| AOC's first congressional endorsements reflect subtle shift away from outsider status Posted: 20 Sep 2019 02:00 AM PDT  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez appears to be playing more of an insider game in some of her recent endorsements. But she's insisting her insurgency is focused on policy, not merely disruption.
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| Bill de Blasio's net worth as he pulls out of 2020 presidential race Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:24 PM PDT  New York Mayor de Blasio announced that he is officially dropping out of the 2020 presidential race -- here's a look at his current finances.
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| 'It's happening': Alien enthusiasts descend on Area 51 for a UFO party Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:41 AM PDT  An event that began as a Facebook joke is expected to attract several thousand people to a remote area of the Nevada desert over the next three days.
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| Campaigning Trudeau vows Canada assault rifle ban Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:16 AM PDT  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, campaigning for re-election, vowed on Friday to ban assault rifles but fell short on handguns, saying only that he would help cities restrict pistols and revolvers in response to a spate of shootings. "You don't need military-grade assault weapons, ones designed to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time, to take down a deer," he told a news conference in Toronto. There have been 311 shootings in Canada's largest city so far this year, with gun violence having increased incrementally each year to almost triple the rate in 2014.
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| Dozens detained in Kazakhstan at anti-China protests Posted: 21 Sep 2019 06:36 AM PDT  ALMATY/NUR-SULTAN (Reuters) - Police detained dozens in Kazakhstan's two largest cities on Saturday as they took part in the latest protest against China's influence in the Central Asian republic. Neighboring China is already one of Kazakhstan's largest investors and trade partners and a plan to relocate a number of Chinese plants and factories to the former Soviet republic has faced public opposition. The latest round of protests on Saturday was organized by supporters of Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive banker living in France who has been the fiercest critic of Kazakhstan's first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
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| U.S. Plan to Add Mideast Troops After Attack Draws Pelosi Rebuke Posted: 21 Sep 2019 11:37 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. will send a "moderate" number of troops to the Middle East and additional missile defense capabilities to Saudi Arabia in response to last weekend's attack on oil facilities, top Pentagon officials said. The top Democrat in Congress said the actions are unacceptable.Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Friday that the decision came at the request of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and represented a "first step" in the U.S. response. He reiterated U.S. statements that evidence collected to date shows Iran was responsible for the attacks. The briefing by Esper and General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, followed a meeting of national security officials at the White House."Iran is waging a deliberate campaign to destabilize the Middle East," Esper told reporters at the Pentagon. He added that the U.S. has shown "great restraint" in responding so far, but called the strike on Saudi Aramco facilities on Saturday a "dramatic escalation."Esper and Dunford are still deciding on the specific number of troops and weapons systems but said the personnel deployment will be relatively small, not numbering in the thousands, and that more details would be forthcoming.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Saturday said the decision is an attempt by the administration to circumvent the will of Congress, which adopted resolutions to block arms sales to the Saudis and U.A.E. and condemn the Saudis for the "continued assault" on men, women and children."These unacceptable actions are cause for alarm," Pelosi said Saturday in a statement. "Americans are weary of war, and have no interest in entering another Middle East conflict, particularly on behalf of Saudi Arabia."In addition to the U.S. missile defense assistance, Esper said "we are calling on many other countries who all have these capabilities to do two things -- stand up and condemn these attacks" and also contribute equipment.U.S. and Saudi analyses of the attack have described the strike as complex, involving a mix of low-flying drones and cruise missiles coming from the north. The attack exposed glaring vulnerabilities in Saudi Arabia's defense capabilities despite having spent hundreds of billions of dollars on weaponry in recent years.Swarms of Drones"There's an international action led by the U.S. and in coordination with the Saudi kingdom to protect the navigation in the gulf and the Arabian sea," Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir said in a news conference in Riyadh on Saturday. This way "tankers and oil supplies are not subject to any complications from Iran," he said.Saudi Arabia has already taken delivery of Patriot-3 hit-to-kill missiles bought years ago to defend against cruise and ballistic missiles. The kingdom earlier this year finalized a long-sought after contract for Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Thaad missile interceptors designed to intercept ballistic missiles at higher altitudes. It's not known whether any Thaad batteries have been delivered."No single system is going to be able to defend against a threat like" the combination of systems launched against Saudi Arabia last week, Dunford said. "But a layered system of defensive capabilities would mitigate the risk of swarms of drones or other attacks that may come from Iran."U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, who has repeatedly said Iran was responsible for the attack, returned early Friday from a two-day trip to Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E., saying he wanted to begin building a coalition that would organize a response to Iran.During a news conference earlier Friday, President Donald Trump signaled he's trying to avoid a military conflict. Trump campaigned in 2016 on getting the U.S. out of Mideast conflicts and he's repeatedly criticized the second U.S. invasion of Iraq."I will say I think the sanctions work, and the military would work," Trump told reporters. "But that's a very severe form of winning."On Friday the Treasury Department announced it is sanctioning Iran's central bank and sovereign wealth fund, a move aimed at squelching any remaining trade the country conducts with Europe and Asia.The Blame GameIranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif warned that any U.S. or Saudi strike on his country in response to the attacks on the kingdom's critical oil facilities would lead to "all-out war.""I know that we didn't do it," Zarif told CNN. "I know that the Houthis made a statement that they did it."Zarif later said in a post on Twitter that it was "curious" the Saudis "retaliated" against Yemen when Iran was blamed for the attacks. "It is clear that even the Saudis themselves don't believe the fiction of Iranian involvement."Yemeni Shiite Houthi rebel leader Mahdi al-Mashat announced Friday the halt of drone and ballistic missile attacks on Saudi Arabia. He also called on the Saudi-led coalition to lift the blockade on the port of Hodeidah and reopen Sana'a International Airport."We judge other parties by their deeds and actions and not by their words," Saudi Arabia's Al-Jubeir said.\--With assistance from Dana El Baltaji, Donna Abu-Nasr and Salma El Wardany.To contact the reporters on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net;Glen Carey in Washington at gcarey8@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Kevin WhitelawFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran issues 'battlefield' warning and U.S. deploys troops Posted: 21 Sep 2019 08:10 AM PDT  Any country that attacks Iran will become the "main battlefield", the Revolutionary Guards warned Saturday after Washington ordered reinforcements to the Gulf following attacks on Saudi oil that it blames on Tehran.
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| At School, 'Everyone Vapes,' and Adults Are in Crisis Mode Posted: 21 Sep 2019 07:17 AM PDT  CRYSTAL LAKE, Ill. -- In Alabama, a school removed the doors from bathroom stalls to stop students from sneaking inside to vape. In Colorado, a school decided to forfeit a school volleyball game after finding "widespread vaping" and other infractions by the team. And in Pennsylvania, at a school where administrators have tried installing sensors to detect vaping in bathrooms and locker rooms, students caught with vape devices face a $50 fine and a three-day suspension.At least 530 people have been sickened by mysterious lung illnesses related to using e-cigarettes with nicotine or vaping THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and at least eight have died. That has sent high schools, the epicenters of youth vaping, racing to give teenagers a new, urgent message: Vaping can be deadly.Federal health officials have yet to pinpoint an exact cause of the recent illnesses, but the alarming pattern has put principals and teachers into crisis mode. They are holding assemblies to warn students about the dangers. They are getting creative with rules to make it harder for students to secretly vape in school bathrooms, hallways and even classrooms. They are trying to train parents and teachers on the wide array of vape devices, which look like pens or flash drives and which many adults do not even recognize.During an assembly at one suburban Chicago high school this week, hundreds of students, many dressed in school colors of orange and black in honor of homecoming, saw an X-ray image of a young man's lungs, cloudy and damaged, on an auditorium screen.He had recently been hospitalized after vaping and placed in a medically induced coma for a week, a substance-abuse consultant told the students from a stage."His lungs are now that of a 70-year -old. He's in his 20s," the consultant, Ashleigh Nowakowski, said. "Can you imagine how that's going to affect the rest of his life? He can't run. He can't play sports."The students watched solemnly. A few squirmed in their seats.Administrators at American high schools have long tried to warn students about the risks of vaping, which gained popularity several years ago as an alternative to cigarettes and works by heating liquid and turning it into vapor to be inhaled. But the outbreak of illnesses has brought new levels of urgency and attention to the issue. Students who had brushed off the warnings in the past, saying that vaping was relatively harmless, could no longer do so.After the assembly, at Crystal Lake Central High School, 45 miles northwest of Chicago, some students said they were skeptical that vaping was as dangerous as the presentation suggested.The students told of a high school ecosystem where vaping devices are easily obtained, and refill cartridges with THC oil, known as carts, are sold for $20 apiece. It is not uncommon, these students said, for seniors to sell vape pens to freshmen, eager to take up vaping.Opportunities to vape discreetly are everywhere, they said -- in an empty hallway, a bathroom stall or the back row of a classroom where a teacher cannot possibly monitor every student's move. Older students said they tended to leave campus for lunch, vaping in their cars along the way."It's rare to find someone who doesn't do it," said Alexis Padilla, 16, a junior. "You can't go on social media without someone's videos of them doing it."Last week, the Trump administration said it planned to ban most flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pods, an attempt to curtail use among teenagers. States tend to regulate e-cigarettes like other nicotine products, and laws vary from state to state. At least a dozen states have passed laws restricting sales of e-cigarettes to young people; in Illinois, Arkansas and other states, the legal age for purchasing nicotine products, including e-cigarettes, is 21. In Texas, minors can be fined for possessing e-cigarettes.But many teenagers sidestep the age restrictions by buying e-cigarettes online or from friends.In one group of the Crystal Lake students -- girls carrying patterned backpacks and wearing tattered Chuck Taylors -- three said they personally knew people who had become seriously ill after vaping.One friend who had vaped nicotine for two years using a Juul, the dominant seller in the market, was hospitalized with a respiratory lung defect, but has recovered, one student said. Another girl who vaped regularly suddenly couldn't breathe one day, the students said, and she now has to use an inhaler every four hours.Sophia Scarfe, a 17-year-old senior, said her parents routinely sent her news articles about the dangers of vaping. Many students have moved beyond vaping nicotine, she said, routinely using THC oils instead. "Vaping anything else other than nicotine is way more common," she said.Alcohol is still widely consumed among teenagers, they said. But "vaping is the big thing," said Nyanan Bey, 17, a senior.One student openly laughed when she heard a widely cited statistic from the 2019 National Youth Tobacco Survey that estimated that 1 in 4 youths between the ages of 12 and 17 have tried vaping nicotine or THC at least once."Yeah, that's too low," she said. "Literally everyone vapes."Health officials suspect that vaping-related illnesses and deaths are underreported, and that doctors have only recently begun to connect vaping to mysterious lung ailments.And educators said they were beginning to grapple with the reality that a new generation of American teenagers, who would be loath to pick up cigarettes, are now addicted to nicotine through vaping.There is nothing out of the ordinary about the students at Crystal Lake Central, a school of 1,500 students, said Steve Greiner, student services coordinator."The kids in our school are like any other school," he said. "People are really starting to realize, 'Holy cow, this was seen as the answer to our prayers to get people off cigarettes.' Now it's turned into this."Administrators there have stationed teachers in the hallways between classes to deter vaping. Some have worried that Crystal Lake is only 30 miles from a town in Wisconsin where the police this month said they uncovered an illegal vape-pen factory that was producing 3,000 cartridges of THC-laced oil a day, with a distribution network that is believed to have been extensive.At a separate informational session for teachers in the auditorium after school on Wednesday, another substance-abuse consultant guided teachers through the world of teenage vaping. The numbers "710" -- which spell "oil" upside down -- are a code for vaping, the consultant explained. Vaping devices might be found in unlikely, out-of-view places -- inside the cord of a hoodie or dangling from a key chain. "Girls sew them into their jeans, next to the zipper," Dave Shutters, the dean of students, added.In Crystal Lake, the typical response to a student caught vaping is counseling and other efforts to provide information about the dangers. Some schools have tried vaping support groups.At Nerinx Hall, an all-girls Catholic school in the St. Louis area, students are planning a peer-driven "amnesty week," where they hope to make an "emotional appeal" to one another and offer a chance to dump vaping equipment at a secure drop-off location, said Meta Stephens, the senior class treasurer."We really want it to be no pressure: You will not get in trouble for this," said Stephens, 17, who is helping plan the event this fall. "We really just want to help you stop if you want to."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Trump slams 'partisan' whistleblower, Biden pushes back Posted: 21 Sep 2019 12:22 AM PDT  US President Donald Trump on Friday vigorously rejected a whistleblower's claim of wrongdoing, amid reports he used a call with Ukraine's president to pressure him to investigate the son of Trump's Democratic rival Joe Biden. The whistleblower's secret complaint has triggered a tense showdown between Congress, whose Democratic leaders are demanding to review the complaint, and the executive branch which has barred them from doing so. It has also raised concerns Trump sought to strong-arm Ukraine into providing damaging information on the president's possible 2020 challenger, which would represent dangerous foreign meddling in the US election -- similar to the interference blamed on Russia in 2016, when Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.
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| 3 people have died as Tropical Depression Imelda strikes Texas with flash floods 'worse than Harvey' Posted: 20 Sep 2019 11:27 AM PDT  Tropical Depression Imelda may drop up to 35 inches of rain onto southeastern Texas, the same region devastated by Hurricane Harvey.
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| The Latest: Man suspected of shooting Chicago cop captured Posted: 21 Sep 2019 02:45 PM PDT  Chicago police say a man believed to be the suspect in the shooting and wounding of an officer has been shot and captured. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi (goo-lee-EHL'-mee) tweeted Saturday that officers apprehended a "person of interest" believed to be 45-year-old Michael Blackman following an armed encounter with officers and a daylong manhunt. Guglielmi says the individual was shot by police and no officers were injured.
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| New York Post blasts Bill de Blasio with 'obituary' for his ended presidential campaign Posted: 21 Sep 2019 11:48 AM PDT  The New York Post wrote that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's presidential campaign had "died" from "ego-induced psychosis."
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| Stacks of cash shown at trial of Sudan's toppled leader Bashir Posted: 21 Sep 2019 12:28 PM PDT  Stacks of cash piled high were shown as evidence on Saturday against ousted Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir at his trial on charges of possessing illicit foreign currency and corruption. Millions of euros and Sudanese pounds were found at Bashir's residence in April after he was overthrown and detained by the military following months of demonstrations against his rule. The court heard four defense witnesses on Saturday, including Abubakr Awad, who was minister of state for the presidency until Bashir's fall, before it was adjourned until next Saturday.
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| Could Bermuda feel effects from Jerry next week? Posted: 21 Sep 2019 03:08 AM PDT  While the worst of Jerry spared the northern Caribbean, forecasters believe the tropical storm will directly impact Bermuda next week.Jerry weakened from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm early Saturday morning while passing a few hundred miles to the north of the northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Jerry is seen swirling north of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico Saturday afternoon. (GOES-EAST/NOAA) Although Jerry has been moving towards the west-northwest over the past few days, a cold front set to sweep off the East Coast of the United States on Monday will pull the tropical system northward early next week.While this northward turn will spare the United States from direct impacts, Jerry will still enhance the rough surf battering Florida's east coast through the weekend.Jerry's expected northward turn may put the storm on a collision course with Bermuda. "Jerry will pass close to or perhaps over Bermuda Tuesday or Tuesday night," AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said.Jerry is expected to regain Category 1 hurricane status by this time. A Category 1 hurricane has maximum sustained winds of 74-95 mph with higher gusts. "Bermuda can experience potentially dangerous winds, flooding rain, storm surge and rough surf as a result of Jerry," AccuWeather Meteorologist Mary Gilbert said."These impacts will be amplified if Jerry does ultimately pass right over the islands," she added.Just this past week, former Major Hurricane Humberto unleashed fierce winds as it passed just to the north of Bermuda.Bermuda's building codes require dwellings to withstand sustained wind speeds of 110 mph (177 km/h), which is the equivalent of a high-end Category 2 hurricane. A majority of properties are made of stone and mortar.As a result, structural damage is likely to be minimal with Jerry, even with its projected path very close to or over Bermuda.However, strong winds can toss around loose items like toys and cause them to become potentially deadly projectiles. Power outages and tree damage may also occur.Residents should make sure to secure or safely house any outdoor furniture, planters or decorative items ahead of Jerry's arrival.Waterspouts can occur within Jerry's rain bands.The rain and wind could hinder any continued recovery efforts from Humberto, according to Gilbert.Conditions will dramatically improve across Bermuda later Wednesday as Jerry gets swept northeastward.AccuWeather meteorologists will be closely monitoring any potential impacts Jerry may have on Atlantic Canada late next week.In the wake of Jerry, several other tropical disturbances are being closely monitored across the Atlantic basin.
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| Kevin Hart Likely To File Lawsuit Against Company Who Built His Barracuda Posted: 21 Sep 2019 03:09 PM PDT  Hart along with the other two people involved in the crash are said to be armed with lawyers.Whenever anything happens to a celebrity, whether it's good, bad, major, or mundane, news circulates as fast as a dry Christmas tree going up in flames after being doused in gasoline. That's what happened with one of the biggest names in Hollywood today, Kevin Hart, when his insanely modified 1970 Plymouth Barracuda dubbed Menace was involved in a major accident on Labor Day weekend which left the classic in a pile of twisted metal.Now that actor/comedian Kevin Hart has been released from the hospital after sustaining three fractures to his spine that required back surgery, it is said that he is now in the process of preparing a lawsuit against Speedkore, the company who built his beastly 720-horsepower Plymouth Barracuda that was powered by a modern 6.4L Hemi V8 and topped with a Whipple supercharger. In addition, the driver, Jared S. Black, and the backseat passenger who sustained minor injuries, have also hired lawyers due to the lack of safety equipment in the car which is said to have a roll cage, airbags, and five-point harnesses. They believe the addition of these safety features would have prevented their injuries.According to TMZ, the big issue is that Speedkore should have refused the job to Hart even if he wanted the custom car to come without safety equipment. TMZ contacted 10 different custom car companies to see if they would still offer cars without safety equipment considering the Hart crash, and 8 out of 10 said that they still would.The California Highway Patrol is still investigating the crash but talks of changing the laws revolving around classic cars are already in the works. If this legislation is approved, that means that all cars, no matter how old, must have seatbelts or harnesses installed to be legal and road worthy. While safety is no doubt a priority, these classics have been around for decades without any of these features. Also, this means drilling holes into million-dollar Concours cars just to add tacky seatbelts that will hardly ever be used. Plus, it is not unheard of for these laws to trickle over to other states. So, if Kevin Hart, and the two others involved in the crash, file lawsuits against SpeedKore over safety equipment, what impact will that have on the impending changes on California laws regarding safety restraints in muscle cars? No doubt it would have a negative impact for classic car owners that are forced to drill into their beloved classic cars to add features they have never been equipped with.It was Labor Day weekend when Hart threw the keys to his powerful '70 Barracuda over to his friend, Jared Black. A female passenger crammed in the back, although, it is unsure where she was sitting due to a rear seat delete. They set off for Mulholland drive, an infamous road known as "The Snake" that is notorious for bad accidents. It features twists and turns with large drop-offs on each side. Black lost control of the car on Mulholland where it went down an embankment and crashed through a wooden fence. Both Hart and Black suffered back injuries, and the woman with them suffered minor injuries.One should know what could go wrong when toying with a car of that caliber. Knowing the raw power it possesses, and still getting rowdy with it anyway should not be a fault of the manufacturer, but the fault of those knowing and getting in anyway. Even the rear passenger got in knowing that there was no seat for her to occupy. Source: TMZ Read More... * Watch A 1970 Chevy Chevelle LS6 Barn Find * One-Up Your Buddies With This Monster 1972 Chevy C50
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| Israel Could Not Survive Hamas' Missiles Without The Iron Dome Posted: 21 Sep 2019 01:30 AM PDT  Israel lives in a dangerous neighborhood.
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| US sending more troops to Gulf, Trump announces Iran sanctions Posted: 20 Sep 2019 06:43 PM PDT  The United States announced Friday that it was sending military reinforcements to the Gulf region following attacks on Saudi oil facilities that it attributes to Iran, just hours after President Donald Trump ordered new sanctions on Tehran. Trump said the sanctions were the toughest-ever against another country, but indicated he did not plan a military strike, calling restraint a sign of strength. The Treasury Department renewed action against Iran's central bank after US officials said Tehran carried out weekend attacks on rival Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure, which triggered a spike in global crude prices.
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| Officials: Tour bus crash near national park in Utah kills 4 Posted: 20 Sep 2019 02:38 PM PDT  A tour bus carrying Chinese-speaking tourists crashed near a national park in southern Utah, killing at least four people and critically injuring up to 15 others, authorities said Friday.
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| History buff finds ships that sank in 1878 in Lake Michigan Posted: 20 Sep 2019 06:41 PM PDT  A diver and maritime history buff has found two schooners that collided and sank into the cold depths of northern Lake Michigan more than 140 years ago. Bernie Hellstrom, of Boyne City, Michigan, said he was looking for shipwrecks about 10 years ago when a depth sounder on his boat noted a large obstruction about 200 feet (60 meters) down on the lake bottom near Beaver Island. "I've made hundreds of trips to Beaver Island and every trip I go out the sounder is on," he told The Associated Press on Friday.
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| Imelda’s toll in Texas: Flooding and fears about a bridge Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT  As the remnants of the former Tropical Storm Imelda moved north on Friday, residents in southeast Texas awoke to shut down roads, scattered thunderstorms and the possibility of more flooding from a storm that became one the top 10 wettest in U.S. history.The storm that had barely earned a name — it briefly ranked as a tropical storm before being downgraded to a tropical depression — took many residents by surprise with its relentlessness, rekindling memories from when Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rainfall in some areas and caused dozens of deaths in 2017.
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| DHS contradicts Candace Owens on same day she testifies before Congress about white nationalism Posted: 20 Sep 2019 07:18 PM PDT  Conservative commentator Candace Owens said white nationalism is "just election rhetoric" on the same day DHS added violent white supremacist extremist to its list of priority threats.
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| Ethiopia says detains suspected Islamist militants planning attacks Posted: 21 Sep 2019 12:32 PM PDT ![Ethiopia says detains suspected Islamist militants planning attacks]( "Ethiopia says detains suspected Islamist militants planning attacks") Ethiopia said on Saturday it had arrested an unspecified number of Islamist militant members of the Somali group al Shabaab and Islamic State who were planning to carry out attacks in the country on various targets including hotels. Some of those arrested were carrying out intelligence work including photographing potential targets, the National Intelligence Security Services (NISS) said in a statement read out on state-affiliated broadcaster Fana. "The group was ... preparing to attack hotels, religious festivities gathering places and public areas in Addis Ababa," NISS said.
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| Europe Has Its Very Own Missile Defense System Posted: 20 Sep 2019 07:00 PM PDT  The Aster missile defense idea might end up being a victim of politics.
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| United States announces military response and Iran sanctions after attacks on Saudi oil facilities Posted: 20 Sep 2019 08:39 PM PDT  The United States announced on Friday it would send military forces to the Gulf following attacks on Saudi oil facilities, hours after Donald Trump ordered new sanctions on Tehran. Mr Trump said the sanctions were the toughest-ever against another country, but indicated he did not plan a military strike, calling restraint a sign of strength. The Treasury Department renewed action against Iran's central bank after US officials said Tehran carried out weekend attacks on rival Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure, which triggered a spike in global crude prices. Those attacks, combined with an Iranian attack on an American spy drone in June, represented a "dramatic escalation of Iranian aggression," Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said. The Pentagon chief announced that the United States would send military reinforcements to the Gulf region at the request of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The US blamed Iran for the attacks on Saudi Aramco Credit: AP "In response to the kingdom's request, the president has approved the deployment of US forces, which will be defensive in nature, and primarily focused on air and missile defense," Mr Esper said. However Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford categorized the deployment as "moderate," with the number of troops not expected to reach the thousands. Earlier in the day the president attacked both critics who thought the mogul-turned-president would trigger war and hawks seeking a military response. "The easiest thing I could do (is) knock out 15 different major things in Iran," Mr Trump said. "But I think the strong-person approach and the thing that does show strength would be showing a little bit of restraint." Saudi Arabia on Friday revealed extensive damage from the strikes on state giant Aramco's facilities in Khurais and the world's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq. Strikes against Saudi oil plants The attacks, which knocked out half of Saudi Arabia's oil production, have been claimed by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels, but Washington has pointed its finger at Tehran, condemning the strikes as an "act of war." Abqaiq was struck 18 times while nearby Khurais was hit four times in a raid that triggered multiple explosions and towering flames that took hours to extinguish, Aramco officials said. The United States already maintains sweeping sanctions on Iran including on its central bank, with anyone who deals with it subject to prosecution, due to Tehran's alleged nuclear program. But the new sanctions Friday were imposed for the additional reason of "terrorism," the Treasury said, adding that Iran's central bank had provided "billions of dollars" to two groups blacklisted by the United States. Iran responded that the move showed that the US was running out of options. Mr Trump recently said that he hopes for talks with Mr Rouhani, who responded that Trump must first ease sanctions. Last year Mr Trump pulled out of a nuclear accord with Iran negotiated under former president Barack Obama, sending tensions soaring as he tried to stop all countries from buying Iran's oil.
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| Navy Orders Trial for Two in Hazing Death of Green Beret Logan Melgar Posted: 20 Sep 2019 02:33 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/handoutA Navy SEAL and a Marine will be tried for the hazing death of Green Beret Logan Melgar, who was allegedly duct-taped and put in a chokehold by his military comrades in Mali two years ago.The Navy announced Friday that Marine Raider Gunnery Sgt. Mario Madera-Rodriguez, 34, and Navy Special Operations Chief Tony DeDolph, 40, were referred to a court-martial on murder and other charges that could land them with life sentences.An admiral made the decision after the evidence against the pair was laid out at a hearing in Norfolk, Virginia, last month, where two other military men who copped pleas took the stand against DeDolph and Madera-Rodriguez.According to testimony by Marine Staff Sgt. Kevin Maxwell and Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam Matthews, Melgar ditched the rest of the team on the way to a party at the French embassy—and they decided to get revenge by hazing him.In the dead of night, they used a sledgehammer to break into Melgar's room and then rushed him. DeDolph allegedly applied a choke hold while Matthews and Maxwell duct-taped Melgar's arms and legs. "The overall intent wasn't to hurt him," Matthews said.How a Green Beret's Hazing Led to Murder Charges for Elite TroopsProsecutors alleged that the group also planned to have a local man molest Melgar, but the admiral declined to add sexual misconduct charges to the court-martial.DeDolph's attorney, Phil Stackhouse, has argued the evidence does not support murder charges."Clearly what happened is a horrible, tragic accident," Stackhouse said. "Based on all the facts in this case, nobody went into that room to kill Staff Sgt. Melgar."Two Alleged Murderers of Green Beret Sgt. Logan Melgar Are Negotiating with ProsecutorsRead 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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| On Kavanaugh and the FBI, time to investigate the investigation: Sen. Whitehouse Posted: 20 Sep 2019 02:00 AM PDT  Why didn't the FBI pursue tip-line leads and interview witnesses? As a US attorney, I wouldn't have made charging decisions on such cursory work.
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| The Best Pocket Knives to Keep on You Every Day Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:35 AM PDT |
| '90s kids were asked to do 'simple things' to save the Earth. Gen Z is thinking bigger Posted: 20 Sep 2019 11:37 AM PDT  A 1990s book told kids of the "simple things" to do to affect the environment. Today, many say bigger changes are needed to stop climate change.
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| Meghan McCain storms off 'The View' after sparring with Ana Navarro: Watch Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:43 AM PDT  Conservative 'The View' pundit Meghan McCain walked off set on Friday following a blow-up with guest co-host Ana Navarro.
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| Rudy Giuliani's quest for dirt on Biden via Ukraine – a timeline Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:00 PM PDT  A public claim by Trump's personal lawyer that the former vice-president had acted improperly set off a troubling chain of eventsDonald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has coffee with Ukrainian-American businessman Lev Parnas at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, on Friday. Photograph: Aram Roston/Reuters 7 AprilRudy Giuliani alleges on Fox News that former vice-president Joe Biden was involved while in office in irregular activity in Ukraine. The lawyer claims Biden pressed for the dismissal of a top Ukrainian prosecutor who had been leading a corruption investigation into a gas company on whose board Biden's son Hunter had served. 25 AprilBiden launches his presidential campaign. 1 MayThe New York Times reports that Giuliani has been urging Ukraine to conduct a new investigation into the activities of Joe and Hunter Biden. "Giuliani called Mr Trump excitedly to brief him on his findings," the paper says. 10 MayGiuliani cancels a trip to Ukraine. He had planned to travel to Kiev to put pressure on President-elect Volodymyr Zelensky to reopen investigations, in the hope of dredging up dirt on the Bidens. The lawyer described the aim of his aborted visit as "meddling in an investigation" and admitted "somebody could say it's improper". 20 MayZelensky assumes the Ukrainian presidency. 25 JulyKey telephone call takes place, between Trump and Zelensky. The call now appears to be at the centre of the whistleblower complaint filed the following month. 12 AugustWhistleblower complaint is filed by a member of the intelligence community, raising an "urgent concern" relating to the president's actions. 21 AugustGiuliani reveals that in August he travelled to Madrid to meet a top Ukrainian official, Andriy Yermak. He "strongly urged" Yermak to reinvestigate the Bidens, among other matters. "Just investigate the darn things," Giuliani says he told the official. The lawyer insists he is acting as a "private citizen", though it later emerges the meeting was arranged with the help of Kurt Volker, US envoy to Ukraine. 9 SeptemberLeading Democrats in Congress write to the White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, requesting all documents relating to any effort by Trump to put pressure on the Ukrainian government to help with his re-election bid. The letter accuses Trump and Giuliani of acting "outside legitimate law enforcement and diplomatic channels" to harm Biden's campaign. 13 SeptemberAdam Schiff, Democratic chair of the House intelligence committee, subpoenas the Trump administration, demanding that the whistleblower complaint be handed over. Refusal to do so by the director of national intelligence, a Trump appointee, sparks an constitutional tug-of-war. 18 SeptemberThe Washington Post reveals that the whistleblower complaint concerns Trump's "communications with a foreign leader" and a "promise" that was regarded as "troubling". 19 SeptemberGiuliani is interviewed by Chris Cuomo on CNN and in a heated exchange at first denies that he asked Ukraine to investigate Biden. About 30 seconds later, he reverses himself. "Of course I did," he says.
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| Saudi Aramco has emerged from attacks 'stronger than ever': CEO Posted: 21 Sep 2019 12:03 AM PDT  Saudi Aramco has emerged from attacks on its oil facilities "stronger than ever", Chief Executive Amin Nasser told employees in a message, adding that full oil production would resume by the end of this month. "The fires that were intended to destroy Saudi Aramco had an unintended consequence: they galvanized 70,000 of us around a mission to rebound quickly and confidently, and Saudi Aramco has come out of this incident stronger than ever," Nasser said in the internal message, on the occasion of the Saudi national day, to be celebrated on Sept. 23. Six days after the assault, which hit at the heart of the Saudi energy industry and intensified a decades-long struggle with arch-rival Iran, the state oil giant Aramco invited reporters on Friday to observe the damage and the repair efforts.
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| White supremacist who praised ‘psychedelic Nazis’ caught with stockpile of guns and LSD Posted: 21 Sep 2019 03:14 AM PDT  In a secret chat last November, according to court filings, two associates of a violent white supremacist group discussed whether drug use was in line with their political beliefs."Psychedelic Nazis . . . There's nothing more Aryan than entheogenic drug use," Andrew Thomasberg, 21, texted a friend, according to prosecutors, referencing plants that have psychedelic effects. But, he added, "Drug addiction is untermensch" – a Nazi term for people considered subhuman.
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| India Has Reason To Fear China's Submarines In The Indian Ocean Posted: 21 Sep 2019 12:30 AM PDT  What could happen?
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| After Iran bombs Saudi oil infrastructure, should the United States retaliate? Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:16 AM PDT  Iran's attack reveals weakness. Trump can do nothing and wait for sanctions to continue crushing the mullahs' regime.
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| GM CEO Mary Barra Says Company Aims to Sell 1 Million EVs a Year Posted: 21 Sep 2019 08:00 AM PDT  Barry believes General Motors can expand beyond the Chevy Bolt to a full, big-selling EV lineup.
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| 2 Muslim men say American Airlines canceled flight after crew 'didn’t feel comfortable' Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:03 PM PDT  Two Muslim men say American Airlines profiled them and canceled their flight after crew members said they "didn't feel comfortable" flying with them.
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| Meghan Markle's stylish Stuart Weitzman boots are almost 70 percent off -- and they're perfect for fall! Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:19 AM PDT  The duchess is known for a few signature looks when it comes to her royal style: a messy bun, a sleek pantsuit and her affinity for Stuart Weitzman heels.
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| Bill Maher Makes the Case for Joe Biden: He Is ‘Mildly Embarrassing’ But Not ‘Insane’ Like Trump Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:16 PM PDT  HBOHBO's Bill Maher ended his Friday night broadcast of Real Time by taking aim at Republicans and conservative pundits who defend President Donald Trump regardless of what he says and does, introducing a new concept: Catch-23.During his "New Rules" segment, Maher explained to his viewers that "Catch-22 meant if you claimed to be insane to get out of combat, it actually proved you were sane." On the other hand, "Catch-23 is if Donald Trump never makes you insane, you are insane!"Noting that Republicans love to toss around the term "Trump Derangement Syndrome" to brush aside criticism of the "Dear Leader" as nothing but liberals being "sore losers" who can't accept Trump is president, Maher admitted there was some of that on the left before asking: "Have you watched this man over the last four years?!"Playing a montage of Trump's most bizarre moments at his campaign rallies, the HBO star snarked that Republicans somehow came to the conclusion that this was "how a president behaves" before pointing out that conservatives were correct to say liberals haven't gotten over Trump.John Oliver Drags Joe Biden Over 'Record Player' Gaffe at Democratic DebateBill Maher Exposes Tomi Lahren on 'Real Time' "You're right. we haven't gotten over it, because no one should," he exclaimed.Maher went on to highlight the president taking North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Saudis at their words, adding that this is "what Trump Derangement Syndrome really is: pretending that all of this is perfectly acceptable behavior for an American president and defending the indefensible.""That's deranged," he quipped. "That's a syndrome. And it's coming from the right. It's like body odor: if you smell it all the time, it's probably you."This prompted the acerbic comic to make a case for supporting Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden even if he "rapidly declines and legit loses his mind," telling Republicans: "I am going to pretend 'nothing to see here,' just like you're doing now."Maher would go on to encourage Democrats to vote for Biden even if he devolves from the current "mildly embarrassing gaffe machine who mixes up stories and waits 'til he's onstage for his eyeball to explode and his dentures to fall out.""That guy would not be nearly broken and crazy enough to teach the Republicans the lesson they need to learn," he noted. "For this, I need Joe Biden to be full-on, forgot-to-wear-pants, crumbs-in-the-hair, screaming-at-the-toaster nuts!"Maher continued: "And when Republicans say, 'Wait a minute, how can you give unwavering support for someone who's clearly lost it?' I'll say, 'I don't know, you tell me.'"The veteran comedian told his audience that in private, they'll go ahead and admit that their guy is nuts, but publicly they'll be in full denial mode, pointing to Fox Business host Stuart Varney's assertion that Trump has never lied as a prime example of how to act.Rolling his eyes at Varney's obsequiousness, Maher said he wanted to see Biden do "every fucked-up thing a celebrity ever did"—such as wear a meat dress or interrupt Taylor Swift at an awards show—just so he could tell Republicans that Biden's "a different kind of president.""And after he plows the presidential limousine through a farmer's market, I'll say, 'Why so upset, Republicans? That's just Biden being Biden,'" Maher concluded.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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