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Many Democrats focused their election campaigns around protecting people with pre-existing conditions, and they want to move quickly to votes on proposals to do that — in part to test Republicans who made similar pledges during their campaigns. But more than two months after taking power, the full House has yet to vote on the issue.

Instead, the three House committees with jurisdiction over health care — Energy and Commerce; Ways and Means; and Oversight and Reform — have channeled their energies into numerous hearings on how to lower prescription drug costs, how to expand coverage and protect people with pre-existing conditions and how to override actions by the Trump administration.

Legislation is coming. Democrats are considering restricting the sales of short-term insurance policies, approved by the Trump administration, that do not have to comply with the Affordable Care Act, which means they do not have to provide essential health benefits and can discriminate against those with pre-existing conditions. Democrats are also looking for ways to cooperate with Republicans on proposals to lower the cost of prescription drug prices and to outlaw tactics used by brand-name companies to delay competition from generics.

Hearings on Medicare for all — which begin as early as April, according to Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, who is leading the push for the Medicare for All Act — will come against those proposals.

Under the bill sponsored by Ms. Jayapal and Ms. Dingell, the secretary of health and human services would establish a “national health budget,” specifying the total amount to be spent each year, and a national fee schedule for health care providers. Republicans have recently been demanding hearings on it, in the belief that they can score political points by showing that the proposal would be immensely expensive and disruptive.

Ms. Dingell said she intended to travel the country to push for the proposal. For her, it is carrying on a family legacy. Her husband’s father, John Dingell Sr., introduced the first universal health care bill in 1943 when he served in Congress; when the younger John Dingell was elected in 1955, he took up the cause and presided 10 years later when Congress passed the law enacting Medicare. A self-described pragmatist, Ms. Dingell acknowledged that the current bill may be only the beginning of a longer conversation.

“Social Security didn’t pass overnight,” she said. “Medicare didn’t pass overnight.”

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/18/us/politics/democrats-health-care-medicare-for-all.html

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Reuters) – The White House pushed back on Sunday against any attempt to link President Donald Trump to the accused shooter who killed 50 people in two New Zealand mosques, saying the act of a disturbed individual cannot be blamed on any one politician.

“The president is not a white supremacist. I’m not sure how many times we have to say that,” White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.”

Trump on Friday condemned the “horrible massacre” at the mosques and the White House called the shooting a “vicious act of hate.”

Asked by a reporter on Friday if he sees white nationalism as a rising threat around the world, Trump said: “I don’t really. I think it’s a small group of people.”

The accused gunman’s manifesto praised the U.S. president as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose,” even though he did not support his policies. The reference revived criticism that Trump has not been strong enough in condemning hate speech and has fomented anti-Muslim sentiment.

RELATED: New Zealand mosque shootings




“I don’t think it’s fair to cast this person as a supporter of Donald Trump,” Mulvaney said. “Any more than it is to look at his eco-terrorist passages in that manifesto and align him with (Democratic House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi or Ms. Ocasio-Cortez,” a Democratic congresswoman.

“This was a disturbed individual, an evil person,” he said.

Trump drew strong criticism in the days after a deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 when he equated white supremacists with counter-protesters and saying “both sides” were to blame.

“Time and time again, this president has embraced and emboldened white supremacists—and instead of condemning racist terrorists, he covers for them. This isn’t normal or acceptable,” Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, said on Twitter after Friday’s mosque shootings.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/03/17/white-house-dismisses-praise-of-trump-by-new-zealand-shooter/23694289/

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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/17/politics/transportation-department-faa-boeing-investigation/index.html

PM Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand’s cabinet has backed gun law changes “in principle” after the Christchurch shootings.

Fifty people were killed and dozens wounded in attacks at two mosques on Friday.

Australian Brenton Tarrant, 28, has appeared in court and been charged with murder.

The shootings sparked calls for gun law reform, with Ms Ardern saying soon afterwards “our gun laws will change”.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-47607928/christchurch-shootings-nz-cabinet-backs-action-on-gun-laws

The sometimes-violent deaths of a half-dozen men linked to the 2014 protests that rocked Ferguson, Mo., including two found in burning cars and three who allegedly committed suicide, have sparked fears that something sinister is afoot, The Associated Press reported in an extensive investigation.

Police say the deaths, which also included a man who collapsed on a bus due to an overdose, have nothing to do with the protests that rocked the small city near St. Louis following the police-involved shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. But others involved in the protests say the strange events are piling up.

FLASHBACK: POLICE ASK FOR HELP IN SOLVING SHOOTING DEATH OF TOP FERGUSON, MISSOURI ACTIVIST

The Rev. Darryl Gray told the Associated Press he found a suspicious box inside his car and when authorities came to inspect they found a 6-foot python inside.

“Everybody is on pins and needles,” Gray said.

No arrests have been made in the two homicides as St. Louis County police spokesman Shawn McGuire told the Associated Press witnesses have just refused to answer questions, leaving the investigation with no leads.

“We don’t believe either one was connected to each other,” McGuire said, adding “It’s tough to come up with a motive without a suspect.”

In the years since the protest of the police-involved shooting, activists said they’ve been targeted in dangerous ways.

“Something is happening,” Cori Bush, a leader of the Ferguson protests, told The Associated Press. “I’ve been vocal about the things that I’ve experienced and still experience — the harassment, the intimidation, the death threats, the death attempts.”

Bush told The Associated Press her car has been run off the road, her home vandalized and someone fired a bullet into her home in 2014 – narrowly missing her 13-year-old daughter. She suspected she’s been targeted by white supremacists or police sympathizers.

FILE – In this Sept. 17, 2017 file photo, Cori Bush speaks on a bullhorn to protesters outside the St. Louis Police Department headquarters in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

PROMINENT FERGUSON, MISSOURI ACTIVIST FOUND SHOT TO DEATH IN BURNING CAR

Ferguson protests erupted in August 2014 after police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot Brown during a confrontation. Brown was unarmed at the time of the shooting and Wilson claimed self-defense, saying Brown charged him. A grand jury declined to bring charges against Wilson, prompting a night of violence.

One of the first activists to die was Deandre Joshua, according to the Associated Press. Joshua, 20, was shot in the head before his car was torched.

Darren Seals, who was shown on video during the night of the protests comforting Brown’s mother, was shot multiple times with his body torched in a vehicle as well in September 2016.

Four others had also died, three of them ruled suicides.

MarShawn McCarrell, an Ohio man who was an activist in Ferguson, shot himself outside the Ohio Statehouse in February 2016, police said.

Edward Crawford Jr., 27, shot himself in May 2017 after telling his friends he was upset over personal issues, police said. Crawford was seen in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch photo firing a canister back at Ferguson police during the protests.

“I’ve been vocal about the things that I’ve experienced and still experience — the harassment, the intimidation, the death threats, the death attempts.”

— Cori Bush, Ferguson activist

Danye Jones, 24, was found hanging from a tree in a yard north of his home in October. His mother claimed that he had been lynched but the death was ruled a suicide, according to the Associated Press.

Bassem Masri, 31, was found unresponsive on a bus and toxicology results showed he had died as a result of a fentanyl overdose. The Palestinian American had livestreamed Ferguson demonstrations.

Many activists still feelas sense of hopelessness after the protests. But it’s unclear is the suicides had been related to the effects of the Ferguson aftermath.

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“This has to have a big impact on their mental health,” Washington University sociologist Odis Johnson told the Associated Press. “For many, law enforcement is not a recourse. Many times law enforcement is not on their side.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/puzzling-number-of-men-tied-to-ferguson-protests-have-died


If former Vice President Joe Biden runs in 2020, his newfound wealth could give his Democratic and GOP opponents an opening to attack him as disingenuous, or at least less than advertised. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

2020 Elections

The former VP on the brink of a likely presidential campaign has done quite well financially since leaving office in 2017.

“Middle-Class Joe” Biden has a $2.7 million vacation home. He charges more than $100,000 per speaking gig and has inked a book deal likely worth seven figures.

Since leaving office in 2017, the 76-year-old former vice president has watched his bank account swell as he continues to cultivate the image of a regular, Amtrak-riding guy. He’s repeatedly referred to himself as “Middle-Class Joe” on the campaign trail and in speaking engagements as he publicly mulls whether to run for president.

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While his finances might be unexceptional by the standards of well-heeled Washington politicians, Biden is unique among the top Democratic presidential hopefuls because of his avowed distance from the upper class. It’s central to his political identity. But if Biden runs, his newfound wealth could give his Democratic and GOP opponents an opening to attack him as disingenuous, or at least less than advertised.

For Biden and his supporters, “middle class” isn’t so much a financial status as it is a state of mind, a sensibility that’s ingrained in his political DNA. In a party where voters have grown increasingly wary of income inequality, Biden’s use of the nickname functions as an us-vs-them foil that tells both middle- and working-class people he’s one of them, the little guys sneered at by the elites..

“I know I’m called Middle-Class Joe. It’s not meant to be a compliment. It means I’m not sophisticated. But I know what made this country what it is: ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” Biden said in Kentucky last year, a refrain he’s used repeatedly for years, including when he floated a potential presidential run in 2017.

And Biden’s supporters argue there’s nothing inconsistent or hypocritical about his fatter bank account since he exited the public sector after almost 50 years.

“During his time in office, fulfilling a pledge he made in his first campaign for the Senate, he held no stocks or bonds or any outside business interests,” said Bill Russo, a spokesman for Biden. “After he left the White House, he wrote a best-selling book and went on a speaking tour to pay off debt accumulated during his time in public life and to ensure that his grandchildren would be provided for. His entire career has been dedicated to trying to make life easier for hardworking people in this country. The American people know that.”

Skeptics on the left see it differently.

Adam Green, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Biden’s earnings on the speaking circuit and elsewhere reinforce his negatives as a Washington insider and deal-maker who cashed out once he left office. At least at the outset, the former vice president is expected to rely on a traditional network of big-money Democratic donors to bankroll his campaign more than his rivals, as opposed to an army of small-dollar givers.

“Joe Biden is the opposite of an outsider and the opposite of someone who will challenge big corporate and moneyed elites on many, many fronts. And his big money and speaking deals would be just the cherry on top of that larger totality of circumstances,” said Green, whose group supports Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “This would be an exacerbating data point in a larger story of him being the wrong person in a moment when people want someone to shake up the political establishment and take on corporate and wealthy elites.”

Democratic voters have grown increasingly concerned with vast income inequality; how to address it is a central issue in the nomination fight. But when it comes to the candidates’ own wealth, Biden’s primary opponents might have a hard time attacking him on his recent money-making ventures because many of them are wealthy themselves.

Several top-tier Democratic campaigns didn’t want to discuss Biden publicly before he gets in the race, though two told POLITICO on background that the way Biden represents his finances could provide an opening to call him out.

Other Democratic candidates are also the target of criticism by opponents over financial matters. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke is drawing fire, some of it inaccurate, for receiving financial support from his wealthy father-in-law. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has faced questions since his 2016 presidential bid for releasing only one tax return from 2014. Sanders last month promised he would release a decade’s worth of returns “soon.”

Only two Democrats running for president have released tax information so far: Warren, who posted 10 tax returns, and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who released 11, according to the Tax History Project’s Tax Notes, which has collected the information from candidates going back to 1913. Democrats will be under increasing pressure to provide their tax returns to draw a sharper contrast with President Donald Trump, the first nominee in decades not to release tax forms before or after his election.

First elected to the Senate in 1973, Biden was once one of the least wealthy members of the chamber. By the time he left the White House, he and his wife, Jill Biden, reported assets between $303,000 and $1 million, as well as liabilities between $560,000 and $1.2 million. During much of his time in office, Biden’s wife was a professor at Northern Virginia Community College, where she still teaches.

Biden’s finances changed sharply when he left office. He and Jill Biden signed a multi-book deal in early 2017. Russo, Biden’s spokesman, refused to disclose how much the deal is worth. But it’s likely in the “high seven figures,” said Keith Urbahn, a literary agent who specializes in political books and has represented the likes of former FBI Director James Comey and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse.

In June 2017, shortly after they inked the book deal, the Bidens purchased their vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., for $2.7 million.

Another house that Biden bought in Wilmington, Del., for $350,000 in 1996 is now worth almost $1.9 million, according to an estimate by the real estate website Zillow. The Bidens rent a third home in Virginia, near the community college where Jill Biden teaches. Russo would not say how much they pay in rent, if anything, or where it’s located.

Of all the homes, however, the new vacation home in Rehoboth Beach is special for Biden, who has told friends and associates that he wants the home as a central place for his family to gather, especially since the death of his son Beau from brain cancer in 2015.

Biden wrote about Beau’s death in “Promise Me, Dad,” the first book published as part of his deal, which Biden has promoted in about 40 stops throughout the country. Russo declined to say how much he charges for the events. Tickets have been advertised for as little as $25, while VIP tickets, which include a photo with Biden, have gone for $450.

In addition to the book tour, Biden has had several other speaking engagements.

Though his team has not released the cost of each event, contracts for some of them have become public, showing him charging from $150,000 to $200,000.

In at least one case, Biden didn’t charge a fee for his appearance: The University of Utah was initially given a speaking fee of $100,000 for a speech in December, but Biden didn’t take a check after he found out it would come from state funds.

The rate appears to be standard, though. An October 2018 email from a University of Utah official, provided to POLITICO by the Republican opposition research firm America Rising, said Biden’s booking firm reported that “the vice president charges a reduced rate for colleges and universities of $100,000.”

At a January speech in Florida’s Democratic bastion of Broward County where he earned $150,000, Biden avoided calling himself “Middle-Class Joe.” But the Miami New Times rapped him for the staged nature of the event — in which noncontroversial questions he answered publicly were pre-approved by him and “triaged for content” — as well as a tour rider that insisted he be fed spaghetti pomodoro and raspberry sorbet before his speech.

In the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton was pilloried for her lucrative paid speeches, especially those she made to big banks. She and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, earned more than $150 million for the talks between 2001 and 2015.

Working-class white voters certainly didn’t hold Trump’s wealth against him in the 2016 election, and Biden’s supporters believe he’s the Democrat best able to win them back. They point to some polls showing Biden leading among whites and less-educated voters as well as the rousing support for him last week at the International Association of Fire Fighters union convention in Washington.

The union’s president, Harold Schaitberger, said Biden’s connection to working-class voters is undeniable because Biden — a Scranton, Pa., native — is genuinely middle class, regardless of how rich he is.

“Donald Trump really stole the voice that the Democratic Party used to speak with and lost it to some degree. And Joe Biden doesn’t just reclaim that. It’s who he is,” Schaitberger said. “He is ‘Working Class Joe.’ It’s not that he’s from Scranton. It’s not what’s in his checkbook.”

Neil Oxman, a longtime Pennsylvania-based Democratic political consultant, said Biden’s middle-class roots are legitimate, even if his finances have changed over the past few years.

“I don’t think anybody can question his truly middle-class, working, Irish Catholic, Lackawanna County, Scranton credentials,” he said. “I think it’s truly genuine.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/18/joe-biden-2020-money-wealth-1221934

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Christchurch, New Zealand (CNN)In the wake of last Friday’s attacks in Christchurch in which 50 people were killed, New Zealand faces a defining moment on the availability of guns in society.

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    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/17/asia/gun-laws-new-zealand-intl/index.html

    CNN anchor Ana Cabrera on Sunday called out President TrumpDonald John TrumpBiden on potential candidacy: ‘I have the most progressive record’ Left-wing Dems in minority with new approach to spending Washington Senate passes bill that would keep Trump off 2020 ballot unless he releases tax returns MORE for failing to go to Vietnam until he was equipped with “Secret Service protection” after the president renewed his attacks against late Sen. John McCainJohn Sidney McCainMeghan McCain to Trump: Spend more time with your family instead of tweeting Trump attacks John McCain over Obamacare repeal Overnight Defense: Trump issues first veto over ‘reckless’ emergency resolution | Pompeo moves to restrict international court probing war crimes | Trump taps Air Force general for NATO commander MORE (R-Ariz.). 

    Cabrera made the comments while noting that Trump has yet to forcefully denounce white supremacy in light of the mosque shootings that left dozens dead in New Zealand. 

    “The president did use his direct line to the American people to take more cheap shots at an American war hero who is not even alive to defend himself,” Cabrera said on “CNN Newsroom.” “Trump again slamming the late senator John McCain today, he says, for trying to derail his run for the presidency in 2016.”

    Cabrera noted that the attacks from Trump caused one of his allies, Sen. Lindsey GrahamLindsey Olin GrahamTrump: I told Republicans to vote for ‘transparency’ in releasing Mueller report Graham says he’ll probe Rosenstein’s 25th Amendment remarks The Hill’s Morning Report — Trump readies first veto after latest clash with Senate GOP MORE (R-S.C.), to defend McCain as “one of the most consequential senators” in U.S. history. 

    “Clearly not a position held by the president, who did, to his credit, did go to Vietnam, although not until he was in his 70s and with Secret Service protection,” Cabrera added, apparently referencing Trump’s military record as well as the recent summit in Vietnam between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

    Trump railed against McCain on multiple occasions over the weekend after reports surfaced that one of the then-senator’s associates had shared a dossier of allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia with the media. 

    “So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) ‘last in his class’ (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election,” Trump tweeted on Sunday. “He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!”

    He also said on Twitter on Saturday that McCain’s vote against the GOP Senate’s 2017 attempt to repeal ObamaCare was a “stain” on his career. 

    The tweets prompted widespread criticism almost immediately.  

    “As to @SenJohnMcCain and his devotion to his country: He stepped forward to risk his life for his country, served honorably under difficult circumstances, and was one of the most consequential senators in the history of the body,” Graham said on Twitter shortly after Trump’s latest attack on Sunday. “Nothing about his service will ever be changed or diminished”

    “No one will ever love you the way they loved my father….” McCain’s daughter, Meghan, tweeted on Saturday.

    But Cabrera noted on CNN that other Republican voices “have been quiet” regarding Trump’s attacks on a senator who was deeply critical of him.

    McCain, who served in Vietnam before embarking on a long career in public service, died in August at the age of 81 after a battle with brain cancer. Trump has occasionally brought up McCain’s vote against the GOP effort to repeal ObamaCare since his death. 

    Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/media/434473-cnn-anchor-hits-trump-after-mccain-attacks-he-didnt-go-to-vietnam-until-he-was

    <!– –>

    The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating whether there were lapses in the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval of Boeing planes involved in two recent fatal crashes, The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

    The DOT probe was launched after a new Boeing 737 Max 8 operated by Indonesia’s Lion Air crashed into the Java Sea in October last year, according to the Journal, which cited people familiar with the inquiry. None of the 189 people on board survived.

    Earlier this month, on March 10, a second Boeing 737 Max 8 plane crashed shortly after take-off, killing all 157 people on board the Ethiopian Airlines plane. Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges said on Sunday that preliminary data retrieved from the plane’s flight data recorder showed “a clear similarity” with the Indonesian incident.

    The Journal reported in an update to the article that a grand jury in Washington issued a broad subpoena one day after the Ethiopian Airlines crash to at least one person involved in the development of the Boeing 737 Max. The subpoena, which reportedly involves a prosecutor from the Justice Department, was said to seek relevant documents, such as emails and other messages.

    It is not clear whether the probe by the Justice Department is related to the DOT’s investigation, according to the Journal report. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment which was sent outside U.S. office hours.

    Shares of Boeing, a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, rose 1.52 percent to $378.99 on Friday but have fallen sharply from their 52-week high of $446.01 reached earlier this month.

    The DOT investigation is concentrated on a flight safety system suspected of playing a role in the fatal crash in Indonesia, the Journal reported. The WSJ reported in November last year that Boeing failed to warn the airline industry about a potentially dangerous feature in its new flight-control system.

    When contacted for comment on the Journal report, an FAA spokesman referred CNBC to the DOT instead. The transportation department did not immediately reply to CNBC’s request for comment, which was sent outside U.S. office hours.

    After two fatal crashes in less than six months involving the same plane model, authorities around the world — including the U.S., Europe, China and Indonesia — grounded Boeing 737 Max planes.

    For the full report on the DOT’s investigation, read The Wall Street Journal.

    Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/18/us-dot-probes-faas-approval-of-boeing-737-max-planes-in-crashes-wsj.html

    Lincoln, Neb. – Widespread flooding continues in eastern Nebraska and The Nebraska Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) continues operations at the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), supporting local flood response and recovery efforts.

    Source Article from https://www.klkntv.com/story/40140250/record-flooding-recorded-on-platte-elkhorn-and-missouri-rivers-nearly-300-people-rescued-from-high-water

    Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke had some moments of reckoning on the campaign trail Sunday in Wisconsin, denying he’d ever taken the drug LSD and vowing to stop using profanities, especially in front of kids.

    He also said there was “nothing” he hasn’t already revealed about his past that could hurt his candidacy. O’Rourke previously admitted to a 1998 arrest for drunken driving.

    O’Rourke was asked about his past drug use after signing a person’s skateboard.

    During a stop in Madison, he also pledged to stop using the F-word while campaigning, a profanity he deployed frequently while running for the U.S. Senate in Texas and while exploring his presidential bid.

    O’Rourke told a voter who asked about his language: “Great point, and I don’t intend to use the F-word going forward. Point taken, and very strongly made. … We’re going to keep it clean.”

    BETO BOASTS OF HAVING REPUBLICAN MOM, DESPITE HER FREQUENT VOTES FOR DEMOCRATS

    O’Rourke had declared, “I’m so f–king proud of you guys” on national television during his concession speech in November after he lost his Senate race to incumbent Republican Ted Cruz.

    About 400 people came to the coffee shop to hear O’Rourke. Half made it inside and half listened from the sidewalk through the opened door.

    “This state is fundamental to any prospect we have of electing a Democrat to the presidency in 2020,” O’Rourke said, adding that he was “really glad” Milwaukee was chosen to host the 2020 Democratic national convention. The city, which O’Rourke was visiting later Sunday, beat out Miami and Houston.

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    O’Rourke noted 20 years ago he toured the state with his punk rock band. He said he’s modeling his campaign off the “punk rock adventure,” which for him meant showing up in many places and meeting people.

    O’Rourke said as a punk rocker, he traveled through Wisconsin in a Plymouth Satellite station wagon. He’s been campaigning for president in a minivan.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/beto-orourke-says-he-never-took-lsd-promises-to-stop-using-profanities

    Preliminary data retrieved from the flight data recorder of the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed shows “a clear similarity” with an earlier crash in Indonesia, Ethiopia’s transport minister has said.

    “The black box has been found in a good condition that enabled us to extract almost all the data inside,” Dagmawit Moges told reporters on Sunday evening.

    The parallels would be the “subject of further study during the investigation”, with a preliminary report to be issued in “30 days”, she added.


    Officials say 157 people from 35 different countries were killed when the Nairobi-bound plane crashed shortly after takeoff on March 11.

    A number of countries and airlines have now grounded the Boeing 737 MAX 8s.

    The company now faces the challenge of proving the jets are safe to fly amid suspicions that faulty sensors and software contributed to the two crashes that killed 346 people in less than six months.

    The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has already said satellite-based tracking data showed that the movements of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 were similar to those of Lion Air Flight 610, which crashed into the Java Sea off Indonesia in October, killing 189 people. 

    The planes in both crashes flew with erratic altitude changes that could indicate the pilots struggled to control the aircraft. Shortly after their takeoffs, both pilots reported flight control problems and tried to return to the airports but crashed.

    In the case of the Ethiopian Airlines flight, the black boxes have been handed to France’s BEA air safety agency, which is working with US and Ethiopian investigators to determine what went wrong.

    US officials said the FAA and US safety agency NTSB have not yet validated data from the black boxes.

    Focus on sensor

    The aircraft’s state-of-the-art Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) is under scrutiny. On the Lion Air flight, the initial accident investigation report indicated erroneous data from a sensor repeatedly triggered the anti-stall system and may have contributed to the crash.


    The FAA said on Thursday that all 787 MAX planes would remain grounded until a software upgrade to the MCAS could be tested and installed in all of the planes.

    Boeing said the changes would include updates to the “flight control law, pilot displays, operation manuals and crew training”.

    The Seattle Times reported on Sunday that the original safety analysis that Boeing gave to the FAA had ‘several crucial flaws’.  The analysis helps the FAA certify a plane’s safety. 

    The report said the analysis understated the power of the system which could push the nose of the plane down, that it could reset itself after a pilot countered it, and that the consequences of its failure were mischaracterised, allowing MCAS to rely on data from a sole sensor.

    The paper said: “Both Boeing and the FAA were informed of the specifics of this story and were asked for responses 11 days ago, before the second crash of a 737 MAX last Sunday.” 

    A Boeing spokesman said “(the) 737 MAX was certified in accordance with the identical FAA requirements and processes that have governed certification of all previous new airplanes and derivatives,” according to the Reuters news agency.

    “The FAA concluded that MCAS on all 737 MAX met all certification and regulatory requirements.”

    Source Article from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/ethiopia-black-boxes-show-similarities-indonesian-crash-190317170825664.html

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    (CNN)President Donald Trump spent the weekend venting venom at a bewildering list of targets — even as much of the rest of the world was still trying to come to terms with a true outrage — the carnage wrought against Muslims in New Zealand.

      Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/politics/donald-trump-new-zealand-white-supremacy/index.html

      March 17 at 9:45 PM

      The man accused of mass shootings at mosques in New Zealand has fired his lawyer and plans to represent himself in court, leading to speculation that he might try to use his trial as a platform for extremist views.

      Brenton Tarrant, 28, of Australia, who has been charged with one count of murder, appeared to be lucid and not mentally unstable, said Richard Peters, his former attorney. He is expected to face more charges when he next appears in court on April 5.

      Fifty people were killed and 40 were injured in the shootings at two mosques in Christchurch on Friday, an act that has shocked this country of 4.5 million people. There are still 34 people in the hospital, including a 4-year-old girl who is in a critical condition.

      At the bottom of the South Pacific, New Zealand has long been considered safe from terrorism and from the outside world in general. American tycoons flocked to buy property here in the wake of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and other terrorist attacks on the United States.

      The death toll from Friday’s attacks exceeds New Zealand’s annual homicide rate; 35 people were killed in 2017, the latest year for which figures are available.

      Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called for changes to the nation’s gun laws. “We cannot be deterred from the work we need to do on our gun laws in New Zealand. They need to change,” she said Sunday.

      Presently, people must obtain licenses to own guns, and 99.6 percent of the 43,509 license applications filed in 2017 were approved

      Ardern has talked about requiring licenses for individual guns, rather than for users, and banning semiautomatic weapons.

      Tarrant had a gun license and used a variant of the AR-15, a semiautomatic weapon that has been used in many mass shootings in the United States, including in at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018; on the Las Vegas Strip in 2017; and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in 2012.

      New Zealand’s cabinet was meeting Monday to consider changes to the laws. 

      Gun stores reported “panic buying” of semiautomatic weapons in anticipation of law changes — similar to what occurs in the United States after massacres and calls for gun control.

      Separately, Trade Me, an online marketplace similar to eBay, said it would remove all listings for semiautomatic guns and parts.

      As tributes to the victims came in from around the world, Ardern and Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy, Queen Elizabeth’s representative in this commonwealth country, opened two condolence books in Parliament’s Grand Hall on Monday morning.

      “On behalf of all New Zealanders we grieve, together we are one, they are us,” the prime minister wrote. Reddy wrote: “All of the communities in Christchurch and around New Zealand who are suffering, our thoughts and hearts are with you.”

      Multiple graves have been dug at a cemetery in Christchurch, and police say that although they are collecting evidence, they are conscious of the need to return the victims’ bodies to their families so they can be buried in line with Muslim customs. The first funerals are expected to begin Monday night.

      With many mosques nationwide closed since the attacks, some churches welcomed Muslims into their buildings over the weekend to allow them to pray in sacred spaces.

      The investigation of the attacks, which Ardern called an act of terrorism, is continuing.

      Australian counterterrorism police raided two houses in New South Wales on Monday. One was that of Tarrant’s sister in Sandy Beach, halfway between Sydney and Brisbane, and the other was farther north. 

      The counterterrorism officials then stormed a second house at Lawrence, a bit farther north and close to Grafton, where Tarrant grew up.

      “The primary aim of the activity is to formally obtain material that may assist New Zealand Police in their ongoing investigation,” Australian authorities said in a statement. Tarrant’s family was helping the police with their investigation, they said.

      Tarrant was born and raised in Australia but had been traveling for the past nine or so years, including to Turkey and Pakistan. He had been living sporadically in Dunedin, at the south of New Zealand’s South Island, since the end of 2017 and had practiced at a gun club there.

      The club, the Bruce Rifle Club, closed on Monday and its vice president said it may never reopen. 

      Separately, Peters said that he had been fired as Tarrant’s court-appointed lawyer.

      “What did seem apparent to me is he seemed quite clear and lucid, whereas this may seem like very irrational behavior,” said Peters, who represented Tarrant during his first court appearance Saturday.

      “He didn’t appear to me to be facing any challenges or mental impairment, other than holding fairly extreme views,” Peters told the New Zealand Herald, adding that the accused gunman did not display any regret.

      The lawyer suggested that Tarrant might want to use his trial to espouse his extreme views. The suspect left behind a 74-page hate-filled manifesto in which he said he wanted to“directly reduce immigration rates to European lands.” He also praised President Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity and common purpose.”

      Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/new-zealand-shooting-live-updates/2019/03/17/21bb0634-48ec-11e9-8cfc-2c5d0999c21e_story.html

      The U.S. Department of Transportation is investigating the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval of Boeing Co.’s 737 MAX jetliners, according to people familiar with the probe, an unusual inquiry into potential lapses in federal safety approvals for new aircraft.

      The inquiry focuses on a safety system that has been implicated in the Oct. 29 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people, according to a government official briefed on its status. Aviation authorities are looking into whether the anti-stall system may have played…

      Source Article from https://www.wsj.com/articles/faas-737-max-approval-is-probed-11552868400

      Source Article from https://www.omaha.com/news/nebraska/in-plattsmouth-as-the-river-rises-tired-dry-and-sandbagging/article_2a85a491-9740-5388-b7ff-8c3765325ce0.html

      Jeanine Pirro, the Fox News host who made Islamophobic comments about a Muslim congresswoman, has been unexpectedly yanked off-air. And now one of her most-powerful defenders — the president of the United States is railing against the network.

      Justice With Judge Jeanine was missing from its usual Saturday timeslot at 9 pm on Fox News, coming just one week after Pirro questioned whether Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) was loyal to the United States because she wears a hijab.

      In response, Fox News took the rare move of publicly condemning one of its own anchors. But Pirro has refused to apologize, saying that she never explicitly called Omar “un-American.”

      And now President Donald Trump is injecting himself into the controversy in defense of Pirro. “Fox … must stay strong and fight back with vigor. Stop working soooo hard on being politically correct, which will only bring you down, and continue to fight for our Country,” Trump tweeted on Sunday.

      Fox News has not indicated when Pirro will be returning to the network. “We’re not commenting on internal scheduling matters,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

      Pirro’s program is one of the network’s top weekend shows. But last week’s monologue drew widespread rebuke, even from top producers at the network, after Pirro tried to wade into the recent controversy surrounding Omar, who is accused of making anti-Semitic remarks.

      “Omar wears a hijab, which according to the Quran 33:59, tells women to cover so they won’t get molested. Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?” Pirro said last week.

      Trump is framing Fox News’ recent woes as a left-wing conspiracy

      Fox News has had a rough couple of weeks in dealing with the fallout of controversial remarks made by the network’s stars. In addition to Pirro’s bigoted comments, host Tucker Carlson has been on blast for a series of radio interviews he gave on Bubba the Love Sponge’s show in the past.

      Media Matters published a series of clips ranging from 2006 to 2011 that feature Carlson making misogynistic and racist comments. In the interviews, Carlson appears to defend child abuser and convicted pedophile Warren Jeffs. At other points he calls Iraqis “semiliterate primitive monkeys.”

      A number of advertisers have since bolted from the programs. But Trump on Sunday cast Fox News’ troubles as a left-wing driven crusade, partnered with the “Fake News Media,” that’s out to silence conservative voices.

      Trump has long favored Fox News as his preferred television network, establishing an at-times troublingly symbiotic relationship with the news outlet. But now that the network has apparently soured on one of its on-air personalities, Trump is already lobbing some thinly veiled threats.

      Source Article from https://www.vox.com/2019/3/17/18269734/fox-news-jeanine-pirro-islamophobic-remarks

      CNN anchor Ana Cabrera on Sunday called out President TrumpDonald John TrumpBiden on potential candidacy: ‘I have the most progressive record’ Left-wing Dems in minority with new approach to spending Washington Senate passes bill that would keep Trump off 2020 ballot unless he releases tax returns MORE for failing to go to Vietnam until he was equipped with “Secret Service protection” after the president renewed his attacks against late Sen. John McCainJohn Sidney McCainMeghan McCain to Trump: Spend more time with your family instead of tweeting Trump attacks John McCain over Obamacare repeal Overnight Defense: Trump issues first veto over ‘reckless’ emergency resolution | Pompeo moves to restrict international court probing war crimes | Trump taps Air Force general for NATO commander MORE (R-Ariz.). 

      Cabrera made the comments while noting that Trump has yet to forcefully denounce white supremacy in light of the mosque shootings that left dozens dead in New Zealand. 

      “The president did use his direct line to the American people to take more cheap shots at an American war hero who is not even alive to defend himself,” Cabrera said on “CNN Newsroom.” “Trump again slamming the late senator John McCain today, he says, for trying to derail his run for the presidency in 2016.”

      Cabrera noted that the attacks from Trump caused one of his allies, Sen. Lindsey GrahamLindsey Olin GrahamTrump: I told Republicans to vote for ‘transparency’ in releasing Mueller report Graham says he’ll probe Rosenstein’s 25th Amendment remarks The Hill’s Morning Report — Trump readies first veto after latest clash with Senate GOP MORE (R-S.C.), to defend McCain as “one of the most consequential senators” in U.S. history. 

      “Clearly not a position held by the president, who did, to his credit, did go to Vietnam, although not until he was in his 70s and with Secret Service protection,” Cabrera added, apparently referencing Trump’s military record as well as the recent summit in Vietnam between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. 

      Trump railed against McCain on multiple occasions over the weekend after reports surfaced that one of the then-senator’s associates had shared a dossier of allegations about Trump’s ties to Russia with the media. 

      “So it was indeed (just proven in court papers) ‘last in his class’ (Annapolis) John McCain that sent the Fake Dossier to the FBI and Media hoping to have it printed BEFORE the Election,” Trump tweeted on Sunday. “He & the Dems, working together, failed (as usual). Even the Fake News refused this garbage!”

      He also said on Twitter on Saturday that McCain’s vote against the GOP Senate’s 2017 attempt to repeal ObamaCare was a “stain” on his career. 

      The tweets prompted widespread criticism almost immediately.  

      “As to @SenJohnMcCain and his devotion to his country: He stepped forward to risk his life for his country, served honorably under difficult circumstances, and was one of the most consequential senators in the history of the body,” Graham said on Twitter shortly after Trump’s latest attack on Sunday. “Nothing about his service will ever be changed or diminished”

      “No one will ever love you the way they loved my father….” McCain’s daughter, Meghan, tweeted on Saturday.

      But Cabrera noted on CNN that other Republican voices “have been quiet” regarding Trump’s attacks on a senator who was deeply critical of him.

      McCain, who served in Vietnam before embarking on a long career in public service, died in August at the age of 81 after a battle with brain cancer. Trump has occasionally brought up McCain’s vote against the GOP effort to repeal ObamaCare since his death. 

      Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/media/434473-cnn-anchor-hits-trump-after-mccain-attacks-he-didnt-go-to-vietnam-until-he-was

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      Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (CNN)Preliminary data recovered from the black boxes of last week’s Ethiopian Airlines crash has revealed “similarities” to October’s fatal Lion Air crash, the Ethiopian Minister of Transport said Sunday.

        Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/17/africa/ethiopian-lion-air-crash-data-similarities-intl/index.html