UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has again failed in his drive to call an early election, as he sought to break the political deadlock over Britain’s departure from the European Union.

A total of 299 MPs on Monday night backed Johnson’s latest bid – his third – but with opposition parties abstaining and 70 MPs voting against, the prime minister did not secure the backing of the two-thirds of the 650 MPs required by law to pass the motion.

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An exasperated Johnson in response said the electorate would find the situation “utterly bewildering” and promised to end the “paralysis” over the UK’s departure from the European Union.

“One way or another, we must proceed to an election,” he told MPs.


Johnson said the government would try again, on Tuesday, with a different track of legislation which would only require a simple majority to call a snap election – hopeful that winning such a poll could change the parliamentary arithmetic and allow him to push his Brexit deal through into law.

“It was no surprise that he lost on his third attempt; Labour are refusing to give him the election he wants on his terms,” said Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull, reporting from Westminster.

Three days that could change everything

Earlier in the day, Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the main opposition Labour Party, promised to “consider carefully” any legislation which “locks in” the date of a general election.

Corbyn appeared to offer a warmer response to a poll on December 9, as mooted by the Liberal Democrats and the Scottish National Party, rather than the government’s bid for a December 12 ballot box showdown. The SNP will not support Johnson’s bid for polls on his desired date.

The three-day difference would mean there would be no parliamentary time for Johnson to force his Brexit deal through the legislative process in the coming days. Johnson has said he would not bring the Withdrawal Agreement Bill back for debate having lost this latest bid for an election – but trust is in very short supply in the UK legislature, and the prime minister’s many parliamentary opponents are wary of handing him such a key victory days before any crunch election.

It may not seem like much, but “it is rather crucial”, said Hull in Westminster. 

“An election on the 12th allows the government well into next week to try again to push through Johnson’s Brexit deal, and head into an election on the back of a major political victory. The ninth doesn’t allow him to do that. The date on tomorrow’s legislation could be crucial and could be the undoing of the next attempt to get an election bid through Parliament.


“What nobody can be sure of is whether that election, whenever it comes, can result in the sort of majority that could push Brexit forward.”

Labour now find themselves in a difficult position, divided over whether to accept a December 9 election, to push for a second referendum to be added as an amendment to Johnson’s next bill or to continue the stalemate.

“What’s happened here is that the Liberal Democrats and the SNP have realised they can’t wait for Labour and can’t trust them,” Jon Worth, a politics lecturer at the College of Europe in Bruges, told Al Jazeera.

“Both Lib Dems and the SNP would have preferred a second referendum. But Labour has never committed to that fully. So hence this plan has been put into action – a way to a general election without actually needing Labour to support it.

“Yes, all of this could go wrong for Remain parties. But better a roll of the dice on a general election than having to agree Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill and commit to Brexit.”

‘Broken promises’

Corbyn insisted Labour wants a no-deal Brexit to be “definitely and definitively” taken off the table, adding any election plan must ensure the voting rights of “all of our citizens are protected” – referring to students who may be registered to vote at university addresses ending their semesters at around the time in question.

Speaking in the House of Commons, Corbyn said the prime minister “cannot be trusted” and had “abandoned” his Queen’s Speech, Budget and Brexit deal.

The Labour leader added: “He said he would never ask for an extension and he said he would rather die in a ditch – another broken promise.”

After the extension was approved by the European Council on Monday morning, a Downing Street spokesperson told Al Jazeera that Johnson was not considering resigning. 

“The prime minister has worked tirelessly to get a Brexit deal – which he did, despite being told it was impossible,” Al Jazeera was told.

“He brought the legislation to Parliament last week, where it was blocked.”

While MPs voted last week to continue consideration of the EU divorce deal, Johnson’s administration had scheduled just three days for debate for more than 100 pages of legislative text and another 400 pages of legal documentation – given the scale of the constitutional implications, it was not a timetable that parliamentarians would accept, and the prime minister paused any progress on the proposed legislation, withdrawing it from discussion.

Source Article from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/10/uk-boris-johnson-fails-call-snap-election-191028184532150.html

A federal judge today has blocked Alabama’s near-total abortion ban from going into effect Nov. 15.

District Judge Myron Thompson issued a ruling blocking the Human Life Protection Act from taking effect while a challenge to the law makes its way through court.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama and Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates sued the state declaring the law, which bans nearly all abortions included in the cases of rape and incest, is unconstitutional.

“The court is persuaded that the plaintiffs are likely to succeed in showing that the Act violates an individual’s constitutional right to obtain a pre-viability abortion, and thus that it violates her constitutional rights,” Thompson said in his order for a preliminary injunction.

Randall Marshall, executive director of he ACLU of Alabama, one of the plaintiffs in the case, said:

“As expected, the court has blocked the law and it will not go into effect. Abortion remains legal in Alabama. The state’s repeated attempts to push abortion out of reach by enacting unconstitutional laws restricting abortions has already cost taxpayers nearly $2.5 million. This ill-advised law will cost taxpayers more money.”

Rep. Terri Collins, R-Decatur, who championed the abortion ban in the Alabama legislature, responded to today’s ruling.

“Today’s ruling is both expected and welcomed. Our law was designed to overturn Roe v. Wade at the Supreme Court level, and today’s ruling is merely the first of many steps on that legal journey. I remain confident that our mission will be successful and appreciate the support of millions of citizens who support our effort to preserve unborn life,” Collins said.

Staci Fox, president of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates, one of the plaintiff’s in the case, said:

“This is not only a victory for the people of Alabama — it’s a victory for the entire nation. We said it from the start: this ban is blatantly unconstitutional and we will fight it every step of the way. We will continue fighting this law in court until it is permanently blocked and we will work every day to make sure that abortion remains safe, legal, and available in Alabama.”

Dr. Yashica Robinson, comprehensive women’s health specialist and plaintiff in the case said:

“This win is critical to our patients and to health care providers like myself. The abortion care we provide is essential health care, and these ruthless attacks from anti-abortion politicians have no place in Alabama. We will keep fighting to ensure that we can provide care that our patients need and to keep abortion accessible in our communities.”

In May, Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law the Human Life Protection Act, banning nearly all abortion except for those performed to prevent serious health risk of the mother. The law would make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion. The ACLU of Alabama and Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit and request for preliminary injunction to prevent the law from going into effect Nov. 15.

State Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a response to the ACLU and Planned Parenthood on Aug. 5, declaring his intentions to challenge the Supreme Court’s ruling of Roe V. Wade.

An attorney representing Alabama’s three abortion clinics said Marshall’s arguments have already been addressed by the Supreme Court’s consistent defense of allowing people to make personal decisions, including the right to have an abortion.

“Alabamians must not be forced to relitigate their settled constitutional rights every time the State of Alabama knowingly and deliberately enacts an unconstitutional abortion law,” Alexa Kolbi-Molina, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation lawyer stated in a court document filed in August.

Alabama is one of at least six other states attempting to challenge the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe V. Wade, including Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, North Dakota, Kentucky and Mississippi.

There are three clinics in that provide abortions in Alabama, Reproductive Health Services in Montgomery, Alabama Women’s Center in Huntsville and West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa.

Source Article from https://www.al.com/news/2019/10/federal-judge-blocks-alabama-abortion-ban.html

“This the big one. This is the biggest one, perhaps, that we’ve ever captured because this is the one that built ISIS.” No, President Donald Trump was not talking about his predecessor in the Oval Office — the guy he famously branded “the founder of ISIS.”

Stephen Colbert went to the tape on CBS’ The Late Show tonight to let Trump brag about just how big the military’s killing of the reviled terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi indeed was. “This is the biggest there is,” POTUS 45 asserted. “This is the worst ever. Osama bin Laden was big, but Osama bin Laden became big with the World Trade Center.”

Colbert cut in: “I remember. … You know how I know killing bin Laden was a big deal? Because Barack Obama never had to say that killing bin Laden was a big deal.”

But the late-night host ultimately gave credit where credit is due. “So was this. This was a very big deal. … It was bigger than the bin Laden announcement in one way: length.” Quoting the Washington Post, Colbert said, “Trump delivered a 50-minute performance compared to Obama’s nine-minute speech.”

Taking a mild swipe at POTUS 44, Colbert added: “Keep in mind, that was Obama. So we know that four minute of that was, ‘Uhhhhhh. Look.’”

Watch the monologue here:

Source Article from https://deadline.com/2019/10/stephen-colbert-congratulates-donald-trump-on-killing-isis-leader-1202771180/

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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff says President Donald Trump’s administration is “building a powerful case” for impeachment as a former White House national security adviser defied a subpoena on Monday. (Oct. 28)
AP, AP

WASHINGTON – Even as support for his impeachment grows, President Donald Trump continues to be backed by a seemingly unshakable core of supporters who deny he has done anything wrong and agree that he is the target of a political “lynching,” a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University Poll finds.

Americans are split in the survey about whether Trump should be convicted by the Senate in an impeachment trial and removed from office: 46% in favor and 47% against. Having close to half of registered voters support his eviction from the White House is politically perilous territory for any president, of course.

Despite damaging new testimony, however, 30% to 40% of those surveyed remain solidly on Trump’s side. That is a significant asset for the president as the House of Representatives prepares to vote Thursday to affirm the formal impeachment investigation.

“Let’s look at the economy, wages, unemployment, foreign affairs, tariffs and other things like that,” said Steven Kay, 67, of Riverside County, California, a retiree and a Republican who was among those surveyed. “His rhetoric might be a little much, but he is making good policy.”

Hillary Clinton and impeachment: How is she connected to inquiries against three presidents?

William Skelskey, 84, a Republican and retired real-estate agent from Mission Viejo, California, blamed Democrats’ “negativity” for Trump’s troubles and called him “one of the top three presidents since Washington and Reagan.”

The president’s solid core of supporters don’t comprise a majority of the electorate, but they do provide a political foundation that energizes him – witness his speeches that stretch an hour and longer at raucous rallies – and helps limit defections from other GOP officials.

Paleologos on the Poll: On Trump impeachment, watch the voters who haven’t made up their minds

Controversy over Ukraine call 

In the poll, nearly four in 10 say his phone call pressuring the Ukrainian president to meddle in U.S. politics is itself an impeachable offense. But another 31% say there was nothing wrong with the conversation, echoing Trump’s insistence that it was “perfect.” Thirty-seven percent say the House should stop investigating the president and his administration entirely. 

“It seems like the inquiry is a tremendous waste of time and money,” said George Roma, 55, a small business owner from central Florida and a Republican. “I’m baffled why they continue to do this for three years.”

In contrast, some of Trump’s critics are baffled why he hasn’t been impeached already.

“He clearly violated the conduct that the president should hold in terms of using his power to increase his political and personal gain,” said Kate Pritchard, 63, a Democrat and retired teacher from Durango, Colorado. She said Congress was “doing a good job with the inquiry and following the rules.”

The telephone poll of 1,000 registered voters, taken Oct. 23-26, has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

Mitt Romney: A solitary GOP voice battling Trump for the soul of the Republican Party

Last week, even Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell took the rare step of distancing himself from a tweet by Trump that likened his impeachment to “a lynching.”

In the poll, though, 40% say they agree with the racially charged tweet; 54% disagree. The language that caused wide consternation was seen by some supporters as just another sign of Trump’s willingness to disrupt the status quo, a quality they embrace. “That’s why I voted for Trump,” Roma said. “I’m trying to get away from the same-old, same-old Washington.”

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One of the country’s leading civil rights organizations condemned President Donald Trump’s tweet Tuesday.
AP Domestic

Who are those who endorse the president’s analogy?

Unsurprisingly, they are overwhelmingly Republican. Conservatives by more than 2-1 agree with the president’s assertion. These core backers are disproportionately white and male. His strongest support comes from those who don’t have a four-year college degree. They also tend to be older. Those 18 to 34 years old overwhelmingly disagree with the tweet; those 65 and older narrowly agree with it. 

That is the portrait of those the White House is counting on for the impeachment battle ahead and for the re-election fight to follow.

A word’s power: Politicians have used ‘lynching’ as a metaphor for decades, but has time changed its impact?

Trump’s strongest support comes from those who say Fox News is the TV network they trusted most; 78% of Fox viewers say they agree that Trump’s impeachment was like a “lynching.” In contrast, just 2% of those who trust MSNBC most and 10% of those who trust CNN most agree with the statement.

Removed from office? 

On one issue, the president’s support sinks to just one in four, a sign of a potential vulnerability. Asked if the White House had an obligation to comply with subpoenas from the House committees demanding testimony and documents, 66% of those surveyed say yes, 26% say no. Those who think the White House should comply with congressional subpoenas include 35% of Republicans.

Who’s been subpoenaed?: All the people subpoenaed in impeachment inquiry

“I do feel it is inappropriate for the executive branch to be stonewalling,” said Michael Dunford, 35, a Democrat from Solana Beach, California. “I don’t know if it is obstruction of justice, but it is obstruction.”

In the new USA TODAY/Suffolk survey, Americans of all stripes are inclined to think the House won’t end up voting to impeach Trump, 56%-37%. Most Democrats and most Republicans agree that he’s not likely to be removed from office. Nearly three in four of all those surveyed, 73%, predict he won’t be.

“He should be impeached to discourage the awful behavior,” Andre Mendes, 60, an engineer from Baltimore who supports the Green Party, said of Trump. “But Republicans would have to grow a spine in order for removal from office to occur.”

2020 elections: Poll shows Iowa ‘up for grabs’ as Buttigieg surges into top tier

Pelosi vs. Trump: Combatants in impeachment showdown that will test them, nation

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2019/10/29/trump-poll-impeachment-ukraine-call-core-supporters/2478185001/

On Monday evening, lawmakers in the U.K. rejected the government’s request to hold a general election on December 12. Under the rules, two-thirds of Parliament, or 434 MPs, needed to approve the motion for it to pass, but it got only 299 as opposition lawmakers declined the opportunity to take on Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the ballot box.

Johnson’s defeat means he will now seek a different route to an election — by passing a law with a simple majority that bypasses the 2011 Fixed-term Parliaments Act.

To do so, he would need the support of opposition parties such as the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats, which have been pushing for a Dec. 9 election, along with a guarantee that Johnson will not resume debate on the divorce deal he has agreed with Brussels.

“Later on this evening, the government will give notice of presentation for a short bill for an election on the 12th of December so we can finally get Brexit done,” Johnson told Parliament on Monday.

The second-largest party in Parliament, Labour, and its leader Jeremy Corbyn had previously said they will not back an election unless the possibility of a no-deal Brexit is removed.

Going to the polls is viewed by the Conservative-led government as the best way to secure a strong-enough hold over Parliament that can, in turn, smooth the passage of its Brexit plan. Since 2017, the Conservative Party has needed the votes of Northern Ireland’s DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) to hold a slender House of Commons majority.

A consensus of polls suggests that the Conservatives would likely improve its position if a general election was held in the current political atmosphere.

Naturally, opposition lawmakers are therefore split as to whether an election is a good idea. Some claim the U.K. government will use a fresh mandate to force through a no deal, while others questioned the granting of a pre-Christmas election that Johnson looks well-placed to win.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/28/boris-johnson-loses-vote-to-hold-uk-general-election-on-december-12.html

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The Getty Center is packed with priceless art, but the top risk concern for the facility is not theft – it’s fire.

“Logically you’d think it’d be something like Danny Ocean stealing art or something like that, but what it turned out to be was fire,” security and risk management expert Hal Kempfer told ABC7 after the Getty Center fire erupted Monday. “Wildland fire and brush fire was their biggest risk, and the entire center was designed with that in mind.”

MORE: Getty Fire Map — Road, school closures continue as mandatory evacuations ordered near museum

Kempfer said the Getty Center was designed to be fire resistant. The anti-fire elements include the materials used to construct the museum, the way the eaves were built and how the landscaping was designed, he said.

“It’s a rather interesting, structural anomaly in Southern California, that it was designed with fire in mind,” Kempfer said.

Kempfer added that the Getty Center’s first security master was a senior fire official.

“He was very up front and he said fire is our biggest risk,” he said, adding that the biggest fear was that a fire would get into the center and the art work would be destroyed in the flames.

The Getty Fire ignited along the Sepulveda Pass Monday. The wind-driven blaze spread quickly and destroyed multiple homes. However, its flames did not reach the Getty Center. Click here for the latest on the Getty Fire.

PHOTOS: Getty Fire burns in West Los Angeles

Related stories:
Lebron James, Arnold Schwarzenegger among the thousands forced to evacuate due to Getty Fire

Mount Saint Mary’s University students evacuate after Getty Fire breaks out near hilltop campus

How to help Los Angeles firefighters responding to devastating fires in Southern California

Source Article from https://abc7.com/getty-center-was-designed-to-be-fire-resistant-expert-says/5654251/

Just after a Boeing Co. 737 MAX jet crashed in Indonesia a year ago, FAA officials asked themselves: Should they warn the world the entire fleet could have a design flaw?

A Federal Aviation Administration analysis showed a good chance the same malfunction would crop up again, according to agency officials and people briefed on the results. Even under the most optimistic scenario, the agency’s statistical models projected a high likelihood of a similar emergency within roughly a year.

Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-is-this-airplane-still-flying-the-faa-missteps-that-kept-boeings-max-aloft-11572308196

President Trump speaks at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., on Jan. 21, 2017, his first full day in office.

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images


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President Trump speaks at CIA Headquarters in Langley, Va., on Jan. 21, 2017, his first full day in office.

Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Even when he’s praising his spy chiefs, President Trump can’t resist taking a swipe.

The instinct was on full display this past weekend, as he announced the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

“Thank you, as well, to the great intelligence professionals who helped make this very successful journey possible,” he said in an address from the White House on Sunday.

His intelligence officials are ”spectacular,” “great patriots,” the president went on.

But then, this: “And it’s really a deserving name, intelligence. I have dealt with some people that aren’t very intelligent, having to do with intel.”

Even while proclaiming an undisputed intelligence and military success, Trump took a moment to needle and to complain about “poor leadership” and time wasted by U.S. intelligence in the past.

Trump’s hostility to the intelligence community has been relentless. He talks frequently of the “deep state” and “witch hunts” that are out to get him.

And that was all before a whistleblower complaint revealed concerns about a White House phone call with Ukraine, which has sparked the impeachment inquiry now underway. That whistleblower is reported to be a current employee of the CIA.

“It did not surprise me that ultimately an intelligence officer was the person who was going to blow the whistle on what the president did,” says Leon Panetta, who was director of the CIA from 2009 to 2011 under President Barack Obama.

The current impeachment drama highlights the tension between Trump and the U.S. intelligence community. But the relationship has been tense since even before Trump took office. Over the course of his presidency, a number of notable events have strained that relationship further. Now, former intelligence chiefs warn that the president’s suspicion of his spy agencies could pose a danger to U.S. national security.

On the campaign trail

This story of mistrust could have started a dozen different places.

Here’s one: Sept. 26, 2016, during the first presidential debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.

“I don’t think anybody knows it was Russia that broke into the DNC,” then-candidate Donald Trump said, referring to the Democratic National Committee.

“I mean, it could be Russia, but it could also be China. It could also be lots of other people. It also could be somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds, OK?” he said.

But by then, candidate Trump was already receiving classified intelligence briefings. And intelligence officials were already privately telling reporters, including me, that it was the Kremlin that hacked the servers of the DNC.

Donald Trump continued to reject this conclusion.

In November 2016, Trump was elected. And by the following January — two weeks before the inauguration and after weeks of his taking aim at U.S. intelligence — the president-elect sat down for a top-secret briefing at Trump Tower in New York City.

Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, along with the heads of the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency, had traveled to New York for the unenviable task of informing Trump that they were about to publish a report that said Russian leader Vladimir Putin personally ordered an influence campaign to try to help him win.

“He had great difficulty, as did his team, accepting the assertion that the Russians interfered,” Clapper said in a recent interview with NPR.

While he’d been apprehensive beforehand, Clapper says the Trump Tower meeting was cordial.

“But I do think the end result was reflected in the attempt to draft a press statement while we were still there, in which they wanted to quote us as saying that the Russian interference had no impact on the outcome of the election, which we could not, did not say, we weren’t chartered to assess that,” Clapper says.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism in the Hart Senate Office Building on May 8, 2017.

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Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism in the Hart Senate Office Building on May 8, 2017.

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A few days after the Trump Tower meeting — but still before he had taken the oath of office as president — Trump tweeted a comment comparing U.S. intelligence to Nazis, when Clapper still led all 17 U.S. spy agencies.

“I was taken aback,” Clapper recalls. “I was very disturbed about it, so much so that I put a call to then President-elect Trump. Amazingly enough, he took the call. And I tried to appeal to his higher instincts, I guess, by telling him that he was inheriting a treasure in the form of the national intelligence community.”

An early low point

I asked Clapper to revisit this history because it shows how poisoned the well between Trump and the intelligence community was even before Donald Trump was sworn in as president. Because after that, it got worse.

Clapper recalls that he was heartened when he heard that the first place Trump was going to visit after the inauguration was the CIA.

“And I thought, well, naive me. I thought, well, perhaps my message got through to him,” Clapper says. “Not so.”

On Jan. 21, 2017, Trump’s first full day in office — after weeks of mocking intelligence officials — the president’s motorcade rolled out to CIA headquarters. He told staffers there he was now with them “a thousand percent.”

“Maybe sometimes you haven’t gotten the backing that you’ve wanted, and you’re going to get so much backing,” Trump told the crowd. “Maybe you’re going to say please don’t give us so much backing.”

So far, so good. But at some point — standing in what the CIA considers sacred space, before a wall of stars representing officers who’ve died in the line of duty — he started saying things that were provably untrue. For instance, falsely inflating the size of the crowd at his inauguration.

The digression about the crowd size went on for a while. Ask a CIA official to name a low point in relations with this White House, and this is one of two many will point to.

“One of the most tragic moments”

Here’s the other: July 16, 2018, Trump’s summit with Putin in Helsinki.

During a news briefing, all the bad blood between Trump and his spy chiefs was distilled to a single question, from Jonathan Lemire, a reporter with The Associated Press.

“Just now, President Putin denied having anything to do with the election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe?” Lemire asked.

“My people came to me, [then Director of National Intelligence] Dan Coats came to me and some others,” Trump said. “They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this. I don’t see any reason why it would be.”

President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin answer questions about 2016 U.S. election interference during a joint news conference after their summit on July 16, 2018, in Helsinki.

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President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin answer questions about 2016 U.S. election interference during a joint news conference after their summit on July 16, 2018, in Helsinki.

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This, says Panetta, is “one of the most tragic moments in the history of the relationship between a United States president and the intelligence community.”

Panetta said his specific beef was the message Trump’s words sent to the rest of the world.

“That we were dealing with a president who has no sense of the importance of intelligence and the important role our intelligence people play in protecting the security of our country,” Panetta says.

“Apotheosis of what could go wrong”

One final event: Jan. 29, 2019, Room 216 of the Senate Hart Office Building.

The current director of the CIA, Gina Haspel, was testifying about Iran.

Overall, it was typical dry congressional testimony. But what was significant was that Haspel, and other officials, were stating quietly, but firmly, that at that point Iran was in compliance with the nuclear deal.

And not only on Iran, but also on Russia and North Korea, the testimony by Trump’s spy chiefs was jarringly at odds with Trump’s own rhetoric. So much so that the next day, Trump hit back on Twitter, calling “the Intelligence people … passive and naïve” and adding: “Perhaps Intelligence should go back to school!

I’ve thought back to that moment — the disrespect toward Haspel and her colleagues on full display — as the impeachment inquiry has blown up.

“When I heard, by the news reports, that this whistleblower is apparently a CIA employee, I just thought, my God, this is all [Haspel] needs now,” John Rizzo, who worked as a CIA lawyer for 34 years, recalls.

Asked whether he saw irony in the fact that — given Trump’s relationship with intelligence leaders — it’s now a CIA whistleblower who appears to be bringing the country to the brink of impeachment, Rizzo says, “ironic is one way to put it.”

“Honestly, I almost wish that the whistleblower had been from somewhere else in the government, not from the CIA, because, as I say, this brings the whole relationship between President Trump and the intelligence community full circle. And possibly irretrievable.”

“This is the apotheosis of what could possibly go wrong to even further fracture the relationship,” Rizzo says.

CIA Director Gina Haspel arrives for a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Jan. 29.

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CIA Director Gina Haspel arrives for a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Jan. 29.

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Complicating things further: The inspector general of the intelligence community, Michael Atkinson, has judged the whistleblower complaint both urgent and credible. But in a letter dated Aug. 26, he also writes that the whistleblower has “arguable political bias … in favor of a rival candidate.”

That prompts an obvious question: Is there a danger that the president will see that as confirmation of a deep state that is out to get him?

James Clapper believes that danger exists — and he says it could lead to national security risks.

“One risk is deeper skepticism about accepting anything the intelligence committee says, which is profoundly dangerous to the country,” Clapper says. “I’ve thought about a situation where we had something of the magnitude of a 9/11 attack, God forbid, where he would be highly dependent on what the intelligence community can tell him. And whether he accepts that or is skeptical about it — I think that would pose real risk.”

On Monday, I circled back to Clapper, who has served both Republican and Democratic presidents going back to John F. Kennedy, for his response to the news of Baghdadi’s death — and to President Trump’s praise for the intelligence officers who helped make it happen.

“If the Intelligence Community generates intelligence that the President likes, he praises them,” Clapper wrote in response. “If it generates intelligence he doesn’t like, he shoots the messengers.”

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/10/29/773127809/how-the-relationship-between-trump-and-his-spy-chiefs-soured

Media captionThousands of people have left their homes

An estimated 1.5 million more people in California are set to lose power on Tuesday as a utility firm tries to stop damaged cables triggering wildfires.

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) already faces an investigation by regulators after cutting supplies to 970,000 homes and businesses.

It announced that another 650,000 properties would face precautionary shut-offs on Tuesday amid high winds.

Wildfires fanned by the strong winds are raging in two parts of the state.

Thousands of residents near the wealthy Brentwood neighbourhood of Los Angeles have been told to evacuate because of a wildfire that began early on Monday.

Celebrities including the actor-turned-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger and basketball star LeBron James are among those who have fled the fast-moving Getty Fire, which started near the Getty Center arts complex.

Further north in Sonoma County, a larger fire has forced 180,000 people from their homes.

California’s governor has declared a state-wide emergency.

What about the power cuts?

On Monday regulators announced a formal inquiry into whether energy utilities broke rules by pre-emptively cutting power to an estimated 2.5 million people as wildfire risks soared.

They did not name any utilities but analysts said PG&E was responsible for the bulk of the “public safety power shut-offs”.

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Reuters

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Those fighting the flames had been “overwhelmed”, a fire chief said

The company filed for bankruptcy in January after facing hundreds of lawsuits from victims of wildfires in 2017 and 2018.

Of the 970,000 properties hit by the most recent cuts, under half had their services back by Monday, the Associated Press reported.

Despite criticism that the precautionary blackouts were too widespread and too disruptive, PG&E said more would come on Tuesday and Wednesday because further strong winds were expected.

The company said it had logged more than 20 preliminary reports of damage to its network from the most recent windstorm.

In a video posted to Twitter on Saturday, Governor Gavin Newsom said the power cuts were “infuriating everyone, and rightfully so”.

Where are the fires now?

In Los Angeles, the Getty Fire has burned over 600 acres (242 ha) and about 10,000 buildings are in the mandatory evacuation zone.

At least eight homes have been destroyed and five others damaged.

“If you are in an evacuation zone, don’t screw around,” Mr Schwarzenegger tweeted. “Get out.”

LA fire chief Ralph Terrazas said fire crews had been “overwhelmed” by the scale of the fires.

“They had to make some tough decisions on which houses they were able to protect,” he said.

“Many times it depends on where the ember lands. I saw homes that were adjacent to homes that were totally destroyed, without any damage.”

Media captionSonoma County residents react to raging fire

In northern California, schools remain closed in Sonoma County, where tens of thousands of homes and businesses are under threat.

Sonoma has been ravaged by the Kincade Fire, which started on Wednesday and has burned through 50,000 acres of land, fanned by the winds.

The Kincade Fire began seven minutes after a nearby power line was damaged, but PG&E has not yet confirmed if the power glitch started the blaze.

About 180,000 people have been ordered to evacuate, with roads around Santa Rosa north of San Francisco packed with cars as people tried to flee.

There are fears the flames could cross the 101 highway and enter areas that have not seen wildfires since the 1940s.

Media captionJets drop fire retardant on California blaze

Have you been affected by the wildfires or power cuts? Share your experiences by emailing .

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50216280

“They have a great deal of courage and willingness to work,” Judy Hagen, the president of the American Belgian Malinois Club, said in an interview. “They’re very intelligent and they’re easily trained.”

Belgians, she said, can cost anywhere from $1,500 for a show dog puppy to over $30,000 for a fully-trained protection dog.

The identity of the dog has become the subject of rampant curiosity since Mr. Trump used glowing terms to describe the animal’s heroics on Sunday. In the same news conference, Mr. Trump used disparaging terms to describe Mr. al-Baghdadi’s death — “He died like a dog” — even as he praised the animal for pursuing the ISIS leader.

“Our ‘K-9,’ as they call it,” Mr. Trump said, “I call it a dog. A beautiful dog — a talented dog — was injured and brought back.”

Mr. Trump’s apparently complex relationship with dogs has become a matter of curiosity in recent years. Both critics and supporters have noted that he is among the few modern presidents who have not had a dog in the White House.

Earlier this year during a rally in El Paso, Mr. Trump mused that his associates had encouraged him to get a dog because it would be a political asset.

“You do love your dogs, don’t you?” Mr. Trump told the crowd. “I wouldn’t mind having one, honestly, but I don’t have any time. How would I look walking a dog on the White House lawn?”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/us/politics/trump-baghdadi-dog-conan.html

Even for those miles away from the flames and power outages, smoke plumes from California’s wildfires are disrupting people’s lives, degrading air quality from the Bay Area to L.A.’s Westside and contributing to widespread school closures.

More than 10,000 students across the Santa Monica and Malibu areas were forced to stay home Monday after being alerted about 6:30 a.m. that all schools in their district would be closed because of the Getty fire.

District officials said wildfire smoke was one of several reasons they closed all 16 of their schools, even those far from any direct fire danger.

“Air quality is unhealthful in many neighborhoods. Traffic is jammed. We are still under notice for Public Safety Power Shutoffs in Malibu, along with a red flag warning, meaning extreme fire danger,” Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Supt. Ben Drati wrote in a message to parents and staff Monday afternoon. “These conditions are what led us to our decision, in an abundance of caution.”

Later in the day the South Coast Air Quality Management District issued a smoke advisory warning of elevated pollution through Tuesday morning as winds push the smoke over areas of the Westside, the Santa Monica Mountains, the San Fernando Valley and central Los Angeles.

The advisory cited “very unhealthy” air quality in communities near the Getty fire based on readings from low-cost pollution sensors in Brentwood showing elevated levels of fine-particle pollution early Monday morning.

The Times is offering coverage of the Getty fire for free today. Please consider a subscription to support our journalism.

The district’s own monitoring stations in downtown Los Angeles and Reseda were not showing elevated pollution levels “in part because winds are pushing smoke away from the monitors,” according to the advisory.

But that could soon change. Forecasters predicted shifting winds to push smoke from the fire to the east and northeast toward downtown Los Angeles, Burbank, and the San Fernando Valley, on Monday afternoon, then north toward the San Fernando Valley, Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley and Burbank on Tuesday.

The pathway of the smoke is only as predictable as the wind and, regulators said, can shift at a moment’s notice.

Gail Pinsker, a spokeswoman for the Santa Monica-Malibu district, said, “We did not wake up expecting to close schools today,” but that poor air quality from the Getty fire meant that children would have had to stay indoors.

“We don’t have air conditioning in all of our classrooms, so when it’s hot like this in addition to the conditions, we can’t have a classroom full of students with windows closed and without air conditioning,” she said.

The Los Angeles Unified School District closed more than a dozen schools because of the Getty fire, though officials said those closures were based on their proximity to evacuation zones, not air quality. UCLA canceled classes. Santa Monica College closed its campus, citing air quality concerns.

In the Bay Area, air quality officials said air quality had degraded considerably Monday and warned that smoke from the Kincade fire was expected to push south into the Bay Area, combining with smoke from the local Suisun Marsh fire.

Monitoring data shows air pollution reached “unhealthy” levels in communities in the East Bay and the North Bay by Monday morning, but regulators acknowledged there were localized spikes where people were breathing even higher pollution levels for shorter periods of time.

Air quality officials warned that shifting winds could as soon worsen pollution in the Bay Area by reversing conditions that, so far, have sent much of the smoke from the Kincade fire out over the Pacific Ocean.

“Right now we have smoke that’s sitting off in the ocean,” said Walter Wallace, a spokesman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. “If we have a weather pattern that blows that smoke into the Bay Area, we’re going to be impacted even more.”

In Southern California, many residents have gotten used to the threat of fires and of smoke pollution nearly every fall. “There’s always a threat hanging in the air around here,” said Danny Cahn, 62, who spent part of Monday snapping photos of firefighting helicopters and planes flying over his neighborhood, sandwiched between Bel-Air and Brentwood.

Early Sunday morning, Cahn and his wife were awakened by the smell of smoke wafting in through a bedroom window, he said.

“When the smoke clears and the fires are out,” he added, “it’ll be a wonderful place to live, until the next wildfire.”

Experts say that smoke from the blazes can irritate the eyes, nose and throat, trigger asthma attacks and raise the risk of heart attacks and stroke. Tiny, harmful particles in the smoke can lodge deep in the lungs and pose serious health risks, especially to children, the elderly and people with asthma and other chronic lung diseases.

The American Lung Assn. and other experts recommend taking precautions if you smell smoke or see ash in the air:

  • Stay indoors with windows, doors and fireplace dampers closed.
  • Avoid exercise or vigorous physical activity.
  • Set your air-conditioning unit or car ventilation system to “recirculate” to keep outside air from entering.
  • Run an air-cleaning device with a HEPA filter and place it in a single “clean room” within your home.
  • Don’t rely on dust masks. A properly fitting N95 mask can filter out lung-damaging particles but can be difficult to use.

Times staff writer Louis Sahagun contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-28/air-quality-getty-fire-california-smoke

North Carolina cannot use the existing maps for its congressional districts in next year’s elections, a state court ruled late Monday, declaring them to be invalid partisan gerrymanders.

The ruling was a victory for state Democrats who lost a battle when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that such challenges were beyond the authority of federal courts to referee. So the fight resumed in state court, citing violations of North Carolina’s constitution.

A three-judge panel of state judges issued an order Monday barring state officials from using the current map for the coming elections, including the March presidential primary. The panel stopped short of ordering the legislature to draw new maps but said disruptions could be avoided “should the General Assembly, on its own initiative, act immediately and will all due haste to enact new congressional districts.”

The ruling said delaying the primary could reduce voter turnout and increase the cost of the election. But it said, “those consequences pale in comparison to voters of our state proceeding to vote, yet again, in congressional elections administered pursuant to maps drawn in violation of our North Carolina Constitution.”

The legislature designed the current maps in 2016 after a court declared the congressional district boundaries to be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. But the new maps were drawn to ensure the partisan breakdown of the state’s congressional delegation⁠: Ten Republicans and three Democrats.

In 2016, a Republican state legislator involved in the process, Rep. David Lewis, said “I think electing Republicans is better than electing Democrats,” adding at the time that he drew the map “to help foster what I think is better for the country.”

In their lawsuit, the challengers said the map may be “the most extreme and brazen partisan gerrymander in American history.” The legislature limited the ability of Democrats to elect the candidates of their choosing by concentrating them into just three districts and diluting their voting strength in the remaining ones, the court concluded.

The state court earlier this year struck down the boundary lines for state house and senate districts on similar grounds. The legislature declined to appeal and instead redrew the maps in time to meet the court’s two-week deadline.

The Supreme Court’s ruling in June declared that partisan gerrymandering cases were off limits for the federal courts. But it nonetheless said state courts could consider such challenges. Some justices were stinging in their criticism of North Carolina’s map and a similar gerrymander in Maryland. Such blatantly partisan moves, said Elena Kagan, “debased and dishonored our democracy, turning upside-down the core American idea that all governmental power derives from the people.”

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/court-throws-out-north-carolina-s-congressional-district-maps-n1073081

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Source Article from https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/10/kurds-betrayal-troops-return-syria-oil.html

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what’s happening in the world as it unfolds.

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/28/politics/house-impeachment-procedure-vote/index.html

“We do feel like we’re getting our arms around this, but with the big caveat that the wrong gust, air that comes in from the wrong direction, could lift embers and immediately make this a fire someplace else,” he added. “So when people say, ‘Hey, I feel like my home is far away from where this fire is’ — do not return, for your own safety. Trust the fire department. Trust the professionals to do this, and don’t be a hero.”

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/10/28/getty-fire-southern-california-forces-evacuations-more-than-buildings/

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, said Monday that the U.S. killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was successful due to long-term strategy leading up to it.

“I understand that people get frustrated with our extended presence there. But let’s not forget, we had a very cost-effective small footprint which led to this outcome,” Crenshaw told “The Daily Briefing with Dana Perino.”

President Trump, announcing the death of al-Baghdadi, said the Islamic State leader died “in a vicious and violent way, as a coward, running and crying.”

TRUMP DESCRIBES AL-BAGHDADI AS ‘WHIMPERING AND CRYING’ BEFORE DYING IN US OPERATION: ‘HE DIED LIKE A COWARD’

His demise came when U.S. Special Operations Forces stormed his compound in Idlib Province, Syria, late Saturday and cornered him in the back of a dead-end tunnel. He detonated an explosive vest, taking his own life and killing three of his children.

Trump said the U.S. had al-Baghdadi under surveillance for weeks and had been searching for him for years, calling his capture or death “the top national security priority of my administration.” Trump thanked Russia, Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Kurds in the region.

ISIS LEADER AL-BAGHDADI CONFIRMED DEAD AFTER APPARENT SUICIDE DURING U.S. OPERATION: SOURCES

Crenshaw, who lost his right eye in an explosion in Afghanistan, went on to say, “You have to build those relationships with allies; you have to maintain an intelligence picture on the ground; you have to have a forward presence to do things like we did this weekend, so we just can’t forget that.”

He added, “This is a long-term battle against an ideology that truly wants to kill us and attack the homeland.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

“We should recognize our strategy up until now led to this outcome and it’s a good outcome,” Crenshaw said.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/navy-seal-veteran-rep-dan-crenshaw-on-al-baghdadi-raid-our-strategy-up-until-now-led-to-this-outcome

But for many Chicagoans, the gathering had a cathartic, festive feel, with a brass band playing, children dancing and many in the crowd chanting in praise of their city. (“What city protects democracy? Chicago!”)

Ian Wallace, a 38-year-old stay-at-home parent from the Old Town neighborhood whose children attend public elementary school, said he was drawn to the protest to stand against Mr. Trump, his policies and his frequent attacks on Chicago.

“We wanted to show our disappointment with him,” Mr. Wallace said beside three of his children. “There’s a lot of negative things you hear about Chicago, and it’s almost always from someone who doesn’t live here. We love our city.”

Mr. Trump in recent weeks has been showing up in places where he is unpopular, including the San Francisco Bay Area and Minneapolis, and in his brief day trip to Chicago on Monday, he mostly avoided its residents in favor of out-of-town conference attendees.

Last week, Mr. Johnson, the superintendent, said he did not plan to attend Mr. Trump’s speech to police leaders because it “doesn’t line up with our city’s core values, along with my personal values.”

“I can’t in good conscience stand by while racial insults and hatred are cast from the Oval Office, or Chicago is held hostage because of our views on New Americans,” he said in a statement.

Speaking to the International Association of Chiefs of Police, Mr. Trump questioned Mr. Johnson’s values and said he protected illegal immigrants in a violent city.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/us/trump-chicago-visit.html