| Israel's president floats unity government between Netanyahu and Gantz Posted: 22 Sep 2019 08:54 AM PDT ![Israel's president floats unity government between Netanyahu and Gantz]( "Israel's president floats unity government between Netanyahu and Gantz") Israel's president on Sunday began consulting with party leaders to discuss who should lead the country after no clear victor emerged from last week's election, suggesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud join forces with its main rival. Netanyahu's right-wing Likud failed, for the second time in five months, to secure a clear election victory. The centrist Blue and White party led by ex-armed forces chief Benny Gantz has a slight lead with nearly all votes counted.
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| The Amex Business Platinum perks are so good it makes me want to start my own company Posted: 21 Sep 2019 11:17 AM PDT  BGR has partnered with The Points Guy for our coverage of credit card products. BGR and The Points Guy may receive a commission from card issuers.Please note: the offers mentioned below are subject to change at any time and some may no longer be available.One of our favorite rewards credit cards for ordinary consumers is The Platinum Card® from American Express, which combines a big up-front welcome offer of 60,000 points (after using the card to spend $5,000 in your first three months) with a ton of luxe perks. The benefits range from an airline fee credit of up to $200 to American Express Concierge travel service, and much more. Business owners, meanwhile, fear not. The Business Platinum® Card from American Express is a companion version of the charge card tailored to the needs of business people, and it not only has a similarly impressive lineup of benefits.You've also got until December 4, 2019, to take advantage of a limited-time, increased welcome bonus of up to 100,000 Membership Rewards points.Who needs this card: If you rack up frequent travel expenses over the course of your business operations, or even if you simply charge thousands of dollars a month in business expenses to a charge card, it's hard to argue the Amex Business Platinum doesn't deserve a spot in your wallet.Why you should sign up for one right now: The current welcome points offer means if you can put $25,000 in charges on this card in your first three months of card ownership (and before December 4), the 100,000 Membership Rewards points bonus can be yours. Yes, that's a big outlay in order to get the welcome reward, but since this is a business card we're talking about that's not an unreasonable amount of expense to put on a charge card.Moreover, based on the most recent monthly valuations from The Points Guy, 100,000 Membership Rewards points are worth $2,000 in travel, which makes this card's bonus an extremely lucrative one and potentially worth the high spending levels. We should also add -- you'll earn the welcome points in two tiers.Spent $10,000 on qualifying purchases in the first 3 months of card membership, and you'll earn 50,000 Membership Rewards points. Once you put another $15,000 on this card (for qualifying purchases) after that initial $10,000 -- and, again, still before the first three months are up -- then you'll earn an additional 50,000 points.If you read our previous post outlining the slew of lucrative benefits available to Amex Platinum cardmembers, you're already familiar with many of the benefits of the Amex Business Platinum. Both cards share perks like: * Up to $200 airline fee credit each year * Access to Centurion Lounges and Delta Sky Clubs (when flying Delta) * Access to other lounges in the American Express Global Lounge Collection * Gold elite status with Hilton Honors and Gold elite status with Marriott Bonvoy * Upgrade with Points to request an airline ticket upgrade on select airlines * 5 points per dollar spent on flights and prepaid hotels (both must be booked through Amex Travel on the Business Platinum)However, here are some of the benefits you get that are exclusive to the business version of the Platinum card: * 10 free Gogo inflight Wi-Fi passes each year * 1.5x points on purchases of $5,000 or more (up to 1 million additional points per year) * A complimentary year of Platinum Global Access with WeWork (enrollment must be done by December 31, 2019) * Up to $200 in annual statement credits for Dell technology purchases, split into a $100 credit for January through June and another $100 credit for July through December The final wordWhile this card does come with a $595 annual fee that can seem hefty at the outset, if you take advantage of the $200 airline fee credit and the annual up to $200 Dell credit, you'll effectively pay a net of only $195 a year for the card. This card proves its worth and then some for any businessperson engaged in regular travel. From lounge access at almost any airport in the world to elite status at Hilton and Marriott hotels, plus helping you get onto the internet while in the air during flights, this card has tons of benefits (not to mention that welcome bonus that's higher than ever) just waiting for you to take advantage of.
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| Mike Pence takes eight-vehicle motorcade across island where cars have been banned for a century Posted: 22 Sep 2019 08:00 AM PDT  For more than a century, motorised vehicles have been banned from Mackinac Island in Michigan - giving the former Revolutionary War battle site a unique charm and turning it into a tourist haven.The ban is so strictly enforced that when President Gerald Ford visited in 1975, he and first lady Betty Ford travelled by horse-drawn carriage.
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| How Trump could lose the popular vote again – and hold the White House Posted: 21 Sep 2019 10:00 PM PDT  Hillary Clinton won a majority but lost the presidency in the electoral college. A close election could bring a repeatDonald Trump waves to supporters as he arrives for a campaign rally in Rio Rancho, New Mexico. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty ImagesSome defeats never lose their sting. In Washington this week, Hillary Clinton summed up her bid for the White House in 2016."You can run the best campaign. You can have the best plans. You can get the nomination. You can win the popular vote. And you can lose the electoral college and therefore the election."Clinton beat Donald Trump in the popular vote by nearly 3 million ballots yet lost the electoral college – the body of people who represent states and actually get to choose the president – by 304 votes to 227. A black swan event never to be repeated? No. In 2020, it could easily happen again.A study from the University of Texas at Austin found that the electoral college is much more likely than previously thought to elect the candidate who loses the popular vote. In close elections, researchers argues, such "inversions" are normal, not exceptional.In a race decided by less than 2% (2.6m votes), the study found, the probability of an inversion is 32%. In a race decided by less than 1% (1.3m votes), the probability is 45%."It's almost a coin flip," said Michael Geruso, an assistant economics professor.Some critics of Trump have never quite accepted him as the legitimate president, pointing out that he does not represent the will of the majority. After his uniquely divisive first term, a repeat could trigger a furious backlash.> The Republicans do a really determined job of winning power with fewer voters> > Senator Sheldon WhitehouseIn 48 presidential elections since 1824 there have been four inversions: in 1876, 1888, 2000 and 2016. All four favoured Republicans, although the researchers argue there have been periods when it was more likely a Democrat would win by inversion."We wanted to understand, were these statistically likely events or were they flukes?" Geruso said. "And in some sense it was just shocking to us that no one had asked and answered that question yet."Geruso and his colleagues found that all the most common election models used by political scientists led to a very similar result for the probability of inversion."There's lots of questions where different models would give different answers but, on the question of how likely is an electoral inversion in a close race, we don't need to agree or decide on what the perfect model of elections is. They all give the same answer."Clinton ran up huge margins in states such as California, Illinois and New York. Agonisingly, her loss of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin by a combined 77,000 votes cost her the electoral college.Some analysts doubt Trump could get so lucky again. But Geruso said he has a decent chance of catching lightning in a bottle once more."It's really easy to look at the 2016 election and for people to feel like that was an extraordinary election, an extraordinary political moment, it was unusual in a lot of ways. And that may all be true but it turns out that's not why the 2016 election ended in a mismatch between the electoral college and national popular vote. It ended in an inversion because that election was close and close elections, we show, just have a relatively high probability of ending in an inversion."It is less about Trump's appeal to certain constituencies than simple geography and maths."Don't be tempted into thinking that the reason that 2020 might be an inversion is because Donald Trump is running in that race. Inversions are going to keep happening in close races for as long as we have the electoral college because they have been happening."According to Geruso, two major reasons are often cited for inversions. When Clinton won New York and California she did so by big margins, but when she lost states such as Florida or Ohio she did so narrowly. Thus there was an imbalance in the aggregate vote tallies.Secondly, since a state's number of electoral college votes is determined by how many senators and representatives it has, and every state has two senators, small states have greater representation in the college relative to population size. Each senator in California represents nearly 20 million people. Each senator in Wyoming represents 290,000. The current alignment favours Republicans, although there are exceptions such as the District of Columbia.The researchers found a 77% probability that, if an inversion occurs, it will be a Democratic popular vote majority and a Republican electoral college win. 'Second-grade soccer'Several Democratic candidates for president, including Senator Elizabeth Warren and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, have called for the college to be abolished. The party, however, is wrestling with how to exploit it as ruthlessly as Republicans do.Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, appearing on Real Time with Bill Maher, said: "The Republicans do a really determined job of winning power with fewer voters and we don't take on that infrastructure and we don't take on that strategy. We're too happy fighting the fight of the minute. It's second-grade soccer, chasing the ball, and they are planning ahead."> The electoral college actually undermines democracy> > LaTosha BrownSome observers fear the electoral college encourages voter suppression. Republican efforts to use voter ID laws to limit registration in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin will be closely scrutinised.Stanley Greenberg, a Democratic pollster and strategist and author of new book RIP GOP, said: "If there is a close national election, Republicans will resort to things they have done demonstrably well over the last decade of trying to suppress the vote."There's no doubt that the Wisconsin case in 2016 was produced not by low turnout among African Americans but pushing them off the voter rolls with new voter ID laws, and so there was a sharp drop in eligible voters and people were prevented legally from voting. So obviously the most important thing is to make sure we did not have a close election."While southern states such as Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia have the highest proportions of African Americans in the country, those who vote for the Democrat are effectively ignored by the electoral college.Hillary Clinton delivers her concession speech, in the New Yorker hotel. Photograph: REX/ShutterstockLaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said: "They never have any influence on picking the president because of winner takes all. It gives the impression everyone in the south is conservative."In these states it's based on a systemic history of racism. What I'm seeing is people of colour don't fundamentally believe they're living in a democracy. Why don't you have proportional representation? What possible justification is there for winner takes all? The electoral college actually undermines democracy."Few expect Trump to win the popular vote. But in a chilling warning for Democrats, the New York Times suggested he could win the electoral college again, because mostly white working class rust belt states remain at the centre of the electoral map."A strategy rooted in racial polarization could at once energize parts of the president's base and rebuild support among wavering white working-class voters," Nate Cohn wrote. "Many of these voters backed Mr Trump in the first place in part because of his views on hot-button issues, including on immigration and race."Bill Whalen, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution think tank at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, noted that George W Bush lost the popular vote in 2000 but won it in 2004 after improving in Texas and post-9/11 New York.For Trump, he said, "it's a tight squeeze. There's not much margin for error. But he could do it again, like he did in 2016, without the popular vote."So expect Trump derangement syndrome to get even worse."
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| Could a Tax on Stock Trades Pay Off the Nation’s Student Debt? Posted: 20 Sep 2019 07:30 PM PDT  The 2020 Democratic candidates all have a plan to eliminate student debt.
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| Swiss to hold high-altitude wake for lost glacier Posted: 21 Sep 2019 07:10 PM PDT  Dozens of people will undertake a "funeral march" up a steep Swiss mountainside on Sunday to mark the disappearance of an Alpine glacier amid growing global alarm over climate change. The Pizol "has lost so much substance that from a scientific perspective it is no longer a glacier," Alessandra Degiacomi, of the Swiss Association for Climate Protection, told AFP. Dressed in black, they will make the solemn two-hour "funeral march" up the side of Pizol mountain in northeastern Switzerland to the foot of the steep and rapidly melting ice formation, situated at an altitude of around 2,700 metres (8,850 feet) near the Liechtenstein and Austrian borders.
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| Iran says it will pursue aggressor even after limited attack - TV Posted: 21 Sep 2019 12:34 AM PDT ![Iran says it will pursue aggressor even after limited attack - TV]( "Iran says it will pursue aggressor even after limited attack - TV") Iran will pursue any aggressor, even it carries out a limited attack, and seek to destroy it, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Saturday, after attacks on Saudi oil sites which Riyadh and U.S officials blamed on Tehran. "Be careful, a limited aggression will not remain limited. Iran denies involvement in the attacks, which were claimed by Yemen's Houthi movement, an Iranian-aligned group fighting a Saudi-led alliance in Yemen's civil war.
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| 105 people injured as a pair of strong earthquakes rattle Albania Posted: 21 Sep 2019 10:13 AM PDT  Cars were crushed by bricks falling from buildings in Albania's capital Tirana, as the country was struck by a pair of strong earthquakes on Saturday.According to the Ministry of Health, at least 68 people were injured, but some reports say there are as many as 105 people injured. The majority of injuries occurred in Durres and Tirana. There have been no reported deaths.The Saturday afternoon earthquake was followed by more than 100 aftershocks, authorities report. It also damaged about 600 homes and temporarily cut power and water facilities in Tirana and Durres.According to the United State Geological Survey (USGS), the first earthquake struck at 4:04 p.m., on Saturday near Durres, about 18 miles (29 km) to the west of Tirana.A second earthquake struck just 11 minutes later a short distance away. Shake Map of the larger 5.6 earthquake in Albania on Saturday, September 21, courtesy of the USGS. The first and larger earthquake was reported as a magnitude 5.6 on the Richter Scale, which is Albania's strongest earthquake in 30 years. The second was measured to be slightly weaker at 5.1.Buildings were damaged in the town of Durres which is close to the epicenter.> A university building in Tirana pic.twitter.com/J5UVYyrJOh> > -- Fatjona Mejdini (@FatjonaMejdini) September 21, 2019> Durres albania earthquake pic.twitter.com/BWPIWvErk1> > -- Alice Taylor (@The_Balkanista) September 21, 2019
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| Egypt's hardline president el-Sissi faces calls to quit in rare protests Posted: 21 Sep 2019 04:23 AM PDT  Rare anti-government protests broke out in Egypt over the weekend calling on President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi to step down - in the first major protests against his rule since he took power in 2014. In the capital, Cairo, dozens of protesters gathered on Friday night near Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising that toppled longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Demonstrators chanted slogans echoing the Arab Spring uprisings that briefly defied dictatorships across the region. Police responded with teargas. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights said security forces reportedly rounded up at least four dozen people in Cairo and elsewhere in the country in a move that was condemned by Human Rights Watch. The protesters took to the streets following calls to mobilise by a self-exiled businessman, Muhammad Ali, who accused corruption by the military and government in a series of online posts that went viral online. Small groups of protesters gather in central Cairo shouting anti-government slogans in Cairo, Egypt September 21, 2019. Credit: Reuters Mr Ali alleged his contracting business had witnessed the large scale misuse of public funds in the building of luxurious hotels, presidential palaces and a tomb for the President's mother, who died in 2014. The allegations came as economic reforms and austerity have squeezed Egypt's lower and middle classes badly. In a rambling speech on Tuesday, Mr el-Sissi angrily dismissed the allegations as "sheer lies." He portrayed Mr Ali's videos as an attempt to weaken Egypt and undermine the public's trust in the military. Police vehicles are seen in central Cairo as protesters gather shouting anti-government slogans in Cairo Credit: Reuters Mr el-Sissi, a former army general, has overseen an unprecedented political crackdown, silencing critics and jailing thousands. He came to power after the military ousted an elected but divisive Islamist president in 2013, amid mass protests against his one-year-rule. He promised to continue building new presidential residences despite the claims. "I am building a new country," he said, warning Egyptians against protesting or repeating the 2011 uprising. Egypt's 2011 revolutionaries reflect as Sisi consolidates power On Friday night, security forces speedily dispersed the scattered protests, which came directly after a soccer game between al-Ahly, Egypt's biggest team, and its archrival Zamalek. No casualties were reported. The willingness of the protesters to defy police and laws that all but ban public protests is being regarded as a potential turning point against the President's rule, however small. "This is a very important development because this was the first such protest against the rule of el-Sissi," said political scientist Mustafa Kamel el-Sayed of Cairo University. "The small demonstrations demolished the wall of fear installed by el-Sissi and that could lead to more protests in the future."
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| Surprising Facts You Didn't Know About Rhinos Posted: 22 Sep 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| Florida school resource officer who arrested two kids, ages 6 and 8, is under investigation Posted: 22 Sep 2019 11:26 AM PDT ![Florida school resource officer who arrested two kids, ages 6 and 8, is under investigation]( "Florida school resource officer who arrested two kids, ages 6 and 8, is under investigation") An Orlando school resource officer is facing an investigation after he arrested a 6-year-old and an 8-year-old on misdemeanor charges.
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| Chasten Buttigieg goes from opening act to fundraising star Posted: 22 Sep 2019 03:57 AM PDT  Pete Buttigieg's husband is now headlining fundraisers solo, helping power the mayor's 2020 campaign as he focuses on Iowa and New Hampshire.
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| World leaders feel the heat in upcoming climate summit Posted: 22 Sep 2019 12:51 PM PDT  Only those with new, specific and bold plans can command the podium and the ever-warming world's attention, Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said. As if to underscore the seriousness of the problem, the U.N.'s World Meteorological Organization released a science report Sunday showing that in the last several years, warming, sea level rise and carbon pollution have all accelerated. Brazil's, Poland's and Saudi Arabia's proposals for dealing with climate change fell short, so they're not on Monday's summit schedule.
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| Damascus says second drone downed in 48 hours over south Syria Posted: 21 Sep 2019 12:03 PM PDT  A drone was shot down on Saturday in Quneitra province in southern Syria, the second such incident in 48 hours, state media said. Authorities "dismantled a drone" after it was shot down on the edge of Jabal al-Sheikh in the Quneitra countryside, southwest of Damascus, state news agency SANA reported. The Israeli army's Arabic-language spokesman said the drone did not come from his country and was likely Iranian.
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| Chinese journalists will have to pass a government test on Marxism and President Xi Jinping to be granted press passes Posted: 22 Sep 2019 01:38 PM PDT  'Pilot tests' will be issued to Chinese journalists starting next month via an app to test their loyalty to President Xi Jinping to get press passes.
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| Sussex Tour: Duke and Duchess urged to put Archie front and centre so public can 'refall in love with them' Posted: 21 Sep 2019 10:06 PM PDT  The Duke and Duchess of Sussex will embark tomorrow on a tour of southern Africa, needing to put baby son Archie at the front and centre if they wish the British public to 'refall' in love with them. The couple have seen much of the goodwill generated by their glamorous wedding a little over a year ago dissipated as a result of criticism of their spending habits; travel arrangements; and tales of a falling out between the Sussexes and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. The trip begins in Cape Town with a visit to a "female empowerment training" workshop in a local township and ends 10 days later with an audience in Johannesburg with South Africa's president Cyril Ramaphosa and his wife Dr Tshepo Motsepe. In the middle part of the tour, the Duchess will stay in Cape Town with five-month-old Archie while the Duke will embark on an intrepid series of flights to Botswana, Angola and Malawi to highlight animal conservation and the remarkable campaign led by his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, in outlawing and clearing landmines. But Ingrid Seward, the doyenne of royal reporters and editor-in-chief of Majesty Magazine, said it was critical that the Duke and Duchess deploy Archie on the tour to win the public relations battle. Until now, the baby has been seen in only a handful of photographs. Royal insiders are being coy about when the baby will be seen on tour. There will be no ceremonial greeting for the Sussex family as they disembark their commercial flight in Cape Town on Monday and no events factored in where Archie will be guaranteed to appear. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex with their baby son Archie Mountbatten-Windsor shortly after his birth Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire Ms Seward, however, explained the child was key. "From a public relations point of view the Duke and Duchess really do need to show the people Archie. He is the best ticket they have got for getting people to refall in love with them," said Ms Seward. "People are very susceptible to images of children. I don't see the point of hauling him all the way there only to keep him under wraps." This is the opportunity for the Duke and Duchess to alter the public perception that has dogged them in recent months. The refurbishment of Frogmore Cottage, their home on the Windsor estate, at a cost to the taxpayer of £2.4 million, has drawn gasps. Then there is the recent outcry and allegations of hypocrisy over their insistence that they wished to protect the planet while at the same time taking a series of private jet flights to and from the south of France and Ibiza. The tour of southern Africa will show the Duke and Duchess getting serious. They have chosen to avoid the obvious tourist attractions in Cape Town that includes Table Mountain, while Robben Island - susceptible to cancellation due to adverse weather - is also off the list. Nor are there glamorous parties or dinners, often a staple of a Royal tour, and it is noteworthy that their first engagement after they arrive is in a township. Although the Duke will attend several receptions at British High Commissions to celebrate the UK's ties with the countries he is visiting, with the Duchess joining him in South Africa, there are few evening events in a programme designed in part to take into account the needs of Archie. The decision will mean that royal-watchers will not see the Duchess in a tiara or other major pieces of jewellery borrowed from the Queen. A source said the schedule reflected the couple's preference to " roll up their sleeves and do work in the community", adding: "The balance of the programme reflects their style of hands-on work."
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| Julian Castro, other Democrats criticize Ben Carson after reported comments on transgender people Posted: 20 Sep 2019 07:16 PM PDT  The HUD secretary reportedly made the derogatory comments earlier this week while in California as part of the administration's spotlight on homelessness.
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| How 1 Mistake Cost Hitler Victory During World War II Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:00 PM PDT  What if the German Army had actually been ready to fight?
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| 'Everything Was Broken.' The Photographer Who Captured the Most Haunting Photographs of Dorian and Its Aftermath Posted: 20 Sep 2019 06:09 PM PDT  'I've covered hurricanes in the Caribbean the last fourteen years... but nothing compared to this one'
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| Pakistan bus crash kills 26; brakes fail on mountain road Posted: 22 Sep 2019 06:27 AM PDT  A bus crash in northern Pakistan killed 26 people Sunday after its brakes failed on a winding mountain road, police said. Another 20 passengers were injured when the bus smashed head-on into a dirt embankment, said Abdul Wakil, a local police officer. Such road accidents are common in Pakistan, where motorists largely disregard traffic rules and safety standards on worn-out roads.
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| More Fracking, or More War? Posted: 22 Sep 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Here is a news lead that begins with a bang and ends with a whimper: "The strike on the heartland of Saudi Arabia's oil industry, including damage to the world's biggest petroleum-processing facility, has driven oil prices to their highest level in" — here, Reuters should have used some ellipses of irony — "nearly four months."Four months!If the United States declines to go to war against Iran on behalf of Saudi Arabia, our increasingly troublesome client state, one of the reasons for that happy development will be: because we do not need to. It is no longer the case that the world sneezes when the Saudis catch a cold. U.S. interests and Saudi interests remain aligned, broadly, but they are severable.The high-tech method of mining shale formations for oil and gas colloquially known as "fracking" — though hydraulic fracturing is only a part of it — has been a game-changer for more than one game. While countries such as Germany set headline-grabbing, politics-driven carbon-reduction targets only to woefully fail to achieve them (it is very difficult to greenwash 170 million tons of brown coal), the United States has been relatively successful on that front, reducing energy-related carbon emissions by 14 percent from 2005 to 2017, thanks to natural gas; put another way, fracking has helped the United States to what climate activists ought to consider one of its greatest environmental victories.When the United States intensified its attention to the Middle East in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, the country was heavily dependent on petroleum imports. Today, the United States is the world's largest exporter of petroleum — thanks to fracking. The pointy-headed guys in the Washington war rooms spend a lot less time worrying about whether tankers can get through the Strait of Hormuz these days. And that means the United States has a much more free hand — and more realistic options — when dealing with Riyadh, Tehran, or any of the other pits of vipers that pass for national capitals in that part of the world."No war for oil!" they chanted when George W. Bush's administration prepared to invade Iraq. It was always a stupid slogan — if we'd wanted to get our hands on that Iraqi oil, we could simply have bought it at a discount rather than pay a horrifying blood premium for it — but now that chant can reasonably be turned back on its authors: If you want less war, then you should want a lot more fracking.And not just here in the United States, even though the people of New York State, for example, would be much better off without Governor Andrew Cuomo's idiotic and politically driven prohibition on the most effective means of petroleum production. Spain has seen its demand for natural gas climb as worldwide production drives prices down, but, thanks to its own Cuomos, the country remains largely dependent on imports from Algeria and Nigeria — even though it sits on reserves that by some estimates are equal to the better part of a century's consumption. The United Kingdom may be able to extricate itself from the European Union, but if nothing changes, it will remain vulnerable to the same Russian energy pressure as much of Europe. In much the same way that increased petroleum production has given the United States a stronger position vis-à-vis the Middle East, more British and European production means more British and European options.Set aside the fantasy of "energy independence." World energy markets are heavily integrated, and it probably is never going to be the case that what happens in Saudi Arabia or Russia or Iran has no effect on U.S., British, or European prices and supplies. And even if that happy state comes to be someday, it is not the case now and will not be the case in the near future: The spare capacity that allows the world petroleum markets to function smoothly provides, at the moment, a margin that is insufficient to cover the production that could realistically be taken offline by a broader Iranian attack on Saudi energy infrastructure. U.S. refineries remain disproportionately optimized for the relatively high-sulfur oil we've long imported rather than for the "light sweet" crude we produce. Our own energy infrastructure, and that of the rest of the world, remains far too vulnerable to terrorism and conventional military attack. There is much work to be done.It all begins with supply. The more supply there is, the more incentive to build out and improve the infrastructure, the more liquid the market, the less fragile the system. There is no substitute for abundance — and a wide choice of providers. Every barrel of oil and cubic foot of natural gas produced outside of the Middle East and Russia makes the United States and its allies better off.Beady-eyed realpolitik used to mean deferring to the world's big oil producers when it came to our relations in the Middle East. Now it means being the world's big oil producer and — once they decide they've grown tired of unnecessarily taking on risk while giving up wealth, income, and jobs — helping our British and European allies become bigger players, too. Fracking involves some real environmental challenges — American producers and regulators have developed great skill at dealing with them. The environmental challenges of fracking are manageable. The Saudis and the Iranians are manageable, too, but at a radically higher cost in blood and resources.Politics is about tradeoffs. We owe it to ourselves to take the smart one.
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| Woman convicted in texting suicide case denied parole Posted: 21 Sep 2019 02:53 PM PDT  The Massachusetts woman convicted of encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself via text messages has been denied early release.
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| Warren leads Biden for first time in a US primary race: poll Posted: 22 Sep 2019 11:49 AM PDT  Presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren has overtaken former vice president Joe Biden in the key state of Iowa for the first time in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, a new poll out Sunday showed. The Des Moines Register/CNN poll had Warren with 22 percent of the vote among likely participants in the Iowa caucuses, compared to 20 percent for Biden and 11 percent for Bernie Sanders. Biden had until now has been the dominant frontrunner in the crowded Democratic field, but the survey showed a surge in favor Warren in the state that votes first in the primary race.
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| Flooding downpours, locally severe storms to threaten parched southwestern US this week Posted: 22 Sep 2019 03:05 AM PDT  An increase in downpours across the southwestern United States early this week will be beneficial for the ongoing drought but could pose the risk for flash flooding.Drought conditions have grown considerably across the Southwest over the past few months due to a lackluster monsoon season. While Arizona was free of drought during the middle of June, over 85 percent of the state has succumbed to moderate to severe drought, according to the latest outlook by the U.S. Drought Monitor.While the upcoming rainfall will go a long way in helping to ease the dry conditions, AccuWeather meteorologists are concerned the rain may trigger flash flooding and debris flows in the arid terrain. Arizona looks to be the main target for widespread showers and thunderstorms, as well as flash flooding concerns from Monday into Tuesday, with lesser impacts on surrounding areas, according to AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist and western U.S. blogger Brian Thompson.A potent storm system in the upper levels of the atmosphere will dive southward across the West into Tuesday. At the same time, tropical moisture will surge northward from the eastern Pacific Ocean.These two factors will combine to generate the widespread downpours.An AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 6 inches is forecast in Arizona during this event."While the rainfall is needed, if the rain comes in bursts from heavier thunderstorms, flash flooding will be a big concern, especially in mountainous and urban areas like Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona," Thompson said.People should avoid dry stream beds, known as arroyos, which may suddenly fill with a torrent of water.The Arizona Department of Transportation was alerting motorists of the heavy rain threat on Twitter, reminding them to inspect windshield wipers and slow down when the rain starts.Motorists will also need to be on the lookout for flooded roadways. Remember to turn around and find a safer, alternate route when high water is encountered."Aside from the heavy rain, flooding rain and mudslide threat, strong thunderstorms will be a possibility as well," Thompson said.The strongest thunderstorms can contain large hail and damaging winds, with Monday likely posing the highest threat for these hazards."The threat for at least spotty showers and thunderstorms will probably linger into Wednesday and Thursday," Thompson said.The rainfall should douse active blazes across the region and substantially lower the risk of new wildfire ignition.However, it will be a different story on the northwestern side of the storm system, where warm, dry winds will heighten the fire danger in Northern California from Monday to Wednesday."We're now heading into prime wildfire season across California, so staying on guard is important," Thompson said.By the end of the week, the fire danger will likely decrease in Northern California as a significant, winterlike storm is expected to target the West.This new storm has the potential to bring a significant reduction in temperatures and unleash a large amount of early season snow in the northern Rockies.
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| 'She was drunk:' Bus driver facing DUI charges after child calls 911 to report her Posted: 22 Sep 2019 02:48 PM PDT  A bus driver in Washington has been arrested after a child called 911 to report that she was driving under the influence.
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| U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Want Small Ships to Land Troops in a War Posted: 21 Sep 2019 12:57 AM PDT  The U.S. Navy and Marine Corps are considering acquiring small transport ships in order to complement existing large amphibious vessels and give the fleet more ways of landing troops during a major war.
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| The Latest: 5 tourists still critical after deadly bus crash Posted: 20 Sep 2019 07:04 PM PDT  Five people remain in critical condition after a bus crash that killed four Chinese tourists and injured dozens more near a national park in Utah. Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Nick Street said Friday evening that the bus originated in Southern California, and the tourists on board were natives of mainland China. Authorities are investigating what caused the bus to careen into a guard rail Friday morning on highway winding through otherworldly spires of red rock near Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah.
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| UPDATE 2-Israel's Arab party support pushes Gantz ahead of Netanyahu Posted: 22 Sep 2019 09:16 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Israel's Arab party support pushes Gantz ahead of Netanyahu]( "UPDATE 2-Israel's Arab party support pushes Gantz ahead of Netanyahu") Israel's Arab-dominated Joint List party moved on Sunday to back the centre-left bloc of Benny Gantz, who is challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing alliance, to form a new government. With final results all but in, neither Gantz nor Netanyahu command a majority in parliament, so the Arab List's decision to end its usual policy of withholding support for any candidate in the wake of elections could nudge President Reuven Rivlin to ask Gantz to form a government. Rivlin, who began consulting with party leaders on Sunday to discuss who should lead the country after no clear victor emerged from Tuesday's election, suggested Gantz and Netanyahu join forces, though it is uncertain who would be the senior partner.
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| The US government warns people against using conditioner after a nuclear explosion. It could trap radiation in your hair. Posted: 22 Sep 2019 12:55 PM PDT  Shampoo can be a life-saving tool in the case of a nuclear blast, but conditioner could become a dangerous agent in the wake of an explosion.
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| In 1988, Iran and America Went to War at Sea Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:00 PM PDT  Let's just say this: half of Iran's Navy was sent to the bottom of the sea.
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| Reactor at worst US nuclear accident site finally closed Posted: 21 Sep 2019 04:00 AM PDT  The last reactor at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania was finally shut down Friday, marking the end of the operation of the site of the worst civilian nuclear accident in US history. The plant's first reactor -- which went online in September 1974 -- was shut down at noon local time (1600 GMT), according to the plant's owner Exelon, and the site will be dismantled in the coming weeks. On March 28, 1979, the second reactor experienced a cooling problem that -- coupled with a human error -- resulted in the partial melting of the reactor and the evacuation of 14,000 people.
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| New York Post blasts Bill de Blasio with 'obituary' for his ended presidential campaign Posted: 21 Sep 2019 11:48 AM PDT  The New York Post wrote that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's presidential campaign had "died" from "ego-induced psychosis."
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| UN agency: Tanzania not sharing details on Ebola-like cases Posted: 22 Sep 2019 05:47 AM PDT  The World Health Organization has issued an unusual statement raising questions about whether Tanzania is covering up possible cases of the deadly Ebola virus, a significant cause for concern during a regional outbreak that has been declared a rare global health emergency. The statement Saturday says Tanzania's government "despite several requests" is refusing to share the results of its investigations into a number of patients with Ebola-like symptoms and is refusing to ship patient samples to an outside WHO partner lab. Tanzania's government, which has said it has no Ebola cases, could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.
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| Rohingya 'bandit' couple killed in Bangladesh gunfight Posted: 22 Sep 2019 03:16 AM PDT  A Rohingya couple was shot dead during a gunfight in a border town camp hours after they were detained by Bangladesh police, officials said Sunday, the latest killings amid growing tensions between the refugees and authorities. Police in Teknaf town said the refugee couple -- Dil Mohammad, 32, and his 26-year-old wife Jaheda Begum -- were members of a Rohingya "bandit group". Authorities claim the gang killed a local ruling party official, Omar Faruk, in a refugee settlement in southeastern Bangladesh last month.
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| Weather radar picks up mysterious shadow across three states ‘caused by huge dragonfly swarm’ Posted: 22 Sep 2019 03:04 AM PDT  An enormous mystery cloud has baffled US meteorologists this week who spotted the shape stretching over parts of Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania, but saw no rainfall.The National Weather Service spotted the "conundrum", and suggested it could be a swarm of "bugs", however the altitude was so high, they were initially sceptical such a massive number of creatures could be flying so high.
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| China's Pacific influence grows as it signs up new friend in Solomon Islands Posted: 21 Sep 2019 03:09 AM PDT  China and former Taiwan ally the Solomon Islands established diplomatic ties on Saturday in a sign of Beijing's growing influence in the Pacific that has angered Washington, with a top Chinese diplomat saying the time was almost up for the rest of Taiwan's friends. In a setback for self-ruled and democratic Taiwan, which China claims as a province with no right to state-to-state ties, Beijing this week won over two previous Taiwanese allies in the Pacific - the Solomon Islands and Kiribati.
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| Face transplant recipient's donor face failing Posted: 22 Sep 2019 01:49 PM PDT  A woman who was severely burned in Vermont is hoping for a second face transplant after doctors recently found tissue damage that likely will lead to the loss of her donor face.
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| Russia and Japan Fought a Bloody War in China (Did History Forget)? Posted: 21 Sep 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Overwhelmed, Japan learned from its mistakes.
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| Impeachment Pressure Builds for Nancy Pelosi's House Democrats After Ukraine Whistleblower and Trump Admission Posted: 22 Sep 2019 01:10 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyDemocratic members of Congress grappling with the question of impeachment spoke with new urgency on Sunday following reports that President Trump pressured Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son in a July phone call between the two leaders. The moment arrives amid frustration among some of the candidates running in the 2020 Democratic primary, as well as voters and activists, that the Democratic-led House of Representatives has dragged its feet on holding the president accountable. In an interview with CNN on Sunday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) said that impeachment could be the "only remedy," to the president's refusal to make public the whistleblower complaint associated with the call and a transcript of his conversation with the Ukrainian president. "If the President is essentially withholding military aid at the same time that he is trying to browbeat a foreign leader into doing something illicit that is providing dirt on his opponent during a presidential campaign, then that may be the only remedy that is coequal to the evil that conduct represents," Schiff said, while again stopping short of calling for impeachment proceedings to begin. Similarly, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has not and did not join the call for impeachment from a growing percentage of her caucus. But on Sunday, she issued a warning statement about the administration withholding the contents of the whistleblower's complaint. "If the Administration persists in blocking this whistleblower from disclosing to Congress a serious possible breach of constitutional duties by the President, they will be entering a grave new chapter of lawlessness which will take us into a whole new stage of investigation," Pelosi wrote. Pelosi has faced growing pressure from some Democrats in the House and on the 2020 campaign trail who charge that inaction by the Democratic majority effectively amounts to a seal of approval for the President's misdeeds. "At this point, the bigger national scandal isn't the president's lawbreaking behavior—it is the Democratic Party's refusal to impeach him for it," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeted on Saturday night. Similar sentiments have been expressed by some of the leading candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who tweeted on Friday: "After the Mueller report, Congress had a duty to begin impeachment. By failing to act, Congress is complicit in Trump's latest attempt to solicit foreign interference to aid him in US elections. Do your constitutional duty and impeach the president."On Sunday, Trump confirmed that he did speak with the foreign leader about Biden and defended his actions as appropriate. "The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, with largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place and largely the fact that we don't want our people like Vice President Biden and his son creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine," Trump told reporters. Biden, for his part, has not outright called for impeachment, but during a campaign stop in Iowa over the weekend, he said that the House should investigate the phone call. "This appears to be an overwhelming abuse of power," Biden said. "We have never seen anything like this from any president."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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| Saudi Arabia says if attack launched from Iran, it would be an act of war -CNN Posted: 21 Sep 2019 11:45 PM PDT ![Saudi Arabia says if attack launched from Iran, it would be an act of war -CNN]( "Saudi Arabia says if attack launched from Iran, it would be an act of war -CNN") If an investigation shows that last week's attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities was launched from Iranian territory, the kingdom would consider it an act of war, but Riyadh is currently seeking a peaceful resolution, a senior Saudi official said. "We hold Iran responsible because the missiles and the drones that were fired at Saudi Arabia...were Iranian-built and Iranian-delivered," Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir told CNN late on Saturday. Jubeir told reporters earlier that Riyadh was awaiting the results of a probe, which it has invited international investigators to join, into the Sept. 14 strikes which initially halved Saudi production, the largest-ever assault on oil facilities in the world's top oil exporter.
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