Puerto Ricans hoping Trump signs major disaster declaration

Four thousand people are still in shelters and many others are sleeping outside after yet another earthquake on Saturday.

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Hours of forewarning saved U.S., Iraqi lives from Iran's missile attack

AIN AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq (Reuters) - Nearly eight hours before Iran’s Jan. 8 missile attack on U.S. forces at bases in Iraq, American and Iraqi soldiers at Ain al-Asad air base scrambled to move personnel and weaponry to fortified bunkers, two Iraqi officers stationed at the base told Reuters. Such accounts add to the evidence that the Iranian attack was among the worst kept secrets in modern warfare – but the reasons why remain mysterious after days of conflicting statements from officials in Iran, Iraq and the United States. After the missiles landed, several major U.S. media outlets quoted U.S. officials saying the attack had been little more than a warning shot, allowing Iran to satisfy calls for revenge at home - after the U.S. air strike on Jan. 3 that killed an Iranian general - without much risk of provoking further U.S. attacks.

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Wisconsin Elections Leaders in Contempt; Told to Purge 200,000 Voters from Rolls

By BY MITCH SMITH from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2QOL09K

A Step-by-Step Guide to Trump’s Impeachment Trial

By BY NICHOLAS FANDOS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2uM143G

Impeachment Briefing: Selecting the Managers

By BY NOAH WEILAND from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2QOIu3u

Prosecutor Sues Her Own City Under a Law Passed to Fight the K.K.K.

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Pelosi: Clinton allowed witnesses to come forward during his impeachment trial — Trump has done the opposite

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday continued her calls for witnesses in President Trump’s impeachment trial after conceding to send articles of impeachment to the Senate in the coming weeks without Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s commitment to hear new testimony. 

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Puerto Rico earthquakes are just the latest in a string of shocks for US island

First there was Hurricane Maria. Then, government upset. Now, Puerto Rico is facing the effects of devastating earthquakesA colourful and boisterous place in normal times, Guánica today presents a ghostly and deserted air, the sea breeze whistling through the ruins of the collapsed buildings that dot its streets.The signs of life are a few: stray cats and dogs and a handful of families furtively piling their belongings into vehicles as they evacuate their homes.The town sits near the epicentre of the 6.4 earthquake that rocked Puerto Rico on Tuesday – the worst tremor to hit Puerto Rico in a century – which killed at least three people and left thousands homeless. Large-scale aftershocks, including one of 6.0 magnitude on Saturday morning, have rocked the island ever since.“I’ve never experienced anything like this,” said Edith Muñiz, 55, a lifelong resident of the town.“Many have fled their homes,” Muñiz said, standing in front of a Presbyterian church where emergency supplies were being collected. Across the street lay the ruins of a school whose three floors had pancaked flat on one another. (Luckily, the students were still off on winter break.) “We’re living here without water and without light.”The quakes are the latest in a string of shocks for this island of 3.2 million people – a commonwealth of the United States whose residents are US citizens but cannot vote in US presidential elections and have no voting representation in the US Congress. The island is still reeling from the impact of 2017’s Hurricane Maria – which devastated the island and killed at least 3,000 people – and processing protests last summer which forced the then governor, Ricardo Rosselló, from office.As after Maria, the response of the US government has appeared unfocused and disconnected. And – as after Maria – local officials have given varying and contradictory information about the island’s power grid. On Satuday, at least 20% of the island’s customers were still without power.After this latest tragedy, many in Puerto Rico wonder if the powers that lord over them – local or federal – have learned anything from recent history.“The root of the problem remains unchanged,” saids Manuel Natal Albelo, 33, a representative in the commonwealth’s House of Representatives who will be running for mayor of the capital San Juan this fall under the banner of the Movimiento Victoria Ciudadana (MVC), an insurgent political party formed shortly before this past summer’s protests.“It is the corruption of a two-party system that responds exclusively to benefit particular financial interest groups,” Natal continued. “From the policies to the individuals in charge of their implementation, the old political establishment still sacrifices the vast majority of our people to protect the privileges of a few.”Rosselló eventually resigned after a series of profane chats were leaked in which he and close advisers mocked ordinary Puerto Ricans. His hand-picked successor, Pedro Pierluisi, lasted just five days before the island’s supreme court forced him out, citing questionable terms of succession.Pierluisi was succeeded by Wanda Vázquez, the island’s justice secretary. She claimed no political aspirations herself, but quickly warmed to the role, announcing last month that she would run for a full term in office, in the primaries of the ruling Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP), which favours Puerto Rico becoming a US state.The PNP dominates the island’s bicameral legislature, while the opposition Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) – which favours a continuation of commonwealth status – maintains a slim majority of the mayor’s office. The parties have dominated Puerto Rico for decades.Vázquez has enacted as series of populist measures, including streamlining the process for owning firearms (a questionable initiative in an island with a dire rate of gun crime and femicide) and signing a bill that affirmed the legality of cockfighting, in defiance of a US ban.However, Vázquez has not substantially investigated alleged wrongdoing by some of the participants in the Rosselló chats, including a number of the ex-governor’s top aides. This month, Puerto Rico’s justice department called for a special prosecutor to investigate those involved in the chat.Despite Vázquez’s populist touch – she spent a recent night among quake-affected residents of the battered Guánica and the island’s national guard has established “tent cities” in five different towns – some now accuse her of continuing the same practices as her predecessor.“After the worst earthquake we have ever experienced in modern history, we were told that in 12 to 24 hours we would have our electricity back, only to be told later that it will take more than a year to fix,” said Mayra Vélez Serrano, a political science professor at the Universidad de Puerto Rico. “Vázquez inherited many of the same Rosselló cabinet members and secretaries of key agencies, all of whom showed themselves to be completely incapable of managing the aftermath of Hurricane Maria. There is very little trust in the government.”A stream of aid from local non-governmental organizations and ordinary Puerto Ricans has flowed south since Tuesday’s initial tremor.But, as the ground beneath the Puerto Ricans feet still shuddered, Donald Trump – who notoriously went golfing as Maria bore down on the island and then tossed paper towels at desperate islanders during a four-hour visit – has continued to withhold more than $18bn in federal funding earmarked by Congress. This was in defiance of a congressionally mandated September deadline to account for at least $8m of it. A controversial fiscal oversight board has controlled the island’s finances since 2016, as the bankrupt US commonwealth faces almost $18bn of general-obligation bonds and government-guaranteed debt.But the machinations of any local and federal politicians are a distant drama for those dealing with this latest challenge.As she and her family moved their belongings out of the Villa Del Caribe caserio (public housing project) in the southern city of Ponce, where frightening cracks crept up the buildings’ facades, Yetzabeth Vega López described the night the quake hit.“People were screaming, crying, everyone ran because the buildings were moving so violently. It was horrible,” she said. “We’re trying to find another place to live as this place is now not habitable. In reality, we haven’t seen much help from the government, not federal or local. A lot of people here are sleeping in their cars. This is very hard.”

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Flights cancelled and thousands evacuate as Philippine volcano threatens to erupt

A volcano near the Philippine capital Manila spewed a massive cloud of ash into the sky on Sunday, forcing the precautionary evacuation of thousands of residents and the suspension of flights. Government seismologists recorded magma moving towards the crater of Taal, one of the country's most active volcanoes located 65 kilometres (40 miles) south of Manila. That increases the chances of an eruption that could happen "within days to within weeks" if such activity continues, Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, told AFP. Taal's last eruption was in 1977, he added. A kilometer-high column of ash was visible and several volcanic tremors were felt within the vicinity of the volcano, which is popular among tourists for its scenic view. People watch as Taal Volcano spews ash near Manila  Credit: AP Photo/Aaron Favila The local disaster office said it had evacuated over 2,000 residents living on the volcanic island, which lies inside a bigger lake formed by previous volcanic activity. Mr Solidum said officials will also order the evacuation of people living on another island nearby if the situation worsens. The Philippine airport authority on Sunday suspended flights at Manila's international airport.  "Flight operations at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport have been temporarily suspended due to the volcanic ash from the eruption of Taal Volcano," the Manila International Airport Authority tweeted. Earthquakes and volcanic activity are not uncommon in the Philippines due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide deep below the Earth's surface. In January 2018, Mount Mayon displaced tens of thousands of people after spewing millions of tonnes of ash, rocks, and lava in the central Bicol region.

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'I wished I was on that plane': Iranian general apologizes; missiles pound Iraq base. What we know now

Fallout from Iran-U.S. tensions intensified Sunday as missiles pounded an Iraqi air base hosting U.S. troops.

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Iranian protesters call for Ayatollah to step down following plane strike admission

Iran's admission that it accidently shot down a Ukrainian passenger jet carrying 176 people this week has sparked unrest in the country.Protesters — including many students — gathered in Iran on Saturday and Sunday, criticizing the government and demanding the country's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei step down. Iran initially denied involvement in the incident, but later said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, fearing retaliation from the U.S. for a strike Tuesday against an American military base in Iraq, mistook the plane for hostile aircraft and launched a missile that brought the plane down, killing everyone on board.A candlelit vigil in Tehran for the victims Saturday evening morphed into a protest before police broke up the gathering with tear gas. Iranian security forces deployed in large numbers in Tehran on Sunday, patrolling the city on motorbikes and stationing at various landmarks in anticipation of more protests.Iran has also faced criticism outside its borders. The United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned Tehran for briefly detaining British Amabassador to Iran Rob Macaire after he attended the vigil (Macaire said he wasn't aware it would turn into a protest.) Raab said Iran was on its way toward "pariah status." Officials from Ukraine, Canada, and the United States also expressed dismay over how Iran handled the situation.More stories from theweek.com MLB issues historic punishment for Astros following sign-stealing investigation White House press secretary claims Democrats are 'almost taking the side of terrorists' after Trump tweet Jennifer Lopez, Frozen 2, and more shocking snubs from the 2020 Oscar nominations

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Does China or America Have Better Missiles in the South China Sea?

A new arms race?

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Court Taps Lawyer Who Defended Carter Page Warrant to Advise FBI on FISA Reform

Judge James E. Boasberg, head of the FISA court, appointed ex-Department of Justice official David Kris as an adviser to help review the FBI’s handling of the Carter Page FISA warrants, which were exposed as deeply flawed by Inspector General Michael Horowitz last year.Kris, a frequent contributor to the left-leaning Lawfare blog and a former assistant attorney general in the Obama DOJ’s national security division, has been an outspoken critic of President Trump’s claims that a “deep-state coup” was orchestrated to undermine his 2016 election. He has also had extensive experience with the FISA Court, having served as an amicus curiae, or special adviser, since March 2016.Kris has also extensively defended the use of FISA applications to surveil Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page, telling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow in July 2018 that “it seems to me very likely that if we get below the tip of the iceberg into the submerged parts and more is revealed, it will get worse, not better” for Page, who was accused of being a Russian agent.Writing for Lawfare at the time, Kris took aim at Representative Devin Nunes’s memo on the use of the Steele dossier in the FBI’s FISA application process following the release of heavily-redacted FISA applications used to surveil Page. “Now we have some additional information in the form of the redacted FISA applications themselves, and the Nunes memo looks even worse,” Kris wrote.Horowitz’s report last month revealed that many of Nunes’s claims were correct, including his allegation that the FBI knowingly omitted exculpatory evidence that Page was an informant for the CIA in its FISA application, and then doctored an email to reinforce the impression that Page was a Russian agent.Following the release of the report, Kris admitted that Nunes’s “basic point that this behavior was highly irregular was correct.” But he also slammed attorney general William Barr and U.S. attorney John Durham for undercutting “the absence of evidence of political bias in Crossfire Hurricane” after they announced that they didn't agree with Horowitz's conclusion that the probe was properly predicated.“These FBI errors weren’t political, the IG concluded,” Kris wrote on Twitter, despite Horowitz himself admitting “we did not reach that conclusion” as to whether the FBI was unaffected by political bias during its 2016 Russia investigation.President Trump tweeted Sunday that Kris had "zero credibility" given his previous comments.> You can’t make this up! David Kris, a highly controversial former DOJ official, was just appointed by the FISA Court to oversee reforms to the FBI’s surveillance procedures. Zero credibility. THE SWAMP! @DevinNunes @MariaBartiromo @FoxNews> > -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2020Both Nunes and Page told the Daily Caller they were disgusted by Kris’s appointment.“It’s hard to imagine a worse person the FISC could have chosen outside Comey, McCabe, or Schiff,” Nunes (R., Calif.) said.“If there were any hope for the system fixing this FISA mess, it extinguished with David Kris’ appointment,” Page added.Kris also postulated repeatedly that former special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into allegations of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign would result in serious convictions.“He’s almost like a venture capital incubator who has spun out multiple lines of business,” Kris said of Mueller ahead of the report’s release — which found “no evidence of any collusion.”“He’s shown us an awful lot, and yet I think there’s an awful lot more to come,” Kris warned.“I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in,” Kris tweeted in July 2018.> I suspect that POTUS and his closest advisors are and should be worried that, depending on the evidence, Mueller’s next steps will make it feel like the walls are closing in. 6/6> > -- David Kris (@DavidKris) July 13, 2018

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6 Democratic Candidates Will Face Off in the Last Debate Before the Iowa Caucuses. Here's What to Know

The first debate of 2020 will take place in Des Moines on Jan. 14 ahead of the Iowa Caucus. Here’s what to expect.

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More than 100,000 homes still without power after deadly winter storm ravages US

Hundreds of thousands of people remain without electrical power after weekend storms ravaged parts of the southeast and Midwest United States, causing 11 deaths, overturning cars, uprooting trees and reducing buildings to rubble.The PowerOutage.US website, which tracks outages, reported over 100,000 outages across the country on Sunday afternoon, with 40,000 in New York alone. More than 28,000 were without electricity in South and North Carolina on Sunday morning.

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Hezbollah says payback for U.S. strike has just begun

The leader of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah said on Sunday that Iran's missile attacks on two bases in Iraq housing U.S. forces was only the start of the retaliation for the U.S.'s killing of a top Iranian commander in a drone strike.

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This Picture Might Just Depict the Ultimate Military Weapon

Meet the MLRS.

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Why the number of child deaths from flu is up so much this year

Youngsters can have much more severe reactions to influenza B, the predominant strain this flu season, which has already seen double the number of pediatric deaths compared to last year.

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Cory Booker Has More to Say

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At Globalfest, Rowdy Sounds From Around the World

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You Make Iowans Snooze, You Lose

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Bill to End Religious Exemptions for Vaccinations Collapses in N.J.

By BY TRACEY TULLY from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2QS5xdu