| Why Democrats probably won't boycott Supreme Court confirmation hearings Posted: 26 Sep 2020 10:55 AM PDT  As Democrats try to beat the odds and prevent the confirmation of President Trump's Supreme Court nominee (almost certainly Amy Coney Barrett) before the November presidential election, some lawmakers and activists have suggested boycotting the Senate Judicary Committee hearings, which are tentatively scheduled for the middle of October. Just don't expect the idea to gain much traction, The Washington Post reports, especially among Democrats who sit on the committee.Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) has said he will forego the standard courtesy visit, in which the nominee meets with senators individually, but he does intend to participate in the hearings and he believes "all my Judiciary colleagues will."The risks of skipping out on the hearings seem to outweigh the potential reward, per the Post. If Democrats don't go, Republicans would likely move swiftly though the questioning and toward a committee vote.More specifically, though, a boycott could prevent Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who sits on the committee, from giving a jolt to her own vice presidential campaign, the Post notes. Harris, who is running alongside the Democratic nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, has become well-known for her interrogations of Trump's nominees over the last few years, and there's a sense that she could enhance her ticket's chances during the hearings.With all that in mind, it's more likely that Democrats will try to extend questioning as long as possible and make their case for why the nominee shouldn't be confirmed in a more traditional manner. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com America is the Holy Roman Empire of the 21st century Democrats need to bring retirement back to politics Trump officially nominates Amy Coney Barrett for Supreme Court
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| Florida reopens bars and restaurants with no restrictions Posted: 25 Sep 2020 01:56 PM PDT  Gov. Ron DeSantis said Florida was moving into Phase 3 reopening on Friday, lifting all restrictions for restaurants and bars.
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| Thousands of mosques in Xinjiang demolished in recent years: report Posted: 25 Sep 2020 01:03 AM PDT  Chinese authorities have demolished thousands of mosques in Xinjiang, an Australian think tank said Friday, in the latest report of widespread human rights abuses in the restive region.
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| Fact check: Joe Biden did not botch the Pledge of Allegiance in speech Posted: 26 Sep 2020 08:00 AM PDT  An eight-second clip from a speech purports to illustrate another Joe Biden gaffe. But what is missing is the rest of the speech.
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| Three men are accused of creating 'man cave' under Grand Central station Posted: 25 Sep 2020 11:02 AM PDT  Three railroad workers have been suspended for turning a storage room under New York's Grand Central Terminal into an unauthorized "man cave" with a television, a refrigerator, a microwave and a futon couch, officials said Thursday.
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| Yitzhak Rabin memorial: AOC pulls out of event honouring former Israeli leader Posted: 26 Sep 2020 06:16 AM PDT  Memorial due to take place next month
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| Wisconsin Republicans tried to stifle a plan for poll workers to collect absentee ballots in parks across Madison Posted: 26 Sep 2020 07:54 AM PDT  Poll workers in Madison, Wisconsin, are expected to allow people to fill out and turn in an absentee ballot at more than 200 parks in the city.
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| The Trump Administration’s Obamacare Punt Posted: 25 Sep 2020 03:26 PM PDT  A group of states has brought a longshot lawsuit to invalidate Obamacare, and the Trump administration has largely supported their position. Democrats have seized the opportunity to charge that Republicans would eliminate legal protections for people with pre-existing conditions. President Trump's counter has been to promise that he will make sure that they have protection even after Obamacare. A new executive order puts that promise into writing without explaining how he would keep it. What Republicans are telling voters concerned about this issue is: Trust us. The flaw in the political strategy is that they generally don't.A significant number of people with chronic conditions had difficulty getting affordable insurance before Obamacare. The law dealt with the problem by prohibiting insurers from discriminating on the basis of health status. If you have a chronic condition, they have to sell you the same policy at the same rate they would offer someone in perfect health. That regulation raises the cost of health insurance for healthy people and thus discourages them from buying it. (It also creates an incentive for insurers to design policies that are more attractive to healthy than to sick people.)When they tried to legislate a replacement to Obamacare in 2017, Republicans sought to let states relax that regulation. Under their proposal, states could have required insurers to offer the same policies at the same rates to all customers, regardless of health status, so long as they had previously maintained coverage. That way, people would have had an incentive to purchase insurance while healthy, bringing premiums down. States would have been allowed to make this change only if they had shown that they had credible plans to take care of those who fell through the cracks.This would not have been a return to the pre-Obamacare situation. People would have had much greater ability to maintain continuous coverage than they did back then, thanks both to new forms of federal assistance (tax credits created under Obamacare and largely maintained under Republican replacements) and to the requirement that insurers offer affordable coverage to those who already had it. High-risk pools to assist the uninsured, which had been inadequate to handle the problem before Obamacare, would have much more easily helped a smaller population in need. But Republicans in Congress, largely unfamiliar with the ins and outs of health policy, did not make the case for their approach.Republicans now have three basic choices in answering the question of how they would help people with pre-existing conditions if they replaced Obamacare or courts invalidated it. The first would be to promise that they would reenact Obamacare's stringent regulation and provide subsidies for those who need it to afford the high premiums it necessitates -- essentially re-creating a lot of Obamacare. The second would be to promise to enact continuous-coverage protections of the type they proposed in 2017. And the third would be to do nothing, telling people with pre-existing conditions that they are on their own (even though the paucity of cheap, renewable catastrophic policies is largely the result of government policies).Our preference would be the second option. The Trump administration, unable to decide among these options, is instead, effectively, promising to choose among them at some future date when the courts have struck down Obamacare or Republicans have unified control in Washington. That refusal to choose lets the Democrats hang the third position around Republican necks while also doing nothing to dislodge Obamacare. It also lets Democrats say that Republicans are dodging the question instead of leveling with the voters. Which is, unfortunately, true.
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| Sole Witness Who Heard Cops Announce Themselves in Breonna Taylor Raid Changed His Story Posted: 26 Sep 2020 02:53 PM PDT  This week, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron made the bombshell announcement that the cops who fatally shot Breonna Taylor would not be charged with killing her, calling their use of force in the March raid "justified to protect themselves."In that justification, he said that one witness corroborated the three officers' insistence that they knocked and identified themselves at Taylor's Louisville home while executing a search warrant in connection with a narcotics investigation. It contradicted claims from Taylor's boyfriend, Kenny Walker, and 11 other residents, who said they didn't hear the cops announce themselves. Instead, Walker thought he was being burglarized and fired a warning shot that triggered a tragic chain of events.But, according to documents and audio obtained by VICE News on Saturday, that sole witness initially told investigators days after the March 13 raid that he didn't actually hear officers Brett Hankison, Jonathan Mattingly, and Myles Cosgrove announce themselves.The witness—identified by VICE as Aarin Sarpee but by other outlets and public records as Aaron Julue Sarpee—was picking up his daughter from a unit above Taylor's when the raid took place.It wasn't until he was interviewed a second time, about two months after the raid by a sergeant in LMPD's Public Integrity Unit, that Sarpee said he heard police say, "This is the cops."Sarpee's flip-flop, the latest twist in a case that has made Taylor an icon in the Black Lives Matter movement, calls into question the strength of Cameron's case and the grand jury report, which state officials are demanding be made public."I never had faith in Daniel Cameron to begin with, I knew he was too inexperienced with a job of this caliber. I knew he chose to be at the wrong side of the law," Tamika Palmer, Taylor's mother, said in a Friday statement. "My hope was that he knew he had the power to do the right thing, that he had the power to start the healing of this city, that he had the power to help mend over 400 years of oppression. What he helped me realize is that it will always be us against them. That we are never safe."On Wednesday, a grand jury indicted only Hankison, though only for recklessly firing shots that endangered people in other units. Mattingly and Cosgrove—the cop who fired the shot that killed Taylor—weren't charged.Cameron's charging recommendations were at least partly based on Sarpee's testimony, since the attorney general said Wednesday that investigators had "an independent witness" corroborate the officer's account.No Cops Charged With Killing Breonna Taylor"My office was not tasked with determining if this was a tragedy, as it was," Cameron said Wednesday, admitting that it was unlikely more charges would be laid. "My job was to put emotions aside and investigate facts to see if state law was violated."Wednesday's charges came more than six months after a "no-knock" warrant was issued for Taylor's apartment as part of a controversial narcotics investigation into the 26-year-old's ex-boyfriend, Jamarcus Glover.According to VICE, LMPD's Public Integrity Unit first contacted Sarpee a week after the shooting. The officers involved in Taylor's warrant had previously said Sarpee was outside the apartment upstairs and got in an argument with Hankison as they were banging on Taylor's door.When Sgt. Jason Vance asked Sarpee if he heard anyone identify themselves as law enforcement, he answered: "No, nobody identified themselves."At the end of the March 21 conversation, Vance told Sarpee investigators would be calling him again to conduct a formal interview. Investigation notes suggest attempts were made to contact Sarpee but he didn't speak to the Public Integrity Unity again until May 15.In a seven minute call, Sgt. Amanda Seelye pressed Sarpee on whether he knew the individuals entering Taylor's home were officers and if he heard them announce themselves.This time, Sarpee said he heard police identify themselves, a change that suddenly corroborated the testimonies of the officers at the scene."It's been so long now," Sarpee told Seelye on the call. "I recall some of it."Sarpee also told The New York Times that he saw the officers as he stepped out onto the exterior staircase of Taylor's apartment unit with his 2-year-old. He said that before the officers ordered him to go back inside the apartment, he heard at least three loud knocks on Taylor's door and heard at least one of the officers scream "Police!" Sarpee, however, insisted to the Times he only heard them say the statement once.Despite Sarpee's changing story, his claim to have heard police from the front of an apartment doesn't offer complete clarity on whether Taylor and her boyfriend would have heard it from their bedroom towards the back of their unit.Sarpee did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment. VICE reported that the witness declined to speak with them, saying he had to speak with his lawyer first. The LMPD and Attorney General's office also did not immediately respond to request for comment.Hankison was fired in June for "extreme violations" of police protocol after "wantonly and blindly" firing 10 shots into Taylor's apartment–including several shots through the patio door and window, and into a neighbor's apartment—after Walker fired an initial shot. Mattingly, Cosgrove, and the detective who requested the warrant were put on administrative leave. Six more officers are reportedly under investigation for their role in the raid.Earlier this month, the city of Louisville reached a $12 million settlement with Taylor's family in their wrongful death lawsuit.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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| Texas man charged with capital murder in deaths of Houston friends missing since 2016 Posted: 26 Sep 2020 11:50 AM PDT  Harvey Lester Cyphers, 53, of Austin, Texas, was arrested and charged with capital murder in the 2016 deaths of friends Sidney Taylor and Krislyn Gibson, both 35, who were visiting Houston for the 2016 Urban Music Festival. They were last seen alive on April 2, 2016. Cyphers was taken to the Travis County Jail where his bond was set at $1.5 million. The U.S. Marshals Lone Star Fugitive Task Force and the Austin Police Department are investigating.
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| Cadets among 26 people killed in Ukraine military plane crash Posted: 25 Sep 2020 07:16 PM PDT  A total of 26 people, most of them air cadets, have been killed in a military plane crash in Ukraine. Footage of the crash released by officials on social media showed the smouldering remains of the Antonov-26 transport plane. Most of the dead were students of the Kharkiv National Air Force University, the air force said in a statement. There were 27 people on board, 20 cadets and seven crew. On Saturday, the death toll rose after three more bodies were found under the charred remains of the plane and one of the two survivors died in hospital from extensive burns. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the crash as a "terrible tragedy". "We are urgently creating a commission to investigate all the circumstances and causes of the tragedy," he wrote on Facebook. Mr Zelensky visited the only remaining survivor in a military hospital in Kharkiv, posting a picture of the 20-year-old cadet lying in bed with a bandaged head and right arm. He said the cadet, Vyacheslav Zolochevsky, "came to his senses near the wreckage of the An-26." "The plane was destroyed, there was fire, darkness and bodies all around. One of the guys was burning," he said on Facebook, adding that Zolochevsky rushed to try and save him. The second cadet died in hospital. Doctors said that Mr Zolochevsky suffered a concussion but his life was not in danger.
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| 'We are not done': Tropics likely to blossom again in early October Posted: 26 Sep 2020 08:47 AM PDT  AccuWeather meteorologists warn that another round of tropical activity is likely to return in October, despite the current and brief break in tropical systems across the Atlantic Ocean Basin."After what has been a very busy stretch of tropical activity in the Atlantic, things have seemed to quiet down for the time being," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Rob Miller.There were no tropical cyclones spinning across the Atlantic on Thursday for the first time since Sept. 6, or the first time in 18 days. Additionally, the National Hurricane Center did not identify any areas that they were monitoring on Thursday for the first time since late August.Miller explained further that a shift in the jet stream, which is normal at end of summer and start of autumn, is partially to thank for the current lull in activity across the basin."When the jet stream starts to shift, it changes the weather pattern across the globe. In this case, high pressure over the central Atlantic has become stronger, helping to limit if not outright suppress thunderstorm activity across the tropical Atlantic for now," Miller added. This high pressure is helping to hold an elongated area of stronger wind shear in place across the middle of the Atlantic Ocean through next week. Wind shear, which is the change in direction and wind speed at increasing heights in the atmosphere. As a result, this is a major factor in suppressing tropical activity through the end of September.Tropical waves and disturbances, although typically less robust this time of year, will continue to push off the coast of Africa. But, the wind shear in place will squash most chances for those waves to become more organized.There will still be some small pockets of low wind shear and moisture scattered about the Atlantic basin, which could be just enough to allow pop-up tropical systems to take shape. However, no area in particular looks concerning at this time.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPThe current pause in tropical activity across the entire Atlantic Basin won't last long, forecasters warn."We are not done with tropical season, and there are some indications that the Atlantic Basin could come back to life in the western Caribbean or the Gulf of Mexico the first week or two of October," said Miller.Warm waters east of the Yucatan Peninsula to Jamaica combined with ample moisture could make this a breeding ground for tropical activity in October. The absence of that strong wind shear across the Caribbean Sea is also part of the reason that tropical development will be possible.The Caribbean, from the Leeward and Windward Islands to Central America and the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, climatologically speaking, is a favorable zone for tropical development in early autumn.Should a gyre form in this zone, it will increase the chances for development in early October.A gyre is a slow-spinning wind pattern that rotates counterclockwise. The spin from the gyre tends to create an area of low pressure. Sometimes the low pressure area can become more organized and grow into a tropical system, especially if a tropical disturbance from Africa is injected into it, or a non-tropical weather system happens to stall nearby.Whether an organized tropical system develops in this zone or not, the tropical waves are likely to deliver rounds of heavy rainfall.Moisture will come from two sources, one being a stalled front from the Yucatan Peninsula to southern Florida, and the other from incoming tropical waves from the eastern Caribbean. These two factors combing over the western Caribbean Sea is expected to result in rounds of tropical downpours for Jamaica and Cuba all the way to eastern Mexico, Belize and northern Honduras.With more than one wave of heavy rain expected during the first week of October, enough rain could fall in some areas to prompt flash flooding and even mudslides in the higher elevations into the second week of October.Interests, especially from Central America, northward to the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. and Atlantic Canada, should not let their guard down. Forecasters urge those who live in hurricane-prone locations to have a plan in place and remain prepared should a system develop, especially during these uncertain times amid the pandemic, which has added challenges to storm preparations.The 2020 Atlantic hurricane season has already been one for the record books, including the number of storms that have formed so early in the season and the number of landfalls that have occurred in the United States. Forecasters say even more records may soon be broken, despite a brief lull in tropical systems churning across the basin.Storms have been forming at a record pace this year, with Tropical Storm Cristobal as well as every named storm from Edouard through Beta beating previous early formation records in the Atlantic. Most of the records that have been knocked off the list had been set during the historic 2005 hurricane season, which generated a record-setting 28 named storms in one year. The 2005 season was the only other year in which Greek letters had to be used, with storms Alpha to Zeta being named. This season is on pace to tie or perhaps break the record number of storms to achieve tropical storm status or greater. Thus far, there have been 23 such storms this year. AccuWeather meteorologists predicted that 2020 will tie the previous seasonal record set with a total of 28 named storms now projected. More storms are likely to be given Greek letters for names in the coming weeks and perhaps even into December, beyond the official end of the Atlantic hurricane season on Nov. 30.There is another troublesome record that the 2020 season has broken. The U.S. has already experienced nine landfalls from tropical systems so far this year, which ties 1916 for the most in one season.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Federal judge blocks Texas’ elimination of straight-ticket voting Posted: 26 Sep 2020 11:59 AM PDT  Democrats sued the state in March to overturn the Texas Legislature's removal of straight-ticket voting.
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| Kyle Rittenhouse's mom reportedly received a 'standing ovation' from the crowd at a Republican event in Wisconsin Posted: 26 Sep 2020 11:09 AM PDT  Kyle Rittenhouse faces multiple felony charges, including homicide, after shooting three people at a Jacob Blake demonstration in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
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| CBS' Gayle King calls out Pelosi's 'egregious' language when she refers to Trump allies as 'henchmen' Posted: 26 Sep 2020 12:54 PM PDT  The exchange came after Gayle King asked whether Nancy Pelosi still felt that Joe Biden shouldn't debate Donald Trump.
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| Utah family sues police, claiming 'gratuitous violence' Posted: 25 Sep 2020 05:57 PM PDT  The family of a Utah man who was shot at nearly 30 times and killed as he ran from police filed a lawsuit Friday against Salt Lake City and its police department. The family of Bernardo Palacios-Carbajal family allege the officers engaged in "gratuitous violence" by shooting at him between 27 and 29 times after he was already on the ground and incapacitated. "Despite the family's attempts to negotiate, it is apparent that the SLCPD and the Salt Lake City Mayor's Office (are) not interested in real reform," the family's attorneys wrote in a statement.
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| Air Force Begins Live-Fire Testing on New Helicopter, Jolly Green II Posted: 25 Sep 2020 01:33 PM PDT  The Air Force's new HH-60W combat rescue helicopter, known as the "Jolly Green II," has begun live-fire ground testing.
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| As U.S., China squabble at U.N., a plea - and warning - from one of world's smallest states Posted: 26 Sep 2020 01:05 PM PDT  As China and the United States feuded at the United Nations this week over COVID-19 and climate, one of the world's smallest states pleaded for detente. "Micronesia asks our American and Chinese friends to reinforce their cooperation and friendship with each other ... to achieve what is best for our global community," the Federated States of Micronesia President David Panuelo told the U.N. General Assembly in a video address.
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| Kenosha shooting suspect Kyle Rittenhouse fights extradition charges Posted: 25 Sep 2020 12:05 PM PDT  A 17-year-old from Illinois accused of killing two Kenosha, Wis., protesters days after Jacob Blake was shot by Kenosha police fought his return to Wisconsin on Friday to face homicide charges that could put him in prison for life.
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| A voting advocacy group recorded over 40,000 new voter registrations in the 2 days after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg Posted: 24 Sep 2020 08:27 PM PDT  Vote.org saw a 68% increase in voter registration the Saturday and Sunday following Ginsburg's death compared to the prior Saturday and Sunday.
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| When Biden calls a 'lid,' Democrats wet the bed — and Trump starts mocking Posted: 25 Sep 2020 02:38 PM PDT  The Democratic nominee is sticking to his strategy: Keep a low profile, and let Trump light himself on fire.
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| A pregnant woman jumped into the ocean to save her husband from a shark attack 'without hesitation' after she saw blood in the water Posted: 26 Sep 2020 02:56 AM PDT  Margot Dukes-Eddy sprang into action after seeing the shark's dorsal fin and blood spilling into the water next to where her husband had gotten in.
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| Jewish teens say life on TikTok comes with anti-Semitism Posted: 25 Sep 2020 09:08 AM PDT  Regardless of content, Jewish teens say they are bombarded. "It definitely affects me. It gets to me."
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| American faces two years in prison for posting unflattering TripAdvisor review of Thailand island resort Posted: 26 Sep 2020 06:14 AM PDT  An American could face up to two years in prison after leaving a negative review for a hotel in Thailand on TripAdvisor. The Sea View Resort on Koh Chang island claims Wesley Barnes launched a barrage of complaints against them after his stay, forcing them to take legal action. "The Sea View Resort owner filed a complaint that the defendant had posted unfair reviews on his hotel on the Tripadvisor website," Colonel Thanapon Taemsara of Koh Chang police told AFP. Mr Barnes is accused of causing "damage to the reputation of the hotel", as well as arguing with them during his stay about a corkage fee for alcohol brought to the hotel. He was arrested by immigration police and returned to Koh Chang for a brief detention, but is now out on bail. Mr Barnes, who works in Thailand, had penned multiple reviews on different sites over the past few weeks, the hotel alleges. In one posted in July, he claimed to have encountered "unfriendly staff" who "act like they don't want anyone here". Another post, which accused the hotel of "modern day slavery", was removed by TripAdvisor for violating its guidelines. The Sea View Hotel said they only took legal action to discourage further reviews from being posted, and had attempted to contact Mr Barnes beforehand. "We chose to file a complaint to serve as a deterrent, as we understood he may continue to write negative reviews week after week for the foreseeable future," the hotel said. Thailand has notorious anti-defamation laws that have faced condemnation from human rights organisations in the past. They argue the laws can be used to stifle free expression. If found guilty for defamation, offenders can face two years imprisonment and a 200,000 baht (£4,965) fine. In December 2019, a Thai journalist was handed a two year sentence for libelling a chicken farm on Twitter. Suchanee Cloitre was convicted for a post she made about a legal dispute over working conditions at the Thammakaset farm. "I'm shocked and did not think the sentence would be so harsh," Ms Suchanee told Reuters after the sentencing.
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| Mexican farmers revolt over sending water to US during drought Posted: 25 Sep 2020 03:00 AM PDT  Country has one month to deliver outstanding 289m cubic metres and ensure water for 14 major cities and growersMexican farmers in the drought-stricken state of Chihuahua are pitted against riot squads from the national guard in an increasingly violent standoff over their government's decision to ship scarce water supplies to the United States.The confrontation has already led to bloodshed: earlier this month, a woman was shot dead and her husband was wounded after guardsmen opened fire on farmers wielding sticks and stones.The Mexican government, meanwhile, has accused protesters of being backed by opposition politicians and sabotaging La Boquilla dam, which holds some of the water it wants to send north.The standoff in Chihuahua underscores the severity of water shortages as the climate crisis provokes more severe droughts and puts agriculture under strain.It has also raised questions about why Mexico's nationalist president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has put such a priority on repaying water debts to the US rather than going to bat for Mexican farmers."In all the history of Chihuahua, the army has never been sent to take the dams," said Mario Mata Carrasco, a federal lawmaker from Chihuahua. "Instead of fighting organised crime and narcotics traffickers, they're fighting our farmers."Disputes over water are nothing new on the high plains of Chihuahua state, where rainfall is becoming increasingly irregular. Neither is sending water to the US, which is required under the terms of a 1944 treaty.But the unrest has grown amid US demands that Mexico meets its five-year quota and completes the transfer of more than 100bn gallons by 24 October.Local farmers insist any shortfall on that quota can be repaid in the future, and argue that water held behind Mexican dams – for which they have concessions – has never been part of the agreement."When the government comes to steal our property, we don't have any other option but to defend it," said Raymundo Soto, a spokesman for the farmers. "The international water treaty clearly establishes alternatives for resolving these problems."Under the treaty, Mexico sends water from rivers in the Rio Grande basin to the United States, which in turn sends Mexico water in the Colorado River, further to the west.The treaty was negotiated when Mexico and the US were second world war allies and "is very favourable to Mexico", tweeted Lorenzo Meyer, a Mexican historian and commentator. "Not fulfilling our treaty obligations would be ending an agreement that would be impossible to improve upon."Both US and Mexican officials say water is flowing from Chihuahua to make up the deficit. But time is running out: Mexico still has to transfer almost a year's worth of water to meet the deadline.Mexico's president, commonly known as Amlo, insists Mexico will comply with the treaty. He also revealed that Texas' governor, Greg Abbott, had expressed impatience over Mexico falling behind in its water deliveries.Amlo has repeatedly alleged that big pecan farmers, backed by political interests, are behind the protests."They've been doing their best to get us into a conflict with the United States," Amlo recently told reporters. "It's all a plan to take electoral advantage of the situation."Mexico has fallen behind in its water payments for the current five-year cycle – and not for the first time, farmers say. They argue that Mexico can postpone payment in drought conditions – something Mexican and US officials say is off the table because Mexico was in deficit at the end of the last cycle in 2015.As of 24 September, the country had met roughly 86% of its treaty obligations, according to Roberto Velasco Álvarez, Mexican undersecretary for North America.Mexico now has a month to deliver the outstanding 289m cubic metres and ensure water for 14 major cities and growers in the lower parts of the Rio Grande, said Velasco."There are concerns for other water users, especially urban users," he said, adding: "Chihuahua is illegally retaining water in its dams."But farmers say they have already been forced to adjust to a drier environment by reducing planting. Meanwhile, the drilling of illegal wells is rampant.Many in Chihuahua fear that they may soon see a replay of a severe mid-1990s drought which forced many farmers to migrate, said Jesús Valenciano, a member of the legislature."They went illegally to the United States – and never returned," he recalled. "People don't want this to happen again. That's why there's such a conflict."
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| Marine Lance Corporal Apprehended, Charged with Armed Robbery After Fleeing Camp Lejeune Posted: 25 Sep 2020 07:47 PM PDT  Lance Cpl. Shawn M. Miller was last seen around 6 p.m. Thursday in Jacksonville, the town outside Lejeune.
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| 'Smoke with freedom': Mexicans get high in marijuana garden outside Senate Posted: 24 Sep 2020 09:27 PM PDT  A cannabis 'garden' sprouting next to Mexico's Senate building has become a smoker's paradise, with Mexican stoners lighting up joints without fear of arrest. The cannabis seeds sowed in a plaza by Mexico's Senate by pro-marijuana activists in February have mushroomed into strikingly large plants, and become symbolic of a drive to legalize marijuana in a nation riven by drugs-related violence. "Being able to smoke here (in the garden) in freedom is very important to me," said Marco Flores, a barista sitting on a bench overlooking the Congress building.
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| Louisville cop injured in Breonna Taylor shooting threatens lawsuits over being called 'murderer' Posted: 25 Sep 2020 12:59 PM PDT  Jonathan Mattingly was the Louisville police officer who was injured during the Breonna Taylor shooting. He has hired a civil attorney.
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| Iran FM demands protection for diplomatic missions in Iraq Posted: 26 Sep 2020 01:27 PM PDT  Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif on Saturday called for the protection of diplomatic installations in Iraq as he hosted his Iraqi counterpart Fuad Hussein in Tehran.
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| ‘Why Bother?’: Pelosi Suggests Biden Skip Presidential Debates Posted: 25 Sep 2020 02:13 PM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday defended her previous suggestion that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden should not debate President Trump, claiming the president has "no fidelity to fact or truth."Ahead of the first presidential debate next week, Pelosi doubled down during an appearance on "Morning on CBS" on comments she made last month that the former vice president should skip the debates so they don't become "an exercise in skullduggery."When asked if she still believed Biden should sit out the three presidential debates on September 29, October 15, and October 22, she said "Oh, I do.""Not that I don't think he'll be excellent," she continued. "I just think that the president has no fidelity to fact or truth and, actually in his comments the last few days, no fidelity to the Constitution of the United States.""He and his henchmen are a danger, with their comments, are a danger to our democracy," Pelosi added. "So I don't want to give him - I mean, why bother? He doesn't tell the truth."Last month Pelosi said she "wouldn't legitimize a conversation with [President Trump], nor a debate in terms of the presidency of the United States," though she acknowledged that the Biden campaign, who has rejected the California Democrat's suggestion, felt differently."As long as the commission continues down the straight and narrow as they have, I'm going to debate him," Biden said. "I'm going to be a fact-check on the floor while I'm debating him."Biden said Wednesday that he would begin to prepare "heavily" for the first debate, which will be hosted by Fox News's Chris Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio on Tuesday.
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| Innocent Madoff investors must pay back profits, court rules Posted: 24 Sep 2020 07:32 PM PDT  The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan upheld lower-court decisions in cases filed by a court-appointed trustee.
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| Trooper quietly buried amid scrutiny over Black man's death Posted: 25 Sep 2020 12:20 PM PDT  A Louisiana state trooper who died in a single-car crash just hours after he was told he would be fired for his role in the death of a Black man was buried with honors Friday at a ceremony that authorities sought to keep secret out of concerns it would attract a mass protest. State Police officials and family members mourned Master Trooper Chris Hollingsworth under tight security at services that marked the latest turn in the long-simmering in-custody death case of Ronald Greene, which has prompted a federal civil-rights probe and increasing calls for authorities to release body-camera video. Hollingsworth, who was white, was the only one of six troopers placed on leave earlier this month in the May 2019 death of Greene following a high-speed chase.
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| Fort Hood Armored Brigade Will Deploy to Europe, Army Announces Posted: 24 Sep 2020 05:49 PM PDT  The Army announced today that it will deploy an armored brigade to Europe this fall as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve.
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| Judge Napolitano on Trump’s Supreme Court nominations Posted: 26 Sep 2020 05:12 AM PDT  Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano weighs in on Trump's Supreme Court track record on 'Fox & Friends'
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| Ethiopia tells U.N. 'no intention' of using dam to harm Egypt, Sudan Posted: 25 Sep 2020 01:48 PM PDT  Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed told the United Nations on Friday that his country has "no intention" of harming Sudan and Egypt with a giant hydropower dam on the Blue Nile that has caused a bitter water dispute between the three countries. Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan failed to strike a deal on the operation of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam before Ethiopia began filling the reservoir behind the dam in July.
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| Kremlin’s World War III Propaganda Meltdown Shows Putin Is Cornered Posted: 25 Sep 2020 09:25 PM PDT  MOSCOW—Russia these days may look frightening to Americans, who hear often of election meddling and poisoning among other ill deeds. But consider for a moment the view from the other side of the divide, or at least the view presented to Russians by their television sets.The looming potential for World War III has become a regular topic on Russian state propaganda shows. Night after night, Vladimir Soloviev, who is often described as the Kremlin's top propagandist, condemns the West's "economically suffocating" strategy of imposing sanctions and suggest war is the logical outcome.The conclusion reached by Soloviev and his like-minded panel of guests is that the country's politicians and titans of business should break all ties with the West, including communicating with their relatives. A long history of grievances spills out; Soloviev says the conflict between Russia and the West started in the 13th century: "They believe we are barbarians and they are civilized, so they have a right to point out to us how we should live and behave."Trump Followed Russian Media's Lead on SCOTUS PredictionThe show, which is broadcast nightly on state channel 1, heats up quickly. This week, Sergei Kurginyan, a pro-Kremlin political expert close to the secret services, accused the West of tearing Russia apart by creating a fifth column in the Far East, where thousands of Russians have been marching in anti-Putin rallies for two months. Putin's nemesis Alexei Navalny was out East bolstering the opposition rallies when he was poisoned with a deadly nerve agent.Kurginyan has been consistently criticizing the Russian elite for pursuing naïve dreams about becoming part of European society: "Our elites have grown together with Europe through family connections, children, grandchildren. But in the current situation they will have to tear these connections apart. That will be terribly painful but you will have to do that," he said.A popular newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda announced in plain language on Friday that: "The world is under a threat of the Third World War over the Russian COVID-19 vaccine." The paper claimed the European Union and the U.S. were furious about Russia selling millions of doses of its vaccines to Brazil and Africa.The Russian nationalist publication Tsargrad also carried an overheated headline on Friday, claiming an invented military victory: "NATO Exercises Failed: Russian Ships Scared Americans and Ukrainians Away."What has caused this latest storm of anti-Western propaganda?This week, the U.S. imposed new commercial restrictions on Yevgeniy Prigozhin, the oligarch known as "Putin's chef." The companies operated by Prigozhin, one of Putin's most trusted lieutenants, are linked to the Wagner mercenary army and troll farms responsible for U.S. election interference. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also suggested this week that the order to poison Navalny came from senior Russian officials, the pressure grows on Putin to explain the poisoning or face yet more sanctions. Both the European Union and Britain are also preparing sanctions against Putin's partner in Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, after a violent crackdown on the opposition and a fraudulent election. The age-old theme of a "conflict of civilizations" between East and West has been resurfacing on state media outlets. This undercurrent is at the core of the West's issues with Russia, the propaganda outlets insist.If the West continues to punish Vladimir Putin's allies with economic sanctions and block Russian movement around the world, they say, Moscow will come up with a new strategy building on alliances with other Western antagonists. "We have not sent forces to Ukraine, to Kyiv only for the sake of our relations with Europe. By the new strategy we would deploy the forces and surely our allies in Turkey and China would respect us for such a strong decision," prominent Kremlin-aligned political analyst Sergey Markov tells The Daily Beast.Russian Media Is Rooting for Civil War in America: 'The Worse, the Better'The propaganda outlets portray Putin and his allies withdrawing from the world, as if in a besieged castle, to isolate and defend themselves.Russia's ability to respond in kind with sanctions is limited. A few weeks ago, the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov imposed sanctions against Pompeo after the U.S. State Department sanctioned members of his family. But this was widely seen as little more than a joke since Pompeo has no property or bank accounts in Chechnya. Still, the story made the Russian-speaking news. Olga Skobeyeva, a host of one of the more popular political talk shows, 60 Minutes, praised Kadyrov's "cool" sanctions.Germany and France are demanding that the Kremlin investigate last month's poisoning of Navalny with the Soviet-era chemical weapon Novichok. But the last two decades of Russian history show how strongly Putin resists any demand imposed by the West. Instead, they are ramping up the propaganda. "They say, 'Oh, you once again want to tear us apart, here is our answer to you.' And Putin comes out with a speech about the most powerful hypersonic weapon," a commentator on independent Rain TV, Pavel Lobkov, told The Daily Beast.Last weekend, on Russia's Day of the Gunsmith—an obscure holiday which is usually ignored—Putin went on television to discuss Russia's latest nuclear weapons. They can reach anywhere in the world, he said. The Avangard hypersonic glide vehicles can wipe out a territory the size of Texas or France, viewers were told. Putin blamed the U.S. for the withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic-Missile treaty back in 2002. "We had to create these weapons in response to the U.S. deploying a strategic missile defense system, which in the future would be able to actually neutralize, nullify our entire nuclear potential," Putin said.On Friday, Putin asked the White House for a truce on the "information war," which is laughable since Western intelligence agencies say the Kremlin has already been targeting the 2020 presidential election. Nonetheless, Markov explains that Moscow is expecting incoming rhetorical fire during the height of the American election season: "Russian intelligence has informed Vladimir Putin earlier this year of rough attacks on him personally coming up," he said. "That might happen during the U.S. elections, the conflict might enter a hot phase, so it is time to buy canned food."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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| Biden said he will win Scranton. Trump said he will only lose if it's rigged. Who's right? Posted: 25 Sep 2020 07:53 AM PDT  A federal investigation into discarded ballots in Luzerne County is adding fuel to President Trump's doubts about election integrity in Pennsylvania.
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| University police officer placed on leave after dragging female student down steps Posted: 25 Sep 2020 03:39 PM PDT  Incident described by university leaders as 'disturbing' and investigation launched
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| Prestigious private New York City preschools face closure as parents rethink school, city life Posted: 25 Sep 2020 04:54 AM PDT  As 4-year-old children wrestle with online learning, parents are asking, "Why should I be spending this money?" said one education consultant.
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| 15-year-old girl facing deportation after hospital arrest Posted: 25 Sep 2020 07:58 PM PDT  A Texas teen's hospitalization led to her aunt's immigration arrest and her placement in a U.S. government shelter for migrant minors.
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| Yom Kippur synagogue attack leaves German Jews still uneasy Posted: 26 Sep 2020 01:06 AM PDT  As Jews around the world gather Sunday night to mark the beginning of Yom Kippur, many in Germany remain uneasy about going together to their houses of worship to pray, a year after a white-supremacist targeted a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle on the holiest day in Judaism. Since then, security has been increased at Jewish institutions across the country, but many wonder whether it is enough amid reports of increasing anti-Semitism and the Halle attack still fresh in their minds. Naomi Henkel-Guembel was inside the building that day a year ago, and didn't immediately understand what was happening when she heard a loud bang outside.
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