‘Manipulative, deceitful, user’: Tara Reade left a trail of aggrieved acquaintances

A number of those who crossed paths with Biden’s accuser say they remember two things: She spoke favorably about her time working for Biden, and she left them feeling duped.

Fox News coronavirus coverage dropped by 20% as the network shifted to 'Obamagate' and hosts focused on anti-lockdown stories

Coronavirus coverage has dropped 20% as the network traded it for stories on anti-lockdown protests and echoing Trump's comments.

India's coronavirus infections surpass China, but contagion slowing

India's total novel corornavirus cases rose to 85,940 on Saturday, taking it past China, where the pandemic originated last year, though a strict lockdown enforced since late March has reduced the rate of contagion. State leaders, businesses and working class Indians have called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reopen the battered economy, but the government is expected to extend the lockdown, which would otherwise expire on Sunday, though with fewer restrictions. The toll in the United States, United Kingdom and Italy is much higher.

China reports five new coronavirus cases, down from eight a day earlier

Mainland China reported five new confirmed COVID-19 cases for May 16, down from eight the previous day, the National Health Commission (NHC) said in a statement on Sunday.

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Mexico registers 47,144 cases of coronavirus and 5,045 deaths

Mexico registered 47,144 cases of coronavirus on Saturday, with the country's death toll rising to 5,045, health authorities said.

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Brazil passes Italy and Spain in confirmed coronavirus cases

Brazil's confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus rose on Saturday past those of Spain and Italy, which was once the epicenter of the pandemic, making Brazil's outbreak the fourth largest in the world, according to official figures.

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As meat-processing factories struggle to reopen, govt. documents warn of shortages

As COVID-19 ravages meatpacking plants throughout the country, beef and pork options are dwindling in grocery stores.

Advocates decry ICE efforts to deport migrant kids amid pandemic

ICE was prepared to deport a teenage girl to Guatemala alone, despite pleas from advocates. The only reason it couldn't was because the flight was postponed over coronavirus.

Trump says Biden has 'no idea what's happening' seconds before claiming that AOC 'wants wind' that 'kills all the birds'

President Donald Trump's vendetta against wind turbines predates his presidency and has now made it onto his 2020 campaign platform.

Hospital responds to nurse caught at crowded bar

"I have a toddler at home and I'm a full-time nurse it's been very stressful and hard to go out and be with my friends and family at the bars," Katie Koutsky said.

New York tourist arrested after posting Hawaii beach photos

Tarique Peters, 23, of the Bronx, arrived in Honolulu on Monday, said a news release from the Hawaii COVID-19 Joint Information Center.

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Obama rips 'folks in charge' while discussing COVID-19 response in commencement speech

05/16/20 4:35 PM

In patchwork restart, parts of New York and other U.S. states reopen

Less populated areas of New York, Virginia and Maryland took their first steps towards lifting lockdowns on Friday, part of a patchwork approach to the coronavirus pandemic that has been shaped by political divisions across the United States. Construction and manufacturing facilities in five out of 10 New York state regions were given the green light to restart operations, although New York City, the country's most populous metropolis, remained under strict limits. Joe Dundon, whose construction business in Binghamton, New York, was able to start up again after shutting down in March, said he had a long backlog of kitchen and bathroom remodeling projects and several estimates lined up for Friday.

Family separation is back for migrants at the U.S./Mexican border, say advocates

NBC News obtained a copy of a form ICE is allegedly distributing in family detention centers that lets parents apply for minor children to be released.

Top fugitive in Rwanda's genocide arrested outside Paris

One of the most wanted fugitives in Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, a wealthy businessman accused of supplying machetes to killers and broadcasting propaganda urging mass slaughter, has been arrested outside Paris, authorities said Saturday. Felicien Kabuga, who had a $5 million bounty on his head, had been accused of equipping militias in the genocide that killed more than 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus who tried to protect them. The 84-year-old Kabuga was arrested as a result of a joint investigation with the U.N.'s International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals office of the prosecutor, French authorities said.

Wisconsin bars packed after court lifts stay-at-home order

"It's been kinda boring sitting in my house, I love my fiancee but there's only so much we can handle from each other," one customer says.

New COVID-19 cases in New York coming from people leaving home, Cuomo says

"That person got infected and went to the hospital or that person got infected and went home and infected the other people at home," Cuomo said during his daily news conference on the coronavirus outbreak. State data showed the number of new cases statewide has fluctuated between 2,100 and 2,500 per day.

GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler just handed over documents to federal authorities investigating alleged insider trading

A spokesperson said the senator had forwarded "documents and information" to federal authorities investigating allegations of insider trading.

Russia launches virus antibody testing, says football to return

Russia pushed ahead Friday with plans to ease coronavirus restrictions despite reporting more than 10,000 new cases, with its football league set to return next month and thousands being tested for antibodies. Health officials said 10,598 new infections had been confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's total to 262,843, the second-highest in the world after the United States. The number of cases has surged in recent weeks but officials say this is largely due to extensive testing, with more than six million tests carried out so far, and point to Russia's relatively low mortality rate as proof the country is managing the crisis.

Kenya closes borders to Tanzania and Somalia over coronavirus

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta on Saturday banned movement across the country's borders with Tanzania and Somalia to help curb the spread of the coronavirus. "There will be a cessation of movement of persons and any passenger-ferrying automobiles and vehicles into and out of the territory of Kenya through the Kenya-Tanzania international border," Kenyatta said in a televised address. The same measures would apply on the border with Somalia, he said.

Does the justice department work for the Trump campaign now? Barr thinks so

The US attorney general seems determined to turn the DoJ into a fully fledged arm of the Trump re-election teamIt was enough that last week, the US Department of Justice did something completely unheard of: it moved to dismiss the guilty plea of a cabinet level officer, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, for lying to the FBI. The department’s argument was so preposterous that within days, nearly 2,000 former department officials signed a letter in protest of William Barr’s “assault on the rule of law”.A week before the motion to dismiss in the Flynn case, Trump had tweeted that a prosecution like Flynn’s “should never be allowed to happen … again”. The day that the motion was filed, Trump told reporters that the Obama administration officials had targeted Flynn to try to “take down a president”. In co-ordination, Trump campaign manager BradParscale issued a statement saying: “[T]he Obama-Biden officials responsible for these misdeeds must be held accountable.”Immediately after the filing in the Flynn case, Barr went on national television and attacked the FBI, pointedly disparaging its 2016 investigation into Russian interference and letting it be known that FBI officials or ex-officials were under examination for prosecution: “[J]ust 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’s a violation of a criminal statute.”Then on Wednesday, Barr’s press spokeswoman, Kerri Kupec, upped the ante in the high-stakes effort to lend political support to Gen Flynn and to Trump’s partisan political interests. Kupec complained about an allegedly nefarious effort involving Joe Biden to “unmask” Flynn’s identity during the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.She said this to the Fox news correspondent Martha MacCallum: “Martha, what happened to candidate Trump and then President Trump was one of the greatest political injustices in American history and should never happen again.”It is remarkable how quickly Flynn’s fate is put aside and the focus shifted to the president.When has a justice department press person ever issued so nakedly political a statement?Biden was among several people who asked that the intelligence committee to identify the unnamed American who had been recorded in a conversation with the Russian ambassador, Sergey Kislyak, about Obama’s newly imposed sanctions in December 2016. It apparently doesn’t matter to the Barr justice department that the rules were scrupulously adhered to in this “unmasking”. It also doesn’t matter that such requests are permitted if the identity unmasked is necessary to understand the information, and that such requests are hardly unusual. The National Security Agency handles such unmasking requests in thousands of cases: 10,000 in 2019 and nearly 17,000 in 2018.> Using the department in this way undermines the integrity of the lawyers and prosecutors who work thereKupec’s statement tracks perfectly with Mr Trump’s partisan campaign messaging and with the president’s efforts to present himself and his most loyal followers as victims of a conspiracy. The DoJ has now been let loose in search of nefarious activity by Biden, and in the hope it can cast his way a McCarthyite shadow of suspicion.Barr, the attorney general, is by no means the first occupant of that office to do political work for or serve as a political ally of the president who appointed him. Indeed, Edmund Randolph, the first attorney general of the United States, was a close ally of George Washington, having served as the general’s chief of staff and personal secretary. During Randolph’s term, Washington relied on him for support on matters that went well beyond the formal duties of his office.Other attorneys general have followed in Randolph’s footsteps, serving as close political allies of the president. Examples from the early years of the country include Andrew Jackson’s attorney general, Roger Taney, who worked hand-in-hand with Jackson to end funding for the Bank of the United States.In the 20th century, Franklin Roosevelt’s attorneys general regularly helped him in political battles. Some of those battles involved the justice department and some did not. Other close political allies of the president who appointed them include Robert Kennedy, who was appointed at 35 by his brother John, and widely criticized as unqualified for the job. President Reagan’s second attorney general, Edwin Meese, was a longtime friend of, and political operative for, Reagan.But throughout American history, when presidents have appointed political cronies to be attorney general, they were looking for people only to help them pursue a policy agenda.Nixon’s efforts to enlist John Mitchell in the Watergate cover-up and get one of Mitchell’s successors, Elliot Richardson, to fire the Watergate special prosecutor stand out as important, but rare, exceptions.Other presidents have neither expected nor asked their attorneys general to use the vast investigatory and prosecutorial power of the justice department itself to intervene in criminal cases to help cronies, to buy the silence of those who might threaten him, or to discredit political adversaries. That is a new and dangerous ballgame.Using the justice department in this way undermines the integrity and professionalism of the lawyers and prosecutors who work there. It turns law into an arena for gaining partisan advantage and settling political grudges.Having gotten away with doing the same in his dealings with Ukraine, the president has an attorney general who is only too happy to go beyond merely politicizing the DoJ. He seems determined to turn it into a full-fledged arm of the Trump campaign.

Massive fire at condominium complex on South Padre Island, Texas

The fire sent a cloud of flames and thick black smoke into the air.

Phyllis George, Trailblazing Sportscaster, Is Dead at 70

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US pilot jailed in Singapore for breaking quarantine order

An American cargo pilot who admitted to “poor judgment” in breaking a quarantine order to buy medical supplies became the first foreigner imprisoned in Singapore for breaching its restrictions meant to curb the coronavirus, his lawyer said Friday. FedEx pilot Brian Dugan Yeargan, 44, of Alaska, was sentenced to four weeks Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to leaving his hotel room for three hours to buy masks and a thermometer, defense lawyer Ronnie Tan said. Singapore has one of the largest outbreaks in Asia, with 26,000 cases.

Italy's daily coronavirus death toll and new cases climb

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy climbed by 262 on Thursday, against 195 the day before, the Civil Protection Agency said, while the daily tally of new cases rose to 992 from 888 on Wednesday. The total death toll since the outbreak came to light on Feb. 21 now stands at 31,368 the agency said, the third highest in the world after those of the United States and Britain.

Gov. Cuomo extends New York's stay-at-home order until June 13

In an executive order on Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the "New York State on PAUSE" policy, put in place in March, would continue.

Fighter jet crashes at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida; pilot ejected and taken to hospital

An F-22 fighter jet crashed Friday at the Eglin Air Force Base reservation. The plane wasn't part of the flyover planned to honor coronavirus workers.

Jordan warns Israel of 'massive conflict' over West Bank annexation

"If Israel really annexed the West Bank in July, it would lead to a massive conflict with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,” King Abdullah II said.

Italy to allow travel to and from abroad from June 3

Italy's government on Saturday approved a decree which will allow travel to and from abroad from June 3, in a major development as it moves to unwind one of the world's most rigid coronavirus lockdowns.

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In This Election, It’s the Remote Against the Exposed

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Where’s Our Beef?

By BY JANE ZIEGELMAN from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2WBM5F6

House to vote on Democrats' $3T aid package

President Donald Trump called it "DOA," and Sen. Mitch McConnell said the bill was little more than an unrealistic wish list.

Company tied to Trump campaign manager gets PPP loan

CloudCommerce received nearly $800,000 on May 5.

Oxford vaccine trial moves into hospitals amid fears coronavirus not prevalent enough in wider society

The Oxford University vaccine trial is heading into hospitals amid fears that Covid-19 is not prevalent enough in wider society, a leading scientist has revealed. John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, said more than 1,000 people had been vaccinated in the first phase of the project and that, so far, things were going well and the drug looked safe. However, as researchers wait for an "efficacy signal" that will establish whether those who have been given the vaccine can ward off the virus, Prof Bell admitted there was a risk that there may not be enough "active disease" to infect people, prompting the team to employ different tactics. "The disease is on the wane and there is a risk that we won't be enough active disease to catch people," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. "We're doing some clever things. We have good data now on how much disease is around. But the population that is still at pretty high risk are healthcare workers. "So they will be moving, or will have already moved into the healthcare worker population, because there the disease prevalence is about four per cent. So they should be able to get a signal from those individuals, we hope."

Pope joins inter-faith prayers against coronavirus, irks ultra-conservatives

Pope Francis joined an inter-faith day of prayer on Thursday to call on God to end the coronavirus pandemic, brushing aside criticism from ultra-conservative Catholic groups, with one accusing him of associating with "infidels". A multi-faith committee formed after the pope's historic visit to the Arabian Peninsula last year came up with the proposal that Christians, Muslims and Jews pray, fast and perform charitable works on Thursday. "Maybe there will be someone who will say 'This is religious relativism and it cannot be done," Francis said in the homily of his morning Mass at the Vatican on Thursday.

2020 election: Joe Biden says anyone who believes Tara Reade should not vote for him in November

Joe Biden has said anyone who believes accuser Tara Reade, who’s claimed he harassed her while working in the Senate, should not vote for him come November, but confessed he doesn’t remember the staffer.The former vice president and assumed Democratic presidential nominee spoke to Lawrence O’Donnell for MSNBC on Thursday to discuss his bid to unseat Donald Trump come November.

10 cases, 2 weeks, 1 Supreme Court holding phone arguments

The coronavirus pandemic has changed the way the Supreme Court is doing business. Over the past two weeks, the court heard arguments in 10 cases by telephone, with the audio of arguments broadcast live for the first time. Then they take a summer break and begin the cycle again with arguments resuming in October.

An Indiana man threw a cup of coffee at a 7/11 cashier after he was told off for not wearing a mask

This is the second aggressive act to take place in a 7-Eleven store this week in defiance of coronavirus guidelines.

Federal Judge Hints at Possible Contempt Charge for Flynn

The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against former national-security adviser Michael Flynn is weighing charges of perjury or contempt for Flynn even as the Justice Department seeks to have the case dismissed.Judge Emmet Sullivan said he has appointed a former federal judge to argue against the Justice Department's controversial move to dismiss the case against Flynn, who pled guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts but withdrew his guilty plea earlier this year.Sullivan said Tuesday he will allow third parties to weigh in on the case before dropping the charges and directed a retired judge, John Gleeson, to recommend whether Flynn should receive a criminal contempt charge for perjury. Sullivan's order directs Gleeson to determine whether Flynn's admission that he lied to the FBI, which was made under oath on two separate occasion, amounted to perjury, since he later reversed himself and said he never lied to the agents.Gleeson, a Clinton appointee who served as a federal judge in New York, has expressed suspicion that the DOJ's move was tainted by political influence.“Government motions to dismiss at this stage are virtually unheard of,” Gleeson wrote along with several other authors in a Washington Post op-ed published Monday. “There has been nothing regular about the department’s effort to dismiss the Flynn case. The record reeks of improper political influence.”Flynn was fired by President Trump after the revelation that he made contradictory statements to Vice President Mike Pence about whether he had discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The retired three-star general pled guilty during Trump’s first year in office to making false statements to the FBI regarding his contacts with the Russian ambassador.  In January, however, he claimed he never lied to investigators.“I did not lie to them. I believed I was honest with them to the best of my recollection at the time,” Flynn said in a January legal filing. “I still don’t remember if I discussed sanctions on a phone call with Ambassador Kislyak nor do I remember if we discussed the details of a UN vote on Israel.”“I tried to ‘accept responsibility’ by admitting to offenses I understood the government I love and trusted said I committed,” Flynn added.The Justice Department said last week that the charges against Flynn should be dropped, arguing that Flynn’s FBI interview in January, 2017 was “untethered to, and unjustified by, the FBI’s counterintelligence investigation into Mr. Flynn” and “conducted without any legitimate investigative basis.”The case against the former national-security adviser arose from special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia.