| Remember Burisma? Expect to hear a lot more about it as Biden surges Posted: 06 Mar 2020 10:33 AM PST  Republicans are once again gearing up to attack the former vice president and his son Hunter over their dealings in Ukraine.
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| Coronavirus cases top 100,000 worldwide as markets collapse Posted: 06 Mar 2020 12:55 PM PST  The number of coronavirus cases worldwide surged past 100,000 on Friday, as stock markets collapsed and the World Health Organization told all countries to make containment "their highest priority". A rash of European countries as well as Cameroon, Togo and Peru confirmed their first cases of the virus while the Netherlands announced its first death. The World health Organization called the spread of the coronavirus "deeply concerning".
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| With cries of 'it's fake', Wuhan citizens voice discontent Posted: 06 Mar 2020 06:57 AM PST  While some expressions of anger against local-level officials during the epidemic have been permitted on China's heavily censored social media, the video was a rare glimpse of unscripted anger involving a top central government official. The clip, shot by an unknown individual, went viral on Chinese social media, and was even allowed by censors to trend on the top 10 searches on Friday morning on Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter. Wuhan city officials have sent people door-to-door to investigate immediately, the article said.
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| School removes Bible verse after complaint Posted: 04 Mar 2020 09:19 PM PST  The verse on the wall of the locker room read: "But the Lord is with me like a Mighty Warrior. Jeremiah 20:11."
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| OJ Simpson ridiculed after stockpiling toilet paper and water amid coronavirus outbreak Posted: 06 Mar 2020 09:06 AM PST  OJ Simpson is facing ridicule after sharing a photo of himself stockpiling toilet paper and water amid the coronavirus outbreak.The 72-year-old posted a photo of himself with the groceries on Twitter on Friday.
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| Former Fox White House reporter Wendell Goler dies Posted: 05 Mar 2020 10:09 AM PST  Wendell Goler, a longtime White House correspondent for Fox News Channel who reported on government since the presidency of Ronald Reagan, has died at age 70. Goler was a Fox News original, joining the network at its inception in 1996 and working his way up to senior White House foreign affairs correspondent.
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| South Korea condemns 'irrational' Japan virus quarantine Posted: 05 Mar 2020 09:59 PM PST  Seoul will summon Japan's ambassador to protest over "irrational" plans to impose coronavirus quarantine on arrivals from South Korea, it said Friday, accusing Tokyo of ulterior motives. The two countries have close economic ties and are both major US allies, democracies and market economies faced with a rising China and nuclear-armed North Korea.
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| Britain’s Best 100 Buildings of the Past Century Posted: 06 Mar 2020 10:12 AM PST |
| Trump's mental state — not Biden's — is the real concern, mental health professionals say Posted: 05 Mar 2020 02:36 PM PST  Mental health professionals who have expressed concern over what they see as Donald Trump's declining mental state say that similar fears about Joe Biden are overblown.
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| A 94-year-old former Nazi camp guard who's living in Tennessee is going to be deported to Germany Posted: 05 Mar 2020 03:05 PM PST  Friedrich Karl Berger served as an armed guard at a sub-camp of Neuengamme near Meppen, Germany, during World War II.
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| Airlines are burning thousands of gallons of fuel flying empty 'ghost' planes so they can keep their flight slots during the coronavirus outbreak Posted: 06 Mar 2020 10:03 AM PST  Airlines are running empty "ghost" flights because of European rules forcing operators to run their allocated flights or risk losing their slots.
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| Ruth Bader Ginsburg says first-trimester abortion is 'far-safer than childbirth' while eviscerating controversial Louisiana bill Posted: 06 Mar 2020 07:50 AM PST  Ruth Bader Ginsburg dismantled a controversial Louisiana abortion bill during an hour of arguments at the US Supreme Court this week, systematically striking down components of the law she previously opposed during a preliminary vote.The 86-year-old Supreme Court justice, who recently returned to the nation's highest court after announcing she was cancer-free in January, seemed to aggressively push back against demands from lawyers representing the Trump administration and state of Louisiana to approve the legislation during Wednesday's arguments.
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| Coronavirus panic sparks racist incidents against Asian Americans Posted: 05 Mar 2020 10:05 PM PST  "They're just scared to get infected by Chinese people," restaurant owner Kin Lam told CBS News.
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| Police seek suspects following attack on teenage girl Posted: 06 Mar 2020 01:50 PM PST  Police are currently trying to find suspects who attacked a teenage girl in NYC.
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| Biden takes an overwhelming lead in FiveThirtyEight's primary prediction model Posted: 06 Mar 2020 09:08 AM PST  The Democratic nomination is pretty much settled, at least in FiveThirtyEight's eyes.In its first update of its prediction model since Super Tuesday, FiveThirtyEight gives former Vice President Joe Biden an 88 percent chance of getting the majority of delegates he needs to win the Democratic nomination. The once-frontrunning possibility of a contested convention has fallen to 10 percent, while Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has fallen to a distant two percent.Biden had very slim chances of earning the primary outright before Super Tuesday. But winning 14 states and surpassing Sanders in the delegate count has shot him to the biggest lead any candidate has seen so far in the race. When looking at FiveThirtyEight's prediction of winning just a plurality of the delegates and forcing a contested convention, Biden's chances rise even higher to 94 percent.FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver does advise taking the forecast with "a bit of caution" until some more post-Super Tuesday polling comes in. After all, results from that night and most polls that have come out in the few days after have included candidates who have since dropped out of the race. Some states also haven't even finished counting all their votes and finalizing results, and the Super Tuesday results themselves could influence voters in upcoming polls, Silver also notes.More stories from theweek.com China's coronavirus recovery is 'all fake,' whistleblowers and residents claim South by Southwest canceled amid coronavirus concerns Bond yields, oil prices, and stocks all fall after a tumultuous week
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| Top Trump Communications Strategist Set to Leave White House Posted: 06 Mar 2020 03:30 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Deputy White House communications director Adam Kennedy, who was part of the administration's rapid response efforts during the impeachment trial, is leaving his post for a job in the private sector, an official said.Kennedy's last day will be Friday, but he'll remain on staff until the end of the month, the official added.Kennedy wasn't a familiar face on cable news networks but played a behind-the-scenes role for the administration, most notably during the Senate impeachment trial that resulted in the acquittal of President Donald Trump."Adam has been a key component of the president's communication efforts since the beginning of the Administration, particularly running rapid response during impeachment, and will be greatly missed," acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said in a statement.Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, said in a statement to Bloomberg News that Kennedy was "a fantastic colleague" who was "instrumental in providing strategic communications to advance the president's priorities."Kennedy is one of the few remaining original Trump White House staffers. He joined in 2017 for a role in the White House's communications research arm. Before that, he was the deputy director of research for policy at the Republican National Committee.His departure comes as Trump's re-election campaign gets into full swing, and as the administration has faced criticism over its response to the coronavirus.To contact the reporters on this story: Jordan Fabian in Washington at jfabian6@bloomberg.net;Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Mueller report: justice department ordered to turn over unredacted copy Posted: 05 Mar 2020 04:49 PM PST  Department told to provide report by 30 March so judge can assess what material can be released to publicThe Department of Justice has been ordered to turn over an unredacted copy of the Mueller report in a ruling that accuses the attorney general, William Barr, of misrepresenting the findings of the report before handing it over to Congress. The department has been ordered to hand over the report by 30 March, so a judge can assess what can be further released publicly.The court decision is the result of a BuzzFeed News lawsuit seeking to remove redactions from the report, which details the special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential elections.In his opinion explaining the ruling, the federal judge Reggie Walton wrote that Barr's public comments in April 2019 about the report did not fit with the actual findingsand were misleading to the public."The inconsistencies between attorney general Barr's statements, made at a time when the public did not have access to the redacted version of the Mueller report to assess the veracity of his statements, and portions of the redacted version of the Mueller report that conflict with those statements cause the court to seriously question whether attorney general Barr made a calculated attempt to influence public discourse about the Mueller report in favor of President Trump despite certain findings in the redacted version of the Mueller report to the contrary," Walton said.Walton, who was appointed by George W Bush, delivered a harsh condemnation of Barr. "These circumstances generally, and attorney general Barr's lack of candor specifically, call into question attorney general Barr's credibility," he wrote in the legal opinion.Mueller wrapped his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election in April of last year. Following the conclusion of Mueller's work, Barr released a four-page summary that largely cleared Trump of potential obstruction of justice, one of the key charges against him.Mueller's report did not find evidence that Trump's campaign criminally conspired with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, but Mueller declined to come to a definite conclusion on the question of obstruction of justice. The redacted copy of the report that was eventually released described 11 instances in which Trump or his campaign engaged in potential obstruction of justice; Trump characterized the report as "total exoneration", a line Democrats fiercely contested.At the time, Mueller criticized Barr's summary in a letter, writing that it "did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance" of the special counsel's findings, according to reported excerpts."There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation," Mueller added. "This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the department appointed the special counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations."
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| South Korea to void visas of Japanese visitors in virus retaliation Posted: 05 Mar 2020 04:32 PM PST  Seoul suspended a visa-waiver programme for Japanese nationals Friday in retaliation for what it called an "irrational" plan by Tokyo to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, escalating a diplomatic row over their containment measures. The two countries have close economic ties and are both major US allies, democracies and market economies faced with a rising China and nuclear-armed North Korea. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday announced that foreign arrivals who have recently been in China or South Korea would be required to spend 14 days in quarantine.
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| Texas woman gets life in prison in beheading of daughter Posted: 06 Mar 2020 01:37 PM PST  A Texas woman accused of stabbing and beheading her 5-year-old daughter in 2017 has been convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. A Hays County jury on Thursday convicted Krystle Villanueva, 27, in the death of her daughter, Giovanna Hernandez. Jurors also found Villanueva guilty of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the stabbing of the girl's grandfather, who survived.
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| 'Despicable' - Women seethe over Mexican leader's wobbly response to violence Posted: 06 Mar 2020 02:39 PM PST  Mexico's president sells himself as lifelong champion of the rights of women, who he calls "more honest" than men. Support for an unprecedented women's "strike" on Monday has swelled, even as Lopez Obrador has tried to paint the event as a cynical attempt by political opponents to discredit him and capitalize on problems he says they created. Such comments strike many as tone-deaf and lacking empathy, exposing a weak spot for a government already battling to tackle gang violence, impunity and a stagnant economy.
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| Vatican City, home to Pope Francis, reports first case of coronavirus Posted: 06 Mar 2020 05:00 AM PST  Vatican City, the city state that is home to Pope Francis, on Friday declared its first case of the coronavirus.
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| 21 people aboard a cruise ship off the California coast tested positive for the coronavirus after tests were helicoptered in Posted: 06 Mar 2020 02:51 PM PST  Vice President Mike Pence said on Friday that 46 people were swabbed, and 19 crew members and two passengers tested positive.
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| See These Missiles? This Is How North Korea Could Attack with Nearly 'No Warning' Posted: 06 Mar 2020 01:30 AM PST  Not nuclear weapons.
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| Biden appears to close the door on Warren joining his administration: ‘We need her continued work in the Senate’ Posted: 05 Mar 2020 01:42 PM PST  Joe Biden hailed Elizabeth Warren as "the fiercest of fighters for middle class families" after she decided to suspend her presidential campaign, while seemingly closing the door to the senator joining his potential White House administration.The former vice president celebrated Ms Warren in a statement posted to his Twitter account shortly after she announced her decision to end a bid for the Democratic nomination on Thursday, writing: "Her work in Washington, in Massachusetts, and on the campaign trail has made a real difference in people's lives."
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| Pompeo says US will take 'all necessary measures' to bar war crimes probe of military Posted: 05 Mar 2020 11:14 AM PST  Pompeo's remarks came after an international court ruled its prosecutors could investigate possible war crimes committed in Afghanistan.
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| A white woman demanded a nonblack server at Olive Garden. A manager fulfilled her 'disgusting' request and was fired for it. Posted: 05 Mar 2020 09:21 AM PST  The 16-year-old hostess said the woman asked her if she was "even black" and added that she "should work at a strip club instead."
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| China's coronavirus recovery is 'all fake,' whistleblowers and residents claim Posted: 06 Mar 2020 11:13 AM PST  China's claims of how it's handling coronavirus recovery should be taken with more than a few grains of salt.Even before COVID-19 became a global crisis, Chinese leaders had been criticized for their handling of the situation and lack of transparency about the disease's progression. Things now look like they're on the upswing, and businesses even appear to be headed back to work — but whistleblowers and local officials tell Caixan that's just a carefully crafted ruse.Beijing has spent much of the outbreak pushing districts to carry on business as usual, with some local governments subsidizing electricity costs and even installing mandatory productivity quotas. Zhejiang, an province east of the epicenter city of Wuhan, claimed as of Feb. 24 it had restored 98.6 percent of its pre-coronavirus work capacity.But civil servants tell Caixan that businesses are actually faking these numbers. Beijing had started checking Zhejiang businesses' electricity consumption levels, so district officials ordered the companies to start leaving their lights and machinery on all day to drive the numbers up, one civil servant said. Businesses have reportedly falsified staff attendance logs as well — they "would rather waste a small amount of money on power than irritate local officials," Caixan writes.In Wuhan, officials have tried to make it appear that recovery efforts are going smoothly. But when "central leaders" personally survey disinfecting regimens and food delivery, local officials "make a special effort" for them and them alone, one resident told Caixan. And in a video circulating on social media, residents can be seen shouting at visiting leaders from the apartments where they're being quarantined — "Fake, it's all fake." Read more at Caixan.More stories from theweek.com South by Southwest canceled amid coronavirus concerns Bond yields, oil prices, and stocks all fall after a tumultuous week White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow claims coronavirus is 'contained,' says Americans should 'stay at work'
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| Mom of missing kids gets bond reduced to $1 million in Idaho Posted: 06 Mar 2020 03:10 PM PST  A judge on Friday reduced bail to $1 million for the mother of two missing children after her lawyer contended at her first hearing in Idaho that the amount had been set too high because of media attention. Wearing faded orange-and-white striped jail garb and bright pink lipstick, Lori Vallow Daybell spoke little but nodded emphatically whenever her attorneys mentioned her desire to vigorously defend herself against the child abandonment charges. On the other side of the room were Kay and Larry Woodcock, the grandparents of 7-year-old Joshua "JJ" Vallow.
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| Coronavirus cases surge across U.S. as Americans face looming outbreak Posted: 05 Mar 2020 06:50 AM PST  The coronavirus outbreak radiated across the United States on Thursday, surfacing in at least four new states and San Francisco as Congress quickly approved more than $8 billion to fight the outbreak. The death toll from the respiratory illness rose to 12 in the United States, with the latest fatality recorded in King County, Washington, where six people have died in an outbreak at a nursing facility in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.
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| One chart shows 11 countries' current coronavirus death rates, based on the known number of cases and deaths Posted: 06 Mar 2020 04:15 PM PST  The death rate for the coronavirus varies around the world — but that's likely because some countries are testing more people than others.
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| Hillary Clinton Gets Tipsy and Throws Shade at Bernie and Trump on ‘Watch What Happens Live’ Posted: 05 Mar 2020 09:47 PM PST  "Can I call you Hillary?"Hillary Clinton's appearance on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen was never going to be the typical interview with the former secretary of state and presidential candidate, what with the talk show's penchant for getting guests liquored up and loose enough to swan-dive into rumor pools they ordinarily would never even dip a toe into. It was never not going to be the hardest-hitting, news-making sit-down with Clinton, who was promoting Hulu's documentary series Hillary, which chronicles her life and 2016 presidential campaign and launches Friday. But that was precisely what made the appearance such a delight. It's not every day you see Hillary Clinton take a shot with a Real Housewife and kiki with some drag queens in the Bravo Clubhouse. The interview was taped Wednesday, which means Clinton wasn't asked to weigh in on the biggest news on the minds of many viewers by the time it aired Thursday night: Elizabeth Warren's announcement that she was suspending her own presidential campaign, leaving it statistically near-impossible for a woman to swing open the door she cracked open in 2016. (But you do you, Tulsi.)But Cohen has always had a talent for making his guests comfortable enough to use his show as a pitching mound to throw shade—this is the show, remember, that birthed Mariah Carey's "I don't know her" dig at J. Lo—and Clinton seemed happy to take aim at a few choice batters.Asked what she really thinks of Melania Trump's "Be Best" anti-bullying campaign, Clinton quipped, "I think she should look closer to home." And she divulged that, while she's spoken with varying degrees of regularity to most of the Democratic candidates throughout primary season, "I've not been in touch with a few of them, most notably Bernie Sanders." Had Sanders reached out to her, she clarifies, she would have gladly spoken to him. Still, the comment echoes a saltiness that's already generated plenty of headlines, when it was revealed that, in one episode of Hillary, she slams Sanders pretty harshly."Honestly, Bernie drove me crazy," she says. "He was in the Senate for years. Years! He had one senator support him. Nobody likes him. Nobody wants to work with him. He got nothing done. He was a career politician. He did not work until he was like 41, and then he got elected to something. It was all just baloney, and I feel so bad that people got sucked into it." Asked about the comment afterwards, she's stood by it. It's clear that Clinton knew what kind of party she was being invited to when she showed up on Cohen's show, and she seemed totally game to engage in all of its demented joy. The episode opened with Cohen tossing off a series of HRC-themed puns, soundtracked by Clinton's clearly amused laughter off-camera: "Let's make like a glass ceiling and get smashed." "I'm with her, literally." And, in reference to the show's drinking game, an encouragement for audience members to "drink until all Hill breaks loose." We Need to Talk About Hillary Clinton's Disturbing Harvey Weinstein TiesHillary Clinton Slams Bernie and Dismisses Email Scandal in New Doc: 'All These Things About Us Get Disproved'Cohen asked Clinton what was going through her mind during iconic photos throughout her political history. About being at Trump's inauguration, she says she was thinking, "This is even worse than I thought." About the presidential debate in which he notoriously stalked behind her while she spoke, she remembers thinking, "This guy really has problems." And as for the famous photo of her looking exasperated during the 11-hour Benghazi Senate hearing, she captions it, "I cannot believe these idiots."I don't know if this is the first time the meme of Clinton cringe-inducingly shimmying with excitement during one of the 2016 debates was brought up in her presence, but it was definitely the first time it was used as the theme for a Never Have I Ever-inspired parlor game in which she would recreate the shimmy every time she's done the thing Cohen prompts her with. The revelations were nothing particularly scandalous, but they were pretty fun. She's forgotten the name of a world leader she's meeting before. She's taken a roadie with her in a motorcade. She's gotten tipsy with Obama. She's gone skinny-dipping, but not in the White House pool. She's been to a gay bar. It was all very cute!She followed tradition and delivered what she said would be her Real Housewives tagline, hilariously turning her back to the camera so she could dramatically whip herself around to deliver it: "I'm neither as good or as bad as people say." (This is what she also reveals in Hillary as what she wants etched on her gravestone.)There's a bit of news in her earnest defense of Nancy Pelosi's controversial State of the Union gesture, tearing up the text of Trump's speech after he finished. "I thought she was making a very strong point in demonstrating that so much of what he said was untethered from reality and just plain factually wrong," she said. "Sometimes it's the only way to get attention because otherwise his speech, which was filled with so many errors, would have been taken at face value. Because she visibly did that, which then went viral across the internet, people said, wait a minute, maybe we better take another look. I thought it was an interesting and effective gesture." Even when she was deflecting the few more uncomfortable questions, she was quippy and fun. "I'm the last person to comment on anybody's relationship," she responded to a question about Melania repeated swatting Trump's hand. The entire thing ended in a drag pageant, with RuPaul's Drag Race alumni Trinity the Tuck, Peppermint, and Alaska modeling looks inspired by Clinton's college days, time as first lady, and modern style, respectively. The plastered politician's smile immediately elasticized, nearly spreading off Clinton's face as she cackled breathlessly at the whole ordeal. She seemed to be having the time of her life. The entire thing was a blast. Sometimes it's just fun to see a world leader be allowed to enjoy herself with such abandon, freed of shackles of political propriety. More, in the wake of the Warren news Thursday, it was a much-needed elixir for many crestfallen Bravo viewers. As one tweeted me during the show, "It could not have been better timed for this thoroughly disappointed woman tonight."There is a necessity for Clinton to engage in the heavy news of the current election cycle, and there has been and will be ample opportunity for that. But sometimes it's just nice to have a little fun. Preferably in the presence of some drag queens. Hillary Clinton Basically Endorses Biden After Vowing to Stay NeutralRead 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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| The U.S. Military Is Dead Wrong: Hypersonic Weapons Can Be Defeated Posted: 06 Mar 2020 02:08 AM PST  Hypersonic weapons steadily are getting better and more numerous and, in the future, could pose a serious threat to U.S. forces. But it's not impossible to defend against them.
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| How the coronavirus could impact the Las Vegas tourism economy Posted: 06 Mar 2020 04:29 PM PST  What impact could coronavirus travel fallout really have on Las Vegas – a land that depends on people coming and going all the time?
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| 82-year-old with record of bank robberies convicted again Posted: 06 Mar 2020 01:39 PM PST  An 82-year-old man who spent most of his adult life behind bars for robbing banks was convicted again for carrying out an armed heist at an Arizona credit union as he struggled to adjust to life outside prison. Robert Francis Krebs faces a maximum 25 years in prison after a jury found him guilty Wednesday of armed bank robbery. The January 2018 holdup in Tucson came about seven months after he was released from prison.
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| Romney to support subpoena in Senate probe of Hunter Biden Posted: 06 Mar 2020 10:39 AM PST  U.S. Senator Mitt Romney will vote to allow a subpoena in a Senate Republican investigation of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden's businessman son, Hunter Biden, his office said on Friday. A day after Romney told reporters that the probe appeared to be political, a spokeswoman said the Utah Republican decided to back the subpoena after being assured that the records and witness interview sought would not create a public spectacle. President Donald Trump, without evidence, has attacked as corrupt Hunter Biden's role as a board director for a Ukrainian gas company while his father was the U.S. vice president.
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| Limited coronavirus testing in the US has meant its death rate appears alarmingly high — but it will likely drop Posted: 05 Mar 2020 05:11 PM PST  Limited coronavirus testing in the US so far means people with mild cases probably haven't been confirmed as infected so aren't counted.
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| Bloomberg Staffers Claim Campaign ‘Was a Grift,’ Admit to Canvassing for Other Campaigns Posted: 06 Mar 2020 09:08 AM PST  Staffers for former New York city mayor Mike Bloomberg's failed presidential campaign have described how the campaign imploded after Bloomberg's Nevada debate performance, and detailed how Bloomberg's vast campaign resources were taken advantage of."Most people knew this was a grift," a campaign official told The Nation's Ken Klippenstein — who reported extensively on Bloomberg throughout the campaign. Staff pointed to the debate as the moment of implosion, after Elizabeth Warren slammed Bloomberg as "a billionaire who calls women 'fat broads' and 'horse-faced lesbians,'" and challenged him over his multiple non-disclosure agreements stemming from sexual harassment claims."The day after when we made calls people were like, 'Oh yeah, I was thinking about him, but I'm not really sure anymore,'" a staffer said."Ever since the first debate all of us faced a ton of hostility" a field organizer added. "I once had a woman chase me back to my car demanding that I say you can't buy the presidency."Despite paying his staff the best salaries and providing amenities — like free housing and meals and new iPhones — Bloomberg lacked loyalty and enthusiasm among his employees."At our first office meeting, my [director] said, 'We don't need to canvass. We can just make calls, right guys?' And everyone was like, 'Yeah, that's sensible,'" an official said.Staffers also admitted to siphoning away resources from the campaign to serve their own interests, with Bloomberg's organizers in San Diego reportedly using Bloomberg's funds for other local campaigns."I would actively canvass for Bernie when I was supposed to be canvassing for Mike. I know of at least one team of 'volunteers' that was entirely fabricated by the organizers who had to hit their goals. It was easy enough to fudge the data to make it look like real people put in real volunteer work, when in reality Mike was getting nothing out of it," one person said.Others detailed how Bloomberg's social media campaign — which included paying $2,500 a month in exchange for staffers to text personal contacts and post daily on social media about Bloomberg — was so lackluster that accounts would be flagged as spam and suspended for copying and pasting campaign talking points.
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| Asian-Americans Terrified of Coronavirus Backlash Stock Up on Guns Posted: 06 Mar 2020 08:18 AM PST  This story was published in partnership with The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering guns in America.As the number of confirmed 2019 novel coronavirus cases continues to multiply, many Americans are emptying store shelves of hand sanitizer, bleach, and canned goods. But there's an acute fear among Asian Americans that the virus' origins in China will spark a violent xenophobic backlash. Along the West Coast, where the worst outbreaks of the coronavirus in the U.S. have occurred, those fears seem to be spurring a surge in gun sales. "People are panicking because they don't feel secure," said David Liu, who is Chinese American and owns Arcadia Firearm and Safety, which is just east of Los Angeles. "They worry about a riot or maybe that people will start to target the Chinese."Liu said his store had seen a fivefold increase in sales over the past two weeks. He's sold out of Glock handguns, and some customers have requested to buy his entire inventory of ammunition branded for home defense. "They think it's Costco," he said. Coronavirus Is Scary Enough for Some People to Risk DeportationAccording to Liu, the surge customers are overwhelmingly of Chinese descent. They worry, he explained, that in the event of mass panic, they might face violence because of their ethnicity and be easy victims because of their historically low rates of gun ownership. Surveys of gun ownership don't usually track Asian Americans separately, but instead include them in an "other" category that is typically very small. As The Los Angeles Times has reported, since the first novel coronavirus outbreaks in the United States, Asian Americans have experienced intensifying venom, including bullying, racist comments, and harassment. On February 24, a man of East Asian descent was assaulted in central London. One of the assailants reportedly said, "I don't want your coronavirus in my country.""The main thing I'm hearing is that they don't wanna get jumped because of their race," said Cole Gaughran, the internet sales manager at Wade's Eastside Guns in Bellevue, Washington. Gaughran said his store has seen a sixfold increase in sales in the same two weeks. His new customers, most of them first-time gun owners, were almost entirely of Asian descent, he said. Bellevue is just a 15 minute drive from Kirkland, where at least 11 people have died from the virus. There's no way to get an accurate accounting for how many people buy guns on a weekly basis, or in real time. However, in Washington, local police departments do process background checks for most first-time gun buyers. In Bellevue, police say they've registered the spike in demand. Meeghan Black, the police department's public information officer, said that since August of last year, the department has processed a steady average of around 158 checks per month. But in the first four days of March, they handled more than a hundred. "The officer who processes these checks said he's been processing the last ten years, and has never seen anything like this in his life," she added.A stack of firearm transfers slated for processing from this past weekend's sales. Black said the department normally sees about six of these every weekend.In nearby Lynnwood, Washington, the local police department saw no such increase in firearm sales. But at least one local gun shop did. Tiffany Teasdale, the co-owner of Lynnwood Gun & Ammunition, said she, too, has seen a sixfold increase in sales over the past two weeks, predominantly from Chinese-American customers. "We've had a line of customers before opening Thursday through Sunday, and customers in the store until 10 to 15 minutes after closing." she said. "We used to sell from 10 to 15 firearms in a weekend. [We sold] 60 firearms just [last] Saturday."Teasdale said that nearby stores had seen increases as well, and her distributors had run out of 9mm ammunition. "It's been happening for the last four or five days," Teasdale said." A lot of our distributors nationally are saying that all of their warehouses are empty. None of them know why."So far, police departments and civil rights groups in cities experiencing increased gun sales had received no reports of violent attacks against Asians. The Bellevue Police Department said they hadn't received a single complaint since the first U.S. case of coronavirus made headlines.Robin Engle, a spokesperson for OneAmerica—a Seattle-based nonprofit focused on immigrant rights—said that while the organization was aware of people avoiding Asian restaurants, it had not heard about any hate crimes in the Seattle area. When told about the reports from gun-store owners, she said, "It is alarming that people are afraid that that can happen to the point that they're going out and buying guns."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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| China Hates India's Fast and Sneaky Brahmos Missiles Posted: 06 Mar 2020 12:00 PM PST  No way to counter it?
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| Canceling a cruise due to coronavirus? Here’s a list of updated policies Posted: 06 Mar 2020 05:05 PM PST  Following the COVID-19 outbreak, cruise lines like Disney, Norwegian and Viking are implementing strict travel restrictions to protect passengers and crew members.
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| Harvey Weinstein is finally going to Rikers Island after undergoing a surprise heart procedure Posted: 05 Mar 2020 11:14 AM PST  Harvey Weinstein was convicted of criminal sexual act and rape, but was taken to Bellevue Hospital due to high blood pressure and heart palpitations.
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