| Amy Coney Barrett: 5 things to know about the Supreme Court nominee Posted: 26 Sep 2020 02:33 PM PDT  President Trump announced Saturday that he is nominating Amy Coney Barrett, a respected jurist and conservative darling, to replace Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.
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| An Irish tourist in Rome defaced the Colosseum by carving his initials into the walls of the ancient structure, according to a report Posted: 26 Sep 2020 07:34 AM PDT  The tourist was reported by security guards on Monday for defacing the inside of the historic site using a metal point, CNN reported.
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| Coronavirus: More than 1,000 New Yorkers test positive in a day for first time since June Posted: 26 Sep 2020 12:32 PM PDT  Neighbourhoods in Brooklyn, Queens see an alarming rise in Covid-19 cases
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| California wine country wildfire forces evacuation of hospital, hundreds of homes Posted: 27 Sep 2020 02:46 PM PDT  A wind-driven wildfire erupted on Sunday in the heart of northern California's Napa Valley wine country and spread across more than 1,000 acres (404 hectares), forcing the evacuation of several hundreds homes and a hospital, authorities said. Fire crews were out in force, scrambling to fend off flames threatening neighborhoods and vineyards in the northwest corner of the famed wine-growing valley, about 75 miles (120 km) north of San Francisco. The blaze, dubbed the Glass Fire, broke out before dawn near Calistoga and raced toward the adjacent towns of Deer Park and St. Helena, with flames advancing to within a mile of the Adventist Health St. Helena hospital.
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| Supreme Court battle: Biden slams Trump's nominee Amy Coney Barrett Posted: 27 Sep 2020 10:49 AM PDT  White House Deputy Press Secretary Brian Morgenstern weighs in on Joe Biden's reaction to the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett on 'Outnumbered Overtime.'
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| Two People Injured After Driver Speeds Into Southern California Protest Posted: 27 Sep 2020 08:16 AM PDT  A man and a woman suffered "major injuries" after the car struck them and were transported to the hospital, but are expected to survive
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| Los Angeles officer 'will be ok' after being injured during shooting inside police station, authorities say Posted: 27 Sep 2020 01:52 PM PDT  The shooting comes after 2 Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies were shot in an apparent ambush this month while sitting in a patrol car in Compton.
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| Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin backs Supreme Court delay tactics since 'we don't do anything around here anyway' Posted: 27 Sep 2020 08:27 AM PDT  While Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee reportedly do not intend to boycott the confirmation hearing for President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, the party's senators will likely do whatever they can to slow the process, Politico reports.Some of the tactics available for Democrats, who believe Republicans set a precedent for blocking Supreme Court nominations in the lead up to a presidential election in 2016, that Politico lists include: invoking the "two-hour" rule — which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has already done — slowing down legislative business, objecting to recess, denying a quorum, raising points of order, enlisting the aid of the Democratic-controlled House, and delaying the final committee vote. Politico goes into more detail about each tactic here.Politico also reports that there is broad, overwhelming support for pulling out all the stops among Democrats, including those, like Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who face tough re-elections and may get pulled off the campaign trail during a potentially lengthy process, as well as typically more conservative lawmakers like Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.).Jones accused Republicans of a "power grab," so even though Democrats don't have the votes to block the confirmation, "you do what you can to call attention to it." As Manchin put it, since "we don't do anything around here anyway, we've got plenty of time to do meetings." Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com 5 outrageously funny cartoons about Trump's election scheming The Comey Rule makes the fatal mistake of thinking James Comey's intentions matter This 19-year-old is redefining what veganism looks like
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| Meng Wanzhou: The PowerPoint that sparked an international row Posted: 27 Sep 2020 04:56 PM PDT  The top Huawei executive's closely watched extradition case returns to court on Monday.
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| Coronavirus vaccine: Johnson & Johnson jab shows response in 98% of test participants Posted: 26 Sep 2020 09:29 AM PDT  Johnson & Johnson vaccine development moves on to 60,000 person trial
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| 'Taiwan is Taiwan': China name dispute moves from birds to climate change Posted: 27 Sep 2020 12:53 AM PDT  The dispute over international organisations referring to Taiwan as Chinese has moved from wild bird conservation to climate change, after a global alliance of mayors began listing Taiwanese cities as belonging to China on its website. China has ramped up pressure on international groups and companies to refer to democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as being part of China, to the anger of Taiwan's government and many of its people. This month a Taiwan bird conservation body said it had been expelled from a partnership with a British-based wildlife charity after it demanded the Taiwan group change its name and sign documents stating it did not support Taiwan's independence.
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| Remains of 117 Chinese soldiers killed in Korean War returned Posted: 26 Sep 2020 11:19 PM PDT  The remains of 117 Chinese soldiers who died in the 1950-53 Korean War were returned to China on Sunday in an annual repatriation delayed this year by the coronavirus outbreak. South Korea handed over the remains at a ceremony at Incheon airport outside Seoul, and a Chinese military transport plane flew them to Shenyang, a northeastern Chinese city near the North Korean border. Chinese soldiers fought on the North Korean side against US-led forces in the South during the war on the Korean Peninsula. Most of the 117 remains were found in the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea. It was the seventh annual repatriation, and the largest since the 437 returned in the first one in 2014. In all, the remains of 716 Chinese soldiers have been sent back. This year's return, originally planned for the spring, was postponed for several months because of the spread of Covid-19.
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| Lindsey Graham: We need a ninth Supreme Court justice, because "the courts will decide" the election Posted: 25 Sep 2020 08:38 PM PDT  "The courts will hear all of our complaints," the GOP senator says on "Fox & Friends." "The courts will decide"
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| Army Leaders Want to Keep Pace with Diversity in Changing US Population Posted: 27 Sep 2020 07:44 AM PDT  The plan promotes diversity through 2025 in an attempt to adapt to the country's shifting demographics.
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| The 'very troubling' questions Kentucky's attorney general isn't answering on the Breonna Taylor decision Posted: 26 Sep 2020 12:27 PM PDT  Why wasn't Brett Hankison charged with endangering Breonna Taylor? Did the grand jury even vote on homicide charges? A look at unanswered questions.
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| Where Law Ends review: why Mueller failed to hold Trump to account Posted: 26 Sep 2020 10:00 PM PDT  Andrew Weissmann, a senior member of the special counsel's team, has written an alarming and necessary bookThe Mueller investigation ended a year and a half ago, but the aftershocks never stopped. A passel of books highlight the omissions and missteps of the special counsel's office. The Senate intelligence committee report fills in some of the gaps on Russian interference in the 2016 election.Although Robert Mueller found no basis for conspiracy charges, collusion remains a partisan buzzword, obstruction of justice a live concern. The harshest criticism leveled at Mueller is that he blinked.Specifically, the special counsel failed to issue a grand jury subpoena to Donald Trump, needlessly ceding the advantage to the White House. Then, his report went silent on whether grounds existed for charging the president with obstruction of justice, despite analysis that revealed such grounds. The weight of the presidency and fear of its occupant triumphed."Had we used all available tools to uncover the truth, undeterred by the onslaught of the president's unique powers to undermine our efforts?" asks Andrew Weissmann. "I know the hard answer to that simple question: we could have done more."That makes Where Law Ends unique among Trump-themed books. The author was a member of Mueller's team, supervisor of the prosecution of Paul Manafort. He is both admiring and critical of his former boss, which lends credibility and originality. Pathos is part of the package too.Weissman is a former federal prosecutor whose career intersected with Mueller's, FBI general counsel when Mueller was director. Before the FBI, Weissmann had a reputation for zealousness. In the Enron case, he successfully prosecuted Arthur Andersen, only to see the supreme court overturn the conviction and to watch the accounting firm close.As a younger government lawyer, Weissmann prosecuted Felix Sater. In 2015, according to the Mueller Report, Sater explored the "possibility of a Trump Tower project in Moscow while working with the Trump Organization".Under an apt subtitle, "Inside the Mueller Investigation", Weissmann offers a detailed look at why the special counsel reached the conclusions he did, and expands on how Bill Barr ambushed Mueller with his four-page summary of a 400-plus-page report."We had just been played by the attorney general," Weissmann writes.Weissman expresses anger toward Barr but points the finger at Mueller: "Part of the reason the president and his enablers were able to spin the report was that we had left the playing field open for them to do so."He is convinced of the substantive basis of an obstruction claim, even if justice department guidelines precluded the indictment of a sitting president. The "facts of the [James] Comey firing appeared to satisfy all the elements of … obstruction of justice", Weissmann writes. "There was simply no other credible conclusion one could reach."Where Law Ends also worries about the future of the US body politic."I now know that the death of our democracy is possible," Weissmann writes. "Fixing it is possible too."That is the book's last line. Weissmann's rhetoric is hot – but not overblown.Trump has publicly refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power. Take him literally and seriously, especially when polls show Biden up in Ohio, with Iowa and Georgia close."We're going to have to see what happens, you know that" is one for the ages. Whether it is a historic blip or a harbinger remains to be determined.Where Law Ends is also a guide to how the Mueller investigation divvied up its work. Sections on the case of Michael Cohen are particularly instructive. Trump's fixer was charged by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York – a strategic decision.Weissmann explains that the investigation of potential campaign finance violations fell outside Mueller's purview. He could have sought permission to charge Cohen from Rod Rosenstein, then deputy attorney general. Or he could hand the case to SDNY, where in Weissmann's words, "prosecutors have free rein to examine all potential federal crimes".Contrary to the hype surrounding the early days of the Mueller investigation, this was no "dream team". In Weissmann's telling, senior members did not possess supervisory experience, and in one instance a lawyer was hired simply because he had been a supreme court clerk. Those looking to work for Mueller were prone to both cockiness and hand-wringing, traits Mueller himself found distasteful.At one point, Mueller turned to Jeannie Rhee, a veteran prosecutor, and said she embodied the "pizazz" he wanted, but which appeared lacking in the applicant pool. Rhee, Weissmann writes, possessed "a kind of can-do, combustible energy" which is always in high demand and short supply.Weissmann upbraids Aaron Zebley, another Mueller deputy, for being overly cautious. Weissmann and Rhee concluded that the broad issue of Russian election interference was within their purview. For Zebley, the focus was limited to possible "links and coordination" between Russia and the Trump campaign.Weissmann hearkens back to the generals who served Abraham Lincoln, comparing Zebley to the "timorous" George McClellan, reluctant to fight the Confederates, and presenting himself and Rhee as approximations of Philip Sheridan and Ulysses S Grant. Sheridan helped defeat Robert E Lee at Appomattox Courthouse. Grant, who accepted Lee's surrender, would be elected president.Perhaps Weissmann overstates. William Barnett, the FBI agent assigned to the case, contends that the lawyers, not his bureau's investigators, drove most of the decisions. In a recent filing by the government in the Michael Flynn case, Barnett also says the special counsel's office was both permeated by groupthink and out to "get" the president. Either way, Where Law Ends is a dispiriting work. It is not simply about the Mueller investigation, or Trump. It is also an examination of where America stands.Weissmann contrasts Trump's inauguration with protest marches held the day after, and observes the country's changing demographics. Mindful of history, he ponders whether the civil war ever ended. Looking at the coming election, that is an open question. America's fissures are once again on display.
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| New rule may strip pollution protections from popular lakes Posted: 27 Sep 2020 06:33 AM PDT |
| China's Xi says 'happiness' in Xinjiang on the rise, will keep teaching 'correct' outlook Posted: 27 Sep 2020 05:56 AM PDT  Chinese President Xi Jinping said levels of happiness among all ethnic groups in the western region of Xinjiang are rising and that China plans to keep teaching its residents a "correct" outlook on China, Xinhua news agency reported late on Saturday. China has come under scrutiny over its treatment of Uighur Muslims and claims of alleged forced-labour abuses in Xinjiang, where the United Nations cites credible reports as saying one million Muslims held in camps have been put to work.
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| NASA astronaut says voting is 'critical' to democracy so she plans to cast an absentee ballot from space Posted: 27 Sep 2020 08:42 AM PDT  "It's really important for everybody to vote, and if we can do it from space, then I believe folks can do it from the ground too," Kate Rubins told AP.
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| Trump, Biden make final preparations before first presidential debate Posted: 27 Sep 2020 07:17 AM PDT  President Trump says he prepares 'every day' for debate; Griff Jenkins reports.
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| A ballistics report pokes holes in Kentucky AG's claim that Breonna Taylor's boyfriend shot a police officer Posted: 27 Sep 2020 02:09 PM PDT  Friendly fire had been ruled out when it came to a police officer being shot before officers unloaded 30 bullets into Breonna Taylor's apartment.
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| Transcript: Don McGahn on "Face the Nation" Posted: 27 Sep 2020 09:05 AM PDT  The following is a transcript of an interview with former White House Counsel Don McGahn that aired Sunday, September 27, 2020, on "Face the Nation."
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| 100 Arrested During Unauthorized and 'Unruly' Car Rally in Maryland Posted: 27 Sep 2020 12:43 PM PDT  People at the event shared videos of confrontations that erupted between police officers and rally attendees
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| Three Florida police officers fall ill after 'potential poisoning' on night out Posted: 27 Sep 2020 09:54 AM PDT  Investigators await test results to show whether group was drugged
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| Russian dissident Navalny recovering faster than expected Posted: 27 Sep 2020 12:23 PM PDT  Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is recovering from the suspected assassination attempt last month faster than expected, one of his aides said Sunday. Navalny, who collapsed on a plane from Siberia to Moscow on Aug. 20 and spent nearly three weeks in a coma, was discharged last week from the Berlin hospital where he was being treated. "He is doing much better, I would say unexpectedly better," Leonid Volkov, Navalny's chief of staff, told German broadcaster RTL.
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| 40 years after Oktoberfest attack, survivor's wounds still healing Posted: 25 Sep 2020 07:35 PM PDT  That evening on September 26, 1980, Robert Platzer, then 12, was having a great night out. He had been on fairground rides, eaten bags of sweets and even bought a helium balloon -- all that a child dreams of at the Munich Oktoberfest.
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| Thousands of protesters gather to call for Netanyahu's resignation, despite a strict second lockdown Posted: 27 Sep 2020 06:43 AM PDT  Thousands of Israelis protested outside the residence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, demanding his resignation over how the government has handled the coronavirus pandemic. The protests continue weeks of anti-Netanyahu demonstrations despite a strict lockdown order and one of the worst infection rates in the world. Draconian new lockdown measures came into force on Friday that closed many businesses, banned large gatherings and ordered people to stay close to their homes. Protesters say Mr Netanyahu's government is bungling the response to the pandemic. The Knesset, Israel's parliament, failed to pass a measure that would ban the right to protest more than a kilometre away from home which would have seen an end to the weekly demonstrations outside Mr Netanyahu's official residence. Mr Netanyahu rejected allegations that tougher lockdown rules were in part intended to quash the protests, which he has often called "anarchist" and "ludicrous".
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| Brain-eating microbe: US city warned over water supply Posted: 26 Sep 2020 10:08 PM PDT  People in Lake Jackson, Texas, are urged to take precautionary measures amid contamination concerns.
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| Pelosi begins mustering Democrats for possible House decision on presidency Posted: 27 Sep 2020 04:17 PM PDT  The speaker sent a letter emphasizing local races, in case a tie in the Electoral College requires state delegations to vote.
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| I've known Amy Coney Barrett for over 20 years. Her intellect and heart are unrivaled. Posted: 26 Sep 2020 06:11 PM PDT  Yes, she is brilliant. And, yes, she is a principled, careful judge. But she also is one of the most generous people I have ever met.
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| Firefighters battling a Brooklyn blaze discovered up to $1 million cash when bundles started falling on their heads Posted: 26 Sep 2020 06:46 PM PDT  According to local news, firefighters had to cut through a ceiling to extinguish the fire when cash started falling out.
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| Greece calls on Turkey to condemn flag incident on Greek island Posted: 27 Sep 2020 04:48 AM PDT |
| Greece warms to EU asylum pact but refugee groups rage Posted: 26 Sep 2020 07:51 PM PDT  Greece's government has cautiously welcomed a plan from Brussels to reform the EU's shaky asylum system, but charity groups working with refugees on the ground have blasted a continued "outrageous containment policy".
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| A Miami-Dade teacher gave her $425K life savings to a pilot. Here’s where he is today Posted: 27 Sep 2020 07:38 AM PDT  A Miami-Dade County Public Schools teacher spent a career building a $425,447 retirement nest egg. Licensed pilot Michael Atkins spent three years convincing her to loan it to him.
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| Salt Lake City airport just opened a massive new terminal with canyon-themed art as Delta relies on the hub as a gateway to the west – see inside Posted: 27 Sep 2020 05:43 AM PDT  The brand-new terminal comes at a $4.1 billion cost and uses immersive artwork to welcome passengers to Salt Lake City and the Mountain West.
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| Yom Kippur synagogue attack leaves German Jews still uneasy Posted: 26 Sep 2020 01:06 AM PDT  As Jews around the world gather Sunday night to mark the beginning of Yom Kippur, many in Germany remain uneasy about going together to their houses of worship to pray, a year after a white-supremacist targeted a synagogue in the eastern city of Halle on the holiest day in Judaism. Since then, security has been increased at Jewish institutions across the country, but many wonder whether it is enough amid reports of increasing anti-Semitism and the Halle attack still fresh in their minds. Naomi Henkel-Guembel was inside the building that day a year ago, and didn't immediately understand what was happening when she heard a loud bang outside.
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| Robert Reich on the 6 crucial races that will flip the Senate Posted: 27 Sep 2020 05:30 AM PDT  Here are six key races you should be paying attention to
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| Cars have hit demonstrators 104 times since George Floyd protests began Posted: 27 Sep 2020 03:55 PM PDT  Amid thousands of racial justice protests nationwide since George Floyd's death, dozens of drivers have plowed into crowds marching in roadways.
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| New Fort Hood Commander Orders Training Pause to Rebuild Soldiers' Trust Posted: 26 Sep 2020 04:39 AM PDT  Maj. Gen. John Richardson IV has launched a yearlong effort to heal the base's deeply scarred image.
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| The U.S. could see a second wave soon. Hospitals already on the brink fear 'disaster.' Posted: 26 Sep 2020 01:45 AM PDT  A second surge of the coronavirus in the fall and winter could be catastrophic for the U.S. It's not just more sick people that doctors worry about.
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| Trump's SCOTUS nomination will 'motivate voters on the left in a way we haven't seen:' Laura Fink Posted: 26 Sep 2020 10:56 AM PDT  Rebelle Communications CEO Laura Fink joins 'America's News HQ' to discuss President Trump's nomination for the Supreme Court.
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