Covington

Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib Partnered with Vicious Anti-Semites to Plan Their Trip to Israel

To the extent that I care at all about Israel blocking entry to two U.S. congresswomen who partner with anti-Semites who seek its destruction, I agree with critics who argue that Bibi Netanyahu should not appear to bow to Donald Trump’s tweeted demands and that blocking Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from visiting Israel handed them a short-term propaganda victory. But that’s not the most important part of the story.The most important element of the story is the fact that two American congresswomen shunned a bipartisan congressional delegation to Israel to go on an independent trip to Israel sponsored by vicious anti-Semites. Another important element of the story is that, as of today, the mainstream media have whitewashed Omar and Tlaib’s vile associations.Writing yesterday, the Washington Post said that “Omar and Tlaib’s trip to Jerusalem and the West Bank was planned by Miftah, a nonprofit organization headed by Palestinian lawmaker and longtime peace negotiator Hanan Ashrawi.” The New York Times described it as an organization “headed by a longtime Palestinian lawmaker.” In its editorial, the New York Times editorial board identified it as a group “that promotes ‘global awareness and knowledge of Palestinian realities.’”This is a whitewash. Thanks to a Twitter thread from the Washington Examiner’s Seth Mandel -- who pointed to multiple additional sources -- I started looking at the articles and views published on the Miftah website, and it was like peeling an onion of evil. There was layer upon layer of vile anti-Semitism.First, the group actually published blood libel, posting an article that accused “the Jews [of using] the blood of Christians in the Jewish Passover.” When pro-Israel bloggers condemned the article, Miftah first claimed that the attacks against the piece were part of a “smear campaign” and minimized the reference to blood libel as merely “briefly addressed.”It was just a light sprinkling of blood libel. Move along, nothing to see here.The organization later issued a more complete apology, but we’ve barely gotten started with this vile group. It’s also published an American neo-Nazi treatise called “Who Rules America: The Alien Grip on Our News and Entertainment Media Must Be Broken” (archived here).As Vox’s Jane Coaston explained, “the original source was National Vanguard, a neo-Nazi group founded in 2005 in Charlottesville by members of the National Alliance.” The National Alliance “was for a time the best financed and best organized white nationalist group in America.” And to give you a sense of its ideology, here are two paragraphs from the treatise:> The Jew-controlled entertainment media have taken the lead in persuading a whole generation that homosexuality is a normal and acceptable way of life; that there is nothing at all wrong with White women dating or marrying Black men, or with White men marrying Asian women; that all races are inherently equal in ability and character -- except that the character of the White race is suspect because of a history of oppressing other races; and that any effort by Whites at racial self-preservation is reprehensible.> > We must oppose the further spreading of this poison among our people, and we must break the power of those who are spreading it. It would be intolerable for such power to be in the hands of any alien minority, with values and interests different from our own. But to permit the Jews, with their 3,000-year history of nation-wrecking, from ancient Egypt to Russia, to hold such power over us is tantamount to race suicide. Indeed, the fact that so many White Americans today are so filled with a sense of racial guilt and self-hatred that they actively seek the death of their own race is a deliberate consequence of Jewish media control.I look forward to hearing apologists argue that these statements are merely critiques of “Israeli policies.”But that’s not all, not by a long shot. The group celebrates terrorists, including an evil woman who helped murder 13 Israeli children. In an article titled “Let Us Honor Our Own,” a Miftah contributor describes Dalal Al Mughrabi as “a Palestinian fighter who was killed during a military operation against Israel in 1978” and as one of the Palestinian people’s “national heroes.”The so-called “military operation” is more widely known as the “Coastal Road Massacre,” a bus hijacking that resulted in the deaths of 38 Israeli civilians, including 13 children.Al Mughrabi is hardly the only terrorist Miftah celebrates. It described female suicide bomber Wafa Idrees as the “the beginning of a string of Palestinian women dedicated to sacrificing their lives for the cause.” It singles out for recognition Hanadi Jaradat, a woman who blew herself up in a restaurant, killing 21 people (including four children).The founder of Miftah herself, Ms. Ashrawi, excused jihadist violence by telling an interviewer that “you cannot somehow adopt the language of either the international community or the occupier by describing anybody who resists as terrorist.”And of course Miftah published an article asking whether Israel was a proper homeland for the Jewish people:> Under the heading "Is Israel the Only Possible Homeland for Jews?", this article questioning the appropriateness of Israel as the location of a Jewish homeland was posted by Miftah, one of the sponsors of the proposed Tlaib/Omar visit to Israel:https://t.co/KX1PwrZGy1 pic.twitter.com/eMPOfhopYQ> > -- Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) August 16, 2019I can keep going, but the evidence above should be sufficient to establish the truth. It would and should be a national scandal if GOP congressmen intended to partner with white nationalists during a visit overseas. It should be a national scandal that members of the American government intended to partner with vicious anti-Semites on their own propaganda tour.After its thunderous denunciations of Bibi Netanyahu and Donald Trump, will pundits, editorial boards, and reporters take a look at the scandal hiding in plain sight? Will they hold Tlaib and Omar accountable for their vile associations? Now is a good time to demonstrate their commitment to reporting on the full context of international disputes and exposing one of the world’s oldest hatreds. We shall see how they respond.

Obama told Biden advisers not to let the former Veep ‘damage his legacy’ in his 2020 presidential run

Obama is reportedly concerned that Biden is relying on advisers who are "too old and out of touch with the current political climate,"

Rhode Island Prison Officer Resigns After ICE Protesters Allege He Drove a Truck Into Them

'It was a shocking escalation of violence,' says a witness

Woman survives plunging a mile after parachute fails to open

A woman cheated death when she fell nearly a mile to the ground after her parachute and emergency back-up apparently both failed to open.Witnesses who saw her plunge nearly 5000ft to the ground said it was a miracle she wasn’t killed.She hit a clump of trees, breaking her fall, and escaped with only fractured bones, including broken vertebrae.Police Quebec in Canada are investigating whether there was any criminal negligence.After jumping from the plane at a skydiving centre in Trois-Rivieres, the woman escaped with her life by hitting a wooded area.Denis Demers, who saw her fall, told Radio-Canada: "It’s a miracle. I don’t know how a person can survive a fall from an airplane like that."He said it appeared that neither the main parachute nor the emergency back-up had opened.Police told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that the 30-year-old parachutist, who has not yet been identified, was an experienced skydiver.She was admitted to hospital but her life was not in danger, they said.Another witness, Oceane Duplessis, said she was getting ready to get on another plane when she saw the woman."We watched all the way to the end. We kept hoping something would happen," she said. "We were very worried. Very."According to Scienceabc.com, a person without a parachute will fall at a typical speed of 120mph – or 60 metres (196ft) a second.The skydive company, which is reported to be investigating, has been contacted for comment.

GPS monitoring violates some sex offenders’ rights, NC Supreme Court rules

Sex offenders have rights, too, and in some cases the state has been violating those rights, the NC Supreme Court ruled on Friday.

Workers flee Georgia poultry plant amid false rumors of ICE roundups, officials say

ICE confirmed no worksite enforcement action was taken.

A couple in Australia and their pet dog were attacked by a giant carnivorous lizard

A 72-year-old man was seriously injured after attempting to break up a fight between his pet dog and a giant Goanna lizard.

Tennessee inmate executed in electric chair for killings

Tennessee executed its third inmate in the electric chair since November, killing a man Thursday who maintained that he didn't stab a mother and her 15-year-old daughter to death in 1986. State officials pronounced 56-year-old Stephen West dead at 7:27 p.m. at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville. This week, West decided he preferred to die in the electric chair after previously voicing no preference, which would have defaulted him to lethal injection.

US lawmaker Tlaib scraps West Bank trip over Israeli demands

Palestinian-American lawmaker Rashida Tlaib on Friday turned down Israel's offer to let her visit her grandmother in the occupied West Bank, owing to restrictions she termed oppressive. It was the latest twist in a saga hinging on Israel's war against those who would boycott it over its treatment of the Palestinians. On Thursday, Israel barred from entry the US Congress' first Muslim female lawmakers, Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, on the grounds that they support the boycott movement, and after President Donald Trump urged the Jewish state to block the two Democrats.

Germany expects No Deal and will not renegotiate, says leaked briefing

Germany expects a No Deal Brexit and is not prepared to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement, according to leaked details of an internal briefing paper for Angela Merkel’s government. The leaked paper is the first evidence that Germany may be preparing to let Britain walk away with No Deal rather than back down to Boris Johnson’s demand to drop the Irish backstop. The paper was prepared by civil servants for the German finance minister, Olaf Scholz, ahead of face-to-face talks with the chancellor of the exchequer, Sajid Javid, in Berlin on Friday.  In public, Mr Scholz has said Germany will do everything it can to secure a deal with the UK. But according to details leaked to the usually reliable Handelsblatt newspaper, the briefing paper calls for the European Union to stick to its previous line of refusing to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement. It warns that there is now a “high probability” of a No Deal Brexit on October 31, but says  the EU must not "lose its nerve". Preparations  by Germany and the rest of the EU-27 to manage the impact of No Deal are “largely complete”, and the European Commission is not planning any further emergency measures, it says. Mr Javid is the first senior minister from the Johnson government to hold face-to-face talks with his German counterpart Credit: TOLGA AKMEN/AFP The paper says it is “currently unforeseeable that Prime Minister Johnson will change his tough negotiating position” and predicts that he may use next weekend’s G7 summit in Biarritz for a “big moment” to announce success or failure in negotiations. “Against this background, it is important from the EU perspective to stick to the previous line” of refusing to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement, it  says, adding that even if the EU were to agree to drop the Irish backstop, it is not clear that Mr Johnson would be able to win approval for a revised withdrawal agreement in parliament. The UK has made repeated attempts to split the EU side, and “the EU-27’s unity  in adhering to the negotiated exit agreement” has been “decisive”, the paper says. Germany has already passed more than 50 laws and measures to deal with the impact of a No Deal Brexit, and the paper provides details of arrangements in the finance ministry’s area of tax and banking.  It cites a transitional agreement between the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and BaFin, the German financial regulator on cross-border financial services, and says German customes authorities are prepared for the increased workload expected under No Deal.

Fox News Anchor Pushes Back After Guest Rants About Immigrant ‘Invasion’ at Border

Less than two weeks after the El Paso mass shooting in which the accused shooter targeted Mexicans after complaining of a “Hispanic invasion” of America, Fox News anchor Sandra Smith confronted a guest on Thursday for using similar rhetoric, telling him “people will take issue with you for calling it that.”Appearing on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom, National Border Patrol Council vice president Art Del Cueto directly blamed critics of ICE and Border Patrol for recent attacks on ICE facilities.“It’s disgusting to see something like that,” he said in reaction to video of last month’s incident at a Washington facility. “And I think it’s been triggered by way too many individuals that have had a platform to speak against the men and women that are trying to defend our nation’s borders, the law enforcement communities. That is where it comes from.”Del Cueto, however, took issue with studies showing how conservatives' anti-immigration rhetoric echoed that of the shooter, claiming he and Fox News were just “talking about actual facts.”“And the facts that we spoke about are simple,” the frequent Fox News guest declared. “When you have individuals in large quantities that enter another country by force or illegally, waving the flag of another country, that is an invasion. I stand by those words.”“Hold on now,” Smith quickly interjected. “Obviously, we have to push back on comments like that. People will take issue with you calling it that. It is obviously a sensitive issue right now."The Fox anchor went on to steer the conversation back towards the recent incidents at ICE buildings and what steps should be taken moving forward.Smith’s pushback against Del Cueto comes just a day after Fox Nation host Todd Starnes not only doubled down on saying migrants are invading the United States but also likened immigrants to Nazis.In the immediate aftermath of the El Paso shooting, meanwhile, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade defended the network’s repeated use of the term “invasion” to describe immigration, claiming it was not “anti-Hispanic” but was instead a “fact.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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.

Sister of officer who died by suicide Wednesday says NYPD is 'broken'

The NYPD is well aware of this mental health emergency, as nine of its officers have died by suicide since January. But Eileen Echeverria, whose brother's was the most recent death, said something is "broken" inside the department.

Smiling cops take selfie near where dead baby was just found. Missouri city apologizes

“The photos were by no means meant to take away from the extremely serious nature of the incident,” city officials say.

Planet 10 times Earth's mass may have smacked Jupiter long ago

Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, may have been smacked head-on by an embryonic planet 10 times Earth's mass not long after being formed, a monumental crash with apparent lasting effects on the Jovian core, scientists said on Thursday. The violent collision, hypothesized by astronomers to explain data collected by NASA's Juno spacecraft, may have occurred just several million years after the birth of the sun roughly 4.5 billion years ago following the dispersal of the primordial disk of dust and gas that gave rise to solar system. "We believe that impacts, and in particular giant impacts, might have been rather common during the infancy of the solar system.

GOP candidate drops out of congressional race after calling himself a 'white nationalist'

“I said I was a proud white nationalist," he in a video announcing his exit from the congressional race while wearing a red Trump hat.

After Jeffrey Epstein's suicide, Ghislaine Maxwell may have taken his place as the 'kingpin' prosecutors are looking to take down. But experts say don't expect criminal charges anytime soon.

"This is not a television show where you see a crime in the first minute and an arrest in the 10th," one former federal prosecutor said.

Mexico does not want El Paso shooter executed

President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Friday that Mexico does not want the El Paso shooter who killed 22 people, including eight Mexicans, to be executed, and may seek to extradite him from the United States. The confessed shooter in the mass killing in the Texas border city, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, potentially faces the death penalty in the US. Lopez Obrador, an anti-establishment leftist, said that while Mexico condemns Crusius's "reprehensible, abominable" crimes, it does not want to see him put to death.

McConnell undergoes surgery to repair shoulder fracture

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell underwent successful surgery to repair a fracture in his shoulder — an injury he suffered when he fell at his Kentucky home earlier this month. The surgery occurred Thursday in his hometown of Louisville, a McConnell spokesman said Friday. "The surgery was performed without incident, and the Leader is grateful to the surgical team for their skill," McConnell spokesman David Popp said in a brief statement.

Mosquito-borne illnesses growing in Florida as West Nile virus crops up in chickens

The West Nile virus doesn’t just set up shop in humans.

X-Ray Scans Uncover da Vinci's Hidden Painting in All Its Glory

The breakthrough confirm's Leonardo's legacy: "Always adjusting, always seeking more."

Cal Fire said Tubbs Fire wasn’t caused by PG&E. Victims win the right to sue utility anyway

Victims of the deadly Tubbs Fire in 2017 won the right to pursue lawsuits against PG&E; Corp. on Friday in spite of state investigators’ declaration that the utility wasn’t to blame for the fire.

White supremacy-fuelled killings to be classed as domestic terrorism under new law proposed in New York

Amid a national debate about racism, extremism and mass shootings, governor Andrew Cuomo proposed to make New York the first state to classify “hate-fuelled” killings as domestic terrorism on Thursday.Democrat Mr Cuomo unveiled the proposal almost two weeks after the back-to-back massacres in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, prompted all-too-familiar cries for action from both political parties.Describing the need to address the “new violent epidemic” of “hate-fuelled, American-on-American terrorism,” Mr Cuomo called for raising the penalties for violence motivated by race, gender, sexual orientation or other protected classes by making them punishable by up to life in prison without parole.“Today, our people are three times more likely to suffer a terrorist attack launched by an American than one launched by a foreigner,” he said. “Now this is not just repulsive. This is not just immoral. This is not just anti-American. It is illegal."And we must confront it by enacting a new law to fit the crime.”While the governor’s office has not shared any bill language, it said mass casualties would be defined as any death of at least one person and the attempted murder of at least two more.Lawmakers have wrestled with how to define and prosecute domestic terrorism for years.There is no federal crime of domestic terrorism. While congress passed a law after the 9/11 attacks defining domestic terrorism as violent acts intended to intimidate civilians or the government, that law did not create an accompanying federal offence, such as exists for international terrorism.Acts of domestic terrorism have instead been prosecuted under different charges, such as attempting to “destroy a building in interstate commerce”.Dozens of states, including New York, have enacted state-level laws defining terrorism. Some, including Georgia and Vermont, explicitly mention domestic terrorism.But those laws, like the federal one, largely measure terrorism as an attempt to coerce or destabilise the public or the government.New York’s new law, by contrast, would specify that domestic terrorism included acts of mass violence against people for their identities.“White supremacists, anti-Semites, anti-LGBTQ, white nationalists: these are Americans committing mass hate crimes against other Americans,” Mr Cuomo said. “And it should be recognised for what it is: domestic terrorism.”The governor also called on congress to enact a new federal domestic terrorism law. Senator Martha McSally introduced a bill on Wednesday to do that.Brooklyn congressman Hakeem Jeffries, a Democrat who also spoke at the event at the New York City Bar Association, joined the call for federal action. “Rome is burning right now, and yet Donald Trump and his co-conspirators in the Republican Party are fiddling around,” he said.Mr Cuomo’s proposal appears well positioned to win support in the state legislature, which this year fell under Democratic control for the first time in nearly a decade.While leaders of both the state Senate and Assembly did not explicitly say that they would back the bill, in statements they said they shared Mr Cuomo’s goal of ensuring safety and condemning hate.Mary McCord, a former top national security official in the justice department, said states’ existing domestic terrorism laws have not proved very effective, in part because they do little to address crime prevention.“They kind of just sit there unused, because they don’t necessarily have the same experience in investigating and prosecuting terrorism cases” as federal authorities, she said. “I think all states should have domestic terrorism statutes, it’s a good thing for them to have, but it hasn’t really moved the ball significantly.”Brian Michael Jenkins, a senior researcher at the RAND Corporation think tank, said that murder typically already carries the maximum penalties, whatever the motivation.“A mass murderer with a manifesto is still a mass murderer,” Jenkins said.Supporters of Mr Cuomo’s proposal said that singling out political motivation was, in part, the point.Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations, appeared at Thursday’s speech alongside Mr Cuomo. He urged the audience to remember that “words are important”.“If you don’t name it, you can’t fight it," he said. The New York Times

Video shows man get struck by lightning while walking in storm

Surveillance video captured the moment a man was struck by lightning as he walked outside during a storm.

Store clerk found guilty of murder for chasing, fatally shooting teen who stole $2 drink

The former convenience store employee was accused of gunning down a teenager that stole a beer from a Tennessee convenience store.

Kazakhstan court frees anti-Beijing activist

A rights activist in Kazakhstan who faced seven years imprisonment over his outspoken opposition to neighbouring China was unexpectedly freed Friday as public and international pressure over his case mounted. Serikjan Bilash, whose activism in defence of Muslim and Turkic minorities in Xinjiang earned him global media attention, told AFP he struck a plea bargain with the court that allowed him freedom but will end his activism. "I had to end my activism against China.

Portland, Oregon, awaits right-wing rally, counter protests

More than two dozen local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Federal Protective Service, were in Portland, Oregon, on Saturday to help police there monitor a right-wing rally that's expected to draw demonstrators from around the U.S. Self-described anti-fascists have vowed to confront the rally while leaders from the far right urged their followers to turn out in large numbers to protest the arrests of six members of right-wing groups in the run-up to the event. In a video he livestreamed on Facebook, Gibson accused the police of playing politics by arresting him but not the masked demonstrators who beat up conservative blogger Andy Ngo at a June 29 rally that drew national attention to this small, liberal city.

Supporter Who Trump Mocked as Fat Says ‘Everything’s Good’: ‘I Love the Guy!’

A Trump supporter who President Donald Trump initially believed was a protester disrupting Thursday’s campaign rally in New Hampshire has absolutely no ill will to the president for mocking his physical appearance and saying he has seriously overweight.Midway through Thursday’s rally, the president reacted to protesters interrupting his speech by pointing to one and shouting: “That guy has got a serious weight problem. Go home, get some exercise!”As it turns out, the man he mocked is actually a rabid supporter of his. Speaking to Fox News’ Griff Jenkins after the rally, Frank Dawson explained that the president was definitely speaking about him during that moment.“He was because he didn’t see me rip the signs away from those three people sitting near us,” Dawson told Jenkins. “They were trying to cause a ruckus and they jumped up and started yelling I don’t care what they were yelling.”Dawson added: “It wasn’t going to happen besides me I’m trying to listen to my president. I think he thought I was part of it, but I wasn’t, I was the good part of it.”After Jenkins brought up that the president ridiculed his weight, the Trump fan brushed it off while heaping praise on Trump.“Everything is good,” Dawson exclaimed. “I love the guy. He is the best thing that ever happened to this country.”The protest at the rally, meanwhile, was by a group of young American Jews from the organization IfThisNow, who held up signs that read “Trump Is BadForTheJews,” ''Jews Against White Nationalism,” “Jews Against Occupation” and “Your Hate Is Killing Us” while chanting “Jews will not be used.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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.

Greyhound riders are being asked for immigration papers at South Florida bus terminals

Federal immigration agents are beefing up their efforts to apprehend undocumented immigrants in South Florida as part of a nationwide effort to “keep communities safe.”

Unprecedented heatwave 'kills thousands of fish' in Alaska

Climate change and warming rivers may have caused the mass death of salmon in parts of Alaska, scientists say.Large numbers of salmon died prematurely in some Alaskan rivers in July according to local reports, and scientists believe the cause could be the unprecedented heatwave that gripped the state last month.“Climate change is here in Alaska. We are seeing it. We are feeling it. And our salmon are dying because of it,” said Stephanie Quinn-Davidson, a biologist specialising in salmon and the director of the Yukon Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, in a Facebook post.> 200 miles of river. Dead chum consistently along entire stretch. None had spawned. 850 counted, many more missed. Likely ruled out mining, disease/parasites. All signs point to heat stress. Sad to see. Hoping this is not the new normal. climatechange salmon yukonriver alaska pic.twitter.com/zAHWSgy3pg> > — Steph Quinn-Davidson (@SalmonStephAK) > > July 29, 2019

Trump administration reverses decision to use 'cyanide bombs' to kill wild animals

The poison-filled traps are used by the federal government to kill coyotes, foxes and other animals for farmers and ranchersA grizzly bear and her cub walk near Pelican Creek in Yellowstone national park, Wyoming. Last year, Wildlife Services killed more than 1.5 million native wild animals across the country, including bears. Photograph: Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty ImagesAfter sustained public outcry, the Trump administration has voided its decision to reauthorize controversial cyanide traps for killing wildlife.The traps, which are known as M-44s and dubbed “cyanide bombs” by critics, are spring-loaded devices that emit a spray of sodium cyanide to kill their targets. The traps are most frequently used by Wildlife Services, a little-known federal agency inside the United States Department of Agriculture, to kill coyotes, foxes and other animals at the behest of private agriculture operators.Last year, Wildlife Services killed more than 1.5 million native wild animals across the country, including bears, wolves, birds and more. Roughly 6,500 of these deaths were caused by M-44 traps.“I am announcing a withdrawal of EPA’s interim registration review decision on sodium cyanide, the compound used in M-44 devices to control wild predators,” Andrew Wheeler, the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, announced in a public statement. “This issue warrants further analysis and additional discussions by EPA with the registrants of this predacide.”In an announcement last week, the EPA said that it had authorized government officials to continue using M-44s on an interim basis. The decision sparked fury among wildlife advocates and others, who decried the decision as a reckless threat to humans and the environment. M-44s, which are deployed on public and private land across the US, have led in the past to the inadvertent deaths of endangered species and domestic pets. They have even harmed humans, including a teenage boy who was poisoned by an M-44 in Pocatello, Idaho, in 2017.Brooks Fahy, the executive director of Predator Defense, a wildlife group that is a leading opponent of M-44 traps, said the EPA’s announcement was a welcome reversal.“Obviously somebody at EPA is paying attention to the public’s concerns about cyanide bombs,” Fahy said in a statement. “It would appear they’re responding to public outrage over the interim decision from last week. Our phone has been ringing off the hook from concerned citizens regarding their greenlight to continue using these horrific devices. We’ll have to see how this plays out.”

Photos show the world's first solar road that's turned out to be a colossal failure because it's falling apart and doesn't generate enough energy

In 2016, France was leading the world with its solar road. Now, it's being called a failure. Here's what the controversial road looks like.

De'Von Bailey was shot in the back and killed by police, his family says. They're rallying for 'justice'

The family and friends of 19-year-old De'Von Bailey want an independent investigation into the teen's shooting death by Colorado Springs police.

5 people shot in Philadelphia's Logan section, police say

Philadelphia police are investigating a shooting that left at least five people shot in the city's Logan section on Thursday afternoon.

Airstrikes in Syrian rebel stronghold kills family of 7

Syrian government and Russian airstrikes pounded the southern edge of a rebel stronghold in the country's northwest on Saturday, killing at least seven members of one family, activists and a war monitor reported. The intense airstrikes were coupled with fierce ground clashes as the Syrian government, backed by Russia, pushed ahead with a months-old offensive seeking to chip away at territory on the periphery of the rebel enclave. Idlib and surrounding areas are home to 3 million civilians and is dominated by Islamist insurgents.

Israel to allow barred US lawmaker for 'humanitarian' West Bank visit

Israel said Friday it will allow barred US congresswoman Rashida Tlaib who is of Palestinian origin to visit her elderly grandmother in the occupied West Bank, following a pledge she would respect its conditions. The decision taken by Interior Minister Aryeh Deri came a day after a controversial Israeli announcement that it would bar a planned weekend visit by Tlaib and fellow Muslim congresswoman Ilhan Omar over their support of a boycott of the Jewish state for its treatment of the Palestinians. The decision to allow a "humanitarian visit" followed a pledge in a letter from the lawmaker to "respect conditions imposed by Israel", the ministry said in a statement.

Bill Maher Mocks Fox News’ Sean Hannity For Claiming He’s Causing a Recession

HBOLast week on Real Time, host Bill Maher devoted the lion’s share of his opening monologue to President Trump’s bizarre hospital visit in El Paso, Texas, where none of the mass-shooting victims treated there wished to meet with him. He also focused on Tucker Carlson’s divorced-from-reality claim that white supremacy is a “hoax.”On Friday night, the comedian sank his teeth into Trump once more, this time focusing on a jab the president threw at the HBO host during a recent rally in Pittsburgh. “You have one guy on television: ‘I’m telling you he's not leaving—he’s going to win and then he’s not leaving, so in 2024, he won’t leave, I’m telling you.’ This is a serious person,” Trump said on Tuesday. “These people have gone stone cold crazy.” The comment came on the heels of Trump tweeting the following about Maher:Cue Maher: “Trump has been tweeting about me and talking about me at his rallies, so my anxiety level is very high. I’m hoping he’ll get distracted by his new plan—I’m not making this up—he wants to buy Greenland… and name it ‘New Ivanka.’”Yes, the news broke this week that Trump had apparently asked his aides if the country of Greenland could be purchased by the U.S.“He had two Nuremberg rallies this week, and the highlight for me is at the one last night, he told a protester, ‘You have a weight problem!’ That’s like mocking virgins at Comic-Con, isn’t it?” cracked Maher. (It later emerged that it wasn’t a protester at all but rather a supporter.) Maher also unpacked the perilous state of the U.S. economy, which may be headed toward a recession. “Trump, the financial genius, is driving the economy over the cliff,” Maher explained. “His new slogan is: Make America Atlantic City Again. Did you see what happened in the stock market this week? I spent more time gasping for breath than Jeffrey Epstein.” Bill Maher Exposes Fox News’ Tucker Carlson For Claiming White Supremacy Is a ‘Hoax’Later on during the panel portion, where he was joined by The Daily Beast’s Betsy Woodruff and Rick Wilson, Maher defended his position of wishing for a recession to get rid of Trump. “I’ve been saying for about two years that I hope we have a recession, and people get mad at me. Sean Hannity thinks I’m actually causing a recession. I do not have this power but he seems to be wanting to blame it on me, like I’m a genie and could make this happen,” said Maher, before pivoting to Trump’s anti-environment moves, including rolling back the Endangered Species Act. “[Recessions] don’t last forever. You know what lasts forever? Wiping out species—and people.”  What Maher seemed to conveniently overlook is how an economic recession would wipe out many, many people. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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.

'A new Hawaiian Renaissance': how a telescope protest became a movement

Demonstrators opposed to the building of a telescope on Mauna Kea, the state’s highest peak, have forged a communityThe actor Jason Momoa exchanges a traditional greeting with an elder while visiting protesters last month. Photograph: Hollyn Johnson/APOn Hawaii’s Big Island, a protest against a $1.4bn observatory on Mauna Kea, a mountain considered sacred by many Native Hawaiians, is entering a second month. In that time, the protest site has swelled from a few hundred to several thousands, attracted celebrity visitors, and built a community of Native Hawaiians who see it as a pivotal moment.The protest site sits at an elevation of 6,632ft, where the cold wind whips across hardened lava fields. But amid this inhospitable environment, weeks of demonstration have given rise to a sense of permanence.The site stretches across a two-lane highway, where trucks flying a Native Hawaiian flag and the upside-down state flag line both sides of the road. A “Kūpuna tent”, where the elders of the community gather, is strategically placed to block an access road up the mountain in order to stop construction vehicles from reaching the summit.New arrivals are encouraged to sign in at an orientation station. There is a tented cafeteria providing free meals, and a community-run medic station, daycare and school. Along the barren roadside, tropical flowers have been casually stuck in traffic cones. People pound taro, a Hawaiian crop, in the traditional way on wooden boards to make poi, a local dish.The protest stems from controversy over the fate of Mauna Kea, the tallest peak in Hawaii and the proposed site of an enormous observatory known as the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The summit, 13,796ft above sea level, is said to be an ideal location to look into deep space. TMT is expected to capture images ‘that look back to the beginning of the universe. Protesters, who call themselves kia‘i, or “protectors”, argue the construction will further desecrate Mauna Kea, which is already home to about a dozen telescopes.The sun sets behind telescopes at the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii. Photograph: Caleb Jones/APKealoha Pisciotta, one of the protest leaders and a spokesperson for Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, a Native Hawaiian group, says the movement is “pushing back on corporate culture” through Hawaiian concepts of “Kapu Aloha”, which emphasizes compassionate responses, especially towards opponents, and “Aloha ʻĀina”, a saying that translates to “love of the land”.“We are just joining the world’s indigenous movements,” Pisciotta says. “We need Kapu Aloha ... to bring back the balance from the insanity and destruction of our earth.”Pisciotta said that the protesters were showing the world a way “to really live differently” while protecting the land.“For Native Hawaiians, there is a question of our right to self-determination as defined by international law, but I think it’s so much bigger than that,” said Pisciotta. “It’s about us learning to live and be interdependent.” Why are the protests happening?Protesters continue their vigil, on 19 July. Photograph: Bruce Asato/APHawaiians consider Mauna Kea sacred for numerous reasons. The mountain is known as the home to Wākea, the sky god, who partnered with Papahānaumoku, the earth goddess. Protesters hope to protect and help restore the native ecosystem on Mauna Kea.But the protests are also part of a legacy for Native Hawaiians that goes back to 1893, when the Hawaiian Kingdom was overthrown. Hawaiians lost their land as well as their culture, as the latter was suppressed through law and religion. It wasn’t until the 1970s, during a period of cultural flourishing known as the Hawaiian Renaissance, that the Hawaiian language was allowed to be spoken in school and that the hula was revived.The period was defined by its own resistance movement, as activists focused on stopping the US military from using Kahoʻolawe, one of the eight main Hawaiian Islands, as a target for bombing practice. After more than a decade of peaceful protests and occupations of the island, the US government ended the live-fire training in the 1990s.Some see the latest protest action as a new Hawaiian Renaissance. Days are punctuated by the blowing of the conch shell to announce ceremonies that include chanting, hula, and hoʻokupu (offerings). Several celebrities with Hawaii ties have travelled here to participate, including Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Jason Momoa, and Jack Johnson.Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, right, watches a performance during a visit to the ninth day of protests against the Thirty Meter Telescope, on 23 July. Photograph: Jamm Aquino/AP“The atmosphere here is incredible. We’re all here protecting our ʻāina [land]”, said Kamuela Park, a protester at the site. He added that it had been “awesome to see people from all spectrums coming here in support”.Peaceful demonstrators have faced one major confrontation with police. Three days into the protest, 38 kūpuna (revered elders) were arrested for blocking the road that leads to the construction site. That same day, Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, signed an emergency proclamation giving law enforcement more control over the area and allowed them to bring in National Guard troops. Images of the elderly being arrested quickly spread, garnering sympathy for the movement and attracting more people to the site. What comes next?Demonstrators block a road at the base of Hawaii’s tallest mountain, on 15 July. Photograph: Caleb Jones/APNegotiations between government officials and protesters have slowed since the arrests. On 30 July, the governor rescinded his emergency proclamation. He also extended the window during which construction could begin from 60 days to two years, meaning the protesters would theoretically need to block the road until September 2021.“I want to assure everyone that we are committed. Our law enforcement officers will remain at the site to ensure the safety of all of those involved,” said Ige at a press conference. “We continue to seek and find a peaceful solution to move this project forward.”While tensions may have eased, protesters have said they will stay until they stop TMT from being built. Demonstrators proved their endurance in early August as many of them stayed at the protest site while two consecutive storms passed by the islands.Pisciotta, who used to work at the Mauna Kea observatories as a telescope systems specialist, says the movement has been especially “huge” for young people.“Some of the elders, they lived through the time it was prohibited to speak the language,” she says. Now younger Hawaiians grow up speaking it in school and with strong cultural affiliations. Hawaiian youth who are camping out are helping to organize donations, teaching some of the courses at the community-led school, and spreading the word on social media.“In our philosophy, the land and the people are one,” said Pisciotta, about Aloha ʻĀina. “So it was a rallying point for the renaissance and now this is a kind of new renaissance.”

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The “missing” former girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein and the woman accused of recruiting young women for him – claims she has strongly denied – has been spotted eating at a fast food restaurant in Los Angeles.In the days since the death of the disgraced financier, accused of sex trafficking young girls, much attention has focused on the whereabouts of socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of the late press baron Robert Maxwell, and Epstein’s longtime confidante. Reports suggested she was living in France or elsewhere in Europe, or even in Massachusetts.The matter now seems to have been at least party cleared up after a tabloid newspaper published a picture of her taken in an unlikely location.“Well, I guess this is the last time I’ll be eating here,” the 57-year-old is said to have remarked after being snapped at an In-N-Out restaurant in Los Angeles, according to the New York Post.The newspaper claimed Ms Maxwell was enjoying a burger, fries and a shake, while she sat reading The Book of Honour: The Secret Lives and Deaths of CIA Operatives, a 2000 nonfiction bestseller by journalist Ted Gup.While Ms Maxwell has never been charged with any crimes relating to Epstein’s alleged actions in Florida and New York, this week one of his accusers filed a lawsuit against her, alleging she conspired with members of the disgraced financier’s household staff “to make possible and otherwise facilitate the sexual abuse and rape” the alleged victim she said she endured in 2002 at the age of 15.Three years ago, she was sued for defamation by another of Epstein’s alleged victims, Virginia Giuffre, for calling allegations against her “obvious lies”. The case was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Ms Giuffre had said that she was groomed from the age of 15 by Ms Maxwell and forced to have sex with Epstein and several powerful men, all of whom have denied the allegations.The public sighting of Ms Maxwell comes as two women who said they were recruited 15 years ago to provide massages to Epstein, only to be later sexually molested by him at his Manhattan mansion, filed a $100m (£82.3m) lawsuit against the financier’s estate. The lawsuit filed on Thursday night in Manhattan is at least the second against the estate over the 66-year-old’s alleged misconduct, following his 10 August 10 death of an apparent suicide. Lawyers who represented Epstein did not immediately respond on Friday to requests for comment. The plaintiffs, identified as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2, said they now live in Okinawa, Japan, and Baltimore. > Jeffrey Epstein’s gal pal Ghislaine Maxwell spotted at In-N-Out Burger in first photos since his death https://t.co/ZeGqWbvFKx pic.twitter.com/cmJC07v5qm> > — New York Post (@nypost) > > August 15, 2019Prior to his death, Epstein had pleaded not guilty in July to charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls from 2002 and 2005. Prosecutors said he recruited and paid girls to give him massages, which became sexual in nature. Attorney general William Barr said the government will continue its investigation into any possible co-conspirators.He has also ordered a probe into how Epstein was able to kill himself, while supposedly being under a routine of close monitoring at the New York jail where he was being held awaiting trial. There has been a flood of conspiracy theories about Epstein’s death since he was found a day after fresh documents about the accusations against him were unsealed by a court. Among those to spread such theories has been Donald Trump, who was once a regular associate of Epstein, and who in 2002 told a magazine he was “a terrific guy”. An autopsy of Epstein found that his neck had been broken in several places, two law enforcement sources said. Epstein had been alone in his cell when he was found hanging there. He had previously been on suicide watch.Additional reporting by Reuters

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