Animals news

• Rep. Adam Schiff turns over Pence aide's classified letter to Judiciary Committee

  12-12-2019 23:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) has submitted to the Judiciary Committee a classified letter from an aide to Vice President Mike Pence, according to multiple reports on Wednesday.
  
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• Republican congressman publicly identifies purported whistleblower

  12-12-2019 23:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  On Wednesday, Rep. Louie Gohmert publicly named a person some Republicans and allies of President Trump claim is the alleged whistleblower who first brought the Trump-Ukraine scandal to light.
  
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• McDonald’s Wins High-Stakes Labor Battle With Help From White House

  12-12-2019 23:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- In a television commercial that’s become part of the lore surrounding Donald Trump’s affinity for McDonald’s Corp., he embraced a purple, lumpy denizen of the fast-food chain’s “McDonaldland” and said, “Together, Grimace, we could own this town.”He was talking about New York, not Washington. Yet on Thursday, some 17 years after he appeared in that spot for the “Big ’N’ Tasty” sandwich, President Trump’s
  
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• Russia probe report spurs calls for FBI surveillance changes

  12-12-2019 23:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Revelations that the FBI committed serious errors in wiretapping a former Trump campaign aide have spurred bipartisan calls for change to the government’s surveillance powers, including from some Republicans who in the past have voted to renew or expand those authorities.Anger over the errors cited in this week's Justice Department’s inspector general’s report of the Russia investigation has produced rare consensus from Democrats and Republicans who otherwise have had sharply d
  
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• FAA boss said concerned Boeing eager for quick return of Max

  12-12-2019 23:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The head of the Federal Aviation Administration is concerned that Boeing is pushing for an unrealistically quick return of its grounded 737 Max and that there is a perception the company is pressuring the regulator, according to a senior FAA official.The official told Congress of FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson’s concerns on Thursday, shortly before Dickson met with Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg and another Boeing executive.
  
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• Royal Caribbean liability for volcano deaths may turn on 'act of God' defense

  12-12-2019 23:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Cruise ship passengers were among the tourists on White Island on Monday when it erupted.Royal Caribbean ticket terms posted on its website spell out that the company is not liable for any injury, death or loss of property caused by an act of God, as well as war, terrorism or other events beyond the company's control.Royal Caribbean will likely argue the disaster was an extraordinary event no one could reasonably foresee, said Robert Kritzman, an attorney with Baker Donelson in Miami.
  
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• Russia Got Its Hands On A U.S. Tomahawk Missile In Syria (And Plans To Counter Them)

  12-12-2019 23:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Sometimes missiles fail to explode.
  
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• A device invented by a 25-year-old is finally catching trash in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It hauled 60 bags to shore to turn into new products.

  12-12-2019 22:42 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U-shaped device is collecting plastic in a trash-filled ocean vortex that's more than twice the size of Texas.
  
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• US voting rights: Governor lifts lifetime ban on voting for more than 100,000 former felons in Kentucky

  12-12-2019 22:38 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The newly-elected governor of Kentucky has restored voting rights to more than 100,000 people with past criminal convictions, reversing a ban that activists have called an "ugly holdover from our Jim Crow past".The expansion was made official on Thursday by Democrat Andy Beshear, who narrowly defeated the state’s previous governor during an election last month that attracted the intense attention of Donald Trump and the national press.
  
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• Jersey City shooting: Who are the Black Hebrew Israelites?

  12-12-2019 22:36 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The suspects in the Jersey City shooting held anti-Semitic views and had expressed interest in the Black Hebrew Israelite movement.
  
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• George P. Bush says GOP can't let 'racist' episodes slide

  12-12-2019 22:28 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Republican George P. Bush, the only member of the Bush dynasty still in public office, condemned Thursday recurring episodes of what he described as racist or hateful rhetoric within the Texas GOP, and ripped what he called false accusations fanned by his Hispanic heritage.Bush, Texas' land commissioner, first denounced a white GOP state legislator who suggested “Asian" challengers on the ballot in 2020 were motivated by race.
  
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• American Airlines apologizes after forcing passenger to change 'Hail Satan' shirt

  12-12-2019 22:26 via news.yahoo.com
  
  American Airlines is apologizing after a passenger says she was forced to remove her "Hail Satan" shirt or leave the flight.
  
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• US military releases photos showing Bagram Air Base damage following brazen Taliban assault

  12-12-2019 22:22 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A source on the ground detailed to Military Times that a firefight between the Taliban and Afghan and U.S. forces lasted nine to 10 hours.
  
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• The Latest: UK vote a disaster for left-wing Labour Party

  12-12-2019 22:21 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Veteran Labour Party left-wing firebrand Dennis Skinner has lost his seat in the British election, one of many Labour lawmakers ousted by a Conservative challenger in Boris Johnson’s landslide victory.The former miner, known for heckling at the State Opening of Parliament and for being ejected from the debating chamber, represented Labour in Parliament for almost 50 years.
  
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• US soldiers and airmen helped clean up Venice after the historic city was hit by the worst flooding in 53 years

  12-12-2019 22:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Fifteen airmen, 14 soldiers, and three military family members and civilians helped Venetians clean up after the flood.
  
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• US calls on China not to interfere in Taiwan election

  12-12-2019 22:08 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The United States on Thursday urged China not to interfere in elections next month in Taiwan, where President Tsai Ing-wen, a critic of Beijing, is seeking a new term.David Stilwell, the top US diplomat for Asia, said that tensions between Beijing and Taipei have historically risen whenever Taiwan goes to the polls.
  
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• 'Hangover days' for employees criticised by alcohol harm campaigners amid fears it could encourage binge drinking

  12-12-2019 22:07 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A business offering its staff "hangover days" for when they are feeling worse for wear has been criticised by alcohol harm charities who have raised concern that the practice could encourage binge drinking.  Digital Marketing firm The Audit Lab lets employees take “hangover days” to try and create a flexible, honest workplace.  Company director and co-founder Lee Frame said he would "rather our employees be honest with us and tell the truth than pretend they&rsquo
  
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• Refinitiv created filter to block Reuters stories amid Hong Kong protests

  12-12-2019 22:01 via news.yahoo.com
  
  As anti-government demonstrations engulfed Hong Kong in August, Reuters broke a sensitive story: Beijing had rejected a secret proposal by city leader Carrie Lam to meet several of the protesters’ demands in a bid to defuse the unrest.The story buttressed a main claim of the protesters, that Beijing is intervening deeply in the affairs of the semi-autonomous city.A state-run newspaper denounced the story as “fake” and “shameful.” The article soon became unavailable
  
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• Trump just went on the biggest tweet storm of his presidency

  12-12-2019 22:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  It's not a good day to have push notifications for President Trump's Twitter feed turned on.The president's Twitter account has exploded with an absurd amount of activity throughout the day on Thursday, as the House Judiciary Committee debated articles of impeachment against him. As of the mid-afternoon, he had overwhelmed followers with more than 100 tweets or retweets. > Trump is up to 109 tweets and retweets (mostly RTs) from his @realDonaldTrump account today. As far as I know, this is a
  
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• Can the West help end persecution of Chinese Muslims?

  12-12-2019 21:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  China has reportedly placed more than 1 million Muslim citizens in camps to force them to align themselves with the national party identity. Are powerful western nations capable of ending the persecution?
  
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• Pentagon tests long-banned ballistic missile over Pacific

  12-12-2019 21:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Pentagon on Thursday flight-tested a missile that had been banned under a treaty that the United States and Russia abandoned last summer.The Pentagon declined to disclose specifics beyond saying themissile was launched from a “static launch stand” at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and landed in the open ocean.The Defense Department said the ballistic missile flew more than 500 kilometers.
  
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• Judge blocks Los Angeles from enforcing NRA disclosure law

  12-12-2019 21:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  In a victory for the gun rights group, U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson in Los Angeles on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction against the law, which took effect on April 1.Wilson said the NRA was likely to show that the law, which requires companies seeking city contracts to disclose NRA contracts or sponsorship, violated its constitutional First Amendment right to free speech and would cause irreparable harm.The judge found only a slight relationship between the law and Los Angeles' int
  
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• The Damning Inspector General’s Report

  12-12-2019 21:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  It is hard to believe that the run-up to the presidential-election year has plumbed such a depth of farcical degradation. It must be that Trump’s influence has contributed to unserious responses, but he can’t be blamed for the unutterable nonsense of his opponents and the straight men of the political class that has absorbed the shock of the Trump phenomenon. Monday, December 9, had been much anticipated. Congressman Jerry Nadler, who has not been able to utter a sentence in the last
  
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• Rashida Tlaib deletes tweet falsely blaming Jersey City shooting on 'white supremacy'

  12-12-2019 21:43 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) deleted a tweet Thursday morning in which she falsely credited Tuesday's deadly shooting at a kosher deli in Jersey City, New Jersey to "white supremacy" when in fact, the suspected shooters were reportedly Black Hebrew Israelites.Tlaib deleted the post just minutes after it went up, but not before close observers were able to nab a screenshot. It didn't take long for the tweet to spread among influential political commentators, especially conservatives, like Dinesh
  
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• US sends first non-Guatemalan migrant families to Guatemala

  12-12-2019 21:39 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Guatemala on Thursday received the first families of migrants sent by the United States under an agreement to return non-Guatemalans who passed through that country on their way to the U.S. border.The national migration agency confirmed the arrival of 14 people, seven from Honduras and seven from El Salvador and including children.The Central Americans joined 10 who had been sent to Guatemala under the safe third country agreement between Washington and Guatemala in recent weeks, though the prev
  
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• Study shows hostility toward journalists by Trump fans

  12-12-2019 21:37 via news.yahoo.com
  
  It's been true for some time that Republicans are generally more hostile to the news media than Democrats, but a study released Thursday found that's much more the case for supporters of President Donald Trump.The Pew Research Center study looks at viewpoints on theethical standards of journalists and whether they act in the best interests of the public.The studyfound that 17% of Republicans who somewhat approve of Trump's performance said they believe journalists have very low ethical standards
  
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• Russia's Only Aircraft Carrier Is on Fire

  12-12-2019 21:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  This could be the last of many incidents for the hapless flattop.
  
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• Catholic dioceses spar over Archbishop Sheen sainthood

  12-12-2019 21:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  In an unusual public spat, the Roman Catholic diocese of Peoria, Illinois, is accusing the Rochester, New York, diocese of trying to “sabotage” the beatification of Archbishop Fulton Sheen.Sheen, who before his death in 1979 was famous for his radio and TV preaching, had been scheduled to be beatified — the last step before sainthood — in a ceremony in Peoria on Dec. 21.
  
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• Quebec court refuses to suspend law banning religious symbols

  12-12-2019 21:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The law, which the Quebec government said was designed to preserve "laicite" or secularism in the mainly French-speaking province, prohibits many types of civil servants, including teachers and police officers, from wearing religious symbols such as hijabs and turbans on the job.The appeals court ruling came on a motion by the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and the National Council of Canadian Muslims that argued the law was outside Quebec’s jurisdiction, impermissibly vague and viol
  
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• Canada Conservative leader resigns amid reports he used party funds for private school

  12-12-2019 21:23 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Andrew Scheer announced intention to step down shortly before reports he used funds for his children’s eductionThe leader of Canada’s Conservatives has resigned, following mounting frustration over a disappointing performance in October’s general election and reports that he used party funds to help pay for his children’s private school education.Andrew Scheer announced his intention to step down at an emergency caucus meeting on Thursday morning. Shortly after news of hi
  
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• WRAPUP 1-U.S. reaches 'deal in principle' with China on trade -source

  12-12-2019 21:19 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The White House has reached a "deal in principle" with Beijing to resolve the 17-month U.S.-China trade war, according to a source briefed on the trade talks.The White House was expected to make an announcement later on Thursday, the source said.In an attempt to secure a "phase one" trade deal, U.S. negotiators offered to cut existing tariffs on Chinese goods by as much as 50% and suspend new tariffs that were scheduled to go into effect on Sunday, two people familiar with the negotiations said
  
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• Republican women launch 'Conservative Squad' to take on AOC, progressives in D.C.

  12-12-2019 21:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Four Republican women running for Congress have launched the Conservative Squad, aimed at taking on progressives in D.C.
  
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• Alaska island volcano erupts, sends ash cloud to Bering Sea

  12-12-2019 21:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A short eruption of a volcano in Alaska's Aleutian Islands sent an ash cloud soaring into the sky Thursday near a lightly populated area.Shishaldin Volcano erupted for about three minutes at 7:10 a.m., the Alaska Volcano Observatory announced.It produced an ash cloud that reached up to 25,000 feet (7,620 meters).
  
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• Rep. Eric Swalwell reminds Republicans as they throw Sondland 'under the bus': 'He is your guy!'

  12-12-2019 21:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Is U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland getting thrown under the bus during Thursday's impeachment hearing?Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) thinks so, during the House Judiciary Committee's Thursday debate on the articles of impeachment against President Trump tweeting at Republicans, who he says are just now "throwing Ambassador Sondland under the bus," that "He. Is. Your. Guy!" > Just a reminder to all my GOP judiciary colleagues *now* throwing Ambassador Sondland under the bu
  
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• 'They Saw Him Hanging and Did Nothing': A Teen's Agony in Rikers

  12-12-2019 21:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  NEW YORK -- Nicholas Feliciano was hauled into a holding pen at Rikers Island the night before Thanksgiving, after a brawl broke out among detainees at the jail. His lip had been gashed and his friend, Alfonso Martinez, had been stabbed.As Martinez was being taken to an infirmary, he recalled his friend saying, "If they separate us, I'm going to kill myself." It was no idle threat. Feliciano, 18, had tried to take his own life several times before, most recently at a juvenile detention center, h
  
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• Battling Hoaxers in Court, Sandy Hook Families Replay a Tragedy

  12-12-2019 21:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A month before what would have been his son Noah's 13th birthday, Lenny Pozner told a jury about the last time he saw him, when he dropped him off at school on Dec. 14, 2012."It was cold, but he jumped out not wearing his jacket, and he had one arm in one sleeve and his backpack on the other arm, and he was kind of juggling both and walking into the school that way," Pozner told a Wisconsin jury in October. "And that's -- that's the last visual that I have of Noah."Noah Pozner was one of 20 firs
  
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• UPDATE 1-U.S. reaches deal in principle on trade with China -source

  12-12-2019 20:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The United States has reached a "phase-one" trade deal in principle with China, a source briefed on talks between the two nations said on Thursday, saying a statement from the White House was expected soon.Ahead of the meeting, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told senators that announcements were possibly "imminent" on U.S. tariffs, senior Republican Senator John Cornyn told reporters.U.S. negotiators have offered to reduce tariffs on about $375 billion in Chinese goods by 50% across
  
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• New Jersey attackers linked to anti-Semitic fringe movement

  12-12-2019 20:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The deadly shooting rampage at a New Jersey kosher market has cast a spotlight on a fringe movement known for its anti-Semitic strain of street preaching and its role in a viral-video confrontation at the Lincoln Memorial this year.Investigators believe that the man and woman who killed three people at the Jersey City grocery Tuesday in addition to gunning down a police officer at a cemetery hated Jews and law enforcement and had expressed interest in the Black Hebrew Israelites movement, New Je
  
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• House Democrats gave Trump 'everything he wanted' on a $738 billion defense bill while on the brink of impeaching him

  12-12-2019 20:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Progressives are livid over the defense bill funding the US-Mexico border wall, Space Force, and continued US support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen.
  
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• U.S. reaches deal in principle on trade with China: source

  12-12-2019 20:44 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The United States has reached a "phase-one" trade deal in principle with China, a source briefed on talks between the two nations said on Thursday, saying a statement from the White House was expected soon.Ahead of the meeting, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told senators that announcements were possibly "imminent" on U.S. tariffs, senior Republican Senator John Cornyn told reporters.U.S. negotiators have offered to reduce tariffs on about $375 billion in Chinese goods by 50% across
  
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• Civil rights lawyers stake claim in Confederate statue case

  12-12-2019 20:34 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A national civil rights group has warned the leaders of the University of North Carolina that they should reconsider a $2.5 million settlement involving a statue of a Confederate soldier that protesters toppled last year at the system’s flagship campus.The department’s attorneys had no role in negotiating the agreement, she said.
  
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• 2nd suspect in Kansas bar shooting that killed 4 arrested

  12-12-2019 20:18 via news.yahoo.com
  
  One of two men who is accused of opening fire inside a crowded bar in Kansas City, Kansas, killing four people and wounding five others, has been captured in Mexico, authorities said Thursday.Authorities have been searching for Hugo Villanueva-Morales, 29, since the shooting at the Tequila KC bar on Oct. 6.Kansas City, Kansas, police spokesman Jonathan Westbrook said he was arrested Wednesday in Mexico but did not immediately release further details about the arrest.
  
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• Germany says it wasn't aware Russia had requested extradition of Georgian man

  12-12-2019 20:15 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Germany contradicted Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, saying it was not aware Russia had requested the extradition of a Georgian man who was killed in Berlin in August.
  
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• New Kentucky governor sued for alleged abuse of power

  12-12-2019 20:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  For nearly four years as Kentucky attorney general, Andy Beshear filed a series of lawsuits accusing then-Gov. Matt Bevin of abusing his executive powers. Now Beshear is being sued by the people he ousted from the state school board on his first day as governor.
  
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• Israel bars Gaza's Christians from visiting Bethlehem and Jerusalem at Christmas

  12-12-2019 20:12 via news.yahoo.com
  
  JERUSALEM/GAZA, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Christians in the Gaza Strip will not be allowed to visit holy cities such as Bethlehem and Jerusalem to celebrate Christmas this year, Israeli authorities said on Thursday.Gazan Christians will be granted permits to travel abroad but none will be allowed to go to Israel and the occupied West Bank, home to many sites holy to Christians, a spokeswoman for Israel's military liaison to the Palestinians said.
  
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• UPDATE 1-U.S. tests ground-launched ballistic missile after INF treaty exit

  12-12-2019 20:03 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The Pentagon on Thursday tested a conventionally configured ground-launched ballistic missile, a test that would have been prohibited under the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty.The United States formally withdrew from the landmark 1987 INF pact with Russia in August after determining that Moscow was violating the treaty, an accusation the Kremlin has denied.It was the second test by the Pentagon that would have not been allowed under the INF treaty.
  
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• In 1956, A Nuclear World War III Almost Broke Out Between Britain, France, Israel, and Russia

  12-12-2019 20:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  And America would not have been directly involved.
  
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• For Gaetz to raise Hunter Biden's substance abuse is 'the pot calling the kettle black,' Johnson says

  12-12-2019 19:54 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The House Judiciary Committee debate over articles of impeachment against President Trump took an ugly turn Thursday when Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., brought up Hunter Biden’s past drug use.
  
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• The farm goods at the heart of the US-China trade war

  12-12-2019 19:53 via news.yahoo.com
  
  In trade negotiations with China, President Donald Trump has made it a priority that the Asian giant buy tens of billions of dollars in US farm goods.- How much do the US and China trade?From 2008, China was either the largest or second-largest importer of American agricultural products.
  
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• Cory Booker Announces He Will Not Qualify for Next Democratic Debate

  12-12-2019 19:52 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) said Thursday that he does not expect to qualify for the sixth Democratic primary debate next week but assured his supporters that he still has a path to victory."While I may not be on the debate stage next Thursday, thanks to the outpouring of support over the past few weeks, we know there’s a path to victory, and we no longer need the debate stage to get there," the New Jersey Democrat wrote on Twitter.Democratic 2020 candidates must meet the Democratic Nat
  
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