- PoliticsThe Guardian
Mitt Romney won't back Justin Amash in call for Trump impeachment
President attacks first Republican to call for impeachmentNo holds Barred: Trump pushes for imperial presidency President-elect Donald Trump and Mitt Romney dine in New York in November 2016. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty Images As Donald Trump opened fire on Justin Amash, the Michigan representative who became the first Republican in Congress to call for his impeachment, Mitt Romney declined to join the fight. The former presidential nominee and Republican senator from Utah accused Donald Trump of lacking humility, honesty and integrity – but stopped short of calling for his impeachment and removal from power. Romney was scathing about the picture of the president that emerges from the Mueller report into Russian interference in the 2016 election, the redacted version of which he said he had spent two days reading in full. He said on Sunday its findings were “troubling, unfortunate and distressing”. But he said he did not think it was time for Congress to call for impeachment. “I don’t think there is the full element which you need to prove the obstruction of justice case,” he told CNN’s State of the Union. I don’t think there is the full element which you need to prove the obstruction of justice case Mitt Romney Mueller did not find that Trump or his aides conspired with Russia but he did lay out 11 instances of possible obstruction of justice by Trump or his campaign and indicated Congress should decide how to proceed. Controversially, attorney general William Barr said in his own summary of the then unseen Mueller report that Trump had not obstructed justice. Romney’s sharp but qualified criticism of Trump came a day after Amash became the first Republican to break ranks and call for impeachment. In a stream of tweets, Amash said the Mueller report showed “President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment”. Amash and Romney are significant figures within their party, as they stand virtually alone in having the temerity to challenge Trump in public. But the fact that Romney would not join Amash on impeachment is an indication of the impenetrable wall of opposition the party is likely to erect should Democrats initiate proceedings. Just why became clear later on Sunday, when Trump aimed his Twitter account at Amash. Saying he was “never a fan”, he called Amash “a total lightweight who opposes me and some of our great Republican ideas and policies just for the sake of getting his name out there through controversy”. Trump also accused Amash of not having read the Mueller report – the congressman made much of saying he had in fact read all 448 pages – and, while repeating familiar complaints about Mueller, wrote: “Justin is a loser who sadly plays right into our opponents [sic] hands!” In fact, Amash’s sole call for impeachment on the Republican side may not do much to move the political dial. Democrats are edging closer to launching proceedings, but not for the reasons the congressman outlined. Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair of the House intelligence committee, told CBS’s Face the Nation there were no signs of the Republican-controlled Senate moving towards impeachment. Nonetheless, Democrats were becoming more minded to take it on, he said, as a tool to increase pressure on the Trump administration to hand over key documents, including the unredacted Mueller report, that it is refusing to submit to congressional oversight. “What may be pushing towards impeachment has less to do with Justin Amash and more to do with the administration engaging in a maximum obsctructionism campaign against Congress,” Schiff said. Adam Schiff, centre, seen at a Senate hearing this week. Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP Romney, who ran unsuccessfully against Barack Obama in 2012, said impeachment was not just a legal matter. It must also, he said, “consider the practicality of politics, and the American people are just not there”. He added: “The Senate is not there either.” Democratic leadership has also considered public opinion, and what impeachment might do to motivate Trump’s base, when weighing up whether to make the move. Despite his reluctance to go all the way into impeachment, Romney has showed himself willing to take on Trump. In April he issued a statement saying: “I am sickened at the extent and pervasiveness of dishonesty and misdirection by individuals in the highest office of the land, including the president.” He told CNN the Mueller report distressed him. “The number of times there were items of dishonesty, misleading the American public and media – those are not things you would want to see from the highest office in the land.” He said that in terms of three crucial features of a president – humility, honesty and integrity – Trump has “distanced himself from some of the best qualities of the human character”. Such was his disgust with Trump as a presidential candidate in 2016, Romney wrote in his wife Ann on to the presidential election ballot, thereby voting for her instead. He told CNN he had not yet decided if he would do the same next year.
- BusinessReuters
Boeing says it has corrected simulator software of 737 MAX jets
Boeing Co has made corrections to simulator software that mimics the flying experience of its 737 MAX jets, which were involved in two fatal crashes, and the company has provided additional information to device operators, a spokesman said on Friday. The spokesman, Gordon Johndroe, said the changes will ensure that the simulator experience is representative across different flight conditions and will improve the simulation of force loads on the manual trim wheel that helps control the airplane. The comments came after the New York Times on Friday reported https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/business/boeing-737-max-simulators.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage that Boeing recently discovered that the flight simulators airlines use to train pilots could not adequately replicate conditions that played a role in the 737 MAX crashes.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Voters in Switzerland approve stronger gun control laws by nearly two-thirds despite resistance
Switzerland's public broadcaster said more than 63% of voters nationwide agreed to align with European Union firearms rules adopted two years ago.
- BusinessReuters
Exclusive - U.S. may scale back Huawei trade restrictions to help existing customers
The Commerce Department, which had effectively halted Huawei's ability to buy American-made parts and components, is considering issuing a temporary general license to "prevent the interruption of existing network operations and equipment," a spokeswoman said. Potential beneficiaries of the license could, for example, include internet access and mobile phone service providers in thinly populated places such as Wyoming and eastern Oregon that purchased network equipment from Huawei in recent years. In effect, the Commerce Department would allow Huawei to purchase U.S. goods so it can help existing customers maintain the reliability of networks and equipment, but the Chinese firm still would not be allowed to buy American parts and components to manufacture new products.
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.
PoliticsAssociated PressLouisiana governor breaks with Democratic Party on abortion
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Nearly three decades ago, when Democratic Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards' wife was 20 weeks pregnant with their first child, a doctor discovered their daughter had spina bifida and encouraged an abortion. The Edwardses refused.
- WorldThe National Interest
Here Is Russia's Plan to Build a Fleet of Su-57 Stealth Fighters
The Su-57 is coming—76 of them over the next decade, to be exact.Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at a Kremlin meeting that the Russian Defense Ministry plans to procure 76 Su-57 fifth-generation fighters by 2028, himself acknowledging that these new quantities dwarf previous Russian defense ministry estimates: "The 2028 arms program stipulated the purchase of 16 such jets… In the nearest future we will sign a package contract to supply 76 such jets equipped with modern weapons of destruction and provided with the necessary land infrastructure."The announcement defies the western defense analysis consensus, which concluded that the Su-57 will not enter production until the late 2020’s. Even then, it was alleged that Russia lacks the industrial output to churn out Su-57 fighters in militarily meaningful numbers.If the Kremlin’s new forecast proves to be accurate, what accounts for this drastic output increase?
- PoliticsBloomberg
NYC's Bill De Blasio Trades Criticism at Home for Curiosity in Iowa
(Bloomberg) -- New York Mayor Bill de Blasio stepped away from the criticism in his hometown to engage curiosity in Iowa, making his first stop as a presidential candidate in the middle of farm country to demonstrate his interest in agricultural issues and take shots at President Donald Trump.
NewsAssociated PressDeath row inmate dies 1 day after fellow inmate's execution
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee death row inmate died in prison on Friday, less than three months before his scheduled execution and less than a day after a fellow inmate was executed .
PoliticsAFPAmash becomes first Republican lawmaker to call for Trump impeachment
Republican lawmaker Justin Amash said Saturday that he believed Donald Trump has engaged in "impeachable conduct," becoming the first politician of his party to call for removing the president from his party. The Michigan representative also accused Attorney General William Barr of "deliberately" misleading the public over the actual content and tenor of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference aimed at tipping the election to Trump.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
View Photos of the First Hot Wheels Toy Based on a Fan's Custom Car
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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.
- WorldReuters
UPDATE 1-Argentina grants offshore oil, gas exploration permits in Malvinas West basin
Argentina awarded permits for hydrocarbon exploration in 18 areas off its southern coast to companies including Exxon Mobil Corp, Total SA , YPF SA and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the government said on Friday. The winning companies offered bids totaling $724 million, the government said in official statements, and won the rights to explore for up to 13 years in areas of the South Atlantic, some near the Malvinas Islands under the control of the British government but whose sovereignty is claimed by Argentina. The other companies that will make up exploration consortia in Argentina's Malvinas West basin include BP, Qatar Petroleum, Tullow Oil, Pluspetrol , Wintershall, Equinor, Eni , Mitsui &Co Ltd and Tecpetrol SA.
- PoliticsUSA 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.
- 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.
- WorldBloomberg
OPEC+ Has More Work to Do Because Inventories Are Rising, Minister Says
“The job is not complete,” Al Mazrouei told reporters in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. Saudi Arabia, Russia and other oil producers in a global coalition are meeting in Jeddah this weekend to consider whether they’ll need to continue keeping supplies restrained during the second half of the year.
- 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.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
GOP Congressman Justin Amash’s Impeachment Call Boosts Pressure on Pelosi
Kevin Lamarque/ReutersRepublican congressman Justin Amash’s support for impeachment proceedings against President Trump ratchets up the pressure on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to call for the same. Citing “multiple examples of conduct satisfying all the elements of obstruction of justice” uncovered in the Mueller report, the iconoclastic Michigan lawmaker spared no one in a lengthy Twitter thread on Saturday—calling out Trump, Attorney General William Barr, and other lawmakers he says put partisanship above their own allegiance to the Constitution. Many were quick to wonder aloud why it was a Republican lawmaker making the case for impeachment rather than top Democrat Pelosi, who has called Trump “unfit” for the presidency but come out against impeachment, saying it’d be too “divisive” for the country. “Conservative Republican Justin Amash is more principled and forward-leaning on impeachment than Pelosi, Nadler, Neal, and any of the other House Dem leaders right now. Will they wake up?” tweeted Ezra Levin, a former Capitol Hill staffer and co-founder of Indivisible, a movement fighting to “resist the Trump agenda.” Neither Pelosi nor Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer immediately responded to Amash’s argument for impeachment. But at least one Democratic lawmaker appeared to heed his call.“Come find me in 1628 Longworth. I’ve got an impeachment investigation resolution you’re going to want to cosponsor,” Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) tweeted at Amash late Saturday. Reactions from within his own party weren’t quite as encouraging. “It’s sad to see Congressman Amash parroting the Democrats’ talking points on Russia,” RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement. “The only people still fixated on the Russia collusion hoax are political foes of President Trump hoping to defeat him in 2020 by any desperate means possible.”Pelosi has repeatedly suggested impeachment proceedings would be likely to backfire, suggesting in early March that Trump actually wants to face impeachment to rile up his base. Earlier this week at an event hosted by the Georgetown University Law Center, she said she doesn’t “want to impeach” even though in her opinion, Trump is giving more “grounds for impeachment” with every passing day by ignoring subpoenas issued by House Democrats. “I believe that we are headed toward an impeachment inquiry,” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, told MSNBC earlier Saturday, saying “the anger and frustration is growing.” In making his case for impeachment, Amash argued that “extreme partisanship” had blinded Congress to the true purpose of impeachment: to “deter misconduct” and get rid of any official who “has engaged in careless, abusive, corrupt, or otherwise dishonorable conduct.”Trump did not necessarily have to be found guilty of a crime in order to face impeachment, he said. “Under our Constitution, the president ‘shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” While 'high Crimes and Misdemeanors' is not defined, the context implies conduct that violates the public trust.” “Attorney General Barr has deliberately misrepresented Mueller’s report,” Amash said, adding that Barr’s testimony on the report—in which he repeatedly defended Trump’s conduct—made it clear he “intended to mislead the public about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s analysis and findings.” Those findings, he argued, did not clear Trump of wrongdoing as Barr has claimed but revealed “that President Trump engaged in specific actions and a pattern of behavior that meet the threshold for impeachment.”While Mueller did not establish a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, he did not make any determinations on obstruction of justice, choosing instead to leave that matter up to Congress. But Amash argues that many members of Congress didn't even bother to read Mueller's report. “Their minds were made up based on partisan affiliation—and it showed, with representatives and senators from both parties issuing definitive statements on the 448-page report’s conclusions within just hours of its release,” he wrote. “America’s institutions depend on officials to uphold both the rules and spirit of our constitutional system even when to do so is personally inconvenient or yields a politically unfavorable outcome. Our Constitution is brilliant and awesome; it deserves a government to match it,” he said. Amash, who identifies as a libertarian, has previously voiced a desire to see a third party challenge Democrats and Republicans in politics and in March said he wouldn’t “rule out” a 2020 run himself. Meanwhile, his break with the GOP over impeachment could put a big target on his back. A Michigan state lawmaker hinted on Saturday that he might challenge Amash in a primary.Amash has raised the prospect of Trump facing impeachment before. In early 2017, when former FBI director James Comey first accused Trump of asking him to stop an investigation into former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, Amash said such a move would be grounds for impeachment. “But everybody gets a fair trial in this country,” he said at the time. 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.
BusinessAssociated PressWynn and MGM in talks about sale of Encore Boston casino
Wynn Resorts and MGM Resorts International said in a joint statement they've engaged in conversations about the potential sale of Encore Boston Harbor. This comes as Wynn is about to open the $2.6 billion Everett, Massachusetts, casino. The companies say the talks won't delay the Everett opening scheduled for next month.
WorldAFPAustrian president calls for September poll in wake of scandal
Austria's president on Sunday called for fresh elections in September after a corruption scandal embroiling the far-right brought down the coalition government in spectacular fashion. Just days before key EU elections, Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache was forced to resign in disgrace Saturday following explosive revelations from a hidden camera sting. Conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz -- whose 18-month coalition with Strache's far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) had been held up as a European model -- reacted by pulling the plug on their union.
NewsReutersNearly 180 former Ohio State University students claim sexual abuse by doctor
Dr. Richard Strauss was accused of abusing at least 177 male students when he worked as a physician for the university's athletic department and the student health center from 1978 to 1998, the report said, detailing the findings of a year-long independent investigation. Staff members knew of the abuse as early as 1979, but complaints were never elevated to administrators and senior officials of the athletics or student health departments until 1996. At that time, the school suspended and ultimately removed Strauss after a "very limited investigation" into a student's claim that the doctor fondled him during an exam, the report said.
- LifestyleTime
How Architect I.M. Pei Achieved Greatness By Forever Testing and Challenging Himself
Famed architect I.M. Pei designed some of the greatest buildings across the globe in his more than half century career.
PoliticsUSA TODAYMissouri GOP lawmaker apologizes for comments on 'consensual rape' amid abortion bill debate
The Republican state representative apologized after saying that most rapes he saw while on the police force were 'date rapes or consensual rapes.'
- 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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