- PoliticsPolitico
Moderate Democrats warn Pelosi of impeachment obsession
A day before the House Judiciary Committee took its biggest step yet toward impeachment last week, moderate Democratic Rep. Anthony Brindisi voiced his frustrations directly to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The battleground freshman told Pelosi and other leaders at a closed-door meeting that he and other centrists feared that talk of impeaching President Donald Trump was threatening to swamp the Democratic agenda, according to multiple people in the room. “It's very frustrating for me — someone coming from a district that was one of the districts that helped get us into the majority — having so much focus on things like impeachment or other issues that are divisive,” Brindisi said in an interview, adding that he's been talking to fellow swing-district freshmen who have similar concerns with the fall agenda.
- WorldReuters
UPDATE 1-Iran seizes vessel in Gulf for allegedly smuggling diesel fuel - ISNA
Iran's Revolutionary Guards have seized a vessel in the Gulf for allegedly smuggling 250,000 litres of diesel fuel to the United Arab Emirates, Iran's semi-official Students News agency ISNA reported on Monday. "It was detained near Iran's Greater Tunb island in the Persian Gulf...the crew have been handed over to legal authorities in the southern Hormozgan province," ISNA said, without elaborating on the nationalities of the crewmen. Responsibility for the strike was claimed by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, while the United States has blamed Iran itself for the strike.
- WorldThe National Interest
B-2 Spirit: The Stealth Bomber Trump Could Send to Strike Iran
Key Point: Conventional or nuclear, the B-2 Spirit can handle almost any precision attack mission in any environment imaginable, located at practically any point on Earth The B-2 Spirit is one of three strategic heavy bombers in U.S. Air Force service. Originally conceived to infiltrate the Soviet air-defense network and attack targets with nuclear weapons, over the decades its mission has grown to include conventional precision attack. The B-2 is the most advanced bomber in U.S. service, and the only one of three types that still carries nuclear gravity bombs.
- NewsTime
Virginia Attorney General Concludes Race Information Is Not Necessary for Marriage Licenses
More than 50 years after the Supreme Court struck down Virginia's laws against interracial marriage, the state has effectively negated race identification requirements in marriage license applications. Facing a federal lawsuit over a state law requiring couples to identify their races in marriage applications, Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has reinterpreted the statute. In a memo forwarded to TIME, Herring clarified to staff that while clerks are still obligated to ask about race, respondents should not be denied marriage licenses for refusing to answer.
- NewsThe Independent
Judge rules Confederate statues will remain in Charlottesville despite deadly white nationalist rally
A pair Confederate statues will remain standing in the city of Virginian city Charlottesville where clashes over their removal left a young woman dead. After city officials decided to remove statues of Confederate American Civil War generals Robert E Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, one resident filed a lawsuit to prevent this. It was submitted months before August 2017's “Unite the Right” rally, which saw hundreds of white supremacists descend on the city.
- NewsAssociated Press
As shock wears off, mental health concerns grow in Bahamas
Stories of survival are trickling out across northern Bahamas as the initial shock wears off from Hurricane Dorian, one of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes in history. Mental health counselors are now fanning out into communities to help those traumatized by the direct hit of the Category 5 storm that forced the evacuation of nearly 5,000 people and killed at least 50 others. Some 1,300 still missing in the hard-hit islands of Grand Bahama and Abaco, although the government has said many could be in shelters and with loved ones.
- NewsThe Telegraph
Felicity Huffman's two-week jail sentence triggers claims of 'white privilege'
Actress Felicity Huffman has been accused of benefiting from “white privilege” after getting just a two-week jail sentence over paying to inflate her daughter's exam results. US congressman Hakeem Jeffries, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, and Martina Navratilova, the tennis player, were among those who took to Twitter to suggest Ms Huffman had got off lightly given her background. There was also criticism of the minimum-security prison she will be incarcerated in, which reportedly has the nickname “Club Fed” because of its cushy conditions.
- U.S.Car and Driver
View Photos of Volkswagen Microbus with Civil Rights History
The 1966 VW Type 2 Transporter was used in efforts to help South Carolina residents register and vote. From Car and Driver
- NewsNational Review
Omar Responds to Family of 9/11 Victim Who Criticized Her
Representative Ilhan Omar responded on Sunday to the son of a victim of the September 11 terrorist attacks, who called her out for previous comments about the attacks that critics found dismissive. During the memorial service for 9/11 victims at Ground Zero, Nicholas Haros Jr., who lost his mother, 76-year-old Francis Haros, in the attacks, wore a shirt emblazoned with the phrase, “some people did something” on the front, the phrase Omar used to refer to the attacks. After reading the names of some of the victims, Haros Jr. repeated the phrase and pointed to his shirt.
- WorldThe Guardian
Trump confirms US has killed Osama bin Laden's son Hamza
Donald Trump confirmed on Saturday that the US has killed Hamza bin Laden, a son of the former al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. On Saturday the White House said he was killed in “a United States counterterrorism operation in the Afghanistan/Pakistan region”. Reuters reported that an unnamed US official said Hamza was killed “months ago” and Trump was briefed at the time.
- WorldReuters
Scores of tigers rescued from infamous Thai temple have died: media
More than half of the tigers that Thai authorities confiscated in 2016 from an infamous Tiger Temple tourist attraction have died from a viral disease because their immune systems were weakened by inbreeding, media reported. The Buddhist temple west of Bangkok was a tourist destination where visitors took selfies with tigers and bottle-fed cubs until authorities removed its nearly 150 tigers in 2016 in response to global pressure over wildlife trafficking. The confiscated animals were taken to two state-run sanctuaries but it soon became apparent they were susceptible to canine distemper virus, said a senior official from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.
- U.S.KABC – Los Angeles
VIDEO: Would-be burglars kick in front door of Bay Area house, scared off by homeowner
Two masked-man kicked in the front door of a Pleasanton home in an attempted home-invasion -- and it was all caught on surveillance video.
- WorldThe National Interest
Your History Book Lies: Imperial Japan Was Crushed at Pearl Harbor
Key point: From a strategic perspective, attacking Pearl Harbor was a bad idea. Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, strike leader for Operation Hawaii and 20-year veteran of the Imperial Japanese Navy (Kaigun), strapped himself into the observer's seat as his Nakajima B5N2 “Kate” torpedo bomber, piloted by Lieutenant Mitsuo Matsuzaki, and lifted off from the carrier Akagi on the black morning of December 7, 1941. The top secret mission, he had been told, was to strike a crippling blow at the American Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, with the aim of gaining concessions from the United States and ensuring that America would not go to war with Japan.
WorldAFPJeered over attacks, S.Africa's president apologises at Mugabe funeral
South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa was jeered and whistled at on Saturday during his speech at Zimbabwe ex-leader Robert Mugabe's funeral before he apologised for recent xenophobic attacks. At least 12 people have been killed this month in a surge in violence and mob attacks against foreign-owned businesses in and around Johannesburg, South Africa's largest city. A wave of jeers, boos and whistles interrupted Ramaphosa at the Harare national stadium as he started his eulogy at the state funeral for Mugabe, who died age 95 last week.
- NewsAssociated Press
Police: No sign that Duluth synagogue fire was hate crime
A fire that destroyed a historic synagogue in northeastern Minnesota doesn't appear to have been a hate crime, authorities said Sunday in discussing the arrest of a suspect. Matthew James Amiot, 36, of Duluth, was arrested Friday in the fire last week at the Adas Israel Congregation in downtown Duluth, the city's police chief, Mike Tusken, said at a news conference. Tusken said he has no reason to believe the fire was a hate crime, although the investigation is ongoing.
- PoliticsPolitico
Beto O'Rourke wants action on guns, regardless of political cost
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke on Sunday dismissed criticisms that his recent rhetoric on gun control is playing into the hands of the National Rifle Association. During the third Democratic debate on Thursday, O'Rourke said he planned to take assault rifles from civilians as part of a nationwide buy-back program in response to the spate of mass shootings afflicting the country in recent years. The emphatic comments raised concerns among his fellow Democrats that they would offer fuel for attack ads by the NRA, feeding into the idea that Democrats were out to destroy the Second Amendment.
- NewsTime
Muslim American New Jersey Mayor Says CBP Wrongfully Detained Him for Almost 3 Hours
The Muslim American mayor of a New Jersey town accused U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) officials at New York's JFK airport of “flat out profiling”, wrongfully detaining him and asking him if “he knew any terrorists” at a press conference earlier this week. Mohamed Khairullah, who has been mayor of Prospect Park, N.J., for more than a decade, said in a video posted to his Facebook page last month that CBP agents detained him and his family for almost three hours in early August after he returned home from a vacation in Turkey. The CBP also allegedly took his phone away despite his objections, Khairullah said, adding that it took him almost two weeks to get the device back.
- WorldBloomberg
New Zealand’s Ardern Under Scrutiny After Botched Sexual Assault Allegation
Ardern has been forced to apologize to the woman and take control of an investigation into the allegations, including that she was attacked and groped by a Labour Party staffer in early 2018. Since then, Labour Party President Nigel Haworth and the man at the center of the allegations, who worked in parliament and hasn't been identified, have both resigned. “There are no excuses for the handling of the complaints by the Labour Party, and I will offer none,” Ardern said at a post-cabinet press conference in Wellington on Monday, a week after the sexual assault allegation was detailed by website The Spinoff.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Trump lashes out at MSNBC's Joy-Ann Reid, tweets that he 'never met' the TV host but that she has 'NO talent' and a 'bad reputation'
President Donald Trump took issue with MSNBC's "AM Joy" host Joy-Ann Reid on Twitter Saturday morning when he tweeted "Who the hell is Joy-Ann Reid? Never met her, she knows ZERO about me, has NO talent, and truly doesn't have the 'it' factor needed for success in showbiz." The president feigned ignorance on who Reid, who published "The Man Who Sold America: Trump and the Unraveling of the American Story" in June, is, but then went on to criticize her role with "Comcast/NBC."
- NewsThe Independent
Man who dragged shark to death from speedboat and poured alcohol down throats of fish is jailed
Robert Benac III will pay a $2,500 fine, perform 250 hours of service at an animal shelter and lose his fishing licence for three years after pleading guilty to misdemeanour of animal cruelty. Benac accepted the plea deal just as he was about to go on trial on Thursday for a more severe felony charge of aggravated cruelty to animals, according to The Bradenton Herald. A second man, Michael Wenzel, accepted a similar plea deal over the incident in February and he was also required to serve 10 days in jail over five weekends.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Indian authorities step up rescue effort for 20 tourists missing after boat capsize
The Indian authorities have intensified their rescue efforts today with more than 20 people still missing after a boat illegally carrying Indian tourists capsized on Sunday. The bodies of 12 people have so far been recovered from the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh after the 'Royal Vasishta' vessel collided with a rock formation while traveling to the popular tourist destination of Papikondalu. The local government said they had banned tourist boats from operating on the river after heavy rainfall caused water levels to rise dangerously.
- NewsThe National Interest
See This A-10 Warthog? It Could Wipe Out Iran's Swarm Boats in a War
It doesn't necessarily take the resources of a major nation-state to challenge U.S. Navy warships. Iran can't build a large navy but it does invest in swarms of small missile boats. On Feb. 6, 2017, the low- and slow-flying Warthogs together with Canadian CF-18 Hornets carried out simulated attacks on dozens of boats in Florida's Choctawatchee Bay.
WorldAFPTears at Bangkok memorial for murdered activist
The wife of a murdered activist whose charred remains were found dumped in a Thai reservoir led an emotional memorial Monday, saying their five young children had been left bereft by his death. Thailand is among the most deadly places in Asia for environmental and rights defenders -- the United Nations has counted over 80 cases of enforced disappearances in the country since 1980. Ethnic Karen leader Por Cha Lee Rakcharoen -- known as Billy -- disappeared in April 2014 while working on a lawsuit accusing officials of destroying homes in Kaeng Krachan national park.
- WorldReuters
Blasphemy accusation in Pakistan sparks ransacking of Hindu temple, school
A crowd in Pakistan ransacked a school and Hindu temple after a Hindu principal was accused of blasphemy, police said on Monday, the latest case to raise concern about the fate of religious minorities in the predominantly Muslim country. The violence erupted in the southern province of Sindh after a student accused the Hindu principal of blasphemy in comments about the Muslim Prophet Mohammad. The enraged crowd ransacked the school and damaged a nearby temple, a district police chief said.
- BusinessAssociated Press
Idle mines portend dark days for top US coal region
Blackjewel furloughed most of its Wyoming employees and shut down Eagle Butte and Belle Ayr mines, the first idled by hardship since coal mining in the Powder River Basin exploded in the 1970s. It's a big hit to the region straddling northeastern Wyoming and southeastern Montana, where coal has quietly supported the economies of both states for decades and fuels a shrinking number of power plants in 28 states. Negotiations that could reopen the two Wyoming mines under new ownership are stalled more than two months later.
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PHOTOS: Rescued busts of former U.S. presidents from the closed Presidents Park
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