Saturday, 16 November 2019

'He doesn't seem like the kind of kid to do this': Classmates, neighbors surprised by suspected Santa Clarita shooter's identity

'He doesn't seem like the kind of kid to do this': Classmates, neighbors surprised by suspected Santa Clarita shooter's identityThe 16-year-old who fatally shot two students and wounded three others at Saugus High School in California was an unlikely shooter, classmates said.




Authorities find malnourished girl after online teacher tip

Authorities find malnourished girl after online teacher tipA teacher administering an online test who heard an 11-year-old student say she was hungry and only allowed to eat a small plate of rice each day alerted investigators in Ohio that something was amiss. Authorities found the girl was severely malnourished, living in filth and had been isolated for years. The girl weighed just 47 pounds (21.3 kilograms) when she was found in September — roughly 30 pounds (13.6 kilograms) under the average weight for a girl her age, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.




Trump reportedly overheard asking EU ambassador if Ukraine's president was 'going to do the investigation'

Trump reportedly overheard asking EU ambassador if Ukraine's president was 'going to do the investigation'President Trump apparently does not follow former President Theodore Roosevelt's foreign policy advice about speaking softly.David Holmes, an official from the United States Embassy in Ukraine, testified before Congress in a closed-door impeachment inquiry hearing Friday that he overheard a phone call in July between Trump and U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland while he was having lunch with the latter in Kyiv. The call reportedly took place just one day after Trump's infamous call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that sparked the impeachment inquiry.During the call, Holmes reportedly heard Trump -- who Holmes testified was speaking so loudly that Sondland had to hold the phone away from his ear -- ask Sondland if Zelensky was "going to do the investigation." Sondland reportedly responded in the affirmative, saying that Zelensky would do "anything you ask him to."After the call, Sondland reportedly told Holmes that Trump didn't care about Ukraine, except for "big stuff" like investigating former Vice President Joe Biden and his son, Hunter, over the younger Biden's ties to a Ukrainian gas company.Holmes' testimony confirmed an account from acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor's public impeachment inquiry testimony Wednesday. Going forward, The New York Times and The Washington Post note, Sondland will almost certainly be asked about the alleged conversation during his public testimony next week. The ambassador did not mention it during his previous private testimony. Read more at The New York Times and The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com The coming death of just about every rock legend The president has already confessed to his crimes Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?




Despite House rules against it, Stefanik tries to question impeachment hearing witness

Despite House rules against it, Stefanik tries to question impeachment hearing witnessDuring open hearings in the House impeachment inquiry, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik tried to address Former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch when Committee Chairman Adam Schiff stopped her. "Under the house resolute 660, you are not allowed to yield time except to minority counsel."




A Blue Wave Looks Poised to Wash Over Louisiana

A Blue Wave Looks Poised to Wash Over LouisianaJonathan Bachman/ReutersVoters will deliver another verdict on whether a moderate Democrat can survive in a red Trump state when they go to the polls Saturday in Louisiana’s run-off race for governor. “When you’re a Southern Democrat, you’re fully aware that things might not work out,” said Democratic strategist James Carville. “But in this instance, I’d rather be us than them.” “Us” for Carville, the “ragin’ Cajun,” is Democrat John Bel Edwards, running for re-election against Republican businessman Eddie Rispone. Democrats are hoping for a second big win in a red state ten days after Democratic challenger Andy Beshear won the governor’s race in Kentucky.  Democrats’ Big Night Is Bad News for Trump“If John Bel wins, the one big story is impeachment at worst is a wash,” says Carville. “If it was bad for the Democrats, we would have picked that up in Kentucky. We’re not getting any indication there is a backlash.” That would be different than in the elections that followed the contentious Senate vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, when a backlash hurt Democrats. “I saw it after Kavanaugh, I felt it after Kavanaugh,” Carville says, but now “I would rather be a House Democrat than a Senate Republican. Let the Senate stew,” he says.   What Carville will be watching for on Saturday is whether Edwards can hold the 34 percent share of the white vote that is critical to victory. Edwards, a graduate of West Point and an Army veteran, is as conservative on social issues as any Republican. He signed an abortion law that is one of the toughest in the nation, banning the procedure as early as six weeks. He cites his Catholic faith as a centerpiece in his life and politics. He’s a Second Amendment enthusiast, and his supporters worry that a Saturday vote competes with a day of hunting.“He likes to tout how many times he’s been to the White House,” says Louisiana pollster John Couvillon. That’s up to nine times, including a state dinner last year. “Edwards is not portraying himself as an enemy of the president,” Couvillon told the Daily Beast. “He doesn’t want to give partisans an extra reason to vote against him.”What Couvillon will be looking for on Saturday is the strength of black turnout. On Election Day last month, 974,000 voters went to the polls in the state’s “jungle primary,” in which all candidates are on the same ballot, regardless of party, with the top two then facing off if no one tops 50 percent. He expects turnout on Election Day to increase by 50,000 to 100,000 in the runoff. Early voting was up substantially in the runoff. In the October vote, there were 386,000 early or absentee ballots. Of those voters, 25 percent were black, and 41 percent were Republican. (Overall, 31 percent of Louisianans are black, and 31 percent of the electorate is Republican, which some overlap between those groups). In the runoff, there were 498,000 early voters as of Wednesday night—an increase of 112,000 from October. Of those early voters, Couvillon identified 60,000 new voters, who hadn’t turned out in October. Forty-one percent of those new voters, he said, are black, and 29 percent are Republican—meaning the group is much blacker and less Republican than the overall electorate, “much like the Obama phenomenon.” Under Louisiana law, voters identify their race when they cast their ballot. “You have this group of 60,000 that showed up out of nowhere,” he says, “and they’re much more Democrat-friendly. Republicans think Democrats are just getting them to the polls a week early. My thinking is that Democrats expanded the pie.” That, of course, is the dream of Democrats—that anger about Trump has brought new voters into their fold. That tale will be told on Saturday. The other factor impacting the vote is dissension in the Republican camp. The October primary included, along with Edwards and Rispone, Republican House member Ralph Abraham. Rispone went after Abraham hammer and tongs for his high absentee rate for congressional votes, which was fair, but he also accused him of being disloyal to Trump and voting with Nancy Pelosi against Trump’s wall. The bad blood in the party boiled over and Abraham’s son-in-law contributed $5,000 to the Edwards campaign. In a tight election, Rispone can’t afford any defections. Trump’s rally in Shreveport Thursday night was his second in the state in recent weeks, and at the first one, while Abraham was still on the ballot, the two GOP contenders didn’t appear on the stage at the same time. There’s no real love for Rispone in the party. “His unabashed allegiance to Trump is the only thing that keeps Abraham in the game,” says Couvillon, who describes Rispone as a Louisiana version of Sheldon Adelson, someone who gives a lot of money to conservative causes and who has ran a “thoroughly mediocre campaign and he had $12 million to spend.” If Edwards wins, it would be the second example this month of a Democrat triumphing in a red state. Larry Sabato, founder and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, has the race leaning Democrat. “We don’t know of any poll that has Rispone up,” he told the Daily Beast, while noting that the race remains too close to call. While Trump’s 11th hour visit to Kentucky failed to elect Bevins, Sabato says Bevins—who finally conceded Thursday—would have lost by more without it. In Louisiana, says Sabato, “the big question is Trump’s election eve rally. He might be able to pull Rispone across the finish line.” 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.




Man kills wife, three young sons in San Diego home: police

Man kills wife, three young sons in San Diego home: policeThree other boys, ages 5, 9 and 11, were taken to a hospital where two of them died, San Diego Police Chief David Nisleit said during a news conference. "When the officers arrived on the scene, they were able to look into one of the windows and see a small child inside covered in blood," San Diego Police Lieutenant Matt Dobbs said.




American Airlines flight attendants have literally begged not to work on the Boeing 737 Max when it returns, union boss says (BA)

American Airlines flight attendants have literally begged not to work on the Boeing 737 Max when it returns, union boss says (BA)Lori Bassani heads the union for 28,000 American Airlines flight attendants, and she warned of genuine fear among staff over returning to the 737 Max.




Trump impeachment hearings: 3 key takeaways from Yovanovitch's testimony

Trump impeachment hearings: 3 key takeaways from Yovanovitch's testimonyThe second day of public impeachment testimony featured the former ambassador to Ukraine and a cameo from the president’s Twitter account.




Palestinian militant groups come to blows over Israel diplomacy

Palestinian militant groups come to blows over Israel diplomacyTensions between Gaza’s two largest Palestinian militant groups have spilled into the open as Islamic Jihad supporters angrily accused Hamas of not coming to their aid in this week’s fighting with Israel.  Islamic Jihad, a smaller militant group backed by Iran, fired more than 400 rockets into Israel this week in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of one of their senior leaders. But Hamas, the dominant force in Gaza, stayed out of the fighting.   Senior Hamas officials were accosted by Islamic Jihad supporters when they tried to visit a mourning tent for Baha Abu al-Ata, the assassinated Jihad commander. Some Jihad supporters threw stones at the Hamas leaders’ cars.  The clashes, which were broken up by Hamas policemen, were a rare public show of the fractures between the two groups.  An Israeli missile launched from the Iron Dome defence missile system, designed to intercept and destroy incoming short-range rockets and artillery shells Credit: AFP Hamas did belatedly fire fire two rockets into Israel early on Saturday morning, the Israeli military said. Both rockets were shot down by Israel’s Iron Dome missile system and Israeli warplanes struck Hamas targets in response.  An Israeli official said it was not clear yet who gave the order for the rockets but it may have been a face-saving gesture as Hamas tried to fend off allegations that it had stood by and left Islamic Jihad to fight alone.  Islamic Jihad usually cooperates with Hamas but also sometimes tries to outflank the larger group and present itself as the true armed resistance to Israel by firing rockets.  That impetuousness has at times been a source of frustration for Hamas, which has been engaged in quiet indirect negotiations with Israel for more than year.  About | Hamas The two mortal enemies have held stop-start talks towards a deal in which Israel loosens its 12-year blockade of the Strip, in return for Hamas halting rocket fire and keeping the border quiet. But Israeli officials say those understandings have been interrupted several times recently by al-Ata’s rocket fire from Gaza, including an attack that sent thousands fleeing from a music festival this summer.  Israel’s military described al-Ata as an obstacle to “different diplomatic arrangements”, a coded way of referring to an understanding with Hamas.  Palestinian pupils hold a commemorative picture of their late classmate Moaz Abu Malhous at his school in Deir al-Balah town in central Gaza Strip, on November 16, 2019, two days after he was reportedly killed in an Israeli strike. Credit: AFP Which is why early on Tuesday morning Israel fired a missile into his home in the Shajaiyah neighbourhood of Gaza City, killing al-Ata and his wife.  In the fighting that followed Israel focused its fire on Islamic Jihad and tried to avoid striking Hamas. A total of 34 people, of whom 18 were militants, were killed in Gaza. Eight civilians, including five children were killed in one Israeli strike. Israeli said it was targeting an Islamic Jihad commander but acknowledged Friday it may have been a case of faulty intelligence.




Two German students arrested for 'unlawful assembly' over Hong Kong protests

Two German students arrested for 'unlawful assembly' over Hong Kong protestsTwo German students were arrested in Hong Kong for "unlawful assembly" linked to ongoing unrest in the city, police said early Saturday. The students, aged 22 and 23, were arrested on Thursday for suspected participation in an illegal assembly, police said. Police did not release their identities but said the 22-year-old also faces charges of violating Hong Kong's anti-mask regulation.




Sanders and Warren want to tax the rich. Here’s why their plans could work.

Sanders and Warren want to tax the rich. Here’s why their plans could work.Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have been facing charges that the proposals won’t work. Critics of the Warren (D-Mass.) and Sanders (I-Vt.) plans say it’s too hard to figure out how much wealth there is in the U.S., and they point out that wealth taxes failed in Europe. It didn’t work in Europe, so why will it work here?




Chinese soldiers help clean up Hong Kong streets, but violence flares again

Chinese soldiers help clean up Hong Kong streets, but violence flares againPolice fired tear gas while protesters threw petrol bombs and fired arrows in clashes outside Hong Kong's Polytechnic University on Saturday, just hours after Chinese soldiers made a rare appearance to help clean up the city's streets. The presence of PLA troops on the streets, even to help clean up, could stoke further controversy over the Chinese-ruled territory's autonomous status. A city spokesman said the Hong Kong government did not request assistance from the PLA but the military initiated the operation as a "voluntary community activity".




Trump commits new offence which could lead to impeachment in the middle of his own impeachment hearing

Trump commits new offence which could lead to impeachment in the middle of his own impeachment hearingIt should not, perhaps, be surprising in the extraordinary state of affairs of Trumpworld that in the middle of his impeachment proceedings the president would tweet something which could lead to a further article of impeachment.The tweet disproves Mr Trump’s claim that he was ignoring the hearings which he had claimed would go nowhere, and attacked using his usual terms against investigations into his conduct – a “worst ever witch-hunt”, “totally fake” and so on.




Fuel rations, price hike hit Iranians amid plunging economy

Fuel rations, price hike hit Iranians amid plunging economyAcross the capital, Tehran, long lines of cars waited for hours at pumping stations following the changes in energy policy, which state media announced around midnight without any prior warning to the public. The U.S. withdrew from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers last year, and re-imposed crippling trade sanctions that have sent the Iranian economy into free-fall. In several locations, Iranian police were seen deployed near gas stations.




St Mark's closed as Venice faces more floods

St Mark's closed as Venice faces more floodsAnother exceptional high tide swamped flood-hit Venice on Friday, prompting the mayor to order St Mark's square closed after Italy declared a state of emergency for the UNESCO city. Luigi Brugnaro ordered the iconic square closed as the latest sea surge of around 1.6 metres (over five feet) struck and strong storms and winds battered the region -- lower than Tuesday's peak but still dangerous. "We've destroyed Venice, we're talking about one billion (euros) in damage and that's just from the other day, not today," Brugnaro said, as far-right leader Matteo Salvini joined the list of politicians to visit the stricken city.




Cuba cries foul as doctors head home from Bolivia

Cuba cries foul as doctors head home from BoliviaThe first of around 700 Cuban doctors were scheduled to fly home from strife-torn Bolivia on Saturday as officials railed against what they charged was slander and mistreatment by Bolivia's conservative interim government. Cuba said Saturday that 10 doctors, including the coordinator of its medical mission, were detained this week and four remained in custody. On Friday, the foreign ministry said it was terminating its medical mission as officials were fostering violence against the doctors by claiming they were instigating rebellion.




A federal judge ruled that New Jersey-born, ISIS-bride Hoda Muthana is not a US citizen

A federal judge ruled that New Jersey-born, ISIS-bride Hoda Muthana is not a US citizenHoda Muthana's father was a Yemeni diplomat at the time of her birth, which raised the question of whether or not she gained US citizenship at birth.




Iran's protests against gasoline price hike turn political: media

Iran's protests against gasoline price hike turn political: mediaRiot police and security forces clashed with demonstrators in Tehran and dozens of cities across Iran on Saturday, Iranian news agencies and social media said, as protests against a rise in gasoline prices turned political. The reports said demonstrators chanted anti-government slogans around the country, a day after the government increased the price of regular gasoline to 15,000 rials ($0.13) a liter from 10,000 rials and rationed it. Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told state TV that security forces "have so far shown restraint" but will act to restore calm if the demonstrators "damaged public properties".




5 family members, including 3 children, dead in murder-suicide in San Diego, police say

5 family members, including 3 children, dead in murder-suicide in San Diego, police sayFive family members have died and a boy was injured after a man shot his family and then turned the gun on himself in San Diego, police say.




GOP woman gets outsized role at impeachment hearing

GOP woman gets outsized role at impeachment hearing




Khamenei: Iran not calling for elimination of Jews, wants non-sectarian Israel

Khamenei: Iran not calling for elimination of Jews, wants non-sectarian IsraelIran is not calling for the elimination of the Jewish people, but believes people of all religions should decide Israel's future, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Friday. Since its Islamic Revolution in 1979, Iran has refused to recognize Israel and has backed militant Palestinian groups. Israel has long accused Iran of seeking its destruction and regards Tehran as its main enemy in the Middle East.




Bushfires conditions worsen in east and west Australia

Rising temperatures, lightning strikes and gusty winds further raised fire danger on both coasts of Australia on Sunday as the country already battles more than 120 bushfires and firefighters work day and night trying to contain them.


from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/358hDUb

U.S. imposes travel ban on Cuba's interior minister over rights violations in Venezuela

The U.S. State Department on Saturday said it was imposing a travel ban on Cuban Interior Minister Julio Cesar Gandarilla Bermejo and his children, citing the minister's involvement in what it called "gross violations of human rights in Venezuela."


from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/357gzjr

Friday, 15 November 2019

Prince Andrew Says He ‘Let the Side Down’ When He Stayed With Jeffrey Epstein


By BY MEGAN SPECIA AND NEIL VIGDOR from NYT World https://ift.tt/2QriCuD

As Supreme Court weighs DACA, Trump pushes fiction about 'hardened criminals'

As Supreme Court weighs DACA, Trump pushes fiction about 'hardened criminals'As the Supreme Court considers whether it is legal for the Trump administration to cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, the president and his allies have begun spinning a familiar — and false — narrative about the program’s nearly 700,000 beneficiaries.




Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh gets hero's welcome from conservative Federalist Society

Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh gets hero's welcome from conservative Federalist SocietyA hero's welcome was delivered Thursday to Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who addressed the Federalist Society a year after his confirmation.




Evo Morales: indigenous leader who changed Bolivia but stayed too long

Evo Morales: indigenous leader who changed Bolivia but stayed too longThe son of llama herders was a coca farmer before transforming his country during 14 years in office but his personalised rule was a fatal weakness * Bolivia: how did we get here and what happens next?The former Bolivian president Evo Morales speaks from exile in Mexico City on Thursday. Photograph: Eduardo Verdugo/APThe meteoric political journey of Evo Morales came to an end – for now, at least – right where it started: in a steamy jungle region of central Bolivia.It was in El Chapare that Morales cut his teeth in the 1980s, helping organise his fellow coca farmers against US-backed efforts to eradicate the raw ingredient of cocaine.And it was here that he fled to last weekend, after resigning the presidency – at the prompting of Bolivia’s top general – as deadly protests convulsed the country amid allegations of electoral fraud.Pictured lying atop a blanket on a safehouse floor, Morales fondly recalled his time as a local leader on Twitter. He had often promised to return and retire here.But late on Monday, Bolivia’s longest-serving president instead boarded a Mexican government jet bound for exile.The intervening four decades form one of the more remarkable biographies of the modern era. It is a story that is idiosyncratically Bolivian, but reflects very Latin American currents of boom, bust and revolution – and speaks to a universal theme of power and its corrosive effects.Morales was born to a poor family of llama herders in 1959, at a time when indigenous people were doused with pesticides when entering government buildings.Twenty years later, he moved to Chapare where his activities as a trade unionist (and keen amateur footballer) saw Morales grow in stature and shrewdness. He overcame beatings, arrests, racist abuse and factional infighting to assume the leadership of the Movement for Socialism (Mas) – a broad bloc of miners, farmers and leftwing urbanites – and entered congress.Morales, then president-elect, takes off a garland of coca leaves during a rally in Eterazama, in his home province of Chapare in 2005. Photograph: Aizar Raldes/AFP/Getty ImagesHe soon gained prominence at the head of a popular rebellion against moves to sell Bolivia’s natural gas cheaply via neighbouring Chile – a historical enemy – to the United States.The so-called Gas War (2003-05) – in which the armed forces killed more than 60 people – fatally discredited the authorities, drawn from the same European-descended elites that had ruled Bolivia for centuries. Following the flight of one president and the resignation of another, Carlos Mesa, Morales swept to power in 2005 elections with over half of the national vote.Morales promised nothing less than a cosmic rebalancing. “We will end the colonial state and the neoliberal model,” he vowed. “Five hundred years of resistance by the indigenous peoples of America are over.”Helped by a global boom in commodity prices, a partial nationalisation of oil and gas paid for generous social programmes that slashed poverty rates from 59% to 35%. South America’s poorest country became its fastest-growing, averaging a 5% expansion every year for well over a decade.A reformed constitution made Bolivia a plurinational state, with official status given to 36 indigenous peoples and languages, and an Andean emblem of Technicolor pixels – the Wiphala – flown henceforth alongside the national tricolour. Coca cultivation was legalised and respect for Pachamama – the Andean earth mother – enshrined in the constitution.Morales “ushered in a new, more modern Bolivia that is more egalitarian, less racist, and more economically vibrant”, said Diego von Vacano, a political scientist, likening the leader’s early achievements to those of Nelson Mandela.Evo Morales, in green shirt, plays football at the 6,000m snow-covered Sajama peak, the highest in Bolivia, during a match to protest against Fifa’s ban on international matches at venues over 2,500m, in 2007. Photograph: ReutersHalf of the national assembly were women, many of them indigenous, who wore jaguar skins and flowing pollera skirts with newfound pride. Morales quelled a separatist revolt by wealthier, lowland provinces. Every year he remained in power – returning with greater majorities in 2009 and 2014 – was an achievement of sorts, in a country famous for putsches, assassinations and revolutions.Abroad, Morales appeared with fellow “pink tide” leaders like Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, lambasted North American imperialism and (unsuccessfully) sued Chile for access to the Pacific Ocean.At home, he incessantly toured in his presidential plane, pressing the flesh and cutting ribbons. His party trick, one Mas legislator recalled, was to identify individual hamlets from the air and recite from memory how his government had helped: a school here, a sports ground there.But this personalised element was, perhaps, the fatal weakness of his revolution.Morales disdained to groom a successor. A vast museum dedicated to Morales in his home town, and a towering government skyscraper in Bolivia’s administrative capital of La Paz – complete with helipad and luxury presidential apartment – were criticised as expensive vanity projects.Morales backtracked on promises, seeking to drive a highway through the Tipnis indigenous reserve. He loosened environmental protections, contributing to manmade wildfires that scorched some 4 million hectares(15,500 sq miles) in 2019. Government inaction contributed to the disappearance of Lake Poopó, a vast inland sea.“The government of Evo Morales has been a profoundly rhetorical one, where he says things but doesn’t do them,” said María Galindo, founder of the feminist collective Mujeres Creando, citing a failure to address domestic violence and femicide. “It’s the same story with the rights of indigenous people and Mother Earth.”A new constitution allowed Morales to run for a third term in 2014. For his fourth attempt, he first sought approval in a 2016 referendum, which was narrowly rejected.A year later, the constitutional court – its judges elected from a shortlist drawn up by the Mas-dominated legislature – ruled that term limits violated the president’s human rights.The spark to this deeply combustible scenario came on election day, when a preliminary vote count was abruptly paused after its electricity, internet and phone access were cut.When the tallying resumed 24 hours later, Morales had surpassed the 10 percentage-point lead needed to defeat his rival, Mesa, in the first round.Election monitors from the Organization of American States (OAS) cried foul, citing “clear manipulation” of voting data, a hidden server, forged scrutineers’ signatures and phantom votes. Sympathetic observers pointed to traditionally late-returning rural votes to explain the incongruities.Protests by traditional opponents in the eastern city of Santa Cruz were gradually joined by young, indigenous city dwellers. Violent clashes claimed at least 10 lives.Cornered, Morales made the biggest concessions of his career – first accepting a full OAS audit of the vote, then agreeing to fresh elections.Morales dances on stage during his closing campaign rally ahead of elections in El Alto, on the outskirts of La Paz, in mid-October. Photograph: Jorge Sáenz/APAs demonstrations raged, a powerful workers’ union called on him to consider his position. A police mutiny, apparently over pay and leadership gripes, broke out in multiple cities. Guards abandoned the government palace, and Mas leading lights resigned.And on Sunday, Gen Williams Kalliman – appointed by Morales under a year ago – appeared on television to “suggest” that the president step down.As Morales flew north, escaping what he branded a “coup”, the country he ruled for nearly 14 years plunged deeper into uncertainty. Police units tore the Wiphala from their uniforms; others burned the Andean flag. Triumphant rightwing leaders entered the deserted legislature holding Bibles aloft. Crowds jogged through the Morales stronghold of El Alto, promising guns, dynamite and civil war.“This is a perilous moment,” said Susan Ellison, a Bolivia-focused anthropologist. “Revanchist opposition leaders are already moving to dismantle important gains from the Morales years … [but] the changes Morales came to personify are not tied to any one person alone.”A self-declared interim administration lead by Jeanine Áñez, a minor lowlands politician and evangelical Christian, promised new elections “soon”. Social media posts attributed to Añez branding Aymara beliefs “satanic” surfaced and her cabinet threatened “seditious” journalists. A deal with Mas to restore constitutional order appears elusive.If his party demands it, Morales told the Mexican newspaper El Universal on Friday, he will “return to be with the people, to fight against the dictatorship and the coup”.Áñez responded by saying he was free to come home, but that he would have to respond to allegations of electoral fraud and corruption – and would not be immune from prosecution.




Hong Kong leader condemns London protester 'attack' on minister

Hong Kong leader condemns London protester 'attack' on ministerHong Kong's leader Carrie Lam on Friday condemned a "barbaric attack" on her justice minister, who fell while being surrounded by a crowd of jeering pro-democracy protesters in London. It was the most physical confrontation involving a member of Lam's cabinet since the protests, now in their sixth month, erupted in the international finance hub. Teresa Cheng, Hong Kong's deeply unpopular Secretary for Justice, was ambushed by around a dozen masked demonstrators as she prepared to attend a speaking event on Thursday night in London.




Republicans Thought Yovanovitch Would Be a Pushover. She Beat Them Up Instead

Republicans Thought Yovanovitch Would Be a Pushover. She Beat Them Up InsteadNicholas Kamm / AFP/ Getty ImagesBefore she even spoke on Friday, President Donald Trump’s surrogates in Congress and conservative media expected Marie Yovanovitch to cry on command for the impeachment-hearing cameras. As she began testifying about the smear campaign that forced her from her ambassadorship in Ukraine, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) tweeted that impeachment wasn’t about her feelings. But for over five hours, the 33-year veteran diplomat left no doubt why she was there and what she endured, even as the president himself weighed in on Twitter seeming to intimidate her as she sat in front of the congressional panel. The president’s attack wasn’t the only attack she brushed aside. Yovanovitch methodically outplayed a series of Republican efforts to cast her firing as normal, the president’s behavior as unremarkable, and the harm she suffered as negligible–rather than the prelude to a shadow diplomatic effort to coerce Ukraine into aiding Trump’s reelection. Instead, she made it clear that she would have been an obstacle to the president’s pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had she remained in Kyiv. At one point, she told Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) that she would have opposed the summer 2019 suspension of $400 million in U.S. military aid and would never have asked Zelensky to pursue the conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election. Asked to affirm that Trump was legitimately concerned about Ukraine corruption, she shot back, “That’s what he says.”Not much of Friday’s hearing, the second in the House impeachment inquiry, went the GOP’s way. The exception was Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT), who, knowing that Yovanovitch was fired before the pressure campaign on Zelensky proceeded, got her to concede she had no knowledge of criminal wrongdoing by Trump.Most of their attempts to discredit or dismiss her either fell flat or ended in retreat. Rep. Brad Wenstrup, an Ohio Republican, asked Yovanovitch to affirm that presidents get to select their ambassadors. In perhaps the most powerful line of the hearing, Yovanovitch replied, “I obviously don’t dispute the president has the right to withdraw an ambassador at any time for any reason, but what I do wonder is why it was necessary to smear my reputation.”Wenstrup quickly replied that wasn’t his question, pressed the sound on his mic off and sat back in his chair. When the Republicans’ counsel for impeachment, Steve Castor, put forward a series of public statements from 2016 from Ukrainians upset with candidate Trump, Yovanovitch frustrated a line of questioning meant to establish what Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the top Intelligence Committee Republican, called “Ukrainian election meddling.”“Those elements you’ve recited don’t seem to be a plan or plot of the Ukrainian government to work against President Trump. Those are isolated incidents,” she said. “I’ve come to learn public life can be quite critical. I’d remind, again, that our own U.S. intelligence community has conclusively determined” that Russia, not Ukraine, interfered in the 2016 U.S. election.Castor also walked into a trap by asking if Trump might have been justified in feeling Ukraine was against him based on internet-borne comments. Yovanovitch, whom Trump had just disparaged in a tweet, icily replied, “Well, sometimes that happens on social media.”Stewart, who called impeachment “nonsense,” implied it was appropriate for Trump to seek a Ukrainian investigation of Burisma, the national-gas firm that put Joe Biden’s son on its board. Yovanovitch responded that “we have a process for that” that Trump did not follow, one involving communication between the Justice Department and its Ukrainian counterpart under a mutual legal-assistance treaty. Stewart reiterated the question “regardless of the process,” although corruption definitionally routes around official channels in pursuit of private agendas. Similarly, when John Ratcliffe (R-TX) asked if it was a potential “conflict of interest” for Joe Biden to seek the firing of a corrupt Ukrainian prosecutor in 2016–a central Republican defense of Trump–Yovanovitch rejected his premise. “I actually don’t,” she said. “I think the view was that Mr. [Viktor] Shokin was not a good prosecutor-general fighting corruption. I don’t think it had to do with the Burisma case.”Republicans attempted to approach Yovanovitch respectfully. They praised her service–even as they defended Trump for ending it prematurely–and gave prominence to Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) so as to avoid the optics of men attacking a woman. Yet they were at times dismissive of what Yovanovitch had described as a nightmare. Rep. Michael Conaway (R-TX), asked her basic questions about her post-ambassadorship gig at Georgetown University—how many classes does she teach? How many students does she have?—and the regard her diplomatic colleagues have for her, suggesting that she suffered no real harm after the president capped an assassination of her character by firing her.Later, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) had the room laughing when he spelled out the upshot of that inquiry. “It’s like a Hallmark movie,” he said from the dais. “You ended up at Georgetown. This is all OK!”The ultimate sabotage to the GOP’s attempt to treat Yovanovitch as an impeachment sideshow was committed by Trump himself. With a series of tweets slamming Yovanovitch as she testified, the president did plenty of work to make her appearance even more relevant to the impeachment inquiry. The ambassador—and Democratic lawmakers—said Trump’s broadside was intended to intimidate not only her but future impeachment witnesses. It fueled talk of a whole new article of impeachment.Few Republicans felt compelled to justify the president’s tweets. Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), a reliable ally of the president, said Trump is allowed to defend himself and that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the Democratic floor general on impeachment, had cherry-picked tweets about the ambassador to read from the dais. As the hearing wrapped, Republicans maintained that Stewart’s line of questioning was the punch that would linger from the hearing. “This witness can’t shed any light on what Dems claim are their impeachable offenses, and can’t advance their narrative,” said a senior House GOP aide.But Democrats left with the impression they got even more than they’d wanted—that a witness initially pitched as someone who could flesh out the human impact of Trump’s Ukraine designs served many more purposes.“You know, it’s funny,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), “the more the day went on, I personally thought she became more and more enlightening for purposes of our inquiry.” The ambassador’s appearance met a rare ending for the staid hearing rooms of Capitol Hill. Schiff closed with a thundering statement, and before Yovanovitch could even rise from her chair, the crowd in the gallery erupted in a standing ovation.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.




Authorities are searching for a woman after finding her husband's corpse in a bedroom freezer

Authorities are searching for a woman after finding her husband's corpse in a bedroom freezerAuthorities are searching for a woman after finding her husband’s corpse in a freezer in a bedroom inside her Missouri home, where it may have been stored for nearly a year. Barbara Watters of Joplin, Mo., was charged Wednesday with abandonment of a corpse, a felony that is punishable by up to four years in prison.




Tempers flare over rebuilding of Notre-Dame spire

Tempers flare over rebuilding of Notre-Dame spireThe French army general charged with overseeing the rebuilding of Paris' fire-mangled Notre-Dame, has caused astonishment by publicly telling the cathedral's chief architect to "shut his mouth" in a sign of tension over the monument's future look. General Jean-Louis Georgelin and chief architect Philippe Villeneuve are at odds over whether to replace the cathedral's spire -- which was toppled in the April 15 blaze -- with an exact replica, or mix things up with a modern twist.




Pro-Life Investigators Found Guilty in Lawsuit After Filming Planned Parenthood Execs Discussing Sale of Fetal Body Parts

Pro-Life Investigators Found Guilty in Lawsuit After Filming Planned Parenthood Execs Discussing Sale of Fetal Body PartsA San Fransisco district court on Friday found pro-life activists guilty in a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood after the activists surreptitiously filmed executives of the abortion group discussing the sale of fetal body parts.A ten person federal jury convicted activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, breach of contract and trespass and violation of state and federal recording laws in Maryland, California and Florida. Planned Parenthood will be awarded $870,000 in punitive damages.Daleiden and Merritt released videos in 2015 of Planned Parenthood executives as well as footage from the 2014 National Abortion Federation conference, which they obtained while posing as researchers for a fake fetal tissue research company they called Biomax.In the videos, abortion industry players could be seen admitting to illegally altering abortion procedures in order to provide fresher, more intact fetal parts, as well as haggling with the investigators over prices. The investigators have also accused Planned Parenthood of illegally profiting off the sale of fetal tissue for medical research, using their footage as evidence.The verdict set "a dangerous precedent for citizen journalism and First Amendment civil rights across the country, sending a message that speaking truth and facts to criticize the powerful is no longer protected by our institutions," read a statement from CMP.Planned Parenthood has consistently denied any activities portrayed in the videos were illegal, and have accused CMP of deceptively editing the footage."The jury has spoken loud and clear," said Planned Parenthood attorney Rhonda Trotter after the verdict. "Those who violate the law in an effort to limit access to reproductive rights and health care will be held accountable."The trial made headlines in September when California obstetrician-gynecologist Dr. Forrest Smith, who has administered thousands of abortions, testified on behalf of the CMP activists."There’s no question in my mind that at least some of these fetuses were live births," Smith told the court while describing the abortion procedures elaborated by Planned Parenthood executives in the CMP footage.




Trump lays off Republican Ukraine critics

Trump lays off Republican Ukraine criticsPresident Donald Trump prefers to pummel his GOP critics into submission. The atypical approach by the president comes after some of his top Hill allies have been privately pleading with Trump not to attack Republicans as the impeachment probe enters its most high-profile phase yet, according to multiple GOP lawmakers and aides.




Ray Cromartie: Death row inmate executed without testing DNA evidence ‘that could have proved his innocence’

Ray Cromartie: Death row inmate executed without testing DNA evidence ‘that could have proved his innocence’A man has been executed in the US state of Georgia despite a request from his lawyers for DNA evidence which they claimed would clear him of murder.Ray Jefferson Cromartie​​ was convicted of the April 1994 shooting of shop worker Richard Slysz twice in the head at the convenience store in the city of Thomasville.




Protesters blare Christine Blasey Ford testimony and dress up as handmaids outside Kavanaugh speech

Protesters blare Christine Blasey Ford testimony and dress up as handmaids outside Kavanaugh speechThe scene outside the venue where Brett Kavanaugh was scheduled to give the keynote speech included protesters chanting and dressed as handmaids.




The Latest: Hong Kong highway blocked after deadline passes

The Latest: Hong Kong highway blocked after deadline passesProtesters in Hong Kong have once again blocked a highway in an outlying area after the government did not meet their demand that it pledge to go ahead with local elections later this month. Traffic was backed up Friday evening after the protesters placed barricades back on the roadway. The protesters had allowed one lane of traffic to re-open in each direction and gave the government 24 hours to meet their demand.




Jackie Speier erupts at reporter for The Hill

Jackie Speier erupts at reporter for The HillAngered by the testimony of ousted ambassador Marie Yovanovitch, California Rep. Jackie Speier upbraided a reporter for The Hill and ripped the outlet’s publication of columns by John Solomon, the conservative journalist whose work is at the center of what Yovanovitch described as a “smear campaign” against her. “I just find it reprehensible that any newspaper would just be willing to put that kind of crap out that is not — has no veracity whatsoever, and not check to see if it had any veracity,” said Speier, a Democrat serving in her seventh term in the House, according to audio of the exchange reviewed by POLITICO. Speier launched into her critique of The Hill after fielding a question from its senior staff writer Scott Wong about who her dream witness would be at the impeachment proceedings.




Hong Kong protesters defy Xi with pro-democracy rallies

Hong Kong protesters defy Xi with pro-democracy ralliesHong Kong pro-democracy protesters defied a warning by China's President Xi Jinping and took to the streets again Friday, as the political turmoil seeped out to London, where a territorial minister was confronted by masked demonstrators. Protests have swept Hong Kong since June as many in the city of 7.5 million people have vented fury at eroding freedoms under Chinese rule. Violence has escalated, and tensions have spread overseas, sparking friction between China and Britain, which governed Hong Kong until 1997.




There have been 366 mass shootings in the US so far in 2019 — here's the full list

There have been 366 mass shootings in the US so far in 2019 — here's the full listAs of November 14, 2019, there have been more mass shootings in the US than there are days. At least people have died in mass shootings this year.




Trump lashes out after former adviser Roger Stone is convicted on all 7 counts

Trump lashes out after former adviser Roger Stone is convicted on all 7 countsIt's been quite a day in the world of President Trump.During a break in the second public impeachment hearing Friday, Trump's former adviser, Roger Stone, was found guilty on all seven counts against him, including lying to Congress. The Wall Street Journal notes Stone is now the sixth Trump associate convicted on charges stemming from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.Trump lashed out after the conviction, tweeting angrily about the fact that "they" want to jail Stone "for many years to come" for lying and rattling off a long list of his political enemies whom he accuses of lying. Trump made no apparent distinction between lying to Congress, for which Stone was convicted, and lying in general. As Stone holds out hope for a presidential pardon, he might be feeling pretty good about these tweets.> So they now convict Roger Stone of lying and want to jail him for many years to come. Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn't they lie?....> > -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019> ....A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?> > -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 15, 2019This all came while Trump was accused of witness intimidation for attacking ousted Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch on Twitter while she testified before Congress. Coincidentally, one of the charges Stone was convicted of was witness tampering.More stories from theweek.com The coming death of just about every rock legend The president has already confessed to his crimes Why are 2020 Democrats so weird?




‘No discipline. No plan. No strategy.’: Sen. Kamala Harris campaign in meltdown

‘No discipline. No plan. No strategy.’: Sen. Kamala Harris campaign in meltdownAs Sen. Kamala Harris crisscrosses the country trying to revive her sputtering presidential bid, aides at her fast-shrinking headquarters are deep into the finger-pointing stages. And much of the blame is being placed on campaign manager Juan Rodriguez.




China envoy threatens Sweden over award to detained writer Gui Minhai

China envoy threatens Sweden over award to detained writer Gui MinhaiChina threatened Sweden with unspecified "counter measures" if its culture minister attends a literary award ceremony on Friday for Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen who was abducted in Thailand in 2015 and is now in detention in China. The case of Chinese-born Gui Minhai, who studied in Sweden in the 1980s and was based in Hong Kong when he published books critical of China's leaders, has soured relations between Sweden and China.




'He essentially added an article of impeachment in real-time': Trump criticised by Fox News and Ken Starr for attacking Yovanovitch during hearing

'He essentially added an article of impeachment in real-time': Trump criticised by Fox News and Ken Starr for attacking Yovanovitch during hearingDonald Trump’s tweets attacking Marie Yovanovitch during her powerful testimony before the House impeachment inquiry has turned into a lightning rod of the hearings — and even some prominent conservative sources have slammed the president’s comments.The tweet was highlighted by House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, who asked Ms Yovanovitch what she thought of him saying that “everywhere Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad”, before attacking her decades of experience.




F.A.A. Chief Urges Employees to Resist Pressure to End Max’s Grounding


By BY NATALIE KITROEFF AND DAVID GELLES from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2KqaJlu