Sunday, 27 October 2019
Fox News Breaking News Alert
Rep. Katie Hill resigns amid ethics probe into reported affair with staffer
10/27/19 4:10 PM
How Early-Career Setbacks Can Set You Up for Success
By BY TIM HERRERA from NYT Smarter Living https://ift.tt/2Nuxl59
Max Scherzer’s Neck Pain Gives Nationals’ Joe Ross a Surprise Start
By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2PmxtWM
Saturday, 26 October 2019
China calls for 'severe punishment' for those involved in UK truck deaths
China called on Britain on Friday to seek "severe punishment" for those involved in the deaths of 39 people, believed to be Chinese nationals, found in a truck container near London, as a major state-backed paper said Britain should bear some responsibility for the case. For years, illegal immigrants have stowed away in trucks while attempting to reach Britain, often from the European mainland. In 2000, 58 Chinese were found dead in a tomato truck at the port of Dover.
Read the Trump Administration's Warning Letter to Laura Cooper
WASHINGTON -- The White House has declared that the executive branch will not cooperate with the House's impeachment inquiry, but some officials have nevertheless provided testimony to Congress about what they know about whether President Donald Trump's attempts to pressure the Ukrainian government into investigating his political rivals were a quid pro quo in return for aid.One such witness, Laura Cooper, a Pentagon official, received a warning letter that shows how the administration has attempted to persuade officials to keep silent. Cooper appeared before impeachment investigators Wednesday during a closed-door session that was delayed by Republican lawmakers who burst into the House Intelligence Committee's secure suite to protest the inquiry.Below is a copy of the letter Cooper received, obtained and annotated with context and analysis by The New York Times.Deputy Secretary of Defense1010 Defense PentagonWashington, D.C. 20301-1010Oct. 22, 2019(The date stamp shows that the deputy secretary of defense, David Norquist, sent this warning letter Tuesday, the day before Cooper was scheduled to give voluntary, private testimony. That same day, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, signed a subpoena stating that Cooper was legally required to appear.)Daniel LevinWhite & Case LLP701 13th Street, NWWashington, D.C. 20005-3807Dear Mr. Levin:I understand that you have been retained by Ms. Laura Cooper, the Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, as her private counsel for a deposition to be conducted jointly by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Oversight and Reform, "[p]ursuant to the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry." The Department's October 15, 2019 letter to the Chairs of the three House Committees [Tab A] expressed its belief that the customary process of oversight and accommodation has historically served the interests of congressional oversight committees and the Department well. The Committees' purported "impeachment inquiry," however, presents at least two issues of great importance.The first issue is the Committees' continued, blanket refusal to allow Department Counsel to be present at depositions of Department employees. Department Counsel's participation protects against the improper release of privileged or classified information, particularly material covered by the executive privilege which is the President's alone to assert and to waive. Excluding Department Counsel places the witness in the untenable position of having to decide whether to answer the Committees' questions or to assert Executive Branch confidentiality interests without an attorney from the Executive Branch present to advise on those interests.It violates settled practice and may jeopardize future accommodation. Furthermore, the Department of Justice has concluded that "congressional subpoenas that purport to require agency employees to appear without agency counsel are legally invalid and are not subject to civil or criminal enforcement." See Attempted Exclusion of Agency Counsel from Congressional Depositions of Agency Employees, 43 Op. O.L.C. (May 23, 2019) [Tab B].The second issue is the absence of authority for the Committees to conduct an impeachment inquiry. In its October 15, 2019 letter, the Department conveyed concerns about the Committees' lack of authority to initiate an impeachment inquiry given the absence of a delegation of such authority by House Rule or Resolution. This correspondence echoed an October 8, 2019 letter from the White House Counsel [Tab C] expressing the President's view that the inquiry was "contrary to the Constitution of the United States and all past bipartisan precedent" and "violates fundamental fairness and constitutionally mandated due process."This letter informs you and Ms. Cooper of the Administration-wide direction that Executive Branch personnel "cannot participate in [the impeachment] inquiry under these circumstances" [Tab C]. In the event that the Committees issue a subpoena to compel Ms. Cooper's appearance, you should be aware that the Supreme Court has held, in United States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41 (1953), that a person cannot be sanctioned for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena unauthorized by House Rule or Resolution.To reiterate, the Department respects the oversight role of Congress and stands ready to work with the Committees should there be an appropriate resolution of outstanding legal issues. Any such resolution would have to consider the constitutional prerogatives and confidentiality interests of the co-equal Executive Branch, see Tab D, and ensure fundamental fairness to any Executive Branch employees involved in this process, including Ms. Cooper. Sincerely,[signed] David L. Norquist Attachments: As statedThis article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
Russian woman convicted by U.S. of being agent returns home
Russian national Maria Butina, who was jailed in the United States in April after admitting to working as a Russian agent, arrived in Moscow on Saturday, greeted by her father and Russian journalists who handed her flowers. "Russians never surrender," an emotional Butina told reporters at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, flanked by her father and the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman. Butina pleaded guilty in December last year to one count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Russia by infiltrating a gun rights group and influencing U.S. conservative activists and Republicans.
Bishops Ask Pope to Approve Married Priests, and Open the Way to Women Deacons
Alberto Pizoli/AFP/Getty ImagesVATICAN CITY–A group of Roman Catholic bishops voted on Saturday 128 in favor and 41 against a proposal to lift a thousand-year-old ban on married priests. The 184 bishops ministering in the Amazon region voted that married “viri probati”—men of proven virtue—should be allowed to be ordained as priests for the purpose of delivering the major sacraments to Catholics in areas where no priests are assigned. Pope Says Maybe to Married PriestsNow Pope Francis must decide whether to sign off on the proposal, which many believe he just might do, which would also open up a debate on celibacy in the priesthood. The married men eligible for the priesthood would already have to be deacons which, for lack of a lengthy description, are a lighter version of priests. They can be married and they are allowed to perform many clerical functions, but not deliver holy mass. They can, however, deliver many of the sacraments including baptism, funeral and burial services, distribute holy communion known as the Eucharist, and preach the homily sermon so long as there is an ordained priest leading the mass. Deacons are either ‘permanent,’ meaning devout, sometimes married men who serve the church throughout the world, or ‘transitional,’ meaning those preparing for the priesthood. At a briefing in Rome on Saturday evening, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny pointed out that all men ordained into the priesthood must be deacons first. With that in mind, what the Amazon synod fathers also decided is perhaps even more groundbreaking. On Saturday, they approved a proposal to open the long-closed door to the ordination of women as deacons by agreeing to study the matter. And if women are allowed to be deacons, that could one day pave the way to female priests. Did Pope Francis Just Pave the Way for Women Priests?Pope Francis, in spontaneous remarks closing the meeting ahead of a farewell mass on Sunday, promised he would keep an open mind . “I am going to take up the challenge that you have put forward,” he said, “that women be heard.” “We still have not grasped the significance of women in the Church,” Francis said Saturday as nuns in attendance nodded their heads and the entire assembly erupted in applause. “Their role must go well beyond questions of function.”What is perhaps most remarkable about the potentially groundbreaking decisions that might change the face of the church forever is that the two issues–the question of married priests and celibacy and that of women clergy—are based on a meeting about Catholics living in some of the most remote and poverty-stricken areas in the world. But the decision to move forward on both of these issues is one that may also cause a schism in the church. Even before the final vote, conservative Catholic militants had made their message clear, that the Amazon region should not be a pacesetter on these issues. Those from the Amazon region in attendance at the conference had brought with them five so-called Pachamama wooden statues depicting a scene with a naked, pregnant woman at the center that many conservatives described as “false idols.” Conservative Catholic Twitter exploded with comments about Pope Francis worshiping the “pagan” statues and how they represented a church in demise. The same critics scoffed when Francis opened the summit by telling the prelates they could leave their cassocks at home and wear suits to the working sessions.Shortly before the vote, while those in attendance were finalizing their document, the statues were stolen from the church in Rome where they were kept during the synod meeting and thrown into the Tiber River.Roman police fished out the statues on Friday and gave them back to the pope who apologized for the act. On Saturday, the Pachamama statues were front and center inside the synod hall, undoubtedly boiling the blood of those who sought to destroy them. If the pope’s response to the stolen statues is any indication, he may well heed the vote of the bishops on two of the most important issues the Catholic church has faced outside of clerical sex abuse and, with it, change the face of Catholicism forever. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.