| Showdown in Congress between Trump, Democrats intensifies Posted: 21 May 2019 12:25 AM PDT  The clash between US President Donald Trump and the Democratic majority in Congress intensified on Monday, with the White House telling the president's former lawyer to ignore a subpoena to testify about Trump's alleged obstruction of justice in the Russia probe.
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| Rain, flooding expected in U.S. Southern Plains after deadly storms Posted: 22 May 2019 01:02 PM PDT  Weather forecasters on Wednesday expected drenching rains to roll into the storm-ravaged U.S. southern and central states, where thunderstorms and tornadoes killed at least three people and triggered widespread flooding. More than 30 tornadoes struck a swath from Texas to Iowa since Monday, according to the National Weather Service, and residents in at least three Oklahoma riverfront communities were urged to evacuate due to flooding. One person was killed and another was injured when a tornado struck the rural town of Adair, Iowa, about 50 miles (80 km)west of Des Moines, at about 1:30 a.m. local time, the weather service said.
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| Abducted Idaho girl found safe in Arizona, suspect jailed Posted: 21 May 2019 04:35 PM PDT  SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — A 17-year-old girl abducted from an Idaho fast-food restaurant where she worked was found safe in Arizona on Tuesday and the man accused of taking her was jailed on a $1 million bond, authorities said.
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| HUD Secretary Ben Carson mixes up a real estate term and Oreo sandwich cookies Posted: 21 May 2019 02:32 PM PDT  On Tuesday afternoon, Oreo responded on its official Twitter account. "REO stands for 'Really Excellent OREO (cookie).' Everyone knows that."
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| Minister Quits as May Resists Pressure to Go: Brexit Update Posted: 22 May 2019 11:45 AM PDT  Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee of rank-and-file Conservative MPs, confirmed he will meet with Prime Minister Theresa May on Friday, adding that he will follow that with a meeting of his committee's executive. Speaking to reporters in Parliament, Brady declined to comment on the question of changing party rules to allow an earlier leadership challenge against May.
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| AOC, Warren disappointed by 'Game of Thrones' finale: 'Ugh, this was written by men' Posted: 21 May 2019 09:49 AM PDT  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Elizabeth Warren were "sad" and "disappointed" by the much-anticipated "Game of Thrones" finale.
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| U.S. judge approves PG&E $105 million wildfire assistance fund Posted: 22 May 2019 11:23 AM PDT ![U.S. judge approves PG&E $105 million wildfire assistance fund]( "U.S. judge approves PG&E $105 million wildfire assistance fund") PG&E Corp may set up a $105 million housing fund for victims of 2017 and 2018 wildfires in California, which set records for devastation and were blamed on the utility's equipment, the judge overseeing the investor-owned power producer's bankruptcy ruled on Wednesday. Creditors, which include wildfire victims, are fighting for funds as PG&E navigates bankruptcy stemming from the blazes and as the state plans for increasingly long and dangerous fire seasons its officials attribute to climate change. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali at a hearing approved a motion by PG&E seeking permission to establish the fund for people who lost homes in the fires and were uninsured or have used up or will exhaust their insurance.
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| Don't Just Vacation in Any Old Airbnb When You Can Choose One on Wheels Posted: 21 May 2019 09:25 AM PDT |
| U.S. Intel to Congress: No Evidence al Qaeda Is Helping Iran Posted: 21 May 2019 01:52 PM PDT  Kena Betancur/AFP/GettyThe American intelligence community has no evidence that al Qaeda has cooperated with the Iranian government in its recent aggressive moves in the Persian Gulf region, a senior U.S. government official told members of Congress on Tuesday. That finding, which was relayed to The Daily Beast by three sources familiar with the matter, could undercut a potential legal case for going to war with Iran if tensions between Washington and Tehran keep escalating. The assessment was delivered in a classified briefing with dozens of House members on Capitol Hill. According to the three sources, one of the officials who briefed the members said the U.S. government does not have evidence of operational coordination between the Iranian government and the terrorist group responsible for 9/11 with respect to the current threat stream. The significance of the admission is likely to divide lawmakers. Democrats who worry about the prospect of war between the U.S. and Iran will likely say that the lack of intelligence means the Trump administration cannot use Congress's 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to fight al Qaeda as a legal basis to start a war with the regional power. Republicans, in contrast, are likely to view it as a non sequitur, arguing that the administration isn't trying to start a war but rather to act in defense of U.S. interests and forces in the Gulf region. Over the last decade, presidents from both parties have circumvented Congress when it comes to waging military campaigns. Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump have all used the 2001 AUMF to justify a wide range of military activity—drawing pointed but largely toothless criticism from Capitol Hill. Obama, for instance, used the 2001 AUMF to justify the American fight against the Islamic State, which did not exist in 2001. Trump Admin Moves Fueled Iran's Aggression, U.S. Intel SaysLast month, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo publicly connected Iran and al Qaeda, calling the ties "very real." "They have hosted al Qaeda, they have permitted al Qaeda to transit their country," said Pompeo, "There is no doubt there is a connection between the Islamic Republic of Iran and al Qaeda. Period, full stop."When Pompeo testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last October, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) pressed him on whether the 2001 AUMF would permit a war on Iran. "I would prefer just to leave that to the lawyers," he said, as France24 reported.Pompeo is not the only government official to see a connection between Iran and al Qaeda. In 2011, the Obama administration's Treasury Department accused the two of forming an alliance to move arms and fighters. In February of this year, The Washington Times, a conservative paper, ran a story citing anonymous Trump administration officials saying that Iran is "providing high-level al Qaeda operatives with a clandestine sanctuary to funnel fighters, money and weapons across the Middle East"—a claim the newspaper noted could be used to justify war. Increased tensions between the U.S. and Iran have generated concern on the Hill about an escalatory spiral. Earlier this month, the U.S. moved an aircraft carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf, with administration officials saying Iranian proxies were threatening U.S. forces in the region. That came after the administration eliminated sanctions waivers for countries looking to buy Iranian oil and after the administration designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group. The Daily Beast reported last week that officials in multiple U.S. government agencies have assessed that Iran's increasingly hostile behavior came in response to those moves. A year ago, the Trump administration withdrew the United States from an international deal with the Iranian government intended to keep it from developing nuclear weapons by trading caps and insight on their program for targeted sanctions relief. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Fears rise China could weaponise rare earths in US tech war Posted: 22 May 2019 03:53 AM PDT  The US has hit China where it hurts by going after its telecom champion Huawei, but Beijing's control of the global supply of rare earths used in smartphones and electric cars gives it a powerful weapon in their escalating tech war. A seemingly routine visit by President Xi Jinping to a Chinese rare earths company this week is being widely read as an obvious threat that Beijing is standing ready for action. Xi's inspection tour "is no accident, this didn't happen by chance," said Li Mingjiang, China programme coordinator at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.
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| With shelters at 'max' California border agents drop migrants at bus station Posted: 20 May 2019 08:08 PM PDT  U.S. Border Patrol in the El Centro area of southern California said it began to drop migrants off at San Bernardino's Greyhound Station on Wednesday after it ran out of room to hold them. "It was a decision that was made because they couldn't take any more families and obviously we cannot keep them in custody for much longer because we are at capacity," said Miguel Garcia, acting assistant chief patrol agent. Apprehensions of migrant families in California's El Centro sector rose 383 percent in the seven months through April from a year earlier as record numbers of mainly Central Americans crossed the border, Border Patrol data shows.
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| Starbucks customers sue claiming exposure to potentially fatal pest-control chemicals Posted: 21 May 2019 03:16 PM PDT  Starbucks is being sued by a group of New York City customers concerned about exposure to potentially-fatal pest-control chemicals.
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| Contempt or impeachment? Trump and Democrats locked in ultimate congressional battle Posted: 21 May 2019 11:00 PM PDT  The White House strategy appears to be designed to force the Democrats' hand, but lawmakers are treading cautiouslyThe Trump administration has attempted to block any and all requests from Democrats in Congress. Photograph: Carlos Barría/ReutersDemocrats grabbed control of the House of Representatives in January of this year determined to restore congressional oversight. But with the Trump administration now at a moment of reckoning, a battle royal has unfolded. What exactly is the White House doing?The Trump administration's strategy is simple: block any and all requests from Democrats in Congress, even if it means defying a subpoena, such as blocking compliance by former White House counsel Don McGahn, a key witness in the Mueller inquiry, to testify on Capitol Hill this week.Also this month, the attorney general, William Barr, has ignored a subpoena for the full report by Robert Mueller on his Trump-Russia investigation and treasury secretary Steven Mnuchin rebuffed a House request to hand over six years' of Trump's tax returns. Trump, who has dismissed the congressional inquiries as "presidential harassment", suggested the Democratic chairs of House committees instead turn their powers to investigating his former political opponent Hillary Clinton.> Why are the Democrats not looking into all of the crimes committed by Crooked Hillary and the phony Russia Investigation? They would get back their credibility. Jerry Nadler, Schiff, would have a whole new future open to them. Perhaps they could even run for President!> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 20, 2019The White House strategy appears designed either to force Democrats to take the administration to court – which could take years – or pull the trigger on impeachment. What can Democrats actually do?Democrats on the House judiciary committee have voted to hold Barr in contempt and have threatened to hold McGahn in contempt, too.The House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, said the chamber may consolidate multiple contempt citations against officials. Some Democrats cite the House's "inherent contempt" powers, which grant them the right to jail individuals in the Capitol – an action that hasn't been taken since the 1930s – or issue fines.Adam Schiff, the House intelligence committee chairman, suggested US officials held in contempt of Congress be fined $25,000 a day."We're looking through the history and studying the law to make sure we're on solid ground," Schiff told Axios in a recent interview.Others see the third branch of US government, the judicial branch, as the answer."The only recourse is litigation, which the president will likely lose, but it will cause delay," said Greg Brower, a former assistant director in the FBI's office of congressional affairs.The White House could drag court action out beyond the 2020 election. Is impeachment really in the cards?The heart of the debate among Democrats is whether or not to begin impeachment proceedings.Some rank-and-file lawmakers have already embraced the idea, stating the 11 instances outlined in Mueller's report in which Trump or his campaign sought to obstruct justice are reason enough alone.But Democratic leaders are treading cautiously, because they would never win a conviction in the Republican-led Senate.The American public is split on the issue , with polls showing a majority against it and support for the idea falling even among Democrats.Justin Amash, a representative from Michigan, just became the first Republican to call for impeaching Trump, an important bipartisan point that drew widespread backlash for him.And Jerry Nadler, Democratic chair of the powerful House judiciary committee, signaled impatience on Tuesday, after McGahn was a no-show to testify."We will not allow the president to stop this investigation, and nothing in these unjustified and unjustifiable legal attacks will stop us from pressing forward with our work on behalf of the American people," Nadler said."We will hold this president accountable, one way or the other."
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| Farage's Brexit Party to Trounce May, Sporting Index Says Posted: 21 May 2019 09:03 AM PDT  Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives will win seven, while Labour will take 13 and the Liberal Democrats 12, Sporting Index predicted in an email in London on Tuesday. Sporting Index has had a consistently strong record in predicting some of the key twists and turns of the Brexit saga. Last month, about two hours before the latest vote on May's Brexit deal, the spread betting firm forecast she'd lose by 60 votes.
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| After Huawei, U.S. could blacklist Chinese surveillance tech firm - media Posted: 22 May 2019 08:45 AM PDT  The U.S. administration is considering Huawei-like sanctions on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision, media reports show, deepening worries that trade friction between the world's top two economies could be further inflamed. The restrictions would limit Hikvision's ability to buy U.S. technology and American companies may have to obtain government approval to supply components to the Chinese firm, the New York Times reported https://nyti.ms/2MfgBS3 on Tuesday. The United States stuck Huawei Technologies on a trade blacklist last week, effectively banning U.S. firms from doing business with the world's largest telecom network gear maker, in a major escalation in the trade war.
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| I'm the same age as Elizabeth Warren. We 70-somethings have no business being president. Posted: 21 May 2019 11:57 AM PDT  I have nothing against old people — I'm one of them. But maybe it's time to add a maximum age limit to our minimum age requirement for our presidents.
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| British Steel collapses; thousands of jobs could go Posted: 22 May 2019 06:56 AM PDT  British Steel collapsed on Wednesday after the government said last-ditch talks with its owners failed to secure a full financial rescue. The High Court in London ordered British Steel Limited into compulsory liquidation, a statement said. "British Steel Limited was wound-up in the High Court" on Wednesday, meaning its assets would be sold to help pay debts.
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| Latest Sign of Beto O’Rourke’s Flameout: Opposition Research Requests Have ‘Died Off’ Posted: 21 May 2019 02:03 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyIn the days leading up to Beto O'Rourke's presidential campaign, a top Republican opposition research firm was brimming with requests from political reporters angling for dirt. America Rising, a political action committee that shared details of its internal inquiries with The Daily Beast, said the asks came from a dozen or more reporters and ranged from broad questions to more tailored points of interest. But 10 weeks after O'Rourke's official launch, those requests are virtually nonexistent."The requests for oppo on him have completely died off," a staffer at the oppo group said.The lack of oppo requests suggests a larger problem looming over O'Rourke's campaign: a visible decline in public interest. Once elevated to the top of Democratic watch-lists, the former congressman is now registering in single digits in several national polls, nosediving from 12 percent in a Quinnipiac poll conducted in March to just 5 percent in the same survey in April. And while he's beginning to roll out new hires in key voting states, some say he's already fallen behind other candidates whose field operations have been interfacing with voters for months. Beto O'Rourke Blew ItAmerica Rising, which has cornered the market on opposition research on the nearly two dozen presidential contenders, has tracked what it considers a steady decline in the public's interest in O'Rourke. The Republican National Committee, known for slinging insults about Democrats into mainstream consciousness, has not received any requests from reporters for O'Rourke information in recent weeks, according to a senior official. Typically, a high level of curiosity in revealing a candidate's political past is one indicator of their perceived viability. And a noticeable downtick in interest could signal an enthusiasm gap between where O'Rourke started and where he's ended up in two months. O'Rourke, himself, seemed to acknowledge the flagging interest in a recent interview with MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. "I recognize I can do a better job also of talking to a national audience," O'Rourke said. "I hope that I'm continuing to do better over time, but we've been extraordinarily fortunate with the campaign that we've run so far." His next big chance will be Tuesday night, when he'll appear in his first CNN town hall at 10 p.m. from Drake University in Des Moines. The network has previously hosted such events for several of his rivals, giving a boost to some lesser-known candidates early into their campaigns. On Monday, O'Rourke told reporters he would participate in a Fox News town hall, a general-election strategy favored by some 2020 hopefuls as an attempt to reach voters beyond the traditional Democratic base. But according to an analysis shared with The Daily Beast by Media Matters, a nonprofit that tracks right-wing coverage, even Fox News' daily mentions of O'Rourke online have visibly declined since he announced his bid, indicating that he may no longer be considered a serious threat as a Democratic contender. O'Rourke's campaign sees it differently: "From my perspective there's been no decline of oppo to respond to," a source within the campaign said. Press requests from print and television outlets, including bookers in charge of getting candidates on the air, have not declined since the launch, the campaign source added. While it's still early to plot ad buys—the Iowa caucuses are nine months away—a source who tracks ad information for multiple political campaigns says that O'Rourke's failure to get into that world early coincides with a frenzied campaign that's no longer top-of-mind for voters. "It fits with an overall theme of his campaign being a little disorganized," the source who analyzes political ads said. "He had such a moment in 2018 but it seems to have fizzled out."While no pollsters or ad makers have been hired, a source within O'Rourke's campaign first told The Daily Beast that they have been in initial discussions with various polling, data, and analytics firms, as well as outfits who do campaign ads. Bringing on a pollster had not previously been a top priority, the source said, adding that the campaign has been focused on talking to voters in 154 town halls and traveling to 116 cities.O'Rourke has made recent inroads on the political staffing front, bringing on Jen O'Malley Dillon, Jeff Berman, and Rob Flaherty, top talent from Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama's campaigns, among other recent national and state hires. But he has missed out on other high-level talent who wandered to other campaigns, multiple sources said.Meanwhile, other presidential campaigns have already hired staffers who previously worked with or expressed interest in O'Rourke. Shelby Cole, a top O'Rourke aide who helped him raise an eye-popping $80 million during his Senate campaign, joined California Sen. Kamala Harris' team as its digital fundraising director. Emmy Ruiz, who served as Clinton's state director in Nevada and Colorado in 2016, was thought to be seriously weighing joining O'Rourke before he announced, according to multiple Democratic sources unaffiliated with current campaigns. She later joined Harris as a senior adviser. One top Democratic operative admitted to eyeing O'Rourke for months, but changed candidate loyalty after reading his announcement article in Vanity Fair. "I was definitely interested in him back in January and February," the veteran operative said, who has since joined another presidential campaign in a top position. "The Vanity Fair story fed a fear I had, which was that he was a little too fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants," the veteran operative said. "I just felt that he hadn't totally thought this through. So that kind of soured me on him."—Asawin Suebsaeng contributed reporting for this article.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Mid-Engined Corvette Spied without Rear Wing Posted: 21 May 2019 09:48 AM PDT |
| Google changes policy to block misleading ads for anti-abortion groups Posted: 21 May 2019 06:07 AM PDT  Announcement comes after Guardian revealed Google gave $150,000 in free ads to opaque anti-abortion groupBeginning in June, Google advertisers will be required to be certified. The company has recently faced scrutiny for providing advertising to an organization that sought to deter women from getting abortions. Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty ImagesGoogle has changed its advertising policy after facing scrutiny for providing tens of thousands of dollars in free advertising to an anti-abortion group that runs misleading ads designed to deter women from terminating their pregnancies.Google announced this week that starting in June, advertisers running ads "using keywords related to getting an abortion" will first have to distinguish themselves as an organization that "either provides abortions or does not provide abortions", according to the new policy update.The policy change comes after the Guardian revealed the Obria Group ran ads suggesting it provides abortion services at its medical clinics, but actually sought to deter "abortion-minded women" from terminating their pregnancies.Obria runs a network of clinics known as crisis pregnancy centers across the US that provide some prenatal treatment, such as pregnancy tests, ultrasounds and counseling, but also seek to deter women from seeking abortions and do not offer referrals for alternative treatment.Obria was awarded a $120,000 Google advertising grant in 2015, according to a public filing. In 2011, it received nearly $32,000.The report led to pressure from lawmakers in Washington, who denounced the "intentional misinformation campaigns" of organizations such as the Obria Group.Carolyn Maloney, a senior Democratic congresswoman from New York, said in a letter sent to Google's chief executive, Sundar Pichai, that she was "appalled" by the report in the Guardian that Google awarded $150,000 in free advertising to the Obria Group, which Maloney said had a history of falsely advertising medical services to women."Google should in no way be subsidizing any misinformation campaigns, especially campaigns designed to deceive women about their own reproductive care options," Maloney said in her letter to Pichai."Your continued support of Obria Group's intentional misinformation campaigns denies women access to truthful information about their medical choices," she added.The letter was jointly signed with Suzanne Bonamici, a Democratic congresswoman from Oregon.Google had already come under pressure in the past for running advertisements that appear to violate its own policies against misrepresentation in advertising, yet the company continued to publish ads for clinics that seem to offer abortion services but are actually opposed to terminations and try to dissuade women from seeking them out.Pro-choice groups have welcomed the policy change. "Fake women's health centers have a well-documented history of using lies and deception to push medically inaccurate information and prevent women from accessing essential healthcare," said Adrienne Kimmell, vice president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. "People turn to the internet for information at vulnerable moments in their lives, and it's important that women are able to trust Google for access to accurate and safe information, not deceptive websites and advertisements that hide their true ideology and agenda."According to the new Google policy, advertisers must get certified by submitting an application that requires basic information about the organization."Depending on how you're certified, Google will automatically generate one of the following in-ad disclosures for your abortion product or service ads: 'Provides abortions' or 'Does not provide abortions'," the new policy reads."The disclosures will show on all search ad formats. This added transparency will help ensure that users have the necessary information to decide which abortion-related ads are most relevant to them."Adrian Horton contributed to this report
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| 'Nowhere for the water to go': Tornadoes, floods hit central US day after 20 tornadoes Posted: 21 May 2019 03:24 PM PDT  A tornado tore through a neighborhood near Tulsa International Airport on Tuesday as a powerful storm triggered flash flooding and washed out roads across parts of Oklahoma.
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| Marlen Ochoa-Lopez Death: Murdered Pilsen woman's family arrives in Chicago, visits baby in hospital Posted: 22 May 2019 05:02 PM PDT  Family members of a woman who police said was murdered and had her baby taken from her womb arrived in Chicago late Tuesday night ahead of her visitation and funeral.
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| Chip designer ARM halts work with Huawei after U.S. ban Posted: 22 May 2019 01:38 PM PDT  Huawei, in common with Apple Inc and chipmakers such as Qualcomm, uses ARM blueprints to design the processors that power its smartphones. "ARM is complying with the latest restrictions set forth by the U.S. government and is having ongoing conversations with the appropriate U.S. government agencies to ensure we remain compliant," an ARM spokesman said in a statement. "ARM values its relationship with our longtime partner HiSilicon (Huawei's chip arm) and we are hopeful for a swift resolution on this matter." Huawei said it valued its close relationships with its partners, but it recognized the pressure some of them are under "as a result of politically motivated decisions".
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| More House Dems come out for impeachment as McGahn defies subpoena Posted: 21 May 2019 08:28 AM PDT  The drumbeat among Democrats to begin impeachment proceedings against President Trump got a little louder Tuesday, when former White House counsel Don McGahn failed to appear before the House Judiciary Committee after Trump instructed him to defy a subpoena.
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| N. Korea state media hits out at 'imbecile' Biden Posted: 21 May 2019 07:22 PM PDT  North Korean state media on Wednesday slammed former US vice president Joe Biden as an "imbecile" and a "fool of low IQ" after he criticised leader Kim Jong Un. Biden, who served two terms as President Barack Obama's deputy, has been on the campaign trail since announcing last month his candidacy for the Democratic Party nomination in the 2020 presidential election. It accused Biden of "slandering the supreme leadership" of North Korea -- a term usually referring to leader Kim -- and said the former senator had become "reckless and senseless, seized by ambition for power".
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| Meghan McCain Demands to Be Taken Seriously by ‘The View’ Co-Hosts Posted: 21 May 2019 09:58 AM PDT  During Tuesday's broadcast of The View, co-host Meghan McCain seemed a bit irritated and annoyed with her colleagues for not taking her viewpoints on politics seriously enough, insisting at one point that she comes to the show every day to give a "different perspective" even though it is an "unpopular one."With the show hitting the air just moments after a House Judiciary Committee hearing adjourned following former White House counsel Don McGahn defying a congressional subpoena, the hosts jumped right into a debate over impeachment and whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.This prompted outspoken liberal co-host Joy Behar to take aim at the Republican Party as a whole for circling the wagons around Trump, insisting that if Richard Nixon were president today he "would have gotten away with everything just like this corrupt president is getting away with." She went on to say that Republicans taking Trump's side should all "be thrown into jail" to raucous applause from the audience.McCain eventually pushed back, saying Behar should hold Democrats who aren't currently pushing for impeachment to the same standard before telling her colleague (and frequent sparring partner) that she recognized she's "clearly frustrated," but that Behar's rhetoric is "dangerous.""Well, you know, it's what you call hyperbole," Behar said, causing McCain to say that it "doesn't sound that way to the Republican at the table."Adding that it felt a "little aggressive," McCain brought up that there were 10,000 people at Trump's Monday night rally in a Pennsylvania town as proof of Trump's popularity. Behar and co-host Sunny Hostin, meanwhile, joked that the president must have "imported" the rally attendees due to the town's small population of 4,000 people."Fine," McCain huffed, rolling her eyes, demonstrating clearly that she was "clearly frustrated."Howard Stern Defends Meghan McCain on 'The View': 'Give the Woman a Chance!'Co-host Whoopi Goldberg then jumped in to suggest that ignoring subpoenas should equal jail time, drawing cheers from the audience. This appeared to get on McCain's nerves. "I'll wait until everyone is done applauding," she said.McCain insisted she was simply trying to talk about the political ramifications of impeachment and congressional investigations, portraying herself as taking the only truly principled stand."The other thing I would like to make clear is I come here every day trying to show a different perspective and basically when I walk out of my apartment, it's an unpopular one but it's important to explain what's going on in Montoursville and why people would travel to see [Trump]," she declared. "He's still incredibly popular in states that matter and I'm trying to give you a warning shot of how you can blow this."In the following segment, the hosts had a wider discussion about Democrats challenging Trump in 2020, and Behar picked back up on McCain's purported concern about Dems seemingly blowing it against the president."I'm fascinated also that you're so concerned about the Democrats," Behar said. "Are you—do you want a Democrat to win?"Noting that in her "fantasy, Paul Ryan is president," McCain added that she "can't get behind any of these Democrats," prompting Behar to point out: "You seem worried about the Democrats because you bring that up."This caused the panel to highlight that McCain likes Joe Biden, resulting in the ex-Fox News host to say "everyone knows" that because he helped her through her father's cancer fight. She then seemingly wanted to continue to push the discussion before ultimately shutting down."I'm not changing your minds this morning, and honestly, I've said all I have to say," McCain concluded.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Researchers say a tiny planet slammed into the Moon a long time ago Posted: 21 May 2019 12:11 PM PDT  Earth's Moon only ever shows us one face. It's locked into its current orientation, with a permanent nearside and farside, but it wasn't until the Apollo missions that scientists were able to see just how different the two sides really are. The nearside, with its sea of dark gray basins standing in contrast to the brilliant white powder that covers the rest of its face, varies dramatically from the farside, which is marked with countless smaller craters in a more uniform distribution.The debate over how the Moon's split personalities developed has raged for decades, but new research seems to indicate that one of the possible explanations does indeed hold water. The theory, that Earth's Moon was struck by a tiny dwarf planet long ago, is the subject of a new research paper published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.Using computer models to simulate what may have happened to the Moon's surface long ago, researchers suggest the most likely scenario seems to be the collision between the Moon and a very large body. The impact of a dwarf planet as large as 480 miles across would have struck what we see today as the Moon's nearside at a speed of 14,000 miles per hour.This theory stands in contrast to other proposed explanations, including the theory that Earth may have once had not one Moon, but two. The two-moon theory suggests that Earth's moon duo may have at one point collided and merged, leaving the Moon as we see it today looking oddly unsymmetrical.The dwarf planet collision scenario assumes that whatever the body that struck the Moon was, it was in its own path around the Sun and just happened to be in the right place at the right time to strike Earth's natural satellite. This, the researchers say, would also explain why the crust on the farside of the Moon is different than that of its nearside."We demonstrate that a large body slowly impacting the nearside of the Moon can reproduce the observed crustal thickness asymmetry and form both the farside highlands and the nearside lowlands," the paper explains. "Additionally, the model shows that the resulting impact ejecta would cover the primordial anorthositic crust to form a two‐layer crust on the farside, as observed."
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| Will FAA's plan for 737 MAX fly outside US? Posted: 22 May 2019 02:29 AM PDT  Getting Boeing's top-selling 737 MAX back in the skies faces a critical test this week as the company and US regulators each seek to restore their reputations after two deadly crashes. The US Federal Aviation Administration convened a summit of global aviation regulators on Thursday to walk through the steps taken to address concerns with the MAX following criticism the agency dragged its feet on the decision to ground the jets. Most agencies around the world have said little or nothing about the situation since the 737 MAX was grounded following the March 10 Ethiopian Airlines crash, which together with a Lion Air crash in October, claimed 346 lives.
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| Elon Musk hires man behind 'absolute unit' sheep meme to run Tesla's social media Posted: 21 May 2019 10:38 AM PDT  * Adam Koszary's tweet of giant sheep went viral last year * Musk adopted image and description for his Twitter profileElon Musk is legally obliged to have his tweets checked by lawyers. 'My Twitter is pretty much complete nonsense at this point,' he observed last month. Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersElon Musk has reportedly hired the man responsible for a viral tweet about a giant sheep to be Tesla's social media manager.Adam Koszary, programme manager for the UK's Reading Museum and Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL), run by the University of Reading, will join Tesla in July, according to his Twitter account.The @TheMerl account went viral in April last year when it tweeted an old picture of a large ram with the caption: "Look at this absolute unit." The tweet has now been retweeted more than 31,000 times and has over 111,000 likes.> look at this absolute unit. pic.twitter.com/LzcQ4x0q38> > — The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) April 9, 2018Last month Musk changed his Twitter bio to "absolute unit" and his picture to the image of the sheep. @TheMerl returned the compliment by changing its bio photo to one of Musk.The tweet led to a series of messages from Musk ending with one reading: "My Twitter is pretty much complete nonsense at this point."> My Twitter is pretty much complete nonsense at this point> > — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2019Tesla was not immediately available for comment. It is not yet clear whether the sheep tweet was instrumental in Koszary's hiring.Musk has a troubled history with Twitter. The Tesla founder now has to have his tweets checked by lawyers after incorrectly claiming on social media that his company was close to a large investment from Saudi Arabia's largest investment fund.Tesla's share price has slid in recent weeks as investors worry the company is running out of cash.
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| American Airlines blames mechanics for 2,200 flight delays, cancellations, warns of summer travel trouble Posted: 21 May 2019 11:39 AM PDT ![American Airlines blames mechanics for 2,200 flight delays, cancellations, warns of summer travel trouble]( "American Airlines blames mechanics for 2,200 flight delays, cancellations, warns of summer travel trouble") American Airlines says a slowdown by mechanics led to nearly 2,200 flight cancellations, delays since February and has intensified.
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| Google Changes Policy after Backlash over Anti-Abortion Ads Posted: 21 May 2019 02:03 PM PDT  Google has adopted a more stringent policy regarding health-care and medical advertisements after facing severe criticism over reports it provided $150,000 worth of free advertising to pro-life crisis-pregnancy centers.Advertisers using "keywords related to getting an abortion" must now apply for a designation as an entity that either provides abortions or one that does not provide them, according to Google's policy update. Google will verify the information the advertiser provides and then automatically generate a disclosure in the ad that the advertiser either "Provides abortions" or "Does not provide abortions.""This added transparency will help ensure that users have the necessary information to decide which abortion-related ads are most relevant to them," Google said.The policy will go into effect in June and will apply to advertisers in the U.S., U.K., and Ireland.Google's decision comes after a report in the Guardian that Google provided a network of nonprofit pro-life clinics, the Southern California-based Obria Group, with $32,000 in 2011 and a $120,000 advertising grant in 2015."Google should in no way be subsidizing any misinformation campaigns, especially campaigns designed to deceive women about their own reproductive care options," said Representative Carolyn Maloney in a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai co-signed by Representative Suzanne Bonamici (D., Ore.)."The Google ad grants program is open to qualified nonprofits regardless of their position on abortion and we give grants to nearly 50,000 organizations globally that represent a wide spectrum of views and causes," Google previously explained.
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| College Admissions Scandal: 13 parents, 1 coach to plead guilty Posted: 22 May 2019 03:47 PM PDT  Thirteen parents and one university athletic coach will plead guilty to charges in the college admissions scandal that has been rocking the nation. Of the parents who intend to plead guilty, five of them are from the Bay Area.
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| Half of American adults expect war with Iran 'within next few years': Reuters/Ipsos poll Posted: 21 May 2019 09:37 PM PDT  While Americans are more concerned about Iran as a security threat to the United States now than they were last year, few would be in favor of a pre-emptive attack on the Iranian military. Historically tense relations between Washington and Tehran worsened in May after U.S. President Donald Trump hardened his anti-Iran stance and restored all sanctions on Iranian oil exports following his decision a year ago to pull the United States out of a 2015 international nuclear accord with Tehran. The United States moved an aircraft carrier and forces to the Gulf region in response to intelligence that Iran may be plotting against U.S. interests, an assertion Iran denies.
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| Russian bombers, fighters intercepted off Alaska: US military Posted: 21 May 2019 11:37 AM PDT  US fighters intercepted six Russian military aircraft in international airspace west of Alaska, and shadowed them until they exited the area, the North American Air Defense Command said Tuesday. The Russian aircraft included two Tu-95 strategic bombers, which were intercepted Monday by two F-22 fighters, the command said. A second group of two Tu-95 bombers and two Su-35 fighters were also intercepted by a pair of F-22 fighters, it said.
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| Secret Service Officers Are Being Sent to the Border Posted: 20 May 2019 06:10 PM PDT  Jose Luiz Gonzalez/ReutersThe U.S. Secret Service is now participating in a not-so-secret undertaking: dealing with the influx of migrants at America's southern border. According to a communication from the Department of Homeland Security's headquarters reviewed by The Daily Beast, the small law enforcement agency has sent personnel to the border already and is looking to send more in the coming weeks. The move came in response to a directive then-DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen sent out earlier this spring asking each component of the department to find volunteers and dispatch them to the border. Even though it's most closely associated with the White House, the Secret Service—along with a host of other entities and agencies—is a component of DHS. And as a result, it's shipping people south. A DHS spokesperson did not dispute this reporting. "As we have consistently said, the Department is considering all options to address the humanitarian and security crisis at our southern border," said the spokesperson. "We will continue to work with our workforce to find dynamic solutions and funding to address this very serious problem. As part of this effort, it is our responsibility to explore fiscal mechanisms that will ensure the safety and welfare of both our workforce and the migrant population, which is also reflected in the supplemental request submitted to Congress."The Daily Beast reported last week that the arm of DHS that handles threats to America's cybersecurity and critical infrastructure, called the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, has struggled to find enough volunteers to head to the border and fulfill DHS headquarters' request. The agency works to secure election systems, schools, and places of worship—all of which face acute threats. Besides protecting the president, the first family, and other prominent government figures, the Secret Service also conducts criminal investigations. Its focuses include financial crimes and cybersecurity threats. The diversion of law enforcement and national security personnel to the border has concerned some congressional Democrats, who say it may be a misuse of limited government resources. But pushing back against the dramatic increase in people trying to enter the U.S. through the southern border has become has become a singular priority of President Trump. In both March and April, law enforcement officials apprehended more than 100,000 people trying to enter the U.S., according to DHS statistics. During the Obama administration, the agency was beset by scandal: Washington socialites slipped past agents and crashed the president's first state dinner; a Secret Service agent told his counterparts to stand down after a man fired a gun at the White House, thinking the sound came from a car backfiring; an agent who traveled to Amsterdam with the president to protect him got drunk and passed out in a hallway; and more, as NBC News has detailed. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Latest migrant child death raises questions about U.S. detention practices Posted: 21 May 2019 01:57 PM PDT  The fifth Guatemalan child to die after illegally crossing the border since December, Carlos Vasquez's death at a Border Patrol station raises new questions about the length of time minors are being detained, as well as the conditions provided to them while in custody.
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| The Perfect Land Rover Discovery Is For Sale With Morris Leslie Posted: 22 May 2019 05:30 AM PDT  Land Rover's second-generation Discovery is largely ignored by those seeking a classic 4x4. The first-generation Land Rover Discovery broke new ground when it first hit tarmac in 1989. Some bemoaned that Land Rover's fresh addition to their showroom lacked the vagabond nobility and charisma of its plush brethren, yet they missed the point.
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| Tale of suicidal 'Handmaid' in New York goes viral Posted: 22 May 2019 11:48 AM PDT  A red-cloaked "Handmaid" ready to hurl herself off a Manhattan building, possibly unhinged by recent legislative assaults on the right to abortion? For months now, amid the #MeToo movement and challenges to the right to abortion in the United States and elsewhere, demonstrations by women dressed in costumes inspired by "The Handmaid's Tale" have multiplied. The hit television series based on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel evokes a world in which the United States has become a religious dictatorship where fertile women are enslaved and their rape is institutionalized.
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| Bigger cuts expected: 23,000 more Ford layoffs needed, analysts say Posted: 22 May 2019 08:14 AM PDT  Ford CEO Jim Hackett plans for layoffs won't deliver savings the company has said it wants. An analyst says another 23,000 layoffs are needed.
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| Google unveils a fresh new look for Search on mobile devices Posted: 22 May 2019 05:03 PM PDT  Google unveiled a new look and feel today for the way it presents Google Search results on mobile, and the update has been regarded in a few corners now as somewhat News Feed-like.It's easy to see why that's the case, as the search giant's changes include putting emphasis on a website name and favicon above the search results. Whereas the source of results had previously not been so clearly emphasized, which makes the new design for showing results feel a little like scrolling through a feed of posts from publishers and the like."With this new design, a website's branding can be front and center, helping you better understand where the information is coming from and what pages have what you're looking for," explains Google Senior Interaction Designer for Search Jamie Leach in a company blog post today. "The name of the website and its icon appear at the top of the results card to help anchor each result, so you can more easily scan the page of results and decide what to explore next."The post notes that the refreshed look for what's arguably Google's most important product will start showing up to users over the coming days. As part of the changes, Leach continues, when you search for a product or service and Google feels like it's got a relevant, "useful" ad that would be worth including in the results, you'll now see an ad label in bold at the top of a search results card. The web address will also be included, so you can quickly determine where the information you're seeing is coming from.The other important thing to note about the Google Search refresh on mobile is that this also lays the foundation for Google to add more action buttons and information previews to search results cards, with Google wanting you to be able to now do everything from buying movie tickets to playing podcasts right there from within the results. "Our goal with Search always has been to help people quickly and easily find the information that they're looking for," Leach says. "Over the years, the amount and format of information available on the web has changed drastically -- from the proliferation of images and video to the availability of 3D objects you can now view in AR." Which is why the company thought a "visual refresh" of Search on mobile would do a better job of helping people find the information they need and quickly determine where it came from.
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| New Feature on 2020 Chevrolet and GMC Models Won't Let Car Move Till Driver Fastens Seatbelt Posted: 21 May 2019 12:03 PM PDT  The new tech is called Buckle to Drive, and it rolls out on several Chevrolet and GMC models for 2020 as part of the Teen Driver package.
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| Trump Hits Biden for Minimizing China Threat to U.S. Economy Posted: 20 May 2019 06:10 PM PDT  "They want Biden so that China can continue to make $500 billion dollars a year and more ripping off the United States," Trump said at rally in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, on behalf of a Republican running in a special election for the House. Biden downplayed China while campaigning in Iowa City, Iowa, on May 1, drawing criticism from some of the other Democrats challenging him for the party's nomination.
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| 30+ Father’s Day Brunch Recipes, From Oreo Pancakes to Breakfast Burgers Posted: 21 May 2019 02:40 PM PDT |
| Iran Has Amassed the Largest Ballistic Missile Force in the Middle East Posted: 22 May 2019 03:13 AM PDT  Deterring regional adversaries from threatening Iran is the primary reason Tehran has amassed the largest ballistic missile force in the Middle East.The missile program actually began under the Shah, but it was accelerated during the Iran-Iraq War in order to threaten Saddam Hussein with strikes deep in Iraqi territory. Since then, Iran has worked with countries like Libya, North Korea and China in order to develop a large and diverse arsenal of ballistic and cruise missiles that form one part of its three-leg deterrent strategy. With Iran now using missiles in conflict, it's worth taking a closer look at the weapons in its arsenal.(This first appeared back in 2017.)Shahab-SeriesThe backbone of Iran's missile forces are the Shahab-series of liquid-fueled (mostly) short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM). There are three variants of the missile: The Shahab-1, Shahab-2 and Shahab-3. The Shahab-1 was the first missile Iran acquired and is based on the Soviet Scud-B missile. Iran reportedly purchased these initially from Libya and possibly Syria, but North Korea has been its main supplier. The Shab-1 has a reported range between 285–330 kilometers, and can carry a warhead of around one thousand kilograms. Iran is believed to have three hundred Shahab-1 rockets.
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| Democrat Cory Booker announces plan to protect abortion rights Posted: 22 May 2019 08:07 AM PDT  Booker proposed a new White House Office of Reproductive Freedom, whose mission would be "coordinating and affirmatively advancing abortion rights and access to reproductive health care" across all federal agencies. The announcement came one day after Booker joined several Democratic presidential hopefuls at an abortion rights rally outside the U.S Supreme Court after a series of state laws restricting abortion, including Alabama legislation passed last week that would criminalize virtually all abortions.
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| Eiffel Tower climber 'admitted to psychiatric unit' Posted: 21 May 2019 09:38 AM PDT  A man, believed to be Russian, who sparked a mass evacuation of the Eiffel Tower by scaling the iconic Paris landmark has been admitted to a psychiatric unit, legal sources said Tuesday. The man caused chaos Monday and the closure of the monument to tourists by spending six hours clinging to the outer metal framework of the Eiffel Tower. An investigation has been opened for unauthorised entry into a cultural monument, a judicial source said.
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