly business as usual Posted: 08 Feb 2020 01:08 AM PST  SHENZHEN, China/BEIJING (Reuters) - The Chinese economy will sputter towards normal on Monday after the coronavirus outbreak forced an extended holiday, although numerous stores and factories will remain shut and many white collar employees will continue working from home. The usually week-long Lunar New Year holiday was extended by 10 days in much of China amid mounting alarm over an epidemic that as of Saturday morning had killed 722 people. Huge cities including Beijing and Shanghai seem like ghost towns, with shops and restaurants closed or empty, and as containment measures including transportation curbs are enforced in many parts of the country.
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| Some in Russia Think the Coronavirus Is a U.S. Biological Weapon Posted: 07 Feb 2020 04:33 PM PST  What is such a charge based on?
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| Sandra Fluke: Rush Limbaugh deserves health care, not the Presidential Medal of Freedom Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST  Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh would prevent every American from accessing affordable health care. But Democrats fight for coverage for all of us.
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| Coronavirus cases on Diamond Princess cruise ship rise to 63, including 12 from US Posted: 08 Feb 2020 03:52 PM PST  Two more passengers, including another American, have fallen ill on the Diamond Princess cruise ship as the coronavirus rages on.
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| A Beginner's Guide to App Building Posted: 08 Feb 2020 02:00 PM PST |
| Warren, Biden slide as Buttigieg rises in Sanders-led New Hampshire poll Posted: 08 Feb 2020 10:12 AM PST  It might come down to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg once again.In its latest poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, CNN shows Sanders leading the pack in the Granite State ahead of Tuesday's primary. The senator picked up 28 percent support in the survey, leading his closest contender Buttigieg by seven points. The two went toe to toe in the hotly contested — and mildly controversial — Iowa caucuses last week, with Buttigieg reeling in more delegates while Sanders led in terms of raw votes. New Hampshire, it seems, could provide another close race between the two, especially considering Iowa polls showed Sanders leading Buttigieg by a similar amount in the lead up to the caucuses.The CNN poll wasn't much to look at for anyone else. Former Vice President Joe Biden likely won't be surprised to hear he came in third with 11 percent, while no one else hit double digits. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) didn't get the New England love shown to Sanders in the survey, finishing with just 9 percent.Per CNN, Biden slid five points and Buttigieg rose six, indicating the mayor might be taking some of the vice president's voters.> New CNN/UNH poll of Dem primary among 365 New Hampshire likely primary voters (MoE +/- 5.1 percentage points):> > Sanders 28% > Buttigieg 21% > Biden 11% > Warren 9% > Gabbard 6% > Klobuchar 5% > Everyone else <5%> > — Kendall Karson (@kendallkarson) February 8, 2020The CNN New Hampshire Poll was conducted by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center between Feb. 4-7 among a random sample of 365 likely Democratic primary voters. The margin of error was 5.1 percent. Read more at CNN.More stories from theweek.com American democracy is dying America's pig problem Ireland's general election exit poll suggests 'unprecedented' 3-way split
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| How China Will Use Its Social Credit System to Keep Control Over Its Military Posted: 08 Feb 2020 12:00 PM PST  A good idea?
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| Americans quarantined at a US Air Force base over the coronavirus are teaching each other Zumba, boxing, and how to file their taxes Posted: 08 Feb 2020 04:20 AM PST  US citizens at March Air Reserve Base after flying from Wuhan described their lockdown experience to The Washington Post.
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| Coronavirus turns busy Chinese cities into ghost towns Posted: 08 Feb 2020 05:28 PM PST  After making sure everyone's face mask is on and sanitizer is to hand, the Qiao family heads out to Jingshan Park, a former royal sanctuary beside the Forbidden City in China's capital Beijing. Shanghai, China's financial hub, and other cities in the world's most populous nation have turned into ghost towns after the government extended a holiday and asked residents not to go out because of the coronavirus. The epidemic has killed 722 people and infected nearly 32,000 in China as of Feb 8.
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| Trump’s Global Entry Ban Aims to Punish New York, Democrats Say Posted: 08 Feb 2020 02:46 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- House Democrats said the Trump administration's ban on New York State residents participating in U.S. travel pre-screening programs is a "senseless, retaliatory decision" that must be reversed."Your justification for this sudden policy shift appears to be no more than a pretext," the Democrats, including Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, wrote in a letter to acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf that was released on Saturday.The move change "may be an improper attempt to use official DHS policy to punish the people of New York" for a disagreement with the Trump administration, the lawmakers said in the letter, also signed by Oversight Committee Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney of New York.The comments follow Thursday's blocking by federal authorities of New York State residents from joining programs that travelers use to quickly move through airport security and customs. The administration cited new limits on federal access to state driver's license data aimed at protecting undocumented immigrants. The department will no longer let New York residents sign up for or renew enrollments in Trusted Traveler programs such as Global Entry.New York's legislation restricting Customs and Border Protection access to the records "makes us less safe and shields criminals," CBP Acting Commissioner Mark Morgan said in a statement announcing the change.Democratic Representatives Kathleen Rice, Yvette Clarke, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York also signed the letter, which was dated Friday.Wolf, who assumed his role in November, will comment further on the policy changes and challenges during his scheduled appearance on "Sunday Morning Futures" on Fox News Channel.New York residents enrolled in the Global Entry program can continue using their passes until they expire, but between 150,000 and 200,000 people per year will be unable to renew their participation.New York State Attorney General Letitia James said Friday she'll sue to block the ban. "This is political retribution, plain and simple," James, a Democrat and Trump critic who'd previously sued the administration over immigration policy including the so-called Muslim travel ban, said in a statement.Global Entry gives those arriving in the U.S. expedited passage through customs for five years following a background check and interview with DHS. It's also linked to the department's "TSA Pre-Check" program, giving most Global Entry members expedited passage through airport security."We recognize that many New York residents and businesses will be negatively affected by this change, but we cannot compromise the safety and security of our homeland," Morgan said in the statement. "When states take negative measures that hinder our ability to protect our great country, we must respond."President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that Andrew Cuomo, the New York governor, had canceled a meeting on the topic. "Governor Cuomo wanted to see me this weekend," Trump tweeted. "He just canceled. Very hard to work with New York - So stupid." To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Kearns in Washington at jkearns3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ros Krasny at rkrasny1@bloomberg.netFor 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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| Trump's War Against the Coronavirus Is Working Posted: 08 Feb 2020 03:00 AM PST  Is America truly safe?
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| It was nearly 65 degrees in Antarctica, which may be the warmest day ever recorded there Posted: 07 Feb 2020 11:29 AM PST  The normally bitterly cold Antarctica recorded a temperature of 65 degrees on Thursday, which may be the warmest day ever there.
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| In El Salvador, government effort against gangs bears fruit Posted: 07 Feb 2020 05:45 PM PST  Since his arrival in office in June, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has stepped up the country's war on criminal gangs, an effort that is bearing fruit according to experts who point to a falling murder rate. In January El Salvador recorded 119 murders, its lowest monthly tally since the end of its civil war in 1992, the president said recently. When Bukele assumed office, criminal gangs intensified their activity in an apparent attempt to force the new government to make concessions such as easing jail conditions, analysts said.
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| Trump losing support of Boris Johnson: Report Posted: 08 Feb 2020 08:18 AM PST  President Trump is close to losing the support of the United States' closest ally, the United Kingdom, after a growing series of public rows.
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| Here are the winners and losers of Friday's combative Democratic debate in New Hampshire Posted: 08 Feb 2020 10:59 AM PST  Seven Democratic presidential candidates took the stage at St. Anselm's College in Manchester, New Hampshire, just days before the state's primary.
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| Pangolins are possible coronavirus hosts, scientists say Posted: 07 Feb 2020 03:01 AM PST  Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy in China and they are one of the most trafficked animals in the world.
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| Endangered Gray Wolf Found Dead in California After Traveling Nearly 8,000 Miles Without a Pack Posted: 08 Feb 2020 01:01 PM PST  She broke from her pack in 2018 possibly in search of a mate
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| Sacred Native American site in Arizona blasted for border wall construction Posted: 07 Feb 2020 08:36 PM PST  The contractor installing President Donald Trump's border wall at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is blasting a hill sacred to the O'Odham people.
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| Inside Colombia’s ‘Air Chapo’ Cocaine Shipping Scandal Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:02 AM PST  CALI, Colombia—In Pablo Escobar's day, in the 1980s and early 1990s, the erstwhile Cocaine King moved mass quantities of the drug out of Colombia. But his planes loaded with dope had to take off from small airstrips hacked out of the jungle. That limited the size of the aircraft and the amount of contraband they could carry.Why the Drug War Can't Be Won—Cartel Corruption Goes All the Way to the TopAfter Escobar was killed in 1993, things started to change and by the mid-2000s his successor as kingpin-of-kingpins, Mexico's Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, allegedly came up with a simple solution to that smuggling dilemma. Why muck around in the bush when you can use one of the biggest and busiest hubs in Latin America to ship your illicit cargo?According to multiple detailed reports in the Colombian and Mexican press, Guzmán turned flights out of Bogotá's El Dorado International Airport into his own cocaine delivery service for about two years using a now defunct company dubbed Air Cargo Lines. And he had plenty of help doing it.The central allegations in the story are sourced to an anonymous whistleblower who claims that the deal was done through a broad narco-trafficking conspiracy involving a former Colombian president, a Colombian senator, Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel cohorts, airport officials, right-wing paramilitaries—and an ICE agent working out of the U.S. Embassy.El Chapo himself already is serving a life sentence at America's supermax prison in Colorado. His lawyers did not respond to requests for comment. Other alleged ringleaders in this aviation scam deny the claims. But the informant reportedly stands by his statements, and independent researchers find his testimony credible. So, by this account, how did Chapo Air come to be? And since the whistleblower remains unavailable, apparently in hiding, what corroboration is there for this story that has sent shock waves through the Colombian political elite—and should shake up some American law enforcement officials as well?* * *Señor Pista* * *The charges come courtesy of Richard Maok, a former detective with Colombia's treasury police (the fiscalía), who now lives in Canada. This isn't the first time Maok has been a thorn in the side of Colombian government officials. In 2002, he uncovered a bloody nexus among military officers, right-wing politicians, and drug-trafficking paramilitaries. That scandal was widely covered by the New York Times and other international media, and resulted in a number of high-profile arrests. But it also led to death threats against Maok and, eventually, he sought asylum in Canada.Apparently not one to be deterred by exile and what he says are several attempts on his life, Maok has continued to launch scathing attacks on corruption from afar, using his popular website as a platform. And he makes no secret of his fierce antipathy to former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, who remains one of the country's most powerful politicians. (The headline on Maok's version of the story is a hashtag, ElFinalDeUribe, the end of Uribe.)A few weeks ago, Maok says, he was contacted by a man we'll call Señor Pista who provided evidence that in the 2000s he had worked as the security director for a Colombian air cargo company—and that he had bombshell accusations to disclose. So, in early January, the whistle blew. Names were named. And a blow-by-blow description of an audacious drug trafficking scheme began to emerge, all of it catalogued in meticulous detail on Maok's website. The most sensational accusation brought by Maok's informant was that former president Uribe had been involved in the scam during his time in office. But perhaps that shouldn't come as a surprise. As Maok notes, "Uribe and his family have been accused of links to trafficking and organized crime for years."Also unsurprisingly, Uribe denies all these allegations. * * *Escobar's Friend* * *A declassified 1991 U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and published in 2004 by the National Security Archive at George Washington University in D.C., offered a damning assessment of Uribe and his Medellín Cartel connections.The document led with the caution that it was "an info report, not finally evaluated intel" and originally was classified CONFIDENTIAL NOFORN (not to be released to foreign nationals) WNINTEL (Warning Notice—Intelligence Sources or Methods Involved). It listed "Important Colombian Narco-Traffickers" and their associates. Escobar is cited as "the maximum chief of the Medellín Cartel who began as an assassin and now is in charge of the biggest multi-national criminal organization in the world." Further down the same page we find "Alvaro Uribe Velez—a Colombian politician and senator dedicated to collaboration with the Medellin Cartel at high government levels. Uribe was linked to a business involved in narcotics activities in the U.S. His father was murdered in Colombia for his connection to the narcotic traffickers. Uribe has worked for the Medellin Cartel and is a close personal friend of Pablo Escobar Gaviria."At the time, Uribe was governor of Antioquia department, which has Medellín as its capital.Despite these allegations in official Pentagon communications, when Uribe was president of Colombia from 2002 to 2010 he was able to position himself as a staunch U.S. ally in both the War on Drugs and the fight against Marxist guerrillas. Those postures made him something of a darling in D.C., and that fact granted him a certain amount of political immunity back home in Colombia.In the trenches of the War on Drugs, it's sometimes hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys. Often, it's more like "our" bad guys against other, maybe worse, bad guys. But the distinctions can get pretty subjective. A 1993 State Department cable released in 2018 notes allegations that Uribe's early political campaigns were financed by the Medellín Cartel, but he had begun to fear for his life because he had failed to deliver sufficient political favors "for his Medellín Cartel mentors." Escobar had escaped from jail. He was on the run, increasingly desperate, and Uribe began trying to reposition himself as a go-between with the U.S. embassy, talking to Escobar's wife in an effort to get Escobar to surrender. The cable notes that when Uribe met with a U.S. diplomat, Uribe "constantly paced the small office; he was visibly agitated," but insisted there could be no dialogue with Escobar about government concessions the kingpin had requested. "As far as I'm concerned, Escobar has three options—surrender unconditionally, be captured, or be killed." Escobar died during a shootout with Colombian National Police in December 1993.Uribe has dismissed accounts of his ties to Escobar as "fake news," but former U.S. Ambassador to Colombia Myles Frechette, who served from 1994 to 1997, gave an interview in 2015 for a book on his tenure in Bogotá in which he said Uribe had "no interest in being honest with me or other people. That's who Álvaro Uribe is." Frechette, a career diplomat, also called Uribe's use of U.S. funds to arm drug-trafficking right-wing militias a "setup that Washington swallowed."At the moment, ex-President Uribe is also under investigation by Colombia's supreme court for attempting to bribe and manipulate witnesses who have linked him to widespread extrajudicial killings, including the massacre of 15 villagers in 1997, while he was still a governor. Nonprofit organizations from at least four countries, including the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and Lawyers Without Borders, have sent observers to monitor Uribe's trial. According to the Colombian newspaper Vanguardia, Uribe is also the subject of 276 additional pending investigations by the country's Congressional Accusation Commission—from wrongful contract infractions to violations of international humanitarian law—although he declares himself innocent of all charges. Uribe, now a senator, remains one of the most influential—and widely feared—men in Colombia. Current President Iván Duque is often described as Uribe's protégé, or his puppet, depending on who you ask. * * *The Powder Elite* * *"Finally we have a survivor come forward to speak out against Uribe. Many people in Colombia were waiting for this moment," says Maok, whose YouTube video on the air cargo scandal has racked up more than 370,000 hits since it was posted last month. Neither Uribe nor spokespersons for his Central Democratic Party responded to multiple interview requests for this article. But Senator Carlos Felipe Mejía, a member of the party, fired back the day after Maok's report went viral. Mejía uploaded his own video to Twitter denying Maok's accusations and referring to the "supposed" trafficking plot as "Operation Liar." Mejía's short clip also attacked Maok himself, calling him a fugitive from Colombian justice who had "escaped to Canada"—despite the Canadian decision that he should be granted asylum as a victim of death threats and political persecution. On January 24, during an interview with the magazine La Semana, Colombian senator and former mayor of Bogota Gustavo Petro also accused Uribe of having ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and specifically mentioned the El Dorado cocaine scandal."Doesn't this merit an investigation?" he said. "[Isn't it] terrible what this could mean?"Gonzalo Guillén, a Colombian journalist and director of the magazine La Nueva Prensa, also finds Maok's reporting credible."The relation between Chapo and Uribe is unmistakable," Guillén says, and cites his own research to back up the connection. "I had already interviewed a pilot for Chapo Guzmán, who had all the information…. So this was no shock to me."In that interview, Chapo's pilot claimed that the DEA had managed to catch at least one of the Sinaloa Cartel's flights into Bogotá. A Boeing 707 had been sent from Mexico full of cash and expected to return with "several tons" of cocaine, but ended up being sold for scrap after it was seized. Interestingly, that could imply the cartel was using other airlines, as Maok's whistleblower makes no mention of a Boeing jet being involved in the Air Cargo Lines scheme.Guillén also points out family ties between Uribe and Chapo, notably the fact that Uribe's brother was married to the sister of a man named Alex Cifuentes, who just happened to be Chapo's head of operations in Colombia. Both Cifuentes and his sister have since been extradited to the United States on charges of narcotics trafficking. Another of Uribe's brothers has been charged by the Prosecutor General's Office in Colombia with leading death squads to carry out "social cleansing" in the 1990s. These allegations about Colombia follow on the heels of several similar and possibly related disclosures about drug trafficking in Mexico and Central America.In December, Genaro García Luna—Mexico's former national security secretary and the architect of the nation's long-running drug war—was arrested in the U.S. on charges of taking bribes from Chapo's Sinaloa outfit. In Honduras, the sitting president has been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a drug-trafficking case by U.S. prosecutors, as was a former president of that country. During Chapo's New York trial last year, Mexico's most recent commander in chief, Enrique Peña Nieto, also was accused by a witness of being on Chapo's payroll. That same witness also alleged Chapo's criminal organization had bribed the Colombian air force for information on aircraft flight routes and strategic installations, and bought off General Oscar Naranjo, the national police commissioner under Uribe. Those charges were denied. But the witness in question? None other than Uribe's brother-in-law Cifuentes.Robert Bunker, a cartel specialist at the U.S. Army War College, describes the ongoing pattern of corruption as "structural in nature.""In countries with traditions of authoritarian governance and impunity—such as Mexico, Honduras, Colombia—the elites have a tendency to profit when they can from illicit dealings," Bunker said. "The entire system in such countries is skewed by elites and traffickers working together for mutual economic advantage." * * *Guns, Gems, and Cash* * *From 2006 to 2007, some 10 metric tons of cocaine were shipped from El Dorado airport to Sinaloa, using Air Cargo Lines as a shell company, according to Maok's informant. Uribe, who allegedly was known to the traffickers by the alias "Gobierno" (Government), is supposed to have arranged for a special hangar to be built at El Dorado solely for the purpose of handling contraband for Chapo and his partners. "Uribe authorized the Aerocivil, or civil aviation authority, to build a cold storage facility close to the tarmac," Maok says. "That's where they kept the cocaine." Most of it came from the Antioquia region, and allegedly was supplied by the same far-right paramilitaries Maok had exposed in 2002.From the cold-storage unit it was flown to Mexico in a DC-8 four-engine cargo plane. In return, Uribe is supposed to have received jewelry and cash from the Sinaloa Cartel, including an emerald presented to him in the presidential palace, and at least a million dollars in U.S. currency, which Maok's informant claims he delivered personally. Uribe's chief paramilitary ally, who is alleged by Maok's informant to have delivered the cocaine to Bogotá, in turn is supposed to have received a shipment of high-powered 5.7 mm pistols, called "cop killers" because the rounds they fire can penetrate police body armor. The whistleblower named other major players, such as Chapo's son, Jesús Guzmán, who allegedly entered Colombia without passing through customs in order to speed up Air Cargo's delivery efforts. And Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, who allegedly sent his own people to assist with logistics. All told, the operation involved scores of people, including airline officials, Air Cargo Lines personnel, and various paramilitaries and sicarios. Due to restrictions on flight manifests, and runway scheduling, "If top officials hadn't been involved," says journalist Guillén, "they couldn't have shipped out a single gram."One of the most eye-popping names on Señor Pista's list of alleged conspirators is an American special agent for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who was serving in Colombia at the time Pista was working as security director for the airline and as an ICE asset. Pista says his handler went by the alias "Abastos" (Supplies)."By 2006 I was [working with] Abastos, an ICE official for Colombia, who received me at the American embassy," the whistlerblower says in Maok's published report. "There I told him about all the illegal activities of Mr. Raúl Jiménez Villamil." Villamil was president of Air Cargo Lines at the time, and is now in prison in Spain after he was caught using the airline to ship some two tons of cocaine into that country.But to the informant's dismay, he found that his handler at the embassy already knew all about the cargo runs out of El Dorado. "After several meetings with [Abastos], he confirmed that there was no problem with Raúl Jiménez Villamil and that I could work for both of them," that is, for Abastos and Jiménez Villamil, the source says.The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, ICE, and the DEA did not respond to interview requests for this article."Sometimes special agents work undercover out of the embassy, pretending to aid cartel operations so as to capture an entire criminal network," Maok says. "The curious thing about [Abastos] of ICE is that it appears he knew what was going on, yet didn't bust anybody, even while tons of cocaine were being flown into Mexico."* * *More Powerful Than Escobar* * *Colombia produces 80 percent of the world's cocaine, notes Guillén at La Nueva Prensa, with much of it bound for the U.S. market. That profound, concentrated, and illicit wealth has resulted in a "narco-state with a narco-economy," Guillén said. "Today's traffickers aren't like Pablo Escobar. They're much more sophisticated and powerful. And they've learned they can't operate without buying off the authorities."Bunker says there are two primary factors that make a country prone to becoming a so-called narco-state. One is that "it is authoritarian in nature" meaning its weak judicial institutions are unable to hold ruling officials to account, and that "narcotics production and trafficking represents a high value industry [compared to] the rest of the country's economic output."Back in 2007, when Chapo Air shut down, it wasn't because of a threat from ICE or the government, but because more than a ton of cocaine went missing in Mexico. After that, a couple of sicarios showed up at El Dorado aiming to kill the owner of the DC-8 transport used in the runs. A month later, says Maok's informant, a video arrived at Air Cargo Lines HQ showing the beheaded corpse of the alleged thief.Today, more than a decade after the El Dorado Airport smuggling ring self-destructed, the Sinaloa cartel maintains a far stronger presence in Colombia than even Chapo could have foreseen. Chapo's old syndicate, currently ruled by his partner Ismael Zambada and Guzmán's own sons, has moved on from merely exporting, and now has "direct access to cocaine production for eventual distribution into the U.S.," Bunker says.They've achieved that by working closely with the "network of operatives, supporting gangs and private armies, and Colombian governmental elites that they are colluding with."Former prosecution agent Maok describes the growing power of Sinaloa and other cartels in Colombia as a threat to civic freedoms. "In the narco-state, real democracy doesn't exist. Instead of his constituents, the corrupt politician serves the criminals who have bought him off. Meanwhile, armed groups decide who will run for office and are free to kill anyone who challenges them," Maok says."The people of Colombia deserve something better than this kind of domination," he says. "They deserve justice."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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| China virus deaths rise past 800, overtaking SARS toll Posted: 08 Feb 2020 03:54 PM PST  With 81 more people dying in Hubei -- the province at the centre of the outbreak -- the toll is now higher than the 774 killed worldwide by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002-2003, according to figures released Sunday. The latest data came after the World Health Organisation said numbers were "stabilising" -- but warned it was too early to make any predictions about whether the virus might have peaked. Nearly 37,000 people have now been infected by the new coronavirus in China, believed to have emerged last year in a market that sold wild animals in Hubei's capital Wuhan before spreading across China.
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