world news: 2019-12-01

Saturday 7 December 2019

Hong Kong gears up for mass rally as government appeals for calm

Hong Kong was gearing up for a mass rally on Sunday that is expected to gauge support for pro-democracy demonstrations in the Chinese-ruled city as the government appealed to people to express their views peacefully.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2s9525e

Hong Kong AmCham chairman and president denied entry to Macau

The chairman and president of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Hong Kong were separately denied entry to the neighboring Chinese-ruled city of Macau on Saturday after being detained by immigration officials.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2YsFJH7

Iranian and American freed in apparent prisoner swap

An Iranian held in the US and an American held in Iran have been freed, the two sides said Saturday, in an apparent prisoner swap at a time of heightened tensions. Tehran announced the release of Iranian scientist Massoud Soleimani from the United States shortly before Washington declared American researcher Xiyue Wang was returning home. "Glad that Professor Massoud Soleimani and Mr. Xiyue Wang will be joining their families shortly," Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted.

50 Great Gadget and Gear Gifts for the Holidays

US flu season arrives early, driven by an unexpected virus

The U.S. winter flu season is off to its earliest start in more than 15 years. An early barrage of illness in the South has begun to spread more broadly, and there’s a decent chance flu season could peak much earlier than normal, health officials say. The last flu season to rev up this early was in 2003-2004 — a bad one.

Blind man executed in US for killing ex-girlfriend

A blind man was executed by the US state of Tennessee on Thursday for burning his ex-girlfriend to death. Lee Hall, who was previously known as Leroy Hall, chose to be executed by electrocution rather than lethal injection, a choice that Tennessee has offered to those condemned to death before 1999. Hall, 52, was sentenced to death after he was convicted of setting a car on fire with his former girlfriend inside in 1991.

Pensacola shooting victim saved 'countless lives' during attack, brother says

Joshua Kaleb Watson, an Alabama native and Naval Academy graduate was identified as one of the victims of the Naval Air Station Pensacola shooting.

Protests hit Madrid as frustration over climate failure boils over

Major emitters such as the United States, India and Brazil show little sign of boosting their emissions cuts.

Germany's Merkel voices 'shame' during 1st Auschwitz visit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced a feeling of "deep shame” during her first-ever visit on Friday to the hallowed grounds of the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Adolf Hitler's regime murdered more than a million people. Merkel noted that her visit comes amid rising anti-Semitism and historical revisionism and vowed that Germany would not tolerate anti-Semitism.

The acting Navy secretary promises he'll fix the Ford aircraft carrier because he's tired of it being a 'whipping boy for why the Navy can't do anything right'

Explaining that the president is "very concerned" about the Ford, Modly said that he is making fixing this flattop a top priority for the Navy.

Trump Energy Adviser Leaving White House After Ukraine Subpoena

(Bloomberg) -- An international energy adviser to President Donald Trump, who was sought by congressional Democrats as part of their impeachment inquiry, is leaving the White House, according to three people familiar with the matter.Wells Griffith, who has been serving as a senior director for international energy and environment on the National Security Council, is set to join the Overseas Private Investment Corp. next week, said two of the people. All three asked not to be named discussing a personnel issue.The move is part of a broader effort to streamline the National Security Council, with more matters shifted to the National Economic Council, according to two of the people. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien previously outlined his ambitions to pare NSC staff in an October Washington Post opinion piece.Griffith, a former Energy Department official who also worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign, has dealt with an array of international energy matters in his White House role, including sanctions on Iran and Venezuela. Griffith last year also served as the face of the Trump administration at international climate negotiations in Poland, where he was part of a panel touting technology to produce cleaner coal-fired power.Griffith helped broker a deal to export U.S. coal to Ukraine during his tenure at the Energy Department under Trump.Griffith could have a similar portfolio at OPIC, a U.S. government agency that helps finance projects in developing countries. The Trump administration has tried to encourage multilateral development banks and other international lenders to support coal-fired power plants and natural gas.“He played a really big role in defining the president’s foreign energy policy; he’s now in an excellent position to implement it,” said George David Banks, a former international energy adviser to Trump.Griffith last month rebuffed a subpoena from House Democrats to be deposed as part of the inquiry into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, citing White House counsel guidance against participating.\--With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs.To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer A. Dlouhy in Washington at jdlouhy1@bloomberg.net;Ari Natter in Washington at anatter5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Lane Kiffin Hired by Ole Miss as Next Coach

By BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/34YYILW

New Yahoo News/YouGov poll shows that Democrats have so far failed to seal the deal on impeachment

A majority of registered voters buy Democrats’ central argument for impeachment, but Americans remain too polarized and uncertain about key details to back Trump’s removal from office in the kind of numbers that could create real momentum, a new poll shows.

Bloomberg says his reporters must 'live with' limits on coverage

Democratic presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg on Friday defended the policy implemented by his news agency to steer clear of investigating him, saying doing so would not be credible. Bloomberg told CBS News he "hired somebody outside" to run the Bloomberg News organization and establish policies for ethics. When asked about complaints from Bloomberg journalists that the policy to avoid investigating him or other Democratic candidates, he replied, that they "have to live with some things" about the job.

Joe Biden slams the media for saying Democrats have moved 'extremely to the left' since 2016 and says the party's not with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Biden said the media falsely reported that the Democratic Party "moved extremely to the left" following Hillary Clinton's 2016 loss.

Saudis distance themselves from US naval base shooter

Saudi Arabia sought to distance itself Saturday from a student who carried out a fatal shooting at an American naval base, as it seeks to repair its image of being an exporter of Islamic extremism. The Saudi military trainee reportedly condemned the US as a "nation of evil" before going on a rampage Friday at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, killing three people and wounding eight. The shooting marks a setback in the kingdom's efforts to shrug off its longstanding reputation for promoting religious extremism after the September 11, 2001 attacks in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.

A dozen senators, not Trump, will decide who testifies in Senate impeachment trial

President Trump’s characterization of how a Senate impeachment trial might go glosses over the reality of who gets to call the shots.

The Story of Henry Lee Lucas, the Notorious Subject of Netflix’s The Confession Killer

Thee self-proclaimed serial killer confessed to committing as many as 600 murders. Most of those claims turned out to be lies

UPDATE 1-Rocket hits Iraqi cleric's home following deadly Baghdad attack

The drone attack, which caused little damage and left no casualties, followed a deadly attack by armed men near Baghdad's main protest site on Friday night, which left at least 23 dead, police and medical sources said. Nearly 130 others were wounded by gunfire and stabbings targeting anti-government protesters at the Sinak bridge near Tahrir Square, the sources said. Thousands of Iraqis have occupied the central square and three nearby bridges which lead to the city's Green Zone, Iraq's political centre, for more than two months, calling for a complete uprooting of the political system.

World's oceans are losing oxygen at a dangerous rate, study says

Scientists warn that ocean deoxygenation will have widespread global effects on marine ecosystems and the people that rely on them.

Trump hails himself 'greatest of all presidents' as Democrats meet to prepare impeachment charges

Democrats are meeting this weekend to prepare impeachment charges against Donald Trump, as he railed against the process on Twitter and declared himself "greatest of all presidents".The Judiciary Committee is expected to draft at least three articles of impeachment -- essentially charges of wrongdoing -- against Mr Trump which the whole House of Representatives is expected to vote on before Christmas.

Nikki Haley’s Confederate Flag Comments Spark Backlash

By BY AIMEE ORTIZ from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2DYqBbk

Friday 6 December 2019

US and UK bust one of the worst cyber banking hacks in a decade, charging Russians in multi-million dollar scheme

The group of Russian hackers allegedly behind one of the worst cyber bank frauds of the last decade was unmasked on Thursday, with its leader indicted in America and the full scale of purported crimes revealed in remarkable detail. The Moscow-based unit was identified as Evil Corp and dubbed “the world’s most harmful cyber crime group” as British and American officials revealed the results of an investigation into the group and its activities that has lasted a decade. Maksim Yakubets, 32, was accused of being the group’s leader and was indicted over two separate hacking schemes. A $5 million reward was announced by the US State Department for any information that leads to his arrest. Customers of nearly 300 organisations in 43 different countries have been targeted by the group, with financial losses in UK alone assessed to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Evil Corp was accused of ruthlessly exploiting online vulnerabilities, tricking people into clicking on internet links that would install viruses, scanning for bank account details and then creating wires transfers to “money mules” working with the hackers. Masim Yakubets, who led the cyber crime group and now has a $5m bounty on his head Victims ranged from small businesses and schools to individuals saving for retirement and even religious groups, including some Franciscan sisters in America who lost tens of thousands of dollars. The US Treasury announced sanctions against 17 individuals linked to Evil Corps, including Yakubets, the baby-faced Russian alleged to have hidden behind the moniker ‘Aqua’ online whose image is now on “wanted by the FBI” posters. Seven entities were also sanctioned. Yakubets was accused by the US Treasury of working with the Russian spying agency FSB in 2017, including "acquiring confidential documents through cyber-enabled means" for the Russian state. He was also said to have been trying to get a license to work on classified material with the FSB last year. The claim raises questions about whether the Kremlin is turning a blind eye to notorious computers hackers in its capital, or even leaning on their expertise to support Russia’s nefarious online activities. The hackers stole millions of dollars, officials say Credit: Samuel Corum /Getty The group’s willingness to boast about the proceeds of their alleged criminality online, acting like “extravagant millionaires” according to one senior UK investigator, was said to have helped result in their unmasking. Videos released by the UK’s National Crime Agency [NCA] featured alleged members of Evil Corp showing off their sports cars and holding up traffic in Moscow as pulled doughnuts in the middle of the street. Other videos purported to show the hackers petting the group’s lion cub and mucking about on segways. According to UK officials, Yakubets has a customized Lamborghini supercar with a personalised number plate that translates to ‘Thief’ and spent a quarter of a million pounds on his wedding. The announcements were the work of a pain-staking investigation from officials at America’s Justice Department, FBI, State Department and Treasury as well as Britons at the NCA and Metropolitan Police. Evil Corp group member Dmitriy Smirnov standing on his Nissan GTR and a Camera Chevrolet, according to the UK's National Crime Agency Credit: SOURCE: NCA As well as Yakubets a second alleged Russian hacker, the 38-year-old Igor Turashev, was indicted for his role in one of the computer hacking schemes. Both men are believed to be residing in Russia, meaning they could escape arrest and a trial should they never leave the country. However US officials insisted it was still worth pursuing them, with one senior FBI official saying: “We have a very long memory and we will never give up.” The two US indictments involved two different types of malware, with the alleged crimes likened to “a cyber-enabled bank robbery” by one US official. A photograph from the wedding of Maksim Yakubets in 2017, according to the UK's National Crime Agency Credit: Source: NCA The US administration announcement accused Yakubets of being behind “two of the worst computer hacking and bank fraud schemes of the past decade”. Lynne Owens, the NCA director general, said of Evil Corp: “We are unlikely to ever know the full cost, but the impact on the UK alone is assessed to run into the hundreds of millions.” The response of Yakubets and Turashev to the charges is not known, nor is the response of the other individuals sanctioned by the US Treasury for their links to Evil Corp. One US official said the Russian government had responded to a request for mutual legal assistance which was “helpful” in the investigation, but only “to a point”. The Victims The list of victims from Evil Crop’s alleged criminality is exhaustive, with scores of different businesses and groups losing out thanks to its cyber-hacking schemes. Everything from a genetics lab in California and a public high school in Pennsylvania to a bank in Nebraska and a dairy company in Ohio were targeted according to court documents. There was even a group of Franciscan sisters near the outskirts of Chicago who were left $24,141 out of pocket after one member opened an email which appeared to be from her bank. Audi R8 belonging to an Evil Corp group member, according to the UK's National Crime Agency Credit: SOURCE: NCA And that is America alone. Some 300 companies in 43 different countries were said to have been targeted by the Russian hackers, with thousands of victims. Even that, one senior UK official said, was a “low estimate”. Victims in Britain were not been named on Thursday, but it is understood almost every significant UK financial institution has been targeted at one stage. Some may be reluctant to report hacks for fear of what would happen to their stock value. One US official said that ever dollar stolen amounted to a dollar less for retirement, or a dollar less for the high school sports team, or for business innovation. "This is why we go to the ends of the world to investigate and prosecute cyber criminals," the official added. How they did it Evil Corps hackers would relentlessly pray on online vulnerabilities through sophisticated schemes that would morph once detected, according to UK and US officials. ‘Phishing’ emails were sent to thousands of people, sometimes pretending to be genuine messages from banks, in the hope someone would accidentally click the website link included. Once that happened, malware would be installed which would then search the compromised computer systems for bank account details and passwords that could be exploited. Wire transfers would then be setup from the victim's bank account to people dubbed “money mules” who were working with the hackers and would distribute the stolen funds. Evil Corp group member Andrey Plotnitskiy standing in front of a Porsche, according to the UK's National Crime Agency Credit: SOURCE: NCA The Evil Corps hackers allegedly made little attempt to hide their ill-gotten gains, spending it on luxury sports cars which they would screech round Moscow. Asked how people could protect themselves from the group’s members – who remain at large – one US official gave some advice. He suggested changing passwords to make them hard to predict and using two-factor authentication for logging into electronic devises. The official also warned people against clicking on links which they are not certain are authenticate, saying: “Before you click, think hard.”

Trump Says He Will Delay Terrorist Designation for Mexican Cartels

By BY CHRISTOPHER MELE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2sLwrdx

Saudi Trainee Kills 3 in Shooting at Florida Naval Base

By BY KALYN WOLFE, PATRICIA MAZZEI, THOMAS GIBBONS-NEFF AND CHRISTINE HAUSER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2sOyq0F

With Impeachment Unfolding Amid a Booming Economy, What Will Voters Prioritize?

By BY ANNIE KARNI AND JEANNA SMIALEK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2sV0nnN

Merry Griftmas, Mr. Trump!

By BY MICHELLE COTTLE from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/38em6aw

Matt Gaetz: ‘I Think it’s a Little Weird’ that Giuliani is in Ukraine Meeting with Government Officials

Trump ally Matt Gaetz (R., Fla.) distanced himself from the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani during an interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo Thursday night.“I think it’s a little weird that Rudy Giuliani is over in Ukraine right now, and I’m not here to defend Rudy Giuliani,” Gaetz told Cuomo.Cuomo began by asking Gaetz what he made of Giuliani’s presence in Ukraine, where he met this week with government officials as part of his ongoing effort to prompt the opening of a corruption investigation that would benefit Trump politically.Giuliani met on Thursday with a KGB-trained member of Ukraine’s parliament to discuss a possible investigation into Hunter Biden, son of former vice president Joe Biden. In November, news broke that Giuliani considered taking Ukraine’s top prosecutor as a client earlier this year, as he urged the prosecutor and other Ukrainian officials to investigate former vice president Joe Biden.Gaetz replied by saying that Giuliani deserved “to get the benefit of the doubt” due to his past credentials, but was not shy about voicing some skepticism.“As you point out, there’s some ambiguity about the role that Rudy Giuliani’s playing, and I think it probably would be helpful if Rudy clarified the role that he was playing in these different circumstances, and if he’s acting for other clients or other entities, that would be helpful information to have,” Gaetz said. The Florida congressman added that “if Mayor Giuliani did something wrong, which I haven’t seen evidence of, then of course there’s a process to deal with that.”> "There is some ambiguity about the role that Rudy Giuliani is playing," says GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz about the President's personal attorney's efforts in Ukraine. "It probably would be helpful if Rudy clarified the role that he was playing in different circumstances." pic.twitter.com/uepPuBECW9> > -- Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) December 6, 2019Gaetz was also quick to defend Trump when Cumo pressed on whether Giuliani’s work was proof of the crimes Democrats are mulling in drafting articles of impeachment.“When it comes to the president, which is what this impeachment is about, you have a long-held criticism and concern about foreign aid, you have a legitimate concern about Ukraine — the third-most corrupt country in the world — and you also have specific legitimate concern about Burisma,” Gaetz said.“It was in fact Mr. Kent, who testified that there was such substantial concerns about Burisma, that our own embassy had to pull out of a private partnership with them out of fear that we would be smeared with this type of corrupt behavior. So, with all of that being a legitimate question, the president should not never be impeached on it.”Giuliani continues to publicly claim that he is in possession of evidence that proves Joe Biden abused his position as vice president to benefit his son.> …to the US assisting Ukraine with its anti-corruption reforms. > > The American people will learn that Biden & other Obama administration officials, contributed to the increased level of corruption in Ukraine between 2014 to 2016. > > This evidence will all be released very soon.> > -- Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) December 5, 2019

19 unforgettable images from the Pearl Harbor attack 78 years ago

December 7, 1941 began as a perfect Sunday morning. These photos show the attack by Imperial Japan that changed history.

Weak Arctic ice sees 56 polar bears descend on Russian village

More than 50 polar bears have gathered on the edge of a village in Russia's far north, environmentalists and residents said, as weak Arctic ice leaves them unable to roam. The Russian branch of the World Wildlife Fund said climate change was to blame, as unusually warm temperatures prevented coastal ice from forming. The WWF said 56 polar bears had gathered in a one-square-kilometre (0.4-square-mile) area near the village of Ryrkaipy in Chukotka on the northeastern tip of Russia.

Explainer: How impeachment works and why Trump is unlikely to be removed

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday instructed the House Judiciary Committee to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump for pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival. What happens next and why Trump is unlikely to be removed from office are both explained here.

Now Even Accountants Are Fighting Over Democracy in Hong Kong

(Bloomberg) -- Less than a month after Hong Kongers delivered a landslide victory to pro-democracy candidates in district elections, the battle over the city’s future is shifting somewhere you might not expect: the staid world of accounting.Candidates in this year’s election for the council of the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants are being judged largely based on whether they support the city’s pro-democracy movement or are seen to align the pro-Beijing establishment.It’s not the first time citywide debates have influenced the institute, which certifies accountants and is responsible for overseeing industry standards. But this year’s election is proving especially heated in the wake of protests that have rocked the financial hub for almost six months, according to Rosalind Lee, one of the six pro-democracy candidates.It underscores the degree to which pro-democracy and pro-government forces are fighting for influence across Hong Kong, even at institutions that ostensibly have little to do with politics. Similar battles have reported to have played out in varying degrees at other professional groups for architects, engineers, doctors and lawyers.With votes from 44,000 members of the accounting institute due on Dec. 9, the pro-democracy camp has taken to social media to drum up support from younger members of the profession. Pro-Beijing accounting firms and related organizations have been urging staff to support their favored candidates, while officials from China’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong have frequented industry banquets and forums.All of the so-called Big Four global accounting firms -- Deloitte LLP, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Ernst & Young LLP and KPMG LLP -- have sent identical lists of pro-establishment candidates to staff, according to notices seen by Bloomberg. All four firms have a big presence in China. EY, Deloitte and KPMG spokespeople declined to comment. PwC wasn’t available to comment.The Chinese government is using various groups in Hong Kong, commonly known as satellite associations, to mobilize support for their preferred candidates, said Benson Wong, a political scientist and former assistant professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.For some pro-democracy industry practitioners, Beijing’s attempts to influence the election look excessive. “It’s very bad for the profession, and it’s bad for ‘one country, two systems,’” said Kenneth Leung, an accountant and lawmaker on the Legislative Council.“I don’t object to the Liaison Office regularly meeting with Hong Kong people from different walks of life to build mutual understanding,” said Frankie Yan, a spokesman for financial services at the Professional Commons, a pro-democracy affiliated pressure group. “But it shouldn’t influence our decision or give directions. Hong Kong professionals should have their own stance and professional judgment.”The accounting council, which counts Hong Kong Financial Secretary Paul Chan among its former leaders, said in a statement that it’s “confident in the integrity” of the election. “We trust and expect that no parties will manipulate the system, as integrity is the bedrock of the CPA profession.”The China Liaison Office didn’t respond to a fax seeking a comment.While pro-establishment council members have long dominated the accounting institute, their grip has weakened in recent years. Five from the pro-democracy side were elected last year to the 21-member council after campaigning together for the first time the previous year.In some ways, the candidates’ platforms mirror those of pro-democracy politicians in Hong Kong. They’re advocating for a one-person, one vote system for the council president -- which is currently elected by only council members -- and for the institute to take a stance on social issues such as the now withdrawn extradition bill that sparked the city’s protests.This year’s vote involves seven seats on the council and pits six pro-democracy candidates against seven from the establishment camp. Four of the pro-democracy candidates are running for re-election, meaning that at most they’ll be able to pick up two more seats.It would be a far cry from the historic shift seen in last month’s district council elections, but pro-democracy supporters are pushing for every victory they can get.\--With assistance from Hannah Dormido.To contact the reporter on this story: Kiuyan Wong in Hong Kong at kwong739@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Candice Zachariahs at czachariahs2@bloomberg.net, Jonas Bergman, Michael PattersonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Michael Bloomberg on the all-white Democratic debate: 'Don't complain to me that you're not in the race'

Michael Bloomberg doesn't see anything wrong with being another white man in the increasingly less diverse 2020 field.As Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) recently pointed out after Bloomberg's entry to and Sen. Kamala Harris' (D-Calif.) departure from the 2020 presidential race, there are now "more billionaires than black people" running for president. But when confronted with that fact in a CBS This Morning interview, Bloomberg, one of those aforementioned billionaires, didn't seem to think it was a problem.In the interview aired Friday, Gayle King asked Bloomberg if it was a "problem" that the December Democratic primary debate might not have any people of color on the stage. "It would be better the more diverse any group is, but the public is out there picking and choosing," Bloomberg responded. He then pointed out that there was a more diverse field earlier in the race.Then, King asked Bloomberg to response to suggestions that he's "another old, white gentleman" in the race, and that it's "time for change." "Maybe," Bloomberg acknowledged, and then added "If you wanted to enter and run for president of the United States, you could have done that. But don't complain to me that you're not in the race."> .@MikeBloomberg on candidates' diversity: "Don't complain to me that you're not in the race" https://t.co/WBIekwdeZh pic.twitter.com/Ca0QlMn6DH> > — CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) December 6, 2019Bloomberg also explained his recent decision to apologize for the "stop and frisk" policy he pursued as New York City mayor by asserting he only said he was sorry for it now because "nobody asked me about it until I started running for president."More stories from theweek.com Trump's pathological obsession with being laughed at The most important day of the impeachment inquiry Jerry Falwell Jr.'s false gospel of memes

Impeachment hearing joke draws angry response from Melania Trump – and lays bare America's divide

Pamela Karlan’s reference to Trump’s son Barron offered Republicans a chance to claim righteous outrageFinally, a smoking pun. A simple play on words told us everything about the impeachment inquiry, the current mindset in Congress and the state of the nation.The witness Pamela Karlan cracked a joke that delighted liberals and infuriated conservatives. Or rather, it delighted conservatives because it gave them a talking point to whip up outrage.The afternoon session of the House judiciary committee hearing on the constitutional framework for impeachment had just begun when the Democratic congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee posed the question: “What comparisons can we make between kings that the framers were afraid of and the president’s conduct today?”Karlan, a Stanford Law School professor, replied: “Kings could do no wrong because the king’s word was law. Contrary to what President Trump has said, article two [of the constitution] does not give him the power to do anything he wants.“I will give you one example that shows the difference between him and a king, which is: the constitution says there can be no titles of nobility. While the president can name his son Barron, he can’t make him a baron.”Jackson Lee smiled and there was laughter in the big and ornate committee room, where two carved eagles look down under the words “E pluribus unum” (out of many, one) and a dozen uniformed Capitol police lent an air of a courtroom drama. Karlan’s point echoed Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s recent opinion, cited at Wednesday’s hearing, that “the primary takeaway from the past 250 years of recorded American history is that presidents are not kings”.But could we forgive the pun? Not when the president’s son, tall but only 13 years of age, was involved. Republicans’s well-oiled fury machine clicked straight into gear. Stephanie Grisham, the White House press secretary, tweeted: “Classless move by a Democratic ‘witness’. Prof Karlan uses a teenage boy who has nothing to do with this joke of a hearing (and deserves privacy) as a punchline.”The Trump 2020 election campaign demanded Karlan personally apologise to the president and first lady. Back in the room, the Trump loyalist Matt Gaetz expressed righteous indignation. “When you invoke the president’s son’s name here, when you try to make a little joke out of referencing Barron Trump, that does not lend credibility to your argument,” he told Karlan. Like Jim Jordan and Elise Stefanik in the intelligence committee hearings, Gaetz would have known that clip has plenty of potential for replays on Fox News and rightwing social media, bashing the left as vengeful and in the throes of “Trump derangement syndrome”.As the clock ticked past half-five, the hearing learned, with an audible gasp, that Melania Trump herself had weighed in, tweeting: “A minor child deserves privacy and should be kept out of politics. Pamela Karlan, you should be ashamed of your very angry and obviously biased public pandering, and using a child to do it.”Karlan apologised. “It was wrong of me to do that,” she told the hearing. “I regret having said that.”The division over this pun – a laugh line to some, evidence of liberal sneering to others – cut to the chase of yet another hopelessly polarised hearing. Facts mattered less than being on the winning team. It made one wonder whether Americans don’t even laugh at the same jokes any more.Three of the witnesses, including Karlan, had been called by Democrats to testify that the evidence gathered regarding Trump’s dealings with Ukraine meets the historical definition of impeachment. The other witness had been called by Republicans. Few Democratic or Republican politicians put a question to a witness from the other side.Democrats got plenty of ammunition. Representative Steve Cohen laid out an ABC – Abuse of power, Betrayal of the national interest and Corruption of elections – and asked if Trump had achieved the trifecta. “Yes,” replied all three Democratic witnesses. Michael Gerhardt, a University of North Carolina law professor, said: “I just want to stress that if what we’re talking about is not impeachable, then nothing is impeachable.”But their opponents worked tirelessly to argue that their witnesses were partisan ivory tower-dwellers and therefore ignorable in this “sham” and “farce”. The Republican witness was Jonathan Turley, who was somewhat measured, opining that Trump’s phone call with the Ukrainian president “was anything but perfect”. But the George Washington University law professor said: “One can oppose President Trump’s policies or actions but still conclude that the current legal case for impeachment is not just woefully inadequate, but in some respects dangerous.”There were also some structural problems for Democrats in the all-important court of public opinion. At hearings like Wednesday’s, they have to take turns with Republicans, which creates an impression of equivalence: first let’s put the case for the world being round, now let’s hear the case that it’s flat.So before some empty seats in the press and public galleries, members continued to talk past each other. For those still watching at home, the alternatives were sleep or, after the TV newsman Howard Beale in the film Network, to cry out: “I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this any more!”Turley had an answer for that too. “I get it. You’re mad,” he said. “The president’s mad. My Republican friends are mad. My Democratic friends are mad. My wife is mad. My kids are mad. Even my dog seems mad. And Luna’s a goldendoodle, and they don’t get mad. So we’re all mad.”

North Carolina GOP Rep Says He Won’t Seek Reelection After District Redrawing

Representative George Holding (R., N.C.) announced Friday that he will not seek reelection in 2020 after a North Carolina district reconfiguration put his seat in danger.“I should add, candidly, that yes, the newly redrawn Congressional Districts were part of the reason I have decided not to seek reelection,” he said in a statement. “But, in addition, this is also a good time for me to step back and reflect on all that I have learned.”Holding, a former federal prosecutor who is wrapping up his fourth-term on Capitol Hill, added that he hoped to return to public office at some point in the future.> JUST IN: George Holding (R-NC) announces he's leaving Congress after redrawn map leaves him with a heavily Democratic district. pic.twitter.com/yX3tfxK1Sg> > -- Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 6, 2019Holding’s announcement comes after a North Carolina panel of judges confirmed a GOP redrawing of Congressional Districts which likely cedes Holding’s Wake-County seat to a Democratic challenge.According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, Holding’s seat has changed from leaning Republican to likely Democrat.Republicans currently hold 10 of 13 congressional seats in North Carolina, but were forced to redesign the map after state judges blocked the existing district layout for the 2020 elections, citing excessive partisan bias. Despite picking up two seats, Democrats remain opposed the new map over allegations it did not do enough to reverse gerrymandering.Holding is the 18th House Republican not to seek reelection, and the second in two days, after Georgia Republican Tom Graves announced Thursday that he would no longer run for office.

Bernie Sanders unveils plan to break up telecom companies and launch universal broadband access

Sen. Bernie Sanders: "Green New Deal" would remake the economy. Under a new plan, it would also expand broadband internet through the country.

Andrew Yang puts his universal basic income plan to the test

The 2020 Democrat's campaign is funding a pilot program that gives 14 people $1,000 a month for a year — no strings attached.

'Honestly, I don't know what to say': Neal Katyal stumped on how he'd defend Trump in an impeachment trial

Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal joins Yahoo News Editor in Chief Daniel Klaidman and Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff to discuss his new book, “Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump,” and is rendered speechless when asked how he would, hypothetically, defend President Trump in an impeachment trial.