Big Time News Blog: 02/23/20

Sunday, February 23, 2020

One Tiny Beautiful Thing

By BY MARGARET RENKL from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/3a1OcG6

Will the Appalachian Trail Stop an $8 Billion Pipeline?

By BY WILL HARLAN from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2v0y8Wg

Review: ‘Drowning’ Is a Philip Glass Opera for Just 99 Seats

By BY SETH COLTER WALLS from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/2SW2gv7

In Case on Wealth Test for Green Cards, a Scathing Sotomayor Dissent

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Friday allowed the Trump administration to move forward with plans to deny green cards to immigrants who are thought to be likely to become "public charges" by making even occasional and minor use of public benefits like Medicaid, food stamps and housing vouchers.As in a similar case last month, the vote was 5 to 4, with the court's conservative justices in the majority. As before, the court's brief order included no reasons for lifting a preliminary injunction that had blocked the new program.The earlier case, from a judge in New York, concerned a nationwide injunction. Friday's order lifted a much more limited injunction, one that applied only in Illinois.The new order drew a scathing dissent from Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who said the Trump administration had become too quick to run to the Supreme Court after interim losses in the lower courts."Claiming one emergency after another, the government has recently sought stays in an unprecedented number of cases, demanding immediate attention and consuming limited court resources in each," she wrote. "And with each successive application, of course, its cries of urgency ring increasingly hollow."The court's earlier order, she said, at least had the virtue of blocking a nationwide injunction, a form of relief that has been criticized by judges and scholars.Indeed, two members of the court -- Justice Neil Gorsuch, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas -- issued a concurrence in last month's case indicating that the central problem was the geographic scope of the injunction."It has become increasingly apparent that this court must, at some point, confront these important objections to this increasingly widespread practice," Gorsuch wrote. "As the brief and furious history of the regulation before us illustrates, the routine issuance of universal injunctions is patently unworkable, sowing chaos for litigants, the government, courts, and all those affected by these conflicting decisions.""I concur in the court's decision to issue a stay," Gorsuch continued. "But I hope, too, that we might at an appropriate juncture take up some of the underlying equitable and constitutional questions raised by the rise of nationwide injunctions."On Friday, Sotomayor wrote that the administration's "own definition of irreparable harm has shifted" after securing that first victory."Having first sought a stay in the New York cases based, in large part, on the purported harm created by a nationwide injunction, it now disclaims that rationale and insists that the harm is its temporary inability to enforce its goals in one state," she wrote.She added that the court had to shoulder its share of the blame."It is hard to say," she wrote, "what is more troubling: that the government would seek this extraordinary relief seemingly as a matter of course, or that the court would grant it."The administration, she wrote, has been treated far better by the justices than death row inmates seeking last-minute stays of executions."I fear," she wrote, "that this disparity in treatment erodes the fair and balanced decision-making process that this court must strive to protect."The administration announced in August that it would revise the so-called public charge rule, which allows officials to deny immigrants permanent legal status, also known as a green card, if they are likely to need public assistance. In the past, only substantial and sustained monetary help or long-term institutionalization counted, and less than 1% of applicants were disqualified on public charge grounds.The administration's revised rule broadened the criteria to include "noncash benefits providing for basic needs such as housing or food" used in any 12 months in a 36-month period. Use of two kinds of benefits in a single month counts as two months, and so on.The new rule was challenged in courts around the country, and five trial judges entered injunctions blocking it. Appellate courts stayed some but not all of the injunctions while appeals moved forward, and the appeals themselves have been placed on fast tracks.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company

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Michigan sex-misconduct claims mirror Ohio State doctor case

When the University of Michigan announced last week that allegations of decades-old sexual misconduct by a sports doctor were under investigation, former wrestler Mike DiSabato was stunned by the parallels to an abuse scandal at his alma mater, Ohio State. The accusations by several people against Dr. Robert E. Anderson at Michigan immediately called to mind claims DiSabato and hundreds of other men made about Dr. Richard Strauss at Ohio State.

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Outcry after MSNBC host compares Sanders’ Nevada win to Nazi invasion

* Calls for firing of Chris Matthews after widespread anger * Sanders, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist is JewishMSNBC host Chris Matthews compared Bernie Sanders’ victory in the Nevada caucuses on Saturday to the Nazi invasion of France, spurring calls for his firing.“I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940 and the general, Reynaud, calls up Churchill and says, ‘It’s over,’” Matthews said on air on Saturday night.“And Churchill says, ‘How can that be? You’ve got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?’ He said, ‘It’s over.’”“So I had that suppressed feeling,” Matthews also said.Sanders, a senator from Vermont and self-proclaimed democratic socialist, is Jewish.He won the Nevada caucuses easily, helping solidify his status as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in a primary split between moderates and progressives. Sanders’ win came in the wake of a strong showing in Iowa and victory in New Hampshire.> MSNBC’s Chris Matthews likens Sanders victory in Nevada to Nazi Germany overrunning France in 1940: “It’s too late to stop him … it’s over” pic.twitter.com/6GJetLoDkq> > — Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) February 22, 2020Matthews’ words prompted widespread anger.“Bernie is Jewish and his family was killed by the Nazis,” tweeted David Sirota, a Sanders speechwriter and former Guardian contributor. “None of this is OK.”“This is absolutely disgusting on [Matthews’] part,” tweeted Parker Molloy, editor-at-large at Media Matters for America. “Retire, get fired, whatever. Bottom line is that Matthews needs to be out of a job.”On air, Matthews said Republicans would disclose opposition research on Sanders that would “kill him” in the general election against Donald Trump.“It looks like Bernie Sanders is hard to beat,” Matthews said of the primary, adding: “I think it’s a little late to stop him, and I think that’s the problem.”MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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South Korea Signals Unprecedented Steps to Contain Outbreak

(Bloomberg) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in raised the country’s infectious-disease alert level to the highest and signaled the potential for unprecedented steps to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has killed six and infected hundreds.The government ordered that schools delay resuming lessons after a holiday break as more than 600 people were confirmed to have been infected, a 20-fold surge in reported cases over five days. More than half are linked to members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, an opaque religious sect, while almost an entire hospital psychiatric ward of over 110 patients and staff tested positive for the virus.The worsening outbreak may add further pressure on South Korean assets. The won recorded its biggest five-day drop in more than four years last week when the number of infections jumped. Government bonds could extend gains as the economic fallout from the outbreak bolsters the case for the central bank to ease policy again.The quick spread in South Korea has triggered travel advisories around the world. Israel is closing its borders to foreign nationals who live in or have visited South Korea in the past two weeks, while the U.S. and the U.K. also raised their alert levels for travel in the Asian country.South Korea was last on red alert in 2009, during the H1N1 virus outbreak that resulted in 250 deaths in the country. At the red level, the government has the power to stop military personnel from going on vacation leave, control the activities of aircraft, suspend public schools from restarting, as well as impose stricter measures to bar foreigners from entering the country, the DongA Ilbo newspaper reported, citing an official.A day after the prime minister asked citizens to stop mass religious activities for safety reasons, President Moon said the government could take “powerful measures like never before without being tied to regulations” to contain the outbreak. He emphasized that shutting down Shincheonji facilities was a safety measure, not a suppression of religion.Daegu, the southeast Korean city where the Shincheonji group is located, has deployed some 600 police officers to track down members who have been unreachable, according to the Maeil Business newspaper. There are about 670 people who have been uncontactable, the paper said.Health officials in that city have a list of residents who are members of the sect, and are getting in touch to explain self-quarantine measures. Authorities have stationed a total of about 500 military personnel at two hospitals in Daegu to implement stricter measures for patients who are confirmed to be infected.Daegu is one of two cities, along with nearby Cheongdo, subject to a U.K. travel advisory on Saturday. Britain’s Foreign Office advised against “all but essential travel” to the two locations. The U.S. separately raised its guidance to Level 2 -- “exercise increased caution” -- for the country as a whole. That level warns of sustained community transmission and calls for “precautions for high-risk travelers,” such as those with chronic medical conditions.Israel took sterner measures after from a group of Catholics from South Korea who went on a Holy Land Pilgrimage of religious sites was confirmed to have the virus.South Korea’s CDC said 18 people out of the 39 who went on the tour in Israel were confirmed to have the virus. Authorities are conducting further tests on the remaining 21. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Andong has halted all masses and assemblies until March, the CDC said in the statement.(Updates with markets in third paragraph)\--With assistance from Liau Y-Sing.To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Christopher AnsteyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Pete Buttigieg begs Democrats to 'take a sober look' at Bernie Sanders

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg wants America to look before it leaps into a Sanders presidency.Buttigieg remained stuck in third place in Nevada's Democratic caucuses as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was projected the winner on Saturday night. And while Buttigieg congratulated Sanders and acknowledged they have many goals in common, he still had some reservations about nominating Sanders and asked Democrats to "take a sober look at what's at stake" before doing so in his concession speech."This a great day for our campaign," Buttigieg said Saturday as he asked for campaign donations to keep his candidacy running through Super Tuesday. "I congratulate Sen. Sanders on his strong showing tonight," Buttigieg said, but pivoted to ask that "before we rush to nominate Sen. Sanders ... let us take a sober look at what is at stake." "Sen. Sanders believes in an inflexible, ideological revolution that leaves out most Democrats, not to mention most Americans," Buttigieg said, and even accused Sanders of furthering a "tenor of combat, division, and polarization" that would never change "the toxic tone of our politics."Buttigieg had about a third of Sanders' vote count when the projection was made — though that happened with just 4 percent of precincts reporting. Former Vice President Joe Biden was barely ahead of Buttigieg at that point, but his speech took on a much more victorious tone as he moved on to focus on South Carolina.More stories from theweek.com CNN analyst: Republicans 'may regret' hoping Sanders wins nomination The stunning Southern Baptist controversy over Donald Trump and Russell Moore, explained 5 criminally funny cartoons about Trump's pardoning spree

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Iran announces low poll turnout, blames coronavirus 'propaganda'

Iran on Sunday announced a 42% turnout in its parliamentary election, the lowest rate since the 1979 Islamic revolution, while its top leader said Tehran's enemies played up the new coronavirus threat to dissuade people from voting. With Iran facing growing isolation and threats of conflict over its nuclear standoff with the United States, and increasing discontent at home, the turnout is seen as a referendum on the popularity of the Islamic republic's rulers. The final results, announced by the Interior Ministry, showed big gains by hardline loyalists close to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last say on all state matters.

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Wrong-way crash on Interstate 95 in Georgia kills 6 people, including 3 children

Six people, including three children, were killed early Sunday in a head-on crash on Interstate 95, according to the Georgia State Patrol.

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Cases of the coronavirus are spiking outside of China and the World Health Organization warned 'the window of opportunity is narrowing' to contain it

South Korea admitted it failed to keep the virus out of the country as cases now surge, and many countries are reporting their first cases and deaths.

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Police at checkpoints, events scrapped as virus fears hit Italy

Police patrolled perimeters of virus-stricken town in northern Italy Sunday as tens of thousands of people were placed under lockdown and public events cancelled to stem Europe's worst outbreak of the new coronavirus. "Virus -- Northern Italy under Siege," read Sunday's headline in the Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, as television stations delivered a steady stream of images of masked locals and hospital workers in protective suits. "Virus Paralysis," read La Repubblica.

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India Should Buy the F-15EX from America. Here's Why.

A good idea? What about the F-35?

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Three Weinstein Accusers Could Send Producer to Prison for Life

(Bloomberg) -- As the jurors in Harvey Weinstein’s sexual assault trial wrestle with a pair of charges that could send the fallen movie mogul to prison for life, the testimony of three women who don’t even appear in his indictment could help seal his fate.They’re known as Molineux witnesses in New York, where Weinstein is being tried, and they testified to their own encounters with him as prosecutors sought to persuade the jury that the two women he is charged with attacking never gave their consent to sex. Such witnesses testified in the retrial of Bill Cosby in Pennsylvania, which ended in his conviction.On Friday the jury sent a note to the judge referring to two counts of predatory sexual assault -- counts one and three on the verdict sheet it’s working from -- and suggesting it might be deadlocked.“We the jury request to understand if we can be hung on one and/or three and unanimous on the other charges. Thank you,” the jurors told the judge. He told them to keep trying.The other charges are a criminal sexual act and rape. Weinstein is accused of forcing oral sex on “Project Runway” assistant Miriam Haley in his SoHo loft in 2006 and raping aspiring actor Jessica Mann in a midtown Manhattan hotel in 2013.In a category by herself is the actor Annabella Sciorra, who told the jury that Weinstein raped her in the early 1990s. Her allegations are a linchpin for the two predatory sexual assault counts, the gravest charges facing the former Hollywood power broker.Predatory sexual assault requires a serious attack on at least two people. To find Weinstein guilty on count one, the jury would need to be persuaded by the evidence for the alleged attacks on both Haley and Sciorra. To convict him on count three, it would need to find that he assaulted both Mann and Sciorra.Read More: Weinstein Jury Stuck on Most Serious Charges, Told to Keep at ItThe testimony of the Molineux witnesses may come into play as well. Weinstein’s lawyers argue that any encounters their client had were consensual. If the jury finds the allegations of assault from these three women credible, it may decide Haley and Mann never gave Weinstein their consent either, and convict him of rape and a criminal sexual act.And if the jurors believe Sciorra, too, that will meet the requirements of predatory sexual assault -- the two counts they seem to be stuck on -- and Weinstein, 67, could spend the rest of his life behind bars.Weinstein’s lawyers have told the jury that the women had consensual, and even transactional, sex with their client, and that they “re-labeled” the encounters as assaults years after the fact in the wake of the MeToo movement.The first of the three witnesses, Dawn Dunning, testified that in 2004, when she was an aspiring actor waiting tables, Weinstein lured her to a business meeting in a hotel room and digitally penetrated her. The second, Tarale Wulff, told the court that minutes after meeting the producer in 2005, when she was working as a cocktail waitress, he dragged her up a secluded stairwell and masturbated, and later raped her in his SoHo apartment. The third, Lauren Young, said she was a model trying to make it as a screenwriter in 2013 when Weinstein trapped her in his hotel suite’s bathroom, where he stripped off the top of her dress and groped her.Such testimony about uncharged crimes is typically considered too prejudicial to allow, but it’s permitted under limited circumstances. While it can’t be used to suggest a defendant has a propensity to commit a crime, it can explore the defendant’s intent or a common theme. In New York it dates back to a landmark 1901 decision involving a chemist named Roland Molineux who was accused in a fatal cyanide poisoning.Read More: Weinstein’s ‘Trial of the Century’ Gets Its Own PodcastNew York State Supreme Court Justice James Burke ruled in December, over the objections of the defense, that the three accusers could be called to rebut Weinstein’s argument that the encounters were consensual and to show his “intent to use forcible compulsion” on Haley and Mann. The decision was unsealed on Feb. 7, revealing that prosecutors sought to call a total of five such witnesses, the same number as at the Cosby trial.In the end, Burke allowed three.“The consistent theme is that the defendant used his business stature in the movie industry to lure women to believe that he would connect them to careers in the entertainment industry,” Burke wrote, adding that the testimony could help the jury of seven men and five women understand why Haley and Mann feared reprisals if they went to the police.He said it could help the jurors decide whether Weinstein “created an engineered situation where he could be alone” with Mann and Haley “and then sexually assault them.”Weinstein’s lawyers have cited Burke’s Molineux ruling, as well as other decisions that went against them, in calling for a mistrial. Burke has denied the requests.The case is People v. Weinstein, 450293/2018, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan).Read MoreJurors Focus on Predatory Assault, Most Serious ChargeSciorra Describes Gift of Popcorn, Then RapeWeinstein Was Jekyll and Hyde, Witness Testifies‘I Think I Was Raped’: Jury Hears Rosie Perez Back Up SciorraJessica Mann Is Grilled on Contact After Alleged Assault Accuser Called Weinstein a ‘Soul Mate,’ Friend TestifiesWeinstein’s Dream Jury Is Conservative, Traditional, SkepticalA MeToo Moment Two Years in the MakingTo contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter JeffreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Israeli jets strike Islamic Jihad targets in Syria and Gaza: Israeli military

Israeli fighter jets launched air strikes on suspected Islamic Jihad positions in Syria, the Israeli military said on Monday, after the militant group and Israel exchanged rockets and air strikes around Gaza.

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Exclusive: If Lebanon needs financial aid, France will be there, finmin says

France is ready to support Lebanon financially - bilaterally or multilaterally - its finance minister said on Sunday, warning against mixing economic recovery in the small Mediterranean state with U.S.-led efforts to counter Iran in the region.

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Trains between Italy and Austria resume after passengers test negative for coronavirus

Austria suspended train services over the Alps to Italy for about four hours late on Sunday before restarting them after two travellers tested negative for coronavirus.