| Sanders solidifies himself as frontrunner in Nevada and beyond, new polls show Posted: 21 Feb 2020 11:16 AM PST  On the eve of the Nevada caucuses, polls show Bernie Sanders with a comfortable lead in the Battle Born State, while national surveys have the Vermont senator opening up a double-digit advantage over his closest rivals.
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| U.S. vs. Huawei: Is future of the internet at stake? Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:39 AM PST  The U.S. government is trying to stop Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from dominating the 5G market. The outcome of the dispute could change the future of the internet.
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| Girl, 11, gave birth to baby allegedly fathered by brother Posted: 22 Feb 2020 11:40 AM PST  The 17-year-old boy told police he had sex with his sister about 100 times but did not know she was pregnant, according to charging documents.
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| With information from China scarce, U.S. spies enlisted to track coronavirus Posted: 21 Feb 2020 09:36 AM PST  As Chinese officials face allegations of locking down information about the spread of the coronavirus, U.S. intelligence agencies have been helping in governmentwide efforts to gather information about the disease's global spread.
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| US accuses Russia of huge coronavirus disinformation campaign Posted: 22 Feb 2020 09:17 AM PST  US officials say thousands of social media accounts linked to Russia are part of a coordinated effort to spread disinformation about the new coronavirus.The campaign allegedly aims to damage the US's image and spread unfounded conspiracy theories that it is behind the outbreak which has infected nearly 78,000 globally and killed over 2,500 people.
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| Archaeologists unveil possible shrine to Rome's first king Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:19 AM PST |
| CDC is preparing for the 'likely' spread of coronavirus in the US, officials say Posted: 22 Feb 2020 05:44 AM PST  While coronavirus has not spread in the United States, CDC officials said they're preparing for the coronavirus to become a pandemic.
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| Iran shuts schools, cultural centres as coronavirus kills five Posted: 22 Feb 2020 11:46 AM PST  Iran on Saturday ordered the closure of schools, universities and cultural centres after a coronavirus outbreak that has killed five people in the Islamic republic -- the most outside the Far East. The moves came as Iranian authorities reported one more death among 10 new cases of the virus. Since it emerged in December, the new coronavirus has killed 2,345 people in China, the epicentre of the epidemic, and 17 elsewhere in the world.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s progressive PAC makes first round of endorsements Posted: 21 Feb 2020 10:46 AM PST  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Friday her political action committee's first round of endorsements, which will include two progressive candidates challenging sitting Democratic members of Congress.
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| Nevada caucuses: Bernie Sanders rolls to victory Posted: 22 Feb 2020 10:58 AM PST  Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Nevada caucuses on Saturday, solidifying his status as the clear frontrunner in the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
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| Mike Bloomberg's social media strategy is under fire as Twitter suspends 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts for platform manipulation Posted: 22 Feb 2020 09:08 AM PST  A Twitter spokesman said the identical posts violated its policy against manipulation and spam that was created in response to the 2016 election.
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| 10 Amazing Facts About Polar Bears Posted: 22 Feb 2020 12:00 PM PST |
| Judge dismisses Nunes lawsuit against Fusion GPS Posted: 21 Feb 2020 05:50 PM PST |
| A New York lawmaker wants to treat white supremacists like foreign jihadists. Is this the solution, or a new war on terror? Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST  Rep. Max Rose wants the federal government to recognize that white nationalists groups are as serious threats to American citizens as the Islamic State or al-Qaida. The FBI has also acknowledged that threat, recently deeming homegrown extremists a "national threat priority."
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| Man wrongfully convicted of murder sues New York for $100 million Posted: 20 Feb 2020 06:21 PM PST  Christian Pacheco was released from prison last week.
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| CDC: Westerdam passenger 'never had coronavirus to our knowledge' after cruise ship chaos Posted: 22 Feb 2020 10:46 AM PST  After Holland America's MS Westerdam disembarked, a passenger tested positive for coronavirus. Now the CDC says the 83-year-old never had the virus.
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| Ocasio-Cortez's progressive PAC makes first round of endorsements Posted: 21 Feb 2020 09:54 AM PST  The freshman congresswoman announced support of seven women challenging for legislative seats, including two opposing Democratic incumbents.
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| FBI agents search home, business of Tennessee state senator Posted: 21 Feb 2020 12:36 PM PST  Federal authorities in Tennessee conducted searches Friday at the home and business addresses of Democratic state Sen. Katrina Robinson, the FBI said. Federal Bureau of Investigation spokesman Joel Siskovic confirmed that agents executed search warrants at two locations in Memphis.
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| 'American voters should decide American elections - not Putin': Trump accused of threatening democracy after fresh warnings over Russian interference Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:23 AM PST  US intelligence officials warned Congress that Russia plans to interfere in 2020 Democratic elections and challenges in November, but officials in Moscow are dismissing the allegations as "paranoid" while Washington leaders condemn Donald Trump's reported efforts to dismiss the threat.Following a 13 February briefing to the House Intelligence Committee, the president reportedly berated the national intelligence director for allowing the hearing to take place, which allowed his Democratic impeachment foes to hear testimony about foreign interference similar to the Russian efforts at the centre of an investigation in 2016.
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| Pete Buttigieg Is Not Intersectional Enough Posted: 21 Feb 2020 01:06 PM PST  Last Friday, a group of disgruntled "queer activists" interrupted Pete Buttigieg's campaign event in San Francisco. One of the protesters, Adiel Pollydore, told the Guardian that she decided to protest in part because "Pete Buttigieg represents a very small percentage of the experiences of queer and trans people in this country, being white and being cisgender and being a man, being someone who is highly educated. We know queer and trans folks of color, especially black queer and trans folks, live at the intersection of so many systems of oppression in this country."We would not want the "highly educated" speaking on Ms. Pollydore's behalf.The protester's objection to Buttigieg's melanin count and intact genitalia — "Why aren't you a trans black woman, Mr. Mayor?" — highlights an ongoing debate on the left about the former mayor's sexuality, and whether he is, in the words of Masha Gessen of The New Yorker, "gay enough" to represent the LGBT community.One would think Buttigieg's gay bona fides are obvious. He is "married" to another man, and frequently drones on about how Mike Pence "hates" him for his sexual preferences. Buttigieg is nevertheless accused of lacking a metaphysical "gayness," one that obtains not by participation in certain sex acts but instead through the approval of the identity eunuchs in the commentariat and American sociology departments. The operative question, then, is not whether Pete Buttigieg is a homosexual — that much is beyond dispute — but instead whether he is gay, or "gay enough."Gessen attempted to explain the contempt "some queer people" hold for Mayor Pete, who they doubt "is gay enough" to represent their political interests. What the mayor's relative "gayness" has to do with his aptitude as a political vessel for the interests of "queer people" is unclear, as is her operative definition of "gay." Gessen nevertheless proceeds with an empiricist's certainty, picking apart moments in Buttigieg's life and asserting that "the notion that some of us think that Buttigieg is not gay enough has an identifiable relationship to the facts."Unlike those who are noticeably "queer," Gessen argues, Pete Buttigieg has always appeared relatively normal (he can "pass" as a straight man) and therefore could "choose the circumstances and timing of his coming out." This experience, in turn, led him to adopt a political platform that — in Gessen's telling — is "profoundly, essentially conservative." She concludes that Pete Buttigieg's life experience and ideological commitments make him "a straight politician in a gay man's body."It's difficult to think of a sense in which a candidate who supports unfettered abortion access, compelling religious business owners to violate their consciences, abolishing the Electoral College, reengineering the Supreme Court, decriminalizing illicit border crossings, granting amnesty to more than 11 million illegal aliens, and banning all new fracking ventures might be understood to be "profoundly, essentially conservative."("Facts.")Gessen defends characterizing Buttigieg as "conservative" by citing his aversion to "revolutionary change," a posture that signals to straight people that "we are just like you, and all we want is the right to have what you have: marriage, children, a house with a picket fence, and the right to serve in the military." His refusal to embrace "revolutionary change"— a pars pro toto of his rejection of the gay "separatist" politics described by Andrew Sullivan — makes Buttigieg, in Gessen's telling, "an easy and reassuring choice for these older, white, straight people, and a disturbing possibility for the queer people who seem to be criticizing him for not being gay enough."One is reminded of Anthony Kennedy's famous ex cathedra decree that one "would misunderstand" the Obergefell plaintiffs "to say they disrespect the idea of marriage. Their plea is that they do respect it, respect it so deeply that they seek to find its fulfillment for themselves." Ultimately, he said, they "ask for equal dignity in the eyes of the law." The Court was advancing a fundamentally progressive suggestion at the time of Obergefell -- at stake was the heretofore unchanged definition of a bimillennial institution — and within five years of Kennedy's paean, Masha Gessen considers the Obergefell "ask" a sign of dyed-in-the-wool conservatism.All of Gessen's argument could, in earnest, be reduced to "Pete Buttigieg isn't really gay because he doesn't agree with me about politics." That implication is clear enough in the "straight politician in a gay man's body" quip, suggesting that gay men are authentically gay only if they hew to the political program prescribed by Masha Gessen. I do not, for what it's worth, think much of "authentic gayness" — as moral lodestars go, I prefer the Pauline epistles to the fleeting approbation of a New Yorker columnist; chacun à son goût — but to the sort of person who suggests that Buttigieg is "not gay enough" to earn their vote, I echo the question recorded by the evangelist: What lackest he yet?
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| Tennessee executes man convicted in four killings Posted: 20 Feb 2020 06:37 PM PST  Tennessee death row inmate Nicholas Todd Sutton was executed Thursday night by the electric chair. Sutton was convicted of killing four people.
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| Family of man killed by Connecticut trooper seeks more than $10M in wrongful death damages Posted: 21 Feb 2020 07:24 AM PST  Relatives of a black Connecticut man killed by a state trooper are seeking more than $10 million in wrongful death damages from state and local police, according to legal notices filed Thursday.
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| Body of 2nd firefighter killed in California library blaze recovered Posted: 20 Feb 2020 09:33 PM PST  Fire Capt. Raymond Figueroa and firefighter Patrick Jones went into the burning building to make sure everyone was out.
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| Coronavirus: Could It Takedown China's Communist Party? Posted: 22 Feb 2020 04:52 AM PST  It's up to Xi himself.
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| Nurse sentenced to 13 years in prison for harming infants Posted: 21 Feb 2020 04:01 AM PST |
| Trump warns Democrats about Russia helping Sanders ahead of Nevada vote Posted: 22 Feb 2020 08:31 AM PST  President Trump wants the Democratic presidential candidates to be careful Saturday during the Nevada caucuses.After it was reported Friday that U.S. intelligence officials told Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is considered the Democratic frontrunner by many, that Russia was in some way attempting to interfere with the election process and aid his campaign (Sanders denounced the efforts), Trump sent a tweet Saturday warning the Democrats about Moscow's motives.> Democrats in the Great State of Nevada (Which, because of the Economy, Jobs, the Military & Vets, I will win in November), be careful of Russia, Russia, Russia. According to Corrupt politician Adam "Shifty" Schiff, they are pushing for Crazy Bernie Sanders to win. Vote!> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2020So apparently Trump, who also reportedly recently learned Russia was attempting to interfere on behalf of his 2020 re-election bid, doesn't think the Sanders story is a hoax. That word, it seems, is reserved for him.More stories from theweek.com A moderate's 2020 lament The stunning Southern Baptist controversy over Donald Trump and Russell Moore, explained Do Bernie Sanders' opponents know he's winning?
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| Wave of racist attacks against Asian Americans in wake of coronavirus outbreak Posted: 22 Feb 2020 08:12 AM PST  Misinformation and exaggeration about the coronavirus have led to a wave of racist attacks on Asian Americans across the US.The attacks are both physical and verbal, and there are also cases of people either from East Asia, or of East Asian descent, being turned away from businesses.
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| Texas woman sentenced to eight years for illegal voting paroled, faces deportation Posted: 22 Feb 2020 09:45 AM PST  Rosa Maria Ortega's eight-year sentence for illegal voting in Texas was decried as a political prosecution. She was paroled in December and faces deportation.
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| 'The message he’s sending is I don’t care': Mexico's president criticized for response to killings of women Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:00 AM PST  Andrés Manuel López Obrador offered vague plans for 'moral regeneration' after string of gruesome killings of women and girlsMexico's president has cast himself as the victim of feminist activists, amid an outburst of fury at the alarming violence targeting the country's women and girls – and the seeming impunity that accompanies each crime.A string of especially gruesome killings of women and girls has prompted widespread protests, especially in the capital. In one incident last week, masked women splashed blood-red paint on the doors of the national palace and sprayed the walls with graffiti.But Mexico's president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has been accused of a tone-deaf response to the crisis as he offers vague plans for "moral regeneration" and protestations that all murders matter.At his morning press conference on Thursday, he mused about the a "feminist collective" that had descended on the palace. "They opposed the moral regeneration we're promoting. I respect their views but don't share them. I believe we have to moralise the country, purify public life and strengthen cultural, moral and spiritual values," he said."I'm not going to give up my lifelong beliefs because they came and protested. We're going to struggle to achieve a material change, a spiritual change."Endless stories on horrific murders – and daily indignities such as harassment, catcalls and being groped on public transit – have prompted a burgeoning women's movement, whose members have protested online and in the streets and called for a national women's strike on 9 March.In recent years, Mexican women have become increasingly ready to call out callous and inept responses from public officials, police and prosecutors in cases of femicides, but in some cases politicians have appeared to show more concern over feminist graffiti than the crimes committed against women. Much of the recent outrage, however, has targeted López Obrador, who identifies as left-leaning but has appeared exasperated by calls to confront the issue.This month, he responded to a question about the federal prosecutor's proposal to scratch the concept of femicides from the criminal code by saying the issue "has been manipulated by the media".He also showed annoyance that the question interrupted his plans to talk about his pet project of raffling off the presidential airplane, saying: "I don't want femicides to overshadow the lottery."Women's groups say he is treating femicides in the same way as his predecessors: as a political and public relations problems rather than a crisis claiming the lives of women."The message he's sending women is: I don't care," said Maricruz Ocampo, an activist in the state of Querétaro."They've all had the same attitude toward the problem," she said. "This is a Mexican problem, not a women's issue."Several recent high-profile crimes have been especially gruesome.Ingrid Escamilla, 25, was murdered on 9 February by her husband, who skinned her corpse and disemboweled her. A tabloid newspaper fueled further anger by publishing photos of her corpse on its front page.In the second crime, a seven-year-old girl, Fátima Aldrighetti Antón, was abducted and tortured after her mother got stuck in traffic and was late to pick her up from school. Her body was found in a plastic bag four days later, showing signs of torture. Two suspects were arrested on Wednesday – but not after Mexico City officials leaked information on the complicated domestic situation in Fátima's home.López Obrador responded Tuesday to questions about the femicides by blaming family breakdowns, along with "neoliberal" policies implemented over the past three decades.He also cast the blame on his predecessors – including those in Mexico City, where he governed from 2000-2005 and has heavily influenced local politics since leaving office."Not only is nothing being done today, but what's being said is discrediting women," said Regina Tamés, director of Gire, a reproductive rights organisation.López Obrador swept to power promising widespread social change but has consistently showed conservative tendencies on social issues. "What's unfortunate about now, in comparison to before, is people have put a lot of hope of change in this government," Tamés said.
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| Federal judge blocks effort to transfer coronavirus patients to California city Posted: 22 Feb 2020 11:31 AM PST  The plan was to move dozens of patients who tested positive for the coronavirus from Travis Air Force Base in Northern California to Costa Mesa.
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| The Diamond Princess cruise ship, where at least 634 people caught the coronavirus, is setting sail again in April. Here's how it's being cleaned. Posted: 21 Feb 2020 02:24 PM PST  A spokesperson for Princess' parent company Carnival Corp. said the ship will be sprayed with a standard disinfectant after the COVID-19 outbreak.
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| I Live in South Korea Where Coronavirus Cases are Rising. Not Much Has Changed Posted: 22 Feb 2020 05:28 AM PST  It is important to keep perspective. There are fifty-three million people in South Korea. Only four hundred thirty or so of them have corona, and only two have died. The sensationalism of disease outbreak coverage does not help. We have all seen too many movies, and overwrought invocations of Contagion or zombie apocalypse movies generate paranoia and unnecessary anxiety. South Korea is safe.
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| California Pension Fund Does Not Deny CIO’s Involvement in China’s ‘Thousand Talents Program’ Posted: 21 Feb 2020 09:09 AM PST  The CEO of California's public pension fund said Representative Jim Banks (R., Ind.) had made "baseless accusations" about the fund's chief investment officer being involved in Chinese espionage — but did not deny that Yu Ben Meng had been recruited to the "Thousand Talents Program."Marcie Frost, the head of California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS), also admitted that her organization — the largest public pension fund in the country with "approximately $400 billion in global assets — had increased its Chinese investments in 2019 after shifts in "well-established indexes.""CalPERS rebalanced its portfolio in light of these changes accordingly, resulting in the removal of 143 stocks and the addition of 198 stocks. Nearly half of the companies added were Chinese companies because the MSCI and FTSE indices changed to include China A-Shares," she wrote in a Thursday letter to Banks.Banks told National Review that Frost's comments "failed to answer two fundamental questions raised in my letter to Governor Newsom," which he sent last week over concerns about Meng's history.Meng emigrated to the U.S. from China to study at the University of California, Davis. He initially worked for CalPERS in 2008, before returning in January 2019 as CIO. From 2015 to 2018, Meng worked as deputy CIO with China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), which oversees China's U.S. Treasury security holdings.In his letter to Newsom, Banks highlighted a 2017 Chinese article which mentioned Meng's role in Beijing's Thousand Talents Program, which provides under-the-table funding to U.S. citizens in exchange for valuable information."First question: Is Mr. Meng a member of the Thousand Talents Program, something the FBI called a 'non-traditional espionage program?'" Banks said Friday after Frost's response. "Second question: Since Meng came back as Chief Investment Officer of CalPERS, has CalPERS invested in companies that are affiliated with the Chinese People's Liberation Army?"The Indiana Republican added that he wanted to hear from Meng over comments he gave to "the Chinese communist rag People's Daily."In the 2017 article, Meng mentions that his "roots were in China," and says that "in human life, if there is an opportunity to serve the motherland, such responsibility and honor cannot be compared to anything."
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| Trump's Latest Intelligence Meltdown Isn't About the Facts. It's About the Truth Posted: 20 Feb 2020 07:53 PM PST  President Donald Trump's decision to fire Acting Director of National Intelligence Adm. Joseph Maguire is about the truth, not the facts
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| Case of missing children tied to doomsday beliefs, 3 deaths Posted: 21 Feb 2020 07:44 AM PST  Family members used to describe Lori Vallow as an attentive mother who had her kids' best interests at heart. Before her children went missing. Seven-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow and his 17-year-old sister, Tylee Ryan, haven't been seen since September.
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| Germany's extreme right under pressure after attacks Posted: 22 Feb 2020 09:34 AM PST  The extreme political right in Germany is on the defensive and stands accused of inciting last week's racist attacks in Hanau and others with its anti-migrant diatribes. Some have even asked that the hard right be subjected to police surveillance. "We have known for a long time that words can be followed by action and the elected representatives of the people cannot shirk this responsibility," said the chairman of the chamber of deputies, Wolfgang Schauble, in an interview with the daily Handelsblatt on Saturday.
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| Former Marine planks for over 8 hours, setting Guinness record Posted: 22 Feb 2020 03:12 PM PST  Guinness World Records certified 62-year-old George Hood's Feb. 15 planking record in Illinois. The official time: 8 hours, 15 minutes and 15 seconds.
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| Mountain lion believed to have attacked 6-year-old is caught and killed Posted: 20 Feb 2020 11:14 PM PST  The California girl was attacked at a Bay Area nature preserve and survived with minor injuries.
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| Joe Biden says he was arrested in South Africa on a visit to see Nelson Mandela. He has never mentioned the arrest before. Posted: 22 Feb 2020 11:58 AM PST  Former Vice President Joe Biden, 77, has mentioned at three campaign events about being arrested while trying to visit Nelson Mandela in the 1970s.
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| Son of powerful Mexican cartel boss extradited to U.S. Posted: 21 Feb 2020 04:00 AM PST  The son of a powerful Mexican drug lord was extradited Thursday to the United States, where he is wanted for trafficking, a government source told Agence France-Presse.
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| India Should Buy the F-15EX from America. Here's Why. Posted: 21 Feb 2020 07:30 PM PST  A good idea? What about the F-35?
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| Poll: Trump Expected to Double 2016 African American Support if He Draws Buttigieg Challenge Posted: 21 Feb 2020 11:46 AM PST  President Trump would double the support he received from African American voters in 2016 if he ends up facing former South Bend., Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg in the upcoming election, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Friday.Trump, who recorded eight percent of the African American vote against Hillary Clinton in 2016, hits 16 percent in the 2020 estimate against Buttigieg. Both men are tied with three percent of "enthusiastic" black voters — with Buttigieg having the lowest percentage of enthusiasm in the entire Democratic field.Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster who conducted the survey with Democrat Jeff Horwitt, told the Journal that Buttigieg has "simply not made a connection with African Americans," and added that he thought Buttigieg would struggle "anywhere where African Americans are a chunk of the vote."A further breakdown of the vote by gender shows that African American women support Buttigieg overwhelmingly by an 87-6 margin over Trump. Among African American men, however, the margin shrinks to 59-29 in favor of Buttigieg.Despite strong performances in Iowa and New Hampshire, Buttigieg has been dogged by weak support among minority voters.In November, Buttigieg's campaign made headlines for being "intentionally vague" in promoting endorsements from prominent black leaders in South Carolina as part of the rollout of Buttigieg's "Douglass Plan for Black America." ABC News reported on Tuesday that Buttigieg described how he had "proudly partnered" with two local restaurants in a South Carolina op-ed last week as part of investing in African American small businesses, only for one of the owners to say she had never agreed to be in a partnership.The president featured African Americans prominently in his State of the Union address earlier this month, prompting CNN commentator Van Jones to issue a "warning to Democrats" that Trump was making a play for black voters.
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