| Treasury Department sent information on Hunter Biden to expanding GOP Senate inquiry Posted: 06 Feb 2020 08:18 AM PST  The Treasury Department has complied with Republican senators' requests for highly sensitive records about Hunter Biden and his associates and has turned over "'evidence' of questionable origin" to them, according to a Democrat on a committee conducting the investigation.
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| Polls show Biden's campaign could be hitting the wall Posted: 06 Feb 2020 12:42 PM PST  The state of Biden's campaign is far shakier than his longtime lead in the national polls would suggest. In fact, it may already be on its last legs.
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| Russians quarantined in Siberia over the coronavirus are livestreaming their workouts, posting photos of their dinner, and modeling 'prisoner clothes' Posted: 07 Feb 2020 04:33 AM PST  The Russians were evacuated from Wuhan and are being monitored in a facility in Tyumen, Siberia, for two weeks.
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| 'I'm the sheriff, who are you?': Sheriff stops fake cop car in its tracks Posted: 07 Feb 2020 12:22 PM PST  Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard noticed something unusual about what he thought was a police car, but turned out to be a copycat.
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| Officials: TSA agent tricked traveler into baring herself Posted: 07 Feb 2020 07:54 AM PST  A federal Transportation Security Administration agent tricked a traveler into twice showing him her breasts as she went through security at one of the world's busiest airports, California's attorney said. Attorney General Xavier Becerra said Johnathon Lomeli, 22, was working at Los Angeles International Airport in June when he used fraud or deceit to falsely imprison the woman. Lomeli was arrested early Thursday at his home.
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| Latest coronavirus study implicates fecal transmission Posted: 07 Feb 2020 04:42 PM PST  Diarrhea may be a secondary path of transmission for the novel coronavirus, scientists said Friday following the publication of the latest study reporting patients with abdominal symptoms and loose stool. The primary path is believed to be virus-laden droplets from an infected person's cough, though researchers in early cases have said they focused heavily on patients with respiratory symptoms and may have overlooked those linked to the digestive tract. A total of 14 out of 138 patients (10 percent) in a Wuhan hospital who were studied in the new paper by Chinese authors in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) initially presented with diarrhea and nausea one or two days prior to development of fever and labored breathing.
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| New photos emerge from Kobe Bryant crash site Posted: 07 Feb 2020 03:22 PM PST  New pictures showing the helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant, his 13 year-old daughter Gianna and seven others have been released.The photos are part of a report the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released further detailing its investigators findings into the 26 January crash that led to Mr Bryant's death. New details on the location and state of the wreckage following impact and on the helicopter's engine status just before impact were included in the report.
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| Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Wants to Legalize Drugs (As in All Drugs) Posted: 07 Feb 2020 08:33 AM PST  For Gabbard, drug policy is a question of personal autonomy and free choice. "When it really comes right down to it, that's what this issue is about. It's about choice."
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| Trump: Mulvaney is staying, but "not happy" with Vindman Posted: 07 Feb 2020 03:26 AM PST  The president spoke to reporters on the White House South Lawn Friday morning en route to North Carolina.
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| Mike Bloomberg called trans women a 'man wearing a dress' and implied equality 'makes no sense' to Midwesterners Posted: 07 Feb 2020 03:50 PM PST  'Give them the job of going to the Midwest and picking a town and selling to that town the concept that some man wearing a dress," Bloomberg said.
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| Powerful, snow-packed winter storm on march from New Mexico to New England Posted: 05 Feb 2020 07:35 PM PST  A powerful winter storm that dropped 2 inches of snow on El Paso along the Texas border began a 1,500-mile trek across the nation's heartland.
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| Cyborgs, trolls and bots: A guide to online misinformation Posted: 07 Feb 2020 07:55 AM PST  Cyborgs, trolls and bots can fill the internet with lies and half-truths. Understanding them is key to learning how misinformation spreads online. As the 2016 election showed, social media is increasingly used to amplify false claims and divide Americans over hot-button issues including race and immigration.
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| Colorado transgender teen pleads guilty to murder in school revenge case Posted: 07 Feb 2020 03:44 PM PST  A transgender teenager accused of opening fire with a friend in a Denver-area charter school in May to exact revenge on classmates who bullied him pleaded guilty on Friday to murder and attempted murder charges, prosecutors said. Alec McKinney, 16, who has been held without bond since the May 7 rampage that left one student dead and eight others wounded, pleaded guilty to 17 criminal counts, including conspiracy and weapons charges, said Douglas County District Attorney George Brauchler. McKinney is accused along with Devon Erickson, 19, of carrying out the shooting at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado.
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| Death of Chinese doctor fuels anger, demands for change Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:29 AM PST  The death of a whistleblowing doctor whose early warnings about China's new coronavirus outbreak were suppressed by the police has unleashed a wave of anger at the government's handling of the crisis -- and bold demands for more freedom. Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang was among a group of people who sounded the alarm about the virus in late December, only to be reprimanded and censored by the authorities in central Hubei province. After Li's death was confirmed early Friday, the 34-year-old was lionised as a hero on social media, while officials were vilified for letting the epidemic spiral into a national health crisis instead of listening to the doctor.
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| Former US drone operator recalls dropping a missile on Afghanistan children and says military is ‘worse than the Nazis’ Posted: 07 Feb 2020 10:18 AM PST  A former US drone operator is speaking out against the atrocities he says he was forced to inflict during his time in the armed forces and says the American military as 'worse than the Nazis'.Brandon Bryant was enlisted in the US Air Force for six years. During his time with the military, he operated Predator drones, remotely firing missiles at targets more than 7,000 miles away from the small room containing his workspace near Las Vegas, Nevada.
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| Officials: TSA agent tricked a traveler into twice showing him her breasts Posted: 07 Feb 2020 06:57 AM PST  A federal Transportation Security Administration agent tricked a traveler into twice showing him her breasts as she went through security at one of the world's busiest airports, California's attorney said.
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| A tech side effect: Many residents of China say wearing face masks to avoid the coronavirus has made it impossible to unlock their phones with Face ID Posted: 06 Feb 2020 08:18 AM PST  Some residents are venting their frustrations on social media.
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| Creepy Pete Posted: 07 Feb 2020 05:15 PM PST  It has to be said: There is something plain amazing about Pete Buttigieg's run for the presidency. His last election was for mayor of a very small city. No offense to South Bend, Ind., but being the nation's 308th largest city is not something to brag about. Until the Iowa caucus Buttigieg never won the support of more than 9,000 people in an election. Pete Buttigieg did this by outlasting, out-fundraising, and out-debating former governors and a California senator, and lapping billionaire entrepreneurs. He beat a national front-runner and essentially tied the runner-up to the 2016 Democratic nomination. From unknown to serious contender for the presidency in less than a year: This is real Mr. Smith stuff, a tribute to the everyman nature of democracy.To repeat myself, this is amazing, amazing stuff.But also, it's really creepy.Right?A few nights ago, the Iowa meltdown was just starting to dawn on us. Officially the Iowa Democrats were telling us that they had verified precisely zero percent of the votes.And while we pondered that fact, this man, "Mayor Pete" emerged on cable news to dispel the utter confusion and uncertainty and declare himself the victor, based on his own tabulation. Think about that for a minute.This is a man from nowhere who seems to have spent a great deal of time in the last few years managing his own Wikipedia page. His popularity is widely attributed to the work of a single media genius, Lis Smith. And as he was declaring himself the winner, a flurry of reports were being filed that there were some questionable financial connections between the developer of the Iowa vote-counting app and the Pete Buttigieg campaign.Doesn't that fact pattern make your skin crawl? Just a little? But it wasn't just that a man no one had heard of a few months ago was now a self-authenticating leader of the Democratic field. It was the way he became that leader. "Tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality," he said, introducing himself.What could he mean by that? In fact, with zero tabulated results, the improbable hope was quite deniable. Now with 100 percent of results in, it looks like Bernie Sanders won the most votes, but somehow Pete Buttigieg obtained more delegates owing to the Iowa Caucus terms of service -- which seems to run hundreds of pages long in describing how tiebreaks and rounding works, and happens to have worked almost entirely in Pete Buttigieg's flavor.The stagecraft was weird. If the demographic polling we've all read is correct, then the line of seven or eight African-American supporters behind him during his Iowa victory speech represents, by my math, 180 percent of his African-American support nationwide. In fact, those in that line seemed to constitute most of the African Americans in the room, which made you wonder how it was they were placed so directly in the sight lines of the television cameras. I bet that was a very delicate mission for the person tasked with it.The surreal and eerie quality of the speech was enhanced by the fact that he declared himself the winner in prose that was so fundamentally empty. "We had the belief that in the face of exhaustion and cynicism and division, in spite of every trampled norm and every poisonous tweak," he said, "that a rising majority of Americans was hungry for action and ready for new answers."What action? What answers? What is this? The whole timbre and cadence of his speech seemed to be modeled after the rhetoric of Barack Obama. But it lacked all the reassuring notes of specificity that seemed to prove Obama was an actual human being, inhabiting a corporeal body in the same space-time continuum that I inhabit.Buttigieg's speech, on the other hand, resembled a kind of mad-lib speech in which none of the blanks had been filled. Obama was promising not just "action" but to turn back the rising sea levels. How did Pete Buttigieg manage to beat Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, and a dozen other people with more charm (such as Andrew Yang) with this utter pablum?I'm not saying for sure that Pete Buttigieg is a robot or a phenomenon of massive psychotic projection. I can't prove that. All I can say is that when he came out on stage in Iowa, I felt like we were undergoing a coup.Bernie Bros have started calling him "Mayor Cheat" -- which is funny. But I now think of him as "Creepy Pete." No one can explain to me with any narrative satisfaction how he ended up on television in the position he is in. But here he is, bidding to be our leader. It's amazing. It's incredible. So incredible that I just want to check with all my readers and all their friends: Why are we crediting this as our reality?
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| Senate Report Criticizes Response to Russian Meddling and Partly Blames McConnell Posted: 06 Feb 2020 12:00 PM PST  WASHINGTON -- Republican congressional leaders' refusal to publicly acknowledge Russian election interference in 2016 contributed to a watered-down response by the Obama administration in the midst of the presidential campaign, a Senate report released Thursday found.Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. and the Senate majority leader, reacted skeptically after receiving an intelligence briefing in September 2016 about the Russian interference, a former Obama administration official said in the report. "You security people should be careful that you're not getting used," McConnell told Lisa Monaco, the White House homeland security adviser under President Barack Obama, at the time, according to the report.The bulk of the report focuses its criticism on the Obama administration and the "heavily politicized environment" that prevented a more forceful response to the Russian interference in the 2016 campaign. But the inclusion of McConnell's skepticism in a report from a Republican-led Senate committee could give the accusations new life.Democrats, including former Vice President Joe Biden, have previously accused McConnell of stopping the Obama administration from speaking out more forcefully against Russian interference. McConnell has long denied those allegations, pointing to a bipartisan letter that congressional leaders released in late September 2016.The response to Russia's meddling presented a difficult political calculus for McConnell: A public acknowledgment before the election might have deterred Moscow and improved voters' trust in the outcome, but none of that was assured, and it also could have cost Republicans the White House.According to the report, numerous Obama administration officials said some members of Congress at the September 2016 briefing "resisted the administration request that a bipartisan statement be made regarding Russia being responsible for interference activities." It was at that briefing where McConnell told Monaco that she should be careful with the intelligence.The full report from the committee, led by Sen. Richard M. Burr, R-N.C., wavers on the effect any high-level U.S. government warning would have had on Russia's campaign of election sabotage. The Kremlin's operations continued even as the Obama administration began discussing them publicly, Senate investigators found."After the warnings, Russia continued its cyberactivity to include further public dissemination of stolen emails, clandestine social media-based influence operations, and penetration of state voting infrastructure through Election Day 2016," the report said.The committee said that the Obama administration was worried that its warnings to Russia could potentially undermine voters' confidence in the election, which would itself help the Russian effort. The government was also hampered by what it did not know, including the full extent of the Russian ability to manipulate election systems.The report also contained some new details about the Obama administration's efforts to halt the Russian interference campaign. The administration delivered five direct warnings to "various levels of the Russian government," including messages from Obama to President Vladimir Putin of Russia, the report said.Obama warned Putin in a note that "the kind of consequences that he could anticipate would be powerfully impactful to their economy and far exceed anything that he had seen to date," the report said, citing an interview with Susan E. Rice, Obama's national security adviser at the time.Some of the material in the report is redacted, including the timing of the first warning that many in the administration received, in the form of briefings from the CIA director at the time, John O. Brennan.Even as they presented the report's findings as bipartisan, Democrats and Republicans on the committee highlighted the still-acrimonious partisan divide over the 2016 campaign in their responses.Burr aimed his criticism at the Obama administration, accusing officials of sharing too little information inside the government."Frozen by 'paralysis of analysis,' hamstrung by constraints both real and perceived, Obama officials debated courses of action without truly taking one," Burr said.Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the committee, blamed partisan politics in part for the flawed response in 2016 and warned that they are still a barrier to fighting Russia's continuing interference in U.S. politics."I am particularly concerned, however, that a legitimate fear raised by the Obama administration -- that warning the public of the Russian attack could backfire politically -- is still present in our hyperpartisan environment," Warner said.In a supplement to the report, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said the failure in the midst of the campaign to make a "bipartisan public acknowledgment of the ongoing attack by Russia" had serious implications.Such a statement, Wyden wrote, might have prompted the news media to give more context in their reporting of disclosures by WikiLeaks about the Clinton campaign, most importantly noting "their release was part of a Russian influence campaign" designed to assist Trump, then the Republican presidential nominee."An acknowledgment of Russian influence operations, particularly operations intended to help Donald Trump, would have reflected poorly on the candidate and his campaign," Wyden wrote. "But that should not have been a reason for the administration and members of Congress to withhold from the public warning of an ongoing attack by a foreign adversary."The committee report includes a range of recommendations to ensure the government is better prepared to react to a foreign influence campaign in future elections. Legislation enacted last year requires the director of national intelligence to present regular assessments of such threats before elections, the report noted.Senators also called for the executive branch to be more forthcoming with the public, particularly if foreign influence operations -- called "active measures" by the Russians -- are underway."In the event that such a campaign is detected, the public should be informed as soon as possible, with a clear and succinct statement of the threat, even if the information is incomplete," the report said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Trump says it's 'illegal' for Pelosi to tear up his State of the Union address. Experts say that's not true Posted: 07 Feb 2020 01:16 PM PST  "Because Speaker Pelosi's copy is not a government record, she did not violate the law by ripping it up," said Professor Douglas Cox.
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| Box Kites, Rockets, and Satellites: Our 150-Year Endeavor To Forecast the Weather Posted: 07 Feb 2020 08:28 AM PST |
| Coronavirus puts Shanghai into a coma Posted: 07 Feb 2020 07:42 AM PST  For more than a week, the rare resident of Shanghai who dared venture outside has encountered something unfamiliar: a surreal peace and quiet. The deadly coronavirus epidemic has brought much of China to a standstill, but perhaps nowhere has the change been more stark than in the country's biggest and most vibrant city. Gone are the traffic jams, crowded sidewalks and businessmen hurrying to work, replaced by eerily empty roads, shuttered bars and businesses, and only the occasional pedestrians -- always behind a protective mask.
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| Man 'filmed himself beating his girlfriend to death' and then called an Uber to take her to hospital Posted: 07 Feb 2020 07:45 AM PST  A man allegedly filmed himself beating his girlfriend then ordered an Uber to take her to hospital, where she died.According to a cell phone video obtained through police warrants, Nicholas Forman, 23, from Collegeville, Pennsylvania, could be seen beating his girlfriend Sabrina Harooni, 22, on his lawn, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
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| Michael Bloomberg surges to 2nd place in the betting markets Posted: 07 Feb 2020 01:49 PM PST  Americans may not be betting on Michael Bloomberg yet, but betting markets still think he's got a chance.The former New York City mayor has totally leapfrogged former Vice President Joe Biden in an average of betting markets, RealClearPolitics' average shows. Bloomberg has a 19 percent chance of winning, per ElectionBettingOdds.com, while PredictIt's betting market gives Bloomberg a 23-cent "yes" price to Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) 43 cents.Bloomberg's rise coincides with a major drop in Biden's betting chances, likely stemming from the former vice president's dismal performance in Monday's Iowa caucuses. Even former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has come close to surpassing Biden in RealClearPolitics' average, and he did so decisively on PredictIt. Still, ElectionBettingOdds.com has President Trump with the best chance of winning the whole election this fall, giving him a 59.5 percent chance to Sanders' 14.8 percent and Bloomberg's 10 percent.The Biden drop was also good news for Sanders. He surpassed Biden on the betting markets in late January, and is now far and away the top candidate to win the Democratic nomination. Sanders, and according to RealClearPolitics' betting markets average, no top-ranking candidate has put that much space between themselves and second place since Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) bump in October of last year.More stories from theweek.com Elizabeth Warren's last chance American democracy is dying Furious Democrats call for Tom Perez's resignation after Iowa fiasco
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| Coronavirus' danger is made worse by the control China has over U.S. health care Posted: 06 Feb 2020 01:34 AM PST ![Coronavirus' danger is made worse by the control China has over U.S. health care]( "Coronavirus' danger is made worse by the control China has over U.S. health care") The basic building blocks of U.S. health care are now under the control of the Chinese Communist Party.
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| Warren apologizes to 6 women of color who left Nevada office Posted: 06 Feb 2020 05:56 PM PST  Elizabeth Warren is apologizing to six women of color who left her presidential campaign office in Nevada before the state's caucuses because they felt marginalized and because their concerns weren't addressed by supervisors. Politico reported that six women have left Warren's campaign office since November. Nevada holds its Democratic caucuses on Feb. 22.
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| The Coronavirus Outbreak Could Derail Xi Jinping’s Dreams of a Chinese Century Posted: 06 Feb 2020 03:18 AM PST  The coronavirus outbreak presents the greatest threat yet to Xi Jinping's ambition for a Chinese century
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| Trump on Romney’s Impeachment Vote: ‘I Don’t Like People Who Use Faith’ to Justify Behavior They ‘Know Is Wrong’ Posted: 06 Feb 2020 08:29 AM PST  President Trump singled out Senator Mitt Romney (R., Utah) during a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, saying "I don't like people who use their faith as justification for doing what they know is wrong."Romney, the only Republican from either chamber of Congress to support Trump's impeachment, voted Wednesday to convict Trump on the first "abuse of power" article.Explaining the decision in an interview with The Atlantic, Romney called his vote "the most difficult decision I have ever had to make in my life," but said his Senate oath, taken before God to uphold and defend the Constitution, drove his conviction."I have gone through a process of very thorough analysis and searching, and I have prayed through this process," Romney explained. "But I don't pretend that God told me what to do . . . I'm subject to my own conscience."Trump took to Twitter after midnight Wednesday to slam Romney for the move. "Had failed presidential candidate @MittRomney devoted the same energy and anger to defeating a faltering Barack Obama as he sanctimoniously does to me, he could have won the election," Trump, who endorsed Romney's Utah Senate run in 2018, tweeted.Romney's fellow Republicans also criticized the decision, with some taking aim at the Senator himself, while others took a more conciliatory tone.Speaking at the prayer breakfast, Trump also took an apparent shot at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who was in attendance."Nor do I like people who say 'I pray for you' when you know that is not so," Trump said, in reference to Pelosi's comment to a reporter in December.> House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rebukes a reporter who asked if she "hates" Trump: "I don't hate anyone. I was raised in a way that is a heart full of love and always pray for the President. … So don't mess with me when it comes to words like that" https://t.co/yWJRPBQJN2 pic.twitter.com/0tIphvrYYB> > -- CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 5, 2019"When they impeach you for nothing, you're supposed to like them? It's not easy folks, but I'm doing my best," Trump concluded.
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| Wuhan is ordering all 11 million residents to report their body temperature every day to combat the coronavirus Posted: 06 Feb 2020 07:03 AM PST  A fever is a key symptom of the novel coronavirus tearing its way through the city. The checks are the latest drastic step taken to battle this virus.
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| Drug lord Escobar's hit man dies of cancer in Colombia Posted: 06 Feb 2020 11:37 AM PST  Pablo Escobar's most notorious hit man, known by the nickname "Popeye," died on Thursday at 57 after a life of crime he celebrated on YouTube, Colombia's prison authorities said.
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| Six Times the Speed of Sound: Will the Air Force Get an SR-72 Spy Plane? Posted: 07 Feb 2020 09:59 AM PST  Better than the SR-71?
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| 'Caution I have the coronavirus' prank in Illinois Walmart causes $10k in damage, police say Posted: 07 Feb 2020 12:55 PM PST  Two teens has been charged after pulling a coronavirus prank at a Walmart in Joliet, Illinois, according to police.
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| Elizabeth Smart says she was sexually assaulted by passenger on Delta flight Posted: 06 Feb 2020 10:51 AM PST  Elizabeth Smart has revealed she was sexually assaulted on a Delta flight by a fellow passenger last summer.On Thursday, Smart, who has advocated on behalf of kidnapping victims after she was abducted and sexually assaulted at 14, told CBS This Morning's Gayle King about the incident.
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| The next Tiananmen Square? Chinese citizens are demanding increased free speech after the death of a coronavirus whistleblower doctor. China is censoring their calls. Posted: 07 Feb 2020 10:43 AM PST  Viral hashtags — "The Wuhan government owes Li Wenliang an apology," "I want freedom of speech," and "We want freedom of speech" – were seen by millions before being censored.
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| Virginia lawmakers to debate assault weapon ban Posted: 06 Feb 2020 02:06 PM PST  Democratic lawmakers in Virginia are set to try to advance legislation to ban assault weapons despite pushback from members of their own party. A state House committee is scheduled to take up legislation backed by Gov. Ralph Northam on Friday that would ban the sale of certain semi-automatic firearms, including popular AR-15 style rifles. Heated debates over guns have dominated this year's legislative session, as Virginia has become ground zero in the nation's raging debate over gun control and mass shootings.
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| Joe Walsh to Back ‘Any Democrat’ Over Trump After Ending GOP Bid Posted: 07 Feb 2020 05:14 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Joe Walsh, the former Tea Party congressman form Illinois, has ended his long-shot Republican primary challenge to President Donald Trump, saying he will work to support "any Democrat" -- even Bernie Sanders."Any Democrat would be better than Trump in the White House," Walsh told CNN on Friday morning. "I would rather have a socialist in the White House than a dictator or a king."Walsh, who hosted a conservative radio program, formerly supported Trump but decided to challenge him for the Republican nomination last summer calling the president "unfit." After Trump received 97% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses this week, and Walsh was unable to get any attention on Fox News and other conservative media outlets, Walsh decided to end his campaign -- but not his attempt to replace Trump.Walsh called Trump "the greatest threat to this country right now.""He can't be stopped within the Republican party," he said, adding, "It's not a party. It's a cult."Walsh said many Republicans have left the party because of Trump, and he urged them to pay attention to the field of Democrats, particularly the moderate candidates, but said he would support any nominee Democrats choose.To contact the reporter on this story: Elizabeth Wasserman in Washington at ewasserman2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wasserman at ewasserman2@bloomberg.net, Kathleen HunterFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| China virus toll hits 717 as cruise ship faces two-week quarantine Posted: 07 Feb 2020 03:32 PM PST  The death toll from China's coronavirus outbreak rose to 717 on Saturday as the country seethes over an epidemic that claimed the life of a popular doctor and created global panic. The toll has now surpassed the number of people who died in mainland China and Hong Kong during the 2002-2003 SARS outbreak, after another 81 people succumbed to the illness in central Hubei province. More than 34,000 people have been infected in China by the new strain, which is believed to have emerged in a market that sold exotic animals in Hubei's capital, Wuhan, late last year.
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| Officials warn of drug called "gray death" Posted: 06 Feb 2020 06:11 PM PST  "You don't want to touch this," police said. "If at all possible you don't even want to put it on your hands."
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| Massachusetts man tries to save neighbor from dog attack, accidentally kills him with crossbow Posted: 06 Feb 2020 08:21 PM PST  A Massachusetts man trying to be a good Samaritan accidentally killed his neighbor with a crossbow, according to officials.
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| An ad for a product that helps moms pee with less pain after birth won't air during the Oscars because it's 'too graphic' Posted: 07 Feb 2020 12:33 PM PST  In the raw ad from Frida Mom, which sells hygiene products, a visibly pained mother tends to her crying newborn while struggling to use the restroom.
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| House Democrats unveil act to create nationwide EV charging network Posted: 06 Feb 2020 11:17 AM PST  Democratic Reps. Andy Levin and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are releasing legislation dubbed the EV Freedom Act to create a network of high-speed charging stations within five years along the public roads of the national highway system.
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| The US Army wants its soldiers to be able to see enemies and other deadly threats through walls Posted: 07 Feb 2020 02:50 PM PST  The Army is trying to defeat battlefield unknowns by figuring out how soldiers can see through walls, a capability straight out of science fiction.
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| Russia says Israel nearly shot down passenger plane in Syria Posted: 07 Feb 2020 08:04 AM PST  Russia's Defense Ministry said Friday that Israeli air forces nearly shot down a passenger jetliner in Syria during a missile strike on the suburbs of Damascus a day earlier. The allegation comes as tensions run high in Syria, where fighting has escalated in the northern province of Idlib. Syrian government forces, backed by the Russian military, have clashed with Turkish troops that support the opposition there after failing to observe a cease-fire.
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| Trump Impeachment Fury Sows Fear of Payback Among Diplomats Posted: 07 Feb 2020 01:22 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump mostly stifled his fury toward the impeachment witnesses who detailed, over hundreds of hours of testimony, the turmoil wrought by his handling of Ukraine policy. Now that he's been acquitted of two impeachment charges, they're bracing for payback.It may have begun on Friday. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council analyst who gave damning testimony in the House impeachment inquiry, was escorted out of the White House and removed from his post, hours after Trump told reporters "I'm not happy with him."It's not just the witnesses like Vindman who could face retribution for speaking out. The deeper anxiety among many career national security officials is that Trump, feeling vindicated by the Senate's acquittal, will act on long-harbored suspicions that bureaucrats at the State Department and the NSC are out to undermine his agenda.Unburdened by impeachment, they fear that Trump could unleash his anger at the foreign policy establishment he's long equated with what some of his advisers and supporters call the "Deep State."The retaliation could come in any number of forms, according to numerous State Department staff who discussed their concerns about what comes next on condition of anonymity: firings or transfers, or the slashing of staff or budgets. Some fret that Secretary of State Michael Pompeo -- who throughout the impeachment process repeatedly declined to defend beleaguered department officials publicly -- won't shield them."Active-duty officers are scared of word getting out and then facing retribution, not just from the president but also from political ambassadors," said Lewis Lukens, the former deputy envoy in London who was removed last year by Trump's choice to lead the embassy there, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson. "The president's acquittal will reinforce in his mind that he can get rid of career people, not just at State, who he thinks are blocking or slow-rolling his agenda."One of the most compelling narratives of the impeachment saga focused on the career officials who felt duty-bound to answer congressional subpoenas to testify at House hearings despite the State Department ordering them not to. Those officials detailed their shock at how the president and his personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, ran a parallel foreign policy centered on Trump's domestic political needs.None of those witnesses were called before the Senate, and little about the president's attitude toward Ukraine seems to have changed.The president says he's convinced that Ukraine, not Russia, sought to undermine the 2016 election and did so to help Democrat Hillary Clinton, not him. He still believes that Joe Biden sought to quash an investigation into his son, Hunter. And he continues to shower praise on Giuliani, who the witnesses portrayed as an interloper who disrupted policy."It was evil, it was corrupt, it was dirty cops, it was leakers and liars," Trump said of his critics Thursday in a "celebration" televised from the White House. "This should never happen to another president ever."The result is that the disjointed policy style diplomats decried in their testimony continues. When Pompeo was in Ukraine last week, he affirmed U.S. support while declining to offer President Volodymyr Zelenskiy the invitation to visit the White House that he has long sought. Meanwhile, advisers like Giuliani continue to seek an investigation of the Bidens.'Severe Disconnect'"It's completely broken," Kenneth Pollack, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and former National Security Council director, said of policy making under Trump. "You have this very severe disconnect between the Oval Office and the principals and the rest of the bureaucracy."The first post-trial victims of Trump's wrath was Vindman, who raised concerns to the top lawyer at the National Security Council over what he viewed as the president's inappropriate demand that Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic rival, during a July 25 call with Zelenskiy.Vindman's DepartureVindman, the director of European Affairs on the National Security Council, testified before the House impeachment inquiry in full military uniform with the Purple Heart that he was awarded after being wounded in Iraq. "This is America, this is the country I've served and defended, that all of my brothers have served -- and here, right matters," said Vindman, whose family came to America from the Soviet Union when he was a child."Vindman was asked to leave for telling the truth," his attorney, David Pressman, said in a statement on Friday. "His honor, his commitment to right, frightened the powerful."White House officials, who asked not to be identified, said that Vindman was simply on a roster of NSC staff to be removed as part of an effort to downsize the operation. Defense Secretary Mark Esper told reporters Friday that Vindman, who remains in the military, won't face any retaliation from the Pentagon. Testimony IgnoredParticularly dispiriting for State Department officials during Trump's Senate trial was the degree to which their testimony was ignored. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who ensured that no witnesses would be called, dismissed it as a "nonsense impeachment." Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said the president's behavior was "shameful and wrong" but argued for acquittal because the Democrats' case was built on a "rotted foundation."Trump's defense team argued for an expansive view of presidential power and a vastly reduced role for civil servants, even in cases where Trump's actions may have been inappropriate."Our system is somewhat unique in the very broad powers that are assigned to the Executive," Philbin said. Career staff, he argued, "have no accountability and they have no legitimacy or authority that comes from an election by the people."Down to PompeoThe question of retaliation could ultimately come down to Pompeo, the top U.S. diplomat who championed the return of "swagger" to the State Department but whose reputation took a hit during the impeachment saga.So far the fallout from impeachment has been relatively muted. Gordon Sondland, the hotelier and U.S. ambassador to the European Union -- who testified there was a "quid pro quo" in Trump's Ukraine dealings that everybody knew -- still held his post as of Friday afternoon. His Twitter feed is stuffed with pictures from his meetings with Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, European parliamentarians and Venezuelan opposition leaders.Others are also getting on with it. David Hale, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, played a crucial role lifting a block on more than $100 million in aid to Lebanon. Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary for Europe, is in Europe for a conference.Others have been less fortunate. Marie Yovanovitch, the former ambassador to Ukraine at the center of so much of the saga, retired last week. Former Pompeo adviser Michael McKinley resigned as the impeachment drama began, partly in protest of how Yovanovitch was treated. The U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, departed, and no replacement has been named. Yovanovitch's successor, acting Ambassador William Taylor, was handpicked by Pompeo but sent home days ahead of the secretary's planned visit in early January."If impeachment has shown us anything, it's that it will chill anyone's willingness to come forward," said Emma Ashford, a research fellow at the Cato Institute in Washington. "If they keep their heads down, maybe they'll survive. But if they stick their heads above the parapet, it could end really badly."(Updates with Vindman pushed out of White House in second graf)\--With assistance from Justin Sink and Jordan Fabian.To contact the reporters on this story: Nick Wadhams in Washington at nwadhams@bloomberg.net;Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Coronavirus: Cruise ship passengers in New Jersey loaded onto ambulances and tested for virus Posted: 07 Feb 2020 05:33 AM PST  Passengers on a cruise ship docked in New Jersey have been seen being placed in ambulances as they are reportedly sent for testing of the deadly new Wuhan coronavirus, according to multiple reports.The passengers in question had a history of having recently travelled to China, one official with the Centre for Disease Control told CNN. The outbreak of the mysterious illness was believed to have originated in a market in Wuhan, China.
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