AOC lowers expectations on Medicare for All, admitting Sanders 'can't wave a magic wand' to pass it

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday that if Sen. Bernie Sanders were elected president, he still might not be able to get Medicare for All, his signature health plan, passed in Congress. “A president can't wave a magic wand and pass any legislation they want,” Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told HuffPost this week. While Ocasio-Cortez rarely tempers expectations when championing ideas like Medicare for All and the Green New Deal to fight climate change she helped author, she went on to suggest that under a President Sanders, a “compromise” might emerge on health care, even though she still considers Sanders's bill the gold standard.

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  The Case Against A 'Medicare For All' Litmus Test, Courtesy of Ocasio-Cortez

  HuffPost
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  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Has Cheeky Response To Critics Of Her 'Drag Race' Guest Spot

  HuffPost

American woman, 83, tests positive for coronavirus after disembarking Holland America ship

A passenger who disembarked Holland America's MS Westerdam has been diagnosed with coronavirus in Malaysia. According to Holland America Line, an 83-year-old American woman who departed from Westerdam on Friday later reported feeling ill at the airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and tested positive for coronavirus. The passenger is in stable condition at a hospital in Malaysia, according to a release from the cruise line shared with USA TODAY by Buck Banks.

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  Ship becomes "best cruise ever" despite coronavirus fears

  Yahoo News Video
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  US to evacuate Americans as virus cases rise on quarantined ship

  AFP

Country singer Daniel Lee Martin found dead after police attempt to serve warrants

Country singer Daniel Lee Martin was found dead of an apparent suicide in a Florida home after deputies attempted to serve multiple warrants related to charges of sexual abuse of minors, according to officials. Pasco County Sheriff's deputies attempted to serve the warrants at a residence in New Port Richey on Friday, but said there was no response from Martin, 54, when the officers attempted to make contact with him. Martin was wanted on three counts of sexual exploitation on a minor, three counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of solicitation of a minor to commit rape of a child and two counts of committing an aggravated sexual battery, the Pasco County Sheriff's office said in statement to NBC News.

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  Daniel Lee Martin, Country Singer Accused of Child Sex Abuse, Dies at 54

  The Wrap
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  Daniel Lee Martin: Country singer found dead ahead of child sexual abuse trial

  The Independent

Assistant principal accused of raping student avoids jail

An assistant principal charged with raping a 16-year-old student in Missouri has avoided jail time by accepting an Alford plea, which allows her to assert innocence while acknowledging the evidence proves her guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Inside the Family's Manhattan Apartment

undefined Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

DNC announces qualifications for South Carolina debate

The Democratic National Committee has announced the qualifications for the 10th 2020 Democratic Party presidential debate in Charleston, South Carolina on February 25 hosted by CBS News. Similar to the qualifications for the February 19 Nevada debate, candidates seeking to participate will need to meet either a polling or delegate threshold to take part in the event co-hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Institute. To qualify using the delegate threshold, Democratic presidential hopefuls must have been allocated at least one pledged delegate to the National Democratic Convention from either Iowa, New Hampshire or Nevada.

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  Reid says Biden will do well in diverse Nevada's caucuses

  Associated Press
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  South Carolina lawmakers suggest Biden may be taking black voters in the state for granted

  The Week

The US will begin testing patients with flu-like symptoms for coronavirus in an expanded effort to contain the outbreak

The CDC announced several new measures to aid in the mitigation of the spread of the new coronavirus. American public health authorities announced new "mitigation" measures to disrupt the spread of the new coronavirus, beginning with patients who have flu-like symptoms. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, the director of the CDC's Centre for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said on a media call Friday that there were currently 15 diagnosed cases of the coronavirus in the US, and the agency was weighing different approaches to contain the virus in several major cities.

Israeli army: Hamas hackers tried to 'seduce' soldiers

The Israeli military on Sunday said it has thwarted an attempt by the Hamas militant group to hack soldiers' phones by posing as young, attractive women on social media, striking up friendships and persuading them into downloading malware. Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus told reporters that the phones of dozens of soldiers had been infected in recent months, although he said the army detected the scam early on and prevented any major secrets from reaching the Islamic militant group. Conricus said this was the third attempt by Hamas to target male soldiers through fake social media accounts, most recently in July 2018.

Hitler's Submarines Almost Launched A Missile Attack On America

Key point: Most Allied commanders were skeptical that there was a genuine threat to the continental United States—save for certain leaders of the U.S. Navy. In the closing weeks of World War II in Europe, American intelligence determined that a detachment of German submarines had been dispatched to launch a cruise missile attack on the East Coast of the United States. The U.S. Navy deployed forty-six ships and dozens of aircraft to annihilate the incoming submarine wolf pack.

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  This U.S. Nuclear Submarine Smashed Into an Underwater Mountain (And Survived)

  The National Interest
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  Just Ask This Russian Submarine: The Cuban Missile Crisis Nearly Ended The World

  The National Interest

The global spread of the coronavirus: Where is it?

The coronavirus that emerged in central China at the end of last year has now killed more than 1,600 people and spread around the world. The latest figures from China show there are almost 69,000 people infected in the country. Outside mainland China, there have been about 780 infections reported in nearly 30 locations.

Is that Harriet Tubman on a bank debit card, throwing a Wakanda salute?

A new debit card from the nation's largest black-owned bank with an image of Harriet Tubman throwing a gesture that bears striking resemblance to one from the movie "Black Panther" drew criticism and expressions of disbelief on social media. The famed abolitionist and political activist is shown with fists crossed over her chest, which some saw as a gesture from the Marvel blockbuster movie "Black Panther" about the fictional African country Wakanda. Bank officials said the gesture is not from the movie, but rather the sign for "love" in American Sign Language.

Bush-Era Cabinet Member’s Daughter Charged With Fatally Stabbing Friend

The daughter of one the country's highest-ranking former diplomats has been charged with fatally stabbing an acquaintance in the neck during a late-night argument. Sophia Negroponte allegedly killed Yousuf Rasmussen, 24, inside an apartment in Rockville, Maryland just before midnight Thursday, the Montgomery County Department of Police said. The 27-year-old is the daughter of former director of national intelligence John Negroponte, the Washington Post reported.

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  Former U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte's Daughter Accused of Stabbing a Man to Death

  People
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  Daughter of former cabinet official facing charges

  ABC News Videos

Why Xi's 'defensive' coronavirus speech could backfire

Chinese state media published an internal speech delivered by President Xi Jinping on Saturday in which he describes taking action on the coronavirus outbreak as early as Jan. 7. In the speech, which was given Feb. 3, Xi said he had "issued demands about the efforts to prevent and control" the virus during a meeting of the Communist Party's highest council, the Politburo Standing Committee, last month, and that he personally authorized the lockdown of the epicenter, Wuhan, beginning on Jan. 23. "The overall tone of the speech of appears to be defensive," Minxin Pei, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, told The New York Times.

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  China toll leaps past 1,600 as first death reported outside Asia

  AFP
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  Why the coronavirus outbreak might be the biggest challenge for China's Xi

  NBC News

Germany wants another crack at a EU mission in the Strait of Hormuz

MUNICH – German defense minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer on Saturday proposed a European Union-led naval protection mission for the Strait of Hormuz, piggy-backing on a French initiative already underway. The proposal follows Berlin's expression of political support for the French navy, which last month began patrolling the volatile waterway, a critical chokepoint for oil shipments out of the Persian Gulf. Germany's backing is largely symbolic, however, as there no promises of ships or aircraft on the table.

Experts weigh in on how coronavirus may, or may not, run rampant in US in coming months

Also worth noting is that more than 7,000 patients diagnosed with the virus have recovered, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. On Thursday, the 15th U.S. case of coronavirus was confirmed by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) after a patient returned from China to Texas earlier this week. "The patient is among a group of people under a federal quarantine order at JBSA-Lackland in Texas because of their recent return to the U.S. on a State Department-chartered flight that arrived on February 7, 2020," the CDC wrote in a press release.

The coronavirus could cripple China's economy for longer than Wall Street wants to believe

The coronavirus is still spreading throughout China, but all over Wall Street, a consensus about the virus' economic influence is already solidifying. The thinking goes like this: China will slowly get back to work by the end of the first quarter. Investors will stay fairly steady throughout this period knowing that coronavirus will result only in a temporary knock on corporate profits and general economic activity.

Costa Rican police find six tonnes of cocaine in biggest ever haul

Police in Costa Rica have found almost 6 tonnes of cocaine in a shipping container, leading to the country's biggest ever drug seizure. The drugs, which weighed 5,800kg, were discovered on Friday evening in Limón in a container of flowers due to be sent to Rotterdam, Holland, according to the Costan Rican national newspaper La Nación. In a press conference on Saturday afternoon, interior minister Michael Soto Rojas confirmed it was the largest ever drug seizure in Costa Rica.

Just Ask This Russian Submarine: The Cuban Missile Crisis Nearly Ended The World

Key point: Two officers gave the order to prepare a nuclear weapon for launch... It is commonly accepted that the world has never come closer to nuclear war than during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when the United States confronted Soviet Union over its deployment of ballistic nuclear missiles to Cuba. In fact, that decision was nearly taken out of Khrushchev and Kennedy's hands by a group of men in the throes of dehydration and CO2 poisoning as they sat in a malfunctioning submarine surrounded by U.S. destroyers, unable to consult with Moscow.

Questions over fate of Saudi crew in Yemen jet crash

The fate of the crew of a Saudi warplane that crashed in Yemen remained uncertain Sunday after Iran-linked Huthi rebels claimed to have shot down the aircraft. The Riyadh-led military coalition fighting the rebels said the two officers ejected from the plane before it crashed in northern Al-Jawf province Friday but that the rebels opened fire at them "in violation of international humanitarian law". "The joint forces command of the Coalition holds the terrorist Huthi militia responsible for the lives and wellbeing of the Tornado air crew," the coalition said in a statement released by the official Saudi Press Agency late Saturday.

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  Saudi fighter jet crashes in Yemen, rebels say they downed it

  AFP
• Despite Yemen violence spike, Saudi says talks with Houthis progressing

  Reuters

6-year-old girl was committed to mental health facility without parent consent

A 6-year-old Florida girl was committed for two days to a mental health facility without her mother's consent after allegedly throwing a temper tantrum at school, an attorney for the family said. The child was allegedly given anti-psychotic medications at the center, also without the permission of her mother, Martina Falk. Falk's lawyer, Reganel Reeves, said a mental health counselor was called to the school because Nadia was reportedly having a tantrum and throwing chairs.

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  6-year-old forced to leave school asked cop, "Am I going to jail?"

  CBS News
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  Bodycam video shows 6-year-old girl taken to mental health facility

  ABC News Videos

An invasion of propaganda: Experts warn that white supremacist messages are seeping into mainstream

It's concerning because, for all the people who don't move on to become threats of violence, some will, and some will get their start by seeing pieces of propaganda that will alert them to the fact this group exists,'' Clarke said. The ADL report represents a sobering warning about the reach of white supremacist groups, which can take advantage of the efficiency and anonymity provided by social media to disseminate their ideology with little fear of backlash. Last year the ADL recorded its highest number of propaganda incidents ever with 2,713 cases, compared to 1,214 in 2018.

Why Joe Biden needs ‘a political miracle’ to stay in the race to face Trump

Larry Sabato is an analyst, author and director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Two were working for Joe Biden in Iowa. Before caucus day, they texted Sabato to say they expected to lose badly.

Australian soldiers caring for rescued koalas

Soldiers with the Australian Army have been using their downtime to help rescued koalas. The soldiers from the Army's 9th brigade have been cuddling koalas during their feeding time at Cleland Wildlife Park, near the city of Adelaide, according to a post on the brigade's Facebook page. The koalas were transported there from Kangaroo Island, which was devastated by the bushfires that ravaged the continent in recent months.