- PoliticsYahoo News
Did Democrats just help Trump win reelection?
On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that after months of haggling over key details, House Democrats had officially agreed to back a revised version of Trump's new trade pact — an announcement made just one dizzying hour after House Democratic leaders unveiled articles of impeachment against him. Many progressives were apoplectic about the mixed messaging, arguing — like Trump — that the USMCA would effectively help keep in office the same dangerous president Democrats were simultaneously endeavoring to remove.
- CelebrityThe Daily Beast
Meghan McCain Confronts Tom Steyer: ‘You Bought Your Way’ Onto Debate Stage
2020 Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer got a warm welcome from every co-host of The View except one on Friday morning. “Mr. Steyer, between you and Mayor Bloomberg, you have now spent $200 million on political ads,” Meghan McCain told their guest. “I'm talking about breaking a corporate stranglehold on our government that is preventing it from acting on anything,” Steyer said.
- NewsNational Review
Rashida Tlaib Blames Black Nationalist’s Jersey City Killing Spree on ‘White Supremacy’
Democratic Representative Rashida Tlai on Wednesday blamed “white supremacy” for Tuesday's deadly shooting in Jersey City perpetrated by a couple with suspected ties to a black supremacist group. Tlaib deleted her tweet later on Thursday. A man and woman exited a stolen van Tuesday afternoon and fired gunshots into a kosher grocery store in Jersey City, killing a police detective and three others.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Some 1,100 car shoppers said they'd rather buy an electric pickup truck from Ford or GM than Tesla's Cybertruck — but there's a silver lining for Tesla in the survey
Tesla Tesla's Cybertruck may have a hard time converting Ford F-150 and Chevrolet Silverado owners, but it might open up a new segment of the pickup-truck market, according to a survey from the automotive research site Autolist. The roughly 1,100 respondents were asked, assuming they had to buy one and their specs were similar, whether they would prefer General Motors' upcoming electric pickup truck, the electric version of Ford's F-150, the Rivian R1T, or Tesla's Cybertruck. The Cybertruck received the fewest votes overall, and performed even worse among current or former pickup truck owners.
- NewsAssociated Press
Wisconsin students find recording devices in Minnesota hotel
A Wisconsin school district has put a staff member on leave after some high school students from found recording devices in their hotel rooms during a field trip to Minneapolis. The response was a cautionary measure that is standard during a police investigation, Madison School District spokesman Timothy LeMonds told the Wisconsin State Journal for a story published Friday. Minneapolis police spokesman John Elder declined Friday to confirm a report by the police chief in the Madison suburb of Cottage Grove that the recording devices were hidden cameras.
- WorldThe National Interest
In 2030, What Countries Will Have the Most Power Airforces?
The list will be dominated by traditional air powers, particularly the United States, Russia and the United Kingdom. Towards that end, these powers consider maintaining large, rapidly deployable and modern air forces vital to their national security. The People's Republic of China will be a new entrant on the list.
WorldAFP'There'll be war' if Bolivia cuts coca growing, farmers warn
For the coca farmers of western Bolivia's Las Yungas region, the loss of president Evo Morales -- himself a one-time coca grower, and a champion of indigenous rights -- is less worrying than the drop in price of their "holy leaf" crop. And the growers of the coca leaf -- the raw material for making cocaine but also a mainstay of pre-colonial life -- are warning of "war" if the amount of land under legal cultivation is reduced by the interim government in power since Morales resigned last month. "Coquita," as it is known locally, is the only crop grown in Cruz Loma, a village near the town of Coroico, perched 1,700 meters (5,500 feet)above sea level in the Andes.
- WorldReuters
Turkey adds former Palestinian politician Dahlan to most wanted list
Turkey has added exiled Palestinian politician Mohammed Dahlan to its "red list" of most-wanted terrorism suspects, offering a reward of up to 10 million lira ($1.75 million) for information leading to his capture, the Interior Ministry said on Friday. Arrest warrants have been issued for Dahlan on accusations of playing a role in the 2016 attempted coup in Turkey, seeking to change the constitutional order by force, and various spying-related charges, the ministry said in a statement. Turkey accuses U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen and his followers of carrying out the failed putsch of July 2016, when rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, tanks and helicopters in a bid to seize power in which some 250 people were killed.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Iraq mob lynches 16-year-old after he attacked and killed anti-government protesters
An angry mob killed a 16-year-old and strung up the corpse by its feet from a traffic pole after the teen shot and killed six people on Thursday, including four anti-government protesters, Iraqi officials said. Dozens of people pointed their cellphones at the body dangling high above them in a central Baghdad square. The violence underscored the growing fears and suspicions swirling around the 8-week-old protest movement, which engulfed Iraq on October 1 when thousands took to the streets to decry government corruption, poor services and scarcity of jobs.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
McConnell: In 'total coordination' with White House for impeachment trial
WASHINGTON- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday that he will be in "total coordination with the White House counsel" as the impeachment into President Donald Trump presses forward. "We don't have the kind of ball control on this that a typical issue, for example, comes over from the House, if I don't like it, we don't take it up," McConnell stated about an impeachment trial.
- ScienceAccuWeather
Satellite evades ‘day of reckoning' to discover puzzling weather phenomenon on Jupiter
At first glance, these newly released images by NASA may look like lava churning in the heart of a volcano, but they reveal otherworldly storm systems whirling in a way that surprised scientists. The swirls in the photos are cyclones around Jupiter's south pole, captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft on Nov. 3, 2019. Juno has been orbiting the solar system's largest planet since 2016 and has seen these polar cyclones before, but its latest flight over this region of the planet revealed a startling discovery - a new cyclone had formed unexpectedly.
- NewsThe Week
Rashida Tlaib deletes tweet falsely blaming Jersey City shooting on 'white supremacy'
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) deleted a tweet Thursday morning in which she falsely credited Tuesday's deadly shooting at a kosher deli in Jersey City, New Jersey to "white supremacy" when in fact, the suspected shooters were reportedly Black Hebrew Israelites. It didn't take long for the tweet to spread among influential political commentators, especially conservatives, like Dinesh D'Souza, who retweeted a post calling out the congresswoman's blunder.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The US and NATO are preparing for Russia to go after troops in the field and at home
NATO increased activity along its eastern flank after Russia's 2014 incursion in Ukraine, bringing NATO military personnel into closer proximity to Russia. Reports of those encounters appear to have dropped off, but NATO and its partners are still preparing to thwart them, according to the US's top commander in Europe. At the beginning of 2017, after Dutch fighter pilots deployed to Lithuania on a Baltic Air Policing rotation called home using their own phones, their families started getting sinister phone calls.
- EntertainmentPopular Mechanics
The 10 Best Tech Gadgets of 2019
From the Apple AirPods Pro to the Google Pixel 3a, these are the gadgets that took over 2019. From Popular Mechanics
- NewsAssociated Press
Navy commander: Motive unknown for Pearl Harbor shooting
A Navy commander says the motive is unknown for a Pearl Harbor shooting that left two civilian workers and the attacker dead. The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reports shipyard commander Capt. Greg Burton made the announcement in an “All Hands” message sent Friday. Authorities say 22-year-old Gabriel Romero killed Roldan Agustin, 49, and Vincent Kapoi Jr., 30, and wounded Roger Nakamine, 36, who survived the Dec. 4 shooting.
WorldYahoo News VideoRussia said it was alarmed after the U.S. tested a ground-launched ballistic missile
Russia said on Friday it was alarmed after the United States tested a ground-launched ballistic missile that would have been banned under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the RIA news agency reported.
- NewsReuters
Washington state seeks to ban sale of 'assault weapons,' high capacity magazines
The state of Washington on Thursday proposed bans on the sale of "assault weapons" and high capacity magazines, part of a package of gun laws meant to address a rising wave of U.S. mass shootings. If successful, Washington would become the seventh U.S. state to ban assault weapons, which it defines as semi-automatic rifles with at least one military feature, and the ninth to limit the capacity of ammunition magazines. "We should be making it harder for those who want to inflict mass violence and destruction upon innocent people," Governor Jay Inslee said in announcing the gun-control push.
- WorldThe National Interest
Taiwan Still Has a Giant World War II-Era Artillery Gun (Pointed at China)
The 240-millimeter M1 howitzer, or “Black Dragon,” was the heaviest piece of field artillery the U.S. Army deployed in World War II. The huge guns smashed the Axis Powers' concrete fortifications in Europe to rubble, and blasted Chinese mountain bunkers during the Korean War. “There was little call for the type to be employed whenever the fighting was fluid as it took too long to emplace the weapons or get them out of action, but when they were used the heavy 163.3 kg (360-lb) high explosive shells were devastating weapons,” Chris Bishop wrote in the exhaustive Complete Encyclopedia of Weapons of World War II. From Kinmen, the Black Dragon's 14-mile range can reach Xiamen, a city of five million people along China's southeast coast.
- PoliticsNational Review
Cory Booker Announces He Will Not Qualify for Next Democratic Debate
Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) said Thursday that he does not expect to qualify for the sixth Democratic primary debate next week but assured his supporters that he still has a path to victory. “While I may not be on the debate stage next Thursday, thanks to the outpouring of support over the past few weeks, we know there's a path to victory, and we no longer need the debate stage to get there,” the New Jersey Democrat wrote on Twitter. Democratic 2020 candidates must meet the Democratic National Committee's newly tightened qualifying criteria before midnight on Thursday.
- BusinessBloomberg
McDonald’s Wins High-Stakes Labor Battle With Help From White House
The national board that referees union-organizing drives effectively absolved the company of liability for alleged labor-law violations in some of its franchisees' restaurants, easing a major threat to the fast-food giant's business structure. The deal resolves allegations of wrongdoing without holding the corporation legally liable as “joint employer” with its franchisees.The victory, which eluded McDonald's during Obama's presidency, could help the fast-food giant close a bruising chapter in its history that imperiled its valuable brand as well as the franchise structure it's built on. In an emailed statement, McDonald's Corp. said it was “pleased” that the case had been concluded, and that the decision “allows our franchisees and their employees to move forward, and resolves all matters without any admission of wrongdoing.”Separately, top administration officials, including acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, are pushing to enact new, more lenient rules that would help insulate McDonald's and similar chains from liability for the conduct of their franchisees.
- WorldINSIDER
Death toll from New Zealand eruption rises to 14 after authorities conduct harrowing mission to retrieve bodies from the island
Authorities on Friday recovered the bodies of six people who died after one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes erupted on Monday, bringing the known death toll to 14. New Zealand's geological monitoring agency, GeoNet, said the eruption began at around 2:11 p.m. local time on Whakaari, also known as White Island, a popular tourist spot which features an active volcano. Police released the nationalities of 47 people who were on the island when the volcano erupted, which included 24 Australians, two Chinese nationals, four Germans, one Malaysian national, five New Zealanders, two people from the UK, and nine people from the US.
- NewsThe Guardian
Eagle v octopus: Canadians rescue bird locked in battle with giant mollusc
A bald eagle on Canada's west coast has learned that its eyes may be bigger than its stomach after it was nearly drowned by an octopus it tried to eat. After hearing shrieks coming from the water on the north-western tip of Vancouver Island, employees at a fish farm investigating the noises happened upon a bird and cephalopod locked in battle. The octopus, which had turned a deep crimson, had wound its tentacles tightly around the eagle, which was floating helplessly at the surface.
- WorldThe Independent
‘Move to Canada’ searches spike after Tories win general election
People seemingly unhappy with the prospect of another five years of Tory rule began searching for alternative countries as soon as the exit poll results were published on Thursday evening. Canada was the most popular destination that UK web users searched for, though countries like Australia, France and Ireland also saw an uptick in search traffic. A similar search trend took place in the US in 2016 after Donald Trump was victorious in the presidential elections, as well as after the UK referendum to remain in the European Union that same year.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
George P. Bush says GOP can't let 'racist' episodes slide
Republican George P. Bush, the only member of the Bush dynasty still in public office, condemned Thursday recurring episodes of what he described as racist or hateful rhetoric within the Texas GOP, and ripped what he called false accusations fanned by his Hispanic heritage. Bush, Texas' land commissioner, first denounced a white GOP state legislator who suggested “Asian" challengers on the ballot in 2020 were motivated by race. He then joined others Saturday in calling for the resignation of a Republican county chairwoman near Houston who used a racial slur in a text message about a black party organizer.
- BusinessPopular Mechanics
The Tiny, Simple Nuclear Reactor That Could Change Energy
An Oregon energy startup has a modular nuclear power reactor 1/100th the size of a traditional reactor and is supposedly far safer. The reactors can be installed in multiples to scale up or down to a location's power needs. Traditional U.S. nuclear plants are reaching end of life, and the technology is simply outdated.
