Monday, September 30, 2019

She's been supremely busy with a huge birthday, acclaimed new film, perfume launch AND Fashion Week appearance, but she's still taking the time to celebrate her love.

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Why I Think Trump Did Nothing Wrong in His Phone Call with ZelenskyI  had a great discussion on The Editors Thursday about my view that President Trump did nothing wrong in his July 25 phone call with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky. My view seems to be the minority position, so it makes sense to lay it out as clearly as possible.Much of the confusion around this case stems from the entanglement of two groups specializing in bamboozlement: lawyers and spies. Espionage and the law have specialized argots that hide fabrication and skulduggery. Nonetheless, critical analysis reveals that the call was in bounds and that objections to it reduce to absurdity.My argument relies on an assertion, a distinction, and showing the absurdity of the other side of the argument taken to its logical conclusions.First, the assertion: The United States government has a compelling interest in knowing if its private citizens are involved in corruption abroad, either alone or in concert with current, former, or future public officials. This is not a controversial claim, yet when applied to what we know about how Joe Biden conducted his vice presidency in relation to his son Hunter Biden’s career, it invites unwarranted controversy.Here are the facts. The decision of Joe Biden, while vice president, to facilitate his son Hunter’s international business dealings presents, minimally, the appearance of a conflict of interest. Indeed, anything that Hunter Biden touched that intersected, however tangentially, with the official doings and responsibilities of his father can be presumed to be a worthy subject of investigation unless and until proven otherwise. The younger Biden’s shady dealings with his uncle dating at least to 2008, his absurd (and absurdly lucrative) board post on the Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, his massive financing rounds in China, and his travel to these countries along with his father, the latter acting in his official capacity — all raise major questions.Because Hunter Biden repeatedly profited in countries where his father was conducting official business, despite having no marketable skills or relevant experience, these questions would exist even if he were a paragon of personal virtue. Yet we know that he is not. His fiscal profligacy, repeated battles with addiction, and seeming erotomania, make Billy Carter, Hugh Rodham, and Roger Clinton look like Boy Scouts. Indeed, Hunter Biden is recreationally closer to Hunter Thompson than he is to most ne’er-do-well political relatives. Hunter Biden is clearly a person who should not be anywhere near government.As a result, in the absence of clear and convincing proof that nothing is amiss in the Biden family business, there is a presumptive case for looking into the Bidens to see if all the smoke surrounding Hunter came from fire. Joe Biden didn’t choose to have a troubled son. But he did choose to integrate his troubled son into his official functions. The burden of proving that the interpenetration of government and family did not enrich the younger Biden falls squarely on the elder Biden. He has not met that burden because, given the facts already known, doing so is probably impossible.Joe Biden wishes to be president. The American people have a right to know if, as second in line to the presidency, he facilitated his family’s enrichment. Did he do so consciously or through blind irresponsibility? He flew Hunter Biden to China on an official visit: What did Joe think Hunter was doing on that trip? If nothing is amiss, follow the administration’s response to this scandal and open the books. Until that happens, an investigation — whether formal or informal — is justified.Second, my distinction: Information is not interference. Based on the call transcript, Trump asked Zelensky to get to the bottom of whether Ukraine or Ukrainians interfered in the 2016 election. One may consider Trump’s concerns absurd or silly. Alternatively, one may suspect Ukrainian involvement. I do not know and will not pretend to know, because whether Ukraine was actually involved is irrelevant. The request for information that the Ukrainian president may be uniquely positioned to offer is fair and does not, in and of itself, constitute election interference.The president is well within his rights to seek information from his counterparts abroad. He can ask Zelensky if the Dodgers will make the World Series, or who Zelensky thinks is the most formidable Democratic candidate. Soliciting information, in the form of facts or opinion, does not constitute election interference. It does not constitute having a foreign head of state do opposition research for the Trump campaign. It is not some of in-kind contribution.Nor is there anything wrong with the president using leverage to get answers to his questions. Ukraine is not in NATO. Ukraine has been an ally of the United States some of the time, but at other times has been a de facto extension of the Russian Federation. And while the United States owes Ukraine certain obligations owing to the Budapest Memorandum, obligations the last administration ignored, Ukraine does not enjoy a constitutional or treaty right to Javelin missiles. Regardless of whether or not Trump asks important questions or stupid ones, by virtue of his office, he has the right to ask what he wants and use the leverage he controls to get answers. Because the national interest is served by those questions, even if they also align with Trump’s perceived political self-interest, a quid pro quo is not a problem.While the seeking of information does not intrinsically constitute a problem — indeed, it’s exactly the sort of thing we want the president doing in exchanges with foreign heads of state — what Trump chooses to do with the information he receives matters immensely. Were Trump to pass documents to his campaign, that would blend his official powers with his electioneering apparatus, which is against campaign-finance law. Were Trump to tell Zelensky to leak whatever damaging information he might find about Biden, that too would constitute election interference. Obviously, if Trump asked Zelensky to target Biden or his campaign with hacking, it would be a crime. If he asked Zelensky to fabricate information and leak it to the public, this impeachment talk would be completely justified.Yet Trump did not do these things. He asked for information that might help him serve the national interest in his capacity as president. Whether one trusts Trump to act accordingly or not is not itself impeachable in the absence of action. Similarly, that Trump failed to follow up regarding his invocation of Attorney General Barr is neither a problem nor surprising given his lackluster organizational tendencies.But what if we were to treat the request for information as tantamount to interference? Let us trace this line of thinking to its absurd conclusion. If Trump cannot ask anyone, foreign or domestic, about the obviously dubious behavior of a political rival, then we have created a de facto immunity for anybody running for president, an immunity that extends to their family if they mix family with previous public-office holding. So long as American officials and private citizens misbehave abroad and then run for president, they cannot be investigated legitimately, so this line of thinking goes.As a historical matter, this would mean that the Benghazi and Clinton Foundation investigations undertaken by Congress were illegitimate the day they began because they had political consequences for presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. They would similarly mean that the Russiagate investigation was wrong the day it began. And while many people can justifiably point to misbehavior by Russiagate investigators, it cannot reasonably be said that Donald Trump’s words, deeds, and associates made that investigation unreasonable from the get-go. Indeed, we can go still further back.Going back further still, if targeting a political opponent for investigation is illegitimate under any circumstances, then FDR was wrong to direct the FBI to work with friendly European governments to investigate Charles Lindbergh and the German American Bund.Clearly, creating an effective blanket immunity for those powerful enough to run for president is truly the stuff of banana republics. Indeed, if it achieved anything, it would only encourage well-heeled rascals to run for office while simultaneously encouraging the politically connected to engage in international graft. I, for one, think America has enough of both already.Finally, I would like to close with two observations. Neither is logically necessary to my argument, but both are sociologically and constitutionally worth examining. Many people are uncomfortable with the president leveraging America’s superior power to extract concessions from an inferior. I question this instinct. Power involves coercion and brokering. It can look and feel gross. It can be smutty. We have two and a half millennia of political philosophy in large part because goodness and political effectiveness have a complicated relationship. People can be bad and ineffective, yes. The good guys sometimes win too. But politics at the highest level has long been recognized as sitting in an awkward relationship to morality.As a result, politics isn’t for everybody. Though we misattribute the idiom to Bismarck, Americans have long understood that people prefer to eat sausage rather than see it get made. The Framers of the Constitution, who expected to be the weaker party — to be in Zelensky’s position rather than Trump’s — understood this. That’s why Article II, Section 2 gives the president the power to negotiate treaties. Those treaties come into effect only when ratified by the Senate, so the conclusion of a deal is subject to popular review. However, the back-and-forth required to get that deal is and should remain a solely presidential power. If anything, the White House was too quick to disclose the transcript of Trump’s call with Zelensky.None of this guarantees that wrongdoing has not transpired. If President Trump overstepped in the ways outlined above, I will happily revisit my opposition to impeachment. The president is entitled to designate a special representative to serve as his proxy in negotiations or fact-finding, including a personal attorney with whom he enjoys attorney–client privilege over and above traditional executive privilege. However, these powers stop the minute the president directs his subordinate to go beyond information-gathering and to engage in campaigning. And if a subordinate does so of his own volition, that subordinate ought to be punished. However, nothing we have seen to date crosses these lines. Instead, opponents of the president have elevated his person above his position, deciding that the practice of executive power itself is illegitimate because of who has been elected to wield it. That is the very kind of institutional nihilism many of these same people claim to fear most about this presidency.




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Hong Kong crisis threatens to spoil China's 70th partyChina's tightly choreographed 70th birthday bash next week risks being upstaged by pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, which offer a starkly different take on the strength and power of the Communist Party being feted in Beijing. As President Xi Jinping gets ready to preside over a huge military parade and gala event on Tuesday, the former British colony is in tumult over the erosion of its special freedoms by Beijing. Hong Kong has been rocked by the worst political unrest since its handover to China in 1997, with another round of clashes between protesters and riot police on Saturday and Sunday.




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How Russia's Su-35 and Stealth Su-57 Went to War in SyriaA dress rehearsal?




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Trailblazing Texas deputy who was first local Sikh officer 'ruthlessly' killed during traffic stopDeputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, the county's first Sikh officer, was killed Friday during a traffic stop near Houston. Police have arrested Robert Solis.




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Trump impeachment: Majority of Americans say Ukraine issue is ‘serious’ as president fumes over inquiryAlmost two-thirds (64 per cent) of Americans believe that Donald Trump pressuring the leader of Ukraine to investigate his potential 2020 presidential rival is a serious issue, according to a new poll.A total of 43 per cent of respondents to the ABC/Ipsos survey said the allegations were “very serious” while 21 per cent agreed the situation was at least “somewhat serious".




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We didn't see it coming, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have developed a tendency to surprise the masses with a scoring outburst against playoff-caliber teams. Last year, they beat the New Orleans Saints in their stadium 48-40...

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The patriarch of the Ball family is proud of his youngest son. LaVar Ball revealed he is proud of LaMelo Ball for playing in Australia on the latest episode of the Ball in the Family Facebook show...

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Unai Emery doesn't agree with suggestions he has a communication problem with Arsenal's players, and the Spaniard is confident in his ability to make himself understood during his second season in England's Premier League...

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A smartphone app can make a detailed virtual avatar allowing you to try on a whole range of clothes.

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Facial-recognition tech could help unlock secrets of dark matter in the universe  Digital Trends

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By BY MARIEL PADILLA from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2mHfgHD

By BY JAMES WAGNER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2m4Qe4G

Sunday, September 29, 2019

The Duchess of Sussex has met with one of the founding members of South Africa's anti-apartheid movement, Sophia Williams-De Bruyn, in Cape Town.

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Last night, I ate a steak. Very good it was too. Yet this magnificent piece of beef is no longer mere dinner. Instead it has become a pawn in the gathering war on meat.

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The top 50 broadcasters in NFL history, chosen by accomplishment, reputation, longevity, significance and, admittedly, personal preference.

      


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The comparisons are flowing more frequently since the release of a summary detailing Trump's call to Zelensky and the release of a whistleblower complaint.

      


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Lakers' LeBron James and Anthony Davis say that Team USA's seventh-place finish isn't as simple as who chose not to go to FIBA World Cup.

      


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Kei Ninomiya offered a highly poetic take on the subject of sustainability. Elsewhere, Haider Ackermann delivered a mature outing.

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Kei Ninomiya offered a highly poetic take on the subject of sustainability. Elsewhere, Haider Ackermann delivered a mature outing.

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Retailers are struggling to make their products accessible, and customers are taking them to court.

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Andrew Yang's pledge of $1,000-a-month for every American has piqued the interests of many US voters.

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Is the US economy under President Trump the best it's ever been?

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Surprise! A U.S. F-22 Stealth Raptor 'Flew Under' Iran's F-4 FighterNever had a chance.




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Barreling toward impeachment proceedings, Pelosi offers Trump her thoughts and prayersHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Trump took to cable news and Twitter on Friday morning as the first week of the impeachment battle came to a close in Washington.




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Pakistan warns of Kashmir bloodbath, India silentIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has denounced terrorism but avoided any mention of India's crackdown in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan denounced India's crackdown and warned of a "bloodbath." (Sept. 27)




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Trump's Ukraine call sparks new questions over intelligence chief's firingThe president removed Dan Coats days after his conversation with Zelenskiy and insisted that Coats’s deputy not get the jobDan Coats, seen in 2018, reportedly interrupted a meeting to convince his deputy to resign. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty ImagesThree days after his now infamous phone conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Donald Trump abruptly fired his director of national intelligence in favour of an inexperienced political loyalist.According to a New York Times report, the White House learned within days that the unorthodox call on 25 July with Zelenskiy had raised red flags among intelligence professionals and was likely to trigger an official complaint.That timeline has raised new questions over the timing of the Trump’s dismissal by tweet of the director of national intelligence (DNI), Dan Coats, on 28 July and his insistence that the deputy DNI, Sue Gordon, a career intelligence professional, did not step into the role, even in an acting capacity.Instead, Trump tried to install a Republican congressman, John Ratcliffe, who had minimal national security credentials but had been a fierce defender of the president in Congress. Trump had to drop the nomination after it emerged that Ratcliffe had exaggerated his national security credentials in his biography, wrongly claiming he had conducted prosecutions in terrorist financing cases.Despite the collapse of the Ratcliffe nomination, Gordon was forced out. She was reported to have been holding a meeting on election security on 8 August when Coats interrupted to convince her that she would have to resign.In a terse handwritten note to the president, Gordon said: “I offer this letter as an act of respect and patriotism, not preference. You should have your team.”The Office of the DNI (ODNI) and its inspector general has the authority to receive whistleblower complaints from across all US intelligence agencies and determine whether they should be referred to Congress.“We all knew Coats’ departure was coming because he had clashed with the president on several issues. What was weird was the president’s forcefulness in not wanting Sue Gordon to take over as acting director,” said Katrina Mulligan, a former official who worked in the ODNI, the national security council, and the justice department.“I was hearing at the time that Sue was getting actively excluded from things by the president that she would ordinarily have taken part in, and she was being made to feel uncomfortable,” said Mulligan, now managing director for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress.“And then the president tried to install someone who was clearly unqualified,” she added. “Now the timeline of the whistleblower in the White House raises a lot of questions about the Sue Gordon piece of this.”John McLaughlin, the former acting CIA director, said the fact that Ratcliffe’s nomination was dropped and the job of acting DNI ultimately went to an intelligence professional, Joseph Maguire, was a sign that the intelligence community was so far resisting political pressure from the White House.Maguire faced tough questioning in Congress this week about his initial refusal, on justice department guidance, to refer the whistleblower complaint to Congress.“On politicisation, my sense is that the community is holding the line against it although undoubtedly dealing with more or less constant pressure,” McLaughlin said. “I felt kind of bad for the acting DNI, an honourable man with impeccable service to the nation. I believe he made some honest errors in judgment rather than yielding to political pressure. Throwing him into this job in these circumstances on such short notice is a little like assigning me on a navy Seal mission.”




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Joseph Wilson, U.S. diplomat who spoke out on Iraq War, dies at 69: NYTWilson's ex-wife, Valerie Plame, a former CIA officer now running for Congress, told the Times his cause of death was organ failure. Wilson died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Times reported. Wilson served in several diplomatic posts during a 23-year career that began in 1976.




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Donald Trump and Adam Schiff used words like 'fraud' and 'shakedown' in impeachment battleTrump and Schiff renewed their battle a day after release of a whistleblower's complaint that Trump improperly pressured Ukraine's president.




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The Los Angeles Lakers conducted their first practice under new head coach Frank Vogel on Saturday, and per ESPN's Dave McMenamin , the session had a distinctive defensive theme...

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Streets, schools and banks were closed throughout the country, bringing the economy to a standstill. “President Jovenel Moise is not doing anything for us, just killing us,” said a protester.

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Forget fall. Montana is skipping straight to winter, as a weekend storm has begun to bury much of the state under feet of snow.

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Andrew Yang's pledge of $1,000-a-month for every American has piqued the interests of many US voters.

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Is the US economy under President Trump the best it's ever been?

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Saturday, September 28, 2019

Brad Pitt & Sat Hari Khalsa sent shock waves when fans thought the pair might have been dating, but Hollywood Life is setting the record straight!



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The movie’s premiere revealed that the limits of the technology are most apparent from the neck down.

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Pain expert Dr Helena Miranda and psychologist Dr Meg Arroll, a specialist in how we perceive symptoms, have outlined how everyone's perception of pain is different.

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One day, in 1993, the man whom Princess Margaret had once passionately wanted to marry came to have lunch with her at Kensington Palace. It was 40 years since she'd last seen him.

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Forces in England and Wales will be able to bid for a £10million fund to help buy stun guns.

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JILL FOSTER: Who doesn't love a KitKat? First launched in August 1935, it's said that 564 are eaten every second in the UK. But how easy are they to replicate? 'Not very' is the answer.

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Match Group Inc disclosed on Friday it had received a subpoena from the U.S. Department of Justice for documents relating to certain marketing-related claims in the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) complaint.


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British finance minister Sajid Javid will unveil a 16.6 billion pound ($20.40 billion) "no-deal guarantee" to make up for a shortfall in European Union grants to British businesses, universities and charities over the next few years, the Daily Mail newspaper reported https://dailym.ai/2mszW5P on Friday.


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By BY A.O. SCOTT from NYT Movies https://ift.tt/2nY1b8W

By BY SYDNEY EMBER AND KATIE GLUECK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2lGyQD8
Months after a scandal brought down his government, Sebastian Kurz is expected to win a new election.

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Company executives are being targeted by spoof emails requesting them to send vast sums of money.

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Friday, September 27, 2019

Bruce Springsteen Announces Western Stars Film Soundtrack  PitchforkView full coverage on Google News

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Young people like Greta Thunberg are participating in the culture wars while also managing to float above the fray.

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They have little accountability and a lot of power.

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Twenty-five years after the infamous 1994 crime bill, too many criminal justice groups are simply reimagining mass incarceration.

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'Shaman warrior' Alexander Gabyshev walked across Russia for six months with the aim of confronting the president.

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Mohamed Ali is a former Egyptian military contractor calling for protests against Egypt's president.

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Kuda Mapira, known as 'The Terminator', is one of the first disabled people to play football for his country.

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CCTV footage shows three people being robbed by fake FedEx couriers in a Brooklyn home.

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By BY SHARON LAFRANIERE, KENNETH P. VOGEL AND PETER BAKER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2m7jojK

By BY ALEXANDER BURNS AND JONATHAN MARTIN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2n6OkR6

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