| FBI warned six months ago about loophole Pensacola shooter used to obtain a gun Posted: 10 Dec 2019 12:56 PM PST  More than six months before the Dec. 6 shooting at a naval base in Pensacola, Fla., where a Saudi gunman used a weapon obtained using a hunting license exemption, the FBI issued a report warning about precisely this loophole.
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| Nude portrait of Emiliano Zapata in high heels sparks fury in Mexico Posted: 11 Dec 2019 01:00 AM PST  Campesinos storm museum to call for removal of image featuring revolutionary hero posing in pink sombreroA new portrait of Emiliano Zapata has caused a firestorm of outrage for its portrayal of the Mexican revolutionary hero striking a seductive pose – clad only in a pink sombrero and high heels.Furious campesinos stormed one of the country's most renowned art museums on Thursday to demand the removal of the painting, part of a new exhibition titled Zapata after Zapata that seeks to present alternative views of the Mexican revolution. "This isn't freedom of expression, it is debauchery! It's degrading. They can't exhibit our history that way," fumed Antonio Medrano, a spokesman for the protesters. "They can't permit this kind of mockery."The small painting by Fabián Cháirez depicts a naked Zapata, astride a white horse. His willowy frame is bound by a ribbon striped with the Mexican tricolor of red, white and green, while his lips pout under his distinctive curved moustache.Press pictures of the painting provoked strong reactions in Mexico, where Zapata has maintained an unambiguously heroic reputation since the revolution of 1910 – when he called for "reform, freedom, justice and law".Some of Zapata's heirs – with matching droopy moustaches – vowed to take legal action against the exhibition."We are not going to allow this," said Jorge Zapata Gonzalez. "For us as relatives, this denigrates the figure of our general – depicting him as gay."Apocryphal tales of a gay romances involving Zapata have been published in recent decades, but historians say there is little evidence to support the stories.Mexican politicians of all stripes have long tried to claim Zapata as their own – including the some of his supposed revolutionary allies, who later betrayed and killed him.President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared 2019 – the centennial of his death – as the "year of Zapata", emblazoning the revolutionary leader's familiar image of a bushy mustache, sombrero and bandolier on government letterhead and promotional materials."He's the least controversial revolutionary strongman and the most 'leftwing' in the modern sense,'" said Harim B Gutiérrez, history professor at the Autonomous Metropolitan University.But Zapata's image is also the most malleable, and it has been appropriated by a host of social causes which may not have much to do with his original struggle to secure a better deal for landless peasants."Every 20 years or so something pops up" involving Zapata's image, said Luis Vargas Santiago, the curator of the current exhibition at the Palacio de Bellas Artes.Most recently, that "something" has been gender and sexuality. The current exhibition comes at time when Mexico's LBGTQ communities have become more prominent and women have been more outspoken against the country's endemic machismo, sexual harassment, and femicides.In recent weeks, women protesting in Mexico City against sexual violence have been criticised for spraying graffiti on monuments and centuries-old buildings.Vargas Santiago said the use of Zapata to advance social agendas followed a similar logic."It's not like Zapata's image is a fixed symbol which cannot be challenged," he said. "Just like monuments are questioned, Zapata is also an image that can be subverted."Vargas Santiago said some of Zapata's descendants had expressed support for the exhibition.The family itself has also split over the use of Zapata's image – with some descendants applying for a trademark to sell Zapata-branded merchandise such as T-shirts and tequila.The core question, according to Vargas-Santiago, is: "Who does Zapata belong to? Does he belong to his family members? Does he belong to the government? Or does he belong to everyone? Our response is: he belongs to everyone who identifies with his legacy."López Obrador said on Wednesday that the painting didn't bother him, "but I'm not a member of the Zapata family." He asked the culture ministry to find a solution to family's concerns.Government spokesman Jesús Ramírez Cuevas later tweeted that the government was "committed to artistic freedom and respect for diversity." "Yes to freedom, no to censorship. Yes to respect, no to violence," he wrote.
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| Turkey's Erdogan says Nobel academy rewarding human rights violations Posted: 10 Dec 2019 02:21 AM PST  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the Nobel academy on Tuesday of rewarding human rights violations by awarding the prize for literature to Peter Handke, who has been criticized for backing late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic. Turkey has said it is joining Albania and Kosovo in boycotting the Nobel awards ceremony to protest the academy's choice of Austrian Handke for the prize. "Giving the Nobel Literature Prize to a racist, who denies the genocide in Bosnia and defends war criminals, on December 10, Human Rights Day, will have no meaning other than the rewarding of human rights violations," Erdogan said.
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| Deadliest Weapon After a Nuclear Bomb: Meet Russia's TOS-1 MLRS 'Buratino' Posted: 10 Dec 2019 04:56 AM PST  This thing does some real damage.
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| How did South Bend actually do under Mayor Pete Buttigieg? We pulled the numbers to find out. Posted: 10 Dec 2019 07:38 AM PST  Buttigieg was a two-term mayor of a small city. It rebounded from a severely high unemployment rate but vacant houses are a problem.
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| U.S. Backs Leniency for Gates, Citing ‘Extraordinary’ Help Posted: 10 Dec 2019 01:21 PM PST ![U.S. Backs Leniency for Gates, Citing 'Extraordinary' Help]( "U.S. Backs Leniency for Gates, Citing 'Extraordinary' Help") (Bloomberg) -- Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates deserves leniency for his "extraordinary assistance" with offshoots of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, the government told a judge just days before his sentencing.Prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday that they don't oppose Gates's request for probation. They also said that Gates deserved praise for standing up to powerful people and weathering "intense media scrutiny." They wrote, without providing specifics, that "Gates received pressure not to cooperate with the U.S. government, including assurances of monetary assistance."Gates was a critical witness in Mueller's investigation of Russian election interference. He was the star prosecution witness in the trial of his former boss Paul Manafort, who was convicted of bank and tax fraud, and he testified against Trump ally Roger Stone and former Obama White House counsel Greg Craig. Gates met with investigators more than 50 times, prosecutors said.But prosecutors also noted Gates's many crimes."Gates did not commit crimes only with Manafort," they wrote. "On a far smaller scale, he also committed crimes on his own and for his own benefit. He failed to report more than $3 million in income on his tax returns over several years, failed to disclose his own foreign bank accounts, and stole approximately several hundred thousand dollars from Manafort's overseas accounts."Gates also engaged in mortgage fraud by overstating his income, submitted false reimbursement vouchers to employers, and participated in an investment-fraud scheme with a man charged in Manhattan, they said.Gates was Manafort's right-hand man in his political consulting firm and worked with him for a decade before joining him on President Donald Trump's campaign. Manafort is serving a 7 1/2-year prison sentence for financial fraud.Indicted in 2017 with Manafort, who was Trump's 2016 campaign chairman, Gates later pleaded guilty to conspiring with Manafort to hide their work as unregistered foreign agents and to conceal his former boss's offshore bank accounts.Gates's lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson to sentence him to probation in a late Monday court filing. He said he accepted responsibility "in every way possible." He will be sentenced on Dec. 17.Read MoreGates Says He Stole, Lied and Cheated But Trust Him AnywayTrump Hovers Over Stone Trial in Testimony on Clinton LeaksEx-Trump Campaign Aide Gates Testifies in Trial of Gregory Craig(Updates with prosecutors' praise of Gates in second paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in federal court in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, David S. JoachimFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Moderate Dems Float Proposal to Censure Trump in Place of Impeachment Posted: 10 Dec 2019 12:09 PM PST  A group of around 10 moderate House Democrats has revived a proposal to censure President Trump over his actions regarding Ukraine rather than to impeach him, according to Politico.The group is made up of representatives who won districts in 2018 that voted for Trump in the 2016 elections."I think it's certainly appropriate and might be a little more bipartisan, who knows," said Representative Kurt Schrader (D., Ore.)."Right now, there's no other options. [But] this is another option," one lawmaker commented after attending a meeting of the group on Monday.The group believes that censuring the President without impeachment will allow them to retain support in their districts for the 2020 elections. However, the idea faces very slim chances of success, with a solid majority of the House already backing impeachment."I think censure is just a way out. If you want to go, you gotta go," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in June. "If the goods are there, you must impeach. Censure is nice, but it is not commensurate with the violations of the Constitution should we decide that's the way to go."Some Republican lawmakers have said in private that a censure would be more difficult for GOP members to vote against, but that the option is unlikely to gain steam."I don't think [moderate Democrats] have enough to block impeachment," one GOP lawmaker told Politico. "And [they're] obviously reaching out to Republicans to see if they would join them."Only two Democrats have announced they will definitely oppose impeachment: Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, and Colin Peterson of Minnesota.No Republican congressman has backed impeachment so far. Former Michigan Republican Justin Amash, who recently became an Independent, announced on Friday he would support impeachment.
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| Donald Trump Jr. killed endangered sheep in Mongolia with special permit Posted: 11 Dec 2019 12:39 PM PST  On a hunting trip to Mongolia earlier this summer, the president's son Donald Trump Jr. killed a rare species of the endangered argali sheep.
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| 'Whose side are you on?': Houston police chief tears into GOP senators over gun laws after officer killed Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:42 AM PST  "You're either here for women and children and our daughters and our sisters and our aunts, or you're here for the NRA," Acevedo said.
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| Man Found Guilty of Murdering Two Boston Doctors Inside Their Penthouse Condo Posted: 10 Dec 2019 10:55 AM PST  A Boston man accused of killing two doctors in their penthouse condo—and leaving behind haunting messages on their walls—was found guilty of murder on Tuesday afternoon. Bampumim Teixeira, 32, was convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping for the May 2017 slayings of Dr. Lina Bolanos, 38, and her fiancé, 49-year-old Dr. Richard Field. Authorities say Teixeira fatally stabbed the couple, then scribbled "he killed my wife" and "payback" on the walls of their 11th floor condo. He was shot by authorities and apprehended in the hallway of the couple's building.As jurors began their second day of deliberations on Tuesday, Teixeira entered the packed Suffolk Superior courtroom and began threatening Suffolk County District Attorney John Pappas, making derogatory remarks about his wife."Yo Pappas, you better hope I never get out of jail," Teixeira said to the main prosecutor in his double-murder case, before he was dragged out by a court officer. Boston Man Accused of Murdering Two Doctors Was 'Lurking' Near Their Penthouse Condo: ProsecutorsJust before the jurors delivered the verdict, Teixeira had a second outburst inside the courtroom—showing his handcuffed hands to reporters before yelling at the victims' families in the front row. "Do you want to know his last words? He said no," Teixeira told the sobbing Bolanos and Field families, before he was escorted out of the courtroom once again.The outburst came at the end of the two-week trial, during which prosecutors argued the murders were part of a robbery gone wrong since Teixeira was seen "lurking" outside the building."He is a person literally caught in the act," Suffolk County District Attorney John Pappas said on Monday.Prosecutors noted Teixeira did not know the couple personally, but was a former concierge in their South Boston building and was familiar with its layout. In an interview with Boston police revealed in court, the 32-year-old alleged he had a two-month affair with Bolanos when he worked in the building in 2016 and claimed he murdered Field in self-defense after the doctor killed his own fiancée in a jealous rage."I'm not sorry," Teixeira said in the recording played in court. "A jealous man is the worst thing ever... What I saw with my eyes was crazy."Teixeira's defense attorney, Steven Sack, argued on Monday that while his client did sneak into the 11th floor condo, there is no "credible evidence" that indicates he maliciously murdered the doctors."Sometimes the hardest thing to believe is the truth," Sacks said in his closing arguments.Prosecutors argued that on May 5, 2017, Teixeira entered the building's garage at around 4 p.m. to wait for the couple to come home. Armed with a backpack filled with a combat-style knife, several fake guns, duct tape, and pliers, he was allegedly waiting inside the condo when Bolanos, a pediatric anesthesiologist, first arrived home.Dating App Murder Suspect Cuts Own Throat in Crazy Courtroom OutburstField, a pain clinic doctor, arrived home about an hour later, at which point the couple made multiple inaudible 911 calls. In one desperate attempt to get help, Field texted a friend, Matthias Heidenreich, eight times, writing "Call 111," "Gunman," and "Serious." "I was confused for the first minutes," Heidenreich, a scientist for Vertex Pharmaceuticals, told jurors. "At some point, I realized what it could mean."Heidenreich said he immediately called the building's front desk, telling them a gunman was inside the condo and to contact authorities. When officers arrived at about 8:38 p.m., Teixeira approached them in the hallway outside the apartment with what they thought was a gun—prompting them to shoot and injure him, prosecutors said."Then he said, 'You guys are going to die.' Then he said, 'They killed my wife.' Then he mentioned something, and I heard the word 'sniper,'" Boston Police Department Sgt. Edward Meade testified, adding that investigators also found a bag of Bolanos' jewelry and another with two fake guns, a knife, and duct tape in the hallway outside the apartment.After police apprehended Teixeira, he admitted there were two dead bodies inside the penthouse, prosecutors said. When investigators went inside the dark apartment, they found the couple's bodies in a pool of blood with their hands bound with duct tape. They also discovered cut-up photos of the couple and the words "payback" and "he killed my wife" written on the walls, authorities said. Dr. Richard Atkinson, the medical examiner, testified that Field's cause of death was a "stab wound to the neck" and that Bolanos suffered from 24 "sharp-force injuries" around her neck."Her cause of death was multiple sharp force injuries," he said, adding that her underwear had also been "cut in two locations."New Zealand Mosque Shooting Suspect Brenton Tarrant Flashes White Power Sign in CourtDuring an interview with Boston police while in the ICU unit at Tufts Medical Center—where he was being treated for gunshot wounds he sustained outside the penthouse—Teixeira said Bolanos "brought" him into the apartment on the day of the incident. Teixeira claimed he would "make out" with Bolanos when he worked in the building, and that the two were inside her apartment for several hours while the doctor complained that Fields physically abused her. When Field came home, Teixeira claimed the doctor became "enraged" and accused his fiancée of being unfaithful. He said in the interview recording that Field threatened "he was going to kill us both," before beating, handcuffing, and ultimately fatally stabbing Bolanos. Out of self-defense, Teixeira said, he handcuffed and bashed Field's hand against the wall during a struggle before stabbing him in the neck."I wanted to do to him what he did to her," Teixeira told Boston Police Sgt. Det. Michael Devane in the interview, stating he was innocent and only took Bolanos' jewelry so he could hide it.R. Kelly Ordered to Stay in Brooklyn Jail on New Sex-Trafficking ChargesPappas argued on Monday there had been no evidence presented in court to support Teixeira's "preposterous" and "imagined story" that was created to "ruin" the couple's reputation. The prosecutor also denied Bolanos and Teixeira were ever in a relationship and planned to meet up that day—showing jurors surveillance video that showed he was waiting inside the apartment for an hour before Bolanos came home."This attack on Lina Bolanos happened immediately... and it had nothing to do with Richard Field," Pappas said, insisting the story "doesn't have a ring of truth to it." "We've gone beyond preposterous. We're now existing in the theater of the absurd."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| The Real Locations That Inspired 13 Famous Paintings Posted: 11 Dec 2019 02:31 PM PST |
| Oink oink, cha-ching: $3 million found in barrels of pork Posted: 11 Dec 2019 05:28 AM PST  Barrels of raw pork shoulder were riding fat in a tractor trailer pulled over by North Carolina deputies. Approximately $3 million in cash was recovered from the barrels Saturday, the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office said in a Facebook post Tuesday. The driver of the tractor trailer was accused of failing to maintain his lane and impeding the flow of traffic on Interstate 85.
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| 'Suspect in Custody' at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi After Lockdown Posted: 11 Dec 2019 08:18 AM PST  An incident caused the base to be put under lockdown early Wednesday
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| Hawley: FBI ‘Effectively Meddled’ in 2016 Election Posted: 11 Dec 2019 01:01 PM PST  Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) said Wednesday that the FBI "effectively meddled" in the 2016 presidential election and did so with the backing of the Democratic National Committee."Which is worse? Is it worse to have a foreign government trying to meddle in our elections, or is it worse to have our own government meddling in the election?" the Missouri Republican asked Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz during the Senate Judiciary Committee's hearing on the inspector general's report examining the origins of the FBI's Russia investigation.Horowitz's report shows that "the FBI effectively meddled in an ongoing presidential campaign," Hawley charged."You expect it from foreign governments," Hawley said. "But when our own government does it, how can the American have confidence, and what do we do?"The inspector general's report, released on Monday, found no evidence of political bias in the FBI's decision to launch the Russia probe but cited "basic and fundamental errors" and a "failure" by the whole FBI "chain of command" involved in the investigation. The report also found that the FBI omitted crucial details in its requests for warrants to surveil Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page.Hawley expressed incredulity that the Democratic National Committee solicited and paid for the Steele dossier and that afterwards the FBI cited the questionable information in the dossier to obtain Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrants to surveil Page."This is the untold story of the 2016 campaign," Hawley said. "I don't know who at the DNC hatched this, but I suppose they ought to maybe take a victory lap, but certainly they should be remembered for it. To get the FBI to launch, pursue surveillance of a rival presidential campaign and then into the newly elected president's term I think is just extraordinary.""I think it is an extraordinary thing when the most powerful law enforcement agency, maybe the world, is able to effectively intervene and influence a presidential election at the behest and with the cooperation of another political party," Hawley concluded.Horowitz told Hawley he is not aware of any previous instance of the FBI targeting a presidential campaign during the election cycle.
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| What’s Worse Than World Leaders Laughing at the U.S.? Posted: 10 Dec 2019 10:00 PM PST ![What's Worse Than World Leaders Laughing at the U.S.?]( "What's Worse Than World Leaders Laughing at the U.S.?") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- That viral video of the leaders of Canada, France and the U.K. laughing about their U.S. counterpart at last week's NATO summit was vivid yet anecdotal evidence of what the rest of the world thinks of President Donald Trump. Now comes some hard data showing America's declining global reputation.Not only is the perception of the U.S. as a top ally fading, according to a new survey of 18 countries from the Pew Research Center, but more people see the U.S. as "posing the greatest threat" to them in the future. Even America's closest neighbors are losing faith in their U.S. alliance.In Canada, the percentage of those who see the U.S. as its top ally has fallen from 54% in 2007 to 46% in 2019; over the same period, the percentage of those who see the U.S. as the top threat has risen from 16% to 20%. (Keep in mind that the 2007 reading, near the end of George W. Bush's calamitous presidency, already represented one of the lowest rates of global confidence and approval.) In Mexico, the percentage of those who see the U.S. as Mexico's top ally fell from 35% to 27%; the percentage who see the U.S. as the top threat has risen from 35% to a poll-topping 56%.The results also suggest that the U.S. is losing ground in perhaps its most important diplomatic challenge: the contest for influence and power with a rising China.The Trump administration has paid lip service to the idea of growing great power competition, and to the need to offer an alternative to China in Africa and Latin America. Yet as the survey notes, "Across many of the Latin American as well as Middle East and North African countries surveyed, more name the U.S. as a top threat than say the same of China." Equally disturbing is that in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa — democracies that are also sub-Saharan Africa's three biggest economies — the share of respondents who regard China as their country's most reliable ally is about as high as those who choose the U.S. In emerging markets more broadly, "China's economic influence is seen in similar or even slightly more positive terms" than that of the U.S.It's possible, of course, to justify these findings by saying it's better to be feared than loved. You might even argue that the growing U.S. isolation in the United Nations is a sign of America's commitment to its principles. (In 2018, the U.S. voted against a higher proportion of General Assembly resolutions than any other nation; its global average voting coincidence was 31%, below the 10-year average of 36%.)That's certainly how Trump sees it. As he has repeatedly said, "We're respected like we haven't been respected in a long time." Secretary of State Michael Pompeo has doggedly defended his boss's in-your-face approach to foreign policy, declaring that "putting America First means proudly associating with nations that share our principles and are willing to defend them."That raises at least two questions: Who are these nations, and what are these principles?In a speech titled, "Trump Administration Diplomacy: The Untold Story," one example Pompeo offered was getting other nations to join the U.S. in a statement rejecting a right to abortion. Consider the other signatories: Bahrain, Belarus, Brazil, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Egypt, Guatemala, Haiti, Hungary, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.Of these countries, Freedom House ranks only three as "free," while four are "partly free." The other 11 are "not free," including three (Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Libya) that have the worst aggregate scores for political rights and civil liberties. If this is what the U.S. sees as "the trajectory for nations all across the world," as Pompeo put it, then maybe those world leaders were laughing last week because the end state Trump has in mind is too horrible to contemplate.To contact the author of this story: James Gibney at jgibney5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.James Gibney writes editorials on international affairs for Bloomberg Opinion. Previously an editor at the Atlantic, the New York Times, Smithsonian, Foreign Policy and the New Republic, he was also in the U.S. Foreign Service from 1989 to 1997 in India, Japan and Washington.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Republicans blamed Democrats for USMCA delays. Mitch McConnell promptly delayed it further. Posted: 10 Dec 2019 01:46 PM PST ![Republicans blamed Democrats for USMCA delays. Mitch McConnell promptly delayed it further.]( "Republicans blamed Democrats for USMCA delays. Mitch McConnell promptly delayed it further.") Yes, the USMCA is facing further delays. No, Democrats aren't the chief cause.After House Democrats announced Tuesday they'd crafted a deal on a U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement they and the White House could both agree on, House Republicans started pushing for an immediate vote on the trade deal. But it was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) who's stopping their wishes, saying Tuesday the Senate wouldn't see the trade deal until at least next year.Republicans followed Democrats' Tuesday USMCA press conference with one of their own, with the top Republican on the Ways and Means committee Rep. Kevin Brady (Texas) calling out "much delay by Democrats" before the trade deal got here. Then the calls for scratching out further stalling began pouring in. Brady tweeted that Congress "must pass USMCA without delay," as did Rep. George Holding (R-N.C.) and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.).But it seems McConnell wasn't listening. Even though Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said the Senate will only have 30 days to vote on the USMCA once the House passes it, McConnell said the body wouldn't consider the USMCA before its holiday recess. That leaves it for next year and, considering the Senate has already wiped out its January calendar as it buckles down for an impeachment trial, pushes the USMCA to a rule-breaking February arrival date.More stories from theweek.com Trump's pathological obsession with being laughed at The most important day of the impeachment inquiry Jerry Falwell Jr.'s false gospel of memes
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| The New Jersey shootout that left 6 people dead was a 'targeted' attack on a Jewish-owned grocery store, officials say Posted: 11 Dec 2019 07:31 AM PST  Six people died Tuesday in a shooting in Jersey City, New Jersey, including the two gunmen, a cop, and three civilians.
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| Outrage after Colombia riot police force young woman into unmarked car Posted: 11 Dec 2019 12:33 PM PST  * Protester freed after members of public give chase * Video of incident adds to criticism of police tacticsOutrage has erupted in Colombia after a young woman participating in anti-government protests was grabbed by riot police in body armour, forced into an unmarked vehicle and driven away.Video of the incident showed the woman sobbing and screaming "Help! The police have kidnapped me!" through the window of the black Chevrolet sedan as it drove away from the demonstration near the National University in Bogotá on Wednesday night.> Video de cómo policias del Esmad suben a la fuerza a una mujer a un carro particular Chevrolet HCI 264 > ¿Intento de secuestro? > Compartir al máximo pic.twitter.com/6vYOBlIAQE> > — ���������� ������������ (@maikybayona) December 11, 2019Two members of the public gave chase in another vehicle, and the driver can be heard in the video shouting reassurance to the detainee as they drive alongside. The pursuers eventually stopped their car in front of the officers, who then released the woman in the middle of heavy traffic.The video – and a second clip showing a young man apparently being forced into an unmarked car on Tuesday night – prompted fresh accusations of excessive force against the Mobile Anti-Disturbances Squadron – known by its Spanish initials, Esmad.Bogotá's chief of police said at a press conference on Wednesday that while it was not usual for police to use unmarked vehicles when detaining people, it was legal.But Gen Hoover Penilla did not specify why the two protesters were seized – nor why the woman was released if she had been suspected of wrongdoing. The whereabouts of the young man remained unclear late on Wednesday.Penilla admitted that the woman should not have been left on the road, but adopted a defiant tone, telling reporters: "We will continue to do our duty but I ask you not to question everything our police officers do."For the past three weeks, Colombia has been racked by demonstrations triggered by widespread discontent with the proposed economic reforms of the rightwing president, Iván Duque, whose approval rating has dropped to just 26% since he took office in August last year.Protesters are also angry at the lack of support for the historic 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), which formally ended five decades of civil war that killed 260,000 and forced more than 7 million to flee their homes.In a country which not long ago suffered the highest kidnapping rate in the world – and whose security forces have themselves been implicated in forced disappearances – the videos of police snatching protesters evoked disturbing memories.According to the national victims' agency more than 150,000 people were forcibly disappeared between 1986 and 2017, with up to 80,000 still missing. Combatants on all sides of the conflict engaged in the practice.While most of the demonstrations have been peaceful, some vandalism occurred when protests first broke out on 21 November.The hardline response by Esmad – who have fired teargas, flash bangs, and "less lethal" bean bag rounds at peaceful protesters – has only fanned the discontent.One 18-year-old protester, Dilan Cruz, died after he was shot in the head with a bean bag round on 23 November.Opposition politicians called a debate on Esmad on Wednesday morning, while protest organizers have called for the unit to be dismantled altogether."Esmad has been acting violently and leaving victims in their wake for years," said Mafe Carrascal, a prominent activist. "Rather than containing disturbances, they are generating them by provoking showdowns and killing people."
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| Mexico finds small border tunnel in Nogales, next to AZ Posted: 11 Dec 2019 10:40 AM PST ![Mexico finds small border tunnel in Nogales, next to AZ]( "Mexico finds small border tunnel in Nogales, next to AZ") Mexican authorities have located a small, clandestine border tunnel between the northern state of Sonora and the United States, officials announced Wednesday. A Mexican government statement said the discovery in Nogales, which is across from Nogales, Arizona, was the result of a search of storm drains following the recent find of another tunnel in the city.
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| The Best Trimmers for Keeping Your Facial Hair Under Control Posted: 11 Dec 2019 02:47 PM PST |
| Elizabeth Smart's dad describes kids' reaction to him coming out as gay Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:01 PM PST  In our exclusive interview, Ed Smart reveals how difficult it was to come out as gay to his family and friends
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| Germany contradicts Russia over Georgian murdered in Berlin Posted: 11 Dec 2019 04:51 AM PST  Germany contradicted Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, saying it was not aware Russia had requested the extradition of a Georgian man who was murdered in Berlin in August. In an escalation in already tense relations, Germany last week expelled two employees at the Russian embassy in Berlin, saying Moscow was not cooperating sufficiently in the investigation into the murder. Putin described the victim on Monday as a "cruel and blood-thirsty person" who had fought on the side of anti-Moscow separatists in Russia's mainly Muslim north Caucasus region, and said Moscow's requests for his extradition had not been heeded.
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| Representative Ted Yoho Becomes the 23rd House Republican to Announce Retirement Posted: 10 Dec 2019 10:04 AM PST  Representative Ted Yoho of Florida announced Tuesday that he will step down after completing his fourth term, joining the wave of House Republicans who have opted against running for reelection in 2020.Yoho had promised to serve no more than four terms in Congress."I ran on a pledge to serve four terms — eight years and come home," Yoho said in his announcement. "Many told me I was naive and they're probably right. I was told the district has changed three times and so the pledge isn't binding and I could rationalize that. However, I truly believe a person's word is their bond and should live up to their word."Yoho is the twenty-third House Republican to announce retirement in 2020. 26 Republicans retired in 2018, the year Democrats took back control of the House."Carolyn and I want to thank all of our awesome and loyal supporters who believed in us enough to give us the incredible honor to serve as a Member of the United States Congress, a government that represents the greatest country on earth," Yoho wrote in a letter to supporters.Yoho sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Agriculture Committees. Before running for Congress he worked as a large animal veterinarian.In November Yoho was thought to be considering retirement, but the congressman initially denied reports that he would be stepping down.The retirement wave is fueling concerns for GOP prospects in the 2020 congressional elections, although some of the affected districts are expected to remain in Republican control. Yoho's district is widely considered safe for Republicans, and the congressman is himself a staunch supporter of President Trump.
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| Attorney General Barr rescheduled his controversial holiday party at Trump's Washington hotel, and now its date is secret Posted: 10 Dec 2019 05:00 AM PST  The Washington Post reported that the party might have been moved to help William Barr and his guests avoid protesters outside the hotel.
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| Giuliani Ally Parnas Got $1 Million From Russia, U.S. Says Posted: 11 Dec 2019 04:55 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Rudy Giuliani's associate Lev Parnas got $1 million from an account in Russia in September, a month before he was charged with conspiring to funnel foreign money into U.S. political campaigns, according to U.S. prosecutors who asked a judge to jail him for understating his income and assets."The majority of that money appears to have been used on personal expenses and to purchase a home," prosecutors said in a court filing Wednesday. Parnas failed to disclose the payment to the government, prosecutors said.The payment raises provocative new questions about the nature of the work Parnas and his associate Igor Fruman were doing and who they were doing it for. Much about what they did remains unclear.The pair was charged, in part, with working on behalf of one or more Ukrainian government officials to seek the removal of then-U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch. They have pleaded not guilty to all charges.Bloomberg and other news organizations have also reported that Parnas was added to the legal team of Dmitry Firtash, a Ukrainian oligarch fighting extradition to the U.S.Giuliani and his lawyer didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.There was little detail or explanation about the source or purpose of the payment to Parnas in the court filing. Prosecutors said the money was sent to an account in the name of Parnas's wife, Svetlana Parnas. It appeared "to be an attempt to ensure that any assets were held in Svetlana's, rather than Lev's, name," prosecutors claimed.The payment came the same month that Parnas and Fruman received the first of two requests for documents from Congressional committees investigating the Trump administration's actions in Ukraine. The pair initially refused to comply with the requests, and were arrested days later on a jet bridge at Dulles International Airport near Washington D.C., as they sought to board a plane with one-way tickets to Vienna. Parnas's lawyer has subsequently said his client is willing to comply with the congressional investigation.Parnas, a U.S. citizen who was born in Ukraine, could face at least five years in prison on the counts with which he has already been charged, but prosecutors have said he remains under investigation and will likely face more charges.Parnas and Fruman are also accused of using an unnamed Russian national as the source of funds for political donations to curry favor with state and federal officials for support in starting a retail marijuana business. The government didn't say whether the same Russian was the source of the $1 million payment in September.Prosecutors asked the judge to revoke Parnas's bail, saying he also lied about his income. While he presented varying pictures of his financial condition to authorities on three different occasions, prosecutors say he never disclosed the $1 million payment, or a $200,000 escrow deposit he had made on a $4.5 million Boca Raton property -- and that he really received $200,000 for his work on Firtash's legal team, not the $50,000 he claimed."Parnas poses an extreme risk of flight, and that risk of flight is only compounded by his continued and troubling misrepresentations," prosecutors said.The government was responding to Parnas's request for less strict bail conditions. He asked to be allowed some time each day outside his apartment while he is under home detention.Parnas's lawyer, Joseph Bondy, declined to comment and said he would respond to the prosecutors with his own filing.(Adds details throughout.)To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Berthelsen in New York at cberthelsen1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider, Peter BlumbergFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Newlyweds burned by volcanic eruption on New Zealand honeymoon cruise Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:44 AM PST  Lauren and Matt Urey were touring the White Island volcano Monday on the Royal Caribbean cruise ship Ovation of the Seas when it erupted.
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| Delhi rapist-murderer cites pollution in death row appeal Posted: 10 Dec 2019 07:12 AM PST  Akshay Kumar Singh was one of a group of men who gang-raped a 23-year-old woman on a bus in India's capital late at night in December seven years ago. Filed through his lawyer, the now 31-year-old said in his review petition to the Supreme Court that the air quality in New Delhi was like a "gas chamber" and its water "full of poison".
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| Chinese ambassador 'threatens to withdraw trade deal with Faroe Islands' in Huawei 5G row Posted: 11 Dec 2019 04:24 AM PST  China's ambassador to Denmark threatened to scupper a trade deal with the Faroe Islands if Huawei was not given a 5G contract in the region, according to Danish newspaper Berlingske. The alleged threat by ambassador Feng Tie, made to Faroe Islands politicians including leader Bárður Nielsen, heightened concerns about the Chinese communications firm's links with the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as it seeks European expansion. The US, having sanctioned Huawei due to concerns about espionage and security, is attempting to convince allies to follow suit. The Faroe Islands, which have a population of around 50,000, is a self-governing autonomous region of Denmark. On 11 November Mr Feng allegedly told Faroe Islands government figures that China would not enter a free trade deal with them unless Huawei was given a 5G contract by Føroya Tele, a Faroe Islands telecoms operator. The threat was reported after Faroe Islands politicians were recorded by the Kringvarp Føroya TV station on 15 November, discussing the ambassador's warning. Mr Nielsen reportedly said that his government would not interfere in the awarding of the contract. A Faroe Islands judge granted an injunction against Kringvarp Føroya reporting the ambassador's alleged threat, saying it could compromise relations between the Danish Commonwealth and Beijing, before Berlingke revealed it. Huawei, which plans to roll out 5G in 2020, said it had no knowledge of the alleged meetings. Faroe Islands government spokespeople did not respond to calls and messages requesting comment. The Chinese communications giant is embroiled in controversy about its alleged closeness to the CCP, treatment of employees, data privacy and alleged sanction breaching. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has suggested that he is likely to ban Huawei from Britain's 5G network. Luke Patey, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies, told The Telegraph: "China is now brandishing economic sticks of its own for when European countries do not take on Huawei for 5G networks. This was a peek into what is likely a broad effort on China's part to pressure and persuade European officials to its side. It's time for European leaders to call Beijing out on its interference." On Wednesday China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying called Berlingke's report "false and ill-intentioned". She said of the alleged meeting: "Is there any difference and meaning on whether they mentioned Huawei or not? If US officials can slander China's Huawei all over the world, can't a Chinese ambassador mention the name of a Chinese company when talking about cooperation with local officials?" Tom Jensen, Berlingske's editor-in-chief, said: "We stand by the story and we have proper documentation for what we write."
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| Beshear becomes target of lawsuit claiming abuse of power Posted: 11 Dec 2019 05:29 AM PST  For nearly four years as Kentucky attorney general, Andy Beshear filed a series of lawsuits accusing then-Gov. Matt Bevin of abusing his executive powers. Now Beshear is being sued by the people he ousted from the state school board on his first day as governor. The new Democratic governor wielded his executive authority Tuesday to reorganize the Kentucky Board of Education with 11 new members, fulfilling a campaign promise he made to teachers.
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| Turkey says will retaliate against any sanctions ahead of U.S. vote Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:50 PM PST  Turkey said on Wednesday it would retaliate against any U.S. sanctions over its purchase of Russian defense systems, adding that with Britain it had agreed to speed up a joint fighter jet program to meet Turkish defense needs. U.S. lawmakers will vote - and likely pass - a defense bill later on Wednesday that calls for sanctions against Turkey over Ankara's decision to procure the S-400 defenses. Turkey and the United States, NATO allies, have been at odds over the purchase.
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| America Cannot Stop North Korea's Ballistic Missiles Posted: 11 Dec 2019 08:45 AM PST  It's difficult enough to locate them on the ground, let alone destroy them in the air.
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| Ukrainians: Trump Just Sent Us ‘a Terrible Signal’ Posted: 11 Dec 2019 01:04 PM PST  Ukrainian officials spent last weekend glued to Trump's Twitter feed. People working closely with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have been in contact with Trump administration officials over the past several weeks discussing the relationship between the two presidents, according to four people with knowledge of the talks. Based on those conversations, Ukrainian officials came to expect that President Donald Trump would make a statement of support before Zelensky met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in France for peace talks. A statement might even come via Twitter, they said they were told. "Through all the signals we got, we firmly believed there would be a statement," a senior Zelensky administration official told The Daily Beast. But as Saturday and Sunday ticked by, there was only silence from the White House. Even as Ukrainian officials have publicly been loath to criticize Trump's pressure campaign on their country, frustrations with Washington have quietly percolated. And last weekend, they were especially acute. On Monday, Zelensky and Putin met in Normandy, France for face-to-face negotiations on the war in eastern Ukraine. Russia had seized Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in 2014, and has ever since backed separatists in the eastern part of the country. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were on hand for the talks. Putin and Zelensky agreed to exchange "all known prisoners," according to The Washington Post. Another round of talks is expected in several months. Words of support from the United States in the lead-up to the Normandy talks could have given the Ukrainian president more leverage with Putin, according to the Zelensky administration official and two additional people close to his administration. Instead, Trump spent the weekend on Twitter tweeting about Fox News pundits, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and CNN. It was a particularly busy weekend of social media for him, with more than 100 tweets and retweets by Politico's count. But no word on Normandy.And the next week put salt in the wound. On Tuesday, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a joint press conference with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and made an appearance at the White House. Russia's Top Diplomat: We're Ready to Publish Our Correspondence With U.S. on Election Meddling AllegationsOne of the people close to the Zelensky administration said the silence from White House—combined with Lavrov's photo-friendly visit to Washington—sent "a terrible signal" and was "most unfortunate." According to a read-out of Trump's meeting with Lavrov, the president "urged Russia to resolve the conflict with Ukraine." The Ukrainian official called the episode "frustrating." Ukrainians say they view the coupling of Trump's pre-Normandy silence and the administration's decision to welcome Lavrov as a signal in an of itself—and not a good one. Zelensky administration officials are now reconsidering their strategy on communication with and about the Trump administration, the official said. Thus far, Zelensky administration officials have stayed in line with the Trump administration's narrative on the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani's Ukraine activity and the focuses of the impeachment inquiry. But they say they have little to show for it, and may take a different public relations strategy in the future. A Time interview published earlier this week captured Kyiv's willingness to publicly bolster Trump's version of events. Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Zelensky, contradicted a key assertion that European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland made in congressional testimony last month. Sondland had said he pulled Yermak aside during an event in Warsaw and urged him to have Kyiv announce Trump-friendly investigations. Yermak, meanwhile, told Time that no such conversation happened. The statement was a body blow to a key impeachment witness's testimony, though Sondland's lawyer said he stood by his description of events. In a separate interview, Zelensky said he did not speak to Trump in terms of "you give me this, I give you that." Trump tweeted out a link to the interview and thanked Zelensky for the comment. Trump's relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was a key focus of Democrats' impeachment inquiry. The inquiry began after an anonymous Intelligence Committee official filed a whistleblower complaint in August alleging that Trump pressured Zelensky to announce investigations of a company linked to the Bidens and of alleged Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election. The complaint said that Trump was withholding military aid from Ukraine until those investigations were announced. Trump has vehemently denied allegations that withholding the military aid—which happened for a short time at his orders—was part of a pressure campaign. Sondland, meanwhile, told Congress that the administration was explicit that it refused to arrange a White House meeting between Trump and Zelensky until Kyiv announced the two investigations. After weeks of closed-door depositions and hearings, Pelosi announced the introduction of two articles of impeachment based on Trump's pressure on Ukraine. House Democrats are expected to vote on those articles as soon as next week. If they pass—which is extremely likely—then they will be referred to the Senate for a trial. —with additional reporting by Erin BancoRead 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. 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| The architect of Mexico's war on cartels was just arrested in Texas and accused of drug trafficking and taking bribes Posted: 10 Dec 2019 11:27 AM PST  Genaro Garcia Luna, a former Mexican security official once considered "something of a wunderkind," was arrested by US federal agents on Monday.
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| FAA predicted Boeing 737 Max, facing more delays, would crash 15 times over its lifetime Posted: 11 Dec 2019 01:39 PM PST  The agency's administrator tells a House committee that it won't be rushed on recertification of the Boeing 737 Max.
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| Greta slams 'misleading' climate pledges at chaotic UN summit Posted: 11 Dec 2019 02:16 PM PST  Swedish activist Greta Thunberg accused rich countries of "misleading" people over climate action at UN talks in Madrid on Wednesday hours before a veteran leader of the global environmental movement with whom she shared the podium was locked out of the conference. The UN climate forum tasked with saving the world from runaway global warming has become an "opportunity for countries to negotiate loopholes and avoid raising their ambition" to act on climate, the 16-year-old told delegates and observers to vigorous applause. Nations gathered in Spain's capital are struggling to finalise the rulebook of the 2015 landmark Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global temperature rises to "well below" two degrees Celsius and to a safer cap of 1.5C if possible.
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| Experts quit police probe in blow to Hong Kong government Posted: 11 Dec 2019 01:33 AM PST  Foreign experts recruited to add legitimacy to Hong Kong's police watchdog quit Wednesday, saying the agency lacks teeth. The expert panel's decision to stand aside is likely to increase pressure on the territory's government for an independent probe of police behavior during six months of pro-democracy protests.
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| Army to fund rare earth mineral processing plant amid China spat: Report Posted: 11 Dec 2019 05:41 AM PST  The U.S. Army plans to fund construction of rare earths processing facilities, part of an urgent push by Washington to secure domestic supply of the minerals used to make military weapons and electronics, according to a government document seen by Reuters.
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| Taliban attack on U.S. military base kills two, injures dozens Posted: 10 Dec 2019 08:18 PM PST  Suicide bombers struck the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing two people and injuring scores in a major attack that could scupper plans to revive peace talks between the United States and the Taliban. The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which struck the Bagram air base north of Kabul. "First, a heavy-duty Mazda vehicle struck the wall of the American base," said Zabihullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesman.
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| Pro-Trump Network OAN Tried to Get This Ukrainian Millionaire a Visa Before His Arrest Posted: 10 Dec 2019 06:30 PM PST  Before catching the eye of German law enforcement, former Ukrainian parliamentarian Oleksandr Onyshchenko drew attention from the conservative TV channel One America News. Last week, German authorities arrested the multi-millionaire because of a warrant from Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutors. Before his arrest, though, the Trump-friendly media outlet tried to help him get a visa to travel to the U.S. The effort, which has not been previously reported, was part of a push by OAN to unearth information on Burisma Holdings, the energy company that retained Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President and current Trump rival Joe Biden. Onyshchenko has claimed to have dirt on the firm. Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, meanwhile, has boosted the channel's Burisma work. "I can confirm that One America News Network did attempt to secure a number of visas for former Ukrainian officials to travel to the United States, including Olekesandr Onyshchenko," network president Charles Herring told The Daily Beast in an email. "One America News Network made the request prior to Mr. Onyschchenko being detained. One America News investigative efforts have cost in excess of $100,000 to date."Herring added that the outlet is also "currently seeking visas" for several other former Ukrainian officials, but is no longer doing so for Onyshchenko. Herring declined to say which other ex-officials his outlet is trying to secure visas for. Efforts by media outlets to secure legal travel authorizations for their sources are in an ethical gray area, according to one expert. Especially when the source in question is accused of embezzlement. Onyshchenko's lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.Ukrainian anti-corruption prosecutors allege Onyshchenko ran a scheme to steal millions from Kyiv's state-owned natural gas company. The news of OAN's effort to help him get a visa comes on the heels of Rudy Giuliani's trip to Kyiv, where Trump's personal lawyer worked with a correspondent and crew member of OAN. On the trip, Giuliani and OAN's Chanel Rion met with Viktor Shokin and Yuri Lutsenko, two former Ukrainian prosecutors who have alleged misconduct by the Bidens. Their claims—that Obama administration officials pressured the Ukrainain government to ignore wrongdoing by Burisma in a bid to protect the Bidens—are at the heart of Giuliani's search for dirt. Giuliani has said he is working with OAN on this project, and the network's segments back that up. OAN's coverage of the impeachment scandal has raised eyebrows. The channel sent a camera crew to the apartment building where they believe the whistleblower who kicked off the Ukraine scandal lives, and to the home of the suspected whistleblower's parents. And Rion's documentary series on the Bidens and Burisma has taken an odd tone. In a promotional segment for one program, she said the sources would "testify under oath" for the show. Giuliani figures prominently throughout the programming. And on Tuesday evening, Rion tweeted effusive praise of Giuliani's communications director, Christianné Allen. "An incredibly talented patriot and a breath of fresh air here in the swamp. @Christianne_L_A — here's to the adventures ahead," Rion wrote, along with a picture of herself and Allen.Onyshchenko told conservative media site CD Media that he applied for a U.S. visa earlier this year. It wasn't his first overture to American officials; in 2016, Onyshchenko met with Justice Department officials to discuss corruption in Ukraine. People familiar with the events told The Daily Beast that Onyshchenko's outreach appeared to be part of an effort to secure a U.S. visa. In recent years, OAN has tried to outpace Fox News, Fox Business, and Sinclair as the most committed Trump ally in television. Beyond traveling with Giuliani on his latest European jaunt in hopes of scoring dirt on Trump's political enemies, the network has run countless hours of explicitly pro-MAGA programming and has even taken the step of naming the alleged whistleblower whose complaint triggered the impeachment inquiry—a step that Fox brass have repeatedly instructed their own staff not to take.And Trump has noticed. The president has tweeted praise of OAN's coverage while chastising Fox News for being insufficiently supportive of him. He also privately recommends the network to total strangers at Mar-a-Lago. Rudy Giuliani's Ukraine 'Investigation' Stars Some of Kyiv's Most Dubious CharactersThe network's efforts on Onyshchenko's behalf raise ethical questions, according to journalism professor Dan Kennedy of Northeastern University. "This sounds like it's in kind of a gray area," he told The Daily Beast."If they're just helping them come over to the U.S. for a short period of time to be interviewed and participate in a story, maybe that doesn't bother me that much. But if this is some sort of long-term arrangement where the Ukrainians would be able to stay in the U.S. a long time, this is something they've been wanting to do, and OAN is making it happen for them, that would probably be going too far.""I'm not really comfortable with any of this," he added, "but as long as it's for some short-term purpose—namely, for participating in a story—I'm not going to get all outraged about it, either."Giuliani's Ukraine project is central to Democrats' impeachment inquiry targeting Trump. In a July phone call, Trump pressured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to help Giuliani with the effort. Meanwhile, the administration held up military aid and refused to schedule a White House visit for Zelensky. Giuliani communicated to Ukrainian officials that Zelensky needed to announce investigations Burisma and of alleged Ukrainian interference in the U.S. 2016 election if he wanted to visit the White House, according to European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland. Zelensky didn't announce the probes, and the White House has yet to set a date for his visit. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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| Boeing removed a feature that protects its 787 planes during lightning strikes as a cost-cutting measure, even after FAA experts objected Posted: 11 Dec 2019 04:13 AM PST  The FAA administrator will be questioned by Congress today over its certification of the change to the 787 Dreamliner as well as the 737 Max.
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| 'Absolutely Not a Choice.' Elizabeth Smart's Father on Coming Out as Gay, Leaving Mormon Church Posted: 10 Dec 2019 09:42 AM PST  Ed Smart, the father of kidnapping victim Elizabeth Smart, discussed his struggle to come out as gay in a new interview.
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| 'Total nonsense': Democrats rip McConnell on delaying USMCA vote until after impeachment trial Posted: 11 Dec 2019 09:15 AM PST  After weeks of blaming Democrats for delaying Trump's renegotiated trade deal with Canada and Mexico, McConnell said he would delay it further.
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| Toxic Israeli Politics Give Rise to Fears of Assassinations Posted: 10 Dec 2019 07:00 PM PST ![Toxic Israeli Politics Give Rise to Fears of Assassinations]( "Toxic Israeli Politics Give Rise to Fears of Assassinations") (Bloomberg) -- In Israel's toxic political atmosphere, talk has turned to assassination.Benjamin Netanyahu and opposition leaders have received death threats as two divisive and inconclusive elections dovetail in a caustic mix with the premier's indictment for fraud. A former spymaster sees a worrisome parallel with the vitriolic campaign against Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin before he was gunned down leaving a peace rally in 1995."There have been negative campaigns and smear campaigns" in the past, said Gabi Weimann, a communications professor at the University of Haifa. "But all of that is nothing compared to recent times."Israel has long been a society wracked by sectarian divides: Jews of European descent versus Jews from the Middle East and North Africa. Ultra-religious Jews against secular Jews. Proponents and opponents of trading land for peace with the Palestinians. Not to mention the chasm between Arab and Jew.Netanyahu proved a master at leveraging these rifts, championing nationalist identity politics that pit right-wingers against leftists, and Jews against Arabs. Israel's fractured poltiical terrain offered fertile ground. But the atmosphere has become more menacing in the wake of the two elections where corruption allegations against Netanyahu played a key role.A social media post, now under investigation, advised Israeli police to "get ready to direct traffic to the funerals" of Netanyahu, his wife and son, an aide said.Israeli media have reported unconfirmed death threats against Netanyahu's main challenger, former military chief Benny Gantz, and another senior figure in his Blue and White bloc, lawmaker Yair Lapid, has received death threats for weeks, an aide said. "Every bullet has its address and yours is in the rifle barrel," said one tweet.Bodyguards AssignedShabtai Shavit, head of the Mossad spy agency when law student Yigal Amir murdered Rabin over his land-for-peace policy, sees a troubling parallel. "I can't but think about the possibility that Yigal Amir Chapter 2 is already in our midst," he tweeted.Bodyguards were reportedly assigned to two state prosecutors who led the investigations leading up to Netanyahu's indictment on charges of bribery and fraud. While Netanyahu and his circle haven't been insulated from the threats, his campaign's rhetoric has been rife with invective aimed at the media, law enforcement, leftists and Israeli Arabs as he fights for his political survival.'Riven With Division'At the recent annual memorial for Rabin, President Reuven Rivlin lamented that "the political culture of left and right is riven with division.""It is as if we have learned nothing," he said.Not so, said Likud backer Yarim Berreby, who was a preschooler when Rabin was killed. "We all learned its lesson," said the 29-year-old student from the southern community of Zohar. Netanyahu was the central speaker at the 1990s demonstrations where marchers chanted "Death to Rabin," and carried a mock coffin and noose. Critics say Netanyahu's presence there and failure to roundly condemn the rhetoric fanned the passions that encouraged the assassin to act -- a charge he hotly denies."The phenomenon of incitement isn't new," said Itzhak Galnoor, a senior fellow at Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. "But the scale of it, and the fact it sometimes comes from the top are creating tremors that could lead to a major disruption of the political system. This is entirely new."Shield of AnonymityAggressive campaigning and incitement have also been transformed by the anonymity social media affords users across the globe. Tamar Hermann, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, says social media allows people to let off steam and lowers the possibility of physical violence.Yet police said they're on alert for possible political violence as online hatred mounts. Lapid employs a team that manages his social media accounts and removes vicious content."The writing is on the wall," wrote Uri Misgav, a commentator for the Haaretz newspaper. "You've been warned."To contact the reporters on this story: Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.net;Yaacov Benmeleh in Tel Aviv at ybenmeleh@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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