| 'Our government failed us': Bahamians were left to coordinate rescue efforts on social media after Hurricane Dorian Posted: 07 Sep 2019 06:41 AM PDT  Hurricane Dorian made landfall over the Bahamas on September 1 as a Category 5 storm and proceeded to devastate some areas of the Bahamas.
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| 'I didn’t hear the words': Harris apologizes for response to mental disabilities slur Posted: 07 Sep 2019 02:28 PM PDT !['I didn't hear the words': Harris apologizes for response to mental disabilities slur]( "'I didn't hear the words': Harris apologizes for response to mental disabilities slur") "That word and others like it aren't acceptable. Ever," Harris wrote on Twitter
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| Man charged in 31-year-old cold case murder. Police suspect he may have killed others Posted: 08 Sep 2019 04:10 PM PDT  Lawrence Gene 'Larry' Timmons was charged Friday with the 1988 slaying of a 31-year-old Missouri woman. Other cold cases now being looked at.
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| British Airways tells passengers not to turn up at airports, as airline's biggest ever strike begins Posted: 08 Sep 2019 04:40 PM PDT  British Airways has told its passengers not to turn up at airports as the biggest strike action in the airline's 100 year history begins on Monday. More than 1,500 flights have been cancelled as the company was accused of bullying its own staff by union bosses, who warned they could continue the action until the end of the year. Some 280,000 people will be affected by the strike which is set to continue on Tuesday, costing BA £80m in lost revenue. BA and The British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA) are clashing after the union rejected a proposed 11.5 per cent pay rise for its pilots, taking their pay package to around £200,000 a year. BALPA says that BA "has resorted to breaking agreements and threatening pilots who will strike, which is bound to make matters worse" after they emailed their 4,300 pilots on Friday warning that strike action would be a 'serious breach' of their contract. BALPA General Secretary Brian Strutton said: "British Airways must now put the needs of its staff and passengers first and accept that its pilots will not be bullied or fobbed off." Credit: BALPA The airline further threatened to withdraw a travel perk, where staff can book tickets for ten per cent of the full fare plus taxes, for three years if they chose to strike. BALPA branded the airline's behaviour "illogical and irresponsible" and "will further deepen the fall out with their pilots." Flights to New York, Delhi, Hong Kong and Johannesburg have all been affected, with the airline telling passengers: "If your flight is cancelled, please do not go to the airport." One passenger, Kenneth Farrington, told the BBC that he thought his holiday "was in ruins." Travellers have been offered full refunds, flights on different carriers, or the option to fly on a different date, but should not turn up at the airport without a confirmed flight. On Sunday, 50 flights were cancelled over fears of a lack of space to park planes at Heathrow and Gatwick, and the knock on effect will last well into the week. Long haul captains at the airline earn an average base salary of £167,000 a year, while co-pilots take home £70,000. British Airways say they made a "fair" offer of an 11.5 per cent pay rise over three years, plus a one per cent bonus. The deal was already accepted by members of the Unite and GMB unions, which represent 90 per cent of British Airways' staff. BALPA says that now the company is in better financial health, its members should see a greater share of the profits and have a mandate for strike action until January, raising fears of Christmas travel chaos. British Airways said on Sunday: "We're extremely sorry for the problems caused by the strike action called by the pilots' union, BALPA on 9, 10 and 27 September. "We continue to be available for constructive talks with BALPA, on the basis that there are no pre-conditions to those talks. "If you have a flight booked with us on those dates, it is likely that you will not be able to travel as planned due to BALPA's strike action. We are offering all affected customers full refunds or the option to re-book to another date of travel or alternative airline." Compensation due for a cancelled flight On Sunday, BALPA General Secretary Brian Strutton said: "British Airways needs to wake up and realise its pilots are determined to be heard. "They've previously taken big pay cuts to help the company through hard times. Now BA is making billions of pounds of profit, its pilots have made a fair, reasonable and affordable claim for pay and benefits. "BALPA has consistently offered up chances for the company to negotiate a way forward. British Airways must now put the needs of its staff and passengers first and accept that its pilots will not be bullied or fobbed off. "But the company's leaders, who themselves are paid huge salaries and have generous benefits packages, won't listen, are refusing to negotiate and are putting profits before the needs of passengers and staff. "This strike will have cost the company considerably more than the investment needed to settle this dispute. "It is time to get back to the negotiating table and put together a serious offer that will end this dispute." This is the second time in a month that BALPA have been involved in pay disputes with airlines, after Ryanair pilots were reportedly demanding pay rises of up to 121%, according to the airline. Ryanair accused BALPA of "excessive and unexplained demands for pay increases" and a secret memo seen by the Telegraph, which was drawn up by the airline, showed pay package demands of up to £350,000 a year. Strike action has already taken place twice this summer, with more disruption planned for later this month.
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| A disgruntled mechanic has been charged with sabotaging an American Airlines flight Posted: 08 Sep 2019 01:19 PM PDT  All of us have had a beef with the boss or disagreements and other assorted unpleasantness at work from time to time, which is the nature of being at the mercy of someone who's in charge of your productivity, never mind whether that intersects with your happiness.But it's probably fair to assume that most people don't act on those feelings and certainly don't take it out on innocent people. Which is, unfortunately, exactly what happened recently when a disgruntled American Airlines mechanic was arrested and charged after he tried to damage a plane and ruin a flight.According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, Abdul-Majeed Marouf Ahmed Alani has been charged with "willfully damaging, destroying, disabling, or wrecking an aircraft, and attempting to do so." He was allegedly trying to damage the air data module system on a commercial airliner preparing to take off back in July from Miami International Airport, which had 150 people on board and was headed for the Bahamas.That system deals with the aircraft's speed, pitch, and other important data.Why did he do it? According to court documents, as noted in this CNN report, he admitted to investigators he took his actions in retaliation for a union contract dispute with the airline. More specifically, he messed with one of the plane's systems so it wouldn't take off on time -- and so he could earn overtime pay by working on the plane.The plane had actually started moving, and after the pilots increased power to the engines, they noticed the air data module system error and stopped the takeoff. Alani admitted what he did to investigators, who noted in the court documents that "Alani stated that his intention was not to cause harm to the aircraft or its passengers." This all got traced back to him after mechanics worked on the plane, discovered the obvious tampering, and used surveillance footage to figure out who did it.Here's what American Airlines had to say about the episode:> At American we have an unwavering commitment to the safety and security of our customers and team members and we are taking this matter very seriously," reads a statement from the airline. "At the time of the incident, the aircraft was taken out of service, maintenance was performed and after an inspection to ensure it was safe the aircraft was returned to service. American immediately notified federal law enforcement who took over the investigation with our full cooperation.
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| The Latest: 2 dead, 3 injured in plane crash at airport Posted: 08 Sep 2019 12:37 AM PDT ![The Latest: 2 dead, 3 injured in plane crash at airport]( "The Latest: 2 dead, 3 injured in plane crash at airport") Authorities say a small private plane that crashed near a Nevada airport, killing two, was bound for Southern California. Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in an emailed statement that the single-engine Beechcraft Sierra plane carrying four people was set to fly to the Gillispie Field airport in El Cajon, California. Two people died and three others were injured when the propeller plane crashed Saturday and caught fire soon after taking off from Henderson Executive Airport.
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| North Korea reports five deaths, damage in typhoon Posted: 07 Sep 2019 05:16 PM PDT  North Korean state media said Sunday five people had been killed in a powerful typhoon that destroyed farmland and damaged hundreds of buildings. Typhoon Lingling, called Typhoon-13 in North Korea, hit the reclusive nuclear-armed state on Saturday afternoon, reported the official KCNA news service. The injured persons are now under treatment at hospitals," KCNA said.
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| P-61, first collared mountain lion to cross 405 Freeway, fatally struck on Sepulveda Pass Posted: 07 Sep 2019 02:28 PM PDT  A male mountain lion that made headlines just months ago for successfully crossing the 405 Freeway was struck and killed Saturday on that same roadway, park officials said.
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| Look at this all-diamond ring designed by Jony Ive and Marc Newsom Posted: 07 Sep 2019 08:57 AM PDT  At Apple, Jony Ive's designs disrupted the computer and mobile phone markets. Now, in his (imminent) post-Apple life, Ive has delivered a fresh spin on the diamond ring.The so-called "(RED) Ring," which Ive designed alongside Marc Newsom, his partner in the new design firm LoveFrom, is made entirely out of diamond. The striking piece of jewelry is carved out of a larger block of diamond that was grown in a lab.The ring sold at auction in Dec. 2018 for $256,250 during a Red charity event held during Art Basel in Miami. The Sotheby's listing makes it clear that the buyer was paying for something that hadn't yet been created -- it's hard to resize an all-diamond ring, so this had to be custom-made.The description reads:Now, the ring is finally finished and there are photos to prove it. The stone used to make it comes from Diamond Foundry, a San Francisco business that specializes in lab-grown diamonds. SEE ALSO: What Apple's products could look like without Jony Ive leading designThe (RED) Ring's diamond started as a lab-grown 45-carat "rough diamond." It was then cut down and shaped into a ring by Diamond Foundry's team using the design from Ive and Newsom.Proceeds from the sale of the ring benefited Red directly. The brand, founded in 2006, works with companies to create licensed products that serve to raise awareness for and fight the spread of HIV/AIDS, particularly in Africa. WATCH: New details have emerged about Jony Ive leaving Apple
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| Trump’s plan to stem border crossings gets results Posted: 08 Sep 2019 03:56 AM PDT  Border arrests are plummeting after Trump crackdown.
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| Two men accuse Alaska Airlines employee of racial profiling after Newark Airport evacuation Posted: 08 Sep 2019 03:34 PM PDT ![Two men accuse Alaska Airlines employee of racial profiling after Newark Airport evacuation]( "Two men accuse Alaska Airlines employee of racial profiling after Newark Airport evacuation") An alarm set off at Newark Liberty Airport on Labor Day sparked panic, and the two men who were questioned say they were racially profiled.
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| How Atlanta's mayor turned her famous father's arrest into a passion for criminal justice reform Posted: 07 Sep 2019 12:00 PM PDT  Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms opens up about the arrest of her father, R&B legend Major Lance.
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| UPDATE 1-Islamic State claims responsibility for market blast in Philippines Posted: 07 Sep 2019 07:42 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Islamic State claims responsibility for market blast in Philippines]( "UPDATE 1-Islamic State claims responsibility for market blast in Philippines") The Islamic State militant group has claimed responsibility for an explosion at a public market in the southern Philippines that wounded at least seven people early on Saturday. The group issued a statement late on Saturday saying the motorcycle bombing had wounded seven Filipino Christians at a public market. It was the fourth blast in the area in 13 months, according to the Philippine military, which said a militant group operating in the mostly Christian city of Isulan in the province of Sultan Kudarat was among the suspects.
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| A group of jet skiers in the Bahamas rescued 100 people stranded by Hurricane Dorian Posted: 07 Sep 2019 07:53 AM PDT  Rescuers ferried people on the jet skis to a highway bridge, one of the few places on Grand Bahama that was not flooded.
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| Oil majors to mull fresh cuts as trade war hits prices Posted: 08 Sep 2019 03:58 AM PDT  Top oil producers will consider fresh output cuts at a meeting this week, but analysts are doubtful they will succeed in bolstering crude prices dented by the US-China trade war. The OPEC petroleum exporters' cartel and key non-OPEC members want to halt a slide in prices that has continued despite previous production cuts and US sanctions that have squeezed supply from Iran and Venezuela. Analysts say the OPEC+ group's Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, which monitors a supply cut deal reached last year, has limited options when it meets in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.
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| Here's what the Democratic National Committee doesn't understand about the Iowa caucuses Posted: 08 Sep 2019 02:00 AM PDT  The DNC should reconsider its blanket prohibition on telephone caucuses or rethink its requirement for an absentee caucus process.
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| Trump investigated by Congress over US military spending at Scotland airport Posted: 07 Sep 2019 11:13 AM PDT  Congress is investigating Donald Trump over allegations the president may have profited from his presidency.The probe follows revelations that US military funds were spent in the president's Turnberry golf course.
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| California's wildfire season is off to a quiet start. Is that about to change this week? Posted: 08 Sep 2019 03:07 PM PDT  Forecasts of strong winds this week bring concerns that California's wildfire season, off to a slow start, could become dangerous.
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| S&P Advice to South Africa: Beware What You Say About Eskom Debt Posted: 07 Sep 2019 11:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Talks around restructuring Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.'s bonds must be approached carefully to avoid spooking the market, according to S&P Global Ratings.Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said on Thursday the government will consult with the power utility's debt holders on any reorganization and that there isn't any real concern about haircuts."Whether you are talking about a haircut or a re-profiling or a restructuring, one has to tread very carefully because it could possibly lead to what is seen as a distressed-debt exchange and be called a default," S&P's managing director and regional manager for Africa, Konrad Reuss, said in an interview on Friday. "That would be quite unsettling for the markets."Eskom, which supplies about 95% of South Africa's power, has amassed 450 billion rand ($30.5 billion) of debt and turned to the government for bailouts to remain solvent as it confronts massive cost overruns at two partially completed coal-fired plants. The government has proposed splitting the utility into generation, transmission and distribution units under a state holding company -- an option rejected by labor unions that fear it will lead to privatization and job losses."We understand various options are being discussed to deal with Eskom's financial distress," Reuss said while attending the World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town. "For us, at this point, it is wait-and-see and get more information."'Need Details'S&P in March changed the outlook on its CCC+ ratings of Eskom to stable from negative after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced the allocation of 69 billion rand over three years to support the company. In July, Mboweni said the government will give Eskom an extra 59 billion rand over two years."Eskom has various kinds of debt -- domestic, foreign, government-guaranteed and unguaranteed -- which makes it highly complex." Reuss said. "The last thing you'd want to see is that unintentionally a default is being triggered. That's why we are all quite keen to get more details."Eskom is regarded as the biggest risk to South Africa's economy and the utility's drag on growth and the nation's finances has stoked fears that the country could lose its last remaining investment-grade credit rating with Moody's Investors Service.Fitch Ratings Ltd. has said the extra support for Eskom will widen the budget deficit for this fiscal year to 6.3% of gross domestic product, compared with the 4.5% of GDP the government projected in February.S&P was the first major ratings company to downgrade South Africa's debt to junk status in 2017.The National Treasury released an economic policy paper last week that proposed Eskom could sell some coal-fired power plants as part of a raft of reforms to boost the economy."The issues in the economy and from a ratings perspective are still the same: low growth and the fiscal trajectory in terms of deficit and debt ratios is still going in the wrong direction," Reuss said. "Whatever the economic plan is, there is urgency. We need to see implementation of measures that bring back growth and a fiscal turnaround."To contact the reporter on this story: Rene Vollgraaff in Johannesburg at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, Gordon Bell, Paul RichardsonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Bill Maher Takes Trump Challenger Joe Walsh to Task for Racist ‘Anti-Obama’ Past Posted: 07 Sep 2019 01:52 AM PDT  Bill Maher has spent plenty of time placating loathsome figures on his HBO show Real Time. But he deserves credit for not letting Trump 2020 primary challenger Joe Walsh off the hook for his history of horrendous commentary on this week's episode. Walsh got a warm welcome from Maher's audience when he joined the show at the midway point Friday night. "Apparently they don't know your history, Joe," the host said when the applause died down. Maher pointed out that Walsh doesn't like that Trump "lies" or that he's a "traitor," but "issue-wise," they're not that far apart. "He's done some good things," Walsh admitted as Maher listed off a variety of conservative positions he shares with the president. "Joe, you were a leader of the anti-Obama nutcase caucus," Maher said as Walsh tried to distance himself from the man who launched his political career on Birtherism.As he's done before, Walsh confessed that he helped pave the way for Trump but unlike others in the media, Maher would not let the candidate paint himself as some sort of anti-Trump savior. Walsh attempted to contrast himself with the current president by saying, "I do not and will not lie every time I open my mouth," but he put that promise to the test when Maher grilled him on the way he repeated about President Obama during the previous administration. "I know you've had to answer a lot of questions about race," Maher said. Last month, Walsh said on MSNBC that he "wouldn't call" himself a racist but conceded that he's "said racist things on Twitter." Maher sarcastically called that a "fine distinction." Bill Maher Goes Full Marianne Williamson on AntidepressantsBill Maher Mocks Fox News' Sean Hannity For Claiming He's Causing a Recession"Just look me in the eye and tell me that the seething, frothing hatred that I remember that you had for Barack Obama had nothing to do with the fact that he was black," Maher said. "Oh, gosh no," Walsh replied incredulously, claiming that his birther-inspired comments labeling Obama a "Muslim" had everything to do with his "policies." The host didn't seem to be buying it. Finally, Maher asked the former Trump supporter why anyone should vote for him if it took him until 2019 to "know that Donald Trump was full of shit." "It's a good question," Walsh said, explaining that he actually "found religion" in 2018. 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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| UPDATE 1-Former Hezbollah official found dead in Beirut flat Posted: 08 Sep 2019 12:38 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Former Hezbollah official found dead in Beirut flat]( "UPDATE 1-Former Hezbollah official found dead in Beirut flat") A former official in the powerful Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah was found dead in his flat in a Beirut neighborhood, the state-run Lebanese news agency said on Sunday. Security forces immediately opened an investigation and were awaiting the arrival of a forensic doctor to determine the cause of death, National News Agency said, giving only the initials of the man. A Hezbollah official who requested anonymity confirmed the death of Ali Hatoum and told Reuters an investigation was under way but that it did not appear to be security related.
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| NEWSMAKER-New Saudi energy minister: a royal with decades of experience in OPEC cuts Posted: 08 Sep 2019 02:06 PM PDT ![NEWSMAKER-New Saudi energy minister: a royal with decades of experience in OPEC cuts]( "NEWSMAKER-New Saudi energy minister: a royal with decades of experience in OPEC cuts") When former Saudi oil minister Ali al Naimi crushed oil prices in 2014 by adding to global oversupply, one man in the kingdom stood firmly against this strategy. Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, King Salman's son and a veteran oil official, who on Sunday was named as new Saudi energy minister, is known in the industry for decades of work helping to foster OPEC production cuts. As he takes the reins at the world's largest oil exporter from Khaled al-Falih, Prince Abdulaziz faces intensifying demands from Saudi royals to prop up oil prices to help ease budget constraints and push through plans to get maximum value from a partial privatisation of state oil giant Aramco.
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| More than 2,000 attend Sarajevo's first Gay Pride march Posted: 08 Sep 2019 12:05 PM PDT  More than two thousand people turned out in Sarajevo Sunday for the city's first Gay Pride march to protest hate crimes suffered by the LGBT community in Bosnia. More than 1,100 officers, including riot police, sealed off the route of the march through the city centre to protect participants from a counter protest by about 150 people. Activist Lejla Huremovic celebrated the fact that members of the LGBT community had been able to make themselves more visible.
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| GOP will stop shooting survivor Gabby Giffords' husband, 'dead in his tracks,' official says Posted: 08 Sep 2019 01:49 PM PDT  Mark Kelly, Arizona Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, is the husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who survived a mass shooting near Tucson.
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| Supreme Court Justice Gorsuch reveals the two rules for his law clerks Posted: 07 Sep 2019 11:49 AM PDT  Host Shannon Bream asks Justice Neil Gorsuch whether he is concerned with public perception of the Supreme Court; 'Neil Gorsuch: Justice for the Republic' airs Sunday, Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. ET on Fox News Channel.
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| Agency reverses course on Trump's Alabama hurricane claim Posted: 06 Sep 2019 06:06 PM PDT  A federal agency reversed course Friday on the question of whether President Donald Trump tweeted stale information about Hurricane Dorian potentially hitting Alabama, upsetting meteorologists around the country. The National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama, tweeted in response: "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from #Dorian.
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| AMLO's Mexico Budget Projects Growth Exceeding Forecasts Posted: 08 Sep 2019 05:18 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador sent Congress a 2020 budget plan on Sunday that assumes a growth scenario many economists see as too optimistic.Mexico's economy will expand 1.5% to 2.5% in 2020, according to the proposal submitted by Finance Minister Arturo Herrera. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey on average see an expansion of 1.5%, with none expecting growth to exceed 1.9%, which is also the International Monetary Fund's forecast as of July.The plan calls for a primary surplus, which excludes debt interest payments, that's equivalent to 0.7% of gross domestic product, compared with the 1% expected for 2019."Overall, a relatively fair budget, but the assumptions on growth and oil production are definitely on the optimistic side," said Alberto Ramos, the chief Latin America economist at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. "The key question for investors and markets will be whether the administration is ultimately strongly committed to deliver the 0.7% of GDP primary fiscal target or not."The plan foresees oil output of 1.951 million barrels per day, implying an increase of about 18% from recent levels. After years of declines, state oil company Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, stabilized its production at 1.66 million barrels a day in the second quarter.Investors have been awaiting the 2020 budget proposal from AMLO, as the leftist is known, to see if there would be any signs of fiscal slippage after the economy stagnated in the first half. His government only had two weeks to prepare the 2019 budget after taking office in December, meaning next year's plan was drafted with much more preparation time.Herrera and other officials had promised in recent days that the 2020 plan would be fiscally responsible and reassuring to investors even as the government seeks to boost social spending and helped Pemex.(Adds context in the last two paragraphs.)To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Carlos Manuel Rodriguez at carlosmr@bloomberg.net, Linus Chua, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| What the 10 Democrats running for president each think the US should do about climate change Posted: 07 Sep 2019 05:52 AM PDT  Democratic primary candidates each discussed how they'd address climate change as president during a CNN town hall this week.
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| Beekeepers are suing Trump administration over decision to allow wider use of insecticides Posted: 08 Sep 2019 11:35 AM PDT  Beekeepers are suing the Trump administration over its decision to allow the wider use of an insecticide linked to the deaths of entire honeybee colonies.The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) removed restrictions on sulfoxaflor in July and approved a host of new uses for the chemical.
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| UPDATE 2-China's August exports unexpectedly shrink as U.S. shipments slump Posted: 07 Sep 2019 09:32 PM PDT ![UPDATE 2-China's August exports unexpectedly shrink as U.S. shipments slump]( "UPDATE 2-China's August exports unexpectedly shrink as U.S. shipments slump") China's exports unexpectedly fell in August as shipments to the United States slowed sharply, pointing to further weakness in the world's second-largest economy and underlining a pressing need for more stimulus as the Sino-U.S. trade war escalates. Beijing is widely expected to announce more support measures in coming weeks to avert the risk of a sharper economic slowdown as the United States ratchets up trade pressure, including the first cuts in some key lending rates in four years.
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| Iran says boat seized in Strait of Hormuz, Filipinos arrested Posted: 07 Sep 2019 07:34 AM PDT  Iran seized a boat and arrested 12 Filipino crewmen as it busted a suspected fuel-smuggling ring in the Strait of Hormuz waterway on Saturday, state media reported. "Coast guards successfully seized a foreign ship in the Strait of Hormuz," said Major Hossein Dehaki, the coast guard chief in the southern province of Hormozgan. Dehaki said the group was suspected of operating a fuel-smuggling ring and the confiscated shipment had been intercepted close to Sirik county in the Strait of Hormuz.
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| New Jersey man scammed $2M from women by posing as a soldier on dating sites, prosecutors say Posted: 08 Sep 2019 11:41 AM PDT  Authorities say the 35-year-old New Jersey man worked with conspirators in Ghana to deceive the victims.
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| ‘Tequila-drinking Navy SEAL’ in the running to oversee elite troops Posted: 08 Sep 2019 03:59 AM PDT  Lou Bremer is the leading contender to be assistant secretary of Defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, according to two current and former defense officials.
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| Playing God Posted: 08 Sep 2019 02:30 AM PDT  Pete Buttigieg, like Elwood Blues, is on a mission from God — or so he seems to think. Penguins beware.Buttigieg has managed to make an impression on the impressionable by insisting that God must surely regard air pollution as, in the idiotic idiom of the time, "messed up." The sin of presumption apparently has been omitted from Mayor Pete's negligent Episcopalian Sunday school curriculum.It is remarkable how far this meretricious kind of thing goes with the mush-brained partisans who dominate our political discourse in anno Domini 2019\. Christian conservatives were writing about the moral relevance of environmental attitudes as early as the 1930s: T. S. Eliot, noting contemporary concerns about soil erosion and unwelcome changes in agricultural practice, argued that "a wrong attitude towards nature implies, somewhere, a wrong attitude towards God." Papal encyclicals and apostolic letters have addressed related subjects. Volumes have been written on them. To this, Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg of Harvard and Pembroke College, Oxford, adds:"Messed up."Dude.The usual hearts twittered in the usual way. Why? Because they feel the sanctifying presence of the Paraclete? No, because they detect in this line of rhetoric an opportunity to wrong-foot Republicans, who take up their crosses and their AR-15s alternately. It is cheap rhetoric, but it is the sort of thing you'll enjoy if you enjoy that sort of thing. "Take it up with Jesus, loser!"You can get a good sense of the intellectual vacuity (and religious sterility, if you're interested in that) of this mode of politics from, e.g., Kirsten Powers's banal and illiterate conversation with Buttigieg, written up for general amusement in USA Today. (You will not be surprised to read that Mayor Pete has "started a crucial conversation," and has proceeded from cliché to cliché.) Powers, when she is not half-chiding her fellow Christian for showing what she considers excessive grace to people who have naughty political ideas (one wonders what she would consider insufficient grace), hits the reader with a few insights that are not exactly blistering in their originality: Jesus, she says, never mentioned abortion (but then, neither does the Constitution), while He did speak a great deal about looking after the poor. Powers writes this as though Christianity had been planted in a cultural vacuum and as though "feed my sheep" were synonymous with "vote for the party of the welfare state no matter what other horrifying business may be on their agenda" — and as though these kinds of issues had not been the subject of centuries of Christian inquiry. The New Testament is silent on the questions of, among other things, child pornography and cannibalism, but Christians are not expected to maintain a morally indifferent attitude toward these. Still less would Christians be expected to maintain such indifference in the face of the Supreme Court's happening upon a right to cannibalism lurking in some unexplored constitutional penumbra and the subsequent establishment of a franchised chain of coast-to-coast cannibalism outlets enjoying public subsidies.Messed up.Willi Schlamm observed that the problem with capitalism is capitalists, and, likewise, the problem with Christianity is and always has been Christians, from Saint Peter forward. Christians should of course be on the defensive about — among other more significant things — our relationship with Donald Trump and Trumpism, where applicable. But politics is about choices and tradeoffs. Buttigieg worries about factory pollution and feeding the poor, but he apparently is unable to do the elementary mental work of connecting the two: Rather than starving to death or dying of exposure, the poor in the developed world enjoy a relatively comfortable and secure standard of material life because of those factories and the pollution they produce. The high-yield modern agricultural techniques that gave poor old T. S. Eliot the willies feed humanity and are the principal reason the only famines the world has known in recent years have been man-made, created by politics. Factories don't only produce pollution, and they don't only produce tractors and life-saving medicines; they produce both, which makes real life more complicated than the cheap moralism that impresses intellectually stunted progressives.How do we balance concern for the environment against concern for economic production, or the desire to act publicly in the interest of the poor and in the pursuit of public goods against the concern for liberty, of which private property is a necessary buttress?Those are questions answered by politics and by politics alone; Scripture is of only indirect use to us there. Christians go to the polls to face the same unappetizing menu as any other group of voters and are under no especial disability on the matter of identifying and acting on their own political interests as they calculate them. Buttigieg represents the latest in a long line of disappointed little inquisitors who believe that they can provoke a politically potent "religious Left" into existence with sophomoric accusations of hypocrisy — as though there were not at least as much compromise within political parties and movements as between them, as though such compromise, including compromise on issues of real moral importance, were not only a necessary but a desirable feature of politics as conducted in a non-totalitarian context.The necessity of tradeoffs and compromise in ordinary politics is not an unlimited moral license. "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil . . . and justify the wicked for reward." Every politician, and every one of their cheerleaders in the media, would do well to meditate on those words. But until the Kingdom of Heaven is established in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin, there are only imperfect choices on offer.In any event, I do hope the divine-right-to-abortion crowd will forgive their co-religionists if we roll our eyes a little while they pretend for five minutes to care what the pope thinks about x, y, or z, but only when it serves partisan Democratic interests to do so, or when they pronounce with Falwellian certitude that Jesus would have supported a cap-and-trade regime or federal subsidies for sex-change operations, or that some notion of Bible-based morality renders tax reform impossible. We could all do with fewer lectures on "grace" from the people who would dispatch federal bayonets to force septuagenarian nuns to underwrite contraception coverage in order to press a petty political advantage for no purpose other than precedent and humiliation.I will not presume to speak on behalf of the Almighty — who has not, as a matter of fact, requested my opinion on the matter — but even taking into account that the Lord works in mysterious ways and that He seems to have a bizarre and occasionally cruel sense of humor, it is difficult to imagine an omnipotence worth having that is constrained to express itself through the instrument of Pete Buttigieg, who looked at creation and saw that it was . . . messed up."Our Lady of Blessed Acceleration, don't fail me now." The Blues Brothers had a mission from God, too — and a much more developed systematic theology than the one clouding the mind of the esteemed gentleman from South Bend, Ind.
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| Federal Weather Workers ‘Shocked’ and ‘Irate’ by NOAA Backing Trump, Union Head Says Posted: 07 Sep 2019 05:55 AM PDT  Eva Marie Uzcategui/GettyThe head of the union that represents federal weather workers said Friday that his members are "shocked, stunned and irate" that the federal agency whose workers they represent put out a statement siding with President Trump in the increasingly bizarre dispute over whether Hurricane Dorian was on track to hit Alabama."Never ever before has their management thrown them under the bus like this," said Dan Sobien, president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, which represents 4,000 employees under the umbrella of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)."These are the people risking their lives flying into hurricanes and putting out forecasts that save lives. Never before has their management undercut their scientifically sound reasoning and forecasts," Sobien told The Daily Beast.Sobien's reaction is the latest development in a storm-fueled sideshow that has consumed the president for much of the week and been dubbed "Sharpie-gate."It began Sunday, when President Trump tweeted out that Dorian was expected to hit Alabama—and the NWS's Birmingham office posted a correction:"Alabama will NOT see any impacts from Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east," the tweet said.Then on Wednesday, Trump held up a weather map in the Oval Office that showed the track of the storm, outlined in white. It appeared someone had used a black marker, like the ones Trump favors, to extend that track into Alabama.Since then, Trump has dug in his heels, blasting out multiple tweets insisting that Dorian was forecast to hit Alabama and issuing a statement from his Homeland Security Adviser that backed up his version.Then on Friday came the statement from an unnamed spokesperson that said the NOAA and the National Hurricane Center had given Trump information that "demonstrated that tropical-storm-force winds from Hurricane Dorian could impact Alabama."The statement went on to criticize the Birmingham office's Sunday tweet, saying it "spoke in absolute terms that were inconsistent with probabilities from the best forecast products available at the time."Soon after, Sobien issued a tweet about the NOAA statement: "I have never been so embarrassed by NOAA. What they did is just disgusting."He later told The Daily Beast that in a Facebook group discussion, workers were so upset they were talking about defacing their NOAA T-shirts with a Sharpie. More seriously, they worried the statement could have real-life consequences."What is very important is when the NWS issues a hurricane warning or flash flood warning—it's very important [that] everyone is on the same page. It's hard enough to convince people to evacuate or take cover. If you have confusion, it could be very bad.""Are people not going to believe the Hurricane Center or our forecasts now?"Trump Used Doctored Hurricane Dorian Forecast Map Backing False Claim That Alabama Was in Its PathRead 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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| Housing aid for Puerto Rican evacuees close to running out Posted: 08 Sep 2019 07:53 AM PDT ![Housing aid for Puerto Rican evacuees close to running out]( "Housing aid for Puerto Rican evacuees close to running out") In the months after Hurricane Maria destroyed her home in Puerto Rico, Ashley Gonzales moved to Connecticut, where federal and state aid helped her and her longtime partner avoid homelessness. Connecticut, which saw over 13,000 people arrive from the U.S. Caribbean territory after the hurricane hit in September 2017, was unique in providing almost a million dollars in aid to help families after the Federal Emergency Management Agency's support ran out last year. The supplementary state aid fund, overseen by the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, drew upon $600,000 in state money allocated by the state legislature and more than $338,000 provided by private donors.
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| Thousands of lightning strikes hit Washington State, triggering delays, power outages Posted: 08 Sep 2019 09:09 AM PDT  The state of Washington was rattled by an estimated 2,200 lightning strikes during a thunderstorm that triggered widespread power outages Saturday night, the National Weather Service reported.Most of the strikes were recorded in the western area of the state; 200 of those were recorded in the Seattle metro area from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. PDT. According to AccuWeather Meteorologist Renee Duff, the thunderstorms erupted in western Washington as a strong push of cool air from the Pacific Ocean moved ashore."The Seattle-Tacoma International Airport picked up 0.59 of an inch of rain during the thunderstorms, which is the most rain at the airport in a single day since April 12 when 0.65 of an inch fell," Duff said.> If you're a really, really heavy sleeper or possess some world class noise cancelling headphones, here's a recap of the past few hours in Western Washington. wawx pic.twitter.com/1WPIrtQl8m> > -- NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) September 8, 2019"Taking a look back at last night between 6 p.m. and 11 p.m., Western Washington estimated number of cloud-to-ground lightning strikes [is] 2,200. That works out to an estimated 440 an hour and 7 to 8 a minute," the National Weather Service in Seattle said in a twitter post.The severe storm caused an "Extreme Weather" delay at Husky Stadium as the University of Washington Huskies played against the California Bears, and caused the Washington State Fair to cancel events and close early."Per NCAA guidelines, the game cannot resume until 30 minutes after the final lightning strike within an 8-mile radius of Husky Stadium," the University of Washington said in a twitter post during the delay. Lightning lights up clouds above Husky Stadium during a weather delay in the first quarter of an NCAA college football game between Washington and California, Saturday, Sept. 7, 2019, in Seattle. Fans were directed to seek shelter in nearby buildings due to severe weather in the area. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) During the storms peak, the storm caused power outages to over 4,500 customers, according to Seattle City Light's power outage map."As we hit the tail-end of this storm, our crews can safely get to these outages that are scattered throughout our service territory," Seattle City Light said in a tweet.There were no reports of deadly lightning strikes with the storm. According to the National Geographic, the odds of becoming a lightning victim in the U.S. in any one year is 1 in 700,000. The odds of being struck in your lifetime is 1 in 3,000."Still, people should keep in mind that any storm can produce potentially deadly lightning strikes, so getting inside at the first clap of thunder is vital," Duff said."The Northwest will remain unsettled with numerous showers and thunderstorms through early week, but these storms are not expected to be as intense as they were late Saturday," Duff said.
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| Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1 photographed off Syrian port Tartus: U.S. satellite firm Posted: 06 Sep 2019 10:01 PM PDT  Maxar's supplied image shows the tanker Adrian Darya 1 very close to Tartus on Sept. 6. The ship appeared to have turned off its transponder in the Mediterranean west of Syria, Refinitiv ship-tracking data showed on Tuesday. The tanker, which is loaded with Iranian crude oil, sent its last signal giving its position between Cyprus and Syria sailing north at 15:53 GMT on Monday, the data showed.
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| Couple accidentally gets $120K deposit; accused of spending most on shopping spree Posted: 08 Sep 2019 03:40 PM PDT  NOT BALLIN': Police say the couple bought an SUV, two 4-wheelers, a camper, a car trailer and more. Now, they're facing felony theft charges.
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| US, Turkey launch joint patrols in northeast Syria Posted: 08 Sep 2019 12:17 PM PDT  Akçakale (Turkey) (AFP) - The United States and Turkey on Sunday began joint patrols in northeastern Syria aimed at easing tensions between Ankara and US-backed Kurdish forces who battled the Islamic State jihadist group. Six Turkish armoured vehicles crossed the border to join US forces in Syria for their first joint patrol under a deal reached between Washington and Ankara, an AFP journalist reported.
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| Boris Johnson Trapped, Merkel Warily Eyes China: Weekend Reads Posted: 07 Sep 2019 05:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had a miserable week with a string of losses in Parliament over his Brexit strategy, compounded by the resignation of his own brother from the government. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is toughening her stance on China, while a Ugandan pop-star-turned-politician is on a mission to topple one of Africa's longest-serving presidents.Dig into these and other aspects of the latest political developments in this edition of Weekend Reads.Britain's Steve Bannon Is Tearing Johnson's Tories ApartThe prime minister's adviser Dominic Cummings has emerged as the new hate figure in British politics and the man many Conservatives blame for wrecking their party and pushing the country into chaos all in the name of delivering Brexit. Robert Hutton and Kitty Donaldson report.Merkel Has Made a U-Turn on China But It May Be Too LateWith governments from the U.S. to Japan and Australia taking a harder line on China, Germany too is toughening its policy toward Beijing on matters such as intellectual property. But as Birgit Jennen, Patrick Donahue and Arne Delfs explain, it's an especially high-risk strategy for Berlin when its export-dependent economy is flirting with recession.Bolsonaro's Words Are the Sparks as Brazil's Farmers Burn AmazoniaThe Amazon has been burning for weeks, and many fires in one of Brazil's most ravaged states, Rondonia, were lit by small farmers who eke out a living on the jungle's fringes with slash-and-burn agriculture. David Biller and Bruce Douglas write that President Jair Bolsonaro's explicit endorsement has emboldened them to burn more than they have in years.Democrats Tout Similarly Bold Climate Plans to Willing AudienceEven as they presented ambitious proposals to reduce carbon emissions to a national audience, Democratic candidates for president tried to balance the boldness of their plans with the need for simplifying a complex scientific problem for voters. As Gregory Korte explains, that meant the conversation was often about cheeseburgers, light bulbs and plastic straws.Kochs Downplay Politics to Find Common Ground in Liberal Silicon ValleyThe Kochs' industrial behemoth is deepening its ties to the world of tech with a new VC fund and a Bay Area charm offensive. Sarah McBride takes a closer look.Italy's New Finance Minister Is a Peace Offering to EuropeIf Italian Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte wanted to prove Europe can do business with his government, his choice of finance minister might be exhibit A. As Alessandro Speciale and Jerrold Colten explain, Roberto Gualtieri's appointment may be crucial in repairing Italian relations with the European Union. Behind the Multibillion-Dollar Legal Award Nigeria Calls a ShamA dying Irishman went for one last big score in Nigeria. The project failed, but a London tribunal says his company's owed $9 billion and counting. Kit Chellel, Joe Light and Ruth Olurounbi reveal the complex plot.Muslims Fear Detention Camps as India Rewrites Citizenship RulesIndia's biggest and most complex registry is dividing families and causing ripples across the political spectrum, fueled by concerns Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party is using the measure to advance a hard-line Hindu agenda. Bibhudatta Pradhan reports.Mud-Slinging Election Shows Nothing Splits Israel Like NetanyahuMissing in the campaigning for Israel's Sept. 17 election is any reference to the fundamental issues the nation faces. Instead, as Ivan Levingston writes, Israel's second national vote in five months has become a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.City Where Chernobyl Was Filmed Fears Real-Life Nuclear Disaster Its streets helped form the backdrop for this year's hit TV show Chernobyl, which depicted a deadly explosion at the Soviet-era nuclear plant in 1986. Now, Milda Seputyte reports, the Baltic city of Vilnius is preparing for its own potential real-life atomic catastrophe. And finally … His life has been threatened and he's been charged with treason, but a Ugandan pop-star-turned-politician is on a mission to do what no one else has managed for more than 30 years: topple the president. David Malingha and Fred Ojambo sat down with Robert Kyagulanyi, known by his stage name Bobi Wine, at his home. To contact the author of this story: Karl Maier in Rome at kmaier2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Halpin at thalpin5@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A brief history of how Trump came up with the false claim that Hurricane Dorian could hit Alabama Posted: 07 Sep 2019 07:38 AM PDT  President Trump falsely claimed that Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian, and has been doubling down since. Here's the timeline of his mishap.
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| These Are the Most Expensive New Cars You Can (Actually) Buy Posted: 07 Sep 2019 05:51 AM PDT |
| Egypt court sentences 11 Islamists to life for prison breaks Posted: 07 Sep 2019 07:18 AM PDT  An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced 11 people to life in prison — including the head of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie — after a retrial on charges related to mass prison breaks at the height of the 2011 popular uprising. The retrial was related to a case rooted in the escape of 20,000 inmates from Egyptian prisons in Jan. 2011, early in the 18-day uprising that toppled longtime autocratic President Hosni Mubarak, who testified in the case in December. This is the latest of several life sentences for Badie.
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