| 'A global conspiracy against God and humanity': Controversial Catholic archbishop pushes QAnon themes in letter to Trump Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:40 AM PDT  The letter by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. and outspoken adversary of Pope Francis, hit many of the favorite themes of the pro-Trump conspiracy theory.
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| A New Jersey cop sent sexually explicit texts to an 18-year-old woman hours after he arrested her, prosecutors say Posted: 31 Oct 2020 07:52 AM PDT  Damien Broschart is facing multiple charges, including cyber harassment, and might lose his job if convicted, according to New Jersey prosecutors.
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| Fact check: There is no Sen. Rob Donaldson, so posts of his speech about Barrett are fake Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:53 AM PDT  A post on new Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett originated as a hypothetical. It took off, with many people assuming it was from a real senator.
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| 2020 election results: Why Americans probably won’t find out who won on 3 November Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:35 AM PDT  'There is no chance that we will know on election night the full vote total in Michigan'
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| Dem Rep. Tells Hunter Biden’s Business Partner He Will Defend Him against ‘Partisan Hack’ Attack Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:36 AM PDT  A Democratic congressman told Hunter Biden's former business associate, Tony Bobulinski, that he will defend him from attacks calling Bobulinski a "partisan hack" over his decision to go public with claims about the Biden family's foreign business dealings.Democratic Representative Ro Khanna sent an email to Bobulinski, who has donated to Khanna in the past, wishing him well and saying he vouched for him that he has "never been a 'partisan hack' in our interactions and have talked about putting country over party," Fox News reported."Tony, hope you are doing okay. I did give an on the record statement to The NY Times that I know you, you have always acted honorably with me, and you and other family members supported me," Khanna wrote in his message. "I have told any media outlets that have asked the same thing."The California Democrat said that he "refused to comment on the details of your allegations because I don't have personal knowledge about that, but have said I respect your service to our country and that you have never been a 'partisan hack' in our interactions and have talked about putting country over party."In a Fox News interview that was aired Tuesday, Bobulinksi accused Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden of "lying" about whether he was directly involved in his son's foreign business dealings.The former U.S. Navy lieutenant and corporate investor was the former CEO of SinoHawk Holdings, which he said was a partnership between the CEFC China Energy conglomerate and the Biden family. He was the recipient of a May 13, 2017 email that discussed a plan to have 10 percent in their related joint venture, Oneida Holdings, "held by H for the big guy?" The "big guy" was Joe Biden, and "H" was Hunter, Bobulinski confirmed.Bobulinski said he had several meetings with the former vice president, one on May 2, 2017, according to text messages about the meeting.Bobulinski said he decided to go public with documents and information on the Bidens after Democratic congressman Adam Schiff said on television that this "smear" of Biden "comes from the Kremlin," a claim Bobulinski called "absolutely disgusting.""I also have made it clear that I do not think you are a Russian agent," Khanna added in his email to Bobulinski. "I will continue to make that statement to any media that asks.""I remain appreciative for your past support and your requesting your family members to support," Khanna said. "After the heat of the election, if you want to, I am happy to chat."Bobulinski also said he was warned by former partner Rob Walker that going public with his claims against the Bidens would "bury all of us.""Throughout 2015 and 2016 while Joe was still the sitting vice president of the United States, these guys had been doing extensive work around the world," Bobulinski said in the Fox News interview, adding that "the only qualification they had was the Biden name."
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| 'They give me the willies': scientist who vacuumed murder hornets braces for fight Posted: 31 Oct 2020 12:00 AM PDT  Chris Looney helped dismantle the first nest of Asian giant hornets in the US. Now he's preparing for the next stepThe eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets on US soil somewhat resembled a science fiction depiction of an alien landing site. A crew of government specialists in white, astronaut-like protective suits descended upon the hornet nexus to vanquish it with a futuristic-looking vacuum cleaner, to the relief of onlookers.The nest of the fearsome invasive insects, notoriously known as "murder hornets", was found in a tree crevice near Blaine, in Washington state, via a tracking device attached to a previously captured worker hornet. The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the nest had been successfully removed, with dozens of live captives taken back for inspection."It was cold so they were docile, so between their slowness and the protective gear no one was hurt," said Chris Looney, a WSDA entomologist who was tasked with vacuuming up the hornets.Wielding a lengthy, toxic stinger, the hornets can cause renal failure and death in people, as dozens of people in Japan have found out to their cost. One entomologist in Canada described the feeling of being stung as like "having hot tacks pushed into my flesh".They can also squirt venom, as Looney saw first-hand when his lab workbench was sprayed by hornets as they roused themselves following capture. "I was more worried about getting permanent nerve damage in the eye from the squirted venom than being stung," said Looney, who wore goggles for the capture. "They are pretty intimidating, even for an inch-and-a-half insect. They are big and loud and I know it would hurt very badly if I get stung. They give me the willies."Murder hornets do not earn their moniker from killing people, however, with honeybees far more likely to be targeted. A honeybee colony can be decimated within a few hours, with the hornets decapitating their victims and feeding severed body parts to their young. This poses a gnawing concern for hobbyist beekeepers and even farmers in the US north-west, where managed honeybees are crucial for the pollination of crops such as blueberries and raspberries.Asian giant hornets were first discovered in North America last year, popping up in British Columbia, Canada, before a handful of specimens made it south of the border to Washington state. The hornets, native to east Asia, most likely arrived on the continent clinging to imported goods sent via sea or air. A close relative of the hornet has already made separate inroads into France and the UK.A key, and unnerving, question is how far they will manage to spread across America. Looney said the removal of the first nest found in the US was just a "small victory" in a battle likely to rage for several years to contain the insects. Thousands of sightings have been reported in Washington, and while many are false or mistaken, Looney said it was likely the hornets had spread, potentially establishing dozens more nests."It's hard to say how they will behave here compared to their native range, but the fear is that there are large apiaries of bees that could be sitting ducks, while as the hornets move south to warmer weather their colonies could grow larger," he said. "The object of our work is to avoid finding this out."Scientists who have modeled the potential spread of the hornets predict they will be able to extend down the west coast into California. The Rocky Mountains and drier interior of the US pose major barriers to an eastward push but environs on the east coast such as New York would be ideal homes for the murder hornets should they inadvertently be transported there.Looney said he was "troubled" by evidence that overwintering hornet queens like to bury themselves in straw and hay, commodities that are regularly shifted around the US by train or truck. A hornet queen that hitched a ride would still face challenges establishing a nest even if moved to the east coast – it could immediately be crushed underfoot, after all – but the potential pathway is there."I'm more worried about human transportation of these hornets than I initially was," Looney conceded.The Asian giant hornet is just the latest invasive species to make its mark on North America. Burmese pythons are now legion in southern Florida, while Asian carp are common in the Mississippi river system. In the insect world, the spotted lanternfly is a growing agricultural pest and emerald ash borers have arrived to lay waste to stands of trees.These arrivals are symptoms of the growth in international trade and tourism, while climate change is making many parts of the US more hospitable for certain invasive species. The Asian giant hornet, for example, is thought to favor the sort of elevated temperatures that the US is experiencing as the planet heats up. This could help it spread at the rate of its cousin species in France, which has been able to advance up to 78km a year. If it is not controlled, the murder hornet could fundamentally change ecosystems across the US.Still, even in a fraught year racked by a pandemic, social unrest and economic disaster, Looney said any fears of being assailed by a murder hornet should be "low on the anxiety meter".He added: "We should be concerned about it but we will do our best until the money runs out or the battle is won or lost. If we fail, it will be unpleasant. But there are other things to be much more worried about right now."
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| Typhoon Goni: Philippines hit by year's most powerful storm Posted: 31 Oct 2020 05:38 PM PDT  Torrential rain and "catastrophic violent winds" are expected on the main island of Luzon on Sunday.
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| Thai protest leaders, in hospital, face possible new charges Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:53 AM PDT  Three Thai pro-democracy protest leaders -- all in hospital after chaotic scenes that erupted when they were released from prison -- were facing possible new charges late Saturday.
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| Tensions between left and right-wing protesters in Vancouver, Washington, after a Black man was shot dead by police officers in a drugs bust Posted: 31 Oct 2020 08:11 AM PDT  Kevin E. Peterson Jr, 21, produced a handgun and was shot dead by deputies, said Clark County Sheriff's Office.
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| Pennsylvania's small-town Trump defectors: Rare — but possibly decisive Posted: 31 Oct 2020 01:06 PM PDT  Analysis: In one of the most hotly contested 2020 battlegrounds, some Democrats worry that Trump will win. But it wouldn't take many Trump crossover votes to tip the state to Biden.
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| 'Duck Dynasty' star Sadie Robertson calls COVID a 'really dark sickness' Posted: 30 Oct 2020 06:36 PM PDT  "I'm not going to lie, I cried a lot," said the pregnant "Duck Dynasty" alum.
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| Coronavirus surges are helping flip swing states back for Biden, analysis suggests Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:26 PM PDT  The trend mirrors national polling, which shows the president behind by about 8 points
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| Texas GOP senator didn't "graduate" from Oxford University law program, as claimed in prior campaign Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:38 PM PDT  Cornyn attacked an opponent a few years later for "padding his resume," referencing a lie about a college degree
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| Russian MMA star attacks 'brute' Macron over Islam Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:48 AM PDT  Retired mixed martial arts champion Khabib Nurmagomedov on Friday denounced French President Emmanuel Macron as a "brute" and invoked God's wrath against him.
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| Turkey farmers in limbo as people scale back Thanksgiving plans Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:19 AM PDT  Millions of Americans are expected to have scaled-down Thanksgiving celebrations amid the pandemic, heeding official warnings against travel and large indoor gatherings.
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| 'Voters are fed up': will Arizona's suburbs abandon the party of Trump? Posted: 29 Oct 2020 11:15 PM PDT  The president won narrowly in Maricopa county in 2016. Polls show his support is draining – and fellow Republicans are at riskIn the agonizing days after the 2018 election, Christine Marsh, a Democratic candidate for state senate in a traditionally Republican suburban Phoenix district, watched her opponent's lead dwindle to a few hundred votes, with thousands of ballots left to be counted.In the end, just 267 votes separated them.Marsh lost. But the result was ominous for Republicans, in a corner of Phoenix's ever-expanding suburbs where Barry Goldwater, the long-serving Arizona senator and conservative icon, launched his presidential campaign in 1964 from the patio of his famed hilltop estate in Paradise Valley.series linker embedIn the decades since, population growth and shifting demographics have transformed the cultural, political and economic complexion of the region.And the election of Donald Trump has exacerbated these trends across the country, perhaps nowhere more dramatically than in diverse, fast-growing metropolitan areas like Phoenix, where the coalition of affluent, white suburban voters that once cemented Republican dominance is unraveling."We've seen a huge shift in my district, even in just the last two years," said Marsh, a high school English teacher who is challenging the Republican incumbent, Kate Brophy McGee, again this year. The district, which includes the prosperous Paradise Valley and parts of north central Phoenix, is now at the center of the political battle for Arizona's suburbs.Over the last four years, Republicans have watched their support collapse in suburbs across the country, as the president's divisive rhetoric and incendiary behavior alienates women, college graduates and independent voters. But as Trump continues to downplay the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic, even after more than 225,000 deaths nationwide and as cases continue to climb, his conduct is imperiling not only his own re-election campaign, but his entire party. 'Ground zero'The depth of Trump's problems with suburbanites is magnified in Maricopa county, one of the largest and most suburban counties in the nation, with a population of almost 4.5 million.In 2016, the suburbs helped deliver Trump's narrow victory here. But polling shows the president has lost significant ground with these voters, threatening his prospects in a state that has voted for a Democratic presidential candidate only once since 1952."If the president loses Arizona, it'll be largely because he lost Maricopa county – because he lost the suburbs," said Jeff Flake, the former Arizona senator and a conservative critic of the president who has endorsed his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.The political dividing line in America now runs directly through suburbs like the ones around Phoenix, rare ground where Trump inspires both fierce loyalty and deep revulsion.Here, across desert sprawl of stuccoed housing developments and saguaro-scattered foothills, is "ground zero", said Mike Noble, the chief pollster at OH Predictive Insights in Phoenix. Not only are these voters poised to deliver a referendum on Trump next week, they will also be decisive in determining control of the US Congress and the state legislature.In his analysis of precincts that voted for Trump in 2016 yet backed the Democratic Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema two years later, the vast majority were in suburban parts of Maricopa county. Sinema, who cast herself as an "independent voice" willing to break with her party, became the first Democrat in 30 years to win a US Senate seat in the state, beating the Republican Martha McSally, who had tied her fate to the president."The big story of the last four years is the shift of white, college-educated independents and self-identified moderates," he said.Independents, or unaffiliated voters, make up roughly a third of Arizona's electorate. In 2016, they broke narrowly for Trump, but this year, polling suggests these voters are swinging heavily away from the president.According to an October Monmouth poll, independent voters in Arizona favor Biden by 21 percentage points. The survey also found that most of the state's independent voters believe McSally, who was appointed to fill the unexpired term of the late Republican senator John McCain after losing to Sinema in 2018, is too supportive of the president. She now faces an uphill battle to keep the seat, after months spent trailing her Democratic challenger, Mark Kelly.Unlike McSally, McGee – the Republican state senator who is trying to hold on to her seat in Phoenix – has carefully cultivated a reputation as a moderate, breaking with her party on legislation related to Medicare expansion and school vouchers.Yet like many Republicans running in increasingly formidable terrain, McGee faces strong national headwinds after four years of anti-Trump activism and resistance in the suburbs. Arizona's Red for Ed movement, which led to a week-long teacher walkout in 2018, galvanized parents and students alike and helped build support for Marsh who was the 2016 state teacher of the year.This year, education, compounded by the coronavirus, is a top priority for Arizonans, and, on this issue, voters favor Democrats. A ballot measure imposing a surtax on the highest earners to increase public education funding is poised for approval, with polling showing support from a majority of Democrats and independent voters."I really do think it's frustration," Marsh said. "Voters are really fed up with the lack of leadership and they realize that the only way we're going to change anything in Arizona is by changing the balance of power." 'Suburban women, will you please like me?'Trump has attempted to woo back suburban voters by casting himself as the protector of a certain "suburban lifestyle dream" who would forestall an "invasion" of low-income housing and keep their neighborhoods safe from the "crime and chaos" of America's "dysfunctional cities".His appeals, intended to stoke the racist fears of white voters, conjures a decades-old image of suburbia that is completely detached from the racially diverse and economically prosperous communities growing around America's biggest cities. Polling suggests the entreaties have not worked.Unlike four years ago, Trump is trailing by significant margins among white women, a group that includes independents and moderate Republicans likely to be turned off by Trump's inflammatory speech."Suburban women, will you please like me?" Trump pleaded at a recent rally in Pennsylvania. "Please? Please!" Lisa James, a veteran Republican strategist in Phoenix, said a public safety message had the potential to resonate with conservative suburban women, who were upset by scenes of rioting and violence that occurred alongside largely peaceful protests against racism and police brutality this summer."These voters are concerned about the safety and security of their families and their communities," James said. "Events like that will lead many of them right back to the Republican party."The October Monmouth poll found that nearly 60% of Arizona voters, including a majority of voters in Maricopa county, worried "a lot" about the potential breakdown of law and order. The issue was more of a concern for voters than the coronavirus pandemic and other financial matters.However, it hasn't reshaped their opinion of the president. The same survey found that Arizonans preferred Biden over Trump, even though they trusted Trump more to maintain law and order.Other national polls show Trump's standing on the issue even more diminished, with voters saying Biden was better suited to handle crime and public safety. In a national Fox News survey released earlier this month, 58% of voters agreed that the way Trump talks about racial inequality and policing had lead to "an increase in acts of violence".In 2016, Karie Barrera said, she was an independent who cast her ballot for Hillary Clinton. Four years later, the recently retired educator said she was still not enthralled by the president. But she became increasingly alarmed after the Black Lives Matter protests led to calls for making school curriculums more inclusive."I don't like that you're going to mess with our real history," Barrera said.The president has claimed that schoolchildren are being taught a "twisted web of lies" about systemic racism in America and called for a return to "patriotic education". Barrera agrees: "You don't rewrite our history."Yet the very rhetoric that reassures Barrera is jeopardizing a coalition that once cemented Republican dominance in states like Arizona."The more that Trump's rhetoric is designed to appeal to a white, male, working-class set of voters, the more alienated these college-educated, right-leaning independents and Republicans start to feel," said Sarah Longwell, a Republican consultant who has spent the last several years studying suburban voters. 'This was personal'In 2016, women in Arizona narrowly favored Clinton over Trump. In the latest New York Times/Siena College poll of Arizona voters, Biden held a daunting 18-point lead among women in the state.From the outset, it was clear that many of the women Longwell convened in her focus groups didn't like Trump: they didn't like his tweets, his treatment of women, his conduct or his leadership style. But they took a chance on him in 2016 because they believed the alternative wasn't any better. These were often the voters who bolted first, helping Democrats retake the House in the 2018 midterm elections.Among those who didn't, Longwell said many have grappled with their discomfort over Trump's behavior and their allegiance to the Republican party. She said that despite the tumult of the last four years, little moved these women – until the pandemic arrived."Suddenly there was a shift," she said. "Voters started talking about the stakes being too high. They were suffering personal consequences, which is very different from an abstract foreign policy issue. This was personal."Longwell, who founded Republican Voters Against Trump, said the suburban shift away from the Republican party could be the beginning of a "meaningful political realignment" that will outlast Trump's presidency."It will depend who the Democrats are in the future and it will depend who the Republicans are in the future," she said. "But these voters have no interest in a Trumpy Republican party." 'Adiós Trump'In 2008 and 2012, Yasser Sanchez worked to elect John McCain and Mitt Romney to the White House. But this year, for the first time in his life, the lifelong Republican is voting for a Democratic presidential nominee – and has no qualms about it.Sanchez, an immigration lawyer in Mesa, a conservative Phoenix suburb with more than half a million residents, said he was appalled by Trump's conduct, his vilification of immigrants and his disdain for American institutions. But equally disappointing, Sanchez said, was the near-unwavering loyalty he received from Republican leaders."The Republican party used to stand for certain principles," he said. "Now it stands for defending whatever the president tweets that morning."The Trump presidency has forced Sanchez to reconsider his political identity. He isn't a Democrat, but he also doesn't see a place for himself in the party he had supported all his life.This year, Sanchez is doing everything he can to ensure Arizona elects Biden. He hosted a voter registration drive in the parking lot of his law firm and placed an "Adiós Trump" billboard along the busy Interstate 10 in Phoenix."For now, I'm comfortable being an independent," he said. "Unless there's a reckoning within the Republican party, I will not be going back."
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| Lawyers say deportees to Cameroon would be flying on 'death planes' Posted: 31 Oct 2020 04:07 AM PDT  Members of Cameroon's English-speaking minority sought refuge from violence in the U.S. The Trump administration is sending many of them home.
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| Zeta's toll on a Louisiana island: 'Like a bomb was dropped' Posted: 29 Oct 2020 10:00 PM PDT  Mark Andollina remembers stinging rain and a howling wind that peeled the roof off part of his Cajun Tide Beach Resort on Grand Isle, the Louisiana barrier island town where residents were among the first to feel the ferocity of Hurricane Zeta. "Because we got the most damage on the island right here, basically in the middle of the island." "The middle of the island looks like a bomb was dropped," said Dodie Vegas, who with her husband owns Bridge Side Marina on the west side of the island.
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| SBA presses big businesses to justify aid, sparking uproar Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:00 PM PDT  The questions posed by the SBA have rattled banks, which issued the loans and would be responsible for delivering the questionnaires to the agency.
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| Air Force Moves Forward with Plan to Turn Giant Cargo Planes into Bomb Trucks Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:34 AM PDT |
| A high school newspaper has exposed how state police quoted Adolf Hitler and advocated violence in a training manual Posted: 31 Oct 2020 09:54 AM PDT  The training manual quotes from Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, calling for the "perpetually constant and regular employment of violence."
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| China destroys domes of famous mosques as cultural whitewash continues Posted: 31 Oct 2020 06:24 AM PDT  China's campaign to suppress Islam is accelerating as authorities remove Arab-style onion domes and decorative elements from mosques across the country. Stark changes have been observed at the main mosque in Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia province, where most of China's Hui ethnic Muslim minority live. The bright green onion-shaped domes and golden minarets that used to soar into the sky atop Nanguan Mosque have all been pulled down. Golden Islamic-style filigree, decorative arches, and Arabic script that before adorned the mosque have also been stripped away. What remains is unrecognisable – a drab, gray, rectangular facility with "Nanguan Mosque" written in Chinese, as shown in photos posted online by Christina Scott, the UK's deputy head of mission in China, on a recent trip. "TripAdvisor suggested the Nanguan Mosque in Yinchuan well worth a visit," Ms Scott wrote on Twitter, along with 'before and after' photos. "Only this is what it looks now, after 'renovations.' Domes, minarets, all gone. No visitors allowed either, of course. So depressing."
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| David Perdue: Georgia senator pulls out of final debate after 'brutal' takedown by Democrat goes viral Posted: 29 Oct 2020 11:25 PM PDT  Video of debate where Democrat Jon Ossoff calls Republican incumbent a 'crook' has been viewed more than 11m times on Twitter
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| They protested to oust their scandalous governor. Tuesday they'll vote to usher in a new era. Posted: 30 Oct 2020 08:49 AM PDT  The election on the island follows the historic protests following the scandal that led to Gov. Ricardo Rosselló's resignation.
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| A new tropical depression formed in the Caribbean. It could become Tropical Storm Eta Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:13 PM PDT  A new tropical depression has formed in the Caribbean, putting the 2020 hurricane season within reach of breaking a slew of meteorological records.
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| ‘I thought I was the only one’: This carrot-chopping ‘hack’ is shockingly popular Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:23 AM PDT  This is for anyone that despises — like, really despises — doing dishes.
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| Trump appears to mock Laura Ingraham for wearing a mask at campaign rally Posted: 30 Oct 2020 12:18 PM PDT 
At a campaign rally in Waterford Township, Mich., on Friday, President Trump appeared to mock Fox News host Laura Ingraham for wearing a mask, saying she was being "very politically correct."
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| Daylight-saving time ends on Sunday, November 1 — here's why we have it and why some countries and states have gotten rid of it Posted: 31 Oct 2020 11:55 AM PDT  At 2 a.m. ET on November 1, Americans will "fall back" by moving their clocks an hour earlier to end seven months of daylight-saving time.
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| Indonesia condemns France attacks, but warns against Macron's remarks Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:34 AM PDT  Indonesian president Joko Widodo on Saturday condemned what he called "terrorist" attacks in France, but also warned that remarks by President Emmanuel Macron had "insulted Islam" and "hurt the unity of Muslims everywhere." Conservative Islamic organizations in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim-majority country, have called for protests and boycotts against France, sharing an image of Macron as a red-eyed devilish snail. "Freedom of speech that injures the noble purity and sacred values and symbol of religion is so wrong, it shouldn't be justified and it needs to stop," the Indonesian leader, who is known by his popular name Jokowi, said in a televised address.
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| 'An incredible scar': the harsh toll of Trump's 400-mile wall through national parks Posted: 31 Oct 2020 02:15 AM PDT  Samuel Gilbert visited four distinct wilderness areas near the new border wall, which is fragmenting protected habitats and threatening endangered species In the 1980s, when Kevin Dahl first began visiting the Organ Pipe Cactus national monument in southern Arizona, the border was unmarked, save for a simple fence used to keep cattle from a ranch in the US from crossing into Mexico. In those days, park rangers would call in their lunch orders at a diner located just across the border.Since then, a 30ft steel bollard wall has replaced the old barbed wire fence at Organ Pipe. The towering steel barrier cuts through the Unesco reserve like a rust-colored suture."It's this incredible scar," said Kevin Dahl, a senior program manager at the National Parks Conservation Association, describing the wall that snakes its way through a pristine track of Sonoran desert, dwarfing the giant cacti that give this desert its name. "What was once a connected landscape is now a dissected one."That dissection is now a reality across much of the US border. It is a landscape increasingly defined by walls, roads, fences and associated border infrastructure that is fragmenting critically protected habitats, desecrating sacred cultural sites and threatening numerous endangered species in some of the most biodiverse and unique places in North America."Border construction has had a huge impact on some of the most remote and biodiverse landscapes on the continent," said Dan Millis, a campaigner at the Sierra Club. "The Trump administration is taking it even further."Four days before the US election, this is how the new border wall has affected four distinct wilderness areas. 'An environmental and human disaster'Donald Trump entered the Oval Office with a campaign promise to build 450 miles of a new "border wall system" – a combination of infrastructure including bollard barriers, roads, perimeter lighting, enforcement cameras and other technology – even amid the pandemic, has continued at an increasing pace. According to Customs and Border Protection, 400 miles of the border wall system has been completed so far, with physical barriers from 18-30ft tall. If he wins, he may well aspire to wall off the border in its entirety.Construction is occurring mostly on public, often protected lands, because the Department of Homeland Security has sweeping powers to waive environmental protection laws, like the Endangered Species Act, which would otherwise bar construction.Protected lands "belong to the government because they are so unique and fragile. Because of that same fact, they are being demolished," said Laiken Jordahl, borderlands campaigner for the Center for Biological Diversity, noting the relative ease of border wall construction on public lands compared with the lengthy process of taking private property.mapThe eastern terminus is the Lower Rio Grande Valley wildlife refuge in south-eastern Texas – 100,000 acres of lush protected lands that US Fish and Wildlife have spent four decades restoring. The 135 individual tracts of land, described as a "string of pearls" connecting various habitats, extend along the 275 miles of the Rio Grande River before entering the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of the most biodiverse places in the country, supporting 700 species of terrestrial animals such as the jaguarundi, a wild cat, as well as myriad plants and a vibrant ecotourism industry.The landscape is now being bisected by a 15ft concrete base surmounted by 18ft steel bollards."It's going to make it that much harder to preserve the very little that is left of the ecosystem," said Norma Herrera of the Rio Grande Equal Voice Network."This is some of the best birding in the world," said Elise Wort, a tourist who traveled from her California home to see some of the 500-plus bird species that reside in the valley. "The border is an environmental and human disaster."Much of the construction in the south-western border states is occurring in remote and mountainous terrain. Critics say it makes little sense to construct a physical barrier in these areas because most are lightly trafficked corridors for unauthorized migration, and they are also crucial habitat for animals. Ninety-three endangered and threatened animal species are found in the borderlands.One such area is the Madrean Sky Islands, rugged linked mountain ranges in New Mexico and Arizona that boast the highest biodiversity in inland North America."It's like going from the climate on the Mexican border to Canada," said Emily Burns, program director of the Sky Island Alliance, with ecosystems ranging from subtropical lowlands and deserts to temperate mountaintops.The 30ft steel wall and stadium lighting are adversely affecting the ocelot, javelina, Mexican grey wolf and the North American jaguar, the latter of which has made a surprising comeback in the US since being hunted to extinction in the late 1980s, according to Burns's organization."We don't expect there will be any hope for the jaguar's recovery in the US if [the border is] completed," said Burns, because it will cut off the main Jaguar population in Mexico from that in the US. 'Destruction'Further east in Arizona, new sections of steel bollard wall are being built in the largest area of protected Sonoran landscape. At the San Bernardino national wildlife refuge, groundwater pumping to mix concrete for the wall is draining a crucial wetland and imperiling four threatened or endangered species for which San Bernardino was created to protect. Government documents obtained by environmental groups revealed that the US Fish and Wildlife Service repeatedly warned the Department of Homeland Security about the imminent threat to these species. Their warning went unheeded."I started my career as a biologist at the Refuge, and 20 years later, I came full circle to witness its destruction," said Myles Traphagen, borderlands program coordinator for the Wildlands Network, an environmental group. 'Our tribal sovereignty is not being upheld'Construction during the Trump administration has severely affected tribal lands along the border, leading to a growing protest movement in response to desecration of sacred sites and barred access to ancestral lands."Our tribal sovereignty is not being upheld," said Jacelle Ramon-Sauberan, a doctoral candidate of Indian studies at the University of Arizona and a member of the Tohono O'odham Nation, who lands have been split by the wall, stifling cross-border cultural and religious events between O'odham members in Mexico and the US. "I don't think it ever has been when it comes to the border wall or the border in general."At Organ Pipe Cactus national monument in Arizona, part of the ancestral lands of the Tohono O'odham nation, a particular flashpoint has been the impact of the border wall on the sacred Quitobaquito springs. A recent analysis by data scientists at the investigative journalism website Bellingcat found that water levels at Quitobaquito springs are declining at unprecedented rates, with border wall construction a likely culprit because crews have tapped the underlying aquifer for water to make concrete. 'This wall has done nothing more than divide our communities'On 12 October – Indigenous Peoples' Day – O'odham members and their allies blockaded the highway passing through Organ Pipe. Border officers responded with force, including teargas, arresting eight in the process.Earlier this year, construction crews used dynamite to blow up Monument hill in Organ Pipe to make way for the wall, disturbing O'odham burial grounds and uprooting numerous Organ Pipe and Saguaro Cactus scattered along the service roads, which evoked felled green monoliths.A recent decision by a federal appeals court has provided at least one win for border wall critics, and a blow to Trump's ambitions to complete the 450 miles of the wall by year's end.The ninth circuit court of appeals ruled that the president's use of emergency powers to allocate military funds for border wall construction was illegal. Even so, construction will continue on projects where military money was not used – including the four described here."This wall has done nothing more than divide our communities, disrespect our values, and inflict enormous environmental harm," said the Arizona congressman Raúl Grijalva, whose district includes Organ Pipe. "It's time for wall construction to end once and for all."
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| Former Venezuelan treasurer charged with accepting millions in Miami corruption case Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:26 AM PDT  A former Venezuelan national treasurer and her husband accepted massive bribes from a politically connected billionaire who paid them through U.S. bank accounts so he could gain access to the government's lucrative currency exchange system, according to a new federal criminal case filed in Miami.
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| Tsunami Warning in Turkey After 7.0 Quake Levels Buildings in Coastal City of Izmir Posted: 30 Oct 2020 07:43 AM PDT  A massive earthquake erupted in the Aegean Sea early Friday, causing multistory buildings to collapse in the coastal Turkish city of Izmir and sending water surging through the streets amid tsunami warnings.Eyewitness videos captured terrifying scenes. A seven-story residential building crumbled to the ground. Waist-high water gushed through the streets of the nearby town of Seferihisar. Environment Minister Murat Kurum said there were reports of people trapped under debris, mostly in Izmir's Bayrakli neighborhood, according to televised remarks reported by The New York Times.> Bornova'da deprem sonrası binanın yıkılma anıdeprem İzmir> > — gzt (@gztcom) October 30, 2020> Another tsunami footage from the earthquake in Izmir province of Turkey. > > This one is really dangerous pic.twitter.com/62zfddWSi8> > — Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) October 30, 2020The 7.0-magnitude quake hit just off the Greek island of Samos, according to Turkish authorities. It rattled parts of Greece and was reportedly felt 200 miles away in Istanbul. On Samos, a wall collapsed, killing two children in the town of Vathy, according to Greek news outlet Skai. An "extreme alert" tsunami warning was issued to island residents, sending panicked people running into the streets to get away from the shoreline and large buildings.Water reportedly flooded some streets but the damage was unclear. Giorgos Dionysiou, deputy mayor of Samos, described it as "chaos." > tw // earthquake > > i'm just in shock pray for everyone's safety.. :(( izmir pic.twitter.com/sNaDgvMXHO> > — 홍 �� (@hongflake) October 30, 2020Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city with four million residents, appeared to take the brunt of it. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca tweeted that four people were killed and at least 120 were injured, and Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said that at least six buildings were flattened. Rescue crews were on the scene searching for survivors.It was the "biggest quake I have ever experienced," Izmir resident Cenk Hosfikirer told the Times. "The lamps swung and the apartment door opened. At that moment, I thought, 'Am I going to die?'"Haluk Ozener, director of the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute, told the Associated Press that a small tsunami hit Seferihisar, in Izmir Province. Footage posted to Twitter appeared to show an ominous retreat of the water line near the coastal city, leaving boats marooned on sand and mud.> Right Now in izmir Turkey > > People worries about a new tsunami wave due to the sea has retreated for metresDeprem earthquake pic.twitter.com/Om5otCh37V> > — Kondektur Bus™ (@kondekturbus_) October 30, 2020Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said the earthquake happened at a depth of 10.3 miles in the Aegean Sea—a relatively shallow epicenter. Because of this, aftershocks could continue for weeks, AP reported.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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| SC's Graham, Harrison clash on criminal justice, health care Posted: 30 Oct 2020 10:48 AM PDT  On the Friday night before Election Day, Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison met in South Carolina's capital city of Columbia for their second and final debate, clashing over issues related to criminal justice reform, health care and political sniping in a Senate matchup that has shattered fundraising records and commanded national attention. On criminal justice reform, Harrison called for more mental health counseling needed for crisis situations and chided Graham, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, for not advancing Sen. Tim Scott's "Justice Act" reform bill - legislation he said he applauded but, that he said, "doesn't go far enough." "If you're serious about it, don't just talk about it — act on it," Harrison said of Graham's purported inaction.
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| Bed Bath & Beyond is slashing the coupons that have long been synonymous with the brand after an internal study found they were partially 'ineffective' Posted: 30 Oct 2020 11:23 AM PDT  Bed Bath & Beyond's famous coupons will be more limited in the future, but won't completely disappear, executives told investors on Wednesday.
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| The New Yorker ’s Hit Piece on Scalia’s Labor Dept. Was Too Good to Fact-Check, Emails Show Posted: 30 Oct 2020 02:37 PM PDT  President Trump's election led to an explosion in fact-checking as a journalism genre unto itself, but The New Yorker has been at it for nearly 100 years as part of the normal course of its work. And it takes pride in that pedigree.A 2009 piece in the magazine laid out the process, in which writers submit their stories and the fact-checking department painstakingly vets every detail that can possibly be vetted."Each word in the piece that has even a shred of fact clinging to it is scrutinized, and, if passed, given the checker's imprimatur, which consists of a tiny pencil tick," longtime editor Sara Lippincott, who worked in The New Yorker's fact-checking department from 1966 until 1982, once said. The firewall is real, and writers enjoy it. "The process of independently verifying every assertion of fact in a story — every detail and hypothesis — is such a valuable and endangered art these days," staff writer Evan Osnos wrote in 2009.But it seems the supposedly airtight process broke down in the case of a 7,000-word article by contributor Eyal Press on Labor secretary Eugene Scalia's alleged mishandling of COVID-related regulations, which appeared in The New Yorker's October 26 issue.Last week, the Department of Labor published a blog post claiming The New Yorker profile is "error-ridden" and relies on a combination of omission, inaccuracy, and outright spin to cast Scalia as "a wrecking ball aimed at workers" amid the ongoing pandemic.The Scalia article centers around the DOL's current practices at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), its regulatory agency.Press uses a number of anecdotes to make the case that Scalia's Labor Department poses a unique threat to worker safety: a former OSHA official who detailed how the agency "pulled off" inspectors doing a COVID-19 fatality inspection at a Walmart; a Virginia woman fired for requesting to work remotely who was "pressured" by an OSHA representative to "withdraw her complaint"; a McDonald's employee in Chicago who wrote to OSHA multiple times to complain about his working conditions and accused the agency of "not doing the job they're supposed to be doing."The allegations are certainly serious. But, according to emails and documents obtained by National Review, The New Yorker did not ask the DOL — which asked for and was given questions in writing — about any of the cases during their storied fact-checking process.Instead, The New Yorker asked DOL to verify easily searchable or outright absurd claims, including that "Secretary Scalia has a modest temperament," "Secretary Scalia graduated from the University of Chicago Law School where he was editor of the Law Review," and "Mr. Scalia was nominated by President George W. Bush as solicitor of the DOL, but he was not confirmed and instead was given a one-year recess appointment."Fact-checker Natalie Meade did state in a follow-up email that she could "have other questions that might be OSHA specific," but the only question that came was whether OSHA had "hired 40-50 new field safety inspectors/investigators across the country in recent months." DOL told her it was actually 114, but the detail was not included in the final piece.The article also prominently features an April policy memo on how OSHA would lower the requirements for tracking work-related coronavirus cases — a development "so roundly criticized that Scalia scuttled it." One critique of the proposed plan came from Joseph Woodward, a former OSHA associate solicitor from 1992 to 2014, who wrote an April 25 letter to the Labor Department urging a change.According to the article, Woodward's request was granted but Scalia wasn't happy about it."Scalia has bristled at criticism of his handling of the pandemic, accusing Woodward and others of failing to show 'due respect for the steps the dedicated men and women at OSHA are taking,'" Press wrote.The New Yorker does not attribute the "due respect" quote to anyone in particular, but an Internet search revealed that it comes from an April 30 letter Scalia wrote to AFL-CIO head Richard Trumka in response to a letter in which Trumka laid out his concerns about the DOL's COVID regulations."President Trumka, thank you again for your letter," the closing paragraph reads. "To reiterate, you make points we will consider. The coronavirus presents grave and shifting challenges that require sustained attention; we evaluate daily what additional steps we can and should take. I certainly share your concern for the workers who have died from COVID-19. And I respect all that the AFL-CIO and other unions have done through the years to protect workers. I ask that you show due respect for the steps the dedicated men and women at OSHA are taking now."Based on the letter's text, Press's claim that Scalia bristled at the request and accused Trumka of failing to show OSHA respect is misleading at best. And the implication that the letter — which does not even mention Woodward — could be construed as Scalia's expressing his discontent with Woodward is laughable; Woodward has told The New Yorker as much and asked them to correct the record."This is incorrect as to me," Woodward wrote in a subsequent letter obtained by National Review, which he sent to The New Yorker after Press's profile was published. "I appreciated that the Department took the issues discussed in my letter seriously and reversed its position. Scalia did not criticize me for writing the letter."Whether The New Yorker will publish Woodward's follow-up remains to be seen — a magazine spokesperson told National Review that "we stand by the story."Editor's Note: This piece has been updated with a comment from The New Yorker.
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| Walt Disney World lays off over 11,000 Florida employees amid pandemic Posted: 30 Oct 2020 04:11 PM PDT  Walt Disney World is letting go of 11,350 workers as the Orlando theme park's financial woes continue amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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