| Trump has sparked a shift in how some conservatives talk and think about abortion Posted: 21 Oct 2020 09:18 AM PDT  There is a robust argument being made, by prominent public figures but also among everyday Americans, that the white evangelical movement has made a Faustian bargain by supporting the GOP, and President Trump, in exchange for promises to eliminate abortion.
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| Fact check: Biden leveraged $1B in aid to Ukraine to oust corrupt prosecutor, not to help his son Posted: 21 Oct 2020 02:25 PM PDT  Despite a Senate GOP investigation that found no wrongdoing by Joe Biden on foreign policy in Ukraine, claims to the contrary continue to circulate.
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| Trump supporter launches furious rant at Starbucks barista Posted: 20 Oct 2020 01:53 PM PDT  This week a Trump supporter went viral for all the wrong reasons after video surfaced of her yelling anti-Black Lives Matter rhetoric at a Starbucks barista in Santee, California. The clip – which was taken by a concerned customer – shows the agitated woman getting into a heated war of words with barista Alex Beckom, 19, after being politely asked her to wear the Trump 2020 mask under her chin, correctly over her face. Instead of leaving quietly, the woman then accused the coffee shop employee of discriminating against her for her political views as a supporter of the president.
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| A teacher called 911 after a man broke into the house of two students during a remote class Posted: 20 Oct 2020 10:57 AM PDT  Two of her students, teenage siblings, didn't log off at the end of class as they normally did. Then they called for help.
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| Rush Limbaugh says he's living 'under a death sentence' after discovering his cancer had spread and became terminal Posted: 20 Oct 2020 11:37 AM PDT  The conservative radio host announced in February that he was diagnosed with lung cancer, which he said has since progressed.
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| Epsilon rapidly intensifies from tropical storm to Category 3 hurricane in a day Posted: 21 Oct 2020 04:04 AM PDT  In 24 hours, Hurricane Epsilon's rapidly intensified from a tropical storm to a Category 3 hurricane with 115 mph winds.
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| US and Russia Scramble Jets in Another Exchange of Aerial Intercepts Posted: 21 Oct 2020 09:37 AM PDT |
| Letters to the Editor: USC is taking strong action against anti-Semitism and other forms of hate Posted: 21 Oct 2020 03:00 AM PDT  An ugly fight over social media about racism at USC had one positive outcome: the university president's strong statement condemning anti-Semitism.
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| Large earthquake off southern coast of Alaska prompts tsunami fears, fleeing Posted: 20 Oct 2020 01:36 PM PDT  A magnitude 7.5 earthquake prompted a tsunami warning Monday for a nearly thousand-mile stretch of Alaska's southern coast, with waves over 2 feet at the nearest community as the threat subsided.
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| Why 780 retired generals and former national security leaders spoke out against Trump Posted: 21 Oct 2020 01:44 PM PDT  The willingness of hundreds of career officers to break with tradition and speak out on behalf of one candidate reflects beliefs, on both sides, that the nation faces an uncertain future.
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| FBI Tells Congress It ‘Has Nothing to Add’ to Ratcliffe’s Claim that Hunter Biden Emails Not Disinformation Posted: 21 Oct 2020 07:12 AM PDT  The FBI said in a letter to Congress on Tuesday that the agency has "nothing to add" to Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe's claim that the emails by and to Hunter Biden, revealed last week by the New York Post, are not part of a disinformation campaign.The Post disclosed various emails and documents purportedly from the laptop of Hunter Biden, and reported that a Delaware computer repair shop owner turned the laptop over to the FBI in 2019. Senator Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), head of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent a letter to the FBI on Sunday inquiring whether the agency possesses "material from Hunter Biden's laptop."Meanwhile, Democrats have denounced the revelations as possible disinformation. However, DNI Ratcliffe told Fox Business on Monday that the emails are "not part of some Russian disinformation campaign."Jill C. Tyson, director of the FBI Office of Congressional Affairs, responded to Johnson's inquiry by pointing to Ratcliffe's public statements on the matter."Regarding the subject of your letter, we have nothing to add at this time to the October 19th public statement by the Director of National Intelligence about the available actionable intelligence," Tyson wrote in the letter. "If actionable intelligence is developed, the FBI in consultation with the Intelligence Community will evaluate the need to provide defensive briefings to you and the Committee."The FBI is in possession of Hunter Biden's laptop, two senior Trump administration officials told Fox News on Tuesday.One 2015 email revealed by the Post appears to show a senior adviser of Burisma Holdings, a Ukrainian natural gas company, thanking Hunter Biden for the "opportunity" to meet his father. Joe Biden was leading the Obama administration's Ukraine policy at the time, while Hunter Biden served on the board of Burisma from 2014 to 2019.
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| Marines remove general investigated over alleged racial slur Posted: 20 Oct 2020 09:21 AM PDT  The Marine Corps has removed a two-star general from command of Marine forces in Europe and Africa based on an investigation into allegations that he used a racial slur during a training event, officials said Tuesday. The decision to relieve Maj. Gen. Stephen Neary of command of Marine Corps Forces Europe and Africa, headquartered in Germany, was made by the commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. David Berger. "Neary was relieved due to a loss of trust and confidence in his ability to serve in command," the Marines said in a brief written statement.
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| Where recreational marijuana is legal, data show minimal impacts on teen use and traffic deaths Posted: 21 Oct 2020 09:34 AM PDT  As voters consider recreational legalization, the outcomes of legal marijuana in Colorado, Washington and California help show what would happen.
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| Trump's business appears to have cut Matt Gaetz a RNC hotel discount that went unreported to the FEC Posted: 20 Oct 2020 07:19 PM PDT  Corporate contributions to candidates are illegal under federal election law, and Gaetz did not report any discount
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| Dive boat blaze that killed 34 likely caused by mobile phones charging Posted: 21 Oct 2020 11:58 AM PDT  Authorities blame captain and owners for not posting night watchman
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| 3 killed, 1 person in critical condition after Texas club shooting Posted: 21 Oct 2020 05:24 AM PDT  A shooting in a Texas club left three dead and a fourth critically injured, police said, hours after another incident in which an officer was shot dead.
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| More than 50 former intel officials signed a public letter saying they believe the Hunter Biden story has 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation' Posted: 19 Oct 2020 10:54 PM PDT  The former intel officials wrote they believed the arrival of emails to the New York Post, which they dubbed a "laptop op," was a cause for suspicion.
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| Progressive Groups Call to Impeach AG Barr in Effort to Delay Supreme Court Confirmation Posted: 21 Oct 2020 08:05 AM PDT  More than 20 progressive groups signed a letter Tuesday urging House Democrats to impeach Attorney General Bill Barr in an attempt to delay Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation vote until after the November 3 election.In a letter addressed to House speaker Nancy Pelosi, groups including Demand Progress, Our Revolution, and the Sunrise Movement outlined a list of what they consider impeachable offenses by the attorney general.The letter reads:> Dozens of members of your caucus and various outside groups have for months urged an inquiry into Barr's impeachment on any of several grounds. They include: misleading Congress with respect to the Mueller investigation and other matters; overruling career prosecutors for political purposes, such as helping the president's allies; sanctioning investigations into the president's political rivals; supporting the use of federal troops against protestors in support of racial justice while standing aside for armed right-wing protestors; prohibiting the referral of an Intelligence Community whistleblower complaint to Congress; and failing to comply with subpoenas issued by the House of Representatives while ordering others to not comply with subpoenas from the House of Representatives.> New: 20+ progressive groups, including the Sunrise Movement and Our Revolution, signed onto a letter urging Nancy Pelosi to back impeaching AG Barr. They said it "would have the salutary effect of delaying the confirmation process and may help push it towards after Election Day." pic.twitter.com/con05vfwuF> > -- Holly Otterbein (@hollyotterbein) October 21, 2020The letter claims Barr has "made a career out of undermining our democracy" and accuses the attorney general of "ramping up efforts to undermine the upcoming elections and invalidate the votes of millions of Americans."Instead the group suggests that House Democrats serve as a roadblock to both Barr and the Senate's confirmation of Barrett, which is expected next week, by impeaching Barr and forcing action in the Senate, delaying the confirmation process."Should you impeach Attorney General Barr prior to October 23rd, the Senate would be required to take one of two actions. On one hand, the Senate would be obligated to hold a trial, which would occupy a day or more of floor time and delay the hasty and irregular consideration of Amy Coney Barrett as a Supreme Court associate justice," the groups explained. "In the alternative, Senate Republican leadership would be forced to go 'nuclear' by changing the rules that govern how that chamber responds to receiving articles of impeachment from the House of Representatives.""Either outcome is desirable," the groups concluded.Democrats have fought hard against Barrett's confirmation, accusing Republicans of being hypocritical in going back on the standard they set in 2016 by refusing to consider President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, months ahead of an election. With a Republican majority in the Senate, Democrats have had no recourse for stopping or delaying Barrett's confirmation. However, many in the party have called on Democrats to add additional seats to the Supreme Court in retaliation if Barrett is confirmed.
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| France bans Islamist group after killing of teacher: government spokesman Posted: 21 Oct 2020 05:23 AM PDT  France will ban an Islamist group named after the late Sheikh Yassin as part of a crackdown on militants following the murder of a French schoolteacher last week, government spokesman Gabriel Attal said on Wednesday. Samuel Paty was beheaded on Oct. 16 by an 18-year-old of Chechen origin seeking to avenge his victim's use of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad in a class on freedom of expression. "This is a battle over security, culture and education," Attal said.
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| Human remains found in search for Tulsa massacre victims Posted: 20 Oct 2020 02:05 PM PDT  One set of human remains, and perhaps a second, have been found in a Tulsa cemetery where investigators are searching for victims of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre, Oklahoma state archaeologist Kary Stackelbeck said Tuesday. "We do have one confirmed individual and the possibility of a second" body found, Stackelbeck said. The confirmed human remains were found little more than 3 feet (90 centimeters) underground in an area known as the "Original 18," where funeral home records show massacre victims are buried.
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| Jeffrey Epstein Spent His Final Days Whining About Bullying Posted: 20 Oct 2020 01:38 AM PDT  On the afternoon of July 6, 2019, a force of NYPD officers and FBI agents were, appropriately enough, in a holding pattern at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.The high that Saturday was a sweltering 88 degrees. Skies were overcast and the humidity made the tarmac feel even hotter. A few of the federal agents and New York City detectives were wearing suits and ties; others perspired in their navy blue windbreakers, known as raid jackets, stamped with the yellow letters FBI. As the airport's ground crew looked on, the small army of law enforcement—close to fifty in all—assembled near "Hangar One," an area adjacent to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office. They were awaiting the arrival of Jeffrey Epstein.The arrest team had been poised for this moment ever since word came down hours earlier that Epstein had boarded his Gulfstream G550, tail number N212JE, in Paris. Four days earlier, United States Southern District magistrate judge Barbara Moses had signed a sealed arrest warrant for Epstein.The operation at Teterboro would be the denouement of a carefully calibrated, confidential effort that Geoffrey Berman, the U.S. attorney in the district, and his team of prosecutors had begun some six months earlier.The problem, however, was that Epstein wasn't in the country. He was in France. Law enforcement tracked the movements of his private jet. They knew their best chance for a clean apprehension would be right after he touched down in the United States. Trying to arrest someone like Epstein in one of his palatial homes presented challenges and dangers that the FBI and NYPD were keen to avoid.Epstein had taken off from Paris four other times that year. His last flight, in April, took him from the French capital to Rabat, Morocco, for a nine-hour visit. Flights to and from Teterboro were routine for him—like taking a car service. He expected to be back in his mansion within an hour or so of N212JE's crossing into American airspace over Maine. The arrest team waited.The police officers and federal agents who made up the arrest force at Teterboro had arrested hundreds of violent felons among them—only seasoned officers and agents with impeccable service records were handpicked for task force work. But the Epstein operation and its secrecy made some nervous. Epstein was rich and had ties to powerful figures in New York media. A source close to the investigation said lawmen feared that someone would give the financier a heads-up."[Federal officials] were afraid if Epstein learned about the planned arrest in flight, he would turn into Roman Polanski and order his pilot to make a detour, to a place from where he could not be extradited," said Lieutenant Gene Whyte of the NYPD. "[We] didn't want to spook him because they were going to arrest him as soon as he landed and before his pilot could restart the engine."The precautions turned out to be unnecessary. As Epstein's aircraft taxied to a stop on the tarmac, it was met by sedans and SUVs with lights and sirens blaring. NYPD detectives and FBI agents swarmed the aircraft. They wore their blue windbreaker raid jackets; their sidearms were out. Epstein offered no resistance as he was placed in cuffs. It was 5:30 p.m.No one else on the plane was taken into custody. (Some media reports indicated that 30-year-old Karyna Shuliak—a Belarusian émigrée and dentist who was one of Epstein's latest romantic interests and a woman with whom he had grown closer of late—had been vacationing with Epstein at his Paris apartment and that she had been on his jet when Epstein was arrested. Law enforcement sources familiar with Epstein's apprehension, however, dispute this, insisting Shuliak was not on the arriving flight.)After clearing U.S. Customs, Epstein was turned over to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service and driven some ten miles south, to the Metropolitan Correctional Center, in Lower Manhattan, a federal jail known as the MCC, where prisoners charged with federal crimes are detained while awaiting arraignment or trial.* * *Epstein had grown up in modest surroundings, but he had never experienced conditions like those in the MCC. For a man who had long since grown accustomed to a pampered life, landing in the MCC was a rude awakening, far harsher than anything he'd experienced years earlier in the county lockup in Florida.Robert Boyce had retired from his job as the NYPD's chief of detectives in April 2018 after a 35-year career with the department. Even though Boyce was no longer the department's top detective, his gregarious nature and close relationships with top brass within New York's law enforcement community made him an inviting go-between for someone hoping to assist the beleaguered financier without so much as leaving a fingerprint.Boyce revealed how in the days following Epstein's July 2019 arrest, a handful of Police Foundation benefactors—those he termed "one-percenters"—embarked on what amounted to a stealth lobbying campaign on Epstein's behalf meant to ease his discomfort behind bars. Despite the common knowledge that Epstein was a convicted sex offender, these "sweet people" believed the favor bank was open for business, and each caller importuning him sought to make a withdraw on Epstein's behalf."They were upper-crust elites who met [Epstein] over cocktails and thought he was charming. He won them over," Boyce explained.The foundation members making calls on Epstein's behalf had each, at one time, been generous benefactors of the Police Foundation—one contributed as much as $50,000. "You know, they're calling not to say, 'Hello Bob,' but rather, 'We're concerned about a friend of ours who is imprisoned.' They wanted to buy him things, certain comforts while he was in his jail cell, like a pillow or toiletries." The callers gave Boyce the impression that each was prepared to cut a personal check on Epstein's behalf on the spot.Boyce was not inclined to help. By the time the callers reached the former chief of detectives, word had reached him through another former law enforcement official about the nature of the cache of lurid photographs that had been seized from Epstein's townhouse. The trove of photos numbered in the hundreds, and the subjects were suspected victims of Epstein's predations.Boyce diplomatically discouraged the callers' misguided impulses. "I told them, 'Look, just walk away. This is a bad guy. He is much worse than you can ever know. Don't walk. Run!' They immediately said, 'Thank you very much, chief,' and hung up."Epstein's first night inside the MCC was spent in what's referred to as the general population. Ninety percent of the MCC population was in "Gen Pop," including most pretrial prisoners, who tend to be more agitated and potentially more dangerous than those who have been sentenced and are awaiting a prison transfer, or those due for imminent release.The tier Epstein was first sent to—7N—included gang members of MS-13 and various Bloods factions. It was a holding home for murderers, narcotraffickers, and other violent criminals, and jailhouse assaults—either to settle a score or for hire—were common.On Epstein's second day behind bars, the Bureau of Prisons administrators transferred Epstein from 7N to the ninth floor south, or 9S, and the Special Housing Unit, or SHU (pronounced "shoe"). It was also known in MCC vernacular as the Hole.The MCC was a hard place to keep secrets. The nature of Epstein's crimes became known inside the building. Rather than harming Epstein physically, several young prisoners in the unit initially sought to intimidate and extort him, according to inmate Michael "Miles" Tisdale, who ran the Inmate Companion Program that had been established to assist at-risk prisoners."He was 'run out,'" Tisdale explained, meaning Epstein was ostracized from other prisoners in the housing unit. Tisdale said he heard about this effort initially from one of the guards and later from Epstein himself. "(Other inmates) tried to extort him… they tried to control him by selling him commissary items [like snacks, sodas, and certain meals] for way above what they're supposed to be sold for."According to inmate accounts, Epstein did use commissary sales in an effort to secure his safety within the jail.In conversations with another one of his counselors, inmate William "Dollar Bill" Mersey, Epstein expressed the fear that he would be targeted by Black inmates (Epstein did not raise these specific fears with Tisdale, who is Black). As Mersey understood it, Epstein's worries about his safety were related to his experiences and feelings about race. "He mentioned he'd been bullied at school in Coney Island by Black kids—not by Italians, not by the Irish, but by Black kids," Mersey recalled.In one conversation, Mersey recalled Epstein asking, "Do I need a big shvar?" (Shvar, or shvartze, is a pejorative Yiddish term for a Black person.) Mersey said he tried to admonish Epstein about his insecurity, advising him to look fellow prisoners in the eye and stand his ground.Within a few days of being assigned to the SHU, Epstein was put on "suicide watch," which meant he was moved to an even grimmer environment. The suicide watch area consists of four-cell units on the second floor of the jail that provides some of the most restrictive housing in the facility. Inmates assigned to suicide watch are not permitted to leave their cells. Beds are without sheets; clothing is more minimal to prevent self-harming behaviors; lights are never turned off; and inmates are supposed to be under 24/7 watch by both prison guards and staff.Tisdale remembered seeing Epstein in the unit, citing the distinctive jailhouse mufti worn by inmates on suicide watch—a gown with Velcro straps—as proof. Tisdale and Mersey would both assert that Epstein was moved to suicide watch soon after he became an inmate on July 6."They would not move him from the SHU to suicide watch unless he indicated to a prison psychologist or someone that he felt a desire to kill himself," Mersey insisted. "You don't go there unless you express intent to 'hang up,'" prison parlance for a desire to take one's own life.The revelation of this previously unreported first instance of Epstein's being placed on suicide watch raises new questions about prison officials' efforts to safeguard their high-profile inmate. (A representative for the Bureau of Prisons declined to comment on the allegation.)After several days spent on suicide watch, Epstein was transferred back to the SHU, where all seemed OK until the morning of July 23.Five days after his request to be remanded to house arrest was denied by a federal judge on July 18, Epstein was found on the floor of his cell, semiconscious in the fetal position, with marks on his neck. Epstein's cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, a muscle-bound former police officer accused of a drug-related quadruple homicide, summoned guards by yelling. (Tartaglione denied any complicity in the incident.)Epstein went back to the SHU, only six days after his purported suicide attempt.On August 9, Epstein's then cellmate transferred out, with no immediate replacement. Epstein had his cell to himself.In what would have been the last meal served to Epstein, a database from the Federal Bureau of Prisons shows the dinner that night was likely baked ziti or a tofu pasta alternative. By ten, Epstein and the other inmates were locked in their cells for the night.By morning, he would be dead.—Additional reporting by Philip Messing.This is an adapted excerpt from THE SPIDER: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Copyright © 2020 by Scoop King Press, Inc. Published Tuesday by Crown, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.Barry Levine is a veteran investigative reporter and editor in print and television. He received the HuffPost's "Game Changer" award in 2010 and led a reporting team to a Pulitzer prize nomination for investigative reporting and national news reporting. He is the co-author of All the President's Women and lives in New York.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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| The Nigerian Army Shot Dead at Least 12 Peaceful Protesters in Lagos, Rights Group Says. Here’s What to Know Posted: 21 Oct 2020 05:02 AM PDT  An on-the-ground investigation by Amnesty International has confirmed that the Nigerian army and police killed at least 12 peaceful protesters on Oct. 20 at two locations in Lagos. The rights group says the killings took place at Alausa and Lekki, both suburbs of Lagos. On Tuesday evening, reports and videos on social media appeared to show the Nigerian army opening fire on unarmed peaceful
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