August, 2019 | últimas notícias

Authorities hold press conference on deadly shooting in El Paso, Texas.

A gunman killed 20 people and injured 26 others Saturday after he opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, state and city officials said.

“Texas grieves with the people of El Paso today,” said Gov. Greg Abbott at an evening news conference following the deadliest mass shooting in America since a gunman killed 26 people at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas on Nov. 5, 2017.

“The scene was a horrific one,” said El Paso Police Chief Greg Allen, who added that many of the wounded had life-threatening injuries.

The suspected gunman has not been publicly named, but two law enforcement officials identified him to The Associated Press as 21-year-old Patrick Crusius of Allen, Texas. It was unclear what connection the suspect had to El Paso. Law enforcement officials were seen Saturday evening surrounding Crusius’ home in Allen, which is about 26 miles north of Dallas. Texas state lawmaker Jeff Leach said in a tweeted statement that the suspect graduated from Plano High School in 2017.

Chief Allen said investigators were examining a manifesto that may have been written by the suspect and would indicate a “nexus to a hate crime,” but declined to offer details. The suspect will likely face capital murder charges, Allen said.

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Allen said his department received initial reports of the shooting at 10:39 a.m. and first responders arrived six minutes later. Police asked people to stay away from the area and to look for missing family members at a school being used as a reunification area. El Paso Police Sgt. Enrique Carrillo told reporters shortly before 1 p.m. that one person was in custody and there was no longer an “imminent threat” to the area.

At an earlier news conference, El Paso Police Sgt. Robert Gomez said the suspect was taken into custody without incident and no law enforcement officers fired their weapons. The Walmart was near capacity at the time of the shooting, with as many as 3,000 people inside along with 100 employees during the busy back-to-school shopping season.

“This is unprecedented in El Paso,” said Gomez.

Ryan Mielke, a spokesman for University Medical Center of El Paso, told Fox News that 13 patients — 1 of whom died at the hospital — were being treated at the facility’s Level 1 trauma center. Mielke told the Associated Press that two children, ages 2 and 9, were stabilized at the medical center before being transferred to the neighboring El Paso Children’s Hospital.

Del Sol Medical Center told Fox News it had received 11 patients, 9 of whom were critical but stable condition and 2 who were in stable condition. The patients’ ages ranged from 35 to 82, the hospital said.

Residents were volunteering to give blood to the injured in response to a police tweet that donations were “needed urgently,” while police and military members were trying to help people who were looking for missing loved ones.

“It’s chaos right now,” said Austin Johnson, an Army medic at nearby Fort Bliss, who volunteered to help at the shopping center and later at the school that was serving as a reunification center.

“Terrible shootings in ElPaso, Texas,” President Trump tweeted. “Reports are very bad, many killed. Working with State and Local authorities, and Law Enforcement.”

“Spoke to Governor to pledge total support of Federal Government. God be with you all!” Trump added. White House Deputy Press Secretary Steven Groves said earlier that Trump had been briefed on the shooting “and we continue to monitor the situation.” Groves added that Trump had spoken to Abbott as well as Attorney General Willian Barr.

Hours later, Groves said the president “continues to receive updates from his national security team on the tragic shootings in El Paso. Federal Government personnel, including the FBI and ATF, are on the ground in El Paso actively assisting local authorities, who are leading the response to the shootings. The President has pledged the full support of the Federal Government to Governor Abbott.”

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Vanessa Saenz, a witness, told Fox News that she heard several “pops” near the area and saw a man in a black shirt and cargo pants with a weapon shooting outside the building before entering the Walmart.

“He was just pointing at people and just shooting,” she added. Another witness told Fox News that his mother died at the scene.

A witness told CBS News that he was about to enter the Walmart when he heard at least 10 gunshots and saw an elderly lady fall to the ground. He said he was not sure if she was shot.

Video

A family of three was among a dozen people waiting outside a bus station. They were trying to return to their car that was in a blocked-off Walmart parking lot.

“I heard the shots but I thought they were hits, like roof construction,” Adriana Quezada, 39, who was in the women’s clothing section of Walmart with her two children, told The Associated Press.

Videos showed some injured people being brought to a nearby Sam’s Club.

Abbott said the shooting was “a heinous and senseless act of violence.”

“Our hearts go out to the victims of this horrific shooting and to the entire community in this time of loss,” he said.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said his office was “ready to give full support to all federal, state, and local law enforcement who are on the scene now and to those who will be conducting the ongoing investigation.”

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke, who used to represent El Paso in the House of Representatives, tweeted that the shooting was truly heartbreaking.”

O’Rourke appeared shaken as he appeared at a candidate forum in Las Vegas on Saturday shortly after news of the shooting was reported. He said he had called his wife before taking the stage and said the shooting shatters “any illusion that we have that progress is inevitable” on tackling gun violence.

“We have to find some reason for optimism and hope or else we consign ourselves to a future where nearly 40,000 people are year will lose their lives to gun violence and I cannot accept that,” O’Rourke said.

O’Rourke’s campaign later said the candidate had canceled planned campaign events in Nevada and California. O’Rourke told reporters he was going back to El Paso to “be with my family and to be with my hometown.”

MISSISSIPPI WALMART SHOOTING VICTIMS IDENTIFIED; SUSPECT CHARGED WITH MURDER

The Democrat said he’d heard early reports that the shooter might have had a military-style weapon, saying we need to “keep that s–t on the battlefield and do not bring it into our communities.”

Speaking from the Las Vegas airport later, O’Rourke offered ways that people outside El Paso can help the victims.

“I know folks are thinking about us right now. I don’t have words,” he said. “I can’t fully believe this has happened. I want to do everything I can, I know everyone wants to do everything they can to make sure everyone is OK and the community is OK.”

Democratic Rep. Veronica Escobar tweeted that she is “utterly heartbroken” by the news of the shooting in El Paso and said she is monitoring the situation.

“Please stay safe,” she added.

South Bend, Ind., Mayor and 2020 presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg also weighed, tweeting: “My grandmother used to take me to Cielo Vista Mall. Now it’s one more mass shooting scene. How many more must grieve before we act? #ElPaso”.

Saturday’s shooting comes just four days after a gunman opened fire at a Walmart in Northern Mississippi, leaving two dead and a police officer injured. In response to the latest shooting, Walmart tweeted: “We’re in shock over the tragic events at Cielo Vista Mall in El Paso … We’re praying for the victims, the community & our associates, as well as the first responders. We’re working closely with law enforcement & will update as appropriate.

EL PASO WALMART SHOOTING WITNESS DESCRIBES MOMENT WHEN SHE SAW GUNMAN

On Sunday, a gunman killed three people – including a 6-year-old boy – and injured 13 others before turning the gun on himself at a Northern California food festival.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

El Paso, which has about 680,000 residents, is in West Texas and sits across the border from Juarez, Mexico. The city has become a focal point of the ongoing debate over Trump’s immigration policies.

Fox News’ Garrett Tenney and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/el-paso-walmart-shooting-20-dead-26-injured-gov-greg-abbott-police-chief-greg-allen

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At least 800 arrested in violent Moscow protests – ABC News

Hundreds of protesters were violently arrested in Moscow Saturday, the latest demonstration against the Kremlin-aligned United Russia party.

Independent watchdog OVD-Info said at least 838 people were detained. The Russian Interior Ministry said the number was about 600, according to The Associated Press.

Opposition leader Lubovj Sobol was among the jailed.

Shamil Zhumatov/Reuters

Law enforcement officers detain a participant in a rally calling for opposition candidates to be registered for elections to Moscow City Duma, the capital’s regional parliament, in Moscow, Aug. 3, 2019.

Authorities had warned that all necessary measures would be taken to stop the unsanctioned protest. Demonstrators said they wanted to march in the center of Moscow but it was impossible as police in riot gear were deployed in large numbers. Internet and cellular connection were also allegedly cut in the center of the city and human rights activists said lawyers were not allowed to meet with those who were arrested.

Last week police cracked down and arrested 1,400 people at a demonstration called by the same organizers.

Peter Kovalev/TASS via ZUMA

People take part in a solidarity rally in Lenina Square in support of rejected independent candidates in the upcoming Moscow City Duma election, Aug., 03, 2019.

These protests were sparked by authorities’ refusal to allow opposition candidates to take part in Moscow’s city council elections. But they have taken on a much broader significance, viewed as a sign of the Kremlin’s growing intolerance for even low-level political opposition.

Another opposition rally is scheduled for next Saturday.

Source Article from https://abcnews.go.com/International/800-arrested-violent-moscow-protests/story?id=64754167

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Bluff collapse: Victims killed in Encinitas identified – Los Angeles Times

Three people who were fatally crushed when a bluff collapsed at an Encinitas beach Friday were part of the same family: a 35-year-old woman, her 65-year-old mother and an aunt.

Anne Clave and her mother, Julie Davis, both died at Scripps Memorial Hospital in Encinitas after
the collapse, according to the San Diego County medical examiner’s office.
Clave’s aunt was identified in a family email obtained by KNSD-TV Channel 7
as Elizabeth Cox, who died at the scene.

The victims were part of a large family gathering at Grandview Beach that day celebrating Cox’s victory over breast cancer, the TV station reported, citing the email.

The Davis family has called Encinitas home for 40 years, according to a 2016 profile in 92024 Magazine. Davis was a mother of four, with nine grandchildren, according to the article.

Davis’ husband, Pat, runs a pediatric dentist practice in Encinitas with one of his sons.

On Saturday morning, lifeguards reopened the beach on both sides of the collapse site, which remained closed. At a news conference, Encinitas lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles said his agency will post a lifeguard in the area and keep an eye on the site.

The captain said the lifeguard tower near the scene was relocated because officials have determined that “the area is still active.” He said a geologist assessing the scene was “concerned about the areas to the side of the current failure failing.”

The homes on top of the cliff were in no immediate danger, Giles said.

The collapse occurred shortly before 3 p.m. Friday at
a popular surf spot with a narrow beach between the water and the sandstone cliffs. Just north of the stairs leading to the sand, a roughly 30-foot-wide chunk of the cliff slipped away.

The heavy sandstone crashed down onto the victims near the base of the cliff. A nearby lifeguard felt and heard the thud as the dense dirt landed.

“It just happened to take place outside his peripheral” vision,
Giles said, noting that the lifeguard had had his eyes trained on the water.

Parts of the San Diego coast have been vulnerable to cliff erosion and collapse in the past.

In 1995, two men died when they were buried under tons of rock, and another was injured as he fled, after a cliff at Torrey Pines State Beach collapsed. The two victims were sitting or walking on the beach when the cliff above them caved in. The men were covered by tons of rock and dirt.

The last fatal bluff collapse in San Diego County occurred on Aug. 20, 2008, when 57-year-old Nevada tourist Robert Mellone was crushed by a shower of sand and boulders from a section of bluff above Torrey Pines State Beach.

It’s not yet clear when the Encinitas collapse site will reopen.

“We are going to continue on assessing that with the experts,” Giles told reporters, “and the team will continue to reevaluate and determine how long we are going to keep that closed.”

Asked by a reporter whether
last month’s 7.1 earthquake in Ridgecrest — roughly 200 miles away in Kern County, but felt in San Diego County — could have been a factor in shaking the crumbling cliffs even looser, Giles said there had been no mention of that by the geologists assessing the bluff.

“It’s just an erosion incident that took place at this location at the wrong time,” he said.

Figueroa writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune and Davis writes for Times Community News.

Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-03/bluff-collapse-victims-killed-in-encinitas-bluff-collapse-identified

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Trump defends position on trade after threat of new China tariffs | TheHill – The Hill

President TrumpDonald John Trump Trump’s greatest allies for a 2020 win: AOC and ‘The Squad’ Trump defends position on trade after threat of new China tariffs Man punched outside Trump rally: ‘If anything, it’ll increase’ my activism MORE on Saturday defended his policy of using tariffs to pressure other nations to negotiate revised trade deals after the latest round of U.S. talks in China wrapped up without any significant progress toward a deal.

Trump defended his position on trade after his administration threatened this week to place another 10 percent tariff on $300 billion in Chinese goods beginning on Sept. 1. That, combined with existing 25 percent penalties on $250 billion in goods, would impose levies on virtually all remaining Chinese imports.

“Things are going along very well with China. They are paying us Tens of Billions of Dollars, made possible by their monetary devaluations and pumping in massive amounts of cash to keep their system going. So far our consumer is paying nothing – and no inflation,” Trump tweeted Saturday.

Things are going along very well with China. They are paying us Tens of Billions of Dollars, made possible by their monetary devaluations and pumping in massive amounts of cash to keep their system going. So far our consumer is paying nothing – and no inflation. No help from Fed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2019

Despite the economic and political uncertainty surrounding the tariffs, Trump also claimed without providing evidence that his trade policy is paying dividends and forcing other countries to initiate talks to create new trade deals.

“Countries are coming to us wanting to negotiate REAL trade deals, not the one sided horror show deals made by past administrations. They don’t want to be targeted for Tariffs by the U.S.,” the president tweeted.

Countries are coming to us wanting to negotiate REAL trade deals, not the one sided horror show deals made by past administrations. They don’t want to be targeted for Tariffs by the U.S.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 3, 2019

Trump’s unexpected announcement this week threatening more tariffs on China signaled his dissatisfaction with the progress of trade talks between envoys of the two countries in Shanghai, which continued this week without any signs of significant progress.

The president was briefed on the negotiations Thursday before he made his tariff announcement, an administration official told The Hill.

“I think he wants to make a deal, but, frankly, he’s not going fast enough,” Trump said this week of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The president’s threat, the latest development in a roughly two-year trade war with Beijing, rattled financial markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 280 points after the news and the S&P 500 dropping by around 0.9 percent.

On top of the market slides, China also threatened Friday to impose retaliatory levies against the U.S., saying it will take “necessary countermeasures to resolutely defend its core interests.”

“Adding tariffs is definitely not a constructive way to resolve economic and trade frictions, it’s not the correct way,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a meeting of Southeast Asian ministers in Bangkok on Friday.

Speculation has also abounded that a prolonged trade war with China could harm Trump’s reelection prospects in 2020. The new tariffs, which will cover an array of consumer goods such as clothing and electronics that were not previously subject to import taxes, could lead to rises in prices on back-to-school supplies and popular electronic devices such as iPhones.

“Raising tariffs by 10 percent on an additional $300 billion worth of imports from China will only inflict greater pain on American businesses, farmers, workers and consumers, and undermine an otherwise strong U.S. economy,” Myron Brilliant of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the country’s largest business group, which has frequently tangled with Trump on trade, told The Hill.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/policy/finance/trade/456045-trump-defends-position-on-trade-after-threat-of-new-tariffs-on-china

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Portland State University basketball player shot and killed by sister, police say – NBC News

A standout athlete at Portland State University was shot and killed, allegedly by his sister, in an incident that left two other women injured.

Deante Strickland, 22, a Portland native, died after the shooting Friday. Authorities announced early Saturday they had arrested Tamena Strickland, 30, on a charge of murder and two counts of attempted murder.

Family told NBC News affiliate KGW in Portland that Tamena is Deante’s sister.

Damian Strickland, the uncle of Tamena and Deante, told The Oregonian that his niece shot Deante, her aunt and her grandmother. A 4-year-old child was also present during the shooting, the newspaper reported.

Both women are expected to survive.

Damian Strickland said he was told Deante’s last words were, “My sister shot me” and “I don’t want to die,” the Oregonian reported.

A basketball star at Portland’s Central Catholic High School, Deante Strickland went on to attend Casper College in Wyoming until Portland State University basketball coach Barret Peery recruited him back to his hometown in 2017.

Peery said he was a better man for having coached Strickland, who played in 65 games over the past two seasons at Portland State. He was a social science major.

“We are better for having had Deante in our lives,” Peery said. “His smile, passion and energy for life was second to none. He lit up a room and made the people around him better in every way. He loved his family, his friends and everyone around him. He had great pride in being a kid from Portland and it showed in how he competed each day. We will never forget him and he will always be with us.”

Strickland had also joined the university’s football program in the spring and planned to play in the fall.

Police said homicide detectives are continuing the investigation.

The Portland State University athletics department is working with the school’s counseling center to help affected students through the grieving process.

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/sports/portland-state-university-basketball-player-shot-killed-sister-police-say-n1038976

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‘#ThanksObama’: 2020 Democrats walk back Obama criticisms – USA TODAY

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On the second night of the second Democratic primary debate, Joe Biden was center stage, and took the brunt of challenger attacks. Biden was prepped.
USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – Some 2020 Democratic presidential candidates that took aim at former President Barack Obama during this week’s primary debates are now trying to walk back their criticisms.

“Heck, if [Obama] was running for president for a third term, I wouldn’t be running,” Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey told CNN on Thursday.

Some of Obama’s policies were discussed during Wednesday night’s debate, including his trademark health care legislation, the Affordable Care Act — or the eponymous “Obamacare.” Several Democratic 2020 hopefuls criticized Obamacare and have called for a more comprehensive approach to providing health insurance coverage through policies like Medicare for All. Former Vice President Joe Biden, however, said he would protect and build on the ACA.

In a tweet Friday, Biden pushed back on the implication that Obama had not been bold enough in dealing with health care policy when the former president worked to have Obamacare passed. “There is nothing moderate about what President Obama did with Obamacare. Nothing,” Biden tweeted. “Seven presidents tried to expand access to health care — the Obama-Biden Administration finally got it done.”

Obama is rated as the best president by Americans during their lifetimes, according to a 2018 report from Pew Research Center.

And after Wednesday’s debate, some political observers puzzled over the criticism of Obama’s policies by his fellow Democrats. “When did Barack Obama become a Republican?,” John Avlon asked in an op-ed for CNN.com that went on to defend Obama and his policies and to caution against the current climate of overheated political rhetoric in both parties.

And Washington Post opinion writer Stephen Stromberg argued that the attacks on Obama’s policies could serve the interests of President Donald Trump because they “provide talking points for a president determined to denigrate his predecessor and to diminish his legacy by any means possible.”

Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., on Thursday said she had “nothing but praise for President Obama.”

“I think he did great work,” she told reporters Thursday. “We talked about the health care system. Many presidents before him tried to reform America’s health care system. He actually got it done.”

More: Joe Biden ‘surprised’ by fellow Democrats attacking Obama’s legacy at debates

During Wednesday night’s debate, Harris was taken to task for her newly released health care plan, which would transition to a Medicare for All system over 10 years. During the transition, the role for private insurers would be preserved.

Sen. Cory Booker during Wednesday night’s debate slammed Biden for invoking Obama, saying: “You can’t have it both ways. You invoke President Obama more than anyone in this campaign. You can’t do it when it’s convenient and then duck it when it’s not.”

On Thursday, Booker maintained that although Obama is the Democrat’s “statesman,” he is not immune from criticism.

“He is our statesman,” Booker said of Obama. “He ain’t perfect. Nobody’s ever pulled that off. Nobody has ever pulled that off.”

“I’m sure if Barack Obama was sitting here — and I hope he’s sleeping this morning — he would tell you, ‘I’ve made some mistakes,'” Booker continued.

The Obama administration’s immigration record was also called out for criticism during Wednesday’s debate.

Julián Castro, who was Housing and Urban Development secretary under Obama, called into question the high number of deportations that occurred under Obama’s watch.

Biden told Castro during the debate that he hadn’t heard that complaint from him at the time when they both worked for Obama.

“One of us has learned the lessons of the past and one hasn’t,” Castro replied.

More: Tulsi Gabbard: Bashar al-Assad is ‘a brutal dictator, just like Saddam Hussein’

Later in the night, however, Castro thanked Obama for helping revive an economy that was in ire straits in 2009 when Obama took office. In a tweet posted Thursday, Castro highlighted that moment in the debate.

“Donald Trump likes to take credit for the economy, but Americans know President @BarackObama turned our economy around and expanded opportunity for millions. #ThanksObama,” Castro wrote in a tweet.

Biden has criticized his fellow 2020 Democrats for going after Obama.

“I must tell you I was a little surprised by how much incoming there was about Barack —about the president,” the former vice president said Thursday. “I’m proud of having served with him. I’m proud of the job he did. I don’t think there is anything he has to apologize for … It kind of surprised me, the degree of the criticism.”

Contributing: Aamer Madhani

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Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/08/02/thanks-obama-2020-democrats-walk-back-criticisms-barack-obama/1907321001/

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Trump and Elizabeth Warren actually agree on one thing – Washington Examiner

At Tuesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, Sen. Elizabeth Warren sounded a bit like Donald Trump in 2016.

She criticized Trump plenty, and noted that every candidate on stage could do a better job as president. Yet she distinguished herself from the pack in one way that was similar to what Trump did in the last presidential election. Much like him, she called for big changes, not just random tinkering at the edges.

Her core message sounded like his in rhetoric, and she even used some of the same words he did.

Our problems didn’t start with Donald Trump. Donald Trump is part of a corrupt,
rigged system that has helped the wealthy and the well-connected and kicked dirt in the faces of everyone else.

We’re not going to solve the urgent problems that we face with small ideas and spinelessness. We’re going to solve them by being the Democratic Party of big structural change.

“Rigged system” was a common refrain for Trump in 2016. When former FBI Director James Comey recommended against bringing charges against Hillary Clinton in her private email server investigation, Trump tweeted, “The system is rigged….Very, very unfair.”

The system is rigged. General Petraeus got in trouble for far less. Very very unfair! As usual, bad judgment.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
July 5, 2016

When speaking to ordinary people on the campaign trail, Trump railed that the system was rigged against them by Washington and the coastal elites, promising that his brand of disruptive politics would end business as usual, and corruption as usual.

When discussing the possibility that he could lose against Hillary Clinton, he frequently complained that that the election itself was going to be rigged against him by “a small handful of global special interests” that supported her.

When criticizing the Democratic primaries in 2016, he repeatedly accused the Democratic National Committee of rigging the system to thwart Sen. Bernie Sanders’s candidacy against “Crooked Hillary.”

Unlike Trump, Warren is not all over the place when referring to a rigged system. Indeed, she is very specific about what she means: a system that caters to the wealthy and big corporations and screws the little guys. She is even more specific that Trump has made such a rigged system worse.

Yet, as Trump did in 2016, Warren is fashioning herself as the candidate who is not afraid to think big and pursue bold results. Like him, she is also suggesting that timidity was for the weaker souls, namely her more moderate opponents.

Not surprisingly, another candidate has something to say on this topic. After all, Sanders was actually the actual victim of a rigged system in 2016. He said on Tuesday:

As far as he is concerned, he is the man with big ideas such as “Medicare for all,” and he is the one who proudly calls himself a socialist.

Trump calls him “Crazy Bernie,” as Republicans and moderate Democrats label his political views extreme. Crazy or not, Sanders does not wish to cede ground to Warren as the candidate who will do big things.

Win or lose, Warren and Sanders were far more interesting than all their debate opponents combined on Tuesday night.

Ying Ma is the author of “Chinese Girl in the Ghetto,” which was released in audiobook in 2018. During the 2016 election, she served as the deputy director of the Committee for American Sovereignty, a pro-Trump super PAC, and the deputy policy director and deputy communications director of the Ben Carson presidential campaign. Follow her on Twitter: @GZtoGhetto.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/trump-and-elizabeth-warren-actually-agree-on-one-thing

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Multiple deaths in shooting at El Paso mall; suspect seized, police say – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Trump: things ‘going along very well’ with China as markets fall over tariffs – The Guardian

Donald Trump has said things are “going along very well” with China, a day after financial markets around the world fell sharply following the president’s threat to impose a new tariff on $300bn (£248bn) of Chinese goods, in a rapid escalation of the trade war between Washington and Beijing.

The FTSE 100 was down more than 2% as markets across Europe tumbled on Friday, continuing a wave of selling pressure around the world in the aftermath of the president’s announcement on Thursday evening, which dashed hopes of a resolution to the US-China trade war.

Tweeting on Saturday, Trump sought to down play the tension, and insisted US consumers were not paying for import taxes he has imposed on goods from that country although economists say Americans are footing the bill.

“Things are going along very well with China. They are paying us Tens of Billions of Dollars, made possible by their monetary devaluations and pumping in massive amounts of cash to keep their system going. So far our consumer is paying nothing – and no inflation. No help from Fed!” Trump said on Twitter.

He also said – without presenting evidence – that countries are asking to negotiate “REAL trade deals”, saying on Twitter, “They don’t want to be targeted for Tariffs by the U.S.”

Trump abruptly decided on Thursday to slap 10% tariffs on $300bn in Chinese imports, stunning financial markets and ending a month-long trade truce.

China vowed on Friday to fight back and said it would not be bullied by Trump. The foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said the country would not give an inch under pressure from Washington, Reuters reported.

The White House already levies tariffs of 25% on $250bn of Chinese goods. Adding both together would mean roughly all Chinese imports to the US face higher taxes. China sold $539.7bn of goods to the US last year.

Tariffs are intended to make foreign goods more expensive to boost domestic producers, unless international exporters reduce prices.

But there has been no evidence that China is cutting prices to accommodate Trump’s tariffs.

A study published by the National Bureau of Economic research in March found that all of the costs of tariffs imposed in 2018 were passed on to US consumers.

The US-China trade dispute has had a chilling effect on the world economy as global trade volumes plummet and major companies pause investments. Growth has eased around the world, while several major countries have flirted with recession.

Reuters contributed to this report

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/aug/03/donald-trump-china-tariffs-trade

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Email alleged Ratcliffe was involved in whistleblowing case: report – Business Insider

President Trump blamed the media’s “unfair” treatment of GOP Representative John Ratcliffe as the reason he ultimately decided to withdraw the congressman’s nomination to become the country’s next Director of National Intelligence. But according to a report by the Daily Beast late Friday night, there may have been another reason for the president’s decision.

The Daily Beast reported that an email was sent to the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, prior to the nomination reversal on Friday, which allegedly detailed the congressman’s involvement in a “controversial whistleblowing case.”

The email, reportedly sent to the committee by the Government Accountability Project (an organization which protects whistleblowers), claimed that Ratcliffe had “promoted a company accused of being instrumental in the reprisal against a whistleblower and their cybersecurity efforts,” according to The Daily Beast.

The report said that Ratcliffe’s third-largest campaign donor in his recent campaign cycle has been from the company that “forced the shutdown of a critical government cybersecurity office.” That company, the report said, was also hosted by Ratcliffe in front of the House Homeland Security’s Subcommittee on Cybersecurity.

It remains unclear whether the email played any role in the president’s decision to pull the nomination from Ratcliffe.

Ratcliffe’s nomination for Director of National Intelligence stirred controversy on both sides of the aisle from the beginning, especially after allegations emerged that he had misled the public about having successfully prosecuted people who funneled money to terrorist groups, like Hamas. Also, for a position that’s traditionally been a non-partisan job, the intelligence community worried about Ratcliffe’s seemingly unwavering support for President Trump.

On Friday, Ratcliffe tweeted that had he assumed the role, he would have done so with “objectivity, fairness and integrity that our intelligence agencies need and deserve. However, I do not wish for a national security and intelligence debate surrounding my confirmation, however untrue, to become a purely political and partisan issue.”

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/email-alleges-ratcliffe-involvement-in-whistleblowing-case-trump-2019-8

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3 killed as cliff collapses on popular Southern California beach – KRON4

ENCINITAS, Calif. (AP) — Three people were killed and several others were injured after a cliff collapsed on a popular Southern California beach Friday, authorities said.

The sandstone bluff gave way shortly before 3 p.m. in Encinitas, a suburb north of San Diego. The area is highly popular with local residents, surfers and vacationers.

The beach was filled with people at the time of the collapse. A KNSD-TV helicopter captured footage of beach chairs, towels, surf boards and beach toys strewn about the sand.

Two people were flown to hospitals in critical condition, and two were treated for minor injuries, Encinitas Fire Chief Mike Stein said. Authorities did not release their names or ages.

The city said just before 9:30 p.m. that a total of three people died in the collapse.

Homes on top of the bluff were not in any danger, Stein said. Rescue crews were searching for additional victims, but they did not have full access because of safety concerns.

Bluffs give way four to eight times a year in Southern California, but “nothing of this magnitude,” said Brian Ketterer, southern field division chief of California State Parks.

“This is a naturally eroding coastline,” Encinitas Lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles said. “There’s really no rhyme or reason, but that’s what it does naturally. …. This is what it does, and this is how our beaches are actually partially made. It actually has these failures.”

Suburbs north of San Diego have contended with rising water levels in the Pacific Ocean, pressuring bluffs along the coast. Some bluffs are fortified with concrete walls to prevent multimillion-dollar homes from falling into the sea.

The collapse occurred near Grandview Beach. It is fairly narrow, with tides high this week. Surfers lay their boards upright against the bluff.

Tourists stand on top of the cliffs for better views.

Long stretches of beach in Encinitas are narrow strips of sand between stiff waves and towering rock walls. People lounging on beach chairs or blankets are sometimes surprised as waves roll past them and within a few feet of the walls.

Some areas are only accessible by steep wooden stairs that descend from neighborhoods atop the cliffs.

Source Article from https://www.kron4.com/news/california/1-killed-as-cliff-collapses-on-popular-southern-california-beach/

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Trump is playing a dangerous game with America’s economy – CNN

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

Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/03/business/trump-trade-war-economy-china/index.html

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Encinitas collapse: Bluff collapse kills 3 on beach; witness describes race to dig out victims – CBS News

Encinitas, Calif. –– A popular surfing beach was closed Saturday after a cliff collapsed, sending tons of sandstone onto beachgoers and killing three people. A 30-foot-long slab of the cliff plunged onto the sand near Grandview Beach north of San Diego, prompting a frantic effort to rescue victims buried in the debris.

A KNSD-TV helicopter captured footage of beach chairs, towels, surf boards and beach toys strewn about the sand. CBS San Diego affiliate KFMB reports cadaver dogs were on scene to help determine if anyone else might be trapped under the pile.

Search and rescue personnel work at the site of a cliff collapse at a popular beach Friday, Aug. 2, 2019, in Encinitas, Calif. At least one person was reportedly killed, and multiple people were injured, when an oceanfront bluff collapsed Friday at Grandview Beach in the Leucadia area of Encinitas, authorities said.

Denis Poroy / AP

Other beachgoers and lifeguards at a nearby tower scrambled to the towering pile of debris, which was estimated to weigh tens of thousands of pounds, to help dig out victims. “I saw first responders, and I saw lifeguards frantically digging people out of the debris,” Jim Pepperdine, who lives nearby, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Pepperdine said he saw people trying to resuscitate a woman before her body was covered.

A woman died at the scene, and two more people later died at hospitals. Another person was taken to a hospital, and a person who had minor injuries was treated at the scene, according to statements from the city.

Their names and ages were not immediately released. All the victims were adults, authorities said.

A skip loader was brought in to move the dense, heavy debris. No other victims were found by late Friday night.

The beach is reached by wooden stairs from a parking lot above. Homes atop the cliff were not in any danger, Encinitas Fire Chief Mike Stein said.

The cliff remained unstable and complicated the search effort, Stein said.

Suburbs north of San Diego have contended with rising water levels in the Pacific Ocean, pressuring bluffs along the coast. Some bluffs are fortified with concrete walls to prevent multimillion-dollar homes from falling into the sea.

Long stretches of beach in Encinitas are narrow strips of sand between stiff waves and towering rock walls. People lounging on beach chairs or blankets are sometimes surprised as waves roll past them and within a few feet of the walls.

Grandview Beach is fairly narrow, with tides high this week. Surfers lay their boards upright against the bluff.

Cliffside collapses are not unusual as the ocean chews away at the base of the sandstone, authorities said. Some beach areas were marked with signs warning of slide dangers.

Several people have been killed or injured over the years in bluff collapses. The Tribune reported that Rebecca Kowalczyk, 30, of Encinitas died near the same area on Jan. 16, 2000, when a 110-yard-wide chunk of bluff fell and buried her.

Bluffs give way four to eight times a year in Southern California, but “nothing of this magnitude,” said Brian Ketterer, southern field division chief of California State Parks.

“This is a naturally eroding coastline,” Encinitas Lifeguard Capt. Larry Giles said. “There’s really no rhyme or reason, but that’s what it does naturally. …. This is what it does, and this is how are beaches are actually partially made. It actually has these failures.”

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/encinitas-collapse-3-killed-by-collapsing-sea-bluff-witness-account-beach-closed-today-2019-08-03/

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Trump must challenge China over Hong Kong – Washington Examiner

President Trump said Thursday of Hong Kong, “they’ve had riots for a long period of time,” where locals are protesting efforts by communist China to crack down and violate Hongkongers’ human rights. “Somebody said that at some point they’re going to want to stop that,” Trump added. “But that’s between Hong Kong and that’s between China, because Hong Kong is a part of China.”

This phrasing, a bizarre regurgitation of mainland Chinese propaganda about recent events in Hong Kong, is very disappointing to hear out of Trump’s mouth. We hope this is Trump speaking off the cuff and not him selling out Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong protesters, not rioters, but orderly protesters, aren’t simply struggling for freedom against a vicious totalitarian regime. They also embody the struggle over international order in the 21st century. The struggle between freedom and statist repression will decide the entire world’s future in this century. Humanity will either grow increasingly free and prosperous under an American-led international order or find imprisonment under the bloody flag of Xi Jinping’s cronyism.

This is why Trump and his administration should do whatever possible to publicize Hong Kong’s plight and pressure China into respecting its obligations there.

No, China will not welcome additional U.S. involvement in the Hong Kong crisis. Beijing vehemently opposes any foreign support for the Hong Kong protest movement. Such action, Xi’s government says, is an outrageous breach of China’s sovereignty.

But the involvement is still justified. The Sino-British declaration governing Hong Kong requires China to respect a “one country, two systems” approach to governing the former British colony until 2047. China’s flagrant usurpation of Hongkongers’ rights is thus a violation of China’s international obligations. The extradition law that would have allowed China to whisk political prisoners back to the mainland has thankfully been defeated, but Hongkongers are right to persist in rejecting the Communist Party’s domination over their lives.

What can the U.S. do to support this struggle against injustice?

The Trump administration should first resort to that oldest but finest tool of democracy: Publicize injustice. Xi’s global “Belt and Road” initiative, which seeks to replace the U.S. international order with Beijing’s feudal mercantilist order, must be revealed for what it is. Hong Kong proves that Xi’s siren song is a lie. Wherever Beijing plants its ugly communist flag, it will insist on energetic political domination of the “partners” who sell out and take its money.

Alongside China’s imperial ambitions in the South China Sea and its detention of more than 1 million innocent Muslims in concentration camps, the events in Hong Kong are showing that Xi is the world’s most powerful enemy of human freedom.

The U.S. should call an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting to discuss China’s breach of the Sino-British declaration and the human rights abuses Hongkongers are suffering. We recognize, of course, that China will veto any meaningful resolution. But the international media attention will embarrass China and undercut Xi’s credibility with the developing nations where he seeks to expand his influence. And if Xi’s China is seen for the dystopia it is, major international investors will take heed.

The U.S. might also consider leaking evidence of the links among Beijing, Hong Kong government autocrats, and the city’s Triad organized crime groups. China’s MSS intelligence service has carefully cultivated links with the Triads as a deniable means of exercising blackmail, intimidation, and control over its adversaries in Hong Kong. To shine a light on this malevolent governance would be to expose Xi’s China for the lawless society it is.

If the Trump administration wanted to go further, it might also deploy boutique intelligence capabilities to Hong Kong. The U.S. intelligence community has ways of disrupting efforts by Chinese-controlled Hong Kong police and the Chinese intelligence services and military to monitor and detain protest leaders. The U.S. could also enable Hongkongers to more securely arrange protests without the prior knowledge of Chinese authorities.

Yes, there are limits to what Trump can do here. But he can do better than he is doing now.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/trump-must-challenge-china-over-hong-kong