- PoliticsYahoo News
Intelligence whistleblowers face a dangerous path to Congress
Intelligence Community Inspector General Michael Atkinson met with members of the House Intelligence Committee over a recent whistleblower complaint against President Trump by an intel analyst. WASHINGTON — When House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., issued a rare subpoena to acting spy chief Joseph Maguire, commanding him to share with Congress an “urgent” and “credible” disclosure reportedly relating to the president, it kicked off a heated debate across different government agencies and Capitol Hill over how to handle the anonymous complaint. One of the most perplexing questions for outsiders is if the complaint was so urgent, why didn't the whistleblower go straight to Congress, bypassing the jurisdictional battle between overseers?
- NewsYahoo News
'It's happening': Alien enthusiasts descend on Area 51 for a UFO party
The RVs, packed with UFO enthusiasts, conspiracy theorists and those just looking to party in a remote area of the Nevada desert for “Storm Area 51,” a gathering that began as an internet joke but is expected to attract several thousand people here over the next three days. It's here,” said Connie West, co-owner of the Little A'Le'Inn, which is hosting one of two competing “Alienstock” events this weekend. The original “Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us'” Facebook post was supposed to be a joke inspired by a recent documentary on the once secret military research site known as Area 51, part of the Nevada Test and Training Range, where conspiracy theorists allege the U.S. government is engaged in extraterrestrial research.
- PoliticsAOL.com
Bill de Blasio's net worth as he pulls out of 2020 presidential race
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio announced this week he is officially out of the 2020 presidential race. The official statement comes after weeks of speculation that the presidential hopeful planned on dropping his 2020 bid. De Blasio joins the likes of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, Rep. Eric Swalwell and Gov. Jay Inslee, among others, who have given up ambitions to potentially become the 48th President of the United States.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoWoman convicted in texting suicide case denied parole
The Massachusetts woman convicted of encouraging her boyfriend to kill himself via text messages has been denied early release.
- NewsAOL.com
Texas man wanted for allegedly divorcing his wife without her knowledge
A Texas man is wanted by police after he allegedly filed for and completed divorce proceedings against his wife without her knowledge. Paul Nixon, 51, was accused of aggravated forgery — a felony charge — after authorities discovered his fraudulent divorce paperwork, the Houston Chronicle reports. Nixon apparently filed the paperwork on Feb. 15, the day after Valentine's Day.
- WorldUSA TODAY
6 things to know about teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg
Instead of planning a lengthy opening statement to start the hearing, Thunberg simply offered a copy of the 2018 global warming report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that emphasizes the dire threat that human-caused global warming poses, along with the climate and economic impacts. "I am submitting this report as my testimony because I don't want you to listen to me," Thunberg told lawmakers. "I want you to listen to the scientists. Calling the outspoken teen one of her favorite "gutsy women," Hillary Clinton, former secretary of State and the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, encouraged her Twitter followers to join in the Global Climate Strike set for Friday.
- BusinessArchitectural Digest
Architect Reinaldo Leandro on the Art of Building Design and Personal Style
The prominent architect and co-founder of the multidisciplinary design firm Ashe Leandro shares his thoughts on how the way he dresses relates to his design sensibility Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- NewsAssociated Press
Sheriff: 1 officer dead, 1 injured in Louisiana shooting
One police officer was fatally shot and another wounded Friday after a vehicle chase north of New Orleans, authorities said. Mandeville Police Chief Gerald Sticker confirmed one officer's death and the other's injury from gunfire in his community on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, near U.S. 190 and Louisiana Highway 22. Sticker said at a news conference that the wounded officer, who's being treated at Lakeview Regional Medical Center, is expected to survive.
WorldAFPCampaigning Trudeau vows Canada assault rifle ban
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, campaigning for re-election, vowed on Friday to ban assault rifles but fell short on handguns, saying only that he would help cities restrict pistols and revolvers in response to a spate of shootings. "You don't need military-grade assault weapons, ones designed to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time, to take down a deer," he told a news conference in Toronto. There have been 311 shootings in Canada's largest city so far this year, with gun violence having increased incrementally each year to almost triple the rate in 2014.
- PoliticsYahoo News
AOC's first congressional endorsements reflect subtle shift away from outsider status
It was seemingly an offbeat choice for the first endorsement by the leader of the Democratic insurgency heading into a presidential election year, when New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threw her support behind Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., last week. Markey is a 73-year-old incumbent, and AOC's announcement was part of an effort by Markey to roll out as many endorsements as possible, to demonstrate that the party is with him and not with his 38-year-old challenger, Rep. Joe Kennedy III.
- WorldReuters
Dozens detained in Kazakhstan at anti-China protests
ALMATY/NUR-SULTAN (Reuters) - Police detained dozens in Kazakhstan's two largest cities on Saturday as they took part in the latest protest against China's influence in the Central Asian republic. Neighboring China is already one of Kazakhstan's largest investors and trade partners and a plan to relocate a number of Chinese plants and factories to the former Soviet republic has faced public opposition. The latest round of protests on Saturday was organized by supporters of Mukhtar Ablyazov, a fugitive banker living in France who has been the fiercest critic of Kazakhstan's first president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.
- NewsAOL.com
High school sparks controversy over 'ridiculous' lunch: 'It's honestly sad'
A Minnesota high school is facing criticism for serving a meal that many people have since called "ridiculous." Last Friday, Maryn Holler, a student at Apollo High School in St. Cloud, shared two photos of a lunch tray filled with baby carrots, a cup of marinara sauce and a hot dog bun filled with melted cheese. "Alright so i paid for this to eat at lunch today," she wrote on Facebook.
- Newsmotorious
Kevin Hart Likely To File Lawsuit Against Company Who Built His Barracuda
Now that actor/comedian Kevin Hart has been released from the hospital after sustaining three fractures to his spine that required back surgery, it is said that he is now in the process of preparing a lawsuit against Speedkore, the company who built his beastly 720-horsepower Plymouth Barracuda that was powered by a modern 6.4L Hemi V8 and topped with a Whipple supercharger. In addition, the driver, Jared S. Black, and the backseat passenger who sustained minor injuries, have also hired lawyers due to the lack of safety equipment in the car which is said to have a roll cage, airbags, and five-point harnesses. According to TMZ, the big issue is that Speedkore should have refused the job to Hart even if he wanted the custom car to come without safety equipment.
- BusinessThe New York Times
At School, 'Everyone Vapes,' and Adults Are in Crisis Mode
And in Pennsylvania, at a school where administrators have tried installing sensors to detect vaping in bathrooms and locker rooms, students caught with vape devices face a $50 fine and a three-day suspension. At least 530 people have been sickened by mysterious lung illnesses related to using e-cigarettes with nicotine or vaping THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana, and at least eight have died. That has sent high schools, the epicenters of youth vaping, racing to give teenagers a new, urgent message: Vaping can be deadly.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani contradicts himself while discussing whistleblower complaint
President Donald Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani contradicted himself Thursday while discussing reports of a whistleblower complaint involving the president. In a tense interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Giuliani railed against the media for its framing of the issue and called Cuomo a "sellout." The Washington Post on Wednesday broke the news that, according to anonymous sources, a whistleblower complaint issued by a member of the intelligence community concerned Trump's conduct when speaking to a foreign leader.
- NewsThe Independent
Imelda’s toll in Texas: Flooding and fears about a bridge
As the remnants of the former Tropical Storm Imelda moved north on Friday, residents in southeast Texas awoke to shut down roads, scattered thunderstorms and the possibility of more flooding from a storm that became one the top 10 wettest in U.S. history. The storm that had barely earned a name — it briefly ranked as a tropical storm before being downgraded to a tropical depression — took many residents by surprise with its relentlessness, rekindling memories from when Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rainfall in some areas and caused dozens of deaths in 2017. As rain trickled down on and off on Friday, residents steeled themselves to assess the damage: At least two people had died, and authorities were investigating a third death after a man last seen walking around during the storm was found dead in a ditch in Houston.
- NewsAssociated Press
History buff finds ships that sank in 1878 in Lake Michigan
A diver and maritime history buff has found two schooners that collided and sank into the cold depths of northern Lake Michigan more than 140 years ago. Bernie Hellstrom, of Boyne City, Michigan, said he was looking for shipwrecks about 10 years ago when a depth sounder on his boat noted a large obstruction about 200 feet (60 meters) down on the lake bottom near Beaver Island. "I've made hundreds of trips to Beaver Island and every trip I go out the sounder is on," he told The Associated Press on Friday.
- NewsAccuWeather
Could Bermuda feel effects from Jerry next week?
While the worst of Jerry spared the northern Caribbean, forecasters believe the tropical storm will directly impact Bermuda next week. Jerry weakened from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm Saturday morning while passing a few hundred miles to the north of the northern Leeward Islands, Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. Although Jerry has been moving towards the west-northwest over the past few days, a cold front set to sweep off the East Coast of the United States on Monday will pull the tropical system northward next week.
- WorldReuters
Greek police arrest suspect in 1985 TWA aircraft hijacking
Greek police have arrested a 65-year-old Lebanese man suspected of involvement in the 1985 hijacking of a Trans World Airlines (TWA) plane in which a U.S. navy diver was killed. A Greek police official said on Saturday the suspect had disembarked from a cruise ship on the island of Mykonos on Thursday and that his name came up as being wanted by German authorities. He was also wanted in connection with a 1987 kidnapping crime, possibly related to his release in return for the freeing of two German citizens held hostage by his accomplices in Lebanon, the source said.
- WorldThe National Interest
Israel Could Not Survive Hamas' Missiles Without The Iron Dome
Key point: Israeli missile defense technology is cutting edge. On July 15th, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) announced it was deploying more Iron Dome missile defense systems near Tel Aviv and other parts of southern Israel. The Iron Dome is Israel's most effective defense system against short-range projectiles.
- LifestyleAOL.com
Boy, 4, who was diagnosed with autism and cancer within months of each other beats odds
A 4-year-old boy who was diagnosed with autism and cancer within three months has impressively beaten the odds, the Cleveland Clinic recently announced in a news release. Two years ago, Simon McKenzie reportedly became reserved, raising concerns from his grandparents. "I think you need to have him evaluated for autism," the child's grandmother recalled telling his parents, Mark McKenzie and Autumn Ziemba.
BusinessAFPColt to stop making AR-15 rifles, weapon of choice in US mass shootings
Legendary US gun manufacturer Colt has said it will no longer produce the AR-15, blaming market forces rather than the semi-automatic rifle's role in some of the country's worst mass shootings. "Over the last few years, the market for modern sporting rifles has experienced significant excess manufacturing capacity," said the company's chief executive Dennis Veilleux in a statement released on Thursday. For that reason, "we believe there is adequate supply for modern sporting rifles for the foreseeable future," he said, noting that his firm would continue to make assault rifles for the US military and law enforcement agencies, as well as its world-famous revolvers.
- NewsUSA TODAY Opinion
On Kavanaugh and the FBI, time to investigate the investigation: Sen. Whitehouse
When I was a U.S. attorney, I worked closely with the FBI. When the FBI investigators were looking at something, what they wanted was information. The FBI is a machine for the acquisition and retention of information on cases. When the FBI began repelling and deflecting information in its investigation of Judge Brett Kavanaugh's alleged history of sexual misconduct last year, that was unusual — a warning flag. Because of my position on the Senate Judiciary Committee, people reached out to my office to find out where to go in the FBI with information relevant to the allegations against Kavanaugh.
- PoliticsNational Review
Breaking Down the Whistleblower Frenzy
Conveniently omitted by the president are the facts that (a) the whistleblower has tried to comply with federal law and go through government channels rather than leaking information to the Trump-hostile media; (b) the IGIC to whom the whistleblower made his report is a Trump appointee, namely Michael Atkinson, a career Justice Department prosecutor who got the IGIC gig in 2018; and (c) Atkinson concluded that the whistleblower's complaint was credible and sufficiently serious to be deemed a matter of “urgent concern. Urgent Concern' — Another Confusing Dual-Use Term This brings us to a common situation that we rarely notice but that often skews public debate.
NewsUSA TODAY'90s kids were asked to do 'simple things' to save the Earth. Gen Z is thinking bigger
When the book "50 Simple Things Kids Can Do To Save The Earth" published in 1990, children were taught small ways to have a positive environmental impact and offset others' negative impacts. Some tens of thousands of children are leaving their classrooms on Friday to demand systematic actions to address a growing climate crisis as youth-driven, grassroots organizations coordinated demonstrations and young activists testified on Capitol Hill this week. While simple individual level actions are beneficial and can in part help address global climate change, advocates and scientists agree massive changes are needed to adequately prevent climate change's destruction.
