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Thursday, October 31, 2019
Word + Quiz: unhinged
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New top story from Time: Most Americans Don’t Want to Adjust Their Clocks Twice a Year, a Poll Finds
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Most people across the country will see their clocks roll back an hour this weekend as nearly eight months of daylight saving time come to an end. It is part of a twice-a-year ritual that most want to stop.
Seven in 10 Americans prefer not to switch back and forth to mark daylight saving time, a new poll shows. But there’s no agreement on which time clocks ought to follow.
According to the new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 4 in 10 Americans would like to see their clocks stay on standard time year-round, while about 3 in 10 prefer to stay on daylight saving time. About another 3 in 10 prefer what is the status quo in most of the United States, switching back and forth between daylight saving time in the summer and standard time in the winter.
At least seven state legislatures have backed asking Congress to allow year-round daylight saving time in the past few years — and about 60% of California voters supported a ballot proposition last year calling for such a move.
Arguments about whether later sunsets or earlier sunrises are better for business or safety aren’t what matter to some people. Jason Oliver, a 43-year-old retired soldier from Rolla, Missouri, is among those who see the clock changes as just “messing things up” and he doesn’t really care which time gets picked.
“To me, I don’t see the need to keep flip flopping between times,” Oliver said.
The sun-splashed states of Hawaii and Arizona are the only ones where clocks won’t change at 2 a.m. local time Sunday, while most others have done the “spring forward” and “fall back” switches since Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966.
Indiana joined them for more than three decades as a time-change holdout until 2006 when legislators by a single vote approved a business-backed push to have all its counties observe daylight saving time.
Sue Dillon became a campaigner for changes to the state’s time choice after a teenager was fatally struck in 2009 while running to catch a school bus in the early morning darkness near her home in the Indianapolis suburb of Carmel.
Dillon, a former junior high teacher, maintains Indiana’s current sunrise times of 8 a.m. or later during some of the fall and winter are unsafe for children and others walking along roadways. She’s campaigned for Indiana to switch from the Eastern time zone to Central so sunrises will come earlier — and believes year-round adoption of daylight saving time would be awful for people living on the western edges of the U.S. time zones.
“Sunrise at 9 in the morning?” Dillon said. “The problem is that the children are out when it is dangerous. That is absolutely inexcusable.”
That sunlight hours debate is already going on in much of the country.
Florida’s governor in March signed what was dubbed the “Sunshine Protection Act” to keep the Sunshine State on daylight saving time all year long, even though the Florida PTA warned it would endanger students. Supporters argued that winter sunsets about 6:30 p.m., rather than the current 5:30, could give an economic boost with tourists staying later at theme parks and beaches.
Alabama lawmakers have backed a resolution to “forever put an end to the deadly, energy-wasting, productivity-killing, twice-yearly changing of time.” Neighboring Tennessee has taken a similar stance.
Bills to ditch time changes have also passed in Oregon and Washington, so with the support of California’s voters the West Coast is fully on board with permanent daylight saving time.
Even President Donald Trump has weighed in, tweeting in March that making daylight saving time permanent is “O.K. with me!”
Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Vern Buchanan, both of Florida, have introduced measures in Congress to make daylight saving time permanent nationwide but no action has been taken on them.
The AP-NORC poll found about 4 in 10 Americans ages 45 and over prefer permanent daylight saving, compared with about 2 in 10 of those younger. The younger group is more likely than the older to prefer either standard time year round (44% to 36 or switching back and forth (33% to 24%).
The twice-a-year clock changes don’t bother Chantelle Breaux, a 34-year-old stay-at-home mom from Lafayette, Louisiana.
Breaux said people know what to expect and that the common complaint about being tired after losing an hour’s sleep when time “springs forward” are exaggerated. She said she focuses on proper bedtimes for her 9- and 12-year-old children regardless of the sunrise and sunset times.
“Mother nature is not on human time so it’s going to be lighter if it wants to be lighter,” Breaux said. “You are not really losing anything.”
New top story from Time: The Pentagon Is Awaiting a Possible Challenge from Amazon over a $10 Billion Cloud Deal
Amazon must decide soon if it will protest the Pentagon’s awarding of a $10 billion cloud computing contract to rival Microsoft, with one possible grievance being the unusual attention given the project by President Donald Trump.
Amazon was long thought to be the front-runner in the competition for the huge military contract. Its Amazon Web Services division is far ahead of second-place Microsoft as the market leader for cloud computing and has experience handling highly classified government data. It survived earlier legal challenges after the Defense Department eliminated rival bidders Oracle and IBM and whittled the competition down to the two Seattle area tech giants before choosing Microsoft last week.
And what else distinguishes the losing bidder? Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, have been frequent targets of Trump’s criticism.
The Pentagon was preparing to make its final decision when Trump publicly waded into the fray in July, saying he had heard complaints about the process and that the administration would “take a very long look.” He said other companies told him that the contract “wasn’t competitively bid.” Oracle, in particular, had argued that Pentagon officials unfairly favored Amazon for the winner-take-all contract.
The comments from Trump were “inappropriate and improvident,” though it would be a challenge for Amazon to prove the White House applied undue pressure in a way that made a difference, said Steven Schooner, a professor of government procurement law at George Washington University.
Then again, given Trump’s known antipathy toward the company, Schooner said Amazon may not have much to lose in picking a fight.
Amazon didn’t return requests for comment about its next steps.
The clock is now ticking. Amazon has the right to ask the Pentagon to debrief the company on what led it to pick Microsoft instead.
The Pentagon declined to comment this week on the specifics of the debriefing process and whether it has already started. It has previously said that the competition for the 10-year contract was fair and followed procurement guidelines.
Dana Deasy, the Pentagon’s acting chief information officer, reiterated that position in a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday after Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent, asked Deasy if he could “categorically assure us” that Trump didn’t influence the contract’s ultimate disposition.
Deasy said the procurement team was compartmentalized and he was confident that team members “that actually took the source selection” were not influenced by the White House. The White House declined comment this week.
If Amazon is not satisfied with the government’s explanation, it can file a formal protest with the Government Accountability Office, which then has 100 days to review the case. Amazon could also separately take its dispute to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.
“If you’re Amazon, you want to get into some sort of discovery phase to evaluate if there was political influence or not,” said Mike Hettinger, a tech industry lobbyist focused on federal contracting who doesn’t work for Amazon or its rival bidders.
Hettinger expects the company to file some form of protest.
“Most people in industry believed it was Amazon’s to lose because of its technical superiority,” he said. “Everyone’s paid outsized attention to this, but it’s obviously an important award.”
The project, known as Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure, or JEDI, will store and process vast amounts of classified data, allowing the U.S. military to use artificial intelligence to speed up its war planning and fighting capabilities.
Microsoft said it brought its “best efforts” to the Pentagon’s rigorous evaluations and appreciates that it was chosen. It is still in the final stages of getting the accreditation required to handle the government’s most sensitive classified data — something Amazon had already achieved.
“We are committed to meeting all the requirements of JEDI,” said Toni Townes-Whitley, a Microsoft executive, in a statement Thursday.
What’s on TV Friday: ‘Dickinson’ and ‘American Son’
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New top story from Time: U.S. Extends Civil Nuclear Cooperation Waivers for Iran
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is keeping alive one of the last remaining components of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal by extending sanctions waivers that allow foreign companies to work with Iran’s civilian nuclear program without U.S. penalties.
The waivers had been due to expire Tuesday but were extended by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for another 90 days. The extensions were not announced until Thursday.
Pompeo has been a champion of President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign on Iran.
State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said the move “will help preserve oversight of Iran’s civil nuclear program, reduce proliferation risks, constrain Iran’s ability to shorten its ‘breakout time’ to a nuclear weapon, and prevent the regime from reconstituting sites for proliferation-sensitive purposes.”
Pompeo also announced new sanctions on Iran’s construction sector, which he determines to be under the control of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. The IRGC was designated earlier this year as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
Trump withdrew last year from the nuclear deal and has steadily ramped up sanctions on Iran that had been eased under the agreement. But the so-called “civilian nuclear cooperation” waivers will permit European, Russian and Chinese companies to continue to work at Iranian civilian nuclear facilities.
Nuclear deal critics, including Trump allies like Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, have long argued that the waivers should be revoked because they give Iran access to technology that could be used for weapons. In particular, they have targeted a waiver that allows conversion work at the once-secret Fordow site. The other facilities are the Bushehr nuclear power station, the Arak heavy water plant and the Tehran Research Reactor.
“This is disappointing and another lost opportunity to tear up the catastrophic Obama-Iran nuclear deal once and for all,” Cruz and Sen. Lindsey Graham said in a statement. “President Trump should immediately order his administration to stop issuing civil nuclear waivers.”
They said they would soon advance legislation “to reverse this misguided decision.”
Deal supporters say the waivers give international experts a valuable window into Iran’s atomic program that might otherwise not exist. They also say some of the work, particularly on nuclear isotopes that can be used in medicine at the Tehran reactor, is humanitarian in nature.
New top story from Time: Ivanka Trump to Promote Her Women’s Economic Development Plan in Morocco
(WASHINGTON) — Ivanka Trump is getting ready to promote her women’s economic development program on an upcoming trip to Morocco.
It will be her third overseas trip this year to promote the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative, which was launched in February to benefit women in developing countries.
President Donald Trump’s daughter and senior adviser will visit the North African country in early November, the White House said.
In a statement to The Associated Press, Ivanka Trump said the kingdom of Morocco is a valued U.S. ally that has “taken strides” under King Mohammed VI to promote gender equality.
In August, she tweeted her support to the Moroccan government after it began the process of amending its inheritance laws, which say women should receive half as much as men.
Ivanka Trump will travel with Sean Cairncross, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Corp., an independent U.S. foreign aid agency that provides grants to developing countries to help promote economic growth, reduce poverty and strengthen institutions.
They will meet with government officials and local leaders in Morocco’s capital, Rabat, and in Casablanca from Nov. 6-8 to discuss how to help women in the region gain economic independence.
The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative has a goal of helping 50 million women in developing nations advance economically over the next six years.
It’s a U.S. government-wide effort that involves the State Department, the National Security Council and other agencies. It aims to coordinate existing programs and develop new ones to help women in areas such as job training, financial support and legal or regulatory reforms.
Ivanka Trump traveled to Ethiopia and Ivory Coast , in sub-Saharan Africa, in April and to Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay , in South America, in September to promote the initiative.
New top story from Time: ‘I Have Been Treated Very Badly.’ Trump Changes Primary Residence From New York to Florida
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump says he will be making Palm Beach, Florida, his permanent residence after he leaves the White House, rather than returning to Trump Tower in New York.
Trump tweeted late Thursday that he cherished New York. But he added that “despite the fact that I pay millions of dollars in city, state and local taxes each year, I have been treated very badly by the political leaders of both the city and state.”
The New York Times reported earlier Thursday that Trump had filed “declaration of domicile” paperwork changing his “predominant and principal home” to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Trump, who was born in New York, says “it will always have a special place in my heart!”
Connecticut Home Invasion Convict Is Undergoing Gender Transition in Prison
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New top story from Time: Leaked U.N. Report Shows Botched Investigation Into Sexual Abuse Accusations Against Peacekeepers
(DAKAR, Senegal) — The United Nations botched its investigation into accusations of sexual abuse in Central African Republic, letting down victims, according to a draft report.
The report, written in 2017 but not yet made public, was leaked to The New Humanitarian and seen by The Associated Press.
A senior U.N. official disputed the findings in the draft report, which the U.N. said were not included in the final report.
An Associated Press investigative series in 2017 uncovered roughly 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by U.N. peacekeepers around the world over a 12-year period.
The roughly 11,000 peacekeepers in Central African Republic had the most sexual misconduct allegations – 52- of any U.N. peacekeeping mission in 2016.
“The leaked review … gives a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse at how the U.N. system investigates claims of sexual abuse and exploitation by its own peacekeepers – and shows why it often fails the victims it is supposed to serve,” according to the New Humanitarian.
The failed investigation into the allegations in the Central African Republic cost the U.N. more than $480,000.
Inadequate storage ruined DNA samples that had been collected to connect victims to their alleged perpetrators, according to the report.
“Most were already rotten. It is therefore hardly surprising that positive results could not (be) obtained,” the report said of the DNA samples. Many of the samples were taken from March to May 2016, and then they were stored in Bangui for months and were not delivered to the Nairobi office for the investigation until April 2017.
The report noted the importance of the role of DNA evidence in linking a possible perpetrator to a victim. “It was noted that none of the DNA samples collected was deemed usable by labs retained for that purpose,” said the report.
The lack of action on the investigation left victims feeling abandoned and without any recourse for the sexual exploitation they say they experienced at the hands of the Burundi and Gabonese troops, according to the New Humanitarian who spoke with victims.
But Ben Swanson, the director of the U.N. investigations division in the Office of Internal Oversight Services, the U.N.’s internal watchdog known as OIOS, said OIOS “did all of the DNA swabbing in Dekoa, when and where it was relevant, and we also followed up with missions to Gabon and Burundi to swab soldiers identified as fathers.”
In December 2016, the U.N. announced that OIOS had completed an internal investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against Burundian and Gabonese peacekeepers deployed in Dekoa in Kemo prefecture, Central African Republic.
OIOS interviewed 139 people, investigated their accounts and identified 16 possible perpetrators from Gabon and 25 from Burundi through photos and corroborating evidence, the U.N. said. Of the 139 victims, 25 were minors who asserted that they were sexually assaulted and eight paternity claims were filed, the U.N. said.
“We took swabs from around 20 victims and their children,” Swanson said, and the laboratory used to do the DNA testing was unable to extract any DNA samples from two or three of the swabs which may have been the result of operator error, poor storage techniques or the laboratory.
“Because the victims were adamant as to the identity of the fathers and we didn’t want to miss any evidential opportunities we repeated the entire exercise,” Swanson said.
“I can tell you that the lab was able to say ‘with a high degree of confidence’ that the soldiers identified were not the fathers of the children they were alleged to be,” he said.
The U.N. relies on the country contributing peacekeepers to deal with allegations of misconduct and to determine possible punishments. According to the report, Burundi investigators who went to conduct interviews in 2016 did not have the necessary skills and experience. The interviews seemed to look to discredit witnesses, it said, and interpreters also lacked the needed skills.
The U.N. has vowed to end impunity for sexual misconduct and to work with countries supplying peacekeepers to do more to combat the abuses.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has taken strides to improve the world body’s response to sexual abuse and exploitation, appointing the U.N.’s first-ever victims’ rights advocate, banning alcohol and fraternization for troops, convening high-level meetings on sexual abuse and exploitation and establishing a trust fund for victims.
The U.N. received 259 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse last year, according to The New Humanitarian, a major increase from the two previous years.
7-Year-Old Girl Is Shot in Chicago While Trick-or-Treating, Police Say
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The Value of Working Expeditiously
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New top story from Time: WeWork’s Ex-CEO Faces Pregnancy Discrimination Complaint
(NEW YORK) — A former top aide to WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann is accusing him and other executives of discriminating against her for becoming pregnant.
Medina Bardhi says in a federal complaint filed Thursday that she was demoted, derided for going on leave, and ultimately fired for raising concerns.
Bardhi, who was Neumann’s chief of staff until she was fired in October, is seeking class action status against New York-based WeWork, claiming a pattern of discrimination against women at the office-sharing company.
The complaint, filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, describes a culture at WeWork in which women were paid less than men, demeaned for getting pregnant and subjected to sexually offensive conduct at alcohol-fueled company events.
“Our hope is that this class action complaint will send a loud and clear message to WeWork and other startups that pregnant women cannot be forced out of their jobs, that women must be paid fairly and afforded equal opportunities,” said Douglas Wigdor, Bardhi’s attorney.
WeWork spokeswoman Gwen Rocco said the company will “vigorously defend itself against” Bardhi’s claim.
“We have zero tolerance for discrimination of any kind. We are committed to moving the company forward and building a company and culture that our employees can be proud of,” Rocco said.
The complaint raises a new challenge for WeWork as it tries to regain the confidence of its employees, investors and customers in the wake of a failed attempt to enter the stock market. Neumann stepped down as CEO on Sept. 24 and gave up his controlling shares of the company in a financing deal with Japanese conglomerate Softbank that saved WeWork from possible bankruptcy.
Bardhi said the discriminatory behavior began with her first job interview at WeWork in 2013, when Neumann “unlawfully and intrusively” asked her if she planned to get married and become pregnant. The complaint claimed that Neumann routinely asked that question of female job candidates.
When she became pregnant in March 2016, Bardhi said she waited only a month to tell Neumann because she felt she could no longer accompany him on flights on private jets where he and other WeWork employees smoked marijuana.
She said Neumann later made derogatory comments about her in front of other WeWork employees, including some who were pregnant. At one point, Neumann told her, “I hope you are going to have fun on your vacation while we’re here working.”
The complaint cited another top executive, WeWork Chief Legal Officer Jennifer Berrent, saying she also made derogatory comments, repeatedly referring to Bardhi’s pregnancy as a “problem” that needed “to be fixed.”
Bardhi claimed that Neumann told her soon after learning she was pregnant that he was looking to replace her as chief of staff and demote her to another role. The complaint said the role went to a man who was offered a salary more than double what Bardhi had been earning.
Bardhi was eventually reinstalled as chief of staff. But she claims she faced similar problems when she became pregnant again in February 2018, getting sidelined and replaced by a man who was underqualified for the job.
Despite never receiving clarity about her role after returning from leave, Neumann eventually sought her help with WeWork’s impending initial public offering of stock, according to the complaint. At one point, in a car leaving a bank’s offices, Neumann told her in front of another employee, “I hope you enjoyed your vacation.”
Bardhi described raising complaints with multiple officials, including WeWork’s general counsel. She said she was fired on Oct. 2 in a phone call after being told there was no role for her following Neumann’s departure.
Two other women have filed lawsuits against WeWork in New York state. One employee, Lisa Bridges, said she coordinated a study that found gender-based pay gaps at the company, but when she presented her findings, Berrent responded by saying that men take more risks than women. Another, Ruby Anaya, alleged she was sexually assaulted by male employees at company events.
New top story from Time: North Korea Says It Test-Fired a New ‘Super Large’ Multiple Rocket Launcher
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea confirmed Friday it conducted its third test-firing of a new “super-large” multiple rocket launcher that it says expands its ability to destroy enemy targets in surprise attacks, as it continues to expand its military capabilities while pressuring Washington over a standstill in nuclear negotiations.
Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency described the tests a day after the South Korean and Japanese militaries said they detected two projectiles launched from an area near the North Korean capital traveling more than 200 miles cross-country before landing in waters off the North’s eastern coast.
Experts say the North could continue to ramp up weapons demonstrations ahead of an end-of-year deadline set by leader Kim Jong Un for the U.S. to offer mutually acceptable terms to salvage a fragile diplomacy strained by disagreements over exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament steps.
Thursday’s launches followed statements of displeasure by top North Korean officials over the slow pace of nuclear negotiations with the United States and demands that the administration of President Donald Trump ease crippling sanctions and pressure on their country.
KCNA said Kim expressed satisfaction over what North Korea described as a successful test of its new rocket artillery system, but it wasn’t clear whether the leader observed the launches on site. The North previously tested the system in August and September. The latest test verified the “perfection” of the system’s continuous firing ability that allegedly allows it to “totally destroy” enemy targets with “super power,” the agency said.
Earlier this month, the North test-fired an underwater-launched ballistic missile for the first time in three years. The North has also tested new short-range ballistic missile and rocket artillery systems in recent months in what experts saw as an effort to use the standstill in talks to advance its military capabilities while increasing its bargaining power.
Negotiations have faltered after the collapse of a February summit between Kim and Trump in Hanoi, Vietnam, where the U.S. rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for piecemeal progress toward partially surrendering its nuclear capabilities.
The North responded with intensified testing activity while Kim said he would “wait with patience until the end of the year for the United States to come up with a courageous decision.”
Washington and Pyongyang resumed working-level discussion in Sweden earlier this month, but the meeting broke down amid acrimony with the North Koreans calling the talks “sickening” and accusing the Americans of maintaining an “old stance and attitude.”
Quotation of the Day: What Recovery? Life on the Edge
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Memphis Clerk Sentenced to 22 Years for Killing Teenager Who Stole Beer
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Toronto’s City of Tomorrow Is Scaled Back Amid Privacy Concerns
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New top story from Time: 7-Year-Old Girl in ‘Critical Condition’ After Being Shot While Trick-or-Treating in Chicago
(CHICAGO) — A 7-year-old girl out trick-or-treating in a bumblebee outfit was critically injured Thursday night during a shooting on Chicago’s West Side.
Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford says the girl was shot in the lower neck area Thursday and was taken by paramedics to Stroger Hospital. Chicago police say a 30-year-old man was shot in the left hand and taken to a nearby hospital in good condition.
The Chicago Tribune reported that police said the girl was dressed as a bumblebee. The girl’s father screamed, “My little girl’s been shot,” according to Lalia Lara, who works in a cellphone store.
Lara told the newspaper she held the girl’s hand and pressed against her chest to stop the bleeding. “She was looking at me, and I was calling her name, ” Lara said. “I have kids — I would go crazy if something happened to my kids.”
Authorities say the man and girl were walking along a street in the Little Village neighborhood when a man in a group of males drew a gun and fired at the victims.
In a tweet, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says the girl, who was out with her family for Halloween, is believed to be an unintended victim.
New top story from Time: Hundreds of Koalas Feared Dead in Australian Wildfires
(CANBERRA, Australia) — Conservationists fear hundreds of koalas have perished in wildfires that have razed prime habitat on Australia’s east coast.
Port Macquarie Koala Hospital President Sue Ashton said she hoped wildlife carers would be allowed to begin their search of the fire zone for survivors on Thursday. The fire was started by a lightning strike on Friday in a forest in New South Wales state, 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of Sydney, and has since burnt 2,000 hectares (4,900 acres).
Two-thirds of that area was koala habitat, Ashton said.
“If we look at a 50% survival rate, that’s around about 350 koalas and that’s absolutely devastating,” Ashton said of the death toll. “We’re hoping it’s not as bad as that, but because of the intensity of the fire and the way koalas behave during fire, we’re not holding out too much hope,” she added.
Koalas climb high into trees during wildfires and survive if the fire front passes quickly below them.
The koala colony was particularly heathy and genetically diverse, Ashton said. Koalas prefer coastal forests, which are being cleared for suburban expansion. Increasingly isolated koala colonies have become inbred and diseased.
Australia’s wildfire season has made a particularly early and devastating start in the southern hemisphere spring due to above-average temperatures and below-average rainfall that has left much of the east coast in drought.
New top story from Time: Yes, Mitt Romney’s Grandson’s Dressed as ‘Pierre Delecto’ For Halloween
Political enthusiasts had some scary-good Halloween costumes this year, but the most “delectable” among them might have been that of Sen. Mitt Romney’s grandson, Thomas, who dressed as Pierre Delecto.
Romney’s eldest son, Tagg Romney, took to Twitter Thursday morning with pictures of his son Thomas’s version of the look. The costume included a tuxedo, beret, mustache, sunglasses and a name-tag that read “Pierre Delecto” directly underneath a crossed-out “Mitt Romney.”
Pierre Delecto was the name of the ‘private’ Twitter account Romney had, for years, been using for social media snooping and self-promotion, before it was recently uncovered by Slate reporter Ashley Feinberg. After the Utah Republican dropped hints about the account’s existence to the Atlantic’s McKay Coppins, Feinberg was able to identify the alias by parsing through the accounts Delecto followed (specifically, Romney family members with only a small Twitter presence themselves), as well as how often the account said nice things about Romney.
Sen. Romney confirmed the account was his soon after Slate‘s exposé. “C’est moi,” he told Coppins.
He seemed to find the costume as funny as the rest of the Internet did. “Out of the will!” Romney tweeted about Thomas in jest.
As President Donald Trump is ensnared in a formal impeachment inquiry, and a record number of Democrats seek their party’s nomination for the 2020 presidential election, there were plenty of costume alternatives for those outside of the Romney bloodline: a Sen. Kamala Harris campaign staffer dressed as her 2020 rival Sen. Cory Booker, many donned whistles to represent the government employee who filed an anonymous complaint that jumpstarted Trump’s impeachment woes, and one Pete Buttigieg staffer used a red peacoat and gavel to impersonate House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
New Threats Put Wildfire Fighters’ Health on the Line
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Wednesday, October 30, 2019
New top story from Time: Wildfires Menace Homes Near Los Angeles But Narrowly Bypass the Reagan Library
(SIMI VALLEY, Calif.) — A wind-whipped outbreak of wildfires outside Los Angeles on Wednesday threatened thousands of homes and horse ranches, forced the smoky evacuation of elderly patients in wheelchairs and narrowly bypassed the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, protected in part by a buffer zone chewed by goats.
With California tinder dry and fires burning in both the north and south, the state was at the mercy of strong winds, on high alert for any new flames that could run wild, and weary from intentional blackouts aimed at preventing power lines from sparking more destruction.
The blaze near the Reagan library in Simi Valley was driven by strong Santa Ana winds that are the bane of Southern California in the fall and have historically fanned the most destructive fires in the region.
The cause was not yet determined, but Southern California Edison filed a report with state regulators to say it began near its power lines. Electrical equipment has sparked some of California’s worst wildfires in recent years and prompted utilities to resort to precautionary power outages. SoCal Edison had not cut power in the area at the time this fire started.
The library, which holds the presidential archives and includes grounds with the graves of Reagan and his wife, Nancy, was well-equipped when flames surrounded it. It relies on a combination of high-tech defenses such as fireproof doors, sprinklers and an underground vault, as well as a decidedly no-tech measure — hundreds of goats brought in every year to graze on brush and create a firebreak.
An army of firefighters helped protect the hilltop museum, and helicopters hit the flames, leaving some neighbors resentful as they frantically hosed down fires in the surrounding subdivisions and open ranchland.
Armed with just a garden hose and wearing a mask, Beth Rivera watered down the perimeter of her large home to prevent embers from igniting dry grass and trees. Friends helped evacuate 11 horses from the property. Soaring flames were only 30 yards (27 meters) away and blowing toward her house, with no firetrucks in sight.
Animals could be heard shrieking in a barn burning next door on Tierra Rejada Road, where large ranches with riding stables and horse rings line the road. Two horses bolted into the street from the flaming barn, trailing a cloud of smoke.
“Oh gosh, this isn’t fun,” Rivera said. “There isn’t a fire unit (here) at the moment because they’re busy working on the fire close to the library. This is why I’m very worried. Because I can’t … save my home.”
Within minutes, a fire crew arrived to help Rivera and her boyfriend protect their home.
The brush fire broke out before dawn between the cities of Simi Valley and Moorpark north of Los Angeles and grew to 2.5 square miles (6.4 square kilometers), Ventura County officials said. About 7,000 homes, or around 30,000 people, were ordered evacuated, authorities said.
Wind gusts of up to 68 mph (109 kph) were reported, forecasters said. Other spots in Southern California were buffeted by even stronger winds. The gusts knocked over a truck on a freeway.
Another wildfire forced the evacuation of two mobile home parks and a health care facility in Jurupa Valley, 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Los Angeles, where elderly people were taken out in wheelchairs and gurneys as smoke swirled overhead. The blaze was at least 200 acres in size.
Meanwhile, about 750,000 people statewide remained without power amid efforts to prevent more wildfires.
In wine country north of San Francisco, fire officials reported progress in their battle against a 120-square-mile (310-square-kilometer) blaze in Sonoma County, saying it was 30% contained.
The fire destroyed at least 266 structures, including 133 homes, and threatened 90,000 more, most of them homes, authorities said. Fewer than 6,000 people were still out of their homes after authorities lifted most of the evacuation orders.
Winds topped out at 70 mph (112 kph) north of San Francisco Bay and began to ease early Wednesday, but forecasters said the fire danger would remain high because of continuing breezes and dry air.
In Southern California, fire crews continued making progress in trying to snuff out a wildfire in the celebrity-studded hills of Los Angeles that destroyed a dozen homes on Monday. About 9,000 people, including Arnold Schwarzenegger and LeBron James, were ordered to evacuate and most of those orders were lifted Wednesday.
No deaths have been reported from the recent fires, but toppled trees claimed three lives.
In the battle taking place in the dry hills around Simi Valley, 800 firefighters worked on the ground as helicopters precisely dropped water on the leading edge of the flames and a jet streamed red fire retardant to slow the fire’s growth.
Firefighters successfully protected the library, leaving it looking like an island in a soot-black sea. Flames came within about 30 yards (27 meters) of the property, but there was no damage, library spokeswoman Melissa Giller said.
Residents were warned of evacuations when their cellphones blared with emergency messages and police officers went door to door.
“Everything started rolling so fast,” said Elena Mishkanian, describing the time from the text to when she heard sirens.
Her family was able to gather only some basics. Her daughter, Megan, 17, took some photos and mementos of trips she had taken. Her son, Troy, 13, netted six pet fish from a tank and put them in pots.
“Fish have feelings!” he said when Megan teased him about it. “Even if they don’t make it, at least I know I tried.”
As they left the house, police tied yellow caution tape around their front door to show they had left.
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New top story from Time: John Bolton Summoned as Impeachment Inquiry Heads Toward a Vote
(WASHINGTON) — House investigators are asking former national security adviser John Bolton to testify in their impeachment inquiry, deepening their reach into the White House as the probe accelerates toward a potential vote to remove the president.
Democratic lawmakers want to hear next week from Bolton, the hawkish former adviser who openly sparred over the administration’s approach to Ukraine — in particular, President Donald Trump’s reliance on his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani for a back-channel operation. Bolton once derided Giuliani’s work as a “drug deal” and said he wanted no part of it, according to previous testimony.
Bolton’s attorney, Charles Cooper, said Wednesday evening that his client would not appear without a subpoena.
The Democrats are also calling John Eisenberg, the lawyer for the NSC who fielded an Army officer’s concerns over Trump’s phone call with the Ukraine president, and Michael Ellis, another security council official, according to a person familiar with the invitation and granted anonymity to discuss it.
The rush of possible new witnesses comes as the House prepares to take its first official vote Thursday on the process ahead. That includes public hearings in a matter of weeks and the possibility of drafting articles of impeachment against the president.
The White House has urged officials not to testify in the impeachment proceedings, and it’s not guaranteed that those called will appear for depositions, even if they receive subpoenas as previous witnesses have.
Bolton’s former deputy, Charles Kupperman, has filed a lawsuit in federal court asking a judge to resolve the question of whether he can be forced to testify since he was a close and frequent adviser to the president. Any ruling in that case could presumably have an impact on whether Bolton will testify. A status conference in that case was scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Trump and his Republican allies on Capitol Hill say the entire impeachment inquiry is illegitimate and are unpersuaded by the House resolution formally setting out next steps.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the format for the impeachment probe denies Trump the “most basic rightsof due process.”
Now in its second month, the investigation is focused on Trump’s July phone call with Ukraine when he asked President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Democrats and a potential 2020 political rival, Joe Biden, as the White House was withholding military aid Ukraine relies on for its defenses. Democrats contend Trump was proposing a quid-pro-quo arrangement.
On Thursday, the investigators are to hear from Tim Morrison, a former top GOP aide on Capitol Hill, who served at Trump’s National Security Council and was among those likely monitoring the president’s call with Ukraine.
Late Wednesday, it was disclosed that Morrison was resigninghis White House position. He has been a central figure in other testimony about Trump’s dealing with Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, the Democratic and Republican House lawmakers heard fresh testimony about the Trump administration’s unusual back channels to Ukraine.
Two State Department Ukraine experts offered new accounts of Trump’s reliance on Giuliani rather than career diplomats to engage with the East European ally, a struggling democracy facing aggression from Russia.
Foreign Service officer Christopher Anderson testified that Bolton cautioned him that Giuliani “was a key voice with the president on Ukraine” and could complicate U.S. goals for the country.
Another Foreign Service officer, Catherine Croft, said that during her time at Trump’s National Security Council, she received “multiple” phone calls from lobbyist Robert Livingston — a former top Republican lawmaker once in line to become House speaker — telling her the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, should be fired.
“It was not clear to me at the time — or now — at whose direction or at whose expense Mr. Livingston was seeking the removal of Ambassador Yovanovitch,” she said in prepared remarks obtained by The Associated Press.
Livingston characterized Yovanovitch as an “‘Obama holdover’ and associated with George Soros,” she said, referring to the American financier who is often the subject of conservative criticism in the U.S. and Europe.
Most Democrats are expected to support the formal impeachment investigation resolution Thursday, even if they don’t back impeachment itself, saying they are in favor of opening the process with more formal procedures.
Public hearings are expected to begin in mid-November, a matter of weeks. Democrats are eager to hear from some top witnesses who have already provided compelling testimony behind closed doors, including diplomat William Taylor, a top ambassador in Ukraine, and Alexander Vindman, the Army officer who testified Tuesday that he twice reported to superiors, including Eisenberg, his concerns about Trump’s actions toward Ukraine.
Vindman is willing to testify publicly, according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity Wednesday to discuss it.
At Trump’s hotel in Washington, during a fundraiser for House Republicans and lengthy dinner afterward with GOP leaders, the president indicated he was prepared for the fight ahead, said those familiar with the private gatherings Tuesday night.
“He’s a tough guy,” said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the GOP whip.
Both career diplomats testifying Wednesday had served as top aides to the former U.S. special envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, who was the first to testify in the impeachment inquiry and whose cache of text messages provided key insight into Trump’s demands on the new Ukraine president.
Croft, who testified for nearly five hours, described being told at an administration meeting that security funds for Ukraine were being put on hold “at the direction of the president,” corroborating other accounts that have been provided to investigators.
In his opening statement, Anderson traced his unease with developments that he felt threatened to set back relations between the U.S. and Ukraine.
He told investigators that senior White House officials blocked an effort by the State Department to release a November 2018 statement condemning Russia’s attack on Ukrainian military vessels.
Both witnesses were instructed by the administration to not testify but appeared in response to subpoenas from the House, according to a statement from their attorney Mark MacDougall.
The lawyer told lawmakers that neither of his clients is the whistleblower whose complaint triggered the impeachment inquiry and that he would object to any questions aimed at identifying that person.
New top story from Time: ‘This Is Idiocracy.’ Chefs Fume as New York Lawmakers Pass Bill Banning the Sale of Foie Gras
(NEW YORK) — New York City lawmakers on Wednesday passed a bill that bans restaurants and grocery stores from selling foie gras, the fattened liver of a duck or goose considered a culinary delicacy for centuries.
The bill, which is expected to be signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, would forbid the sale of the French specialty starting in 2022.
Animal welfare activists had campaigned for a ban on the grounds that the methods used to produce foie gras are cruel, involving force-feeding a bird a corn-based mixture through a tube slipped down its throat.
Farmers who produce foie gras — meaning fatty liver in French — say the birds are treated humanely and don’t suffer during the fattening process.
The council vote was 42-6 for the final version of the bill that calls for a fine of up to $2,000 for each violation.
With about 1,000 New York restaurants offering foie gras, top chefs did not take kindly to the news.
“This is idiocracy,” tweeted chef David Chang of the famed Momofuku global restaurant chain, adding, “Stupid short sighted and a misunderstanding of the situation.”
“I think a ban on foie gras is ridiculous,” said James Beard Award-winner Ken Oringer, co-owner and chef at Manhattan’s Toro tapas restaurant that serves dishes like foie gras torchons with buttermilk biscuits and foie gras katsu sandwiches.
“Food choice is everything and the beauty of our country is that we can make the choice to eat what we want to eat.”
He said he supports producers of foie gras in the Catskill Mountains about two hours north of the city.
“I have been to their farms and they operate with the utmost integrity to their farm animals,” the chef said.
The 200-acre Hudson Valley Foie Gras and the smaller La Belle Farm collectively raise about 350,000 birds for foie gras a year in a process that fattens the bird’s liver up to 10 times its normal size. The resulting fatty livers connoisseurs say are as silken and rich as butter bring in $15 million a year — about a third going to New York City. Each liver retails for as much as $125.
The two farms had already lost the California market that represented another third of their sales.
California banned the sale of foie gras in 2012. That law was challenged in federal court, but an appeals court eventually upheld it. Chicago banned foie gras in 2006; the ordinance was repealed two years later.
Losing the New York market would be devastating, says Marcus Henley, the manager of Hudson Valley Foie Gras.
“We will not let this restriction on New Yorkers’ freedom of choice go unchallenged in the courts, and we intend to file a lawsuit,” Henley said. He did not say exactly when legal action would be taken.
The New York City ban could mean trouble for the two farms that are premier U.S. producers of foie gras, with New York as their prime market. The farms employ about 400 mostly immigrant workers whose jobs could be in jeopardy due to the loss of city business, in addition to area farmers growing corn for the feed and vendors selling other supplies.
As voted on, the bill “would prohibit retail food establishments or food service establishments from storing, maintaining, selling, or offering to sell force-fed products or food containing a force-fed product.”
Ariane Daguin, whose New Jersey-based company, D’Artagnan, is the main U.S. distributor for the two farms’ product, said the ban was approved on a false premise — “that the process is inhumane.”
She said such an assumption is not supported by practices at the farm, where the birds roam freely and are fed by hand every eight hours. The force-feeding begins when the ducks are fully grown, about 12 weeks after they’re born. A worker inserts a 6-inch (15-centimeter) plastic tube into the duck’s beak, squirting a soft mix of corn, soybeans and water to the top of the throat. They’re fed for three weeks, then slaughtered.
“Not one council member has made any effort to learn about this process and all have refused to visit the farms to understand the process first-hand,” Daguin said. “This vote is not constitutional and council members have been wrongly influenced by animal activists who are financing their political campaigns.”
Matthew Dominguez, an advisor to the Voters for Animal Rights nonprofit that opposes foie gras production, countered that group supporters “applaud the city council for relegating the barbaric practice of force-feeding innocent ducks for foie gras to the history books.”
New top story from Time: A 25-Year-Old Man Was Arrested and Accused of Starting a California Wildfire
Authorities say a man was arrested and accused of arson after a crew responded to a report of a wildfire in Northern California.
A CalFire statement said engine crews were able to quickly contain the small fire in the Sonoma County community of Geyserville and identified a potential suspect.
CalFire law enforcement officers arrested 25-year-old Andrew Craig Faulkner on accusations of arson.
The statement did not give other details, and a CalFire spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Authorities reported progress Wednesday in battling the Kincade fire in Sonoma County that started last week outside of Geyserville and forced the evacuation of the entire community, home to about 900 people. As the fire exploded in size, over 180,000 people were ordered to leave the area. Most have been allowed to return.
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