| Joe Biden's sexual assault allegation puts Senate candidate Amy McGrath in a tough spot Posted: 08 May 2020 02:17 PM PDT  McGrath said sexual assault should be called out no matter if alleged against a Republican or a Democrat, but the candidate is reticent about Biden.
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| Teenager Ran Away to Be With Boy She Met on Dating Site. A Week Later She Was Dead. Posted: 08 May 2020 11:14 AM PDT  A South Dakota teenager has admitted to slaying a 16-year-old girl who "ran away" from home to live with him after they met on an online dating website, authorities said.Michael Campbell, 17, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Thursday for the death of Shayna Ritthaler, a 16-year-old from Moorcroft, Wyoming, who was reported missing from a local coffee shop on Oct. 3. Less than a week later, her body was found in the basement bedroom of Campbell's home."We got into an argument and then I shot her," Campbell said during a change-of-plea hearing on Thursday, before referring to the teenager as his girlfriend, according to the Associated Press. "I shot her in the head."Meade County State's Attorney Michele Bordewyk said in court that the two teenagers met on an online chat and dating website, Badoo. After weeks of talking online, the pair eventually planned for Campbell to drive to Wyoming so Ritthaler could "run away and live with him in his house," prosecutors said in court on Thursday, the Argus Leader reported.On Oct. 3, Ritthaler was seen getting into Campbell's car at a coffee shop about four hours outside of Cheyenne. Prosecutors say the 17-year-old then drove her back to his home in Sturgis, South Dakota, about an hour away.But back at Campbell's home that he shared with his mother, the teenagers got into an argument. While Bordewyk said it wasn't clear what sparked the argument, it escalated when Campbell grabbed a gun and shot Ritthaler once in the head. The 17-year-old shot her "without the design to cause her death," Bordewyk said, according to AP. When asked by Judge Kevin Krull if he had any justification for killing Ritthaler, Campbell replied: "No."On October 6, authorities found Campbell's car and questioned him. The next day, Ritthaler's body was found in his basement and the 17-year-old was arrested immediately.Many details surrounding the shooting remain unclear because a Meade County judge sealed the case's affidavit on Oct. 10 at the request of the county prosecutor who cited the "potential publicity" of a case that had a "sensitive nature."After his arrest in October, Campbell pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity with first and second-degree murder but changed his plea in Meade County Court as part of an agreement with prosecutors. The plea agreement dismissed the murder charges and recommended a 55-year prison sentence. He will be sentenced on July 10. Steven Titus, the teenager's defense lawyer, said Thursday that the killing was unplanned and said drugs and alcohol were involved. Krull also said that Campbell suffers from PTSD, but Titus said he would wait until sentencing to discuss his client's mental state.Titus said he planned to make a "compelling case" as to why the plea deal and the 55-year sentence was fair, while Bordewyk said three of Ritthaler's family members will make victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing. Campbell was being held on a $1 million bond at a juvenile jail in Rapid City. As part of his change of plea on Thursday, Krull told the teenager he was barred from making contact with the Ritthaler family for the rest of his life and he owed them more than $83,000 in restitution. 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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| Russian hackers accessed emails from Merkel's constituency office: Der Spiegel Posted: 08 May 2020 02:03 AM PDT  Russia's GRU military intelligence service appears to have got hold of many emails from Chancellor Angela Merkel's constituency office in a 2015 hack attack on Germany's parliament, Der Spiegel magazine reported on Friday, without citing its sources. A spokesman for the German government had no immediate comment. Der Spiegel said federal criminal police and the federal cyber agency had been able to partially reconstruct the attack and found that two email inboxes from Merkel's office had been targeted.
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| Brazil's Amazon: Surge in deforestation as military prepares to deploy Posted: 08 May 2020 02:17 PM PDT  The military is preparing to deploy to the region to try to stop illegal logging and mining.
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| Woman heartbroken by Smithfield Foods' response to grandfather's death from coronavirus Posted: 08 May 2020 01:42 PM PDT  "I want you to know he died in the hospital alone, isolated, and scared," she wrote in an Instagram message to Smithfield Foods.
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| Jetliner hits and kills person as it lands at Austin airport Posted: 08 May 2020 09:33 AM PDT  Southwest Airlines says pilot spotted the person shortly after it touched down and maneuvered to try to avoid the person.
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| 3 nurses strangled in Mexico; border mayor gets coronavirus Posted: 08 May 2020 02:00 PM PDT  Three sisters who worked in Mexico's government hospital system were found murdered by strangling, authorities in the northern border state of Coahuila announced Friday, stirring new alarm in a country where attacks on health care workers have occurred across the nation amid the coronavirus outbreak. Two of the sisters were nurses for the Mexican Social Security Institute and the third was a hospital administrator, but there was no immediate evidence the attack was related to their work. The National Union of Social Security Employees called the killings "outrageous and incomprehensible."
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| Feinstein Blasts Tara Reade: ‘Where Has She Been All These Years?’ Posted: 07 May 2020 02:55 PM PDT  Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) on Thursday attacked former Joe Biden staffer Tara Reade, who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Biden in the spring of 1993.Feinstein said the allegations were "totally different" than those against Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh."Kavanaugh was under the harshest inspection that we give people over a substantial period of time," Feinstein told CNN on Thursday. "And I don't know this person at all [Reade] who has made the allegations [against Biden]. She came out of nowhere. Where has she been all these years? He was vice president."Christine Blasey Ford, Kavanaugh's accuser, claimed that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982, an allegation that was known by Feinstein's office before it was publicly reported in September 2018. Feinstein later denied that she or anyone in her office had withheld Ford's allegation for political purposes or had leaked the allegation to the press.Reade, meanwhile, called on Biden to drop out of the presidential race in an interview with Megyn Kelly released Thursday."I want to say: You were there, Joe Biden. Please, step forward and be held accountable. You should not be running on character for the president of the United States," Reade said.
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| Trump’s Live Reaction to Record Unemployment: Don’t Blame Me Posted: 08 May 2020 06:32 AM PDT  It took President Donald Trump 22 minutes into his hour-long phone call with Fox & Friends on Friday morning to even mention the still-raging coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 75,000 Americans. But, as news broke that the lockdown caused record 14.7 percent unemployment rolled in while he was live on air, the subject became unavoidable.His reaction to the news of unprecedented hardship across the nation? Sure, it sucks, but it's not his fault. "It's fully expected," he said when confronted with the alert that 20.5 million jobs had been lost in April, sending the unemployment rate up to 14.7 percent. "It's no surprise... Even the Democrats are not blaming me for that."Despite disowning any blame for the current state of the economy, Trump went on to boast at length about the strength of it before it was decimated by the coronavirus pandemic. "We created the greatest economy in the history of the world," he said. "We were blowing away China, we were blowing away everybody, we were the envy of the world and then they came in and they explained it and they said, 'Sir, you have to turn it off, we have to close the country.'"Trump promised, "Those jobs will all be back and they'll be back very soon and next year we're going to have a phenomenal year. People are ready to go, we've got to get it open, people are ready to go."The president repeatedly stressed how important he believes it is that the economy reopens as soon as possible, despite the fact that the pandemic is still raging. He described the virus as "a much smarter enemy" than his foes in the Democratic Party and said it was "a very brilliant enemy and it happens to be invisible."Trump appeared to suggest that he believes that the reluctance to reopen the economy in some states is just to cause harm to his chances in November's presidential election. He said, "I will tell you: You look at some cases, some people think they're doing it for politics. Here we go again. They think they're doing it because it will hurt me in the election the longer it takes to open up, and I can see some of that."On his own brush with the deadly virus, following the news that one of his personal valets has tested positive, Trump confirmed the valet was in the Oval Office with him on Tuesday, the day he began exhibiting symptoms. The valet tested positive Wednesday—but Trump said all of his recent tests have come back negative, and he will soon receive an antibody test to see if he has had the virus.Elsewhere in the interview, Trump also raised eyebrows by going off on a riff about Richard Nixon, one day after his Department of Justice asked to drop charges against his first national security adviser, Michael Flynn, whom he fired and subsequently mused publicly about pardoning if he was convicted. Trump said that he "learned a lot" from the disgraced former president about not firing people, though noted there was "one big difference" between him and Nixon."No. 1, [Nixon] may have been guilty and No. 2 he had tapes all over the place," said Trump. "I wasn't guilty, I did nothing wrong, and there are no tapes, but I wish there were tapes in my case. But I learned a lot from Richard Nixon."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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| White men accused of killing Ahmaud Arbery won't face Georgia hate crime charges. Here's why. Posted: 08 May 2020 01:16 PM PDT  Gregory and Travis McMichael, who are accused of fatally shooting Ahmaud Arbery, a black man, will not face hate crime charges. Here's why.
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| Indian train kills 16 workers laid-off in coronavirus lockdown Posted: 07 May 2020 08:56 PM PDT  An Indian train killed 16 migrant workers who had fallen asleep on the track on Friday while they were heading back to their home village after losing their jobs in a coronavirus lockdown, police said. Tens of thousands of people have been walking home from India's big cities after being laid off because of the lockdown to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus since late March. The driver tried to stop the freight train when he saw the workers on the tracks near Aurangabad town in the western state of Maharashtra, the railway ministry said, adding it had ordered an inquiry.
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| Panicked over 'murder hornets,' people are killing native bees we desperately need Posted: 08 May 2020 12:39 PM PDT  Asian giant hornets (a.k.a. murder hornets) have been spotted only in Washington state and Canada. Traps elsewhere are killing beneficial native wasps and bees.
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| Coronavirus: Meat shortage leaves US farmers with 'mind-blowing' choice Posted: 07 May 2020 09:56 PM PDT  As the virus disrupts the food chain, millions of pigs could be put down without ever making it to table.
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| Iran's president says an end to United Nations arms embargo is a 'right' Posted: 07 May 2020 11:22 AM PDT  The Iranian president said Wednesday that lifting a U.N. arms embargo on Tehran would be an "obvious right" and added a veiled warning of unspecified steps Iran could take if the embargo is extended, as the United States wants.
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| A phase two trial and a June goal: This week's updates on the race for a coronavirus vaccine Posted: 08 May 2020 10:07 AM PDT  Experts caution that even promising early results don't guarantee that vaccines will be widely available anytime soon.
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| Navy nominee: Service is in rough waters, cites leadership Posted: 07 May 2020 10:40 AM PDT  The U.S. Navy is in "rough waters" and suffering from leadership failures, the diplomat tapped to be the next Navy secretary told a Senate committee Thursday. Kenneth J. Braithwaite, the ambassador to Norway and a retired Navy rear admiral, faced repeated questions about recent crises that have rocked the service, including the firing of an aircraft carrier captain who urged faster action to fight a coronavirus outbreak on his ship and the subsequent resignation of the acting secretary who fired him. Braithwaite said that Navy culture has been tarnished and trust in the service's leaders has broken down.
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| A 1996 court declaration written by Tara Reade's ex-husband shows she spoke of harassment in Biden's Senate office Posted: 07 May 2020 11:12 PM PDT  "It was obvious that this event had a very traumatic effect on (Reade), and that she is still sensitive and effected (sic) by it today," Dronen wrote.
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| Did we just witness one of the nuttiest foreign policy blunders in American history? Posted: 07 May 2020 02:57 AM PDT  I cannot be the only American who somehow missed the news that on March 26 Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the United States would offer bounties of a combined $55 million for the capture of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela and four of his top associates. By the end of March, most of the country was living under some sort of mandatory lockdown. People were fighting for toilet paper and stocking up on bags of rice and making plans for aspirational quarantine reading. Millions of us were preparing for Mad Max.It now appears that we were thinking of the wrong '80s action flick. Last weekend it was reported that a group of more than 100 American mercenaries, including two former Green Berets and one ex-agent from the Drug Enforcement Administration, had failed in some kind of apparent coup attempt and that some of them were being detained by the Maduro government. What was being called "Operation Gideon" perhaps unsurprisingly failed to bring about regime change, much less result in the apprehension of the country's socialist dictator. Reports suggest that 50 of the mercenaries stormed Venezuela by sea, joining up with around the same number of fellow soldiers of fortune already waiting behind enemy lines. The Venezuelan army (and Maduro's own paramilitary loyalist forces) outmatched them by around 350,000. A small ragtag band of American warriors attempts to force the commies out of South America against all odds? This is basically the plot of Predator if the Predator hadn't shown up.Pompeo maintains that the United States government was not involved in this offensive. For what it's worth, he is probably telling the truth. Instead it appears that the plot was launched long ago by a bunch of former Venezuelan military officials who have been training deserters from the Maduro regime in secret Colombian camps for a year. One of the principals, a retired general named Cliver Alcalá, was arrested in the United States back in March for drug smuggling and is imprisoned in New York.Operation Gideon was, not to put too fine a point on it, at odds with both federal social distancing guidelines and current recommendations from the World Health Organization. It was also absolutely insane. Convincing Maduro, whose presidency is considered illegitimate by the United States and around 80 other countries, to release captured Americans is going to be an enormous hassle for everyone involved. Pompeo says that the Trump administration is prepared "to use every tool" to secure their freedom. This includes, presumably, the threat of military force. What other options are realistically on the table? Official recognition of the Maduro regime? The imposition of additional economic sanctions upon what is arguably the worst economy in the Western hemisphere during the middle of a global public health crisis? A nice handwritten apology note saying, "Sorry, next time we want to encourage bored ex-servicemen to collaborate with your own generals in a revolutionary plot on the pretext that you are involved in high-level drug trafficking, we will, well, there won't be a next time?"Under virtually any other circumstances a story like this one would be a foreign policy blunder worthy of the failed Bay of Pigs invasion in terms of the lunatic scope of its ambition, if not, thankfully, in the number of lives lost, American or otherwise. Instead it is likely to be forgotten amid the pandemic. This does not mean that it is lacking in significance.The main lesson of Operation Gideon is that whatever the Trump administration claims about the importance of Venezuela to American foreign policy, they have no serious interest in doing anything about Maduro, much less in helping ordinary citizens for whom a carton of eggs now costs more than a month's wages. It is easy to rail against the undeniable wickedness of the communist dictatorship there; it is harder to displace it. Sounder heads would leave off talk of gazillion-dollar bounties and hope that the worldwide collapse in oil prices might force Maduro out of power, at which time the United States would be better positioned to help a new government.The other lesson is that, whatever we owe the people of Latin America after a half century of destroying their economies through unfair trade arrangements and our addiction to vile drugs, we lack the national will to help them, just as we failed to move the needle against the Taliban in Afghanistan despite 20 years of trying. This is why, no matter how illogical it seems, one of our nation's two major political parties has committed itself to the principle that virtually unlimited immigration is the only feasible solution. So far, no one is proving them wrong.More stories from theweek.com Sen. Joe Manchin forgot to mute a call with Senate Democrats while he went through an Arby's drive-through Trump reportedly got 'lava level mad' over potential exposure to coronavirus The full-spectrum failure of the Trump revolution
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| ‘Not a Bonafide Counterintelligence Investigation’: Barr Slams Comey’s Handling of Flynn Probe Posted: 08 May 2020 12:05 PM PDT  Attorney General Bill Barr explained that the FBI did not conduct "a bonafide counterintelligence investigation" in the case that led former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn to plead guilty to federal investigators in 2017.Barr, speaking in an exclusive interview with CBS News after the Justice Department dropped its case against Flynn on Thursday, said that his review of the case found Bureau investigators laid "a perjury trap" for Flynn in a January 2017 White House interview."They didn't warn him, the way that would usually be required by the Department, they bypassed the Justice Department, they bypassed the protocols at the White House, and so forth," Barr stated. "These were things that persuaded me that there was not a legitimate counterintelligence investigation."Former FBI director James Comey admitted in a December 2018 interview that he "sent" the agents to interview Flynn, adding that it was "something I probably wouldn't have done or maybe gotten away with in a more organized administration."In its Thursday court filing, the Justice Department explained that it was "not persuaded" that Flynn's interview, which led to his guilty plea for lying to FBI agents Peter Strzok and Joe Pientka, had proper predication and was materially relevant.Comey tweeted his disappointment, following the decision, saying "the DOJ has lost its way."> The DOJ has lost its way. But, career people: please stay because America needs you. The country is hungry for honest, competent leadership.> > -- James Comey (@Comey) May 7, 2020Barr pointed to recently-released information that showed the FBI moved to close its surveillance of Flynn after finding "no derogatory information" about the retired general's contacts with Russians, only for Strzok to keep the case open, leading to the eventual interview."They were closing the investigation, in December [2016], they started that process and on January 4, they were closing it. When they heard about the phone call, which the FBI had the transcripts to — there was no question as to what was discussed, the FBI knew exactly what was discussed — and General Flynn, being the former director of the DIA, said to them, 'you listen to everything, you know what was said,'" Barr explained."So there's no mystery about the call, but they initially tried some theories of how could open another investigation, which didn't fly, and then they found out that they had not technically closed the earlier investigation, and they kept it open for the expressed purpose of trying to catch — lay a perjury trap — for General Flynn," he added. A different filing released last week showed handwritten notes from an FBI official that questioned if the goal of Flynn's White House interview was "to get him to lie, so we can prosecute him or get him fired."Barr also did not comment on whether those that sought to entrap Flynn would face criminal charges, pointing to U.S. Attorney John Durham's probe into the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation and saying his team was "in the middle" of "looking at the whole pattern of conduct.""I'm going to wait until all the evidence is [in], and I get their recommendations as to what they found and how serious it is. But, if we were to find wrongdoing, in the sense of any criminal act, obviously we would follow through on that," Barr said. "But again, just because something may even stink to high heaven, and appear to everyone to be bad, we still have to apply the right standard and be convinced that there is a violation of a criminal statute and that we can prove it beyond a reasonable doubt. The same standard applies to everybody."
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| Pence aimed to project normalcy during his trip to Iowa, but coronavirus got in the way Posted: 08 May 2020 06:35 PM PDT  Vice President Pence's trip to Iowa shows how the Trump administration's aims to move past coronavirus are sometimes complicated by the virus itself.
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| Sen. Kennedy calls for immediate hearings on Mueller probe revelations Posted: 07 May 2020 06:23 AM PDT  Republican Sen. John Kennedy reacts to the release of the 'scope memo' on Robert Mueller's Russia probe.
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| Bangladesh quarantines hundreds of Rohingya boat people on island: officials Posted: 07 May 2020 10:46 PM PDT |
| Gypsy moth: US has another bug to worry about after ‘murder hornets’ Posted: 07 May 2020 10:25 AM PDT  Washington governor Jay Inslee has issued an emergency warning about a possible infestation of gypsy moths, just days after scientists revealed dangerous Asian hornets had been spotted in the state.Both Asian gypsy moths and Asian-European hybrid gypsy moths pose a threat to Washington, according to the governor.
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| Off-duty officer body slams Walmart shopper irate over face mask rule Posted: 07 May 2020 07:28 PM PDT |
| US pulls anti-missile systems from Saudi Arabia amid dispute Posted: 07 May 2020 11:58 AM PDT  The U.S. is pulling two Patriot missile batteries and some fighter aircraft out of Saudi Arabia, an American official said Thursday, amid tensions between the kingdom and the Trump administration over oil production. The official said the decision removes two batteries that were guarding oil facilities in Saudi Arabia but leaves two Patriot batteries at Prince Sultan Air Base in the Saudi desert, along with other air defense systems and jet fighters. The decision scales back the American presence in Saudi Arabia just months after the Pentagon began a military buildup there to counter threats from Iran.
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| People are speaking out in support of Costco after customers threatened to boycott the warehouse chain for requiring shoppers to wear masks Posted: 08 May 2020 08:11 AM PDT  "I totally support your mask policy," a comment on Costco's Facebook said. "It is small minded individuals who don't understand the reason for it."
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| Brazil government warns of economic collapse in 30 days Posted: 08 May 2020 08:54 AM PDT  Brazil could face "economic collapse" in a month's time due to stay-at-home measures to stem the coronavirus outbreak, with food shortages and "social disorder," Economy Minister Paulo Guedes warned Thursday. Brazil, Latin America's biggest economy, is also the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the region. But far-right President Jair Bolsonaro - who appeared alongside Guedes, his free-market economics guru - opposes stay-at-home measures to slow the virus, saying they are unnecessarily damaging the economy. "Within about 30 days, there may start to be shortages on (store) shelves and production may become disorganized, leading to a system of economic collapse, of social disorder," Guedes said. "This is a serious alert." Bolsonaro, who has compared the new coronavirus to a "little flu," said he understood "the virus problem" and believed that "we must save lives." "But there is a problem that's worrying us more and more... and that's the issue of jobs, of the stalled economy," Bolsonaro added. "Fighting the virus shouldn't do more damage than the virus itself."
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| Democrats’ Desperation about Tara Reade Is Growing. So Is Their Hypocrisy. Posted: 08 May 2020 12:15 PM PDT  There aren't a ton of synonyms for the word "hypocrisy." I've become aware of this problem ever since I began writing about the Tara Reade–Joe Biden situation. I keep gravitating towards phrases such as "despicable hypocrisy," or "partisan hypocrisy," or "unconscionable hypocrisy," but you can only go to the well so often. Really, though, I'm not sure how else to describe the actions of someone like Senator Dianne Feinstein.You might recall that it was Feinstein, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, who withheld Christine Blasey Ford's allegation of sexual misconduct against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh from the Senate so that it could not be properly vetted, in a last-ditch effort to sink the nomination.Feinstein knew that Ford's credibility was brittle -- the alleged victim could not tell us where or when the attack occurred, hadn't mentioned Kavanugh's name to anyone for over 30 years, and offered nothing approaching a contemporaneous witness.At first, Feinstein did not want to provide Ford's name, or a place or time of the alleged attack, or allow the accused to see any evidence against him, denying him the ability to answer the charges.Henceforth this brand of justice could be referred to as "The Joe Biden Standard," since it's exactly the kind of show trial the presumptive Democratic nominee promises college kids via Title IX rules.When finally asked about Reade yesterday, Feinstein responded: "And I don't know this person at all who has made the allegations. She came out of nowhere. Where has she been all these years? He was vice president."To put this in perspective, when Ford came forward "out of nowhere," Feinstein said: "Victims must be able to come forward only when they are ready."What's changed?During the Kavanaugh hearings Feinstein noted that "sharing an experience involving sexual assault — particularly when it involves a politically connected man with influence, authority and power — is extraordinarily difficult."Is Biden not a politically connected man with influence, authority, and power? Feinstein is now arguing the opposite: She is saying we should dismiss Reade's allegations because she failed to come forward against a powerful man earlier.But to answer Feinstein's question about what Reade has been "up to" the past 27 years: Well, she's been telling people that Biden had engaged in sexual misconduct. She relayed her story to her former neighbor, her brother, her former co-worker, and at least two other friends. It is also likely that her mother called Larry King Live asking for advice for her daughter the year of the alleged attack.Yesterday a document uncovered by local journalists in California -- somehow missed by Barack Obama's crack vetting team -- shows Reade's ex-husband bolstering her claim in 1996 divorce proceedings: "On several occasions [Reade] related a problem that she was having at work regarding sexual harassment, in U.S. Senator Joe Biden's office."The reaction to the divorce papers has been extraordinary. Biden defenders argue that because Reade alleged "sexual harassment" -- a catch-all term used in the 1990s when men were getting away with despicable behavior far more often -- it proves her story has changed. Biden, through his deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield, alleges that "more and more inconsistencies" come up every day.Even if Reade didn't tell everyone everything that allegedly happened every time she mentioned the incident, that doesn't definitively prove anything. If it did, none of us would have ever heard the name Christine Blasey Ford.Indeed, at time of Ford's evolving story, there was a slew of journalists taking deep dives into the unreliability of memory and trauma and complexities of relaying assault allegations. I assume that science hasn't changed in two years.Let's also not forget that, despite Ford's inconsistencies, Biden still argued that Kavanaugh should be presumed guilty. Why shouldn't he?It is also quite amazing to see Biden's defenders implicitly contending that Reade is only credibly claiming that she was sexually harassed for nearly 30 years, so her story must be politically motivated.Even if we concede that Reade is a wily Sanders operative or Putin stooge, what political motive could Reade possibly have had back in 1993 -- after working for Biden -- to smear the senator? What motive did she have to repeat that story to her family before Sanders was a candidate or Putin was running Russia?By the way, liberals have never argued that political motivations should be disqualifying. Ford came forward, by her own admission, because she did not believe the man who had allegedly assaulted her in high school should be given a seat on highest court in the land. Reade says she doesn't want a man who allegedly assaulted her -- when he was in his 50s -- to hold the most powerful office in the world.Feinstein, of course, isn't the only one to engage in this kind of transparent double standard. When asked about Reade, the idealist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, said, "I'm not sure. Frankly, this is a messy moment, and I think we need to acknowledge that -- that it is not clear-cut."Where was all this hand-wringing and caution over the messiness of sexual-assault claims when nearly every Democrat and all their allies in the press were spreading Julie Swetnick's alleged "gang rape" piece? Nowhere.AOC, whose position on Biden has evolved, invited Ana Maria Archila, the women who had famously cornered a weak-kneed senator Jeff Flake in an elevator and yelled at him about Kavanaugh, to the 2019 State of the Union address. Archila now says, "I feel very trapped."I bet.People point out that there are numerous sexual-misconduct allegations leveled at Donald Trump. Indeed. If they haven't yet, news outlets should scrutinize and investigate the credibility of those allegations, as they did for Biden but not for Kavanaugh. But it's important to remember that Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll was given immediate and widespread coverage on cable news, while Reade reportedly wasn't asked to tell her story by any major network -- save Fox News -- until this week.Of course, most Biden defenders are being purposely obtuse about the debate -- Mona Charen's recent column is an excellent example. The problem isn't that Biden is being treated unjustly, or that he should be treated unjustly; it's that he is being treated justly by the same people who treat others unjustly. Democrats have yet to explain why Biden is afforded every benefit of the doubt but not Kavanaugh, and not millions of college students.Public figures such as Biden have every right to demand fair hearings and due process. Voters have every right to judge the credibility of both accuser and accused. Many women are victims. Many women are victims who are powerless to prove it. And some women are frauds. You can't keep demanding that our political system adjudicate similar incidents under two completely differ set of rules. It's untenable.
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| Relax Social Distancing? South Korea’s Giving It a Try—With Some Scary Results Posted: 08 May 2020 10:31 AM PDT  SEOUL—South Koreans may be proud of their record relegating coronavirus to the status of a relatively minor menace, but the kind of voluntary social distancing called for now is hard. If anyone doubted that, a new outbreak in one of Seoul's legendary nightclub districts provides an unsettling reminder.South Korea never locked down the way many other countries have, but it did enforce strict rules to keep people from getting so close to each other that the novel coronavirus could run rampant.The fresh outbreak that began last week started in gaudy clubs where the rules of common sense had been dissipating as the dangers of the coronavirus began to fade. No one was wearing masks, and social distancing had ceased to be a priority. Now the search is on to find everyone who might have been in close quarters with one person who was diagnosed as having had COVID-19.He was not identified publicly other than as the 29-year-old source of at least 18 cases, including three foreigners, in five clubs in Itaewon, which was once the stomping ground of American GIs near the former U.S. military headquarters in central Seoul. Officials feared the bug could spread among more than 1,500 people who'd been at those clubs renowned for noise, drinks, fast food at inflated prices, still more for hostesses at some of them. The clubs often are crowded late into the night.The sudden upsurge haunted Koreans just as the government this week was going through the motions of relaxing its strict guidelines, counting on everyone to observe "voluntary social distancing in daily life." Somewhat ambiguously after the incident, night club owners were advised to "restrict business" for one month, suggesting it would be a good idea to cool it—or maybe even close—voluntarily. They were also asked to write down the names of customers—invaluable for tracing future cases—and told everyone had to be wearing face masks. Oh, and, if more cases did break out, owners would have to pay medical expenses.By late Friday night, many owners and managers seemed to have gotten the idea. A lot of the bars were closed and the often crowded main drag through Itaewon was bereft of its usual weekend traffic. All of which supported the view of Son Young-rae, director of strategy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, that we should expect the virus "inevitably to come back in daily activities," though clearly he was not thinking so soon.Son, talking about removal of strict rules before the news of the nightclub incident had gotten around, was confident, "When we have a second outbreak, the speed of the spread will be remarkably slow." Notice Son is not talking about if but when. A second surge is taken as a given.The outbreak in Itaewon may not be enough to warrant restoring rigid formal rules, but officials are wary. Son's superior, Kim Ganglip, vice health minister, said "when the social distancing campaign was in effect" an order on quarantine measures "was valid for nightlife establishments." Now "we will see if additional measures are needed."For now, while owners of nightclubs are expected to do as told, voluntarily or not, ordinary folks can decide for themselves whether to stand six feet apart or wear face masks. By next week, schools and libraries should be reopening, some faster than others. People can work out at fitness centers and go to theaters, and nobody's ordering them to line up six feet apart at cash registers in shops and restaurants.It's hoped that everyone knows enough to do that almost instinctively, even as a strict protocol remains in place for those entering the country from abroad.With at least half the new cases of the virus blamed on passengers off international flights, stringent testing remains in force at airports.The results of the test come back usually after one night at a government facility. The vast majority are negative, but new arrivals are still quarantined for two weeks with friends or relatives or, if on their own, in a spartan room for two weeks at a cost of nearly $100 a day, including meals deposited in carefully wrapped packages outside doors.The only exceptions are those on urgent business who plan to stay for just a few days. They can get a waiver from Korean embassies or consulates abroad after testing negative for the virus. So far only 200 people have gotten the waiver.No matter what, Son had to admit, "it is impossible to terminate or remove COVID-19." Rather, he said, "we can control the situation."At a virtual briefing for foreign correspondents for which they sent in questions, Son played up voluntary distancing even as coffee shops, stores, subways, and buses filled with rush hour crowds. The only sign that people were thinking seriously about COVID-19 was that most were wearing face masks.Some, however, chose to let them slip down below their noses and mouths while a few were no longer bothering to wear them at all.The Korean system, held up as an example before the world after the disease broke out in early February among members of a religious sect in Daegu, a major city 140 miles southeast of here, clearly has worked remarkably well. As of Friday, the Korean Center for Disease Control reported 10,822 cases, up 12 from the day before, including 256 deaths, no increase from the previous day. According to Worldometer calculations, COVID-19 has killed only five out of every 1 million people in South Korea. By comparison, there are 233 per million in the United States, where more than 76,000 people with the disease have died.As South Korea tries to relax restrictions, it is not counting on the population developing immunity any time soon. Son was realistic about the simple fact there's no cure yet for the virus and it's going to frighten Koreans, and the rest of the world, for at least another year or two, maybe longer."Until we have a vaccine or cure, we can have a reappearance," he said, citing the danger of the disease spreading from people who are asymptomatic—showing no signs of the illness and never tested. "It's very difficult to root out."Son spoke before Korean mayors and governors gathered in an emergency session to talk about new guidelines for the nightclubs that were going strong, at least until last weekend. Those who had visited the King Club, Club Queen, and Trunk Club, all places where the latest "super-spreader" had been, were advised to quarantine themselves.The possibility loomed of South Korea again imposing restrictions while Son and others defended the need for voluntary compliance rather than legal orders on social distancing and other common-sense strictures, including wearing face masks and washing hands.Kwon Jun-wook, deputy director general at the Korea Center for Disease Control, counted on what he said would be the "etiquette of people entirely participating" in "the Korean spirit" but acknowledged, "We all agree that the COVID-19 world is very different from the past."He portrayed Koreans as banding together against the disease and saw very little chance of many if any suffering from relapses, or recurrence of the bug once they've been tested as cured.On the basis of 300 cases so far in which tests have shown "reactivation of COVID-19," he said, "there has not been infection or contagion."Laboratory analyses on "whether there's a reactivated virus," he explained, showed that "reactivation was not clinically significant." In fact, while the virus was detected, there had "not been a single case" of anyone coming down with the disease that way.Kwon seemed somewhat less certain about the level of immunity as determined by tests for antibodies capable of fighting the virus, but did say "we have a detailed plan" that depends on cooperation from the Korean public, 70 percent of whom "usually agree to public health testing." One reason testing was readily accepted, he said, was a public health system in which all Koreans get extremely low-priced medical care.An important element in the battle is plasma from patients who are ill. "Plasma can be developed for finding a cure," he said, citing an ongoing "active investigation on developing plasma."Kwon was not optimistic, however, about coming up with the answer right away, or even this year or next. "We will have a concrete picture by next year," he said, but "the vaccine requires higher safety than the treatment"—often carried out in a life-or-death effort simply to save a patient by whatever means have a chance of working.Critical to Korea's success so far, in Kwon's view, was the decision to let people know what's going on, and to track down, via cellphone signals and other means, every place anyone diagnosed with the disease has been."Openness and transparency didn't just come alone," he said. Only after the outbreak five years ago of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), in which 38 Koreans died, was a law passed that requires information sharing.One result has been not only the willingness to cooperate but also the means to pass along warnings as soon as possible. The words "emergency alert" show up on the screens of mobile devices whenever a case is discovered and diagnosed, as happened at least twice on Friday. The first notice did not give out the name of the person but did reveal where he or she lived and had been."COVID-19 developed with huge speed," said Son Young-rae from the health ministry. "It was very important to carry out diagnostic tests actively."By attacking the spread of the disease quickly and aggressively, however, South Korea never resorted to lockdowns and shutdowns as in the U.S. and Europe."We will keep monitoring and controlling the system," Son said. "If the numbers are increasing, we will go back to the system we had in the beginning": social distancing.Not long after he spoke, millions of cellphones buzzed with another "emergency alert." Anyone who had been in those nightclubs in Itaewon, the message advised, "should stay home."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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| CNN legal analysts say Barr dropping the Flynn case shows 'the fix was in.' Barr says winners write history. Posted: 08 May 2020 05:23 AM PDT  The Justice Department announced Thursday that it is dropping its criminal case against President Trump's first national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn twice admitted in court he lied to the FBI about his conversations with Russia's U.S. ambassador, and then cooperated in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. It was an unusual move by the Justice Department, and CNN's legal and political analysts smelled a rat."Attorney General [William] Barr is already being accused of creating a special justice system just for President Trump's friends," and this will only feed that perception, CNN's Jake Tapper suggested. Political correspondent Sara Murray agreed, noting that the prosecutor in the case, Brandon Van Grack, withdrew right before the Justice Department submitted its filing, just like when Barr intervened to request a reduced sentence for Roger Stone.National security correspondent Jim Sciutto laid out several reason why the substance of Flynn's admitted lie was a big deal, and chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin was appalled. "It is one of the most incredible legal documents I have read, and certainly something that I never expected to see from the United States Department of Justice," Toobin said. "The idea that the Justice Department would invent an argument -- an argument that the judge in this case has already rejected -- and say that's a basis for dropping a case where a defendant admitted his guilt shows that this is a case where the fix was in."Barr told CBS News' Cathrine Herridge on Thursday that dropping Flynn's case actually "sends the message that there is one standard of justice in this country." Herridge told Barr he would take flak for this, asking: "When history looks back on this decision, how do you think it will be written?" Barr laughed: "Well, history's written by the winners. So it largely depends on who's writing the history." Watch below. More stories from theweek.com Trump says he couldn't have exposed WWII vets to COVID-19 because the wind was blowing the wrong way Star Wars is reportedly bringing back Boba Fett Trump reportedly got 'lava level mad' over potential exposure to coronavirus
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| EU executive defends China envoy over censored op-ed Posted: 08 May 2020 05:51 AM PDT |
| Man hit by plane, killed on Austin-Bergstrom airport runway, officials say Posted: 08 May 2020 04:03 AM PDT  A person died Thursday night after being hit by a plane as it was landing at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, according to airport officials.
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| Suspect in 3 Houston killings arrested, charged with murder Posted: 07 May 2020 11:19 PM PDT  Joshua Kelsey, 35, was arrested Thursday morning in connection with the three killings.
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| Foreigners on front lines of pandemic in Gulf Arab states Posted: 06 May 2020 11:34 PM PDT  As she was treated for COVID-19 in a hospital isolation ward in Kuwait City, Amnah Ibraheem wanted to credit those caring for her. The nurses were all South Asian, the radiologist was African, another of her doctors was Egyptian. The only fellow Kuwaiti she saw, briefly, was a lone volunteer.
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| Google employees are told to expect to work from home for the rest of the year, but a select few will be allowed to return to offices as soon as June Posted: 07 May 2020 05:42 PM PDT  Google CEO Sundar Pichai has told employees to expect to work from home for the remainder of 2020, but will open offices for certain exceptions.
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| Taliban founder's son appointed military chief of insurgents Posted: 07 May 2020 10:05 AM PDT  The son of the Afghan Taliban's late founder has been appointed as the insurgents' military chief in a political reshuffle to check the power of his predecessor, senior militant figures have said. Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob has been announced head of the military commission for the movement trying to overthrown the internationally-backed government in Afghanistan. His appointment was confirmed as the militants have significantly ramped up attacks following a withdrawal agreement with America. The appointment of the son of Mullah Mohammad Omar, the one-eyed founder of the Taliban, reins in the former military leader Sardar Ibrahim as the movement closes in on negotiations with the Afghan government. Mullah Yaqoob will keep his previous post as deputy to the movement's overall leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhunzada, but will now also oversee military operations. Mullah Omar died in 2013, though the insurgent movement continued to release statements in his name until it finally admitted he was dead in 2015. Two senior Taliban figures told the Telegraph that the decision had been made at the insistence of factions in the Taliban and among Pakistan's military who still have influence over the insurgents. Ibrahim had been considered too hostile to Pakistan and too close to Iran, the sources said. Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban, confirmed the appointment but would not comment on the reasons for it. The post of military chief has formally been vacant for several years, but Ibrahim has been de facto nationwide leader while officially deputy in charge of southern military operations. Ibrahim will remain as Mullah Yaqoob's deputy.
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| Troops deployed in Indian state as coronavirus cases surge Posted: 08 May 2020 07:01 AM PDT  Hundreds of paramilitary forces have been deployed in coronavirus-hotspot Gujarat state as India on Friday faced a surge in the number of deaths and infections from the outbreak. Official data show the deadly disease is taking a growing toll in the country of 1.3 billion people even as it begins to emerge from the world's largest lockdown. India had 56,000 cases including 1,886 fatalities as of Friday, official figures showed.
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| U.N. triples coronavirus appeal to $6.7 billion to help poor countries Posted: 07 May 2020 10:07 AM PDT  The United Nations on Thursday more than tripled its appeal to help vulnerable countries combat the spread and destabilizing effects of the coronavirus pandemic, asking for $6.7 billion to help 63 states mainly in Africa and Latin America. While the United States and Europe are in the grip of the outbreak, U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock warned that the virus was not expected to peak in the world's poorest countries until some point over the next three to six months. The new coronavirus, which causes the respiratory illness COVID-19, has infected some 3.7 million people globally and more than 263,000 have died, according to a Reuters tally.
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| Surviving COVID-19 Could Disqualify You From Military Service Posted: 08 May 2020 01:58 PM PDT  A ban could disqualify thousands from serving in the U.S. military.
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| Britain heading for a limited easing of lockdown next week Posted: 07 May 2020 05:52 AM PDT  Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce a very limited easing of Britain's coronavirus lockdown next week, adopting a cautious approach to try to ensure there is no second peak of infections that could further hurt the economy. Johnson is due to announce the next steps in Britain's battle to tackle the novel coronavirus on Sunday following a review by ministers of the current measures that have all but shut the economy and kept millions at home for over six weeks. "Any changes in the short term will be modest, small, incremental and very carefully monitored," foreign minister Dominic Raab said during the government's daily news conference.
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| The 'mind-blowing' story of the ex-Green Beret who tried to oust Venezuela's Maduro Posted: 08 May 2020 05:04 AM PDT  Jordan Goudreau once pushed a plan to protect U.S. schools. Then he moved on to a more daring pursuit, which also didn't end well.
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| ‘A Start Towards Victory’: Gregory and Travis McMichael Charged With Murder of Ahmaud Arbery Posted: 07 May 2020 05:31 PM PDT  SAVANNAH—Gregory and Travis McMichael have been arrested and charged with murder and aggravated assault in connection with the February killing of Ahmaud Arbery, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday. According to police, the white father and son, 64 and 34, chased Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, after he ran by Travis McMichael's home in the Satilla Shores neighborhood of Brunswick on Feb. 23. He was unarmed and jogging at the time. "This is a start towards victory," Thea Brooks, Arbery's aunt, told The Daily Beast on Thursday. "This only the beginning though, but this is what we were all hoping for."The McMichaels said they believed Arbery was a burglar responsible for a series of break-ins in their neighborhood and that they pursued him in their pickup truck while armed with a shotgun and a .357 magnum. The GBI alleges the McMichaels confronted Arbery, and that Travis shot him. A local prosecutor previously indicated a third man, William Bryan, took part in the chase and filmed the incident.'It's Murder': This Shooting of an Unarmed Black Man Is Roiling GeorgiaAt least two shots hit the 25-year-old, the Glynn County Coroner's Office told The Daily Beast last week.Video that Brooks said depicted her nephew's death elicited a furious reaction nationwide, and residents of the area protested the initial failure to prosecute a case on Tuesday."It's murder. It's heartbreaking to even look at. The whole city has seen it," Brooks told The Daily Beast after the video was released this week.The Georgia NAACP echoed her words in a Thursday response to the McMichaels' arrest: "The murderers of Ahmaud Arbery have been arrested."Gregory McMichael, a former cop and investigator with a local prosecutor's office, previously told The Daily Beast he "never would have gone after someone for their color." He also said the "closest version of the truth" about the incident was captured in a letter effectively clearing him and his son that was written by a prosecutor who recused himself from the case, George Barnhill. McMichael also admitted he had no direct evidence that Arbery was a thief. "But he's the guy who's there without permission," he said from behind the closed front door of his son's home.The owner of an unfinished home just down the street from Travis McMichael's home, Larry English, told The Daily Beast earlier this week that he had surveillance footage that appeared to show Arbery stopping to look at the foundation of his still-under-construction home. While Gregory McMichael claimed to police that Arbery had been caught on surveillance video, it was not immediately clear what video he was referring to. English told The Daily Beast he had no knowledge of the McMichaels seeing his surveillance footage. McMichael's ties to law enforcement helped fuel a haze of suspicion around the killing from the beginning. Barnhill was one of two area prosecutors who looked into the incident before recusing themselves. A third prosecutor—District Attorney Tom Durden—sought a GBI probe ahead of the arrests this week.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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| Russia is fast becoming a coronavirus epicenter, with health workers still reporting PPE shortages. Putin is already thinking about reopening. Posted: 08 May 2020 04:19 AM PDT  On Thursday, the country reported its largest one-day increase in new cases of 11,231 — yet President Putin already has his eyes on reopening.
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| Palestinians say Israel targeting prisoners' bank accounts Posted: 08 May 2020 05:26 AM PDT  Palestinian officials said Friday that Israel is forcing banks in the occupied West Bank to close accounts held by the families of prisoners in Israeli jails to prevent the Palestinian Authority from providing stipends to them. Israel has long objected to the Palestinian Authority's payments to the families of prisoners and those killed in the conflict, including militants, saying it rewards terrorism. The Palestinians view the payments as a social safety net for those living under decades of military occupation.
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| Trump donor and lawyer to represent Biden's accuser Posted: 08 May 2020 08:13 AM PDT  The former Senate staffer, who is accusing Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her 27 years ago, is being represented by a lawyer who is also a donor to President Trump.
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| Scientists obtain 'lucky' image of Jupiter Posted: 08 May 2020 05:44 AM PDT  The Hawaii-based Gemini telescope produces a super-sharp picture of the gas giant in the infrared.
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| New Zealand says it backs Taiwan's role in WHO due to success with coronavirus Posted: 07 May 2020 08:20 PM PDT |
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