| Father: nationwide Canada manhunt will end in son's death Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:41 PM PDT  The grim prediction came as Canadian police said they were setting up roadblocks around the remote Manitoba town of Gillam, where the two young suspects, 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky, recently left a burnt-out vehicle they had been traveling in. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Julie Courchaine said police "are coming from all over" to Gillam, which is more than 2,000 miles away from a region in northern British Columbia where an initial burnt-out vehicle was found last Friday and the three people were apparently killed.
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| Trump in the White House is a national security nightmare – and Mueller knows it Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:38 PM PDT  Mueller is at his core a moralist and a patriot – and the House intelligence committee knew it as they lured him out of his heavily guarded Fortress of His Own Rectitude 'it is telling that Robert Mueller ... said, in effect, that Donald Trump in the White House represents the essence of a national security nightmare.' Photograph: Susan Walsh/APA word of belated advice for dejected House Democrats: believe Robert Mueller next time he tells you in advance that he would be a terrible and reluctant public witness on legal matters.Appearing before the House judiciary committee Wednesday morning, Mueller was even more buttoned-down than his crisp white shirt. Not only did the former special counsel refuse to read aloud from his own report ("I'm happy to have you read it," he said repeatedly), but a flustered Mueller also failed to remember which president had appointed him to his first major justice department post. (It was Ronald Reagan and not, as Mueller guessed, George HW Bush.)The predictable and sometimes tedious judiciary committee hearing proved that Mueller lacks both the prosecutorial zeal and the performance skills to star in a remake of Watergate. Democrats may still try to make the case that Donald Trump perverted justice, but it is hard to see how Mueller helped their cause with his mantra, "I'm not going to speculate".By the time the hearing ended at lunchtime, it was not safe for impeachment-minded Democrats to pass too close to an open window on a high floor.But then in a dramatic rescue mission, reminiscent of the cavalry riding over the hill in an old-time western, Adam Schiff transformed the political equation as he convened the afternoon hearing of the House intelligence committee, which he chairs.Schiff instinctively understood that Mueller – the straight-arrow marine and former FBI director – is at his core a moralist and a patriot.Playing to an audience of one in his compelling opening statement, Schiff said: "The story of the 2016 election is a story about disloyalty to country, about greed and about lies. Your investigation determined that the Trump campaign – including Donald Trump himself – knew that a foreign power was intervening in our election and welcomed it, built Russian meddling into their strategy, and used it."After describing Trump's panting eagerness for Russian aid as "disloyalty to country", Schiff added a sentence that does not normally pop up in the gospel according to MSNBC: "That disloyalty may not have been criminal … but disloyalty to country violates the very oath of citizenship."An unfortunate legacy of Watergate is that liberals see everything through a legalistic lens. As we get caught up in the technicalities of what constitutes obstruction of justice (the key offense that brought down Richard Nixon), we tend to lose sight of the deliberate Vladimir Putin-spawned conspiracy to undermine western democracy. And we forget the degree to which Trump was – and may well still be – Moscow's willing enabler.> At times in 2016, Trump seemed more passionate about building a Trump Tower in Moscow than he was about winning the White HouseAs the Republicans tried to undermine Mueller by embracing every handy conspiracy theory (somehow they missed the faking of the moon landing), the Democrats on the intelligence committee kept reminding the nation that Trump lied repeatedly about having no business interests in Russia. In fact, at times in 2016, Trump seemed more passionate about building a Trump Tower in Moscow than he was about winning the White House.This set-up the dramatic final round of questioning as Schiff finally lured Mueller out of his heavily guarded Fortress of His Own Rectitude.After discussing the potential for Russian blackmail, Schiff asked Mueller: "So if candidate Trump was saying 'I have no dealings with the Russians' but the Russians had a tape recording, they could expose that, could they not?" And rather than refusing to speculate or retreating back to the wording of his report, Mueller uttered a powerful one-word answer: "Yes."Emboldened Schiff went further as he said, leading the witness: "That is the stuff of counterintelligence nightmares, is it not?" Again, rather than ducking the implications of the question, Mueller replied: "Well, it has to do with counterintelligence and the need for a strong counterintelligence entity."Maybe this soundbite will not play powerfully on television (alas, the current standard for political relevance) since there was no yelling or pointing of fingers. But it is telling that Robert Mueller – a terse and reluctant witness who probably wouldn't speculate about tomorrow's weather – said, in effect, that Donald Trump in the White House represents the essence of a national security nightmare.It is folly to immediately predict the reverberations from the most anxiously awaited congressional hearings of the Trump era. But it would be fitting if Trump – like another strutting autocrat named Napoleon – saw his imperial dreams begin to crumble at the gates of Moscow.
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| 'Free from this nightmare': Prisoner released after rape victim's startling revelation Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:27 AM PDT  James Clay had begun serving a 25 - 50 year prison sentence for rape based on DNA. He was released following a Free Press investigation into his case.
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| Sorry, AOC: Moderate House Democrats Have Their Own Climate Plan Posted: 23 Jul 2019 01:03 PM PDT  House Democrats rolled out a climate agenda Tuesday as their caucus attempts to draw a distinction between New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's approach to tackling global warming and a more moderate plan.Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee announced they would pursue legislation calling for net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, a far less ambitious plan than the Green New Deal, which aims to complete the emissions target by 2030. Democrats criticized Ocasio-Cortez's idea during the roll-out."The majority of the Democratic caucus is behind aggressive, but not socialist, climate policies," Paul Bledsoe, who advised former President Bill Clinton on climate issues, told reporters, according to Bloomberg. "They worry the Green New Deal rhetoric could alienate rather than attract swing voters needed in 2020.""The climate crisis is here, and it requires serious federal leadership that's up for the challenge," Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey told reporters.Reps. Paul Tonko, head of the Environment and Climate Change subcommitee, and Bobby Rush of Illinois, head of the energy subcommittee joined Pallone in the press conference. Ocasio-Cortez didn't attend, Bloomberg reported.The GND, as it has come to be known, sought for a "10-year national mobilization" to shift the country to 100% "zero-emission energy sources" — a lofty mission given that fossil fuels account for more than 80% of U.S. energy consumption in 2018.
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| U.S. coal miners discouraged by black lung meeting with McConnell Posted: 23 Jul 2019 04:02 AM PDT  A group of coal miners afflicted with black lung disease met with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday as part of an effort to convince lawmakers to restore a higher excise tax on coal companies to help fund their medical care, but several said the meeting left them discouraged. McConnell, the Republican leader who represents Kentucky - one of the states that has seen a rebound in the progressive respiratory illness - told them their benefits would be safe but gave no assurances about the excise tax and left without answering questions or offering details, several of the miners who attended the meeting said. "We rode up here for 10 hours by bus to get some answers from him because he represents our state," said George Massey, a miner from Harlan County, Kentucky who spent two decades in the mines and is on disability.
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| China defends air patrol with Russia after S. Korea, Japan fury Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:30 AM PDT  China on Wednesday defended a joint air force exercise with Russia that triggered a furious response from regional US allies South Korea and Japan over a perceived airspace violation. The incident erupted on Tuesday when a Russian A-50 early warning and control plane violated airspace over the Dokdo islands, Seoul said. South Korea scrambled fighter jets, which fired nearly 400 warning shots at the alleged intruder.
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| Yes, the U.S. Exports Oil, but We’re Not Energy Independent Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Is the United States really energy independent? Is Iran? As the two nations inch toward confrontation, the complexity of those questions is worth considering.Iran, like many petro-powers, had long maintained a one-horse economy based on extraction. Oil and petroleum-related products account for almost all of its exports — take those away, and you're down to fruits and nuts.Iran has an awesome abundance of oil but for many years did relatively little to develop its refining capacity, without which crude oil is not very useful. That is partly the result of Iran's having a feckless and corrupt government and partly the result of sanctions that made building new refineries very difficult. When the expansion of the Persian Gulf Star Refinery at Bandar Abbas came on line in 2018, that doubled Iran's domestic refining capacity and greatly reduced the country's gasoline imports. The Iranian regime has declared the country liberated from the need to import gasoline, but it currently disallows most exports, and the CEO of the state refining company only a week ago decried the "prohibitive consumption" of gasoline — which is now at a record level — suggesting that the domestic supply is not quite as abundant as the ayatollahs would like.Iran had been rationing gasoline as recently as 2007. The Iran sanctions act of 2010 poked Iran in the tender spot of its gasoline imports (about 40 percent of Iranian gasoline consumption at the time), with provisions that would prohibit most gasoline and other vehicle fuel sales (aviation gas, etc.) exceeding $5 million in any one-year period along with equipment or services that would enable the domestic production or import of gasoline. One of the criticisms of President Obama's decision to lift sanctions on Iran in 2016 was that doing so might give Iran an opening to build out its refining capacity, taking away a critical vulnerability.While Iran has been expanding its refining capacity, the U.S. oil industry hasn't exactly been following suit. U.S. refining capacity is up by about 1 million barrels a day over where it was a decade ago — not nothing, but not a real dramatic line on the graph, either.And that creates a potential vulnerability for the United States.President Trump has a natural affection for the oil business. (That is not what we mean by crude and unrefined, Mr. President!) But in spite of all the chest-thumping you hear from certain politicians about how the country has become "energy independent," that is not really true. The United States imports billions of barrels of crude a year, about a third of it from OPEC. At the same time, the United States exports a substantial quantity of the stuff. That's because most of the refineries in the United States were built when the country was still obliged to rely very heavily on imported oil, and so most of them are optimized to handle the "heavy sour" stuff from abroad rather than the "light sweet" stuff from Texas. It is not the case that a barrel of oil is a barrel of oil is a barrel of oil. "Every single molecule from here on out has to be exported," Cynthia Walker of Houston-based Occidental Petroleum told the Texas Tribune.If all cross-border trade in oil and petroleum products were halted tomorrow, Iran would have some big problems. But so would the United States, which very likely would end up sitting on a surplus of oil but suffering shortages of gasoline and other fuels. The Trump administration deserves credit for encouraging domestic oil production and for pursuing regulatory reforms to help get government out of the way, but the reelection-minded president also is dead set to pucker up and kiss the collective buttocks of the Republican heartland's politically influential corn farmers and their ethanol bonanza. In fact, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers association is suing the administration over an ethanol expansion that oil producers say exceeds the president's authority to order.When Hurricane Harvey walloped Houston in 2017, gasoline pumps were dry in Dallas and points north, hundreds of miles away. The Colonial pipeline, which carries gasoline and aviation fuel from Houston to New York City, was shut down, as were several refineries feeding it.Having oil in the ground isn't enough. Drilling holes isn't enough. The process of turning crude oil into useful products and getting those products to the people who need them is complicated. They know that in Tehran. They know that in Houston. Let's hope they know that in Washington.
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| Border Patrol Has Kept a Teenage U.S. Citizen Locked Up for Nearly a Month Posted: 23 Jul 2019 01:15 PM PDT  Despite his family's lawyer providing his U.S. birth certificate, law enforcement refuses to release him.
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| The Latest: Judge blocks asylum policy at US-Mexico border Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:35 PM PDT  A federal judge in California has blocked the Trump administration from enforcing new asylum restrictions for people crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Wednesday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Jon Tigar in San Francisco came hours after a judge in Washington decided to let the rules stand while lawsuits played out in court. The policy would prevent most migrants from seeking asylum in the U.S. if they passed through another country first.
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| Ole Miss student from Fort Worth arrested for murder after classmate was found dead near campus Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:15 AM PDT  Brandon Theesfeld, 22, is charged with the murder of 21-year-old Alexandria Kostial. Her body was found 30 miles from the University of Mississippi.
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| 'Racist'? UPenn Prof. Amy Wax says U.S. better with more white than non-white immigrants Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:19 PM PDT  Amy Wax said more immigration leads to dirtier cities. Penn Law's dean said comments were bigoted and possibly racist, but didn't address her tenure.
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| Justice Department will not pursue criminal contempt charges in Census dispute with Congress Posted: 24 Jul 2019 02:11 PM PDT  The U.S. Justice Department will not pursue criminal charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, after Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to hold them in contempt in a dispute over documents concerning whether to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. "Accordingly, the department will not bring the congressional contempt citations before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General or the Secretary," he added.
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| Infernal affairs: how triads embraced communist China Posted: 23 Jul 2019 02:44 AM PDT  The savage beating of Hong Kong protesters by a mob of triad gangsters has deepened fears about the city's notorious criminal gangs and the use of shadowy hired muscle to defend China's interests. At least 45 people were hospitalised after Sunday's attack when men armed with poles and rods assaulted anti-government protesters in the rural town of Yuen Long as they returned from another huge rally. For seasoned watchers of Hong Kong and its shadowy nexus of organised crime, the brazen beatings came as little surprise.
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| Mueller Clarifies Much-Touted Answer on DOJ Guidelines Posted: 24 Jul 2019 11:26 AM PDT  Robert Mueller clarified on Wednesday that he declined to charge President Trump with obstruction of justice because his team did not reach a conclusion on whether Trump committed a crime, rather than because Justice Department policy stipulates that a sitting president cannot be indicted.During a morning hearing of the House Judiciary Committee, Mueller appeared to confirm to Representative Ted Lieu (D., Calif.) that the only reason he did not indict Trump was because of the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel opinion stating a sitting president cannot be indicted."We have heard today that the president ordered former White House counsel Don McGahn to fire you," Lieu told Mueller. "The president ordered Don McGahn to then cover that up and create a false paper trail. And now we've heard the president ordered Cory Lewandowski to tell Jeff Sessions to limit your investigation so that you stop investigating the president. I believe a reasonable person looking at these facts could conclude that all three elements of the crime of obstruction of justice have been met, and I'd like to ask you the reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of OLC opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting president, correct?""That is correct," Mueller responded.But during testimony before the House Intelligence Committee later in the day, the former special counsel said that he wanted to correct the answer he'd given Lieu."I want to go back to one thing that was said this morning by [Representative Ted] Lieu who said, and I quote, 'You didn't charge the President because of the [Office of Legal Counsel] opinion.' That is not the correct way to say it," Mueller said. "As we say in the report, and as I said at the opening, we did not reach a determination as to whether the President committed a crime."The former special counsel has said he intends to avoid giving any new information during his congressional testimony, promising to stay close to the written final report his office published on its investigation in April.
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| The Curious Case of a Black Man Wanted for Murdering a White Child in Small-Town America Posted: 23 Jul 2019 05:00 PM PDT  HBOOral "Nick" Hillary is a military veteran and All-American collegiate soccer player (and Division III national champion) who, in 2011, became the prime suspect in the murder of his former girlfriend Tandy Cyrus' older son, 12-year-old Garrett Phillips. There was no physical evidence linking him to the crime, nor any rational motive, but police zeroed in on him almost exclusively from the start. In the tiny upstate New York town of Potsdam, Nick soon became notorious for supposedly committing this heinous slaying. Almost three years later, on February 2, 2015, he was indicted for the crime, this despite the case against him being completely circumstantial.Nick, by the way, is black. And the Potsdam community is predominantly white.Race is the prime factor of Liz Garbus' excellent new two-part HBO documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips? (premiering July 23 and 24), since numerous elements of its story suggest that the color of Nick's skin played a big part in his eventual prosecution. Yet while the latest from director Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?) is, first and foremost, a saga about criminal justice system inequity, it's also something more: an unsolved mystery about the death of a young boy that's woefully short on concrete answers.What's known for certain is that on the afternoon of Monday, Oct. 24, 2011, between approximately 4:55 p.m. and 5:08 p.m., Garrett Phillips was fatally strangled and suffocated in his apartment at 100 Market Street (he passed away from his injuries approximately two hours later at the hospital). Hearing disquieting noises from Garrett's place, neighbors called the police. The responding officer thought he heard sounds coming from inside. Once he gained entry, however, all he found was Garrett, as well as signs that the perpetrator had jumped out a rear window to the street below.'Behind Closed Doors': How a 13-Year-Old Girl's Murder Ignited Class WarfareThe Wildly Popular TV Host Accused of Killing People to Boost His RatingsThere were no eyewitnesses, but trace amounts of DNA were discovered beneath Garrett's fingernails. After speaking to the Phillips family, detectives quickly focused on Nick, a father of five who'd begun dating Tandy after meeting her at a bar, and whose relationship with her had ended over reported tensions between him and Tandy's two boys. Nick had an alibi (he was at home with his eldest daughter, and then beginning at 5:21 p.m., with his friend/colleague Ian), and his DNA didn't match what was found on Garrett. He also had no reason to commit murder, unless one believed that he wanted revenge against Garrett because he blamed the boy for his split with Tandy.Nonetheless, rather than chasing any other leads or considering other possible suspects, the Potsdam cops made Nick their sole target. In damning video presented by Who Killed Garrett Phillips?, local and state police officers call Nick in for an interview under false pretenses, then grill him on his culpability, and finally physically bar him from leaving—and, shortly thereafter, force him to strip nude for photos. They do this to see if he has injuries consistent with a scuffle with Garrett or a fall from a tall window. But given that cops later testify that such a practice was never used before, it reeks of demonizing intimidation. The fix is in, it seems, and that impression only mounts when District Attorney Nicole Duvé decides to not arrest Nick (due to lack of evidence)—and, as a result, loses an election to new DA Mary Rains, who campaigned on the promise of bringing Nick to justice.That it takes nearly 30 months to indict Nick—this after a first indictment is thrown out because Rains harassed Nick's daughter during a deposition—is merely one of many signs that something crooked is being perpetrated in Potsdam. Guided by interviews with nearly all of the principals involved (save for Tandy), Who Killed Garrett Phillips? is a real-time portrait of a racially charged railroading. The DA's office refuses to recognize the flimsiness of their circumstantial case, which is almost wholly predicated on security camera footage of Garrett skateboarding in the school parking lot minutes before his death, and Nick leaving the same area moments later in his car. Their central argument: because Nick turned left out of the lot, in the direction of Garrett, rather than turning right to return directly home (which is where he claimed he went), he was clearly "hunting" the boy minutes before the murder.Nick's inability to properly explain this behavior/discrepancy is certainly suspicious. As Garbus' film elucidates, though, it's the only thing that casts doubt on his innocence; even a late DNA test that links him to the homicide (after numerous prior exculpatory ones) proves inadmissible in court. Consequently, reasonable doubt is pervasive, and that's underscored by numerous scenes, shot over years, of Nick caring for his kids with devotion and compassion, even in the face of enormous community vilification.Nick Hillary, one of the subjects of the HBO documentary Who Killed Garrett Phillips? HBOWho Killed Garrett Phillips?'s access to Nick, his lawyers, Garrett's relatives, news reporters and the trial itself is comprehensive, and its timeline-centric storytelling is lucid and nerve-wracking. If the film feels like it sides with Nick's position, it's because of both the time it gets to spend with him, and his persuasive declarations of innocence. No matter how often police officers and prosecutors contend that Nick is a cold-blooded murderer, the person seen through Garbus' lens comes across as a Wronged Man. Which means, per The New York Times' Albany Bureau Chief Jesse McKinley, that either Nick is a pathological fiend, or there's still a killer on the loose—two options that are equally chilling.Like many recent true-crime series, Who Killed Garrett Phillips? is a tale without a definitive conclusion. Still, there's no escaping the fact that, in this instance, police bias seems to have heavily influenced the circus that erupted in and around Potsdam. Nowhere is that more evident than with regard to John Jones, a sheriff's deputy who had dated Tandy until she left him for Nick, and whose role in immediate post-murder events—calling dispatchers to get intel on what was happening; staying with Tandy overnight and then accompanying her, hand in hand, to police interviews—was more than a bit fishy. Jones had a clear motive to both kill Garrett and frame Nick—namely, his furious resentment at having been replaced by a black man—but he barely registered on his fellow cops' radar. And when Jones was photographed by cops, you won't be surprised to hear, he was allowed to keep his clothes on.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Fact: U.S. and Israeli F-15s Went to War in a Simulated Fight. Who Won? Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:58 PM PDT  Noteworthy according to Times of Israel IAF Red Air gave the Blue forces a tough time during defensive missions to protect Blue forces and installations.Twelve F-15Es assigned to 494th Fighter Squadron from Royal Air Force (RAF) Lakenheath, England recently completed biannual training in Israel in support of exercise Juniper Falcon. As told by Tech. Sgt. Matthew Plew, 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs, in the article U.S. Forces complete Juniper Falcon 17-2, the Strike Eagles flew missions with the Israeli Air Force (IAF) accomplishing training on Defense Counter Air (DCA), Interdiction, Large Force Exercise (LFE), and Electronic Warfare (EW) range work.
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| 4 dead in southern Thailand attack on military outpost Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:41 AM PDT  Four people were killed in an attack on a military outpost in southern Thailand, where Muslim rebels are active, Thai police said. An unknown number of assailants carried out the attack Tuesday night using firearms and explosives, triggering a gunfight that left four dead and three injured, said Pol. A Muslim separatist insurgency has left about 7,000 people dead since 2004 in Thailand's three southernmost provinces of Pattani, Narathiwat and Yala.
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| Syrian father scrambles to reach his children after airstrike in Idlib Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:40 AM PDT  Intense bombing in the Syrian province of Idlib left a father scrambling to rescue his children while his baby daughter dangled off the edge of a destroyed building. The widely circulated photograph showed the aftermath of a Russian or Assad regime strike on the town of Ariha in western Idlib, the last rebel-held bastion in Syria. The man, Amjad al-Abdullah, looks on in horror as he tries to reach his children. His infant daughter, Rawan, is held up by a scrap of clothing while two older daughters are partially buried in the rubble. Rawan fell from the ledge and was last night in critical condition in hospital. One of her older sisters also survived the bombing and was being treated in hospital. Another sister, five-year-old Riham, was killed, according to Syrian activists. The children's mother, Asmaa, also died in the blast. A wheelchair amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following a reported regime air strike on the town of Ariha Credit: OMAR HAJ KADOUR/AFP/Getty Images "He was trying to calm them down and get them away from the edge but they fell in the end," said Bashar al-Sheikh, a photographer with Sy24 who took the picture. "I put the camera down and rushed to them. I have a daughter of my own the same age." The Syrian Network for Human Rights estimates that more than 600 civilians have been killed by Russian or Assad regime strikes since April, when Syrian forces began offensive to try to retake Idlib. "Civilians in northwest Syria are paying a big price in this conflict," said Mohamad Katoub, senior advocacy manager in the Syrian American Medical Society. "Our hospitals are overwhelmed with injuries, we received over 4000 injuries in SAMS hospitals in the northwest since April 26. The medical teams can hardly bear the current circumstances." The fighting has intensified in recent days and at least 59 people, including five children, were killed on Monday, according to the UN. The bloodiest airstrikes fell on the market town of Maaret al-Numan, where around 40 people died, including eight women and five children, the UN said. A number of images of wounded or dead children have gained international attention during the course of the seven-year Syrian war but none have triggered much global action. The image of Aylan Kurdi, a three-year-old Syrian boy whose drowned body was found on a Turkish beach, was plastered on front pages around the world. Another image of an injured boy from Aleppo, Omran Daqneesh, also came to symbolise the suffering of children in the war.
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| Georgia woman gets cold fries at McDonald's, barges into kitchen and fires gun Posted: 23 Jul 2019 08:50 AM PDT  A Georgia woman who reportedly fired a gun into the floor of a McDonald'skitchen Monday afternoon had a pretty wild motivation for her crime: coldfrench fries
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| 7 striking photos show how massive the Puerto Rico protests really are Posted: 23 Jul 2019 06:25 AM PDT  Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló has been deep in controversy over leaked text messages containing misogynistic and homophobic language.
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| Iran is ready to negotiate but not if negotiations mean surrender: Iran president Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:14 AM PDT  Iran is ready for "just" negotiations but not if they mean surrender, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, without saying what talks he had in mind. Rouhani seemed to be referring to possible negotiations with the United States. U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran last year but has said he is willing to hold talks with the Islamic Republic.
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| See Photos of the 2020 Audi Q3 Sportback Posted: 24 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| Israel condemns attacks on Saudi guest Posted: 23 Jul 2019 09:53 AM PDT  Israeli government officials on Tuesday condemned Palestinians who hurled abuse and chairs at a Saudi blogger visiting Jerusalem as a guest of the Jewish state. The Saudi visitor, named by Israeli public radio as Mohammed Saud, was one of six invitees from Arab states brought to Israel by its foreign ministry to give them fresh viewpoints on the country. Hassan Kabia, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, called it "barbaric" behaviour.
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| Black man trying to propose to his girlfriend interrupted by security guard accusing him of shoplifting Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:21 AM PDT  Cathy-Marie Hamlet started her Facebook post with the good news: She'd gotten engaged.But her fiance kept getting interrupted, she said, as he proposed from the lawn of hard cider company Angry Orchard's tree-filled, 60-acre property in New York's Hudson Valley.Security intruded on the couple's happy moment three times to accuse Ms Hamlet's boyfriend of stealing a T-shirt, including once while he popped the question.Staffers followed Ms Hamlet and her fiance, who are black, to the parking lot as they left, the 32-year-old wrote in her post, which had been shared more than 5,000 times Tuesday afternoon. She believes they were racially profiled."I have never been so humiliated in my life," she said. "[M]yself and some of my friends left Angry Orchard in tears."Angry Orchard has replaced members of the security team involved and removed the manager who was on duty, Jessica Paar, a spokeswoman for Boston Beer Co. – Angry Orchard's owner – told The Washington Post in a statement on Tuesday.The company is also launching new, mandatory training on "security awareness and unconscious bias" for the staff."We badly mishandled the situation and our team overreacted," Ms Paar said, adding, "The situation doesn't reflect our values of respect for all and creating a welcoming environment for all our guests."Ms Paar did not immediately respond to questions clarifying the company's actions against the employees involved.Ms Hamlet wrote on Facebook that she and her fiance, identified by NBC News as Clyde Jackson, had left New York City on Sunday for Angry Orchard's farm in Walden. The occasion: Mr Jackson's 40th birthday. Six friends came along.A woman from security at the cider company approached the couple before they'd sat down at a table outside, Ms Hamlet said. The employee apologised and said she'd have to check Mr Jackson's back pocket, explaining that someone told her Mr Jackson stole a shirt from the gift store.Mr Jackson emptied out his pockets while trying to hide the ring he was about to propose with, Ms Hamlet recalled. No T-shirt was found.Mr Jackson launched into his proposal, she said, but before he could finish, the employee was back – this time saying she needed to check Ms Hamlet's bag because someone told her Mr Jackson gave her the stolen item.Ms Hamlet said she did as asked, even though her bag was too small to fit a shirt. But she questioned the woman's motives: "I know you're just doing your job, but I can't help but wonder if this is because we're Black," her Facebook post said. "We're the only Black people here at your establishment."The woman denied that race was a factor and went away, Ms Hamlet said, leaving Mr Jackson to finish his proposal – and her to accept. People cheered. The friends who accompanied the couple to the farm joined them, hugging and congratulating the newly engaged couple.That's when the Angry Orchard employee came back a third time, Ms Hamlet said. The security woman said that she hadn't realised the friends were a group and that now she'd need to check all of their purses and pockets. More security workers came over, and Ms Hamlet says she found her party facing six employees who claimed patrons, too, had witnessed Mr Jackson stealing a T-shirt."I felt humiliated, especially after one of my white friends made a point of asking them to check her bag for the T-shirt, but they refused to do so," Ms Hamlet told NBC."Call the police! I saw you steal it," Ms Hamlet said one of the security people shouted to another.When Ms Hamlet told the employees to check their security cameras – which the staff said existed – the employees started filming the group and took a picture of Ms Hamlet's license plate, according to Hamlet. Asked whether Angry Orchard had reviewed security footage, Ms Paar said she would have to look into it.With the dispute escalating, the couple and their friends "decided to leave rather than be attacked," Ms Hamlet wrote online, saying she has "no reason to steal a $28 T-shirt."She vowed not to drink Angry Orchard again.Angry Orchard said in a statement tweeted out Tuesday that it began investigating the incident Ms Hamlet described as soon as it learned about the events. The security team involved "approached a group of guests based on what they thought was credible information at the time," Angry Orchard said in an earlier statement to People magazine.Ms Paar said she reached out to Ms Hamlet on Monday and spoke with her on the phone to apologise.Ms Hamlet did not respond to a request for a comment, and Mr Jackson could not be reached.Angry Orchard was the latest company to scramble to address stories of employees singling out black customers. Starbucks faced accusations of racial profiling last year after a store manager called the police on two black men as they waited for a meeting.The incident led the coffee chain to close more than 8,000 US stores for a day-long staff training on racial bias. Companies like Sephora, Saks Fifth Avenue, Old Navy and Walmart have grappled with similar scandals, responding with investigations, new training and firings amid outrage.Eric Yaverbaum, chairman at public relations firm Ericho Communications, said he thinks Ms Hamlet's story should prompt other companies to think more proactively about addressing racial profiling with their employees – to prevent incidents, rather than apologise afterward."The worst time to prepare is when the tide's rising," he added. "The tide's rising on this issue, period ... Address that in your workplace before it becomes a problem."Ms Hamlet's dismay at Angry Orchard was about more than the spoiling of a joyful day, and she closed her Facebook post by telling the company that if they didn't want black patrons, it should "put a sign on the door so that we know we are not welcome."She told NBC: "It's sad that in 2019 we still need to have these conversations."The Washington Post
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| Who are the men in white behind Hong Kong's mob attack? Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:10 AM PDT  Hong Kong is reeling after a large gang of men in white shirts brutally beat dozens of people inside a train station in a shocking new twist to the city's summer of protest. The sudden attack, which came as a massive protest was winding down Sunday night, has spurred speculation about the men's backgrounds, motivations and possible political ties.
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| Outrage after NYPD officers are drenched with water while on duty Posted: 23 Jul 2019 03:57 AM PDT  A 'Fox & Friends' law enforcement panel reacts to the treatment of police officers in America.
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| Newborn found on doorstep at apartment complex where another baby was left 2 years ago Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:15 PM PDT  Orlando Police found a 1-day-old infant wrapped only in a T-shirt on front doorstep.
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| Top Khamenei aide says no talks with U.S. under any circumstances Posted: 24 Jul 2019 09:27 AM PDT  GENEVA/DUBAI (Reuters) - The top military adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday that Tehran would not negotiate with the United States under any circumstances, an apparent hardening of its position as the Gulf tanker crisis escalates. The Swedish operator of a British-flagged oil tanker seized by Iran in the Gulf last week said it had been able to speak to crew members and all 23 of them were safe. The company said it had no evidence that the ship had been involved in a collision, one of the reasons Iran has cited for sending commandos to capture it last Friday.
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| Two men fined for eating raw squirrels to protest veganism as people begged them to stop Posted: 23 Jul 2019 08:38 AM PDT  Deonisy Khlebnikov, 22 and Gatis Lagzdins, 29, ate the squirrels, with the skin and fur still intact, at the Soho Vegan Food Market in late March.
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| Gambia's ex-president accused of ordering migrant slaughter Posted: 23 Jul 2019 05:32 PM PDT  Gambia's former president Yahya Jammeh ordered the massacre of some 30 migrants he said were "mercenaries" sent to topple him in 2005, a member of the former strongman's hit squad told a truth commission on Tuesday. The testimony comes a day after another army officer accused Jammeh of ordering the murder of a leading journalist who worked for an independent newspaper and wrote articles about corruption that marked Jammeh's iron-fisted rule for 22 years. Omar Jallow, a former officer in the Presidential Guard, said about 45 Europe-bound migrants comprising nationals from Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and Togo, were arrested on a beach while trying to get to Europe.
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| Oklahoma City teens chase, attack family of undocumented immigrants with BB guns Posted: 24 Jul 2019 08:45 AM PDT  A family of undocumented immigrants was injured Monday after teens wielding BBguns allegedly chased them around an Oklahoma City neighborhood
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| Beto O’Rourke Battles Meghan McCain Over Trump-Nazi Analogy Posted: 23 Jul 2019 09:43 AM PDT  The ViewBeto O'Rourke tried to ingratiate himself to Meghan McCain at the top of his latest appearance on The View. It didn't work. "Congressman, not too long ago you were a huge rising star," McCain told O'Rourke on Tuesday morning before painting a dire picture of his fledgling presidential campaign. "You're polling at zero percent. [He's actually averaging about 3 percent in recent polls.] You're trailing Marianne Williamson in the important state of New Hampshire. Your fundraising numbers have gone down by a third. This isn't great for momentum. Why do you think it's cooled?" "You know what? That's not what I feel when on the ground," O'Rourke replied before McCain cut him off to say, "Facts are stubborn things." Kamala Harris Shuts Down Meghan McCain for Siding With Joe Biden"But I think you know that at this time in many presidential races you have folks who are down in the polls, counted out, left for dead, who, through their persistence and courage and tenacity and the amazing people who comprise their campaign, rose to help lead their party and ultimately the country," he said, citing the co-host's late father Senator John McCain, who he referred to as one of his "heroes." Unimpressed, McCain replied, "Yeah, his campaign full-on imploded, it's true." Things became even more tense later in the segment when McCain brought up recent comments O'Rourke made to ABC News comparing President Trump's recent North Carolina event—where supporters chanted "Send her back!" in reference to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN)—to an "impromptu Nuremberg rally." In response to O'Rourke's denunciation of right-wing "extremism," McCain said, "You're talking about Trump supporters, comparing them to Nazis in Nuremberg, that sounds extreme to me as well. When Democrats come on here and wax poetic about extremism—I'm not saying Trump isn't doing it, but you're calling everybody who was in that North Carolina rally a Nazi. From my standpoint, it seems like the left is pretty extreme as well." Insisting that he was not calling "everyone" who was at that rally a Nazi, O'Rourke said, "We all have accountability for our actions and everyone who shouted to send them back is responsible as well." Trump May Not Be Coming for the Jews, but the Next Trump WillAs The View's audience cheered forcefully in response to that line, McCain glared at them and said, "I agree, but there were people in that rally that didn't and you're going to have to win over some of these people that voted for Obama and voted for Trump again." "You have to understand how it looks for people in the middle," she added, "thinking that maybe I don't agree with everything that the left is saying so automatically you're Nazis?" "I do''t care who you voted for last time," O'Rourke told her in response. "I don't care if you're a Trump supporter or a Republican. You're an American first before you are anything else and I call you to this country's greatness." 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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| Report: Truck crossed highway line in crash that killed 8 Posted: 24 Jul 2019 02:11 PM PDT ![Report: Truck crossed highway line in crash that killed 8]( "Report: Truck crossed highway line in crash that killed 8") A crash that killed eight people in Mississippi last month happened after a box truck crossed the center line of a two-lane rural highway and struck a van, according to a federal report issued Wednesday. The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report confirms what the van driver, Alejandro Estrejo Resendiz, told The Associated Press hours after the June 3 wreck near Scooba — that he swerved but the truck hit the van. The van was owned by Sharp Forestry in Columbus, Mississippi.
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| Europe's heatwave: Eurostar trains breaks down as records tumble in Belgium, Netherlands and Germany Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:58 AM PDT  Eurostar trains broke down, tigers in zoos were fed chicken ice cubes, and France warned that Notre-Dame was at the risk of collapse on Wednesday, as Europe sweltered under a record-breaking heatwave. For the second time in a month, a high pressure system drew scorching air from the Sahara desert, breaking heat records for Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, while France risked doing the same. In the Netherlands, the temperature reached 39.1C, breaking the previous record of 38.6C set in August 1944, while in Belgium, the mercury struck 38.9C, beating the previous high of 36.6C from June 1947 in records dating back to 1833. In Germany the temperature soared to 40.5C (104.9F) in western Geilenkirchenthe, surpassing the previous record of 40.3 (104.5) In Paris, the chief architect of historical monuments warned that the intense heat risked bringing down Notre-Dame cathedral, which was ravaged by a fire in April. Two men cool off in a public fountain near the Atomium during a summer hot day in Brussels Credit: AP "What I fear is that the joints or the masonry, as they dry, lose their cohesion... and all of a sudden, the vault gives way," said Philippe Villeneuve, explaining that the cathedral's stone walls were still saturated with water from firemens' hoses. Specialists are working to stabilise the cathedral's structure before reconstruction work begins. At Pairi Daiza zoo in western Belgium, keepers fed chickens inside giant ice cubes to tigers and iced watermelons to their bears. One Eurostar train broke down in Belgium due to a power failure, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded in 40C heat with no air conditioning. Eurostar said travellers were stuck for three hours before they were rescued by another train, and issued an apology. In Spain, a wildfire in the northern province of Zaragoza was almost under control, but there was a risk of further outbreaks, especially in eastern parts, where the temperature was set to rise as high as 41C. People cool off at the Trocadero Fountains next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris Credit: AFP Italian authorities issued fire alerts for the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, where temperatures were expected to climb above 40C. They also put 13 cities on their highest "red" weather alert, warning of a possible health threat for everyone - not just the frail and infirm. In Portugal, the largest fire so far this year, which raged over the weekend, was put out by more than 1,000 firefighters on Tuesday, but the country remained on high alert.
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| Man pulls Uzi submachine gun out of a pond with magnet and rope Posted: 24 Jul 2019 01:31 AM PDT  A man experimenting with a magnet plucked a fully-loaded Uzi submachine gun and several other weapons out of a pond in Massachusetts, reports say.The unnamed individual called the police after pulling the Uzi out of Pillings Pond in the small town of Lynnfield.Lynnfield officer Patrick Curran inspected the submachine gun and discovered it was loaded, before encouraging the man to throw his powerful magnet – attached to the end of rope – back into the water to see what else he could find.The magnet fisher pulled another four guns from the pond, including a Glock handgun, a Colt Cobra revolver, a semi-automatic handgun and a revolver with "significant corrosion", according to The Boston Globe.All five of the firearms were loaded, local police said. The weapons were handed over to state police ballistics for further analysis.A state police diving team was also called out to conduct a more thorough search of Pillings Pond, but the magnet man had done such a thorough job they did not find anything else.The Lynnfield resident told officers had been watching videos about French treasure hunters who use magnets and ropes to recover World War II artefacts from waterways."In my more than 35 years on the force, I've never seen anything like it. It's a little strange," Lynnfield police captain Karl Johnson told The Daily Item local newspaper, which first reported on the weapons haul.The hobby known as "magnet fishing" has becoming increasingly popular in recent years and has led to some unusual discoveries. Earlier this year couple found a hand grenade in a lake in Florida.Last July a 36-year-old London man pulled an Uzi machine gun out of Enfield Lock using a magnet, before revealing he had previously found a samurai sword and a cross bow using the same technique.
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| View Photos of the 2019 BMW X2 and 2020 Range Rover Evoque Posted: 23 Jul 2019 01:14 PM PDT |
| In chaotic scene, ex-judge dragged from Cincinnati courtroom, sentenced to jail Posted: 23 Jul 2019 03:01 PM PDT  Chaos erupted in a Cincinnati court when a former judge had to be dragged from the room as she was sentenced to a six-month jail term.
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| Thanks to climate change, parts of the Arctic are on fire. Scientists are concerned Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:42 PM PDT  Satellite images are showing that areas of the Arctic have been catching fire. These wildfires, while not uncommon, are concerning scientists.
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| UPDATE 1-Jazeera cites Iran official warning of confrontation if Hormuz status changed Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:20 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Jazeera cites Iran official warning of confrontation if Hormuz status changed]( "UPDATE 1-Jazeera cites Iran official warning of confrontation if Hormuz status changed") The military adviser to Iran's supreme leader was quoted on Wednesday as saying that any change in the status of the Strait of Hormuz, which Tehran says it protects, would open the door to a dangerous confrontation. In a series of news flashes, Al Jazeera TV quoted Hossein Dehghan, a commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, as also telling the channel that Tehran would not negotiate with the U.S. administration under any circumstances and that if Washington decided to go to war then all American bases in the region would be targeted. Britain has called for a European-led naval mission to ensure safe shipping through the world's most important oil artery after Iran seized a British tanker last week.
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| Human sacrifice bridge rumours spark Bangladesh lynchings Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:29 AM PDT  Eight people have been killed in vigilante lynchings in Bangladesh sparked by rumours on social media of children being kidnapped and sacrificed as offerings for the construction of a mega-bridge, police said Wednesday. The victims -- which include two women -- were targeted by angry mobs over the rumours, spread mostly on Facebook, that said human heads were required for the massive $3 billion project, police chief Javed Patwary said. More than 30 other people have been attacked in connection with the rumours.
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| ‘Fox & Friends’ Host Apparently Believes McDonald’s Workers Make Tips Posted: 23 Jul 2019 09:47 AM PDT  Reacting to Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) calling for the federal minimum wage to be raised to $20 an hour, Fox & Friends host Ainsley Earhardt insisted on Tuesday that minimum wage jobs were meant to give workers a start in the workforce before falsely claiming that fast-food workers supplement their incomes with tips.Following the House of Representatives passing a bill last week that would raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour, Tlaib said that due to the price of goods and services, the true minimum wage should be "$18 to $20 an hour at this point." She also blasted the federally mandated minimum wage for tipped workers, which is currently set at $2.13 an hour.Discussing Tlaib's remarks on Fox & Friends, co-host Steve Doocy seemed genuinely surprised about tipped workers' wages, saying he "did not realize" that their minimum wage was $2.13 an hour before saying Tlaib wants to exponentially increase it. He then used a presidential contender's campaign to make a point."However, as we heard from Bernie Sanders in the last 48 hours or so," Doocy stated. "He will start paying his employees $15 an hour, but he will have to cut back their hours because they cannot afford it."Earhardt chimed in, asserting that small businesses can't afford minimum wage increases before claiming they would engage in widespread firings in wages went up significantly. Doocy, meanwhile, highlighted Congressional Budget Office estimates that showed there was a chance that increasing the minimum wage could impact unemployment.Co-host Brian Kilmeade then waxed nostalgic about his time as a busboy, saying it was "one of the best jobs" he could have breaking in because "you work hard" and "you get great tips," adding that any paycheck you get at that point is a bonus. He also had some advice to those not earning enough from one job."If one job doesn't pay enough, guess what you do, you, you get another job," he exclaimed. "That's what you do in your twenties. Having two part-time jobs while going to school is something people have done since the turn of the last century." Earhardt, meanwhile, piggybacked on Kilmeade's commentary while adding some questionable "facts" of her own. "Minimum wage job is not meant to be a career—it's meant to help you get a start," she said. "We were in high school or college when I was waiting tables. Most of those people, at very fine restaurants, that is their career, but they make tons of money."She continued: "If you're working at McDonald's or a small little restaurant where you're making tips, you are right. If you are nice to the people, you make a lot of money."Needless to say, workers at McDonald's or other similar fast-food restaurants generally don't make tips.This isn't the first time that Earhardt has made an embarrassing on-air gaffe. Last summer, she defended America's greatness by saying the United States "defeated communist Japan" in World War II.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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| Questions raised over arrest of Mexican national in Missouri Posted: 23 Jul 2019 03:00 PM PDT ![Questions raised over arrest of Mexican national in Missouri]( "Questions raised over arrest of Mexican national in Missouri") Federal immigration officers trying to arrest a Mexican national smashed a car window and dragged him from the vehicle in front of his girlfriend and two young children, prompting condemnation from the woman's Missouri congressman. A Facebook Live video taken during the arrest of Florencio Millan-Vazquez in Kansas City on Monday shows Immigration and Custom Enforcement and Kansas City police officers trying to persuade him to leave the vehicle. Millan-Vazquez, who is in the U.S. illegally, and his girlfriend, Cheyenne Hoyt, repeatedly ask to see a warrant.
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| Charlottesville statue of Robert E. Lee vandalized with anti-Trump graffiti Posted: 24 Jul 2019 11:54 AM PDT  A statue of Robert E. Lee that was at the center of violent protests in 2017 at a Charlottesville, Virginia, park, was vandalized early Wednesday.
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| Iowa couple receives 3-year probation after dehydrated infant found with cocaine in system Posted: 23 Jul 2019 12:15 PM PDT  An Iowa couple was sentenced to three years of probation last Thursday aftertheir then-3-month-old baby girl tested positive for cocaine, according to theDes Moines Register
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| The Army Is Running a Classified Mission with Black Helicopters over Washington, D.C. Posted: 23 Jul 2019 04:30 AM PDT  "The nature of the mission is classified."First, America had to grapple with the 'storm Area 51' raid. Now black helicopters are hovering ominously over Washington, D.C.Bloomberg's Tony Capaccio first reported on Monday that the Army has requested $1.55 million for a classified mission involving 10 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and a "Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility" at Fort Belvoir, Va.From Bloomberg:"Without additional funding, the Army will not be able to perform this classified mission," the Defense Department said."Soldiers from assault helicopter company and aviation maintenance units will be supporting the mission with 10 UH-60s and maintenance capabilities for four months," according to the document, referring to the Black Hawks.
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| Turkey not satisfied with US proposal for Syrian safe zone Posted: 24 Jul 2019 07:05 AM PDT  Turkey on Wednesday slammed a new U.S. proposal for a so-called "safe zone" in northern Syria, saying it was "not satisfactory" and warning that Ankara may launch a new offensive to secure its border if an agreement isn't reached soon. According to Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, U.S. envoy James Jeffrey and other U.S. officials held talks with Turkish officials in Ankara about Syria, including the setting up of a safe zone along the Turkey-Syrian border.
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