| 'A global conspiracy against God and humanity': Controversial Catholic archbishop pushes QAnon themes in letter to Trump Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:40 AM PDT  The letter by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. and outspoken adversary of Pope Francis, hit many of the favorite themes of the pro-Trump conspiracy theory.
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| A New Jersey cop sent sexually explicit texts to an 18-year-old woman hours after he arrested her, prosecutors say Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:52 AM PDT  Damien Broschart is facing multiple charges, including cyber harassment, and might lose his job if convicted, according to New Jersey prosecutors.
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| Fact check: There is no Sen. Rob Donaldson, so posts of his speech about Barrett are fake Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:53 AM PDT  A post on new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett originated as a hypothetical. It took off, with many people assuming it was from a real senator.
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| US election: Don Jr told Trump supporters to ‘have some fun’ before Biden vehicles ‘rammed by armed group’ Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:01 PM PDT  Trump's eldest son called on supporters 'get out there, have some fun'
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| 'They give me the willies': scientist who vacuumed murder hornets braces for fight Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:00 AM PDT  Chris Looney helped dismantle the first nest of Asian giant hornets in the US. Now he's preparing for the next stepThe eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets on US soil somewhat resembled a science fiction depiction of an alien landing site. A crew of government specialists in white, astronaut-like protective suits descended upon the hornet nexus to vanquish it with a futuristic-looking vacuum cleaner, to the relief of onlookers.The nest of the fearsome invasive insects, notoriously known as "murder hornets", was found in a tree crevice near Blaine, in Washington state, via a tracking device attached to a previously captured worker hornet. The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the nest had been successfully removed, with dozens of live captives taken back for inspection."It was cold so they were docile, so between their slowness and the protective gear no one was hurt," said Chris Looney, a WSDA entomologist who was tasked with vacuuming up the hornets.Wielding a lengthy, toxic stinger, the hornets can cause renal failure and death in people, as dozens of people in Japan have found out to their cost. One entomologist in Canada described the feeling of being stung as like "having hot tacks pushed into my flesh".They can also squirt venom, as Looney saw first-hand when his lab workbench was sprayed by hornets as they roused themselves following capture. "I was more worried about getting permanent nerve damage in the eye from the squirted venom than being stung," said Looney, who wore goggles for the capture. "They are pretty intimidating, even for an inch-and-a-half insect. They are big and loud and I know it would hurt very badly if I get stung. They give me the willies."Murder hornets do not earn their moniker from killing people, however, with honeybees far more likely to be targeted. A honeybee colony can be decimated within a few hours, with the hornets decapitating their victims and feeding severed body parts to their young. This poses a gnawing concern for hobbyist beekeepers and even farmers in the US north-west, where managed honeybees are crucial for the pollination of crops such as blueberries and raspberries.Asian giant hornets were first discovered in North America last year, popping up in British Columbia, Canada, before a handful of specimens made it south of the border to Washington state. The hornets, native to east Asia, most likely arrived on the continent clinging to imported goods sent via sea or air. A close relative of the hornet has already made separate inroads into France and the UK.A key, and unnerving, question is how far they will manage to spread across America. Looney said the removal of the first nest found in the US was just a "small victory" in a battle likely to rage for several years to contain the insects. Thousands of sightings have been reported in Washington, and while many are false or mistaken, Looney said it was likely the hornets had spread, potentially establishing dozens more nests."It's hard to say how they will behave here compared to their native range, but the fear is that there are large apiaries of bees that could be sitting ducks, while as the hornets move south to warmer weather their colonies could grow larger," he said. "The object of our work is to avoid finding this out."Scientists who have modeled the potential spread of the hornets predict they will be able to extend down the west coast into California. The Rocky Mountains and drier interior of the US pose major barriers to an eastward push but environs on the east coast such as New York would be ideal homes for the murder hornets should they inadvertently be transported there.Looney said he was "troubled" by evidence that overwintering hornet queens like to bury themselves in straw and hay, commodities that are regularly shifted around the US by train or truck. A hornet queen that hitched a ride would still face challenges establishing a nest even if moved to the east coast – it could immediately be crushed underfoot, after all – but the potential pathway is there."I'm more worried about human transportation of these hornets than I initially was," Looney conceded.The Asian giant hornet is just the latest invasive species to make its mark on North America. Burmese pythons are now legion in southern Florida, while Asian carp are common in the Mississippi river system. In the insect world, the spotted lanternfly is a growing agricultural pest and emerald ash borers have arrived to lay waste to stands of trees.These arrivals are symptoms of the growth in international trade and tourism, while climate change is making many parts of the US more hospitable for certain invasive species. The Asian giant hornet, for example, is thought to favor the sort of elevated temperatures that the US is experiencing as the planet heats up. This could help it spread at the rate of its cousin species in France, which has been able to advance up to 78km a year. If it is not controlled, the murder hornet could fundamentally change ecosystems across the US.Still, even in a fraught year racked by a pandemic, social unrest and economic disaster, Looney said any fears of being assailed by a murder hornet should be "low on the anxiety meter".He added: "We should be concerned about it but we will do our best until the money runs out or the battle is won or lost. If we fail, it will be unpleasant. But there are other things to be much more worried about right now."
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| Typhoon Goni: Philippines hit by year's most powerful storm Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:28 PM PDT  Torrential rain and "catastrophic violent winds" are expected on the main island of Luzon on Sunday.
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| Pennsylvania's small-town Trump defectors: Rare — but possibly decisive Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:06 PM PDT  Analysis: In one of the most hotly contested 2020 battlegrounds, some Democrats worry that Trump will win. But it wouldn't take many Trump crossover votes to tip the state to Biden.
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| Thai protest leaders, in hospital, face possible new charges Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:53 AM PDT  Three Thai pro-democracy protest leaders -- all in hospital after chaotic scenes that erupted when they were released from prison -- were facing possible new charges late Saturday.
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| GOP official backtracks on resignation after sharing derogatory images of Harris Posted: 30 Oct 2020 10:52 AM PDT  One of his tweaked images of Sen. Kamala Harris depicts her at the vice-presidential debate with her legs spread open. Hobart "Hobie" Young, a member of the Upper Township Committee in Cape May County, New Jersey, resigned from his role after posting vulgar, manipulated images of Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris on Facebook. One picture is a wide shot of the Oct. 7 vice presidential debate depicting Harris sitting with her legs open opposite Vice President Mike Pence.
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| Texas GOP senator didn't "graduate" from Oxford University law program, as claimed in prior campaign Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:38 PM PDT  Cornyn attacked an opponent a few years later for "padding his resume," referencing a lie about a college degree
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| Dozens of undelivered ballots found at Miami-Dade post office with mail backlog Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:47 AM PDT  Special agents with the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General discovered 48 pieces of election mail sitting in a post office in South Miami-Dade County on Friday, the office announced Saturday morning. Forty-two of them were ballots that had not yet been delivered to voters, officials said, while the other six had already been filled out and were brought to the Miami-Dade supervisor of elections Friday night.
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| Zeta's toll on a Louisiana island: 'Like a bomb was dropped' Posted: 29 Oct 2020 10:00 PM PDT  Mark Andollina remembers stinging rain and a howling wind that peeled the roof off part of his Cajun Tide Beach Resort on Grand Isle, the Louisiana barrier island town where residents were among the first to feel the ferocity of Hurricane Zeta. "Because we got the most damage on the island right here, basically in the middle of the island." "The middle of the island looks like a bomb was dropped," said Dodie Vegas, who with her husband owns Bridge Side Marina on the west side of the island.
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| Pro-Choicers, Not Christians, Are Today’s Abortion Fundamentalists Posted: 30 Oct 2020 12:01 PM PDT  The New York Times columnist Nick Kristof begs a number of questions in his new pro-abortion column, "Er, Can I Ask a Few Questions about Abortion?" I'll leave Christians to debunk his more tendentious theological assertions. It is quite odd, however, to read enlightened secular pundits attempting to appropriate biblical text to argue that Jesus would have been completely cool with ending life for the sake of convenience.What would Jesus do? Avoid injecting potassium chloride into the beating heart of the unborn child, I suspect.Again, I'm no theologian, but I also strongly suspect that the "Jesus says nothing about abortion!" argument isn't dispositive of anything. The Sermon on the Mount wasn't about nationalized health-insurance schemes, after all. Yet progressives demand that Christians adopt a narrow, hyperliteral interpretation of the Bible on abortion while also demanding that they take a broad, malleably metaphoric approach to the text when it comes to things like socializing medicine or open immigration.These are often the same people who sincerely believe that the Constitution was written to protect the deliberate termination of a pregnancy but not the principled right to self-defense or free expression — because, well, those old white guys and their parchment paper and muskets.Kristof points to the views of Baptists in the 1970s as proof of the Christian regression on abortion rights. Many secularists have convinced themselves that actual Christians are just as incurious and stultified as the Christians of their imagination. The Christians I know, and I happen to know many, often grapple with how scientific advances affect faith. When it comes to abortion, it's the progressives who act like fundamentalists.Just today, I ran across a story about a boy named Logan Ray — born at 23 weeks, weighing just 1.5 pounds and measuring twelve inches long — celebrating his first birthday. One day soon, there will be babies celebrating birthdays who were born at 21 weeks. And then 20. And those who treat abortion as both rite and right will continue to make arbitrary distinctions between "fetal life" and life itself, just as Kristof does. For those who believe in actual science, the concept of life isn't contingent on a mother's decision, the public's perception, or a pundit's policy arguments.On that note, Kristof makes this assertion:> Partly because Obamacare covers contraception, the number of abortions in the United States has plunged to its lowest level since Roe v. Wade, including in states that support a woman's right to an abortion. If you're troubled by abortions, shouldn't you thank President Barack Obama for reducing them?First of all, had it not been for a few now-extinct Blue Dog Democrats, Barack Obama's signature legislation would already be forcing taxpayers to fund not merely abortifacient drugs but in-person late-term abortions. More than any president in history, Obama helped radicalize Democrats on the issue. They've been transformed from the party that advocated for "safe, legal, and rare" to one that filibusters bills that would protect babies who survive abortion attempts from negligent homicide.Moreover, there is no evidence that Obamacare did anything to lower abortion rates, which, for a host of reasons, had been dropping steadily for decades before the ACA was passed. Contrary to Kristof's claim, the trajectory shows no perceptible impact from passage of the law. Why would it? The notion that birth control was unavailable to women before 2010 is simply a myth.One could just as easily argue, in fact, that restrictions pushed by state-level Republicans, many of whom came into office beginning in 2010, helped decrease overall abortions. After all, I am constantly told there is an unprecedented and dangerous attack on "reproductive rights" — for progressives, that euphemism never gets old — as we speak.What isn't mentioned in Kristof's column — or in most of the pieces attempting to convince social conservatives that abortion is a nonissue in 2020 — is that the Democratic Party nominee supports overturning the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except to save the life of the mother. Which is to say, Democrats want to compel taxpayers to participate in funding abortion up through the ninth month of pregnancy.Now, again, I don't claim to speak for Christians or anyone other than myself. But perhaps Kristof should ask one of the nuns Biden says he plans to sue if he wins the presidency about the theological implications of compelling the faithful (or anyone else) to support abortion — since he's curious.
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| Biden Team Cancels Texas Event After Highway ‘Ambush’ by MAGA Cavalry Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:52 AM PDT  Joe Biden's presidential campaign canceled a Friday event in Austin, Texas, after harassment from a pro-Trump contingent.Texas has emerged as a battleground state in Tuesday's presidential election, with polls showing the typically Republican stronghold now only marginally favoring President Donald Trump. The Biden campaign scheduled a Friday event in the state, in a bid to drum up last-minute support. But when the Biden campaign bus drove to Austin, it was greeted by a blockade of pro-Trump demonstrators, leading to what one Texas House representative described as an escalation "well beyond safe limits."The cancelation comes amid national anxiety about voter intimidation, a tactic the Trump campaign has implicitly endorsed.Historian Dr. Eric Cervini was driving to help with the Biden campaign stop when he filmed a line of pickup trucks along the highway, many of them flying Trump flags. The drivers were "waiting to ambush the Biden/Harris campaign bus as it traveled from San Antonio to Austin," Cervini tweeted."These Trump supporters, many of whom were armed, surrounded the bus on the interstate and attempted to drive it off the road," he alleged. "They outnumbered police 50-1, and they ended up hitting a staffer's car."A Biden campaign staffer told The Daily Beast that Trump supporters surrounded the bus on the highway and slowed down in front of it, attempting to stop it or run it off the road. The official sent a picture taken on the bus, showing Trump trucks surrounding the front of the vehicle. Staffers on the bus called police, who helped the bus reach its destination.Video from the highway shows trucks surrounding the bus, at one point colliding with an SUV.> This is a traffic violation and attempted homicide. Why hasn't anyone been arrested? pic.twitter.com/QnfF4vXMQn> > — haunting student debt owners (@mcbyrne) October 31, 2020> I flew down to Texas to help with the Biden/Harris bus tour, intended to drum up enthusiasm at polling locations. Instead, I ended up spending the afternoon calling 911. 1/ pic.twitter.com/gKAjv7gv85> > — Dr. Eric Cervini (@ericcervini) October 31, 2020Footage from a CBS affiliate in Austin shows Trump supporters with signs and bullhorns surrounding the bus when it parked, with one person screaming that Biden was a communist.Rep. Sheryl Cole, a Democrat representing nearby Pflugerville in Texas's House, announced that a Biden event in her city had been canceled due to the harassment."This is a 1st for me - but we just cancelled a joint event in Pflugerville w/ @JoeBiden campaign,@AustinYoungDems, & more, due to security reasons," she tweeted. "Unfortunately, Pro-Trump Protestors have escalated well beyond safe limits. Sorry to all who looked forward to this fun event."The Biden campaign's Texas communications director, Tariq Thowfeek, said holding the event would have placed Biden staffers and supporters at risk. "Rather than engage in productive conversation about the drastically different visions that Joe Biden and Donald Trump have for our country, Trump supporters in Texas today instead decided to put our staff, surrogates, supporters, and others in harm's way," Thowfeek told The Daily Beat."Our supporters will continue to organize their communities for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Democrats up and down the ballot, and to the Texans who disrupted our events today: We'll see you on November 3rd."The Trump campaign—and often Trump himself—has encouraged in-person conflict around the polls. Trump used the first presidential debate to urge supporters to act as "poll watchers," a call that sparked concerns of voter intimidation. His son, Donald Trump Jr., made an explicit call-out regarding the Biden campaign's Texas outreach efforts.In a video ahead of a Friday event by Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, Trump Jr. encouraged his father's supporters to show up at Harris's event.Trump's Crew of Far-Right Vigilante Poll Watchers Is Coming"Hey Laredo, Don Jr. here," he said. "I heard you had an awesome turnout for the Trump Train. It'd be great if you guys would all get together, head down to McAllen and give Kamala Harris a nice Trump Train welcome. Get out there, have some fun, enjoy it. Don't forget to vote and bring all of your friends. Let's show them how strong Texas still is as Trump country. Get out there, guys."Some Trump supporters appeared to heed the call. At least one Facebook event with more than 700 responses, viewed by The Daily Beast, encouraged Trump fans to attend a Harris event in Fort Worth, Texas on Friday and "give Kamala Harris a big Texas welcome..... TRUMP STYLE!" The event was listed as canceled ahead of time, although its organizers acknowledged that some people might still try to attend, "and that's your right."Trump supporters have previously been accused of intimidation this election. In Beverly Hills, California this week, an Australian television personality filmed participants at a pro-Trump rally shouting at her and threatening her in her car. A man brandishing a Trump flag at her appeared to photograph her and take down her license plate number."We've got you now," the man shouted. "You're going to vote for Trump whether you like it or not, you've got no choice."When Biden spoke at a Minnesota event on Friday, the same day as his campaign was ambushed in Austin, Trump supporters in a caravan of vehicles reportedly surrounded the venue honking their horns and chanting.During early voting in the swing state of Virginia late last month, a caravan of Trump supporters drove to the Democratic-leaning Fairfax County and surrounded people in an early voting line, shouting at them on loudspeakers"We had a couple poll observers there that had to actually escort voters in because we saw people that would get to the edge of the parking lot, and see this giant group of Trumpers yelling and screaming," the executive director of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee told The Daily Beast at the time.'Daily Show's' Jordan Klepper Hits One Last 'Eerily Quiet' Trump RallyRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Tensions between left and right-wing protesters in Vancouver, Washington, after a Black man was shot dead by police officers in a drugs bust Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:11 AM PDT  Kevin E. Peterson Jr, 21, produced a handgun and was shot dead by deputies, said Clark County Sheriff's Office.
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| All-seeing French frigate flies flag in tense east Mediterranean Posted: 30 Oct 2020 01:52 AM PDT  Deep in the bowels of a French frigate cruising the tense eastern Mediterranean waters, a dozen men and women scan radar screens through the dark.
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| Death of Nebraska man whose body was mistaken for Halloween prank in 2016 still unsolved Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:37 PM PDT  Cornelius Hodges, 30, was found dead behind a house at 3009 Hamilton Street in Omaha, Nebraska, on Sunday, October 30, 2016. He had been missing since he left his mother's home at 41st and Ohio Streets around 1 a.m. on October 24 to walk to his apartment in downtown Omaha. His death was ruled a homicide but has never been solved. The Omaha Police Department is investigating.
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| 2020 election results: Why Americans probably won’t find out who won on 3 November Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:35 AM PDT  'There is no chance that we will know on election night the full vote total in Michigan'
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| COVID-19 means US Air Force bombers flying around the world are operating in a 'degraded' environment Posted: 30 Oct 2020 12:16 PM PDT  The ongoing pandemic "means that we can't always stick to the same timelines, the same procedures," Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Middents told Insider.
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| SBA presses big businesses to justify aid, sparking uproar Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:00 PM PDT  The questions posed by the SBA have rattled banks, which issued the loans and would be responsible for delivering the questionnaires to the agency.
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| 'Duck Dynasty' star Sadie Robertson calls COVID a 'really dark sickness' Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:36 PM PDT  "I'm not going to lie, I cried a lot," said the pregnant "Duck Dynasty" alum.
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| 'Outhustle the other side': Obama urges Michigan voters to oust Trump in first joint appearance with Biden Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:45 PM PDT  Former President Barack Obama tore into Trump, saying, "Tweeting at the TV doesn't fix things. Making stuff up doesn't make people's lives better."
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| China destroys domes of famous mosques as cultural whitewash continues Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:24 AM PDT  China's campaign to suppress Islam is accelerating as authorities remove Arab-style onion domes and decorative elements from mosques across the country. Stark changes have been observed at the main mosque in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia province, where most of China's Hui ethnic Muslim minority live. The bright green onion-shaped domes and golden minarets that used to soar into the sky atop Nanguan Mosque have all been pulled down. Golden Islamic-style filigree, decorative arches, and Arabic script that before adorned the mosque have also been stripped away. What remains is unrecognisable – a drab, gray, rectangular facility with "Nanguan Mosque" written in Chinese, as shown in photos posted online by Christina Scott, the UK's deputy head of mission in China, on a recent trip. "TripAdvisor suggested the Nanguan Mosque in Yinchuan well worth a visit," Ms Scott wrote on Twitter, along with 'before and after' photos. "Only this is what it looks now, after 'renovations.' Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing."
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| Turkey farmers in limbo as people scale back Thanksgiving plans Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:19 AM PDT  Millions of Americans are expected to have scaled-down Thanksgiving celebrations amid the pandemic, heeding official warnings against travel and large indoor gatherings.
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| A high school newspaper has exposed how state police quoted Adolf Hitler and advocated violence in a training manual Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:54 AM PDT  The training manual quotes from Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, calling for the "perpetually constant and regular employment of violence."
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| A new tropical depression formed in the Caribbean. It could become Tropical Storm Eta Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:13 PM PDT  A new tropical depression has formed in the Caribbean, putting the 2020 hurricane season within reach of breaking a slew of meteorological records.
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| They protested to oust their scandalous governor. Tuesday they'll vote to usher in a new era. Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:49 AM PDT  The election on the island follows the historic protests following the scandal that led to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló's resignation.
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| A Kansas business magnate's secret collection of more than 130 antique cars hidden in barns just sold for $2.5 million — see 16 of the priciest vehicles Posted: 31 Oct 2020 05:18 AM PDT  Kansas-based businessman Bob Regehr, the late inventor of the bounce house, kept his enormous car collection under wraps for decades.
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| ‘These guys are not very polite’: Biden calls Trump supporters who disrupted Minnesota rally ‘ugly folks’ Posted: 30 Oct 2020 03:27 PM PDT  Joe Biden lashed out at Minnesotans disrupting his campaign rally, saying the "ugly folks" were not polite for interrupting his speech criticizing Donald Trump over the Covid-19 pandemic. "Dr Fauci called for a mask mandate last week, this isn't a isn't political statement like those ugly folks over there beeping their horns, this is a patriotic duty for God sake," Mr Biden said. It is the second time in the past week that Mr Biden insulted disruptive Trump supporters after saying they were "chumps" in Pennsylvania last week, and it evokes the infamous "deplorables" speech from Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
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| Indonesia condemns France attacks, but warns against Macron's remarks Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:34 AM PDT  Indonesian president Joko Widodo on Saturday condemned what he called "terrorist" attacks in France, but also warned that remarks by President Emmanuel Macron had "insulted Islam" and "hurt the unity of Muslims everywhere." Conservative Islamic organizations in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, have called for protests and boycotts against France, sharing an image of Macron as a red-eyed devilish snail. "Freedom of speech that injures the noble purity and sacred values and symbol of religion is so wrong, it shouldn't be justified and it needs to stop," the Indonesian leader, who is known by his popular name Jokowi, said in a televised address.
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| The New Yorker ’s Hit Piece on Scalia’s Labor Dept. Was Too Good to Fact-Check, Emails Show Posted: 30 Oct 2020 02:37 PM PDT  President Trump's election led to an explosion in fact-checking as a journalism genre unto itself, but The New Yorker has been at it for nearly 100 years as part of the normal course of its work. And it takes pride in that pedigree.A 2009 piece in the magazine laid out the process, in which writers submit their stories and the fact-checking department painstakingly vets every detail that can possibly be vetted."Each word in the piece that has even a shred of fact clinging to it is scrutinized, and, if passed, given the checker's imprimatur, which consists of a tiny pencil tick," longtime editor Sara Lippincott, who worked in The New Yorker's fact-checking department from 1966 until 1982, once said. The firewall is real, and writers enjoy it. "The process of independently verifying every assertion of fact in a story — every detail and hypothesis — is such a valuable and endangered art these days," staff writer Evan Osnos wrote in 2009.But it seems the supposedly airtight process broke down in the case of a 7,000-word article by contributor Eyal Press on Labor secretary Eugene Scalia's alleged mishandling of COVID-related regulations, which appeared in The New Yorker's October 26 issue.Last week, the Department of Labor published a blog post claiming The New Yorker profile is "error-ridden" and relies on a combination of omission, inaccuracy, and outright spin to cast Scalia as "a wrecking ball aimed at workers" amid the ongoing pandemic.The Scalia article centers around the DOL's current practices at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), its regulatory agency.Press uses a number of anecdotes to make the case that Scalia's Labor Department poses a unique threat to worker safety: a former OSHA official who detailed how the agency "pulled off" inspectors doing a COVID-19 fatality inspection at a Walmart; a Virginia woman fired for requesting to work remotely who was "pressured" by an OSHA representative to "withdraw her complaint"; a McDonald's employee in Chicago who wrote to OSHA multiple times to complain about his working conditions and accused the agency of "not doing the job they're supposed to be doing."The allegations are certainly serious. But, according to emails and documents obtained by National Review, The New Yorker did not ask the DOL — which asked for and was given questions in writing — about any of the cases during their storied fact-checking process.Instead, The New Yorker asked DOL to verify easily searchable or outright absurd claims, including that "Secretary Scalia has a modest temperament," "Secretary Scalia graduated from the University of Chicago Law School where he was editor of the Law Review," and "Mr. Scalia was nominated by President George W. Bush as solicitor of the DOL, but he was not confirmed and instead was given a one-year recess appointment."Fact-checker Natalie Meade did state in a follow-up email that she could "have other questions that might be OSHA specific," but the only question that came was whether OSHA had "hired 40-50 new field safety inspectors/investigators across the country in recent months." DOL told her it was actually 114, but the detail was not included in the final piece.The article also prominently features an April policy memo on how OSHA would lower the requirements for tracking work-related coronavirus cases — a development "so roundly criticized that Scalia scuttled it." One critique of the proposed plan came from Joseph Woodward, a former OSHA associate solicitor from 1992 to 2014, who wrote an April 25 letter to the Labor Department urging a change.According to the article, Woodward's request was granted but Scalia wasn't happy about it."Scalia has bristled at criticism of his handling of the pandemic, accusing Woodward and others of failing to show 'due respect for the steps the dedicated men and women at OSHA are taking,'" Press wrote.The New Yorker does not attribute the "due respect" quote to anyone in particular, but an Internet search revealed that it comes from an April 30 letter Scalia wrote to AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka in response to a letter in which Trumka laid out his concerns about the DOL's COVID regulations."President Trumka, thank you again for your letter," the closing paragraph reads. "To reiterate, you make points we will consider. The coronavirus presents grave and shifting challenges that require sustained attention; we evaluate daily what additional steps we can and should take. I certainly share your concern for the workers who have died from COVID-19. And I respect all that the AFL-CIO and other unions have done through the years to protect workers. I ask that you show due respect for the steps the dedicated men and women at OSHA are taking now."Based on the letter's text, Press's claim that Scalia bristled at the request and accused Trumka of failing to show OSHA respect is misleading at best. And the implication that the letter — which does not even mention Woodward — could be construed as Scalia's expressing his discontent with Woodward is laughable; Woodward has told The New Yorker as much and asked them to correct the record."This is incorrect as to me," Woodward wrote in a subsequent letter obtained by National Review, which he sent to The New Yorker after Press's profile was published. "I appreciated that the Department took the issues discussed in my letter seriously and reversed its position. Scalia did not criticize me for writing the letter."Whether The New Yorker will publish Woodward's follow-up remains to be seen — a magazine spokesperson told National Review that "we stand by the story."Editor's Note: This piece has been updated with a comment from The New Yorker.
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| Former Venezuelan treasurer charged with accepting millions in Miami corruption case Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:26 AM PDT  A former Venezuelan national treasurer and her husband accepted massive bribes from a politically connected billionaire who paid them through U.S. bank accounts so he could gain access to the government's lucrative currency exchange system, according to a new federal criminal case filed in Miami.
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| Pattern flip to bring big changes across the US during 1st week of November Posted: 31 Oct 2020 03:21 AM PDT  In stark contrast to the wild weather during the last week of October, a tranquil and mild pattern is forecast to set up across a large swath of the United States during the first week of November. Forecasters say that residents in the Plains who were in the grips of bone-chilling cold, snow and ice this past week will be basking in September-like warmth by the middle of next week. Meanwhile, areas of the Northeast are also likely to turn milder, following a wintry blow from Sunday into Tuesday. "Next week will feature a much needed break in the active weather across most of the country. Outside of the Pacific Northwest, very little rainfall is expected," AccuWeather Long-Range Meteorologist David Samuhel said. The rather benign weather pattern will be thanks to a northward shift in the jet stream, or the fast river of air at the level that jets cruise which guides weather systems along. In its orientation for most of next week, the jet stream will guide storms into the Pacific Northwest and Canada, as opposed to the central or eastern U.S. This general west-to-east positioning of the jet stream allows mild air from the Pacific Ocean to flow freely across the country, with no intrusions of Arctic air from Canada. CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP As a result, daytime temperatures during the second half of next week may be upwards of 50 degrees Fahrenheit higher than during the core of the cold last week. Factoring in how it feels to residents in the area, the swing from the last week of October to the first week of November may be as high as 70 degrees. For example, Amarillo, Texas, had highs in the upper 20s with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures in the teens this past week, but may near the 80-degree mark by Thursday. "Temperatures will soar to well above-normal levels across the Rockies and Plains, with highs 10-15 degrees above average in some places," Samuhel said. This will result in highs in the 60s and 70s across the region with lower 80s possible in the southern Plains. "Temperatures will rebound to near normal across the Eastern states during the middle of the week, then back above normal late week into next weekend," Samuhel said. After spending Monday in the 40s with even lower AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures, temperatures in Boston and New York City are expected to rebound into the 60s by Thursday. Baltimore and Washington, D.C., could be up near 70 by next weekend. The stretch of mild and dry weather will offer up excellent traveling conditions and plenty of opportunities for people to get outside, do yard work or construction projects to be completed and farmers to tend to their crops. In addition, millions of Americans will be able to turn off the heater and at least get a brief reprieve from high heating bills ahead of the winter months. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Bed Bath & Beyond is slashing the coupons that have long been synonymous with the brand after an internal study found they were partially 'ineffective' Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:23 AM PDT  Bed Bath & Beyond's famous coupons will be more limited in the future, but won't completely disappear, executives told investors on Wednesday.
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| ‘I thought I was the only one’: This carrot-chopping ‘hack’ is shockingly popular Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:23 AM PDT  This is for anyone that despises — like, really despises — doing dishes.
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| Indian doctor duped into buying 'Aladdin's lamp' for $41,600 Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:59 AM PDT  The alleged con artists said the lamp would make him rich, and pretended to conjure spirits from the lamp.
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| Russian MMA star attacks 'brute' Macron over Islam Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Retired mixed martial arts champion Khabib Nurmagomedov on Friday denounced French President Emmanuel Macron as a "brute" and invoked God's wrath against him.
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| Illinois shatters single-day COVID-19 record set a day earlier with nearly 7,000 new cases Posted: 30 Oct 2020 03:56 PM PDT  CHICAGO — Illinois on Friday reported nearly 7,000 newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus, eclipsing a single-day record set just 24 hours earlier and pushing the total number of known cases since the pandemic began past 400,000. "This is an extraordinarily dangerous time," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said during his daily COVID-19 briefing. "And as a result, we must do everything in our power to ...
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| With the election approaching and cases rising, here’s how Trump talks about the coronavirus Posted: 30 Oct 2020 09:31 AM PDT 
As cases in the U.S. surpass 9 million and with the election just days away, here is how President Trump talks about the coronavirus pandemic at his rallies.
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