- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Rand Paul: There Are GOP Senators More Loyal to Deep State Than Trump
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) took aim at several unnamed Republican senators on Monday night, telling Fox News' Tucker Carlson that many of his GOP colleagues are more loyal to the so-called “Deep State” than to the president while criticizing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for not doing more to investigate Democrats. Noting at the top of his primetime Fox News broadcast that Graham promised to use his chairmanship of the powerful Senate Judiciary Committee to get to the bottom of the Russia investigation, Carlson groused that the South Carolina lawmaker hadn't made any progress exposing the “bureaucratic coup” against President Donald Trump.
- WorldBloomberg
U.S. Wins Court Seizure of North Korean Cargo Vessel
The U.S. won a court battle to take control of a North Korean cargo ship that had been used to sell coal and import heavy machinery, skirting economic sanctions on the country. Federal prosecutors in New York said Monday that they secured a judgment from U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel awarding the ship, a Handysize bulk carrier known as the “Wise Honest,” to the U.S., after the government filed a forfeiture action to seize it this year. The ship was interdicted by Indonesia in international waters last year.
- WorldReuters
Rioting migrants torch cars, injure policeman at Maltese holding centre
Rioting migrants in Malta set at least five staff cars on fire and injured a policeman in their holding centre as they demanded their freedom. The violence broke out Sunday night at a former British army barrack in Hal Far, close to Malta's airport. The migrants took control of part of the compound, but a police spokesman said the situation was brought back under control in the early hours of Monday.
- WorldThe Independent
‘I can’t think properly’: Assange fights back tears and struggles to say own name as he appears in court over US extradition
Julian Assange appeared to fight back tears and said “I can't think properly” as he faced court to fight extradition to the US. The Wikileaks founder also mumbled, paused and stuttered as he confirmed his name and date of birth at the beginning of the start of a case management hearing in London on Monday. The American government is seeking to extradite the 48-year-old to prosecute him over the leak of hundreds of thousands of classified documents.
- NewsAssociated Press
Nestor heads into Georgia after tornados damage Florida
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Nestor raced across Georgia as a post-tropical cyclone late Saturday, hours after the former tropical storm spawned a tornado that damaged homes and a school in central Florida while sparing areas of the Florida Panhandle devastated one year earlier by Hurricane Michael. The storm made landfall Saturday on St. Vincent Island, a nature preserve off Florida's northern Gulf Coast in a lightly populated area of the state, the National Hurricane Center said. Nestor was expected to bring 1 to 3 inches of rain to drought-stricken inland areas on its march across a swath of the U.S. Southeast.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoTrump 'like a squirrel caught in traffic' during Pentagon meeting: Aide
In President Trump's first full briefing at the Defense Department, he requested a grand "Victory Day" parade with "vehicles and tanks on Main Street" and down Pennsylvania Avenue, like the "amazing" parade he'd just witnessed in France, Guy Snodgrass, a top aide to then-Defense Secretary James Mattis, recounts in his new book, "Holding the Line." "The Fourth of July is too hot," Trump added.
- PoliticsThe Week
Democrats are lining up to take Elijah Cummings' Oversight Committee chairmanship
There's a long line of Democrats ready to take up one helm of the impeachment probe. House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) died last week after longstanding health problems, leaving open his spot at one of the committees investigating President Trump. Talks of his replacement have been quiet out of respect for Cummings, but a handful of Democrats have said they're looking to take the position, The Washington Post reports.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Three people hospitalised by chemical leak on board American Airlines plane
Three people have been hospitalised after a cleaning product leaked on an American Airlines flight forcing it to make an emergency landing in Dublin. The plane was less than an hour into its flight from London Heathrow to Philadelphia when two crew members fell unconscious due to the powerful smell. Several passengers complained of burning eyes and skin irritation and one traveller was also taken to hospital in Ireland.
- TechnologyThe National Interest
The U.S. Army Has Big Plans to Smash Enemy Drones in a War
Defenders under drone attack from medium and large drones need to recognize that the attacking platform can be poised to launch missiles or find targets for long-range ground based missiles, air assets or even approaching forces. Modern technology enables drones to use high-resolution sensors and targeting systems to both find and attack targets at very long ranges, thus compounding the threat. Drones can increasingly operate with less and less human intervention and be programmed to enter enemy airspace, crossing into well-defended areas with decreased risk.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
Last U.S. Base in Syria ‘Is Everything Wrong With Trump’s War’
A dusty garrison outpost called al-Tanf, or sometimes at-Tanf, is now the last redoubt for the American forces in Syria that have occupied it since 2016. The Oct. 6 phone call between presidents Donald Trump and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a prelude to the betrayal of the U.S.' Syrian Kurdish partners, prompted a highly confusing U.S. withdrawal from the Syrian northeast, one that's been misunderstood as a full withdrawal from Syria. Instead, according to a knowledgeable U.S. official not cleared to speak with reporters, hundreds of U.S. special operators and general-purpose troops have pulled back to al-Tanf.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Nancy Pelosi led a bipartisan delegation to Jordan to talk Middle East peace amid the Syrian crisis
Associated Press, Olivia Harris/REUTERS Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a bipartisan House delegation to Jordan on Saturday to meet with a group of officials that included King Abdullah II and other top officials. In a statement, Pelosi said the meeting involved a "constructive dialogue on regional stability, counterterrorism, security cooperation, Middle East peace, economic development, and other shared challenges." Pelosi was accompanied by eight other members of the House, including Representatives Adam Schiff and Eliot Engel, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
- WorldReuters
Spain will exhume dictator Francisco Franco's remains on Thursday
Spain will on Thursday remove the 1.5-tonne slab which has covered the tomb of dictator Francisco Franco for the past 44 years and fly his remains by helicopter away from a state mausoleum, government sources told reporters on Monday. The ruling Socialists have long sought to exhume Franco's remains and turn the Valley of the Fallen complex near the capital Madrid into a memorial to the 500,000 people who were killed during the 1936-39 civil war he unleashed. A crane will lift the slab and, if the original zinc-lined wood coffin is too degraded, the dictator's remains will be transferred into a new coffin, the sources said.
WorldAFPPhilippine police recommend drug charges against ex-chief
Philippine police recommended graft and drug charges against its former chief on Monday over a new scandal that has put President Rodrigo Duterte's anti-narcotics crackdown under the spotlight. The police face allegations some officers are involved in the illegal drugs trade and that they had the protection of former chief Oscar Albayalde. It is the latest controversy to engulf the Philippine police force, which is waging a drug war launched by President Duterte in 2016.
- BusinessCar and Driver
See Photos of 2020 Toyota Yaris Hatchback
For the Yaris's 20-year anniversary, Toyota gives the little hatch a much-needed update, which people in other countries will surely appreciate. From Car and Driver
- NewsAssociated Press
Judge asked to stop student suspension over note about rape
A high school activist's comment about rape posted on a bathroom mirror represents constitutionally protected free speech — and punishing her would discourage young victims from coming forward, an attorney said Monday. The sticky note that proclaimed "There's a rapist in our school and you know who it is" aimed to call attention to the unaddressed problem of sexual assaults, said Emma Bond from the American Civil Liberties of Maine. U.S. District Judge Lance Walker, who listened to the arguments on Monday, said he'll rule soon on Aela Mansmann's request to intervene to stop a three-day suspension imposed by school administrators.
- NewsPopular Mechanics
'Lost' Road Built by Christ's Executioner Unearthed
Archaeologists have unearthed a "lost" road in Jerusalem that was likely constructed by Pontius Pilate, the Roman who presided over the trial and execution of Jesus Christ. Archaeologists have unearthed a road that was likely built in 31 AD by Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect who oversaw the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The ornately constructed road in Jerusalem stretches for about 2,000 feet, and is approximately 26 feet wide, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Petrol bombs thrown in Hong Kong as anger flares over 'triad' attack on protest leader
Police and protesters exchanged tear gas and petrol bombs in Hong Kong on Sunday amid anger over an attack on a leading activist by men allegedly linked to triad gangsters. Clashes broke out as tens of thousands took to the streets for an unsanctioned anti-government march, many also defying a face mask ban introduced in a bid to curb the protests. Tensions ran high after Jimmy Sham, the leader the Civil Human Rights Front which called the march, was attacked earlier in the week by a group of men wielding metal poles and hammers.
- WorldThe National Interest
China Is Building 'The Mother of All Bombs': Report
Key Point: So, what do we know about China's big bomb? China has joined the “Mother of All Bombs” club. A Chinese arms maker has unveiled a weapon similar to America's GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB (hence the nickname “Mother of All Bombs”).
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Donald Trump calls for public identification of Ukraine whistleblower
WASHINGTON – Railing against impeachment at a meeting of his Cabinet, an angry President Donald Trump called Monday for the identification of the government whistleblower who made the first accusations against him. “Do we have to protect somebody that gave a totally false account of my conversation?" Trump said at one point. House Democrats conducting the impeachment inquiry say federal laws are designed to protect the identities of whistleblowers.
- CelebrityBusiness Insider
Ex-model says Jean-Luc Brunel, model agent and Jeffrey Epstein's friend, spiked her drink and raped her
The fashion industry veteran is currently facing allegations of sexual assault and harassment from several former models, with incidents reported as happening as recent as 2015. Brunel was the subject of a CBS's "60 Minutes" aired in 1988 in which several young models accused him of sexual misconduct, including groping and other sexual advances to drugging women's drinks and rape. The allegations didn't have any apparent effect and sparked no investigation.
- NewsReuters
U.S. Supreme Court tosses challenge to Republican-drawn Michigan electoral maps
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday threw out a challenge to Republican-drawn electoral districts in Michigan that Democrats said were illegally configured to dilute their voting power, an action taken in the aftermath of major rulings by the justices in June prohibiting federal courts from hearing such claims. The Supreme Court's action voided an order in April by a three-judge panel to rework 34 districts in the state legislature and U.S. House of Representatives whose boundaries were crafted purely to advantage Republicans, a practice known as partisan gerrymandering. In a blow to election reformers, the justices found that federal courts have no role to play in reining in electoral map manipulation by politicians aimed at entrenching one party in power.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
View Photos of the 2020 Ford Ranger
View Photos of the 2020 Ford Ranger From Car and Driver
WorldAFPUS targets Cuba tourism with tighter airline sanctions
The US moved to further hurt Cuba's vital tourism industry by tightening the ability of the country's airlines to lease aircraft. The US Department of Commerce said it was revoking existing licenses for US companies leasing aircraft to Cuban carriers, and will deny future applications for aircraft leases. The move could make it harder for Cuba to service its rapidly growing tourism sector, a key source of foreign revenue for the poor country.
- NewsAssociated Press
Detroit-area men who sent millions to Yemen spared prison
A group of Detroit-area men opened bank accounts to move millions of dollars to Yemen, their war-torn native country. One by one, U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn declined to send them to prison, despite guidelines that call for a few years or more behind bars. The Detroit area is believed to have the highest U.S. population of Yemenis, a demographic that has risen amid war in Yemen that has killed tens of thousands of people and left millions more with food and health care shortages.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
Trump Cheated (Shocker!) on Property Tax; But Will Anyone Go to Jail?
ProPublica published a piece Wednesday that put the spotlight once again on some questionable financial practices of the Trump Organization, which showed one set of books to banks (inflating value) and another to New York City tax authorities (deflating value). Is this just the usual Trump mendacity, or can prosecutors see this as part of a pattern? ProPublica obtained property tax docs for four Trump properties.
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