| Hillary Clinton to Trump on a 2020 rerun: 'Don't tempt me. Do your job.' Posted: 08 Oct 2019 02:51 PM PDT  Responding to President Trump's sarcastic suggestion that Hillary Clinton should run for president again in 2020, Clinton tweeted back: "Don't tempt me. Do your job."
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| America Needs Turkey More Than It Needs to Stay in Syria Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:03 AM PDT  Perhaps Washington has finally realized that it can no longer be an effective player in the Middle East without Ankara.
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| No, Betsy DeVos is not going to jail Posted: 08 Oct 2019 09:28 PM PDT  A judge said to Betsy DeVos' department: "I am not sending anyone to jail yet, but it's good to know that I have that ability." The internet exploded.
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| 10 Cheapest New Cars for 2020 Posted: 09 Oct 2019 02:05 PM PDT |
| A family found more than half a million dollars in cocaine on the beach during their vacation Posted: 08 Oct 2019 07:55 PM PDT  A man and his family discovered 20 bricks of cocaine while on vacation in South Carolina, estimated to be worth $600,000.
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| Shooting in Germany was anti-Semitic attack - interior minister Posted: 09 Oct 2019 10:00 AM PDT ![Shooting in Germany was anti-Semitic attack - interior minister]( "Shooting in Germany was anti-Semitic attack - interior minister") German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Wednesday that a shooting in eastern Germany was anti-Semitic, adding that federal prosecutors who have taken on the investigation thought there were signs that it could be a right-wing extremist attack. According to the federal prosecutors' office, there are enough indications that it was possibly a right-wing extremist motive.
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| Evidence from ex-Dallas cop's murder trial fuels mistrust Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:39 PM PDT  Evidence from the trial of a former Dallas police officer convicted of killing her neighbor has fueled new questions about whether accused officers are treated differently than other suspects, including testimony that a camera in the cruiser where the officer sat after the shooting was flipped off and that her sexual text messages with her partner were deleted. It also has led Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall to announce the internal affairs department would look into the deleted texts and deactivated camera. The Dallas County District Attorney's Office declined to comment Wednesday on whether it is also investigating.
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| Francis Currey, one of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies at 94 Posted: 08 Oct 2019 10:09 PM PDT ![Francis Currey, one of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies at 94]( "Francis Currey, one of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies at 94") Francis Currey, one of three living World War II Medal of Honor recipients, died on Tuesday, NEWS10 reports. He was 94.Currey, from Selkirk, New York, joined the U.S. Army at 17, and was a technical sergeant. He was in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, and because he wasn't given proper winter gear, was suffering from frostbite. On Dec. 21, 1944, German tanks approached Currey and his company while they were guarding a bridge crossing. A rifleman, Currey exposed himself to enemy fire as he shot and killed several Germans. During the intense fighting, he also used anti-tank grenades and a bazooka against the Germans, and was able to rescue five Americans who were taking fire inside a building.Currey received the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and Medal of Honor, the highest decoration of valor. In 1998, his likeness was used to create the Medal of Honor G.I. Joe.
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| Xinjiang: The making of China's far west police state Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:14 PM PDT  China's all-encompassing security crackdown in Xinjiang has turned the northwest region -- home to most of the country's ethnic Uighur population -- into a place activists describe as an open air prison. Upwards of one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region are held in re-education camps, according to estimates cited by a UN panel in 2018. The United States blacklisted 28 Chinese entities this week over their alleged roles in rights violations in Xinjiang and said it would also curb visas for officials involved in "detention or abuse" of minorities.
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| Minneapolis mayor responds to Trump: I don't have time to be 'tweeting garbage out' Posted: 08 Oct 2019 02:27 PM PDT  Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey hit back at President Trump regarding the use of the Target Center for a Thursday campaign rally.
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| 67 Years Worth Of Corvettes Head To Chattanooga Motorcar Festival Posted: 09 Oct 2019 04:48 PM PDT  From an original 1953 C1 to the all-new mid-engine C8, the Corvette will be well represented.When the first-ever Chattanooga Motorcar Festival kicks off this weekend, visitors will be treated to an amazing assortment of Chevrolet Corvettes. The GM Heritage Center, National Corvette Museum and Revs Institute are all teaming up to assemble a collection of eight of the most important Corvettes from the last 67 years.According to a press release issued by the NCM, an original 1953 C1 Corvette will be on hand as will an all-new 2020 C8 Corvette. In all likelihood, this will be the first time these two generations of the Chevrolet Corvette have been assembled for the public to see. In 1953, only 300 Corvettes were built, and all were hand built and painted Polo White with a red interior. The 2020 Corvette was introduced this summer, and it introduces a mid-engine layout that Chevrolet has been teasing since the '60s.One of the C8's mid-engine predecessors will be on hand with the 1972 Corvette XP-895 concept vehicle (shown above), but that won't be the only Corvette concept at the show. The 1969 Manta Ray Concept and 2009 Centennial Concept will also be there; the Centennial Concept was introduced as the Autobot "Sideswipe" in 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Rounding out the exciting list of Corvettes, there will be a 1959 Corvette Stingray Racer Prototype as well as two of the rarest Corvettes of all time: a 1963 Corvette Z06 split-window racecar and a 1963 Corvette Grand Sport. Only six of the '63 Z06 Corvettes were ever built, and that's one more than the Corvette Grand Sports. The Grand Sport on display is the fourth built out of five.The inaugural Chattanooga Motorcar Festival will be held October 11-13 including a cars and coffee event on Friday and a Concours show with over 100 cars, racecars and motorcycles lining the streets of downtown Chattanooga, Tennessee. Related Articles... * Never-Titled 1991 Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1 Sold For $40K * Millennial Saves 1982 Chevrolet Corvette From Decade Of Neglect
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| Lights out? PG&E plans to shut off power for more than 800K customers in California to reduce wildfire risk Posted: 09 Oct 2019 07:53 AM PDT  Pacific Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison may shut off power for nearly a million customers in an effort to prevent wildfires.
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| Chevy Colorado Will Look a Little Cooler for 2021 Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:45 PM PDT  All Colorados get different badging and a tweaked front end, and the ZR2 and Z71 off-road models benefit from a new color.
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| US meth lab strikes in Afghanistan killed at least 30 civilians says UN Posted: 09 Oct 2019 02:36 AM PDT  An American blitz on dozens of Taliban drug factories in Western Afghanistan killed at least 30 civilians and may have left dozens more dead, a United Nations report has found. United States aircraft struck more than 60 methamphetamine labs earlier this year during a one-day onslaught to deny Taliban insurgents income from the lucrative drug trade. The raids killed at least 30 civilians according to a UN investigation and may have killed a further 30. The UN also said the raids broke international law because drugs workers are not considered a legitimate military target. American forces in Afghanistan immediately disputed the reports findings, saying they disagreed with the UN's methods, analysis and "narrow definition" of legitimate targets. A spokesman said the labs had been under lengthy surveillance before they were struck and "extraordinary measures" had been taken to avoid killing civilians. Col Sonny Leggett said he was "deeply concerned" by the UN's methods and findings. Taliban insurgents have long been accused of obtaining huge sums from the country's extensive opium trade, as militants tax production and levy protection money. Methamphetamine production has recently been added to the country's drugs business, with UN officials earlier this year warning seizures were growing exponentially. The May 5 raids in Farah and Nimroz province were carried out after "comprehensive intelligence confirmed that all personnel inside of the laboratories were Taliban combatants", the US told investigators. Investigators verified 30 civilians killed and nine injured, including 14 children, but said they were investigating "reliable and credible information" another 30 civilians were also killed, the UN said. The UN in its report contended the drug facilities were owned and operated by criminal groups, so "did not meet the definition of legitimate military objectives under international law." The factories and workers inside "may not be lawfully made the target of attack based on their possible economic or financial contribution to the war effort of a party to a conflict," it concluded. The US, however, insisted the labs were run and owned by the Taliban, who used revenue to "fund ongoing indiscriminate violence against innocent Afghans".
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| Wealthy couple gets prison terms for U.S. college admissions scam Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:56 PM PDT  The founder of a food and beverage packaging company and his wife were each sentenced to one month in prison on Tuesday for their roles in what prosecutors say is the largest college admissions scam uncovered in the United States. Gregory and Marcia Abbott received lighter sentences than the eight-month terms sought by federal prosecutors in Boston after they admitted to paying $125,000 to have a corrupt test proctor secretly correct their daughter's answers on college entrance exams. The couple's sentence by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also includes a requirement that they each pay a $45,000 fine.
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| EPA: Our goal is to improve California’s air quality Posted: 09 Oct 2019 01:14 PM PDT  'If the EPA disapproves ... that triggers statutory clocks for highway funding sanctions. ... We request a response from (California) by Oct. 10'
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| House Panel Cites Concern About Redactions: Impeachment Update Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:16 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump won't cooperate with House Democrats' impeachment inquiry, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that called the investigation "unauthorized" and "invalid."Here are the latest developments:Redactions in Mueller Inquiry Interviews (8:14 p.m.)Lawyers for the House Judiciary Committee raised concerns about redactions in the FBI reports of interviews that were part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation.The committee didn't find out until a court hearing on Tuesday that portions of the reports that the Justice Department has already provided were redacted for either "executive branch confidentiality interests" or "presidential communications," according to a filing Wednesday in federal court in Washington.The Justice Department so far has not provided a line-by-line explanation for each redaction in the reports, the House lawyers said. Instead, portions of the reports are "simply blacked out without any explanation," they said. They expect to challenge certain redactions once they know what the reasons behind them are, according to the filing.Pence Willing to Release Ukraine Transcript (7:05 p.m.)Vice President Mike Pence said he'd have "no objection" to releasing transcripts of his calls with Ukrainian officials."I'd have no objection to that and we're discussing that with the White House counsel as we speak," Pence told reporters Wednesday in Iowa when asked whether he'd release the records.Fox News Poll Shows 51% Want Trump Removed (6:25 p.m.)A Fox News poll shows that 51% of voters want Trump impeached and removed from office, up from 42% in July.According to the Fox poll published online Wednesday, 4% want him impeached but not removed, and 40% don't want him impeached. In addition, 51% of voters said they think the Trump administration is more corrupt than previous administrations, up from 46% in September.Three polls published Tuesday showed that a majority of Americans support House Democrats' impeachment inquiry.Whistle-Blower Not Political, Lawyer Says (5:19 p.m.)The whistle-blower "has never worked for or advised a political candidate, campaign, or party," the person's lawyer, Mark Zaid, said on Twitter.Hours earlier, Trump tweeted that the whistle-blower is a "big Democrat" with ties to one of the president's Democratic opponents. Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, acknowledged the whistle-blower has "arguable political bias" in favor of a rival candidate in an Aug. 26 report.Zaid said the whistle-blower's entire government career was spent in apolitical, civil servant positions in the executive branch. In that role, the whistle-blower came into contact with presidential candidates "from both parties in their roles as elected officials -- not as candidates," the lawyer tweeted.Other sources have confirmed "virtually every substantive allegation" by the whistle-blower, Zaid said. -- Laurie AsseoGraham Wants Transcript of Volker Testimony (3:37 p.m.)Republican Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said it would be an "abuse of power" if House Democrats refuse to release a transcript of closed-door testimony by Kurt Volker, the former special envoy to Ukraine."If this continues, I will call Volker before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify publicly to ensure the full story is told," Graham said on Twitter.Graham previously said he'll call Trump's private lawyer Rudy Giuliani to testify about Ukraine. -- Tyler PagerBiden Says Trump Should Be Impeached (1:51 p.m.)Joe Biden said for the first time Wednesday that Trump should be impeached. He made the declaration in a speech in Rochester, New Hampshire.Biden had yet to explicitly call for Trump's impeachment, saying Congress would have no choice but to impeach if the Trump administration refused to cooperate with a probe into his behavior. -- Tyler PagerGowdy Dropped By Fox After Joining Trump Team (12:49 p.m.)Fox News said Trey Gowdy will no longer contribute to its television programs after the former South Carolina representative agreed to help Trump fight his impeachment."Trey Gowdy has been terminated and is no longer a contributor," the network said in an email.Gowdy will be acting as outside counsel for Trump in the impeachment battle, working with the president's personal lawyer Jay Sekulow, according to a person familiar with the matter. -- Jennifer JacobsYovanovitch Unlikely to Appeal Friday (12:41 p.m.)Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled by Trump as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, isn't expected to appear voluntarily on Friday, as scheduled, for closed-door testimony before House committees leading the impeachment investigation, said a House official.White House Counsel Pat Cipollone notified the House on Tuesday that the president and his administration won't cooperate with the inquiry, which Cipollone declared unconstitutional and invalid.The Democrats heading those committees have decided that -- given the White House position -- a subpoena to Yovanovitch would do more to protect her legal options than if she defied the administration and appeared voluntarily. -- Billy HouseTrump Claims Whistle-Blower 'Conflict of Interest' (7:45 a.m.)Trump attacked the unnamed whistle-blower whose complaint is a part of the House impeachment inquiry as having a "conflict of interest."Trump, in a Wednesday morning tweet, seized on a claim being made in conservative media that the whistle-blower had "involvement with a Democratic Candidate" and called for the unidentified U.S. intelligence community employee to be "exposed and questioned properly.""The Whistleblower's lawyer is a big Democrat. The Whistleblower has ties to one of my DEMOCRAT OPPONENTS. Why does the ICIG allow this scam to continue?" the president said in another tweet.Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the intelligence community, acknowledged the whistle-blower has "arguable political bias" in favor of a rival candidate in an Aug. 26 report but said it did not undermine the credibility of his complaint. The whistle-blower's complaint "appears credible," Atkinson said in the report.Portions of the whistle-blower's complaints have already been substantiated by the White House release of a summary of a July 25 phone call in which Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, now a 2020 political opponent. -- Jennifer A. DlouhyKey EventsA senior administration who briefed reporters Tuesday said the administration will halt all participation in the inquiry, including declining to provide documents, even those sought by subpoena, or make officials available to give testimony. The official didn't rule out cooperating if circumstances changed.House Republicans met with Trump after being blindsided by the administration's decision to prevent Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, from testifying in the inquiry. The administration committed to work more closely with congressional Republicans on the inquiry.Three House committees subpoenaed Sondland to testify on Oct. 16 and to produce records from his personal devices two days earlier.\--With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Billy House, Jennifer Jacobs and Tyler Pager.To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Joshua Gallu, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Details emerge about people taken to hospital after Disney World Skyliner incident Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:43 PM PDT  After Walt Disney World Resort's new aerial cable car system, the Skyliner, stranded passengers for hours on Saturday, Disney is testing the service.
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| California governor signs law capping rent increases Posted: 08 Oct 2019 04:56 PM PDT  California will limit rent increases for some people over the next decade after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Tuesday aimed at combating a housing crisis in the nation's most populous state. Newsom signed the bill at an event in Oakland, an area where a recent report documented a 43% increase in homelessness over two years. Sudden rent increases are a contributing cause of the state's homeless problem, which has drawn national attention and the ire of Republican President Donald Trump.
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| Yes, America Probably Has Secret Stealth Drones Around Iran Posted: 09 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT  So much spying.
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| Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam says she isn't ruling out Chinese military intervention as the city's violence appears unending Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:25 AM PDT  Lam said the government hopes to resolve the crisis itself but not would not rule of Beijing's involvement if the uprising "becomes so bad."
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| German Interior Minister: Yom Kippur Shooting was Anti-Semitic Attack Posted: 09 Oct 2019 03:41 PM PDT  German officials called a live-streamed shooting at a synagogue Wednesday in the city of Halle an anti-Semitic attack after the gunman denied the Holocaust and denounced Jews on the stream before embarking. Two people have been killed and another two are seriously injured, according to Reuters, and a suspect is in custody. The gunman attempted to force his way into the synagogue, but was unsuccessful after finding the gates shut. The man then went on a shooting spree, killing a woman outside and a man in a nearby kabob shop.Max Privorozki, Halle's Jewish community chairman, told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper that approximately 75 people were in the synagogue observing Yom Kippur, known as the Day of Atonement which is the holiest day of the Jewish year and is marked by fasting and solemn prayer."We saw via the camera system at our synagogue that a heavily armed perpetrator with a steel helmet and a gun tried to shoot open our doors," he said. "We barricaded the doors from inside and waited for the police."The attack was streamed on Twitch, an online streaming service popular with gamers and a subsidiary of Amazon's. An Amazon spokeswoman said that the platform "worked with urgency to remove this content and will permanently suspend any accounts found to be posting or reposting content of this abhorrent act."In the aftermath of the attack, German Chancellor Angela Merkel visited a Berlin synagogue where a vigil was being held outside. Merkel's spokesman tweeted: "We must oppose any form of anti-Semitism."Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted condolences to families of the victims and called on Germany to fight anti-Semitism."The terrorist attack against the community in Halle in Germany on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our nation, is yet another expression that anti-Semitism is growing in Europe," he said.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Dodge Charger Widebody Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:12 AM PDT |
| Victor the eagle's bird's eye view of the Alps raises climate change awareness Posted: 09 Oct 2019 07:13 AM PDT  Victor, a nine-year old white-tailed eagle, set off this week on a mission to raise awareness of climate change in the Alps, which have already been hard hit by the rise in global temperatures. Equipped with a 360-degree camera mounted on his back, Victor soared above Mont Blanc and was set to take in five countries in five days, filming some of the world's most spectacular scenery. Victor is part of the Alpine Eagle Race project, which aims to raise awareness of melting glaciers and other effects of global warming through the combined eyes of the eagle, a photographer and a scientist.
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| Florida man accused of giving beer to an alligator Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:06 PM PDT  Timothy Kepke and Noah Osborne were arrested Oct. 3. Each was charged with unlawfully taking an alligator, a felony.
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| Justice Department investigating potentially serious allegations against Robert Mueller Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:09 PM PDT  Fox News has learned that Mueller was not accurate when he told Congress that he was not interviewing for the position of FBI director when he met President Trump in the Oval Office in May 2017; chief White House correspondent John Roberts reports.
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| Expert: America Could Defeat China's Anti-Ship Missiles Posted: 08 Oct 2019 08:00 PM PDT  America's carriers would ultimately win out.
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| The Latest: Officials: Be kind to PG&E workers amid shut-off Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:32 PM PDT  Authorities are asking the public to be kind to frontline utility workers in California as anger mounts against Pacific Gas and Electric over a power shutdown. PG&E is cutting power to customers in 34 counties as dry, gusty winds create dangerous wildfires conditions. The utility's faulty equipment was to blame for a deadly fire a year ago that killed 85 people and nearly wiped out the town of Paradise.
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| Neil Gorsuch fears 'massive social upheaval' if Supreme Court rules in favor of civil rights protections for LGBTQ workers Posted: 08 Oct 2019 12:22 PM PDT ![Neil Gorsuch fears 'massive social upheaval' if Supreme Court rules in favor of civil rights protections for LGBTQ workers]( "Neil Gorsuch fears 'massive social upheaval' if Supreme Court rules in favor of civil rights protections for LGBTQ workers") Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is expected to be the deciding vote in a ruling over whether the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to LGBTQ people. Gorsuch, a conservative who has shown a propensity for carving out his own judicial path, said there are strong arguments favoring LGBTQ workers who were fired for their sexual orientation or transgender status, but he wasn't quite ready to rule in their favor, calling the cases "really close."One of the things Gorsuch is considering is the aftermath of the ruling. He wondered whether the justices should take into account the "massive social upheaval" that could follow a ruling in the workers' favor.That reasoning led to a little bit of head scratching.> So Neil Gorsuch apparently was concerned today about "massive social upheaval" if SCOTUS rules LGBTQ can't be fired under Civil Rights Act. > > Except, 21+ states have these laws now, including his beloved Colorado, where he was law professor. > > There's been no upheaval.> > -- Michelangelo Signorile (@MSignorile) October 8, 2019The justice also hinted that, although he is "with" the workers "on the text," he thinks that it may be up to Congress, not the Supreme Course to handle this situation, since it likely couldn't be determined whether the 1964 law meant to include sexual orientation or gender identity. "It's a question of judicial modesty," he said.
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| The Rich Really Do Pay Lower Taxes than You Posted: 08 Oct 2019 12:24 PM PDT  Almost a decade ago, Warren Buffett made a claim that would become famous. He said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, thanks to the many loopholes and deductions that benefit the wealthy.His claim sparked a debate about the fairness of the tax system. In the end, the expert consensus was that, whatever Buffett's specific situation, most wealthy Americans did not actually pay a lower tax rate than the middle class. "Is it the norm?" fact-checking outfit PolitiFact asked. "No."Time for an update: It's the norm now.For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans last year paid a lower total tax rate -- spanning federal, state and local taxes -- than any other income group, according to newly released data.The overall tax rate on the richest 400 households last year was only 23%, meaning that their combined tax payments equaled less than one quarter of their total income. That was down from 70% in 1950 and 47% in 1980.For middle-class and poor families, the picture is different. Federal income taxes have also declined modestly, but these families haven't benefited much, if at all, from the decline in the corporate tax or estate tax. And they now pay more in payroll taxes (which finance Medicare and Social Security) than in the past. Overall, their taxes have remained fairly flat.The combined result is that over the last 75 years the U.S. tax system has become radically less progressive.The data here come from the most important book on government policy that I've read in a long time -- called "The Triumph of Injustice," to be released next week. The authors are Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, both professors at the University of California, Berkeley, who have done pathbreaking work on taxes. Saez has won the award that goes to the top academic economist under age 40, and Zucman was recently profiled on the cover of BusinessWeek magazine as "the wealth detective."They have constructed a historical database that shows how much households at different points along the income spectrum have paid in taxes going back to 1913, when the federal income tax began. The story they tell is maddening -- and yet ultimately energizing."Many people have the view that nothing can be done," Zucman told me. "Our case is, 'No, that's wrong. Look at history.' " As they write in the book: "Societies can choose whatever level of tax progressivity they want." When the United States has raised tax rates on the wealthy and made rigorous efforts to collect taxes, it has succeeded in doing so. And it can succeed again.Saez and Zucman portray the history of U.S. taxes as a struggle between people who want to tax the rich and those who want to protect the fortunes of the rich. The story starts in the 17th century, when northern colonies created more progressive tax systems than Europe had. Massachusetts even enacted a wealth tax, which covered land, ships, jewelry livestock and more.The southern colonies, by contrast, were hostile to taxation. Southern plantation owners worried that taxes could undermine slavery, as historian Robin Einhorn has explained, and made sure to keep tax rates low and tax collection ineffective. (The hostility to taxes ultimately hampered the Confederacy's ability to raise money and fight the Civil War.)By the middle of the 20th century, the high-tax advocates had prevailed. The United States had arguably the world's most progressive tax code, with a top income-tax rate of 91% and a corporate tax rate above 50%.But the second half of the 20th century was mostly a victory for the low-tax side. Companies found ways to take more deductions and dodge taxes. Politicians cut every tax that fell mostly on the wealthy: high-end income taxes, investment taxes, the estate tax and the corporate tax. The justification for doing so was usually that the economy as a whole would benefit.The justification turned out to be wrong. The U.S. economy has not fared better when tax rates are lower. Lower taxes on the wealthy instead end up benefiting the wealthy, not society as a whole. The great decline in high-end taxation has happened over the same period that economic growth has been disappointing and middle-class income growth even worse.That's the maddening part of the story. The energizing part are the solutions that Saez and Zucman propose. They call for a set of policies that would raise the overall tax rate on the wealthiest Americans to about 60% (still not as high as in 1950). Doing so would bring in about $750 billion a year, or 4% of GDP, enough to pay for universal pre-K, an infrastructure program, medical research, clean energy and more. Those are the kinds of policies that really do lift economic growth.One crucial part of the agenda is a minimum global corporate tax of at least 25%. A company would have to pay the tax on its U.S. operations even if it set up headquarters in Ireland or Bermuda. Saez and Zucman also favor a wealth tax; Elizabeth Warren's version is based on their work. And they call for the creation of a Public Protection Bureau, to help the IRS crack down on tax dodging.I already know what the critics will say about these arguments -- that the rich will always figure out a way to avoid taxes. That's simply not the case. True, they will always be able to avoid some taxes. But history shows that serious attempts to collect more taxes usually succeed.Ask yourself this: If efforts to tax the superrich were really doomed to fail, why would so many of the superrich be fighting so hard to defeat those efforts?This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| U.S. arrested nearly 1 million migrants at border in past 12 months Posted: 08 Oct 2019 06:35 PM PDT  In fiscal year 2019, which ended last week, U.S. immigration authorities apprehended or turned away more than 977,000 migrants along the southern border
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| UPDATE 1-Iran's Rouhani urges Turkey to avoid military action in Syria Posted: 09 Oct 2019 03:01 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Iran's Rouhani urges Turkey to avoid military action in Syria]( "UPDATE 1-Iran's Rouhani urges Turkey to avoid military action in Syria") Iran's President Hassan Rouhani called on Turkey on Wednesday to show restraint and avoid military action in northern Syria, as Ankara's forces were poised to advance into an area there being vacated by the U.S. military. As Rouhani spoke, Iran's Army Ground Forces began an unannounced military drill in the northwest of the country that borders Turkey, the Iranian Students' News Agency ISNA reported.
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| During the Vietnam War, Commandos Sunk a U.S. Aircraft Carrier Posted: 09 Oct 2019 12:05 AM PDT  It was a huge blow.
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| Blizzard Employees Staged a Walkout to Protest Ban of Pro-Hong Kong Gamer Posted: 09 Oct 2019 12:11 PM PDT  SOPA Images/GettyA small group of Activision Blizzard employees walked out of work Tuesday afternoon to protest the company's actions against a gamer who expressed support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong during an official livestream.The game publisher behind online multiplayer hits like World of Warcraft and Overwatch banned Hong Kong-based professional Hearthstone player Chung Ng Wai from thegame's lucrative pro league for a year on Tuesday. Chung, who uses the handle "Blitzchung," prompted the ban after saying "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times" during an interview about his tournament wins. Blizzard's actions forced him to forfeit $10,000 in prize money he had already won."The action Blizzard took against the player was pretty appalling but not surprising," a longtime Blizzard employee told The Daily Beast. "Blizzard makes a lot of money in China, but now the company is in this awkward position where we can't abide by our values.""I'm disappointed," another current Blizzard employee said. "We want people all over the world to play our games, but no action like this can be made with political neutrality." The employees spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of professional consequences.Protesting Blizzard employees from multiple departments gathered at an iconic statue of an Orc warrior charging into battle in the center of the company's main campus in Irvine, California, starting around 10 a.m. Pacific Time. The demonstration's numbers fluctuated throughout the day, the two employees said, ranging from a dozen to 30, and the protesters departed sometime in the late afternoon. The protesters would have been visible to executive offices, which overlook the main plaza, the two employees said. The company did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Chinese tech giant Tencent owns a 5 percent stake in Blizzard, and the gaming company earned 12 percent of its revenue from the Asia-Pacific region last quarter, according to its earnings reports.The decision prompted backlash from gamers and non-gamers alike, adding fuel to the fire begun by the National Basketball Association's own controversy over China and the Hong Kong protests.A person claiming to be a Blizzard employee and using the handle "Standingwhk" posted a picture to Reddit and Imgur that showed roughly 20 employees involved in the demonstration. Several employees held umbrellas, a visual symbol adopted by protesters in Hong Kong. Two current Blizzard employees authenticated the photo to The Daily Beast. Blizzard has placed plaques with its core company values along a circular compass around the orc. According to the two employees and photos, protesters had papered over one that read, "Every voice matters."The protesters also solicited signatures for a petition expressing displeasure with Blizzard leadership's handling of the matter that they planned to submit to executives, the two employees said. Discussion about Blizzard's actions and of the protest, they said, continued Wednesday. The two employees said Blizzard executives have not taken any public action against the protesters. Blizzard's actions inspired a negative reaction among lawmakers, who denounced the gaming giant. On Twitter, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) said the company was willing to "humiliate itself" to please China. And Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) declared, "Implications of this will be felt long after everyone in U.S. politics today is gone."One of the employees who spoke to The Daily Beast felt that the protest signaled a new era for Blizzard. The company has been complying with government censorship requests within its games in order to keep doing business in one of its biggest markets, he said."Doing business in China, it's been easier to ignore the authoritarianism of the government because they were asking us to do things like remove a skeleton [from a game]," he said. "The stakes are so much higher now. What was previously an obvious decision is much less obvious now." 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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| Mayor in Mexico tied to a truck and dragged through streets for ‘failing to fulfill campaign promises’ Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:28 AM PDT  Angry farmers in Mexico abducted the mayor of their village and dragged him through the streets after claiming he went back on key campaign promises.Police intervened to free Jorge Luis Escandón Hernández, who suffered no major injuries after the ordeal.
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| Politician charged in human trafficking adoption scheme Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:26 PM PDT  An Arizona elected official ran a human smuggling scheme that promised pregnant women thousands of dollars to lure them from a Pacific Island nation to the U.S., where they were crammed into houses to wait to give birth, sometimes with little to no prenatal care, prosecutors allege. Paul Petersen, the Republican assessor of Arizona's most populous county, was charged in Utah, Arizona and Arkansas with counts including human smuggling, sale of a child, fraud, forgery and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Investigators also found eight pregnant women from the Marshall Islands in raids of his properties outside Phoenix, and several more are waiting to give birth in Utah, authorities said.
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| Greta Thunberg, favourite to win Nobel peace prize, honoured at Standing Rock Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:47 AM PDT  Swedish activist, 16, visits North and South Dakota in solidarity with indigenous groups fighting Dakota Access oil pipelineThunberg is congratulated after speaking at a youth panel at the Standing Rock reservation in North Dakota. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/ReutersGreta Thunberg has been honoured by tribal leaders at Standing Rock in North Dakota, the scene of fierce environmental protests, as the teenage climate activist became odds-on favourite for another garland – the Nobel peace prize.Thunberg has been visiting Native American activists who have opposed the Dakota Access pipeline, a major oil project they say will contaminate their drinking water. The Standing Rock Sioux reservation was the scene of a major protest encampment that was dispersed following a severe police crackdown in 2017.Tokata Iron Eyes, an environmental activist, invited Thunberg, a fellow 16-year-old, to her homelands on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota, after befriending her. On Tuesday the duo spoke at the Standing Rock high school about the burgeoning youth-led climate movement that has seen millions of people strike from school and protest against fossil-fuel projects around the world."This is a global fight; this is not just in my home country in Sweden," Thunberg said. "We as teenagers shouldn't be the ones taking responsibility. It should be the ones in power."Iron Eyes said that indigenous culture was inherently linked to the health of the environment. "No 16-year-old should have to travel the world in the first place sharing a message about having something as simple as clean water and fresh air to breathe," she said.In a closing ceremony, Thunberg was gifted with a Lakota Native American name, Maphiyata echiyatan hin win, which translates as "woman who came from the heavens".Thunberg with Iron Eyes at an event on the Pine Ridge reservation. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/ReutersThunberg has also become the favourite with British betting companies to receive this year's Nobel. She is considered the most likely winner of the peace prize, to be awarded on Friday, ahead of the Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, indigenous Brazilian leader Raoni Metuktire and Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand.The prize would cap an extraordinary past year for Thunberg, which began with her making solo protests against inaction by the Swedish government on the climate crisis. Her stand her morphed into a mass global movement, with students around the world skipping school on Fridays to call for leaders to do more to address the crisis.North Dakota is the latest, plane-free, trip taken by Thunberg since she arrived in the US in September on a solar-powered yacht. Last month she addressed the United Nations in New York, telling world leaders: "You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words."
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| Mike Pence backs release of transcripts of his calls with Ukraine Posted: 09 Oct 2019 04:41 PM PDT  Vice President Mike Pence said on Wednesday that he has no objection to the White House releasing transcripts of his conversations with the Ukrainian president.
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| The candidates who have qualified for the next Democratic debate Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:37 PM PDT  The Democratic National Committee announced its fifth presidential debate will be held in Georgia in November
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| Mugshots of two women who vandalized Costa Mesa restaurant and scared customers released Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:48 AM PDT  Costa Mesa Police released the mugshots of two women arrested Saturday for allegedly vandalizing a restaurant and sending customers running.
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| Defeat: In 1979, Vietnam Gave China's Army a Beating Posted: 09 Oct 2019 12:27 AM PDT  It wasn't pretty.
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