- NewsUSA TODAY
Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards prepares to sign restrictive abortion bill
"My inclination is to sign it," Gov. John Bel Edwards said when discussing a "heartbeat bill" currently under consideration in the state Legislature.
PoliticsReutersBernie Sanders proposes U.S. education overhaul in appeal to black voters
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders unveiled an education policy proposal on Saturday designed to pump billions of dollars into the public schools system, in a bid to appeal to black voters who shunned the U.S. senator during his previous presidential run. The 10-point plan Sanders detailed in a speech in South Carolina aims to end racial disparities in the public education system. America's education policy debate has long been steeped in discussions of race and racial discrimination.
BusinessAFPBoeing acknowledges flaw in 737 MAX simulator software
Boeing acknowledged Saturday it had to correct flaws in its 737 MAX flight simulator software used to train pilots, after two deadly crashes involving the aircraft that killed 346 people. "Boeing has made corrections to the 737 MAX simulator software and has provided additional information to device operators to ensure that the simulator experience is representative across different flight conditions," it said in a statement. Its statement marked the first time Boeing acknowledged there was a design flaw in software linked to the 737 MAX, whose MCAS anti-stall software has been blamed in large part for the Ethiopian Airlines tragedy.
NewsAssociated PressIllinois not alerted to early clues in womb-cutting case
CHICAGO (AP) — Police and Illinois' child welfare agency say staff at a Chicago-area hospital didn't alert them after determining that a bloodied woman who arrived with a gravely ill newborn had not just given birth to the baby boy, as she claimed.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Attorney general Barr is 'sliming his own department,' says former FBI director Comey
Former FBI director James Comey has accused Attorney General William Barr of “sliming his own department” by questioning the creation of the Trump-Russia investigation.Mr Comey also suggested the head of the US justice department – who has launched a review into the origins of the 2016 election meddling probe – had been acting as a “spokesperson” for Donald Trump.“The AG should stop sliming his own Department,” the former FBI chief tweeted. “If there are bad facts, show us, or search for them professionally and then tell us what you found. An AG must act like the leader of the Department of Justice, an organization based on truth. Donald Trump has enough spokespeople.”The attorney general has asked John Durham, the US attorney in Connecticut, to examine how the probe into Russian election interference began and whether laws were broken while intelligence was collected on the Trump campaign, it was revealed earlier this week.On Friday Mr Barr said the review would focus on the actions of the US intelligence community before the FBI opened a formal inquiry in July 2016.“Government power was used to spy on American citizens,” the attorney general told The Wall Street Journal. “I can’t imagine any world where we wouldn’t take a look and make sure that was done properly.”Mr Barr told a Senate subcommittee last month that he believed “spying did occur”. He said: “The question is whether it was adequately predicated and I’m not suggesting it wasn’t adequately predicated, but I need to explore that.”The attorney general has provided no details about what “spying” may have taken place but he could be alluding to a surveillance warrant the FBI obtained on former Trump associate Carter Page and the FBI’s use of an informant while investigating ex-Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos. The AG should stop sliming his own Department. If there are bad facts, show us, or search for them professionally and then tell us what you found. An AG must act like the leader of the Department of Justice, an organization based on truth. Donald Trump has enough spokespeople. — James Comey (@Comey) May 18, 2019His suggestions that members of the Trump campaign were unfairly targeted have been welcomed by the president and his associates, who have repeatedly claimed investigations into the campaign were motivated by political bias.The president said that he did not request Mr Barr launch the review, but that he thinks “it’s a great thing that he did it.”FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress earlier in May that he has no evidence the FBI illegally monitored the Trump campaign and doesn’t consider court-approved FBI surveillance to be “spying”. Mr Comey has said “the FBI doesn’t spy, the FBI investigates”. He has been a consistent critic of Mr Trump since he was fired as FBI director by the president in May 2017, calling him “morally unfit to be president”.
- WorldThe National Interest
This Missile Might be the U.S. Navy's Important Weapon in Decades
The Tomahawk and its controversies might make headlines, but as the U.S. Navy re-arms for high-tech warfare, the SM-6 is the missile to watch.The U.S. Navy in late January 2019 confirmed the designation of its newest cruise missile, in the process clarifying its long-term plan for arming its growing fleet of warships.The plan heavily leans on one missile, in particular. It's the SM-6, an anti-aircraft weapon that quickly is evolving to perform almost every role the Navy assigns to a missile.(This first appeared earlier in the year.)The Navy dubbed the newest version of the venerable Tomahawk cruise missile the "Block V" model, Jane's reported. There are two separate variants of the Block V missile, one with an anti-ship warhead and another with a warhead the Navy optimized for striking targets on land.Raytheon's Tomahawk has been the subject of controversy in Washington, D.C. In order to save money the Obama administration wanted to pause production of the long-range missile, which since the 1980s has been the Navy's main weapon for striking land targets from the sea.Congress overruled the Obama administration and continued buying Tomahawks for roughly $1 million apiece, adding potentially hundreds of the missiles to the thousands the fleet already possesses.
- CelebrityThe Guardian
Alex Rodriguez bathroom photo highlights permissive privacy laws
* Former Yankees slugger snapped through apartment window * Lawyers seek photographer but legal recourse uncertainAlex Rodriguez was pictured on the toilet in the Park Avenue apartment he shares with his fiancee Jennifer Lopez in an image being shared on social media. Photograph: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesNew York’s liberal privacy laws are under scrutiny as lawyers for the retired baseball star Alex Rodriguez try to track down the photographer who snapped him sitting on the toilet in the Park Avenue apartment he shares with his fiancee, the actor and singer Jennifer Lopez.A picture making the rounds on social media shows the former New York Yankees slugger, known as “A-Rod”, looking at his phone in a white marble bathroom.The New York Post’s Page Six declined to publish the picture, citing privacy issues. The tabloid quoted an unidentified source who called the picture “a clear breach of privacy” and said: “One of the hedge funds in the building next door will be getting a big lawsuit.” With the continued onslaught of intrusive technologies, it may be time to revisit privacy protections Michael QuinnHowever, successful legal action may be hard to achieve.Six years ago, New York neighbours of the photographer Arne Svenson sought to block the sale of images he exhibited which showed them in unguarded moments.According to the New Yorker, Svenson consulted with a lawyer before peeking into the lives of others. The courts found he had not breached any legal convention.An appellate court decried the “technological home invasion” but ruled that Svenson’s actions were defensible under the first amendment, which guarantees free speech, and that such art needs no consent to be made or sold.On Saturday Michael Quinn, a New York art lawyer, told the Guardian Rodriguez’s options for recourse were limited.“New York state’s laws on rights to privacy are sparse,” Quinn said. “Any redress for this type of invasion – a photograph taken into a subject’s unobstructed window from a distance – would be limited to cases involving commercial exploitation.“With the continued onslaught of intrusive technologies, it may be time for the legislature to revisit privacy protections … of course, it may also be time for interior designers to bring back venetian blinds.”
LifestyleUSA TODAYVineyard Vines arrives at Target on Saturday. How to shop the limited-edition collaboration
Set your alarm clock if you're interested in shopping Target's latest designer collaboration, Vineyard Vines. The new collection goes on sale May 18.
BusinessReutersModi’s jobs deficit: J&J’s largest India plant idle three years after completion
It was to eventually employ at least 1,500 people and help bring development to a rural area near Hyderabad in southern India. Two sources familiar with J&J's operations in India and one state government official told Reuters production at the plant, at Penjerla in Telangana state, never began because of a slowing in the growth in demand for the products. One of them said that demand didn’t rise as expected because of two shock policy moves by Prime Minister Narendra Modi: a late 2016 ban on then circulating high-value currency notes, and the nationwide introduction of a goods and services tax (GST) in 2017.
- BusinessBloomberg
U.S.-China Feud Widens, Europe Populists Buoyant
U.S.-China relations hit a new low this week after President Donald Trump’s administration slapped new tariffs on imports from China and targeted its biggest technology company, Huawei Technologies. Elsewhere, residents in the Iranian capital, Tehran, worry more about feeding their families than the rumors of war with the U.S., and populists hoped to score unprecedented gains in next week's elections to the European Parliament.Read about those topics and more in this edition of Weekend Reads, and click here for some of Bloomberg’s most compelling political images from the past seven days. China Vows ‘People’s War’ as Trade Fight Takes Nationalist TurnAs China’s state media ratchets up the rhetoric in the deepening trade dispute with the U.S., Peter Coy reports on how Trump’s tariffs on China will place a heavier burden on America’s poor and working class.
PoliticsAssociated PressBernie Sanders unveils plan to overhaul public education
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders wants to suspend taxpayer funding of new charter schools and ban those that are for-profit as part of his plan to overhaul public education that he released on Saturday.
PoliticsFOX News VideosFormer House Democratic Caucus Chair Joe Crowley on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's impact on the 2020 race
Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez takes veiled swipe at former Vice President Joe Biden over climate change.
WorldAFPBlast hits Egypt tourist bus, 17 injured: security, medical sources
An explosion struck a tourist bus on Sunday near Egypt's famed pyramids, injuring 17 people including foreigners, security and medical sources said. South Africans and Egyptians were among those injured when an explosive device went off, hitting the bus in Giza, according to the sources. Sunday's incident comes after three Vietnamese holidaymakers and their Egyptian guide were killed when a roadside bomb hit their bus as it travelled near the pyramids outside Cairo in December.
- NewsThe Telegraph
Donald Trump says he is in favour of abortion laws with exceptions for rape and incest
President Donald Trump on Saturday declared himself "strongly Pro-Life" but in favor of exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, after several US states passed tough new restrictions on abortions. The US president spelled out his position on abortion, set to be a hot-button issue at next year's election, days after Alabama's governor signed the country's most restrictive law - enacting a near-total prohibition even in cases of rape and incest. "As most people know, and for those who would like to know, I am strongly Pro-Life, with the three exceptions - Rape, Incest and protecting the Life of the mother - the same position taken by Ronald Reagan," tweeted Trump. Trump, a bombastic, twice-divorced billionaire, won over the evangelical vote during his 2016 campaign by promising to appoint anti-abortion justices at the Supreme Court. He has since brought two conservative appointees to the highest court in the land - Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh - shifting the balance of the nine-person bench. American evangelicals now have high hopes that the court will chip away at its historic 1973 US decision to legalize abortion. In addition to Alabama, the Missouri legislature this week made abortions illegal from eight weeks of pregnancy. Georgia, Ohio, Mississippi, Kentucky, Iowa and North Dakota have enacted laws banning abortion from the moment a fetal heartbeat is detected. The bans are expected to be blocked in court, but supporters plan to appeal such decisions until they reach the Supreme Court, in hopes this will lead to the long-sought conservative goal of overturning the abortion ruling, known as Roe v Wade. Roe v Wade guarantees women's rights to abortion as long as the fetus is not viable - around 24 weeks of pregnancy. Trump has also called for a congressional ban on late-term abortions, as he seeks to expand on his conservative support ahead of his re-election bid. "The Radical Left, with late term abortion (and worse), is imploding on this issue," he tweeted late Saturday. "We must stick together and Win for Life in 2020."
- NewsBGR News
Wild video shows the moment an F-16 fighter jet crashed into a California warehouse
In a wild story that was captured on video, an F-16 fighter jet crashed into a warehouse in Riverside, California shortly after takeoff yesterday afternoon. The pilot managed to safely eject from the plane before the crash and is said to have suffered no injuries, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.A full-on investigation into the cause of the crash will certainly yield more details, but early reports suggest that a hydraulics failure was the reason behind the malfunction and subsequent crash.Video of the impact was captured by a nearby car's dashboard cam. Ty Stanonis was on the freeway when the crash occurred ahead of him, he told FOX11. His vehicle's dashboard camera recorded the moment the jet crashed, showing the plane dropping into the building. "Everybody was slowing down, just trying to figure out what just happened," Stanonis said. The pilot's parachute deployed after he ejected, and he landed in a field inside the base. Stanonis said the pilot was still for a few moments but finally rose to his feet.The moment of impact can be seen in the first few seconds of the video below.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j4dzuttA1wFootage captured from within the warehouse can be seen below. It's worth noting that the video contains explicit language.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ho35RgfUfIMiraculously, no one in the warehouse was seriously injured as a result of the crash, though a few individuals were taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation for minor injuries.Further, the F-16 was said to be carrying live ammunition which thankfully -- and remarkably -- did not go off. All in all, what could have been an all-out disaster resulted in no deaths or serious injuries
- NewsThe National Interest
Glock 31 Gun: All You Need To Know About this Powerful Pistol
In the early 1990s, a handful of calibers emerged to challenge the nine-millimeter as the dominant semi-automatic handgun round. One of these, the .357 Sig, is the caliber of choice for the Glock 31 pistol. The Glock 31 is the company’s offering for those into high velocity or long distance handgun shooting. The G31 also comes with a large magazine capacity, making it an excellent self-defense or duty sidearm.The now infamous 1986 FBI Miami shootout was a watershed moment in the history of law enforcement. Eight FBI agents armed with pistols and shotguns engaged two bank robbers armed with superior weapons. Over the course of the gun battle, which saw the federal agents pinned down by suppressive fire from a Ruger Mini-14 semi-automatic rifle, two agents were killed and another five wounded. The two bank robbers were hit multiple times by incoming fire but were both able to continue shooting, contributing to the very high law enforcement casualty rate.In the aftermath of the shootout, the FBI and other government agencies began the search for a new, more powerful handgun round. Nine-millimeter and .38 Special proved ineffective at stopping the robbers, while .357 Magnum was a revolver cartridge that limited the user’s carrying capacity to six rounds at a time. Law enforcement wanted a powerful round that could be carried in large quantities.
- WorldReuters
Exxon Mobil evacuates foreign staff out of Iraqi oilfield - sources
Exxon Mobil has evacuated all its foreign staff members out of Iraq's West Qurna 1 oilfield and is flying them out to Dubai, three sources told Reuters on Saturday. Production at the oilfield was not affected by the evacuation and work there is under way normally and being undertaken by Iraqi engineers, Iraqi oil officials said. Staff were evacuated over several phases late on Friday and early on Saturday, either straight to Dubai or to the main camp housing foreign oil company employees in Basra province.
- LifestyleNational Review
Cold Brew’s Insidious Hegemony
Soon, many parts of the United States will be unbearably hot. Texans and Arizonans will be able to bake cookies on their car dashboards; the garbage on the streets of New York will be especially pungent; Washington will not only figuratively be a swamp. And all across America, coffee consumers will turn their backs on traditional coffee in favor of a more “refreshing” vehicle for caffeine: cold brew.As conservatives, we are inherently skeptical of any change of language norms that seeks to warp the objective meaning of words, and so we defend terms such as “man and woman,” “traditional marriage,” and now, we must defend “coffee.” “Coffee” is defined as a hot beverage made by steeping coffee in boiling water. Cold brew is made by soaking beans overnight, and the drink relies on time instead of heat to extract the flavor. The major disqualifying factor is that it's cold.Starbucks’s imperial command over coffee is greatly responsible for this Orwellian redefinition. Its ubiquitous mermaid logo may read “Starbucks Coffee,” but the corporate café caliphate makes most of its profit from drinks sugary enough to induce a diabetic coma in a small mammal. Even more sinister is that Starbucks expanded into Milan in 2018, irreverently flexing its muscle at coffee purists who turn up their noses while its ostentatious drinks conquer the international beverage forum, marginalizing and undermining traditional coffee.Smaller coffee shops have followed in Starbucks’s footsteps. Today, “Let’s go out for coffee!” seems like an innocent request from a coworker or friend, and it should suggest that the order will include a cup of boiled water that was brewed with coffee beans — whether it’s a single shot of espresso or a cup of café americano, made with a French press or Moka Express. But too often, they mean something else. In the summer, they mean cold brew.One New York City coffee-store owner told the New York Times in 2017 that in the summer, 65 percent of the “coffee” he sells is iced — every other part of the year, 75 percent of the “coffee” sold is hot. Iced coffee itself is a cousin of cold brew, but with nearly all of hot coffee's features except the most significant one: heat. It's brewed the same way, and then cooled. But demand for cold brew specifically is increasing, unsurprisingly, among my generation: Millennials. A habit of subversive behavior among Millennials has driven us to attack all of our civilization’s most sacred institutions, including coffee — the backbone of American productivity.As cold brew’s popularity metastasizes, usurping coffee for several months of the year, will we forget our proud national heritage? Cold brew requires patience and planning: One must make a prediction of business the next day in order to estimate how much to make the night before. This is a clear break from our proud tradition of urgency. While the harvesting and roasting of good coffee beans surely requires patience, has prepared coffee ever been associated with anything other than the quick satiation of a morning addiction, or the rush to meet a deadline? Like bread, coffee is a staple for good reason: One needs only five minutes, a heat source, a filtration method, and the beans. It’s dependable and democratic.Coffee has even provoked constitutional debate. Would we have considered tort reform within the framework of the Seventh Amendment had it not been for 1994’s infamous hot-coffee lawsuit, Liebeck v. McDonald’s?To those who will, during the summer months, abandon the beverage that gives many of us our will to live in the mornings, I ask just one concession to coffee purists: Drink your cold brew, but please, don’t call it “coffee.”
PoliticsReutersWhite House 2020 hopefuls turn to foreign policy, slam Trump on Iran
The relationship between Washington and Tehran has become increasingly strained in recent weeks, raising concerns about a potential U.S.-Iran conflict. Trump and hawkish foreign policy advisers like national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo want Tehran to give up its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Trump has tightened economic sanctions against Iran, aimed at forcing its leaders into negotiations.
WorldAssociated PressUS: Iran military could misidentify airliners amid tension
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Commercial airliners flying over the Persian Gulf risk being targeted by "miscalculation or misidentification" from the Iranian military amid heightened tensions between the Islamic Republic and the U.S., American diplomats warned Saturday, even as both Washington and Tehran say they don't seek war.
WorldAFPAl Jazeera suspends two journalists over Holocaust report
Qatari state-funded broadcaster Al Jazeera suspended two journalists on Sunday over a video they produced claiming the extent of the Holocaust was being misrepresented by Jews. The clip, posted by Al Jazeera's online AJ+ Arabic service, claimed "the narrative" that the Nazis killed six million Jews was "adopted by the Zionist movement". The video said that "along with others, the Jews faced a policy of systematic persecution which culminated in the Final Solution".
- LifestyleAOL.com
Target is selling a giant unicorn float that will hold up to 6 people
Ever wanted to lay out on the water at the beach in a giant unicorn float withfive of your friends? Sure you have! And this summer, it's happening
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Romney: GOP Rep’s Call to Impeach Trump a ‘Courageous Statement’
Reacting to Republican Congressman Justin Amash’s call for President Trump to face impeachment over the obstruction of justice findings of the Mueller report, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) on Sunday praised the Michigan lawmaker for his “courageous statement” while saying he didn’t personally feel it was a time to call for impeachment.Noting that Romney had said last month that he was “sickened” and “appalled” that the president welcomed help from Russia during the 2016 election, State of the Union anchor Jake Tapper asked Romney if he was surprised that he and Amash are the only two elected Republicans who have condemned the president’s behavior.“My own view is that Justin Amash has reached a different conclusion than I have,” the former Republican presidential nominee replied. “I respect him. I think it’s a courageous statement. But I believe to make a case for obstruction of justice, you just don’t have the elements that are evidenced in this document.”He went on to say that when it comes to impeachment, one has to consider not just the law but politics and practicality, adding that the “jury” in this case is the Senate and they are “certainly not there either.”Asked why he doesn’t believe the obstruction of justice findings rise to the level of impeachment, Romney said he doesn’t “think there is the full element you need to prove an obstruction of justice case.”“I don’t think a prosecutor would actually look at this and say, okay, we have here all the elements that would get this to a conviction,” he continued. “So, you know, everyone reaches their own conclusion. As I read the report, I was troubled by it. Was very disappointing for a number of reasons. But it did not suggest to me this was a time to call for impeachment.”After reiterating that he was distressed by the president’s behavior but didn’t think there was an underlying crime to prosecute Trump, Romney moved on to discuss the rising tension with Iran, including reports that the White House is considering a plan to move 120,000 troops to the Middle East.Insisting that the “threat is real” from Iran, Romney nonetheless said that he believes the Trump administration is not looking to lead America into another war.“I don’t believe for a minute that either the president or [National Security Adviser] John Bolton or, frankly, anyone else in a senior position of leadership in the White House has any interest in going to the Middle East and going to war,” Romney declared. “That’s just not going to happen.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
- LifestyleBGR News
10 deals you don’t want to miss on Saturday: AirPods 2, $35 Fire TV Stick 4K, $10 Philips Hue bulbs, more
We've got another great weekend edition of our daily deals roundups for you, because great deals never take a day off! Highlights include a rare opportunity to save $20 on Apple AirPods 2 (order now to lock in the discount and they'll ship soon, likely within a few weeks), the Fire TV Stick 4K for $35 instead of $50 and the Fire TV Stick for $25 instead of $40 (Prime members only), all-time low prices for the Apple Watch Series 3 starting at $199, all-time low prices on iPads starting at $249, just $11.50 for a SanDisk 64GB microSD card (other sizes on sale too!), Philips Hue white LED bulbs for $10 a piece when you buy a 4-pack, Alexa and Google enabled WiFi smart plugs for $7.25 each when you buy a 4-pack, and more. See all of today's top deals below.
- WorldThe National Interest
Let Me Tell You About the Worst Submarine of All Time
For the Worst Submarine of All Time, I go further and nominate an entire silent service: the undersea arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN).There are many candidates for this dubious honor. After all, submarining has been around for well over a century now. Many ships render honorable but unexceptional service. Standouts emerge, generally in times of strife, as do “floating coffins” and plain old hard-luck ships.And there are some that subtract value from the nation’s effort to reach its strategic and political aims. This is the unpardonable sin.The idea of ships that could submerge has been around since antiquity. Combat submersibles date to the Turtle, a hand-propelled contraption built to smite Royal Navy ships from beneath during the War of American Independence. But subs really became a going concern during the fin de siècle age, when propulsion technologies such as batteries, electric motors, and internal-combustion engines came to maturity around the same time.Combining these technologies yielded the diesel-electric propulsion plant, a hybrid affair that enabled subs to run silent, run deep on quiet electric motors when submerged and run on diesels and recharge batteries while cruising the surface. At the direction of First Sea Lord Jacky Fisher, the Royal Navy ordered five rudimentary boats designed by John Phillip Holland in 1900, and the age of modern undersea warfare was on.
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