The Trump administration is weighing trade restrictions on China that would limit the use of American chip-making equipment, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the Commerce Department is drafting changes to the foreign direct product rule that would require chip factories globally to obtain licenses if they want to use American equipment to create chips for Huawei.

The proposed rule comes as the Trump administration looks to cut off China’s access to the U.S. semiconductors, one of China’s largest imports from America. Many U.S. officials have argued that Huawei’s equipment could be used for espionage by the Chinese government, although the company denies those claims and says its equipment is secure. A separate rule would limit the ability of U.S. companies to supply Huawei from overseas facilities.

The proposed changes could also harm U.S. manufacturers of semiconductor equipment, like Applied Materials and Lam Research.

The changes have not been reviewed by President Donald Trump and not everyone supports the proposed rule, the newspaper reported.

The Commerce Department declined to comment on the proposed rule to CNBC.

Read more about the impact of the possible trade restrictions here.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/17/trump-administration-is-reportedly-weighing-limits-to-chinas-access-to-chip-technology.html

A wild ending to Monday’s 62nd running of the Daytona 500 featured a scary accident involving driver Ryan Newman near the finish line. As Denny Hamlin celebrated his win in NASCAR’s marquee season-opening race, Newman was quickly transported to Halifax Medical Center. He is in serious condition, but his injuries are not life threatening, according to a statement from Roush Fenway Racing.

In the final stretch of the race, Newman was leading the pack until he was bumped from behind by Ryan Blaney. The contact sent Newman crashing into the wall before another driver collided with the driver’s side of the Newman’s vehicle, sending Newman’s No. 6 airborne before it came crashing to a halt upside-down on the side of the track.

The car briefly caught on fire before it was extinguished by track personnel. Newman needed to be extracted from the vehicle before being loaded into an ambulance and transported to a nearby hospital. According to WFTV, black screens were put up around the crash site to keep fans from seeing Newman get pulled out of the car and put on a stretcher.

Newman, 42, is a 19-year NASCAR veteran who currently runs the No. 6 Ford for Roush Fenway Racing. He won the 2008 Daytona 500.

“The finish, the history, that’s all great. One day it will all sink in. But right now all I’m thinking about is Ryan Newman,” Hamlin told ESPN.

Many other current and former drivers offered support and well wishes for Newman: 

Further updates will be posted as they become available, but the scary scene left a somber cloud over what should have been a joyous and exciting finish to one of racing’s most popular annual events. It was the second-closest finish ever at the Daytona 500.

Source Article from https://www.cbssports.com/nascar/news/ryan-newman-crash-update-wreck-on-final-lap-of-daytona-500-leaves-newman-in-serious-condition/

A top health official at the National Institutes of Health acknowledged that the quarantine aboard the coronavirus-infected Diamond Princess Cruises ship failed while discussing the decision to evacuate hundreds of American passengers – 14 of whom tested positive for the virus.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said the original idea to keep people safely quarantined on the ship wasn’t unreasonable. But even with the quarantine process on the ship, virus transmission still occurred.

The Japanese health ministry said Monday that the number of cases confirmed aboard the Diamond Princess had reached 454.

“As it turned out, that was very ineffective in preventing spread on the ship,” Fauci told the USA TODAY Editorial Board and reporters Monday. Every hour, another four or five people were being infected.

Quarantines, isolation, lockdowns:Can they stop the coronavirus?

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/02/17/coronavirus-official-explains-diamond-princess-cruise-quarantine-fail/4785290002/

(CNN)Concerns are mounting about how long the novel coronavirus may survive on surfaces — so much so that China’s central bank has taken measures to deep clean and destroy its cash, which changes hands multiple times a day, in an effort to contain the virus.

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    Ms. Klobuchar, who stumbled in an interview with Telemundo last week when she could not name the president of Mexico, released a Spanish-language ad touting her ability to defeat Mr. Trump and her endorsement by The Las Vegas Sun (one shared with Mr. Biden).

    Ms. Klobuchar, who campaigned at several stops in Nevada over the weekend, was holding a campaign fund-raiser Monday night in Los Angeles.

    At his California rally, Mr. Sanders also took on his other critics in the party. “The Democratic establishment is getting nervous,” he said. “They say, ‘Oh, Bernie can’t win the election.’ Take a look at this crowd today.”

    “What the establishment is trembling about right now — they are crying on television — what they are trembling in fear for is that working people are standing up demanding decent wages,” he added.

    Mr. Sanders made his remarks at the former Ford Assembly Plant in Richmond, an automotive factory that was shuttered in 1955, to a crowd of more than 6,000 attendees. Thousands more crowded outside and watched through the building’s glass walls.

    Mr. Sanders addressed the region’s housing crisis and high rates of homelessness. “It is a moral obscenity that in our country tonight, 500,000 people will sleep out on the streets,” he said. “Together we end that obscenity.”

    As early voting sites opened in Las Vegas on Monday, Senator Jacky Rosen, Democrat of Nevada, joined a line of more than 50 people and waited to cast her vote. Ms. Rosen — who defeated a Republican incumbent in 2018 with the help of endorsements from Mr. Biden, Mr. Sanders and Ms. Warren — declined to indicate whom she favored.

    Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/us/politics/nevada-bloomberg-sanders-biden-trump.html

    Image copyright
    UHRP

    A document that appears to give the most powerful insight yet into how China determined the fate of hundreds of thousands of Muslims held in a network of internment camps has been seen by the BBC.

    Listing the personal details of more than 3,000 individuals from the far western region of Xinjiang, it sets out in intricate detail the most intimate aspects of their daily lives.

    The painstaking records – made up of 137 pages of columns and rows – include how often people pray, how they dress, whom they contact and how their family members behave.

    China denies any wrongdoing, saying it is combating terrorism and religious extremism.

    The document is said to have come, at considerable personal risk, from the same source inside Xinjiang that leaked a batch of highly sensitive material published last year.

    One of the world’s leading experts on China’s policies in Xinjiang, Dr Adrian Zenz, a senior fellow at the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, believes the latest leak is genuine.

    “This remarkable document presents the strongest evidence I’ve seen to date that Beijing is actively persecuting and punishing normal practices of traditional religious beliefs,” he says.

    One of the camps mentioned in it, the “Number Four Training Centre” has been identified by Dr Zenz as among those visited by the BBC as part of a tour organised by the Chinese authorities in May last year.

    Media captionThe BBC previously visited one of the camps identified by scholars using the Karakax List

    Much of the evidence uncovered by the BBC team appears to be corroborated by the new document, redacted for publication to protect the privacy of those included in it.

    It contains details of the investigations into 311 main individuals, listing their backgrounds, religious habits, and relationships with many hundreds of relatives, neighbours and friends.

    Verdicts written in a final column decide whether those already in internment should remain or be released, and whether some of those previously released need to return.

    It is evidence that appears to directly contradict China’s claim that the camps are merely schools.

    In an article analysing and verifying the document, Dr Zenz argues that it also offers a far deeper understanding of the real purpose of the system.

    It allows a glimpse inside the minds of those making the decisions, he says, laying bare the “ideological and administrative micromechanics” of the camps.

    Row 598 contains the case of a 38-year-old woman with the first name Helchem, sent to a re-education camp for one main reason: she was known to have worn a veil some years ago.

    It is just one of a number of cases of arbitrary, retrospective punishment.

    Others were interned simply for applying for a passport – proof that even the intention to travel abroad is now seen as a sign of radicalisation in Xinjiang.

    In row 66, a 34-year-old man with the first name Memettohti was interned for precisely this reason, despite being described as posing “no practical risk”.

    And then there’s the 28-year-old man Nurmemet in row 239, put into re-education for “clicking on a web-link and unintentionally landing on a foreign website”.

    Again, his case notes describe no other issues with his behaviour.

    The 311 main individuals listed are all from Karakax County, close to the city of Hotan in southern Xinjiang, an area where more than 90% of the population is Uighur.

    Predominantly Muslim, the Uighurs are closer in appearance, language and culture to the peoples of Central Asia than to China’s majority ethnicity, the Han Chinese.

    In recent decades the influx of millions of Han settlers into Xinjiang has led to rising ethnic tensions and a growing sense of economic exclusion among Uighurs.

    Those grievances have sometimes found expression in sporadic outbreaks of violence, fuelling a cycle of increasingly harsh security responses from Beijing.

    It is for this reason that the Uighurs have become the target – along with Xinjiang’s other Muslim minorities, like the Kazakhs and Kyrgyz – of the campaign of internment.

    The “Karakax List”, as Dr Zenz calls the document, encapsulates the way the Chinese state now views almost any expression of religious belief as a signal of disloyalty.

    To root out that perceived disloyalty, he says, the state has had to find ways to penetrate deep into Uighur homes and hearts.

    In early 2017, when the internment campaign began in earnest, groups of loyal Communist Party workers, known as “village-based work teams”, began to rake through Uighur society with a massive dragnet.

    With each member assigned a number of households, they visited, befriended and took detailed notes about the “religious atmosphere” in the homes; for example, how many Korans they had or whether religious rites were observed.

    The Karakax List appears to be the most substantial evidence of the way this detailed information gathering has been used to sweep people into the camps.

    It reveals, for example, how China has used the concept of “guilt by association” to incriminate and detain whole extended family networks in Xinjiang.

    For every main individual, the 11th column of the spreadsheet is used to record their family relationships and their social circle.

    China’s hidden camps

    Alongside each relative or friend listed is a note of their own background; how often they pray, whether they’ve been interned, whether they’ve been abroad.

    In fact, the title of the document makes clear that the main individuals listed all have a relative currently living overseas – a category long seen as a key indicator of potential disloyalty, leading to almost certain internment.

    Rows 179, 315 and 345 contain a series of assessments for a 65-year-old man, Yusup.

    His record shows two daughters who “wore veils and burkas in 2014 and 2015”, a son with Islamic political leanings and a family that displays “obvious anti-Han sentiment”.

    His verdict is “continued training” – one of a number of examples of someone interned not just for their own actions and beliefs, but for those of their family.

    The information collected by the village teams is also fed into Xinjiang’s big data system, called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP).

    The IJOP contains the region’s surveillance and policing records, culled from a vast network of cameras and the intrusive mobile spyware every citizen is forced to download.

    The IJOP, Dr Zenz suggests, can in turn use its AI brain to cross-reference these layers of data and send “push notifications” to the village teams to investigate a particular individual.

    Image caption

    Adrian Zenz has analysed the leaked document

    The man found “unintentionally landing on a foreign website” may well have been interned thanks to the IJOP.

    In many cases though, there is little need for advanced technology, with the vast and vague catch-all term “untrustworthy” appearing multiple times in the document.

    It is listed as the sole reason for the internment of a total of 88 individuals.

    The concept, Dr Zenz argues, is proof that the system is designed not for those who have committed a crime, but for an entire demographic viewed as potentially suspicious.

    China says Xinjiang has policies that “respect and ensure people’s freedom of religious belief”. It also insists that what it calls a “vocational training programme in Xinjiang” is “for the purposes of combating terrorism and religious extremism”, adding only people who have been convicted of crimes involving terrorism or religious extremism are being “educated” in these centres.

    However, many of the cases in the Karakax List give multiple reasons for internment; various combinations of religion, passport, family, contacts overseas or simply being untrustworthy.

    The most frequently listed is for violating China’s strict family planning laws.

    In the eyes of the Chinese authorities it seems, having too many children is the clearest sign that Uighurs put their loyalty to culture and tradition above obedience to the secular state.

    China has long defended its actions in Xinjiang as part of an urgent response to the threat of extremism and terrorism.

    The Karakax List does contain some references to those kinds of crimes, with at least six entries for preparing, practicing or instigating terrorism and two cases of watching illegal videos.

    But the broader focus of those compiling the document appears to be faith itself, with more than 100 entries describing the “religious atmosphere” at home.

    The Karakax List has no stamps or other authenticating marks so, at face value, it is difficult to verify.

    It is thought to have been passed out of Xinjiang sometime before late June last year, along with a number of other sensitive papers.

    They ended up in the hands of an anonymous Uighur exile who passed all of them on, except for this one document.

    Only after the first batch was published last year was the Karakax List then forwarded to his conduit, another Uighur living in Amsterdam, Asiye Abdulaheb.

    She told the BBC that she is certain it is genuine.

    Image caption

    Asiye Abdulaheb decided to speak out, despite the danger

    “Regardless of whether there are official stamps on the document or not, this is information about real, live people,” she says. “It is private information about people that wouldn’t be made public. So there is no way for the Chinese government to claim it is fake.”

    Like all Uighurs living overseas, Ms Abdulaheb lost contact with her family in Xinjiang when the internment campaign began, and she’s been unable to contact them since.

    But she says she had no choice but to release the document, passing it to a group of international media organisations, including the BBC.

    “Of course I am worried about the safety of my relatives and friends,” she says. “But if everyone keeps silent because they want to protect themselves and their families, then we will never prevent these crimes being committed.”

    At the end of last year China announced that everyone in its “vocational training centres” had now “graduated”. However, it also suggested some may stay open for new students on the basis of their “free will”.

    Almost 90% of the 311 main individuals in the Karakax List are shown as having already been released or as being due for release on completion of a full year in the camps.

    But Dr Zenz points out that the re-education camps are just one part of a bigger system of internment, much of which remains hidden from the outside world.

    Image caption

    The outside of one of the camps in Xinjiang

    More than two dozen individuals are listed as “recommended” for release into “industrial park employment” – career “advice” that they may have little choice but to obey. There are well documented concerns that China is now building a system of coerced labour as the next phase of its plan to align Uighur life with its own vision of a modern society.

    In two cases, the re-education ends in the detainees being sent to “strike hard detention”, a reminder that the formal prison system has been cranked into overdrive in recent years.

    Many of the family relationships listed in the document show long prison terms for parents or siblings, sometimes for entirely normal religious observances and practices.

    One man’s father is shown to have been sentenced to five years for “having a double-coloured thick beard and organising a religious studies group”.

    A neighbour is reported to have been given 15 years for “online contact with people overseas”, and another man’s younger brother given 10 years for “storing treasonable pictures on his phone”.

    Whether or not China has closed its re-education camps in Xinjiang, Dr Zenz says the Karakax List tells us something important about the psychology of a system that prevails.

    “It reveals the witch-hunt-like mindset that has been and continues to dominate social life in the region,” he said.

    Source Article from https://bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51520622

    John Bolton celebrated Presidents’ Day by breaking his silence for the first time since Donald Trump’s impeachment trial – speaking of his frustrations and teasing the content of his forthcoming book.

    But when it came to his former boss, the president’s former national security adviser was scant on details, hinting that he is restricted in what he can say.

    Bolton, who left the White House in September following foreign policy disagreements, was interviewed on stage on Monday night at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

    It was his first public speech since Trump’s impeachment trial where – despite repeated appeals by Democrats for him to testify, and Bolton’s stated willingness to do so if subpoenaed – he did not speak.

    But following the leak of a draft of his unpublished forthcoming memoir, which reportedly described how Trump told him he wanted to delay US military aid to Ukraine until it agreed to investigate Democrats, including presidential hopeful Joe Biden, his shadow loomed large over proceedings – which ended in Trump’s acquittal.

    Duke did not allow audio recording or livestreaming at the main event. Interviewer Peter Feaver, a professor of political science and public policy at the university, is understood to have told the audience that the restrictions were due to Bolton’s contract.

    But journalists present at the event live tweeted Bolton’s comments as the pair spoke on stage.

    Asked about Trump’s tweets about him, Bolton is reported to have said he could not comment, pending a White House review of the manuscript for his forthcoming book. “He tweets, but I can’t talk about it. How fair is that?” he said, according to one reporter present.

    When asked on Monday what it was like to staff Trump’s 2018 meeting with Putin in Helsinki, Bolton reportedly said: “To pursue the right policies for America, I was willing to put up with a lot.”

    “I’m not asking for martyrdom,” he added. “I knew, I think I knew, what I was getting into.”

    According to CNN, Bolton and his lawyers have been battling with the White House about the book, scheduled to be published under the title The Room Where it Happened next month.

    The Trump administration is reportedly concerned about the inclusion of classified information protected by executive privilege. CNN reports that the White House records management is reviewing the book.

    During Monday’s talk, he appeared to repeatedly trail the memoir.

    On the subject of Helsinki, he also replied – reportedly to audience groans: “I could read a chapter form my book here and give you the answer to that question.”

    After a question about whether he agreed with Trump that his 25 July call was “perfect”, he said: “You will love chapter 14”.

    He also reportedly referred to “censorship” of the manuscript. “This is an effort to write history … We’ll see what happens with the censorship,” he said.

    Outside the venue, dozens of protesters gathered for a “The People v John Bolton Rally”. A Facebook page promoting the event described Bolton as “architect of the Iraq war, Islamophobe and war criminal” and criticised Duke for hosting him as an “esteemed speaker”.

    His Duke visit is the first of two university appearances this week. On Wednesday he is due to speak with Barack Obama national security adviser Susan Rice at Vanderbilt University in Nashville on the subject of “defining US global leadership”.

    Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/feb/18/john-bolton-breaks-his-silence-after-trump-impeachment-i-knew-what-i-was-getting-into

    The Trump administration is weighing trade restrictions on China that would limit the use of American chip-making equipment, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

    People familiar with the matter told the Journal that the Commerce Department is drafting changes to the foreign direct product rule that would require chip factories globally to obtain licenses if they want to use American equipment to create chips for Huawei.

    The proposed rule comes as the Trump administration looks to cut off China’s access to the U.S. semiconductors, one of China’s largest imports from America. Many U.S. officials have argued that Huawei’s equipment could be used for espionage by the Chinese government, although the company denies those claims and says its equipment is secure. A separate rule would limit the ability of U.S. companies to supply Huawei from overseas facilities.

    The proposed changes could also harm U.S. manufacturers of semiconductor equipment, like Applied Materials and Lam Research.

    The changes have not been reviewed by President Donald Trump and not everyone supports the proposed rule, the newspaper reported.

    The Commerce Department declined to comment on the proposed rule to CNBC.

    Read more about the impact of the possible trade restrictions here.

    Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/17/trump-administration-is-reportedly-weighing-limits-to-chinas-access-to-chip-technology.html

    A top health official at the National Institutes of Health acknowledged the quarantine aboard the coronavirus-infected Diamond Princess Cruises ship failed while discussing the decision to evacuate hundreds of American passengers – 14 of whom tested positive for the virus.

    Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said the original idea to keep people safely quarantined on the ship wasn’t unreasonable. But even with the quarantine process on the ship, virus transmission still occurred.

    The Japanese health ministry said Monday that the number of cases confirmed aboard the Diamond Princess had reached 454.

    “As it turned out, that was very ineffective in preventing spread on the ship,” Fauci told the USA TODAY Editorial Board and reporters Monday. Every hour, another four or five people were being infected.

    Quarantines, isolation, lockdowns:Can they stop the coronavirus?

    Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/02/17/coronavirus-official-explains-diamond-princess-cruise-quarantine-fail/4785290002/

    Former NYPD officer and Secret Service agent Dan Bongino reacted on “Fox & Friends” Monday to some media analysts reportedly signing a petition urging Attorney General Bill Barr to resign over the sentencing of former Trump adviser Roger Stone.

    More than 1,100 former Justice Department employees have signed an online petition urging Barr to resign and praising the four prosecutors who withdrew from the Stone case after what they perceived as interference from the White House, Politico reported.

    Signatures for the petition include recent Justice Department employees and some dating back to the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, according to the news outlet. The signatures were gathered by Protect Democracy, a nonprofit legal group that had also gathered signatures for a letter claiming Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia report presented enough evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice.

    Host Griff Jenkins noted on Monday that eight people who reportedly signed the petition were media analysts. The eight legal analysts who signed the petition work for CNN and MSNBC or appear frequently on the networks, according to the Daily Caller.

    When asked why this has gotten so much attention, Bongino said: “Because the left is psychotic.

    “I don’t have any easy explanation for what’s going on right now,” he continued. “Why does the left — a better way to phrase this — why do they keep stepping on rakes? Why do they think this is helping? You had an obvious egregious sentence. Come on. Nine years for Roger?”

    DOJ PROSECUTORS RESIGN AFTER TOP BRASS REVERSES COURSE ON ROGER STONE SENTENCING

    Last week, the Justice Department overruled its own prosecutors — who had recommended in a court filing that Stone be sentenced to as many as nine years in prison — and took the extraordinary step of lowering the amount of prison time it would seek. The department didn’t offer an amended number. Barr has been under fire for the reversal.

    “Nine years for someone with no criminal history. You want this guy to die in prison?” Bongino asked on Monday. “Let’s just be candid. The left is all in on the police state right now and government spying. They just are. There is no other way to describe it.”

    Last week, Trump, who denied influencing the move, applauded Barr on Twitter for the decision to reverse the sentencing recommendation, writing: “Congratulations to Attorney General Bill Barr for taking charge of a case that was totally out of control and perhaps should not have even been brought.”

    When Bongino was asked what his reaction was to media analysts signing the petition calling for Barr’s resignation, he said: “Bill Barr is probably laughing at these idiots right now.”

    “They’re former DOJ people for a reason,” he continued. “If you look back under the Obama administration and their hiring practice … What they did was, although you’re legally not allowed to ask party affiliation when you hire people for those jobs, it was clear, based on the resumes of the people Obama’s administration overwhelmingly hired in the DOJ, attorneys and otherwise, that they were hardcore leftists, a lot of them, so it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone now that they are former.”

    He went on to say, “They should keep their mouths quiet about what’s going on right now.”

    Bongino then noted that “there’s nothing illegally happening right now.”

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    “Bill Barr made an independent decision about a grotesque violation of sentencing guidelines here and he made a decision as a steward of the elected president of the United States,” Bongino said on “Fox & Friends” on Monday. “I mean, that’s just what happens. I mean he’s the appointed official approved by the Senate. And if you don’t like it, then elect someone else next time.”

    Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly and Gregg Re contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/dan-bongino-media-analysts-signing-petition-bill-barr-resign

    (CNN)Concerns are mounting about how long the novel coronavirus may survive on surfaces — so much so that China’s central bank has taken measures to deep clean and destroy its cash, which changes hands multiple times a day, in an effort to contain the virus.

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      Mike Bloomberg’s campaign on Monday launched a new ad ripping the so-called “Bernie Bros” for using online bullying tactics against anyone who opposes Sen. Bernie Sanders.

      “We need to unite to defeat Trump in November. This type of ‘energy’ is not going to get us there,” Bloomberg writes in a tweet along with the 53-second clip.

      The video contains numerous tweets, including one of a Photoshopped meme of Sanders pointing a handgun with the words “I am no longer asking.”

      “##Bernie or Bust now it’s #Bernie or Else,” the caption also read.

      Images of threatening text and other messages then appear as ominous music pulses in the background.

      “You’re making a big mistake Fred. Vote Bernie or bad things will happen,” read one.

      “Love how you broke the system. We know where you live. Where you work. Where you eat. We know where you kids go to school/grandkids. We have everything on you,” continued another.

      “You made a bad choice. Prepare for hell. Calls won’t stop.”

      Still more threatening messages then appear as the spot continues.

      “Libs who are flirting with Bloomberg. Next time they pretend to care about racism or sexual harassment or really anything other than money and power, we will remember what they were doing right now and we will remind everyone,” read one.

      The spot then flashes to several media headlines criticizing “Bernie Bros,” using a term which has become a derisive nickname for some of Sanders’ supporters who have been accused of harassing and trolling opponents online.

      “Bernie’s Angry Bros” read one from the New York Times, while another in the Chicago Tribune asked: “Is Bernie Sanders’ Angry Army Really What We Want?”

      The ad then cuts to the Vermont senator making a plea for civility.

      “It is vitally important that those of use who hold different views be able to engage in a civil discourse,” Sanders says, as the all-caps word REALLY?” remains on the screen.

      Twitter reaction was mixed.

      “@MikeBloomberg THANK YOU We’ve been harassed by Bernie’s base online for FIVE YEARS I’ll never vote for Bernie, they’re as bad as Trump supporters,” wrote Linda from Arizona.

      But Troy Rudd took a shot at Bloomberg over his controversial support of stop-and-frisk, a policy he backed as mayor only to apologize for now that he’s running for president.

      “@MikeBloomberg Mike’s just MAD because he can’t stop and frisk twitter users! #NeverBloomberg #MyBloombergStory,” he tweeted.

      Bloomberg has spent hundreds of millions of his own money in a series of ads that to date have largely targeted President Trump.

      Source Article from https://nypost.com/2020/02/17/mike-bloomberg-blasts-bernie-bros-in-new-campaign-ad/

      Goodwill between presidents took a back seat on Presidents Day 2020.

      Former President Barack Obama appeared to take a rare political jab at his successor in a tweet Monday that cast aspersions on President Trump’s claims that he deserves credit for recent economic gains, a key reelection platform for the 45th president.

      “Eleven years ago today, near the bottom of the worst recession in generations, I signed the Recovery Act, paving the way for more than a decade of economic growth and the longest streak of job creation in American history,” Obama said, including with the tweet a picture of his signature on the 2009 stimulus package.

      The tweet was a rare swipe at Trump by Obama, who has largely stayed out of the 2020 election cycle. Obama has yet to endorse any candidate seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, but his input about the economy nonetheless provides ammo to the entire field as they seek to counter Trump’s 2020 campaign, which has been touting record economic growth in the face of controversies such as the Russia investigation and impeachment.

      During the Great Recession, which began under President George W. Bush, the unemployment rate surged and peaked at around 10% in 2010 before it began a steady fall under Obama. The downward trend has continued under Trump. The unemployment rate as of January sits at a low 3.6%, with 225,000 new jobs added that month.

      Trump often touts the low unemployment numbers while on the campaign trail, but Democrats and other critics have pointed out that the decline in unemployment started while Obama was president.

      The Gross Domestic Product growth rate was -2.5% in 2009, Obama’s first year in office, before rebounding to 2.6% the following year. Since then, the GDP has increased each year.

      Although there tends to be an unspoken cordiality between those who once sat in the Oval Office, the chilly demeanor between Trump and Obama has manifested in realms other than economics.

      Trump has not publicly said if he has consulted with any of his predecessors on policy matters, including Obama, despite the latter’s reported expectation that he would. Kevin Lewis, Obama’s first press secretary after leaving office, said Obama hoped for a more traditional relationship between them.

      “He wanted to be a resource,” Lewis said. “What we didn’t expect at the level that it was done were the attacks.”

      Trump recently slammed Obama over his foreign policy. After the U.S. killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in January, the president criticized Obama’s stance on Iran. In particular, he took aim at the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which the U.S. withdrew under Trump and Iran has since repeatedly violated.

      “He [Soleimani] was their real military leader,” Trump said on The Rush Limbaugh Show. “He’s a terrorist. He was designated a terrorist by President Obama. And then Obama did nothing about it, except give them $150 billion, even more incredibly $1.8 billion in cash.”

      The Trump-Obama iciness has extended into the East Wing as well. Former first lady Michelle Obama said in 2018 that first lady Melania Trump never reached out to her for advice or guidance, despite her overtures to assist.

      White House communications director Stephanie Grisham told the Washington Examiner at the time that, “Trump is a strong and independent woman who has been navigating her role as First Lady in her own way. When she needs advice on any issue, she seeks it from her professional team within the White House.”

      President’s Day is a holiday known federally as Washington’s Birthday. Although former President George Washington’s birthday is actually on Feb. 22, the government changed the celebration in 1968 to the third Monday of February. There was an effort at the time to combine the holiday with former President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday and officially change the name to President’s Day, and although that never succeeded, the name still stuck.

      Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/obama-takes-a-subtle-presidents-day-jab-at-trumps-best-argument-for-2020

      Mississippi is in a state of emergency Monday morning after historic levels of flooding damaged at least 200 homes near the state capitol of Jackson. At least four people had to be rescued from their homes as the Pearl River’s rising water flooded entire neighborhoods. Omar Villafranca is in Jackson to report on the latest damage.

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      Each weekday morning, “CBS This Morning” co-hosts Gayle King, Anthony Mason and Tony Dokoupil deliver two hours of original reporting, breaking news and top-level newsmaker interviews in an engaging and informative format that challenges the norm in network morning news programs. The broadcast has earned a prestigious Peabody Award, a Polk Award, four News & Documentary Emmys, three Daytime Emmys and the 2017 Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Newscast. The broadcast was also honored with an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award as part of CBS News division-wide coverage of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Check local listings for “CBS This Morning” broadcast times.

      Source Article from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwIGEA0Ozck

      Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, discusses his legislative criminal justice priorities in Richmond, Va., in January.

      Steve Helber/AP


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      Steve Helber/AP

      Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, discusses his legislative criminal justice priorities in Richmond, Va., in January.

      Steve Helber/AP

      Updated at 5:11 p.m. ET

      Virginia’s Democratic governor seemed poised to make broad changes to his state’s gun control laws, but was dealt a stinging blow by his own party Monday when a state Senate committee blocked a bill that would have, among other things, banned sales of assault weapons.

      Four Democrats on Virginia’s Senate Judiciary Committee broke ranks with their party handing the Republican minority a victory in tabling the bill for the remainder of the year. It also sent the measure to the state’s Crime Commission for further review.

      The bill would have banned the sale or transfer of certain assault-style weapons in Virginia. It also would have made it illegal to possess silencers and magazines holding more than 12 rounds.

      Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, had championed the legislation, which was part of a series of eight gun-control measures the Virginia House passed earlier this year. The seven remaining bills are still being considered in the state Senate.

      Still, after Democrats’ big gains last fall in the Virginia General Assembly — controlling the governor’s mansion and both chambers of Virginia’s General Assembly for the first time in a generation — changes in gun laws appeared on track to move forward unimpeded.

      A spokesperson for Northam, Alena Yarmosky, said in a statement to NPR that the governor was “disappointed” in the Senate panel’s vote Monday.

      The governor “fully expects the Crime Commission to give this measure the detailed review the Senators called for,” she added. “We will be back next year.”

      Democrats, led by Northam, have renewed their push for tighter gun restrictions following last year’s mass shooting at a Virginia Beach municipal complex in which 12 victims died.

      The gunman worked at the government building and used a sound suppressor, which he obtained legally, during the May 31 rampage.

      Among the items lawmakers in the Virginia House have approved include one calling for universal background checks on private firearms sales and creating an extreme risk protection order, also known as a “red flag” law. Those laws allow authorities to temporarily confiscate firearms from someone thought to be a threat to themselves or others.

      But then the Senate committee balked at the assault-style weapons bill.

      After Monday’s 10-5 vote, state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, D-Portsmouth, called the four Democrats who voted to table the measure a “bunch of wimps,” according to The Washington Post.

      Meanwhile the National Rifle Association, which is headquartered in the Fairfax, Va., celebrated the defeat in a tweet, calling the bill “anti-American.”

      “The Virginia Senate Judiciary Committee voted today to reject HB961, a bill banning standard-capacity mags, future sales of suppressors and commonly-owned firearms,” the tweet read. “Thank you to NRA members and gun owners who fought to defeat this anti-American legislation. #valeg”

      “Gun rights groups said it would make thousands of law-abiding Virginians felons overnight. But gun control advocates including Lori Haas with The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence say it would reduce the death toll in mass shootings,” Whittney Evans of VPM in Richmond reports.

      Haas told Evans, “It’s absolutely ridiculous that Democrats walked back on this issue when it got them the majority in November.”

      With its rich gun culture, Virginia historically has been loath to pass gun control measures.

      The governor pressed for tightening state gun laws immediately after the Virginia Beach shooting, calling for a special legislative session last summer. The General Assembly, which was then under Republican control, adjourned after less than two hours — it did not consider a single piece of legislation.

      But after Democrats made big gains last fall in the state Legislature — controlling the governor’s mansion and both chambers of Virginia’s General Assembly for the first time in a generation — changes in gun laws appeared imminent.

      In December, Northam told NPR that he was confident new gun laws would be enacted.

      “Dealing with the gun violence in Virginia will be a top priority of our administration,” Northam said. “Now certainly with a Democratic Senate and House, I believe we can move forward with common sense gun legislation.”

      The committee vote comes nearly a month after an estimated 22,000 demonstrators, many of them armed, took part in a rally at the Virginia State Capitol last month protesting efforts to pass new gun legislation.

      “Some people wore camouflage and helmets, while a few dressed in Revolutionary War costumes. Others wore jeans or suits, but with rifles slung across their chests,” NPR’s Bill Chappell reported. Only one person was arrested, a 21-year-old woman charged with a felony count of wearing a mask in public.

      Demonstrators stand outside a security zone ahead of a pro-gun rally in Richmond, Va., on the morning of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

      Julio Cortez/AP


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      Demonstrators stand outside a security zone ahead of a pro-gun rally in Richmond, Va., on the morning of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

      Julio Cortez/AP

      Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2020/02/17/806663375/virginia-governors-bill-to-ban-assault-weapons-fails-with-help-from-his-own-part

      A top health official at the National Institutes of Health shed light on the decision to evacuate hundreds of American passengers from the coronavirus-infected Diamond Princess Cruises ship – 14 of whom tested positive for the virus.

      Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, said the original idea to keep people safely quarantined on the ship wasn’t unreasonable. But even with the quarantine process on the ship, virus transmission still occurred.

      The Japanese health ministry said Monday that the number of cases confirmed aboard the Diamond Princess had reached 454.

      “As it turned out, that was very ineffective in preventing spread on the ship,” Fauci told the USA TODAY Editorial Board and reporters Monday. Every hour, another four or five people were being infected.

      Quarantines, isolation, lockdowns:Can they stop the coronavirus?

      Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/02/17/coronavirus-official-explains-diamond-princess-cruise-quarantine-fail/4785290002/

      Michael Bloomberg and his campaign fired back at Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., with a scathing video on his fervent supporters after the democratic socialist accused of him of not being able to generate enough “excitement” to win in November.

      The former New York City mayor tweeted a video Monday morning featuring aggressive and sometimes threatening tweets, texts and memes supposedly from Sanders supporters.

      NEWT GINGRICH: BLOOMBERG’S BILLIONS VS. SANDERS’ SOCIALISM — WHICH DEMOCRATS ARE IN AND WHO IS SOON TO BE OUT OF 2020 RACE

      “Vote Bernie or bad things will happen,” one message said.

      “We know where you live. Where you work. Where you eat,” said a string of messages.

      “Libs who are flirting with Bloomberg now should be aware that they are going on lists,” said one tweet. Several targeted other Democrats in the race, calling Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., a “snake” and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg “a demonic rat.”

      The video then quotes headlines calling out Sanders’ supporters, often referred to as “Bernie Bros,” for their aggressive tactics.

      “Is Bernie Sanders’ angry army really what Democrats want?” asked one headline.

      The video ends with an ironic use of a clip of Sanders saying, “It is vitally important for those of us who hold different views to be able to engage in a civil discourse.”

      “Really?” Bloomberg’s video asks.

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      The scathing critique comes a day after Sanders tweeted a message and video of his own, where he took aim at Bloomberg for “racist policies like stop and frisk,” and for not being able to “create the kind of excitement and energy we need to defeat Donald Trump.”

      Bloomberg’s response said “this type of ‘energy'” coming from Sanders’ base will not get the job done.

      Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/bloomberg-scorches-sanders-with-video-on-bernie-bro-threats

      American evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship arrive at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on Monday in San Antonio, Texas.

      Edward A. Ornelas/Getty Images


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      Edward A. Ornelas/Getty Images

      American evacuees from the Diamond Princess cruise ship arrive at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland on Monday in San Antonio, Texas.

      Edward A. Ornelas/Getty Images

      Updated at 11 a.m. ET

      Fourteen U.S. passengers evacuated from a cruise ship in Japan and flown to military bases in California and Texas have tested positive for the new coronavirus, U.S. officials confirm.

      An additional 44 Americans from the Diamond Princess ship who tested positive for coronavirus will stay in Japan while they recover. Some have been hospitalized, but not all who are infected are sick.

      The State Department said it was in the process of transporting more than 300 Americans who had been quarantined on the Diamond Princess off Yokohama, Japan, when it got word of the positive tests for the disease now known as COVID-19.

      “During the evacuation process, after passengers had disembarked the ship and initiated transport to the airport, U.S. officials received notice that 14 passengers, who had been tested 2-3 days earlier, had tested positive for COVID-19,” the State Department said in a joint statement with the Department of Health and Human Services.

      The officials said those Americans were separated from the other evacuees, even though the 14 individuals weren’t showing symptoms of the virus officials said.

      “These individuals were moved in the most expeditious and safe manner to a specialized containment area on the evacuation aircraft to isolate them in accordance with standard protocols,” the statement said.

      It added: “Passengers that develop symptoms in flight and those with positive test results will remain isolated on the flights and will be transported to an appropriate location for continued isolation and care.”

      Passengers on the two charter flights landed either at Joint Base San Antonio in Texas or at Travis Air Force Base in Solano County, California, roughly 60 miles northeast of San Francisco.

      All passengers will remain under a mandatory a two-week quarantine.

      The Diamond Princess has been under Japan-ordered quarantine since Feb. 5, after a passenger who had disembarked earlier tested positive for the virus in Hong Kong. Although Japanese authorities originally said the quarantine period for the ship would expire Wednesday, that date might now be pushed back, NPR’s Jason Beaubien reports.

      Health officials in Asia say 454 people aboard the Diamond Princess have been diagnosed with the coronavirus that emerged in late December in Wuhan, China.

      Worldwide, more than 70,000 cases of the new coronavirus have been reported and more than 1,700 people have died of COVID-19.

      Source Article from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/02/17/806634515/14-americans-taken-off-cruise-ship-and-flown-to-u-s-test-positive-for-coronaviru