- PoliticsYahoo News
Sanders hit early and often at Democratic presidential debate
Bernie Sanders, who has been mostly spared attacks by his rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, paid the price of being the frontrunner Tuesday night in the debate in South Carolina, which holds its primary election on Saturday. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg kicked off the flurry of attacks by referencing a finding from U.S. intelligence agencies that Russia was seeking to aid Sanders's candidacy in the primary election. “Vladimir Putin thinks that Donald Trump should be president of the United States and that's why Russia is helping you, so you'll lose to him,” Bloomberg said.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Coronavirus in US: Trump administration attacked for 'unacceptable' response as San Francisco declares state of emergency
Americans have been warned by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to begin preparing for the spread of the coronavirus. The data over the past week about the spread in other countries has raised our level of concern and expectation that we are going to have community spread here,” Dr Nancy Messonnier, the CDC head of respiratory diseases, told reporters. Public health officials confirmed on Tuesday that there are currently 57 people in the United States with the virus, with only two instances of person-to-person transference.
- PoliticsThe Week
Tom Steyer has paid more than $40,000 to rent a property owned by Jim Clyburn's daughter
Billionaire Tom Steyer is facing some criticism over his spending in South Carolina, a state where his Democratic presidential campaign is making some legitimate headway. Some people have even accused him of trying to buy votes from the state's African-American voters, which Steyer and many others have adamantly denied, The New York Times reports. One thing that's been particularly scrutinized is the Steyer campaign's rental agreement with a company owned by Jennifer Clyburn Reed, the daughter of Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking African American in Congress whose endorsement is considered key in South Carolina.
- U.S.Associated Press
New Mexico governor to sheriffs: Enforce gun law or resign
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed a red-flag gun bill Tuesday that will allow state district courts to order the temporary surrender of firearms, and she urged sheriffs to resign if they still refuse to enforce it. Flanked by advocates for stricter gun control and supportive law enforcement officials at a signing ceremony, Lujan Grisham said the legislation provides law enforcement authorities with an urgently needed tool to deter deadly violence by temporarily removing firearms from people who pose a threat to themselves or others. “If they really intend to do that, they should resign as a law enforcement officer and leader in that community,” she said.
PoliticsUSA TODAYCould a coronavirus pandemic be stopped? US warns of ‘severe’ disruptions
A federal health official warned Tuesday that the deadly coronavirus could cause "severe" disruptions in the USA as global experts struggled to fend off the outbreak and avoid a pandemic. "Disruption to everyday life may be severe," Nancy Messonnier, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, warned at a news conference Tuesday. Messonnier said the coronavirus has caused sickness and death and sustained person-to-person transmission.
- U.S.CBS News
Detectives eye Yellowstone in missing Idaho kids case
Investigators are considering searching inside Yellowstone National Park for missing Idaho teen Tylee Ryan, sources close to the investigation told CBS News. Ryan, 17, and her 7-year-old brother Joshua "JJ" Vallow haven't been seen since September. According to court documents, police in Rexburg, Idaho, said phone records show Ryan visited Yellowstone with her mother, uncle and brother JJ on September 8, CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti reports.
- PoliticsNational Review
‘Don’t You Think You Ought to Check?’: Sen. Kennedy Demands DHS Chief Provide ‘Straight Answers’ on Coronavirus Spread
Senator John Kennedy on Tuesday demanded answers from acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf regarding the likely extent of the domestic coronavirus outbreak, saying the American people deserve “straight answers” about the deadly virus. During a hearing of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security, Kennedy asked Wolf how many cases of people infected with the coronavirus the U.S. anticipates having. You're head of Homeland Security, and your job is to keep us safe.
- WorldReuters
Don't give China excuse to attack Taiwan during virus outbreak, ministry advisers say
Taiwan should continue to show goodwill to China during the outbreak of the new coronavirus and not give Beijing an excuse to attack the island as a way of relieving "internal pressure", advisers to Taiwan's China-policy making body said. Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has repeatedly lambasted Beijing over the virus, worsening already poor ties, even as President Tsai Ing-wen and other officials have offered to help China fight the outbreak. Much of the anger has been focused on China blocking Taiwan's participation at the World Health Organization, with the island accusing China of passing on wrong information to the body about the numbers of infected in Taiwan and of not allowing the island to get the most up to date details on the virus.
- ScienceNBC News
NASA space telescope spots a double star system with an alter ego
A volatile double star system appears to change its behavior rapidly and unpredictably like a cosmic story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The pair consists of a neutron star — an extremely dense remnant of a supernova explosion — and a smaller, sunlike star. Using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the National Science Foundation's Karl F. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), astronomers found that this binary star system switches between two alter egos every few years.
- U.S.Business Insider
Take a look at photos of Haiti's capital where the police and army clashed, killing a soldier and canceling the Carnival celebrations
Haiti's Carnival celebration in the country's capital of Port-au-Prince was disrupted for hours on Sunday as armed and masked, plain-clothed police officers protested their pay and poor working conditions. One soldier was killed in the clash and several police officers were injured. The deadly protest brought an end to Carnival, the biggest celebration in Haiti.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Pete Buttigieg appears to mimic Barack Obama almost exactly in campaign speech video comparison
Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg has been accused of plagiarising Barack Obama in several campaign speeches. In a compilation video featuring side-by-side comparisons of the two men's speeches, Mr Buttigieg is shown using almost the exact same words as Mr Obama on multiple occasions. The embarrassing video comes as Mr Buttigieg faces mockery for a tweet in which he seemed to borrow from one of the speeches in question.
- PoliticsThe Week
John Bolton tries to slam Bernie Sanders for Castro remarks, rams headlong into more recent history
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) got some blowback Monday for comments he made on Sunday's 60 Minutes in favor of late Cuban leader Fidel Castro's literacy program. It's not clear many people outside of Florida or under age 70 have strong feelings about Castro anymore — he died in 2016, after all, and Cuba is now mostly known as a hot vacation spot. Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton clearly did not pay attention to that last part of the interview when he jumped in to slam Sanders for "revealing the extent of his extremism" by suggesting "Castro's communist Cuba is not all bad." So Twitter reminded him.
- U.S.Associated Press
Italian hikers rescued in Alaska after visiting infamous bus
An Italian man suffering from frostbite and four other tourists were rescued in the Alaska wilderness after visiting an abandoned bus that has become a lure for adventurers since it was featured in the “Into the Wild” book and movie. Alaska State Troopers say the five Italians were rescued Saturday from a camp they set up after visiting the dilapidated bus on the Stampede Trail near the interior town of Healy.
- U.S.USA TODAY
A rare, 'cryptic' rainbow snake was spotted in a Florida forest for the first time since 1969
In a state constantly dealing with animals it wants gone — like pythons and green iguanas — someone found something rare. A Florida hiker discovered a rainbow snake (Farancia erytrogramma) last week in Ocala National Forest, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Wildlife Research Institute. It's the first time a rainbow snake has been spotted in Florida's Marion County since 1969, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
- PoliticsBloomberg
CDC Issues Warnings on Virus; Markets Take Hit: Virus Update
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned Americans to prepare for a coronavirus outbreak at home that could lead to significant disruptions of daily life, though the warnings were downplayed by the White House. Congress was told that there's shortage of masks needed for health workers if one occurs. New cases were reported in Europe, prompting worries of a widening outbreak there.
- U.S.Time
A Wrongfully Convicted Kansas Man Who Spent 23 Years in Prison Is Awarded $1.5 Million
A Kansas man who spent over two decades in prison for a double murder he didn't commit will be awarded $1.5 million for his wrongful conviction, according to the Kansas State Attorney General's office. Lamonte McIntyre was convicted and sentenced to two terms of life in prison for the murders of Donald Ewing and Doniel Quinn back in 1994. According to the Associated Press, documents made public during the 8-year fight to free McIntyre allege that the prosecutor in the case intimidated witnesses who told her that McIntyre did not look like the shooter after they saw him in person.
- WorldYahoo News Video
Iran health minister falls ill on camera
Video shows Iran's deputy health minister suffering symptoms of the coronavirus at a press conference before being diagnosed.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
30 of the Best Stainless Steel Kitchen Faucets
An easy upgrade for your kitchen sink Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- U.S.Reuters
Russia extends detention of ex-U.S. marine over alleged assault
A Moscow court has ruled that a former U.S. marine accused of drunkenly assaulting Russian police officers six months ago last summer must remain in custody. Trevor Reed, 28, from Texas, was arrested in Moscow in August. But his case, which could be another irritant in strained U.S.-Russian ties, was not made public until reports late on Tuesday by the New York Times and the TASS news agency.
WorldAFPModi calls for calm as Delhi riots kill 22
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for calm Wednesday after Delhi's worst sectarian violence in decades left at least 22 people dead and calls for a military curfew. This week's battles between Hindus and Muslims have seen mobs armed with swords, guns and acid raze parts of a northeastern district of the Indian capital. The clashes, which also left almost 200 injured, were triggered by protests against a citizenship law seen by many critics as anti-Muslim and part of Modi's Hindu nationalist agenda.
- PoliticsThe Week
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says it was 'horrifying' the debate didn't have any climate change questions. Bernie Sanders agrees.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) watched Tuesday night's Democratic debate, and one thing stood out to her. "Not a single climate change question," she tweeted. "Horrifying." One of the participants, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), agreed, responding, "A disgrace." The Democratic candidates don't shy away from talking about climate change on the campaign trail; billionaire investor and environmentalist Tom Steyer told voters in South Carolina on Tuesday that climate change is his "No. 1 priority," and if elected, he will declare a climate emergency on his first day in office. Poll after poll has shown that climate change is a key issue for voters; last week, the Pew Research Center released a survey showing that for the first time in two decades, a majority of Americans believe that tackling climate change should be a main priority for the president and Congress.
- PoliticsINSIDER
Rush Limbaugh is under fire for claiming the coronavirus is a 'common cold' being 'weaponized' to bring down Trump
The novel coronavirus has swept across the globe, infecting more than 80,000 people with COVID-19 and taking 2,600 lives. While China remains the center of the outbreak, the epidemic is on the verge of breaking into a full-blown pandemic. As the World Health Organization tells countries to prepare for infections, the popular conservative host Rush Limbaugh on Monday revealed to listeners what he claimed to be the "truth" about the "overhyped" coronavirus.
- WorldBusiness Insider
21 airlines have canceled flights outside of China amid fears the coronavirus outbreak is turning into a pandemic — here's the full list
Air New Zealand Stephen Brashear/Getty Air New Zealand is canceling flights between its base in Auckland and Seoul, South Korea from March 8 to June 30 as coronavirus spreads in the Asian country, the airline announced. The route is the Kiwi flag carrier's sole route between New Zealand and South Korea, with Korean Air left as the only operator on the route during Air New Zealand's suspension. Air Seoul KIM HONG-JI/Reuters Air Seoul is cutting flights to seven destinations outside of China, the airline announced, with cancellations to Guam, Da Nang, Vietnam, Hanoi, Vietnam, Nha Trang, Vietnam, Boracay, Philippines, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, and Siem Reap, Cambodia The Korean budget airline wa...
- PoliticsThe Independent
Michael Bloomberg called Goldman Sachs bankers his ‘peeps’ and promised to defend them, leaked tape reveals
Presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg is being criticised for telling bankers he would have defended them as president in a leaked audio from a private Goldman Sachs event in 2016. But, he added, “you know how well that's gonna go down in this country”. Mr Bloomberg then defended the banks more seriously: “Somebody's gotta stand up and do what we need.
- U.S.National Review
Senate Rejects 20-Week Abortion Ban
The Senate on Tuesday rejected two Republican abortion bills, one that would outlaw abortions after 20 weeks and another that would attempt to raise the standard of care for newborns born alive after botched abortions. Senators voted 53 to 44 against a motion to proceed to debate on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, failing to reach the 60 votes required to overcome the Democratic filibuster against the measure. The bill, sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham, would have made illegal all abortions performed after 20 weeks of pregnancy — the point at which pro-life advocates argue science determines a fetus can feel pain — with exceptions for when the life of the mother is in danger and for victims of rape and incest.
“There may be some really big pardons coming soon and this may, if you will, soften the public for what’s coming.”
“It was the latest extraordinary example of untamed executive power that suggests the President is feeling invincible now.”
“More than anything else, the pardons aim to discredit the idea of federal anti-corruption prosecution itself.”
“The fact that Blagojevich was a Democrat makes it all the better...Trump wants to convince you that everyone is dirty.”
“The pardons were entirely personal in origin, and so the granting of them was exclusively an exercise of Trump’s own power.”
