Neo-Nazi in coast guard plotted attack on Democrats and journalists, say prosecutors

Lieutenant Christopher Hasson allegedly intended to ‘murder civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country’

A neo-Nazi serving as a lieutenant in the US coast guard has been caught plotting to attack Democratic members of Congress, including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and well-known media personalities, according to prosecutors.

Christopher Hasson intended “to murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country”, according to a filing to federal court in Maryland. Law enforcement officers seized 15 guns and 1,000 rounds of ammunition from his home.

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Immigration, rail funding and lawsuits: why California and Trump are at war

The state, which styles itself as the Democratic-led ‘resistance’, has launched 46 lawsuits against the Trump administration

The Trump administration’s plans to pull millions in federal funding from California’s high-speed rail project is just the latest in the ongoing antagonism between the president and the state that stands on the opposite end of his party’s ideological spectrum.

Governor Gavin Newsom called the move “political retribution” for the state’s lawsuit against Donald Trump’s declaration of a national emergency, but California and Trump have been at it since before he was even elected president.

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‘He’s learned nothing’: Zuckerberg floats crowdsourcing Facebook fact-checks

As site grapples with flood of fake news, former Snopes editor says CEO’s crowdsourcing comments show he has ‘learned nothing’

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg revealed that he is considering crowdsourcing as a new model for Facebook’s third-party factchecking partnerships.

In the first of a series of public conversations, Zuckerberg praised the efforts of factcheckers who partnered with Facebook following the 2016 presidential election as a bulwark against the flood of misinformation and fake news that was overtaking the site’s News Feed.

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Historian who confronted Davos billionaires leaks Tucker Carlson rant

  • Rutger Bergman clashes with Fox News host in unseen clip
  • Visibly annoyed Carlson tells Bergman: ‘Go fuck yourself’

Rutger Bregman is the Dutch historian who became a global sensation after an appearance at this year’s Davos summit, where he accused attending billionaires of ignoring taxation. Now he has created another viral moment in an extremely uncomfortable interview with Fox News’s Tucker Carlson.

Bregman so riled Carson with his accusations of hypocrisy, critiques of Fox’s conservative agenda, and attacks on Donald Trump that the TV host called him a “moron” and angrily told him: “Go fuck yourself.”

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Musicians voice concern over Ryan Adams’ abuse allegations

Adams’ guitarist Todd Wisenbaker is one of a number of musicians to condemn the singer-songwriter, who has said accusations of abuse and harassment are ‘inaccurate’

Guitarist Todd Wisenbaker, who has collaborated with Ryan Adams, is one of a number of musicians who have condemned the singer-songwriter after seven women alleged emotional and verbal abuse and harassment in a New York Times investigation published last week.

Actor and musician Mandy Moore, who was married to Adams, and musician Phoebe Bridgers, who had a relationship with him, were among the women who spoke to the Times, alongside a fan who says she was underage when he began to send her explicit messages online.

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Trump has turned foreign aid into shabby political theatre | Peter Beaumont

Stalled relief supplies for Venezuela at the Colombian border are a stark illustration of Trump’s crudely transactional approach to aid

In their grey livery, the US Air Force C-17s shuttling into Camilo Daza airport in Cúcuta, Colombia, look more belligerent than friendly – which is, perhaps, the point.

In the city itself, the planes’ cargo – boxes labelled USAid and intended for distribution by the Venezuelan opposition just across the border – are accumulating in the town’s warehouses.

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#MeToo daubed on kissing sailor statue day after serviceman’s death

Florida sculpture of George Mendonsa and Greta Zimmer Friedman defaced as kiss comes under scrutiny

A statue in Florida depicting the US sailor famously photographed kissing a female stranger at the end of the second world war has been vandalised, with “#MeToo” written in red spray paint across the woman’s leg the day after the serviceman’s death.

Although the image of George Mendonsa kissing Greta Zimmer Friedman has long been heralded for epitomising the joy shared throughout the world upon the ending of hostilities in 1945, it has come under scrutiny more recently, with many accusing Mendonsa of assault.

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Voyage to the Garbage Patch: the female sailors taking on plastic

Plastic is everywhere, and it’s not going anywhere – potentially posing serious risks to our health. A crew of scientists and activists is conducting a hands-on investigation

When I arrive at the marina in Victoria on a late-July morning, the sky and water are complementary shades of azure. On the deck of the 72ft shiny-bright Sea Dragon, moored here in the island capital of British Columbia for just one day, are four young women, part of the crew of the research voyage “eXXpedition”. They’re hauling buckets of black sludge up to the deck from the ocean floor.

The team will meticulously pack the wet sand from the harbor floor into little glass jars. These jars will be added to a library of sand, water, and air samples that they’ve collected over the past six weeks from across the north Pacific. They’ll ship some of those samples off to Plymouth, England, to be analyzed by eXXpedition’s marine scientist Imogen Napper. The idea is that by cataloging this library, she and the team will begin to get a better sense of what kind of plastic is out there in the ocean.

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Trump-Russia: FBI had ‘backup plan’ to save investigation evidence – live

Plan created after Comey firing to ensure information would survive firings or reassignments of top officials

Attorneys for the Kentucky student filmed in an apparent confrontation with a Native American elder at the Lincoln Memorial filed a lawsuit against the Washington Post on Tuesday, accusing the news organization of engaging “in a modern-day form of McCarthyism.”

Here is the Complaint filed today against The Washington Post on behalf of Nick Sandmann. All members of the mainstream & social media mob of bullies who recklessly & viciously attacked Nick would be well-served to read it carefully. https://t.co/P3H4x0srlX

CNN hired a longtime Republican operative as the political editor charged with coordinating 2020 campaign coverage, Vox is reporting.

According to a CNN spokesperson, Isgur, who most recently worked as the Department of Justice’s main spokesperson under then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, will coordinate the network’s political coverage for the 2020 election cycle on TV and on CNN’s website. Isgur starts work next month, and will not be involved in coverage of DOJ. She will occasionally appear on TV.

Isgur’s LinkedIn page indicates she has no journalism experience. She has, however, worked for a variety of right-wing organizations and campaigns, including the Carly Fiorina and Mitt Romney presidential bids, the Republican National Committee, and a Ted Cruz US Senate campaign.

I've received a lot of partisan fundraising emails from Sarah Isgur Flores, who will reportedly "coordinate political coverage for the 2020 campaign at" CNN (https://t.co/WrQRFBZZFV), over the years. Here's one in Oct. 2014 in which she said Obama's policies would be "DOOMSDAY." pic.twitter.com/xUhXYYJMZf

CNN's new political editor, ex-flack for Carly Fiorina's campaign and the Sessions DOJ "has no experience in news but a long history as a political operative"

Lots and lots of experienced journos have lots their jobs in the last few months, just sayin'https://t.co/M5OymJoWgl

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Infusions of young blood not proven ‘safe or effective’, US government warns

FDA warning is blow to anti-age treatment fad that claims it could improve strength and memory and even combat Alzheimer’s

The US government has warned that older people should not be paying to have their veins filled with the blood of young people, in a blow for what was becoming a fad anti-aging treatment.

In a statement on Tuesday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said infusions of plasma from young donors into older clients “should not be assumed to be safe or effective”, and said it was “concerned that some patients are being preyed upon by unscrupulous actors” charging thousands of dollars for transfusions.

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House investigates ‘White House plan’ to share nuclear technology with Saudis

Top Trump officials pushed plan to share technology despite objections, according to House oversight committee report

Top White House officials pushed a plan to share nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia, despite objections from career national security staff, according to a new congressional report.

Related: A public holiday and gold-plated gun: Saudi crown prince feted on Asia tour

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Trump might have a solid case for emergency declaration, analysts say

Though Trump himself suggested there is no real emergency, courts are unlikely to second-guess a presidents’ broad leeway

Many legal analysts who watched Donald Trump declare a national emergency over immigration on Friday thought the president had weak legal grounds for doing so. In particular, many thought Trump hurt his own case by admitting, right there in the White House Rose Garden: “I didn’t need to do this, but I’d rather do it much faster.”

“This quote should be the first sentence of the first paragraph of every complaint filed this afternoon,” tweeted George Conway, a top Washington lawyer and the husband of Trump aide Kellyanne Conway.

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Roger Stone ordered to appear in court over Instagram post targeting judge

Stone has formally apologized for the post, which showed the judge with what appeared to be crosshairs near her head

Donald Trump’s longtime confidant Roger Stone was ordered to appear in court Thursday after a post he made on Instagram targeting the judge in his case.

Related: Democrats investigate 'White House plan' to share nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia – live

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Bernie Sanders announces run for presidency in 2020: ‘We’re gonna win’

Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont whose 2016 presidential campaign helped energize the progressive movement and reshaped the Democratic party, has entered the 2020 race for the White House.

Related: Can Bernie Sanders repeat his surprising success this time around? | Robert Reich

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Bernie Sanders 2020: where the presidential candidate stands on key issues – video profile

Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont who ran against Hillary Clinton for the 2016 Democratic nomination, has announced his run for the presidency in 2020. Sanders, 77, running as a Democrat, will be up against a more crowded and diverse field this time round   

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Donald Trump’s direct appeal to Venezuelan military to back Juan Guaidó – video

Donald Trump has used a speech in Miami, Florida, to issue a direct appeal to members of the Venezuelan military to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó. The influential Venezuelan military has so far remained largely loyal to current president,  Nicolás Maduro. The US president told the crowd: 'We seek a peaceful transition of power, but all options are open'

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Syrian Kurdish leader calls for international force to protect Kurds

Ilham Ahmed says Kurds want observers on the border to ensure Turkey does not attack

The leader of the Syrian Kurds has called for a small international observer force to be stationed on the Turkey-Syria border to protect Kurds from what she says is the threat of crimes against humanity committed by Turkish forces.

Ilham Ahmed is co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council – the political arm of the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which have been responsible for liberating much of north-eastern Syria from Islamic State.

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Rod Rosenstein, key figure behind Mueller inquiry, expected to step down in mid-March

Justice department says deputy attorney general who brought in special counsel is likely to leave in mid-March

Rod Rosenstein, the US deputy attorney general who appointed a special counsel to investigate possible ties between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign, is expected to step down by mid March, a Justice Department official has said.

Rosenstein had been expected to depart shortly after new Attorney General William Barr assumed office. Barr was confirmed for the role by the US Senate last week.

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16 US states sue over Trump border wall emergency declaration

Coalition led by California accuses the president of ‘unilaterally robbing taxpayer funds’

A coalition of 16 US states led by California has launched legal action against Donald Trump’s administration over his decision to declare a national emergency in order to fund a wall along the Mexico border.

The lawsuit was filed on Monday in the US district court for the northern district of California after Trump invoked emergency powers on Friday when Congress declined his request for $5.7bn to help create his signature policy promise.

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Huawei founder: US cannot crush technology firm

Ren Zhengfei hits back at criminal indictments he calls politically motivated

The US cannot crush Huawei, the company’s founder has insisted, as he hit back against criminal indictments levelled at the firm and allegations that it poses a security threat.

Washington has warned allies off using Huawei products in recent weeks. But Ren Zhengfei, whose daughter Meng Wanzhou – a fellow senior Huawei executive – is among those charged by US prosecutors, told the BBC on Monday that the firm would survive the pressure.

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