- PoliticsYahoo News
Stanford law professor lights up House impeachment hearing
Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan delivered powerful testimony Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining in simple terms her view that President Trump's conduct warranted his impeachment. As she began her testimony, Karlan, who was called by Democrats to testify with Harvard law professor Noah Feldman and University of North Carolina law professor Michael Gerhardt, rebuked Republican ranking member Rep. Doug Collins, who asserted that those who had not reviewed the testimony of prior witnesses had no business testify about it.
- PoliticsTime
Joe Biden Challenges Iowa Man to a Push-Up Contest During Heated Exchange
Former Vice President Joe Biden got into a tense exchange with a man during a campaign stop in Iowa Thursday that included the Democratic Presidential candidate challenging him to do push-ups alongside him. “Look, the reason I'm running is because I've been around a long time and I know more than most people know and I can get things done,” Biden responded. President Trump is currently facing a House impeachment inquiry over claims that he withheld aid to Ukraine while pressuring the country to investigate the Bidens.
- NewsAssociated Press
Tennessee governor not stopping planned execution Thursday
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee announced Wednesday that he won't stop the state from putting a blind inmate to death in the electric chair later this week, clearing the way for the execution unless a federal court intervenes. Lee Hall, a 53-year-old inmate who became blind from glaucoma during is decades in prison, is scheduled to be electrocuted Thursday for his conviction in the 1991 killing of his estranged girlfriend. Hall had his sight when he entered death row nearly three decades ago, but attorneys for the condemned prisoner say he's since become functionally blind due to improperly treated glaucoma.
- NewsBusiness Insider
19 unforgettable images from the Pearl Harbor attack 78 years ago
The devastating Japanese attack began Sunday at 7:48 a.m., eventually killing 2,402 Americans and wounding many others, sinking four battleships and damaging many more. The Pearl Harbor attack spurred America into World War II. Here are photographs from the attack and its immediate aftermath. December 7, 1941 began as a perfect Sunday morning for the troops serving the US fleet at Pearl Harbor.
WorldAFPWanted Indian guru resurfaces to announce new cosmic country
An Indian guru facing rape and sexual abuse charges made headlines Wednesday after he emerged from hiding and announced the birth of a new cosmic country with its own cabinet and golden passports. Swami Nithyananda, a controversial self-styled godman with thousands of followers in southern India's Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states, posted a video on his YouTube channel announcing the special project to his followers. 41-year-old Nithyananda announced that his country is called Kailaasa, and is the biggest Hindu nation without boundaries.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Russian spies used French Alps as 'base camp' for hits on Britain and other countries
Fifteen Russian spies, including those accused of the Salisbury nerve agent attack, used the French Alps as a “base camp” to conduct covert operations around Europe over a five-year period, according to reports. The revelations came as Germany expelled two Russian diplomats after prosecutors said there was “sufficient factual evidence” linking Moscow to the killing of a former Chechen rebel commander in central Berlin. According to Le Monde, British, Swiss, French, and US intelligence have drawn up a list of 15 members of the 29155 unit of Russia's GRU military spy agency who all passed through France's Haute-Savoie mountains close to the Swiss and Italian borders.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoEmployee shot at a Virginia post office
Authorities say a postal worker has been shot at a northern Virginia post office by an agent for the Postal Service's Inspector General's office. News outlets report that it happened Wednesday morning at the parking lot of the Lovettsville post office in Loudoun County.
- PoliticsThe National Interest
NATO’s Dirty Little Secret Is Out
Frequently, that argument is presented as part of the larger case that President Trump's periodic expressions of skepticism about NATO's relevance are out-of-touch with the views of the American public. Few (if any) surveys of U.S. public opinion about NATO even hint about the extent of the risks Americans incur because of Washington's obligations under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, which commits the signatories to consider an attack on any member as an attack on all. A typical poll question will ask respondents whether the United States should defend country X, if Russia attacks that country.
- BusinessThe Independent
Thai cave dive hero fights back tears as he tells court ‘life sentence with no parole’ inflicted by Elon Musk
A British diver who helped rescue a dozen boys trapped in a cave in Thailand fought back tears as he told a court Elon Musk's "pedo guy" slur amounted to “a life sentence with no parole”. Vernon Unsworth choked up on Wednesday as he testified against the Tesla CEO during a defamation trial in Los Angeles. The 63-year-old, from St Albans, told the hearing he had no choice but to sue the billionaire who used the slur on Twitter, or else it would seem the allegation were true.
- PoliticsYahoo News
In fiery memo, Dem lawmaker urges Congress to include Trump’s 'racism' in articles of impeachment
The first member of Congress who called for President Trump to be impeached sent a memo Wednesday to House members urging them to incorporate concerns about Trump's “racism” into the ongoing impeachment inquiry. In the memo, Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, noted that, in July, the House passed a resolution condemning Trump for making “racist comments” about four Democratic congresswomen of color. “How will history judge this Congress that passed a resolution indicating President Trump made harmful, racist comments if it does not impeach him for his impeachable racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, transphobic, xenophobic language instigating enmity and inciting violence within our society?” Green asked in his memo, which was obtained by Yahoo News.
- NewsINSIDER
The college admissions scandal ringleader tried to recruit 7 Stanford coaches to be part of the scheme but only one took the bait
Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne said in a letter to the university community that the ringleader of the college admissions scandal, William "Rick" Singer, approached seven coaches at the school about trading bribes for students' recruitments to the school at athletes. Tessier-Lavigne said an external review of the case revealed that only the school's former sailing coach, John Vandemoer, accepted Singer's deal. Vandemoer accepted $610,000 in bribes from Singer to facilitate the admission of students as sailing recruits.
- NewsAssociated Press
Report: Officer recorded kissing Chicago chief reassigned
A female officer who was reportedly caught on video kissing then-Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson at a popular restaurant in October was transferred weeks later from his personal security detail to another role on the police force, a department spokesman said. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed to WBEZ that the officer, who was appointed to Johnson's security detail in 2016, was reassigned in November to the technical services bureau. He said he didn't know if the two had a romantic relationship and couldn't say if the officer's reassignment was connected to one, but that the move was neither a promotion nor a demotion and was not done for disciplinary reasons.
- EntertainmentPopular Mechanics
The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Right Now
Rouge robots, deep space planets, and a voice assistant love story. From Popular Mechanics
- PoliticsNational Review
Rep. Duncan Hunter Shows no Signs of Resigning Despite Pleading Guilty to Campaign Finance Charges
Representative Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.) has not indicated that he will leave his seat in the House after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to campaign finance violations. Hunter and his wife, who pleaded guilty to similar charges in June, were accused of using $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for family vacations to Hawaii, plane tickets for their pet rabbit, and other personal expenses.
- WorldAssociated Press
Activists apologize for use of Holocaust victims’ remains
An activist group has apologized to Jewish organizations outraged over their use of purported Holocaust victims' remains in an installation outside Germany's parliament building meant to draw attention to the perils of far-right extremism. The Center for Political Beauty, a Germany-based activist group known for provocative stunts, installed an urn outside the Reichtstag building on Monday, saying it contained victims' remains that it had unearthed from 23 locations near Nazi death and concentration camps in Germany, Poland and Ukraine. “We want to apologize especially to Jewish institutions, associations and individuals who see our work as disturbing or touching the peace of the dead according to Jewish religious law,” the group said on its website in a post late Wednesday.
- BusinessBloomberg
Warren Is Drafting U.S. Legislation to Reverse ‘Mega Mergers’
Warren's staff recently circulated a proposal for sweeping anti-monopoly legislation, which would deliver on a presidential campaign promise to check the power of Big Tech and other industries. According to a draft of the bill reviewed by Bloomberg, the proposal would expand antitrust law beyond the so-called consumer welfare standard, an approach that has driven antitrust policy since the 1970s. Warren's bill, tentatively titled the Anti-Monopoly and Competition Restoration Act, would also ban non-compete and no-poaching agreements for workers and protect the rights of gig economy workers, such as drivers for Uber Technologies Inc., to organize.
- BusinessThe National Interest
The Reviews Are In: 31 Air Force Pilots Say Why They Love the F-35 Stealth Fighter
Air Force Gen. Herbert “Hawk” Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, this week declared the F-35A fighter jet ready for combat. 1. Even with developmental restrictions that limit the F-35A's responsiveness and ability to maneuver, every U.S. fighter pilot interviewed would pick the F-35A over his former jet in a majority of air-to-air (dogfight) engagement scenarios they could face. 2. A former F-15C instructor pilot said he consistently beat his former jet in mock dogfights.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Bernie Sanders isn't polling in first place. His early-state organizing may mean that doesn't matter.
Bourgeacq Pinzón's journey from curious to committed volunteer is one the Sanders campaign aims to emulate across Iowa. Sanders already has the firmest base in the field, according the latest Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll, even as he continues to jostle in third place. Now, the Sanders campaign is working to turn that enthusiastic base into caucus victory.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Rep. Matt Gaetz suggested impeaching Obama during Wednesday's Trump impeachment-inquiry hearing
Rep. Matt Gaetz suggested impeaching President Barack Obama while speaking in a House Judiciary Committee hearing in the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump on Wednesday. After questioning the Democratic-invited legal expert Pamela Karlan on Democratic campaign donations, Gaetz referenced a 2013 incident in which the National Security Agency monitored calls of world leaders. The White House said at the time that Obama had no knowledge of the wiretapping.
WorldAFPOpposition figure freed in Nigeria after court ruling
Nigerian opposition activist Omoyele Sowore and co-defendant Olawale Bakare were set free on Thursday after months in detention, for alleged treason. The pair were released hours after a judge gave the secret police 24 hours to release Sowore, who had been held since August by the Department of State Services (DSS) after urging protests under the online banner "#RevolutionNow". Sowore, 48, also ran unsuccessfully against President Muhammadu Buhari in the February polls.
- NewsINSIDER
The fired Chicago police superintendent says he made a 'poor decision' on the night he was found asleep at a stop sign with his SUV running
Eddie Johnson was abruptly fired from his job as Chicago police superintendent on Monday morning. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she fired him over "intolerable actions" and "ethical lapses" in connection to a night in October where he was found asleep at a stop sign in his running SUV. After Johnson's firing, Lightfoot said Johnson had intentionally misled her and the public about his conduct the night of the incident.
- NewsReuters
Second evacuation order lifted in Texas city hit by explosion, chemical fire
Authorities on Thursday lifted a second evacuation order in a week for thousands of people in a Texas city as U.S. safety officials began examining what caused the latest in a series of chemical plant fires in the state. The about 14,000 residents of Port Neches 95 miles (153 km) east of Houston were told to flee late on Wednesday when air monitors detected high levels of cancer causing petrochemicals butane and butadiene following an explosion last week. Butadiene is the main product of the TPC Group's facility in the city struck by last week's blast and fire, which injured three workers and prompted an initial, two-day evacuation.
- WorldThe Telegraph
'Jews are France', says Emmanuel Macron after 107 Jewish graves desecrated in anti-Semitic attack
President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to fight anti-Semitism saying “Jews are and make France” after 107 graves were desecrated at a Jewish cemetery in the northeast of the country. The daubing of swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti on the graves at the cemetery in Westhoffen around 15 miles west of Strasbourg in the Alsace region was the latest racist attack to shock the country. "Jews are and make France," President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
- WorldAssociated Press
3 charged over Australia’s largest crystal meth seizure
Two customs agents and an information technology worker appeared in a court on Thursday charged with drug offenses over Australia's largest seizure of methamphetamine, which had been smuggled to Melbourne from Bangkok in stereo speakers. Police estimate the 1.6 metric tons (1.7 U.S. tons) of the drug also known as ice and crystal meth had a street value of AU$1.197 billion ($818 million). The 37 kilograms (82 pounds) of heroin also seized was the largest haul of that drug in Australia since 2017, police said.
- NewsTime
Trump Administration Authorizes 'Cyanide Bombs' to Kill Predators Again, Months After Backlash
The Trump Administration will reauthorize the use of so-called “cyanide bombs” to poison coyotes, foxes and feral dogs that could threaten private livestock. The decision comes four months after halting their authorization amid public backlash. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Thursday it would include new safety requirements to protect humans and pets, such as additional signs and increased distances the distance the “cyanide bombs” must be from homes and roads.
