The real danger of impeachment for Trump and Dem candidates: It's the calendar

On Wednesday, the Washington Postreported that despite earlier GOP calls for a swift, pro forma Senate process — and continuing efforts by some Trump allies to dismiss any potential charges altogether — Republican senators and their advisers are “privately discussing whether to pressure GOP leaders to stage a lengthy impeachment trial beginning in January. Their goal, according to more than a dozen participants in the discussions? To “scramble the Democratic presidential race.

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  The Countdown: Trump impeachment inquiry likely front and center of 5th Democratic debate

  WABC – NY
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  Trump impeachment hearing: Wounded veteran describes alarm listening to Ukraine phone call

  The Telegraph

Russia offers job to Maria Butina, woman convicted by U.S. of being an agent

In her first public appearance since being deported by U.S. authorities who had jailed her for being a Russian agent, Maria Butina was on Monday offered a job by Moscow to defend Russians imprisoned abroad. During an event for the media, Russia's human rights commissioner, Tatyana Moskalkova, offered Butina, 31, a job working for her commission. Butina, who flew back to Russia on Oct. 26 after being deported, did not say whether she would accept the offer made at what she called her first public appearance since she was mobbed by wellwishers in front of the media at the airport on her arrival home.

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  Paul Erickson, Russian Agent Maria Butina’s Boyfriend, Pleads Guilty to Fraud

  The Daily Beast
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  South Dakota man linked to Butina pleads in fraud case

  Associated Press

Syracuse University has suspended all fraternity activities for the rest of the semester after a black student said a group of students accosted her and called her a racial slur

Elstad Ranch/Flickr Syracuse University's fraternities had their social activities canceled for the rest of the semester after a black student said members of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity called her the N-word. It was the latest in a series of reported racist and anti-Semitic incidents to sweep the upstate New York campus since November 7. Syracuse University has canceled all fraternity social activities for the rest of the semester after a black student reported a racist attack.

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  Cuomo Blasts Syracuse U Leadership After White-Supremacist Manifesto Allegedly AirDropped to Students

  The Daily Beast
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  Syracuse U tightens security after white supremacist manifesto; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo rips chancellor

  USA TODAY

Rep. Al Green on Ukraine: ‘I don’t believe this is the only reason we should impeach this president’

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, who was the first member of Congress to officially call for the impeachment of President Trump, tells Yahoo News that he feels vindicated to see public hearings underway. However, he says the argument for removing the president from office extends far beyond the Ukraine controversy.

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  Congressional Republicans are repeating many baseless conspiracy theories in Trump's impeachment inquiry. Here's why they're all bogus.

  Business Insider
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  Judge Napolitano to Trump: Don't testify in impeachment probe, run away from this 'dangerous environment'

  FOX News Videos

10 Things We Want to Leave Behind in the 2010s

Imagine the next decade without Facebook, robocalls, and exploding phones. We feel better already. From Popular Mechanics

Vietnam families of UK truck victims take on loans to repatriate remains

Some families of the 39 Vietnamese people found dead in a truck in Britain last month will take on steep loans from the government to repatriate their relatives' remains, they told AFP Tuesday. Vietnam's foreign ministry said they would help to bring either the ashes or the bodies of the victims back -- but that families would have to cover the cost of repatriation. Families in central Vietnam, where many of the 39 victims come from, said they were desperate to bring their loved ones back nearly four weeks after the tragedy, despite the debt they will have to take on.

Kim Foxx Admits Failures in Jussie Smollett Case: ‘I Didn’t Handle It Well. I Own That’

In her reelection video for Cook County State Attorney released Tuesday, Kim Foxx concedes that she mishandled the high-profile prosecution of Empire actor Jussie Smollett. The truth is, I didn't handle it well,” Foxx says in the video. I own that.

Hong Kong protesters with bows, arrows battle police for control of university, dozens arrested

Hong Kong students armed with bows and arrows and hurling gasoline bombs battled police firing tear gas and blasting water cannons as escalating violence paralyzed the educational system of the beleaguered semi-autonomous Chinese territory. Late Sunday, police used loudspeakers to order the evacuation of Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Many protesters stayed behind, some setting fires to block the advance of riot police.

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  China defends brief troop deployment in Hong Kong

  AFP
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  Hong Kong Police Storm University Campus Occupied by Protesters as Courts Overturn Mask Ban

  Time

Pompeo’s Israeli Settlement Reversal Helps Nobody in the Holy Land, but Might Play Well in Kansas

And Netanyahu did exult in the moments after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the United States had reversed a decades-old policy holding that Israel's settlements in the West Bank are “inconsistent with international law. That view, which reflects the international consensus and the Geneva Convention barring an occupying power from transferring its own civilian population to occupied land, was formalized in 1978 by the Carter administration. In a series of tweets, Netanyahu announced he had spoken with the president and thanked Trump for “repairing an historic injustice.

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  Trump declaring Israeli settlements legal is indefensible – Palestinians deserve more than vote-grabbing

  The Independent
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  Major US policy reversal over Israeli settlements on West Bank

  ABC News Videos

5 things to know about Pope Francis’ visit to Thailand

Pope Francis arrives in Thailand on Wednesday for the first visit here by the head of the Roman Catholic Church since St. John Paul II in 1984. Francis is certain to address some of the major social concerns he often highlights, but his visit is largely a morale-boosting exercise for the Catholic community. Portuguese-sponsored Dominican missionaries came to Thailand — then called Siam — in 1567, and the church established a formal evangelizing mission in 1669 under the French-led Missions Étrangères de Paris, which would be the main Catholic presence in Southeast Asia for centuries.

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  Pope heading to Thailand to encourage Catholic minority

  Associated Press
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  Thailand's small Catholic community plan big welcome for Pope Francis

  Newsflare

Tropical Storm Sebastien forms over Atlantic

With less than half a month left of the Atlantic hurricane season, an area of disturbed weather over the central Atlantic has become Tropical Storm Sebastien on Tuesday. Satellite images show a fairly well-defined area of clouds over the southwestern part of the Atlantic Ocean. "Sebastien will be fighting wind shear this week, but there is a short window where some strengthening can take place early on," Dan Kottlowski, AccuWeather's top hurricane expert, said.

Meet Britain's Deadly Nuclear Missile Submarines

The United Kingdom maintains a fleet of four ballistic missile submarines with the ability to devastate even the largest of countries. This fleet came into being after its ally, the United States, canceled a key weapon system that would have been the cornerstone of London's nuclear arsenal. Fifty years later, the UK's missile submarine force is the sole custodian of the country's nuclear weapons, providing a constant deterrent against nuclear attack.

‘Give me the guinea pigs!’: Pet shop owner says stolen animal thrown at him after chasing thieves

Two women attempted to steal guinea pigs from a pet store in Kentucky, before throwing one of the animals at the shop owner, he has alleged. US news outlets report that 21-year-old Isabelle Mason and 19-year-old Jaimee Pack tried to smuggle out the animals from a Pet Paradise store in Danville on Saturday without paying. The owner of the shop, Scott Gonyaw, sensed something sinister was afoot when he noticed one of the women was carrying an “over-sized purse”.

Three Iran security personnel killed by 'rioters': reports

Three members of the Iranian security forces have been stabbed to death by "rioters" near Tehran, the ISNA and Fars news agencies reported Monday. The assailants wielding knives and machetes ambushed the three -- a Revolutionary Guard and two members of the Basij militia -- west of the capital, the news agencies reported. The deaths take to at least five the number of people confirmed to have been killed in violent demonstrations that erupted across Iran on Friday against a surprise petrol price hike.

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  As US weighs in on Iran protests, critics highlight American culpability for economic crisis

  The Independent
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  Iran 'calmer' despite more riots over oil price hikes

  AFP

Hong Kong protesters attempt daring escape down ropes as police seal off university

Protesters in Hong Kong staged a daring breakout from a university besieged by police last night as parents pleaded with authorities to spare the young activists, some of them high-school students, who remain inside. The escape came as police said Hong Kong's Polytechnic University had turned into a "powder keg" and student leaders accused authorities of creating a "humanitarian crisis" inside the campus. Earlier on Monday the besieged protesters, who are running low on supplies and fear the consequences of an all-out police assault, mounted an attempt to break out in force, but were beaten back by tear gas.

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  Anxious families wait outside besieged Hong Kong campus

  AFP
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  Trade Talk Euphoria Dominates But The Hong Kong Bill And Huawei Threaten To Upset The Apple Cart

  FX Empire

LIVE: Kurt Volker dramatically reverses his public testimony from what he previously told Congress

This week's impeachment hearings kicked off on Tuesday with four officials scheduled to testify. They are: Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, top Ukraine expert on National Security Council; Jennifer Williams, foreign service aide detailed to Vice President Mike Pence; Tim Morrison, NSC's former official in charge of overseeing Russia and Europe policy; and Kurt Volker, the US's former Special Representative to Ukraine. Vindman and Williams directly listened in on the July 25 phone call at the center of the impeachment inquiry.

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  The Countdown: Trump impeachment inquiry likely front and center of 5th Democratic debate

  WABC – NY
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  Trump impeachment hearing: Wounded veteran describes alarm listening to Ukraine phone call

  The Telegraph

Seller of bullets to Las Vegas gunman pleads guilty to ammo licensing offense

An ammunitions dealer who acknowledged selling hundreds of incendiary tracer rounds to the gunman who killed nearly 60 people at a Las Vegas music festival two years ago pleaded guilty on Tuesday to manufacturing bullets without a license. Douglas Haig, 57, of Mesa, Arizona, became the first and only person arrested and charged in connection with the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre, which ended when the gunman, Stephen Paddock, killed himself. Haig told reporters following his arrest last year that none of the surplus military ammunition he sold to Paddock in September 2017 was ever fired during the killing spree, which ranks as the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

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  Las Vegas Massacre Victim Dies from Her Injuries 2 Years After Being Shot During Attack

  People
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  Arizona man guilty of making ammo sold to Las Vegas shooter

  Associated Press

'Halfway towards a live nativity': A camel, cow and donkey were found wandering together on a Kansas road

An officer took a photo of the animals before they were returned to a private owner. The photo was posted to the Goddard Police Department's Facebook page, where it has been shared more than 800 times as of Monday evening. stopanimalselfies:Costa Rica wants you to stop taking irresponsible photos with animals "Does anyone know the owners of these three friends traveling together (towards a Northern star) just East of Goddard?"

California puts brakes on fracking permits in oil crackdown

California Gov. Gavin Newsom cracked down on oil producers Tuesday, halting approval of hundreds of fracking permits until independent scientists can review them and temporarily banning new wells using another drilling method that regulators believe is linked to one of the largest spills in state history. The state Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources announced it will not approve new wells that use high-pressure steam to extract oil from underground. It's the type of process Chevron uses at an oil field in the Central Valley that leaked more than 1.3 million gallons (4.9 million liters) of oil and water this summer.

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  Why Is California Approving So Many New Oil Wells?

  City Lab NonHosted
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  California halts fracking permits and pauses steam-extraction wells in crackdown on oil producers

  MarketWatch

Why Russia's Stealth Okhotnik Drone Is a Big Deal

Key point: Russia has long-wanted this kind of a powerful stealth drone. The Russian air force's first stealth fighter has flown in close formation with its first armed, stealth drone, possibly indicating that the two types might fly and fight together in the future. The Okhotnik unmanned aerial vehicle made its first joint flight with an Su-57 manned fighter, the Russian defense ministry announced on Sept. 27, 2019.

GLAAD Commends Chick-fil-A for Dropping Donations to Christian Groups But Demands Franchise Change ‘Anti-LGBTQ’ Brand

On Monday, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation commended Chick-fil-A for its decision to halt donations to several Christian charities but demanded the fast-food chain do more to change its “anti-LGBTQ” brand. GLAAD said it “greet[s] today's announcement with cautious optimism” but warned that the Georgia-based company still has work to do to fix its tarnished image with the LGBTQ community. “In addition to refraining from financially supporting anti-LGBTQ organizations, Chick-fil-A still lacks policies to ensure safe workplaces for LGBTQ employees and should unequivocally speak out against the anti-LGBTQ reputation that their brand represents,” GLAAD director of campaigns Drew Anderson said in a statement to CNN.

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  Chick-fil-A infuriates conservative customers by caving to LGBTQ protests

  Fox Business
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  Chick-fil-A Says It Will Cease Donations to Anti-LGBTQ Organizations

  Meredith Videos

In northeast Syria, last Assyrians fear Turkish advance

Since fleeing her hometown in northeastern Syria, Suad Simon prays every day for the safety of her husband, who stayed behind with other fighters to defend their majority-Assyrian village. Assyrian Christians like Simon, who escaped the town's occupation by the Islamic State group in 2015 and did not choose to emigrate, now anxiously watch the advance of Turkish forces towards their villages in the south of Hasakeh province. Simon, 56, fled her village of Tal Kefji that is not far from areas still hit by sporadic fighting and sought refuge with a relative in Tal Tamr to the south.