- PoliticsYahoo News
'He'd do it again': Former Obama official says Trump must be impeached
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal, the author of the new bestseller “Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump,” believes the GOP notion that Congress can responsibly let voters decide if President Trump's conduct is impeachable at the ballot box “makes no sense. This is the election that the president was trying to cheat in, the 2020 election,” Katyal said during an interview on the Yahoo News podcast “Skullduggery. Asked about the dangers of pursuing impeachment when there is no national consensus on whether it is the right course of action, Katyal said Democrats have no choice.
- NewsYahoo News
Nikki Haley claims Dylann Roof 'hijacked' the 'heritage' of the Confederate flag in church massacre
Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said that white supremacist Dylann Roof “hijacked” the Confederate flag by carrying out a mass killing of African-Americans in a Charleston, S.C., church in 2015. Haley was governor of South Carolina at the time. “Here is this guy who comes out with this manifesto, holding the Confederate flag, and had just hijacked everything that people thought of,” Haley said in an interview with host Glenn Beck published Friday on his website, the Blaze.
WorldAFPIndian border officials on lookout for fugitive cosmic guru
Indian border officials and embassies have issued an alert for a fugitive guru accused of rape, the government said, days after the holy man announced the creation of his own "cosmic" country. Swami Nithyananda -- one of many self-styled Indian "godmen" with thousands of followers and a chequered past -- is wanted by police for alleged rape, sexual abuse, and abduction of children. Earlier this week, he announced online that he has created his own new country -- reportedly off Ecuador's coast -- complete with cabinet, golden passports, and even a department of homeland security.
- PoliticsReuters
California congressman Duncan Hunter announces resignation after corruption plea
U.S. Representative Duncan Hunter will resign from Congress following his guilty plea to a federal charge of conspiring to misuse campaign funds, he said on Friday. Hunter's announcement that he would step down came days after the leading California lawmaker, a former U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran, entered his guilty plea in federal court in San Diego. "Shortly after the Holidays I will resign from Congress," Hunter, 42, said in a written statement released by his communications director.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
50 Great Gadget and Gear Gifts for the Holidays
Whether you're looking for new tech, tools, or outdoor gear, this guide has you covered. From Popular Mechanics
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Tesla changed the release dates for the most and least expensive versions of the Cybertruck by a year
Tesla has changed the production timelines for the most and least expensive trims of its Cybertruck pickup truck. It said production for the three-motor, all-wheel-drive Cybertruck, which starts at $69,900, would begin in 2021, a year earlier than Tesla first announced. The single-motor, rear-wheel-drive Cybertruck, which starts at $39,900, will enter production in late 2022, a year later than its original timeline, Tesla said.
- NewsCBS News
Immigration rights groups call on Buttigieg to return donations
Four immigration rights organizations have written to Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg to ask him to return any donations connected to the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, following a New York Times and Pro Publica report about how McKinsey helped Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "accelerate the deportation process." Among the recommendations McKinsey offered were cuts to spending on food and medical care for migrants. The letter, cosigned by Center for Popular Democracy Action, Make the Road Action, Progressive Leadership of Alliance of Nevada Action and United We Dream Action, called on Buttigieg, who worked at the prestigious consulting firm for three years, to return the donations, which total $53,000.
- WorldThe National Interest
China Is Building Its Very Own Stealth Bombers: Meet the H-20 and JH-XX
China is developing not one but two new stealth bombers, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency claimed in a January 2019 report. While the People's Liberation Army has not been shy about discussing the H-20 strategic bomber that the Xian Aircraft Industrial Corporation is developing for the PLA Air Force, there are many fewer public references to the other stealth bomber, which apparently carries the designation JH-XX. If the report is accurate and China completes development of the JH-XX, the Chinese air force could become the first air arm in the world to deploy a radar-evading fighter-bomber whose main mission is long-range ground-attack.
- WorldAssociated Press
Germany's Merkel voices 'shame' during 1st Auschwitz visit
German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced a feeling of deep shame” during her first-ever visit on Friday to the hallowed grounds of the former Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau, where Adolf Hitler's regime murdered more than a million people. Merkel noted that her visit comes amid rising anti-Semitism and historical revisionism and vowed that Germany would not tolerate anti-Semitism. She said Germany remains committed to remembering the crimes that it committed against Jews, Poles, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals and others.
- PoliticsYahoo News
A dozen senators, not Trump, will decide who testifies in Senate impeachment trial
To hear President Trump tell it, he will be ordering up witnesses to appear before the Senate in an impeachment trial as if they were hors d'oeuvres on the bar menu at the Trump Hotel. If you are going to impeach me, do it now, fast, so we can have a fair trial in the Senate,” Trump tweeted Thursday, speaking to House Democrats. We will have Schiff, the Bidens, Pelosi and many more testify, and will reveal, for the first time, how corrupt our system really is.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Viral video shows border wall being scaled at Mexicali. Border Patrol says system 'worked exactly as designed'
A vehicle that appears to belong to U.S. Border Patrol then pulls up and officials emerge, prompting the other men to gather the ladder and slide back down the fence into Mexico. Video: ACLU Asks Judge to Block Border Wall Funding The 16-year-old Mexican citizen who ran into the U.S. was apprehended by Border Patrol, Assistant Chief Patrol Agent Joshua Devack said in a video statement posted to Twitter. Trump sent park rangers to the border: National parks official says he wasn't informed "All too often, criminal organizations exploit juveniles in this regard," Devack said in the video, which was shot at the same location.
NewsAFPSaudis distance themselves from US naval base shooter
Saudi Arabia sought to distance itself Saturday from a student who carried out a fatal shooting at an American naval base, as it seeks to repair its image of being an exporter of Islamic extremism. The Saudi military trainee reportedly condemned the US as a "nation of evil" before going on a rampage Friday at Naval Air Station Pensacola in Florida, killing three people and wounding eight. The shooting marks a setback in the kingdom's efforts to shrug off its longstanding reputation for promoting religious extremism after the September 11, 2001 attacks in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.
- NewsThe Guardian
Pressure builds for Giuliani as associate enters talks over potential plea deal
The talks appear to be in early stages, but the lawyer familiar with the investigation and ex-prosecutors say that pressure mounted on Parnas to cut a deal after prosecutors revealed on Monday that he and his business associate Igor Fruman, who was also indicted for making illegal campaign donations, are “likely” to face additional charges. If Parnas strikes a deal it could put further legal pressure on Giuliani, who is facing a growing number of legal woes including some relating to his international consulting business as part of an investigation of alleged crimes including money laundering, wire fraud, campaign finance violations, making false statements, obstruction of justice, and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
- WorldReuters
Official documents shed light on Tokyo's role in 'comfort women': Kyodo
The Imperial Japanese Army asked the government to provide one "comfort woman" for every 70 soldiers, Japan's Kyodo news agency said, citing wartime government documents it had reviewed, shedding a fresh light on Tokyo's involvement in the practice. "Comfort women" is a euphemism for the girls and women - many of them Korean - forced into prostitution at Japanese military brothels. The issue has plagued Japan's ties with South Korea for decades.
- NewsBusiness Insider
The acting Navy secretary promises he'll fix the Ford aircraft carrier because he's tired of it being a 'whipping boy for why the Navy can't do anything right'
Acting Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly said this week that fixing the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is now a top priority, Military.com reported. Explaining at an event in DC that the president is very concerned about the Ford, which is over budget, behind schedule, and still experiencing problems with certain key technologies, Modly reportedly said that the Navy needs "to fix that ship and make sure that it works." He said that there is "nothing worse" than having this ship out there in its current condition, as it is able to be used as a "whipping boy for why the Navy can't do anything right."
PoliticsYahoo News VideoBloomberg says ending 'nationwide madness' of gun violence drives his presidential bid
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg said on Thursday he wants to become president to end "the nationwide madness" of U.S. gun violence, calling it evil and saying he would allow its victims to file lawsuits against gun manufacturers.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Aung San Suu Kyi to fight genocide charges in the Hague
Once feted by the West as a human rights heroine, Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi will travel to the Hague this week to defend her regime over accusations of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority, in one of the most-high profile international legal cases in a generation. Myanmar rejects the allegations which stem from the military's savage ethnic cleansing campaign in Rakhine state in 2017 that forced 740,000 people to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they now live in squalid refugee camps.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
GOP Rep. pitches LGBTQ rights bill with religious exemptions
As Democrats champion anti-discrimination protections for the LGBTQ community and Republicans counter with worries about safeguarding religious freedom, one congressional Republican is offering a proposal on Friday that aims to achieve both goals. The bill that Utah GOP Rep. Chris Stewart plans to unveil would shield LGBTQ individuals from discrimination in employment, housing, education, and other public services — while also carving out exemptions for religious organizations to act based on beliefs that may exclude those of different sexual orientations or gender identities. Stewart's bill counts support from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Seventh-day Adventist Church, but it has yet to win a backer among House Democrats who unanimously supported a more expansive LGBTQ rights measure in May.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Biden Says He Would Consider Giving Ambassadorships to Donors
Joe Biden said Friday he would not rule out appointing donors as ambassadors, but wouldn't make decisions about those roles based on someone's financial contributions. Nobody in fact will be appointed by me based on anything they contributed,” he told a group of reporters aboard his “No Malarkey” bus in Decorah, Iowa. But, for example, you have some of the people who are out there that are prepared to in fact, that are fully qualified — head of everything from being the ambassador to NATO to be the ambassador to France or any other country — who may or may not have contributed, but that will not be any basis upon which I in fact would appoint anybody.
- NewsThe National Interest
History Book Nightmare: Russia Could Have Nuked Away America's Submarine Fleet
Key point: Issues of command and control remain important to keeping America's nuclear deterrent secure and reliable. A key component of the U.S. doctrine of mutually assured destruction — commonly and appropriately known as MAD — was that American troops would still be able to retaliate if the Soviet Union launched a nuclear attack. In 1968, the Defense Intelligence Agency's Scientific Advisory Committee found dangerous gaps in the communications network supporting the nation's so-called Fleet Ballistic Missile boats, or FBMs.
WorldAFPBelarus crowds rally against closer Russia ties
Roughly 1,000 Belarusians joined an unauthorised demonstration on Saturday against the prospect of a closer union with Russia. Long-time ruler Alexander Lukashenko was meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Russia on Saturday to discuss "key issues in our bilateral relations, including the prospects for deepening integration", according to the Kremlin. Angered by the potential deal, crowds of mostly young Belarusians headed towards the government headquarters in the capital Minsk carrying signs that read "it's not integration, it's an occupation" and "the president is selling our country".
- PoliticsNational Review
North Carolina GOP Rep Says He Won’t Seek Reelection After District Redrawing
Representative George Holding (R., N.C.) announced Friday that he will not seek reelection in 2020 after a North Carolina district reconfiguration put his seat in danger. “I should add, candidly, that yes, the newly redrawn Congressional Districts were part of the reason I have decided not to seek reelection,” he said in a statement. Holding, a former federal prosecutor who is wrapping up his fourth-term on Capitol Hill, added that he hoped to return to public office at some point in the future.
- WorldReuters
China's top diplomat tells Pompeo U.S. should stop interfering in China's internal affairs
China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a phone call on Saturday that the United States should stop interfering in China's internal affairs, according to a report by state TV. Citing the passing of the Uighur Human Rights Policy Act of 2019 and the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, Yang said the United States had seriously violated international relations, and urged Washington to "correct its mistakes" and "immediately stop interfering in China's internal affairs". The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday requiring a stronger response to Beijing's treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Another 1,000 truck drivers lost their jobs in November, and it's a chilling sign for the economy
Small trucking companies and owner-operators (truck drivers who work for themselves) have been hit hardest. After an uptick of 700 trucking payrolls in October, the industry slashed another 1,000 jobs in November, according to the monthly jobs report released by the federal government. The trucking industry slashed 1,000 payrolls in November, according to the most recent jobs report released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoIn warning to Netanyahu, House endorses 2-state solution
The House on Friday threw its weight behind a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians, in a warning to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he mulls annexing the West Bank.
