| Fox News' Wallace calls out GOP senator for pushing debunked conspiracy theory Posted: 24 Nov 2019 10:20 AM PST  Fox News host Chris Wallace pushed back against GOP Senator John Kennedy, who repeated a debunked conspiracy theory promoted by President Trump.
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| Ship with 14,600 sheep aboard capsizes off Romania Posted: 24 Nov 2019 05:06 PM PST  Rescuers were struggling Sunday to save 14,600 sheep loaded on a cargo ship that capsized in the Black Sea off the coast of Romania, they said. The Queen Hind bound for Saudi Arabia overturned for yet unknown reasons shortly after leaving Romania's Midia port. The crew of 20 Syrians and one Lebanese were rescued, together with 32 sheep, two of which were pulled from the water, said Ana-Maria Stoica, a spokeswoman for the rescue services.
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| Practice (for War with Russia) Makes Deadly: NATO and U.S. Army Conducting Massive Exercises Posted: 25 Nov 2019 01:03 AM PST  These exercises, which will closely resemble the weapons, tactics and combat strategies joint forces would be called upon to perform in the event of major enemy attack, will span across air, sea, land, cyber and space domains throughout Europe.
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| Banks Close Branches in Half of U.S., Loss Worst in Rural Areas Posted: 25 Nov 2019 12:09 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- More than half of U.S. counties lost access to bank branches between 2012 and 2017, with rural counties that have less educated and minority residents especially hurt, the Federal Reserve said in a new report.Nearly 800 rural counties lost 1,533 bank branches, representing 14% of their total branches, the Fed said Monday. While urban counties also lost branches, they lost just 9% of the branches, according to the report. The findings highlight a broader U.S. trend of the widening gap between rural areas and better-served and more prosperous urban centers.While urban and rural Americans are using branches less frequently as more banking services have moved online, traditional bank offices nonetheless provide an important way for people to open up checking accounts and to borrow. As a result, the loss of branches can hinder access to credit for households and small businesses.Forty-four counties were "deeply affected" by closings, defined as a county that had 10 or fewer branches in 2012 and lost at least 50% of those branches by 2017, the Fed said."Rural counties deeply affected by branch closures had higher poverty rates, lower median incomes, a higher share of their population with less than a high school degree, and a higher share of their population who were African American," the report said.In listening sessions the Fed has held around the county, people have called the loss of branches "frustrating and disruptive" to their lives, according to their report. Local banks also can provide leaders who contribute to the community, and their loss is keenly felt."Banks are more attuned to the needs of the communities in which they are headquartered, so this loss could have a negative impact on the affected local markets," the Fed said.Fed leaders are trying to understand the divide and what can be done to help struggling rural areas, who's plight has become a powerful issue in the U.S. politics. President Donald Trump successfully focused part of his 2016 election campaign on turning out support among Republican-leaning rural voters who he said had been neglected by political leaders.To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Matthews in Atlanta at smatthews@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alister Bull at abull7@bloomberg.net, Vince GolleFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Police look for suspects after 2 boys fatally shot outside California elementary school Posted: 25 Nov 2019 09:13 AM PST  Two boys sitting in a van in a parking lot of a Northern California elementary school were fatally shot early Saturday, police say.
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| Former incarcerated student: Society owes men and women in prison chance to return whole Posted: 24 Nov 2019 12:04 PM PST  PBS documentary shows how higher education helped me remove the shackles of incarceration. College degrees in prison can do the same for others.
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| The 30 Best New York City Landmarks to Visit Posted: 25 Nov 2019 05:00 AM PST |
| After Trump's intervention, Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher returns to work, for now Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:38 PM PST  Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL at the center of a controversy in a case that President Trump intervened in, went to work Monday, unsure of what lay ahead.
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| Iran rejects US order to pay $180 mn over reporter's jailing Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:12 PM PST  Iran on Monday rejected a US court order for Tehran to pay $180 million in damages to a Washington Post reporter for jailing him on espionage charges. Jason Rezaian spent 544 days in an Iranian prison before he was released in January 2016 in exchange for seven Iranians held in the United States. On Friday, a US district court judge ordered damages be paid to Rezaian and his family in compensation for pain and suffering as well as economic losses.
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| Former Mattis Speechwriter Won’t Admit or Deny to Fox News That He’s ‘Anonymous’ Posted: 25 Nov 2019 01:41 PM PST  Former Pentagon aide Guy Snodgrass cagily refused to deny or admit that he was the infamous Resistance White House figure "Anonymous" during a Fox News interview on Monday, shortly after he was fingered as the most likely candidate.Snodgrass' name began making the rounds on social media early on Monday when The New Republic's David Kusnet—who once correctly guessed the anonymous author of Clinton tome Primary Colors—found there was a striking resemblance between the writing style of Anonymous' A Warning, the author's notorious 2018 op-ed and Snodgrass' memoir. Snodgrass, a former speechwriter and comms director for ex-Defense Secretary James Mattis, kept the speculation going with a cryptic tweet.The former Mattis staffer, who would be considered a one-time "senior official" of the Trump administration, appeared on Fox News Reporting on Monday afternoon to purportedly talk about the recent termination of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer. Fox News anchor Trace Gallagher, however, spent the majority of the interview peppering Snodgrass with questions about whether or not he was the senior Trump official working against the president from within the administration."If you look at the article, the author hits all the high points. He makes a very good case and the question is, are you Anonymous?" Gallagher initially asked."Great question," Snodgrass replied. "I have a book out with my name on it called Holding the Line. I do appreciate that the New Republic said the writing was excellent across both books, that's a great sales pitch. But I tell you what, if I was making an announcement like that, I'd do it right and come into the studio with you in New York City."The Fox anchor immediately noted that Sondgrass wasn't issuing a denial but was instead just saying that this wasn't the proper venue to make that statement. Snodgrass, with a wry smile, claimed he only just heard about the allegation before insisting he was on to talk about national security since there's a "lot to talk about there.""There was a lot of talk about there but there's also a lot to talk about here and I am curious because why not just deny it outright?" Gallagher pressed again. "You said you just heard about it on your way to the studio but you sent out the tweet today not really denying it, kind of saying 'the swirl continues,' what did you mean by that?"The former Pentagon official, meanwhile, said this was just the "latest in a long series of D.C. parlor games" and that he only retweeted the story out because "it caught my eye and someone put it on my radar." Gallagher, for his part, continued to probe, noting that Kusnet pointed to similar writing styles and vocabulary choices between the two books."I can't remember using lodestar a single time so the analysis may be breaking down a little bit," Snodgrass quipped, still not denying or admitting to anything.Eventually, after Gallagher questioned him again on the topic and noted that the Fox interview became a great opportunity to sell his memoir, Snodgrass pushed back by stating the current news cycle surrounding the military dictated why he was initially scheduled to appear on-air.The Fox host would make sure, though, to get one final word in before closing out the interview."Not saying one way or another, we just want to point out that Joe Klein back in 1992, when he was called on it, he denied it several times before finally coming out," he concluded.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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| Arab League formally rejects U.S. policy shift on Israeli settlements Posted: 25 Nov 2019 11:01 AM PST ![Arab League formally rejects U.S. policy shift on Israeli settlements]( "Arab League formally rejects U.S. policy shift on Israeli settlements") The Arab League on Monday formally rejected a decision by the United States to no longer consider settlements in Israeli-occupied territory illegal, saying the move was a threat to peace and a flagrant violation of international law. Meeting in a special session in Cairo, the Arab League said it considered the U.S. position legally null and void and showed "unprecedented disdain for the international system", according to Egyptian state news agency MENA. The Nov. 18 announcement by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reversed a stand taken under President Jimmy Carter in 1978.
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| Whoops: In 1984, a Soviet Sub Crashed into the U.S. Carrier It Was Tailing Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:00 AM PST  Well that's awkward.
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| China Announces Plans to Strengthen Protection of Intellectual-Property Rights Posted: 25 Nov 2019 02:51 PM PST  China's government on Sunday issued a directive aimed at tightening protections for Chinese intellectual-property rights, amid accusations from the U.S. that China has stolen American intellectual property.The document, released jointly by the General Offices of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Chinese State Council, lays out a goal of strengthening intellectual-property-rights protections over the next two years by cracking down on the infringement of such rights."Strengthening IPR protection is the most important content of improving the IPR protection system and also the biggest incentive to boost China's economic competitiveness," the directive reads, according to excerpts released by the Chinese State Council.The new guidelines say China will boost its efforts to enhance international cooperation on IPR protection as well.The measures come while disputes over intellectual-property theft have roiled trade negotiations between China and U.S. as the world's two largest economies scramble to reach "phase one" of a trade deal.Last year, an investigation by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative found that intellectual-property theft by China causes the U.S. to lose between $225 billion and $600 billion a year.Exacerbating the situation further, the Justice Department in January charged China's largest smartphone maker, Huawei Technologies Co., with bank fraud and stealing trade secrets. The 13-count indictment alleges that Huawei stole robotic technology designed to test smartphones from American cell-phone company T-Mobile.
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| Teacher Threw Away Students' Black Lives Matter Posters, ACLU Says Posted: 25 Nov 2019 11:56 AM PST  A school district near Sacramento, California, said it is investigating an episode in which a teacher threw away student posters related to the Black Lives Matter movement.The district, the San Juan Unified School District in Carmichael, Califorinia, said in a statement that it apologized if any student felt "discomfort" about what happened, the television station KCRA 3 reported.The episode, which took place in September, came to light Thursday after the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Northern California sent the district a letter detailing what happened.In the letter, the organization described how a parent volunteer taught a lesson about how "art can manifest in activism."The parent volunteer asked the teacher if she could teach another art lesson about diversity. According to the letter, the teacher told her in front of a sixth-grade class that "his lessons would contain lessons with 'a bunch of old white guys' so her content may not fit."The volunteer "was obviously confused, and a bit concerned regarding this comment, but did not stop the lesson plan" because of his comment, the letter said.She asked the students to create a poster that focused on something they wanted to see changed at the school. Four students created Black Lives Matter posters, Abre' Conner, the lawyer at the ACLU who wrote the letter, said Sunday.The day after the posters were made by the students, the teacher told the parent volunteer that he threw them away because they were "inappropriate and political," the letter said.The teacher asked her "whether students were getting shot at the school and demanded answers regarding why a presentation on Black Lives Matter was relevant" to the school, Del Paso Manor Elementary, the letter said.The letter identified the teacher only as Madden; a school directory lists a David Madden as a teacher. Conner would not identify the parent volunteer, who was referenced in the school district statement only as Kincaid. A Magali Kincaid is listed as a parent or community member on the school's website.Neither Madden nor Kincaid could be reached Sunday. Kent Kern, the school district superintendent, to whom the letter was addressed, also could not be reached.Kincaid went to the principal, who supported Madden, according to the letter. The principal said that Black Lives Matter posters are political statements and therefore were off limits for public display.Though not named in the letter, Damon Smith is listed on the school's website as its principal. He could not be reached Sunday.The ACLU argued that the Black Lives Matter posters were protected speech under the California Education Code because they convey a student's thoughts, ideas and beliefs in the support of black lives. The group also said the posters were protected under the California Constitution.Conner wrote that "there are obvious problems with a teacher and principal who currently have black students in their classroom and school taking the positions that the acknowledgment of Black Lives is controversial and political in nature."The district has not responded to the letter, Conner said."Because these are so basic fundamental rights we believe that the school district at this point would have responded back to us," she said Sunday.In its statement, the district said the ACLU letter raised new assertions."Ms. Kincaid was allowed to provide a lesson that was not prepared by the district's art program and without having been trained," it said. "That should have not occurred and unfortunately led to disagreement between Ms. Kincaid and the classroom teacher on the assignment's final outcome."The statement attributed the disagreement to a misunderstanding about the nature of the assignment.Madden's "understanding of the resulting assignment was for students to produce artwork related to a change they wanted to see within the school itself," the statement said."Students whose artwork focused on large social issues, which varied in topic, and was not directly tied to the school, were asked by the teacher to complete another poster the next day," it continued.The district said it was never its "intent or desire for any student to feel uncomfortable or unwelcome to discuss issues that are important to them."It added: "Censoring a student's assigned work because of its content would not be acceptable. We are open and committed to continuing our work with students, staff, community partners and others to ensure that our school communities embrace a diversity of thoughts and experiences."The ACLU asked for, among other things, a curriculum and events that include the Black Lives Matter movement, parent engagement training. It also asked that school staff undergo cultural and sensitivity training with Kincaid's input."The moral here is that you have a teacher in your school district basically sending the message that if you create Black Lives Matter art work, it is literal trash," Conner said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| U.K. Conservative Manifesto Launch: Boris Johnson’s Key Policies Posted: 24 Nov 2019 09:06 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson unveiled his Conservative Party's election manifesto on Sunday with a promise to end the "seemingly unending Brexit box-set drama."In a 40-minute speech, Johnson promised 50,000 new nurses and said the National Health Service will not be "on the table" in post-Brexit trade talks, lines that sought to neutralize attacks by the opposition Labour Party. He also pledged not to raise income tax, value-added tax or national insurance rates.Even so, the policies are far less radical than those proposed by Labour, which published its manifesto on Thursday -- perhaps reflecting the Conservative Party's already strong lead in the polls.Here's a breakdown of the Conservatives' key proposals:Brexit, TradeRatify Johnson's divorce deal with the European Union before the Jan. 31 deadline; legislation would be introduced to Parliament before ChristmasOnce the U.K. has left, negotiate and ratify a free-trade agreement with the EU quickly enough to ensure there's no need for an extension to the transition phase beyond its scheduled end in Dec. 2020.Aim to have 80% of U.K. trade covered by free-trade agreements within three yearsTaxation, SpendingBorrow more to invest in infrastructure under loosened fiscal rules, which would allow an increase of 13.8 billion pounds ($17.7 billion) in spending across all departments by 2021The rates of income tax, national insurance and VAT would not riseRaise the threshold for making National Insurance contributions from 8,628 pounds year to 9,500 in the government's first budget, with a goal to raise it to 12,500 pounds at an unspecified future dateReduce the "overall burden" of business ratesIncrease the tax relief on buildings and research and developmentThe party has shelved a planned cut in corporation taxLaborRaise the minimum wage to 10.50 pounds an hour by 2024Establish a National Skills Fund, which would give individuals and small businesses the chance to receive vocational trainingEnsure workers have the right to request a more predictable contractEnvironmentMake the U.K. carbon neutral by 2050, including by planting an additional 75,000 acres of trees a year by 2023Spend 6.3 billion pounds on energy efficiency measures to cut fuel bills in millions of homesA ban on exporting plastic waste outside OECD countries to reduce ocean damageSet up a new independent Office For Environmental Protection and introduce new legal targets, including for air qualityHealth CareDeliver 50,000 more nurses, some of whom will be newly-trained, some hired from abroad and some from staff retention. Also the reintroduction of bursaries for nurse trainingA 2.7 billion-pound investment to build 40 hospitals. This has been widely disputed by opposition parties and fact-checkers, who put the actual number of new hospitals at six over five yearsCommit 1 billion pounds per year in extra funding for local authorities to better deal with demands for social careNo specific plan to resolve the U.K.'s social care crisis; aim to build a "cross-party consensus" on a new policy to ensure nobody needs to sell their home in order to afford itEnd hospital car park charges for some staff, patients and visitorsEducationA 1 billion-pound investment to boost childcare provisionsExtra 14 billion pounds funding for schools by 2023HousingBuild at least 1 million more homes by 2024Ban the sale of new leasehold homesIntroduce a 3% surcharge for foreign buyers of homes in EnglandBan "no fault evictions," where tenants are evicted before the end of their contract without a proper reasonLifetime rental deposits program, allowing payments to be transferred when tenants move houseLaw, PolicingRecruit 20,000 new police officersIncrease stop-and-search powers for policeEnsure those guilty of premeditated murder of a child are never eligible for releaseAdd 10,000 prison places, with 2.75 billion pounds already committed to refurbishing existing prisons and building new onesTransportNew fund to reopen disused railway lines axed in the 1960s, beginning with northern EnglandInvest 2 billion pounds to repair the U.K.'s roadsImmigrationAn Australian-style points-based visa system to prioritize skilled workersImmigrants from the EU will only be able to access unemployment, housing, and child benefits after five yearsTo contact the reporter on this story: Greg Ritchie in London at gritchie10@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Stuart Biggs, Thomas PennyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Joe Biden: Stacey Abrams, Sally Yates could be potential vice president picks Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:39 AM PST  Joe Biden identified several prominent Democratic women when asked at a town hall in Iowa who he would choose as vice president.
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| Trump boasts of seemingly nonexistent polls showing support for impeachment in the 20s Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:17 AM PST ![Trump boasts of seemingly nonexistent polls showing support for impeachment in the 20s]( "Trump boasts of seemingly nonexistent polls showing support for impeachment in the 20s") President Trump is citing impeachment numbers that seem to exist nowhere but his Twitter feed.Trump on Monday morning boasted that "support for impeachment is dropping like a rock," claiming that it's "down into the 20s" in some polls.> Support for Impeachment is dropping like a rock, down into the 20's in some Polls. Dems should now get down to work and finally approve USMCA, and much more!> > -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 25, 2019But he didn't cite a single example, and no one's sure where he's getting that number from considering virtually every poll has shown support for impeachment in the 40s, with FiveThirtyEight's poll tracker showing it's at an average of 46.3 percent support.Some polls have certainly shown support lower than others, but the Daily Mail's David Martosko observes, "the lowest support for impeachment in any public poll since they started coming out in September is 43 percent," meaning Trump apparently shaved off a good 20 points in his tweet.It's possible Trump is referring just to support for impeachment among Republicans, but in that case, the number would be an odd one to boast about considering per FiveThirtyEight, Republican support for impeachment is actually about 12 percent on average.There are plenty of actual findings in real polls that Trump could have easily flagged, including that national support for impeachment on average has indeed dropped a few points since October -- but to the tune of about four percentage points. The nearly 20-point plunge Trump is claiming? Not so much.More stories from theweek.com Welcome to the vengeance election Trump is degrading the U.S. military Money laundering, conspiracy to defraud U.S. reportedly among charges under consideration in investigation related to Rudy Giuliani
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| Egyptian Coptic rights activist faces 'terror' charges Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:34 AM PST  An Egyptian Coptic rights activist is facing charges of joining a "terror" group and spreading misinformation, his lawyer confirmed Monday, amid a renewed crackdown on dissidents in the country. Ramy Kamel was arrested from his Cairo home early Saturday by seven plainclothes police officers, a member of his defence team, Atef Nazmy, told AFP. The prosecution has alleged Kamel joined a "terror" group, received foreign funding and broadcast false information.
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| Florida Woman Reported an ‘Unknown’ Body in Her Driveway. Hours Later, She Was Charged With Murder. Posted: 25 Nov 2019 01:39 PM PST  Early Saturday morning, 51-year-old Yvonne Serrano called Florida authorities to report a grisly scene in the driveway of her Coral Springs home."I just walked out and there is a car in my driveway with a dead body," she told the 911 dispatcher. "There's blood..she's been here for a while," she added. "She's bleeding everywhere."During the frantic, five-minute phone call, Serrano insisted she had no idea what a dead body was doing in her driveway. But hours later—after changing her story multiple times—Serrano was charged with second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence for allegedly shooting 21-year-old Daniela Tabares outside her home, then trying to cover it up, Coral Springs police said.Authorities said the pair had gone to the movies and a bar on Friday night with friends from their local gym, a night of fun that ended with a bullet in Tabares' forehead. California Man Who Rapped About Burying His Girlfriend Is Charged With Her Murder"Daniela is an inspiration. She is the [sic] shining example of what the best of us can only try to be," the gym that organized the group event said in a Facebook statement on Monday. "It shines through in the joy, laughter, and loving sassiness she shared with us. It shines through in the boundless love she gave us and the selfless care she took for the people around her. We cannot measure her loss."According to a police affidavit obtained by The Daily Beast, deputies arrived at Serrano's house early Saturday morning to find Tabares "partially inside the driver's side of a Nissan Kicks"—her right foot still inside the SUV while the rest of her body was on the driveway. "The victim was lying on her back with a fatal gunshot wound on her forehead," the affidavit states. The medical examiner later determined that Tabares died from a single gunshot to the head by a 9mm pistol.Serrano initially told police she'd "discovered" the body on her way to the gym, but when authorities arrived, she "was not dressed in gym attire and did not appear ready to go for a work out," according to the affidavit. The 51-year-old admitted to police during questioning that she knew Tabares, saying they'd seen the movie 21 Bridges together at around 7:30 p.m. the night before. While they "did not sit together," Serrano told police the two went as a "part of a very large group of friends" who all attended the "Training for Warriors" gym in Coral Springs.Sarah Stern's Childhood Friend Found Guilty of Murdering Her for Her InheritanceThe group went to a bar, World of Beer, after the movie, the affidavit states. The gastropub's surveillance video shows Tabares and Serrano "conversing, laughing and drinking for several hours" before leaving the bar together.Serrano told police she had "originally mentioned taking an Uber home from the bar," but Tabares "volunteered to drive" her home. Surveillance video from her neighborhood shows Tabares pulling into Serrano's driveway at around 2 a.m. Her headlights turned off about five minutes later, and the car remained in the same position until police arrived about three hours later, the affidavit states. When police questioned Serrano about her story's discrepancies, she then stated she'd "blacked out" at a bar and "had no recollection of how she got home," according to the report. All "she remembered after World of Beer was waking up in her own bed" early the next morning, she told police. A few hours later, Serrano changed her story again, stating she actually woke up in Tabares' passenger seat at around 5:55 a.m. and saw the driver's door open and the 21-year-old "lying in the driveway," police said. At that point, she also admitted she had a concealed weapons permit and three guns—including a 9mm pistol that she usually carried around but had removed and placed under her bed after calling the police."The defendant advised that she then changed out of a white tank top she was wearing and place it in the washing machine" because it had blood on it, the affidavit states.Family Sues Man They Say Left Their Daughter to Die on Florida HighwayPolice said her pistol and its holder tested positive for human blood, and linked shell casings found inside Tabares' car to the weapon. It was not immediately clear if Serrano, who is currently being held at the Broward County Jail without bond, has an attorney. Tabares' family did not immediately respond to The Daily Beast's requests for comment. Tabares' friends paid tribute to the 21-year-old on social media, calling her a selfless person with a "good soul.""My BFF always tried to help! Always nice to people! Always smiling!," one of Tabares friends, Karo Miller, wrote on Facebook Monday. "Can't even find the words!""Daniela Maya Tabares, such a good soul! You will always be remembered," another friend added on Facebook. 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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| Chemical weapons body defends Syria attack conclusions after leaks Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:42 AM PST  The head of the global chemical weapons organization on Monday defended the agency's conclusion that poison was used in a high profile attack in Syria last year, after leaked documents suggested two former employees doubted some of its findings. More than 40 people were killed in the April 7 attack in Douma, a town on the outskirts of Damascus that was then held by rebels. The United States, Britain and France retaliated a week later by firing missiles at Syrian government targets, the biggest Western military action against the Damascus authorities of the eight year war.
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| This Is Why The Fed Must Keep Cutting Interest Rates Posted: 24 Nov 2019 07:15 AM PST  Or else America could be in for a world of pain.
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| U.S. Customs Officials Seize 154 Pounds of Bologna at the Texas-Mexico Border Posted: 24 Nov 2019 01:15 PM PST  CBP said the Mexican bologna is banned because it could introduce disease
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| Denmark, Poland celebrate 100 years of diplomatic ties Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:10 AM PST  Danish Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary marked 100 years of Denmark's diplomatic ties with Poland with a one-day visit to Warsaw Monday that involved meeting Poland's president and World War II veterans. Frederik and Mary were greeted with military honors by Polish President Andrzej Duda in front of the Presidential Palace.
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| Pot-Smoking ‘Weedman’ Says Rich Will Crush N.J.’s Black Market Posted: 25 Nov 2019 09:39 AM PST ![Pot-Smoking 'Weedman' Says Rich Will Crush N.J.'s Black Market]( "Pot-Smoking 'Weedman' Says Rich Will Crush N.J.'s Black Market") (Bloomberg) -- The guy who calls himself NJ Weedman was angry -- that is, as angry as one can be with a lungful of marijuana smoke -- as he condemned New Jersey's latest attempt to legalize adult recreational use via ballot."They're going to steal our culture, steal our market and give it to the rich guys," the activist, born Ed Forchion, said Monday outside the Trenton statehouse, where he was sharing a joint as he prepared to lead a protest march with about a dozen supporters.Forchion, 55, who lost legal bids in California and New Jersey to change his name to NJWeedman.com, makes no secret of his drug-arrest history. He says he sells pot illegally at NJ Weedman's Joint, his restaurant across the street from Trenton City Hall.On Nov. 18, New Jersey lawmakers said they will drop their quest to pass a bill to legalize pot sales and use, after almost two years without enough votes to pass. Instead, they will seek voters approval on the 2020 ballot.If the measure passes, Forchion said, he fears a reprisal of proposed regulations from earlier legislation: limiting operations to corporate-backed interests with millions of dollars to spend on applications and security, and no felony convictions.A friend, Anthony Rico, said he expects enforcement to increase if sales come under corporate control."We know our market, and they'll restrict us so much that we can do nothing for the regular street buyers," said Rico, a 53-year-old cook from Woodbridge.Eleven states have legalized adult-use recreational marijuana even as it remains federally outlawed. Governor Phil Murphy had intended to legalize within 100 days of coming to office in January 2018, but legislation was blocked by Republicans and some fellow Democrats.To contact the reporter on this story: Elise Young in Trenton at eyoung30@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flynn McRoberts at fmcroberts1@bloomberg.net, Stacie ShermanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Supreme Court re-enters debate on money in politics by vacating decision on Alaska contribution limits Posted: 25 Nov 2019 09:57 AM PST  The Supreme Court re-entered the national debate over the influence of money in politics by vacating a lower court's decision in an Alaska case.
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| Pentagon chief fires Navy secretary over SEAL controversy Posted: 24 Nov 2019 09:31 PM PST  Defense Secretary said Richard Spencer's private proposal was contrary to his public stance, but Spencer seems to dispute that he made such an offer
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| Donald Trump Jr. makes ‘ignorant’ joke about those with HIV Posted: 24 Nov 2019 12:21 PM PST  Donald Trump Jr. has been criticized for a "despicable" and "ignorant" comment he made about people with HIV.
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| Vintage illustrations as Thanksgiving greetings Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:34 AM PST ![Vintage illustrations as Thanksgiving greetings]( "Vintage illustrations as Thanksgiving greetings") Here's a look at some vintage Thanksgiving postcards, greeting cards and illustrations from the turn of the century to 1923. They don't make them like that any more!
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| This Is How The Philippines Will Help America Patrol The South China Sea Posted: 24 Nov 2019 08:30 PM PST  By buying P-3 surveillance planes.
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| Briton, Filipino hostages safe after troops clash with Islamist rebels Posted: 24 Nov 2019 09:34 PM PST  Soldiers in the southern Philippines rescued a British man and a Filipino woman from members of an Islamist militant group, the army said on Monday, after their captors fled during a military operation. The couple, Allan and Wilma Hyrons, were abducted at gunpoint on Oct. 4 from the resort they ran in a neighbouring province and were now being looked after at a military camp. The kidnappers were members of Abu Sayyaf, a group that operates in the Sulu archipelago and has extremist factions loyal to Islamic State, and linked to at least five suicide bombings in the region in the past 16 months.
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| Mother of slain man sues Cleveland mayor, police chief Posted: 24 Nov 2019 10:21 PM PST  Questions about whether an Ohio mayor intervened on behalf of his grandson in the hours after a fatal shooting have prompted the victim's mother to file a wrongful death lawsuit against the mayor and the city's police chief. Andrea Parra sued Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and Cleveland Police Chief Calvin Williams earlier this month in state court. The lawsuit said the two suspects in the slaying of 30-year-old Antonio Parra this summer were members of a gang connected to Jackson's 22-year-old grandson, Frank Q. Jackson.
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| Rescued circus tigers to arrive in Florida after 18-month ordeal in Guatemala Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:00 AM PST  Rescuers say they endured threats from armed Guatemalan mob after rescuing six lions and 15 tigers from circusesThree male tigers – Kimba, Max and Simba – will be airlifted to Miami and taken by road to Big Cat Rescue. Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty ImagesThree former circus tigers will arrive at a sanctuary in Florida on Monday, at the conclusion of a harrowing 18-month recovery operation that saw their rescuers exposed to repeated intimidation and threats from an armed Guatemalan mob.Workers for the California-based Animal Defenders International say they endured the harassment after rescuing six lions and 15 tigers from circuses in the Central American country following a 2017 law banning live performances by animals.In one of the worst incidents, they said an armed group invaded a transitional rescue center the charity had set up on private land designated by the government, stealing fences, gates and workers' possessions and attempting to take the animals back.The ADI team said it locked itself inside the facility until police and government officials arrived, then hastened efforts to relocate all the animals to a more secure temporary rescue center closer to Guatemala City's La Aurora airport in September, protected by its own armed guards."It was very unnerving and fractious," said Tim Phillips, the group's vice-president, who believes the landowner was trying to cash in on the enforced presence of the animals on his property. "We've rescued more than 150 animals in Bolivia, Peru and Colombia and never come across this kind of behavior."The reptile park we were allocated to seemed to have its eyes on milking US charities and donors for funds and effectively setting up a mini-zoo. Later, they were openly campaigning with the circuses who were trying to disrupt the rescue and overturn the ban."We find that once we show an interest in the animals the perception is that there must be lots of money to be made. Also, these animals are worth more dead than alive, for their bones, teeth and skins, or to be sold as pets. Internationally, animal trafficking is behind only drugs, arms and human trafficking."On Monday, three male tigers – Kimba, aged two and a half, and nine-year-olds Max and Simba – will be airlifted to Miami and taken by road to Big Cat Rescue, a 67-acre preserve in Tampa that houses more than 60 exotic animals. The remaining lions and tigers are being prepared to fly to ADI's recently opened 455-acre grassland sanctuary in South Africa before Christmas.Phillips said getting some of the circuses to release the animals had also been an ordeal, despite the support of the Guatemalan government, army and animal welfare division.One circus, he said, surrendered nine tigers and two lions but retained six tigers the group eventually rescued from a circus wagon parked in a scrapyard. During the original handover, Phillips said the ADI team was harassed by circus workers who stole their tools, while one circus employee tried to distract them by exposing himself.On another occasion, rescuers had to stop a circus worker beating a tiger with a metal bar as he was trying to move the animal between cages."The tiger had been in a cage all his life, he was terrified," Phillips said. "This circus guy comes up and goes mad, shouting at the tiger, lashing out and hitting it with the bar, leaving it with a bleeding leg and mouth. It could have been worse but it highlighted the brutality in these places."Once rescued, the animals received specialized veterinary care."Two tigers we rescued had seizures, they're so incredibly inbred," Phillips said. "Three of the animals needed dental surgery."Guatemala is among the most recent countries to adopt laws banning live animals in circus performances, according to ADI, which lists 46 countries and 32 of the 50 states of the US with prohibitions.In October, California's governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a bill banning most animals from circus performances while also making it the first state to outlaw the manufacture and sale of new fur products.In May, Arizona congressmen Raúl Grijalva and David Schweikert introduced a bill for the traveling exotic animal and public safety protection act, which would impose the first federal restrictions on the use of wild animals and update what Grijalva sees as "antiquated" animal welfare laws.The bill is endorsed by numerous animal advocacy groups including ADI.
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| Our Gear Editors Found the Best Black Friday Tech Deals Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:39 PM PST |
| Kellyanne Conway Struggles to Defend Trump's DNC Server Conspiracy Theory on ‘Face the Nation’ Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:13 AM PST  "Are you sure they did that? Are you sure they gave it to Ukraine?" Fox & Friends host Steve Doocy asked on Friday after Donald Trump ranted for several minutes about a conspiracy theory that a Ukrainian-based company helped the Democratic National Committee frame Russia for interference in the 2016 election. "Well, that is what the word is," the president replied. On Sunday morning, it was up to White House counsel Kellyanne Conway to defend that baseless claim and she more or less came up empty-handed. "The president gave an extended interview on Fox on Friday, and he said once again that they, meaning Ukraine, have the server from the Democratic National Committee," Margaret Brennan told Conway on Face the Nation. "Fiona Hill, the Russia expert formerly of the Trump White House, said this is something that's propagated by Russian security services- services. It's false narrative." George Conway Blasts GOP's 'Incoherent' Hearing Performance in MSNBC DebutWith that, the host presented an excerpt from a 60 Minutes report airing Sunday night in which John Demers, the Justice Department official in charge of investigating the 2016 election, completely debunks the idea that anyone besides the Russians is responsible for "hacking and dumping" DNC emails. "Well, our indictment spells out what it is—the evidence that we have has shown, which is it was the Russians who were behind the hacking and dumping of the Democratic campaign in 2016," Demers said. "We could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt." Then came this question from Brennan: "Why doesn't the president believe his own Justice Department and intelligence experts?" "But the president has said he accepts that," Conway answered, misleadingly, before undercutting her own point. "But also, there are plenty of ways to interfere in elections." She then proceeded to deflect by saying, "if we're doing this, we're back to Mueller and we've already spent two and a half years and thirty five million taxpayer dollars for a Mueller report that was produced in March. It was a big bomb." Instead of answering Brennan's direct questions about Trump's preferred conspiracy theory, Conway began warning that the "mainstream media" could "interfere in the 2020 election the way they tried in the 2016 election." "She's going to win. He has zero percent chance of winning," Conway said, repeating the conventional wisdom in 2016. "That's a different kind of interference, and that's dangerous, too." She could not ultimately explain or defend why the president refusing to take his own Justice Department and intelligence officials at their word. Meghan McCain Explains Why Kellyanne Conway Will Never Betray TrumpRead 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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| Chinese state media urge Hong Kongers to 'vote to end violence' Posted: 24 Nov 2019 02:01 AM PST  Chinese state media urged Hong Kongers to "vote to end violence" Sunday, as record numbers turned out for district elections after months of unrest in the city. Lengthy queues snaked out of polling stations across the semi-autonomus territory in the election for 18 district councils -- largely toothless bodies which set policy on issues such as bus routes and garbage collection. State media on the mainland urged voters to give support to pro-establishment forces to "end social chaos", but the big turnout is widely expected to benefit democratic forces.
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| Carbon dioxide reaches record high in Earth's atmosphere, scientists report Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:48 AM PST  Carbon dioxide – the greenhouse gas most responsible for global warming – reached an all-time high in Earth's atmosphere in 2018.
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| Warren Slams Bloomberg 2020 Run: Billionaires Shouldn’t ‘Come and Buy Elections’ Posted: 25 Nov 2019 01:19 PM PST  Democratic 2020 candidate Elizabeth Warren took aim at her newest rival over the weekend, slamming former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's presidential bid as an attempt to "buy" the election."Elections should not be for sale. Not to billionaires. Not to corporate executives. We need to build a grassroots movement," the Massachusetts senator said Saturday at a New Hampshire town hall."We have a country that works great for billionaires. Works great for corporate executives," Warren said. "But it's not working for the rest of America. And if the only way that Democrats can pick a nominee is to go to the billionaires and corporate executives, then we're going to have a country that keeps working better and better for those at the top."Bloomberg made his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination official on Thursday and kicked off his campaign Sunday with a $37-million ad buy."He could've just been the middle-class kid who made good, but Mike Bloomberg became the guy who did good," the first television ad of the billionaire businessman's campaign says, adding a promise that Bloomberg will tax the wealthy and make sure those in the middle class get their fair share.Bloomberg battled low poll numbers for most of November after his late campaign announcement. Meanwhile, critics have raised concerns about the former mayor's alleged demeaning comments towards women and others, saying they raise concerns about Bloomberg's viability as a representative of the Democratic Party."I understand rich people are going to have more shoes than the rest of us," Warren told the town hall crowd. "They're going to have more cars than the rest of us. They're going to have more houses. But they don't get a bigger share of democracy. Especially in a Democratic primary. We need to be doing the face-to-face work that lifts every voice.""Telling billionaires they can come and buy elections, that does not make democracy work," the senator said.Warren is currently polling at 18 percent behind former vice president Joe Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary, according to Real Clear Politics average of polls. Bloomberg polls at 2 percent.
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| Iran Would Be Wasting Its Time Building an 'F-35' Posted: 23 Nov 2019 08:00 PM PST  It would be asking for more trouble than it's worth.
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| Americans, not Chinese, pay Trump tariffs: NY Fed study Posted: 25 Nov 2019 11:17 AM PST  When the Trump administration imposed tariffs on Chinese imports last year, officials insisted China would pay the cost - implying Chinese firms would have to cut their prices to absorb import "taxes" of up to 25% when the goods hit U.S. shores. Instead, the prices Chinese firms charge have barely budged, meaning U.S. companies and consumers are paying the tariff costs, estimated at around $40 billion annually, New York Fed Reserve Bank researchers found in a study released on Monday. As a result of the U.S.-China trade war, U.S. Customs and Border Protection adds as much as 25% to the import price as Chinese goods enter the country.
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| Diversity marks latest class of US Rhodes Scholars Posted: 24 Nov 2019 08:19 AM PST  Minorities make up the majority of the latest group of U.S. college students to be named Rhodes Scholars, and the class includes the first transgender woman selected for the prestigious program. The Rhodes Trust announced the 32 selections late Saturday after two days of discussions over 236 applicants from 90 different colleges and universities across the country. Along with University of Tennessee graduate Hera Jay Brown, who is the first transgender woman in the program, this year's class also includes two non-binary scholars.
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| Sarah Huckabee Sanders eyes run for governor of Arkansas in 2022 Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:42 AM PST  Sarah Huckabee Sanders is following the traditional route for former press secretaries after leaving the White House as President Trump's chief spokesperson. But she's also getting reacquainted with her home state of Arkansas and laying the groundwork for a potential governor's race in three years.
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| How much does union membership benefit America's workers? Posted: 24 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PST  Even as membership shrinks, official data shows a clear fact: members earn more than non-membersUnion membership in the US has fallen dramatically over the last generation. In 1980, one in five workers were in a union, but today it's just one in 10. Despite that, data shows being in a union is still very effective in protecting the rights of workers and their earnings.Data on full-time wage and salary workers comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The bureau's numbers on weekly earnings show a clear and consistent fact: members of unions earn more than non-members.The earnings of those represented by unions were almost identical to the earnings of those who are members (for the charts below, I used membership). Women who are members of unions earn $10 more per week than men who aren't members of a union.The racial pay gap is so large that although union membership has a big impact, it still does not quite bridge the difference. Black union members earn $63 less each week than their white counterparts who are non-union. Hispanic workers who are non-union have some of the lowest earnings in the country – just $657 per week, almost half of what white union members can expect.
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| UPDATE 1-U.S. prosecutors seek information on payments to Trump lawyer Giuliani -subpoena Posted: 25 Nov 2019 01:52 PM PST ![UPDATE 1-U.S. prosecutors seek information on payments to Trump lawyer Giuliani -subpoena]( "UPDATE 1-U.S. prosecutors seek information on payments to Trump lawyer Giuliani -subpoena") Federal prosecutors in New York are seeking records of payments to Rudy Giuliani, U.S. President Donald Trump's lawyer, as part of an active criminal investigation, according to a grand jury subpoena seen by Reuters. The subpoena does not indicate that Giuliani is suspected of wrongdoing. The subpoena requests that the recipient provide "all documents, including correspondence, with or related to Rudolph Giuliani, Giuliani Partners or any related person or entity," referring to his consulting company.
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| China says defector to Australia is 'unemployed' fugitive Posted: 24 Nov 2019 07:18 PM PST  China sought late Saturday to discredit a man identified as a Chinese spy who defected to Australia with a trove of intelligence on Beijing's political interference operations in Hong Kong and overseas, accusing him of being an unemployed fraudster and fugitive. The Shanghai police statement came hours after a bombshell Australian media report recounting how Wang Liqiang had given Canberra's counter-espionage agency the identities of China's senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong.
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| Thanksgiving travel weather forecast: Big storms to create big trouble from coast to coast Posted: 25 Nov 2019 02:13 PM PST  Thanksgiving travel troubles are likely this week as two storms track across the nation, bringing a mix of rain, snow and wind from coast to coast.
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| It’s Time for Term Limits on the Supreme Court Posted: 24 Nov 2019 03:33 PM PST  Murmurs of concern swept through Washington, D.C., Friday night as news broke that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a four-time cancer survivor, was back in the hospital.Luckily, doctors said it was only because of chills and fever, and she went home Sunday. But Ginsburg's health remains a topic of discussion in D.C. She missed a day of oral argument last week owing to stomach pain, less than three months after completing treatment for her fourth bout with cancer. She missed two weeks of oral argument earlier this year because of lung cancer surgery, and then in August endured three weeks of radiation treatment for pancreatic cancer.Liberals live in a state of semi-panic that Ginsburg will leave the court and give President Trump the chance to name a third Supreme Court justice and put a conservative stamp on the body for a generation. Any Senate confirmation battle would be the mother of all political brawls, easily eclipsing the one last year surrounding Brett Kavanaugh.It's time to end the unseemly position that the anachronism of life tenure for Supreme Court justices has put the country in. It's a good thing that modern medicine is extending the lives of everyone, including Supreme Court justices. But the time has come to remove the incentives that make justices serve until they drop dead or are gaga. It's time to put term limits on the Supreme Court.Our Founding Fathers granted life tenure to Supreme Court justices to ensure their independence. But that's a relic of a day when the average life expectancy was 38. Today, it is more than twice that.Now, Supreme Court justices can spend two generations on the bench. And, so long as they avoid impeachment, only they can decide when it's time to leave. Judges today usually retire only when they can ensure a philosophically compatible successor. This can result in judges staying past their "sell by" date either physically or mentally. Examples in the past 50 years include Justices William O. Douglas and Thurgood Marshall.Life tenure "is undemocratic by nature," Gabe Roth, the executive director of the reform group Fix the Court, told The Atlantic magazine in 2015. "It sounds more like an oligarchy or a feudal system."Fix the Court has come up with a bipartisan proposal for 18-year term limits for the Supreme Court. A vacancy would come up every two years, meaning that every president would have at least two appointments in each term.The proposal could be enacted without amending the Constitution. Article III, Section 1 states that "Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior." This has been interpreted to mean that Supreme Court justices have a life tenure. But the Constitution is silent on what is meant by "Offices." Nothing is said about judges remaining at their original posts for life.So the Fix the Court plan would preserve the Constitution's guarantee of tenure during "good Behavior" by having departing Supreme Court justices serve on one of the nation's eleven appeals courts.Naturally, some younger justices would opt out of continued judicial service and return to the private sector. For them ethics regulations would have to be crafted to protect against conflicts of interest. Retired judges might be barred from working for corporations or other entities that were a part of any case they had heard while they were on the Supreme Court.As with the existing term limit for the president and the idea of term limits for Congress, the notion of pumping fresh judicial blood into the current system is popular with the public. A 2018 Morning Consult poll found that 61 percent of registered voters favored Supreme Court term limits (67 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of Republicans).Chief Justice John Roberts (appointed by George W. Bush) and Justice Stephen Breyer (appointed by Bill Clinton) have both indicated support for the idea. In a 1983 memo written when he served in the Reagan White House, Roberts wrote: "Setting a term of, say, 15 years would ensure that federal judges would not lose all touch with reality through decades of ivory tower existence."Sadly, one hoped-for benefit of an 18-year nonrenewable Supreme Court term might not materialize in practice. In theory, an orderly changing of the guard on the Supreme Court should turn down the temperature of our current heated confirmation battles. The stakes, the theory goes, wouldn't be as great if every senator knew that the justice they were voting on could serve a maximum of 18 years.But the real reason confirmations are such brutal battles is that the Supreme Court plays too large a role in our society, as more and more issues fall under the scope of the Court. As the conservative Federalist Society recently noted:> The abundance of judges who do not view themselves as limited by constitutional or statutory text also drives the politicization of the confirmation process. By adding to the content of laws, they are acting as politicians rather than judges, and should expect a political selection process to match.Returning our courts to their proper place in our constitutional framework is a tall order, and not one to be solved by abandoning life tenure for Supreme Court justices. But the idea is a sensible step, enjoys support from both conservative and liberal legal scholars, and just might give Congress the opportunity to prove to the American people that it's still capable of bipartisan action.
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