FBI Failed to Inform FISA Court that Steele Dossier was Unreliable: Report

The Justice Department's inspector general has concluded that the FBI omitted crucial details in its requests for warrants to surveil Trump campaign associate Carter Page, saying the agency neglected to mention that some of the information the warrant applications were based on was shaky.Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's yet unpublished draft report found that the FBI did not inform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the controversial Steele dossier, cited in applications to spy on Page, was unreliable, according to the Washington Post.The dossier was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele who was investigating Donald Trump for an opposition research firm hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign. The dossier purported to show connections between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.The FBI found Steele's information about a Russian government connection to be dubious but declined to mention as much in the later applications to the FISA court for warrants to surveil Page.Horowitz also found that an FBI lawyer doctored an email used in the warrant application, a potential crime prosecutors are now investigating.However, the inspector general did not say the FISA court should have declined to grant the warrants and nevertheless concluded that political bias did not compromise the FBI's handling of the Russia investigation.Attorney General William Barr has reportedly said privately that he disagrees with the inspector general that FBI had enough information in July, 2016 to justify opening an investigation into members of the Trump campaign.“I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. It’s a big deal,” Barr said in April. "Frankly, to the extent that there were any issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem that’s endemic to the FBI. I think there was probably a failure among a group of leaders there in the upper echelon.”

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A woman Photoshopped her family's Christmas card to include her military husband who's serving overseas

Danielle Cobo's husband is serving overseas in the military, but they still wanted to take a family picture together for this year's Christmas card.

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Argentina's Fernandez signals policy shifts with new cabinet, economy chief

Argentine President-elect Alberto Fernandez unveiled his cabinet and new central bank chief on Friday evening, laying out his core team days before the center-left leader takes office facing a stalled economy, rising debt fears and painful inflation.

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Left-leaning congressman named Argentina's next agriculture minister

The next agriculture minister of grains powerhouse Argentina will be Luis Basterra, President-elect Alberto Fernandez said on Friday, an appointment met with some scepticism by farmers worried about a possible revival of interventionist policies.

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U.S. military has enough capability in Middle East for now: Esper

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Friday he believed the U.S. military had sufficient capability in the Middle East for now to deter conflict, dismissing a media report that a major troop increase was under consideration amid tension with Iran.

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Trump says will hold off designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist groups

President Donald Trump said on Friday he will temporarily hold off designating Mexican drug cartels as terrorist organizations at the request of Mexico's president.

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Leak of classified papers ahead of UK election 'tied to' Russian operation: Reddit

The leak and distribution of classified British-U.S. trade documents online is tied to a previous Russian disinformation campaign, Reddit said on Friday, fuelling fears that Moscow is seeking to interfere in Britain's upcoming election.

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French Strike Aims to Save an Envied, but Convoluted, Approach to Pensions

By BY LIZ ALDERMAN from NYT World https://ift.tt/2OVIL3y

Eli Manning Is Ready for Another Chance

By BY DANIELLE ALLENTUCK from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2sUcEc3

Ron Leibman, Tony Winner for ‘Angels,’ Is Dead at 82

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Supreme Court Won’t Allow Federal Executions to Resume

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Bloomberg: ‘Nobody Asked Me’ About Stop and Frisk Until I Ran for President

Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg claims no one asked him until he was a 2020 contender about the controversial "stop and frisk" policy the NYPD adopted while he was mayor of New York City.Bloomberg recently apologized for “stop and frisk,” the practice that disproportionately affected black and Latino men in New York of briefly stopping civilians on the street to question them and search them for weapons or illegal substances.“I was wrong,” Bloomberg, 77, said last month in Brooklyn. “And I am sorry.”“Some people are suspicious of the timing of your apology,” CBS anchor Gayle King told Bloomberg during an interview that aired Friday.> Former NYC Mayor @MikeBloomberg tells @GayleKing "nobody asked" him about stop & frisk until he started running for president.> > "I'm sorry. I apologize. Let's go fight the NRA and find other ways to stop the murders and incarceration. Those are things that I'm committed to do." pic.twitter.com/ww1pJPraBt> > -- CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) December 6, 2019“Well, the mark of an intelligent, competent person is when they make a mistake, they have the guts to stand up and say ‘I made a mistake, I’m sorry,'" Bloomberg responded.King pressed further, saying people do not question whether Bloomberg believes he made a mistake but rather the convenient timing of his realization.“Nobody asked me about it until I started running for president, so come on,” Bloomberg shot back.“We were overzealous at the time to do it," he added. "Our intent was to do anything we could to stop the carnage, the murder rate. And what was surprising is when we stopped doing it a little bit, we thought crime would go up. It didn’t. It went down. Should have, would have, and could have, I can't help that. In looking back, I made a mistake. I’m sorry, I apologize.”“Let’s go fight the NRA and find other ways to stop the murders and incarceration. Those are things that I’m committed to do," Bloomberg concluded.Bloomberg is currently polling in fifth place behind former vice president Joe Biden, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg.

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Joe Biden Challenges Iowa Man to a Push-Up Contest During Heated Exchange

Biden also called the man a 'damn liar' after comments about his son

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Explainer: How impeachment works and why Trump is unlikely to be removed

U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday instructed the House Judiciary Committee to draft articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump for pressuring Ukraine to investigate a political rival. What happens next and why Trump is unlikely to be removed from office are both explained here.

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Chase with stolen UPS truck ends with shootout, 4 dead

Four people, including a UPS driver, were killed Thursday after robbers stole the driver’s truck and led police on a chase that ended in gunfire at a busy South Florida intersection during rush hour, the FBI said. Both robbers were shot and killed, and the fourth victim was in a nearby vehicle when shots rang out at a crowded intersection in Miramar, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) north of where the incident began, FBI Special Agent in Charge George Piro said during a news conference Thursday night. Television news helicopters showed first responders tending to at least one person who fell out of the UPS truck, moments after several shots were fired when the chase ended.

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Climate models have been right all along, study finds

Even the rather primitive climate computer models of the 1970s, 80s and 90s were impressively accurate, lending extra credibility to the much more advanced climate models of today, study finds

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A day in the life of a Peloton instructor who wakes up at 4:30 a.m., takes his mini poodle to dog parks, and loves cookies

Peloton, a fast-growing fitness brand, has developed a cult following in part because of energetic instructors like Oliver Lee.

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Indiana judge grants stay of execution for federal inmate

A convicted murderer set to become the first federal inmate to be executed in 16 years was granted a stay of execution on Thursday by a judge in Indiana. Daniel Lewis Lee, a white supremacist convicted in Arkansas of murdering a family of three, was granted the stay by U.S. District Judge James Patrick Hanlon. Lee's execution had been set for Monday, but a separate ruling by a judge in Washington last month put his execution and that of three other federal inmates on hold.

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US flu season arrives early, driven by an unexpected virus

The U.S. winter flu season is off to its earliest start in more than 15 years. An early barrage of illness in the South has begun to spread more broadly, and there’s a decent chance flu season could peak much earlier than normal, health officials say. The last flu season to rev up this early was in 2003-2004 — a bad one.

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Police Officer Under Investigation After Footage Said to Show Him Groping Dead Woman

A Los Angeles police officer has been placed under investigation, a police spokesman said Wednesday.Body camera footage was said to show him groping a deceased woman's breasts, according to a person familiar with the case.The unidentified male officer was not working while the case was under investigation, Josh Rubenstein, the department spokesman, said.The officer had been assigned to the Central Division and was responding to an overdose call, he said. Rubenstein declined to provide specific information about the incident, including when it occurred, because it is part of a personnel investigation.Supervisors throughout the jurisdiction conduct random reviews of video on a monthly basis, Rubenstein said.All uniformed officers assigned to patrol the Los Angeles area have cameras, he said, and roughly 7,000 cameras are issued."If this allegation is true, then the behavior exhibited by this officer is not only wrong, but extremely disturbing, and does not align with the values we, as police officers, hold dear and these values include respect and reverence for the deceased," the board of directors for the Los Angeles Police Protective League, the police officers' union, said in a statement on Wednesday. "This behavior has no place in law enforcement."Police departments around the country have increasingly used body cameras after several high-profile shootings. In 2015, about 95% of large police departments started using body cameras or said they would use them in the future, a national survey said.A 2017 study of more than 2,000 Washington, D.C. officers conducted over 18 months showed officers with body cameras used force and prompted civilian complaints at nearly the same rate as officers without the equipment.A Baltimore police officer was suspended and charges against a man were dropped after a body-camera recording appeared to show an officer planting a bag of drugs at the scene of an arrest in January 2017. In that case, the camera retained recordings beginning 30 seconds before it was activated.In November 2018, The New York Times published body-camera recordings of an arrest in Staten Island that raised questions regarding police behavior. In this case, lawyers for the defendant claimed the footage contained possible proof that an officer planted a marijuana cigarette. The officer and the Police Department denied any wrongdoing.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

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China imposes 'reciprocal' restrictions on US diplomats

China on Friday said it had taken "reciprocal" measures against US diplomats in the country, ordering them to notify the foreign ministry before meeting with local officials. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had notified the US embassy of the new measures on Wednesday, which she said were a "countermeasure" to Washington's decision in October to restrict Chinese diplomats. In October, the US ordered Chinese diplomats to notify the State Department in advance of any official meetings with US diplomats, local or municipal officials, and before any visits to colleges or research institutions.

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Judge Allows Criminal Trial to Proceed against Pro-Life Investigators

A San Francisco judge ruled Friday that the criminal trial may move forward against the pro-life investigators who went undercover to record abortion industry executives talking about procuring fetal body parts.Judge Christopher Hite deemed the evidence sufficient to send to trial the case against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the Center for Medical Progress, who are charged with nine felony counts, one count of conspiracy and eight counts of illegal taping. Six additional counts were dropped.Daleiden, 30, and Merritt, 64, several years ago surreptitiously recorded executives from Planned Parenthood and other organizations haggling about compensation for the procurement of fetal parts for researchers who request them.The Thomas More Society, representing the two pro-life investigators, announced the decision on Friday in a tweet.> BREAKING NEWS: 6 counts in David Daleiden's criminal case have been thrown out of court and 9 remain. Judge Hite deems the evidence enough to go to trial on 9 counts. More to follow!> > -- Thomas More Society (@ThomasMoreSoc) December 6, 2019Lila Rose, president of the pro-life group Live Action, called the charges against the investigators "unfounded and outrageous" in a statement on Friday's decision, saying they "have nothing to do with violating privacy or video recording laws but everything to do with protecting the powerful and wealthy abortion industry.""The same year David and Sandra published their recordings of Planned Parenthood employees haggling over the price of aborted baby body parts, videos taken by undercover animal rights activists were praised and led to investigations of abuse in the poultry industry," Rose said.Last month, the jury in the separate civil case against Daleiden and Merritt handed Planned Parenthood a win under federal racketeering statutes, awarding the abortion giant over $2.2 million.

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'This a trap that Giuliani and Trump literally walked into': Russia may know more about the Ukraine scandal than we do

One recently retired FBI special agent told Insider that The Post's reporting left "little doubt" that the Russians had a hand in the Ukraine controversy.

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