Michael Cohen Accuses Trump of Expansive Pattern of Lies and Criminality

By PETER BAKER and NICHOLAS FANDOS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2VpyVaq

Mueller’s Team Acknowledges New Information in Allegations That Manafort Lied

By SHARON LaFRANIERE from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2UaPKWx

Testimony From Cohen Could Compound Legal Issues for Trump

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2TpwVlc

Five Takeaways From Cohen’s Testimony to Congress

By MICHAEL TACKETT from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2BXNVFw

Full Transcript: Michael Cohen’s Opening Statement to Congress

By Unknown Author from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Tf17zC

Oregon to Become First State to Impose Statewide Rent Control

By MIHIR ZAVERI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2BUyjCt

Two African-American Women Are Headed for Runoff in Chicago’s Mayor Race

By JULIE BOSMAN, MITCH SMITH and MONICA DAVEY from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2SwKPgU

3 Killed as 2 L.I.R.R. Trains Crash Into Car in Westbury

By PATRICK McGEEHAN from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2GOAiw9

‘Executing Babies’: Here Are the Facts Behind Trump’s Misleading Abortion Tweet

By DENISE GRADY from NYT Health https://ift.tt/2Ek86hk

Kashmir conflict heats up as India, Pakistan claim to down each other's jets

Both countries have ordered air strikes over the last two days, the first time in history that two nuclear-armed powers have done so, while ground forces have exchanged fire in more than a dozen locations. Tensions have been running high since at least 40 Indian paramilitary police died in a Feb. 14 suicide car bombing by Pakistan-based militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir, but the risk of conflict rose dramatically on Tuesday when India launched an air strike on what it said was a militant training base. Pakistan says no one died.

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Top strategists split from Bernie Sanders for his 2020 White House run

Prominent consultants Tad Devine, Mark Longabaugh and Julian Mulvey, who played leading roles in Sanders' insurgent 2016 presidential campaign, said they would not work on the Vermont senator's 2020 bid for the Democratic nomination, which was launched last week. "We are leaving because we believe that Senator Sanders deserves to have media consultants who share his creative vision for the campaign," the three said in a joint statement. It also put together the video that Sanders used to launch his 2020 campaign, and advised Sanders on his announcement schedule and rollout, Longabaugh said.

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Why the Case against Cardinal George Pell Doesn’t Stand Up

With the lifting of the trial judge’s order banning coverage of the conviction of Cardinal George Pell this past December on charges of “historical sexual abuse,” the facts can finally be laid out for those willing to consider them. (Disclosure: Cardinal Pell and I are longtime friends.)Victoria police commenced an investigation one year before any complaints had been filed. During that investigation, the police took out newspaper ads seeking information about any untoward behavior with minors at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne —without any hint of such misbehavior having been received by the authorities.Once charges had been laid and Cardinal Pell had returned to Australia from his post at the Vatican, a committal hearing (to determine whether the charges were capable of being tried) was held. The committal-hearing judge threw out several charges but allowed others to go forward — even though she observed that she would not vote to convict on several charges, she thought they should be tried anyway.In Cardinal Pell’s first trial, held under the media-suppression order, the defense dismantled the prosecution’s case while shedding light on the inadequacy of the police investigative process; that trial resulted in a hung jury, which voted 10–2 for acquittal. The foreman and several other members of the jury were in tears when the verdict was read.During the retrial, the defense demonstrated that, in order to sustain the charge that Pell had accosted and sexually abused two choirboys after Mass one Sunday, ten improbable things would have had to have happened and all within ten minutes:• Archbishop Pell abandoned his decades-long practice of greeting congregants outside the cathedral after Mass.• Pell, who was typically accompanied by a master of ceremonies or sacristan when he was vested for Mass, entered the carefully controlled space of the vesting sacristy alone.• The master of ceremonies, charged with helping the archbishop disrobe while removing his own liturgical vestments, had disappeared.• The sacristan, charged with the care of the locked sacristy, had also disappeared.• The sacristan did not go back and forth between the sacristy and the cathedral sanctuary, removing missals and Mass vessels, as was his responsibility and consistent practice.• The altar servers, like the sacristan, simply disappeared, rather than helping the sacristan clear the sanctuary by bringing liturgical vessels and books back to the sacristy.• The priests who concelebrated the Mass with Pell were not in the sacristy disrobing after the ceremony.• At least 40 people did not notice that two choirboys left the post-Mass procession.• Two choirboys entered the sacristy, started gulping altar wine, and were accosted and abused by Archbishop Pell — while the sacristy door was open and the archbishop was in full liturgical vestments.• The abused choirboys then entered the choir room, through two locked doors, without anyone noticing, and participated in a post-Mass rehearsal; no one asked why they had been missing for ten minutes.Before the trial, one of the complainants died, having told his mother that he had never been assaulted. During the trial, there was no corroboration of the surviving complainant’s charges. Other choirboys (now, of course, grown), as well as the choir director and his assistant, the adult members of the choir, the master of ceremonies, and the sacristan all testified, and from their testimony we learn the following: that no one recalled any choirboys bolting from the procession after Mass; that none of those in the immediate vicinity of the alleged abuse noticed anything; that indeed nothing could have happened in a secured space without someone noticing; and that there was neither gossip nor rumor about any such dramatic and vile incident afterward.Notwithstanding this evidence of Cardinal Pell’s innocence (an innocence affirmed by ten of the twelve members of the first trial jury), the second trial jury returned a verdict of 12–0 for conviction. Observers at the trial told me that the trial judge seemed surprised on hearing the verdict. The verdict and the finding of the first, hung jury suggest that, in the media circus surrounding Pell, a fair jury trial was virtually impossible. That point was recently conceded by the attorney general of the State of Victoria, who suggested that the law might be amended to permit bench trials by a judge alone in such cases — an option not afforded George Pell. (Shortly before the media-suppression order was lifted on February 25, the Victoria prosecutors dropped two more charges against Cardinal Pell, of even greater dubiety and dating back some four decades.)Cardinal Pell’s lawyers will of course appeal. The appeal will be heard by a panel of senior judges, who can decide that what is called in Australia an “unsafe verdict” — one that the jury could not rationally have reached on the basis of the evidence — was rendered and that therefore Pell’s conviction is null and void. For Cardinal Pell’s sake, and for the reputation of the justice system in the state of Victoria, one must hope that the appellate judges will do the right thing.

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Nuclear Nightmare: India and Pakistan are on the Brink

Whatever happens next rests in the fates of political decisionmakers in India.

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Attacked and powerless, Venezuela soldiers choose desertion

CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) — The simple house on a street ridden with potholes in this town on Colombia's restive border with Venezuela has become a refuge for the newly homeless: 40 Venezuelan soldiers who abandoned their posts and ran for their lives.

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Why Do Some People Wish the Attack on Smollett Happened?

The reactions of many on the left to the case of Jussie Smollett prove two important things: 1. There is little racism in America. 2. The Left -- white and black -- is morally and psychologically impaired.There is no doubt that most Americans on the left, including black Americans, are distraught over the fact that Smollett faked the “racist” attack on him. Apparently leftists, Democratic leaders, and, most depressingly, many of his fellow blacks wish Smollett had been attacked by white racist homophobes.Representative Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.), a white leftist, tweeted, “I hope this was not something that Mr. Smollett did to himself, or created.”Washington Post columnist Jonathan Capehart told MSNBC there has been “an atmosphere of menace and hate” since Donald Trump was elected president, which made “people want to believe” Smollett’s story. Exactly. Capehart, a black leftist, wanted to believe that racists yelling “This is MAGA country” beat up blacks.Another black leftist who writes hate columns for the Washington Post, Nana Efua Mumford, wrote: “I wanted to believe Smollett. I really did.” Again, exactly. Mumford wanted to believe that racists yelling “This is MAGA country” beat up blacks.Corey Townsend, the social-media editor of The Root, a black-oriented website (founded in 2008 by Harvard black-studies scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr.), opened his column on his private doubts that Smollett was attacked as he claimed with the words, “I wanted to be wrong.” Three paragraphs later: “But still, I wanted to be wrong.”This should tell you a great deal about how morally and psychologically sick the Left is. And their reactions prove how little racism there really is in America.Here’s the proof of both these assertions: When American Jews, even most left-wing Jews, heard of the mass killing of Jews at a Pittsburgh synagogue, how many were hoping the shooter was truly an anti-Semite, and how many were hoping he was a mentally deranged individual who could have just as easily shot up a church? Or, if a well-known Jew had been beaten at 2 a.m. on a Chicago street, how many American Jews would have wanted the attackers to be Jew-haters, and how many would have wished they were just thugs who wanted money?As a Jew who has been deeply involved in Jewish culture all my life, I am pretty certain the majority of Jews -- certainly liberal and conservative Jews, and even most left-wing Jews -- would have wished that neither the Pittsburgh synagogue nor the theoretical attack on a Chicago street I conjured up were perpetrated by anti-Semites.Why is that? Why do almost all Jews wish attackers of Jews not be anti-Semites, but so many blacks and so many white leftists wish Smollett had been attacked by racists?Because Jews want to believe there is little anti-Semitism in America while most black leftists and most white leftists want to believe there is a lot of racism in America.And why is that? Because the Left and many American blacks are politically and personally dependent on one of the greatest mass libels in history -- namely, that America is a racist country. If just one one of five black Americans woke up tomorrow and announced, “You know, this a great country for anyone, including a black person, to live in, and the truth is the vast majority of white Americans bear no ill will toward blacks (or any other race or ethnicity),” that would end the Democrats’ chances of winning national elections. The Democratic party is dependent on nearly universal black acceptance of the leftist libel of America.And what about the personal? Why do so many black Americans, living in the freest country for all its citizens -- and in the least-racist multiracial, multiethnic country in history -- want to believe America is racist? That is one of the most important questions all Americans need to address at this time.And there is another one, which I posed in my column last week: Does the Left believe its own lies?

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All-New 2020 Toyota Corolla First-Drive Review

All-New 2020 Toyota Corolla Adds Sizzle, Still Sensible The redesigned 2020 Toyota Corolla sedan joins the Corolla hatchback (which we’ve already tested), and it is offered for the first time as...

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The Latest: Pompeo urges restraint in India, Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Latest on India-Pakistan tensions (all times local):

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Trump and Kim Jong Un might officially end the Korean War. Here's why that could matter.

After 66 years, a peace declaration at the Vietnam summit could lead to negotiations and more normal relations between the two Koreas and America.

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UK PM May proposes votes on no-deal exit and Brexit delay if her deal rejected: Telegraph

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Theresa May is proposing that parliament votes on whether to leave the European Union without a deal or delay Brexit if her exit deal fails to win parliamentary approval, a Daily Telegraph reporter said on Twitter. "The PM (Prime Minister) has said there will be a three line whip on an amendable motion tomorrow that will commit to two votes on March 12th in the event that her deal fails," Telegraph reporter Steven Swinford wrote, citing details of an ongoing cabinet meeting. ...

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Mother and adult daughter charged with killing 5 relatives

MORRISVILLE, Pa. (AP) — A mother and her adult daughter killed five of their close relatives, including three children, and were found "disoriented" after child welfare authorities arrived for a surprise visit to their trashed apartment outside Philadelphia, police and prosecutors said Tuesday.

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Univision team deported from Venezuela after Maduro interview

The six-person team was held for more than two hours and had their equipment confiscated, Ramos told reporters on Monday evening after arriving back at his Caracas hotel which was surrounded by intelligence agents. Ramos and his team left the hotel on Tuesday morning guarded by personnel from the U.S. and Mexican embassies while intelligence agents escorted them to Caracas' Maiquetia airport. "They didn't give us a reason" for the deportation, Ramos told reporters as he arrived at the terminal.

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Southwest Airlines wing scrapes runway during aborted landing in Hartford

A Southwest flight from Orlando to Hartford, Connecticut, ended up diverting to Rhode Island after trying to land three times in high winds.

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Trump-Kim summit: North Korea leader arrives in Vietnam to red carpet reception ahead of talks

Kim Jong-un has rolled into Hanoi in an armoured limousine ahead of talks with Donald Trump in the Vietnamese capital. The North Korean leader had earlier received a red-carpet reception amid tight security following a 65-hour, 2,500-mile journey from Pyongyang in a bulletproof train. After disembarking at Dong Dang rail station, close to Vietnam’s border with China, he walked past a guard of honour before climbing into his personal Mercedes limousine on Tuesday morning.

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Las principales noticias del jueves

By Por ELDA CANTÚ from NYT Universal https://ift.tt/2BW5Hsq

A Sports Hijab Has France Debating the Muslim Veil, Again

By ELIAN PELTIER and AURELIEN BREEDEN from NYT World https://ift.tt/2H7rG36

Huawei’s Cutest Fans in China? A Troupe of Dancing Children

By RAYMOND ZHONG from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2XuNo7c

The Cutest Animal on Instagram Is Possibly in Your Trash Can

By GRAY CHAPMAN from NYT Style https://ift.tt/2TilY57

Central Park Detective Retires With the Horse He Rode in On

By COREY KILGANNON from NYT New York https://ift.tt/2H6efAz

Word + Quiz: skein

By THE LEARNING NETWORK from NYT The Learning Network https://ift.tt/2tJV87i

A New Editor, and a New Take on Brexit, for a Brawny London Tabloid

By MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2UdgaqC

Michael Cohen, Kim Jong-un, Kashmir: Your Thursday Briefing

By PENN BULLOCK and MELINA DELKIC from NYT Briefing https://ift.tt/2UegBB6

What’s on TV Thursday: ‘Better Things’ and ‘The Guilty’

By GABE COHN from NYT Arts https://ift.tt/2EmarZ1

Beal, Wizards Roll to 125-116 Victory Over Nets

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2Udak8G

Trudeau’s Ex-Attorney General: ‘Veiled Threats’ Were Made to Drop Case

By IAN AUSTEN from NYT World https://ift.tt/2IHuDKp

Patient Shoots Doctor at Florida Veterans Affairs Hospital, Officials Say

By JULIA JACOBS and MATT STEVENS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2EEhde9

On Politics: Michael Cohen Testifies

By Unknown Author from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2XroCEN

Cohen’s Testimony Is a Test for Both Parties in the Year Ahead

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2TkjCCB

White Man Who Shot Black Men After Hurricane Katrina Dies Days After Sentencing

By MATT STEVENS from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2IQ7upc

Quotation of the Day: Confessed Liar Meets With Ardent Partisans to Set the Record Straight

By Unknown Author from NYT Today’s Paper https://ift.tt/2Tg1ry9

Tampa Bay and Calgary Keep Streaks Alive by Beating Rangers and Devils

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2tGgTFh

Warriors Host Survivors of the Parkland School Shooting

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2IFx3ZG

Corrections: February 28, 2019

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Blue Jays

By DEB AMLEN from NYT Crosswords & Games https://ift.tt/2EAoHOX

FOX NEWS: Groom choke-slams bride's 'ex-boyfriend' through a table at wedding reception

Groom choke-slams bride's 'ex-boyfriend' through a table at wedding reception



Where was the referee?!

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FOX NEWS: Florida fishermen reel in massive great white shark in rare catch: ‘I’m speechless’

Florida fishermen reel in massive great white shark in rare catch: ‘I’m speechless’



A roughly 10-foot, 700-pound great white shark was reeled to shore by fishermen in Navarre Beach, Fla., this week.

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FOX NEWS: Washington officials confirm case of crippling, highly infectious elk hoof disease in Blue Mountains

Washington officials confirm case of crippling, highly infectious elk hoof disease in Blue Mountains



At least one elk in Washington’s Blue Mountains has been confirmed to have a crippling and deforming condition known as elk hoof disease, state wildlife officials announced this week.

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FOX NEWS: Man roasted on Twitter for 'horrifying' tips on 'how to be a beautiful woman'

Man roasted on Twitter for 'horrifying' tips on 'how to be a beautiful woman'



“Remember, only a man can tell a woman how to act. You can use this list to vet women. If you show them this list and they become angry, that lets you know that they are harpies that you never want to breed with and that they would be terrible mothers."

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FOX NEWS: Police officer crowned Miss Germany 2019

Police officer crowned Miss Germany 2019



The beauty in blue has announced that she hopes to take a year off from the police force to fulfill her new pageant queen duties.

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FOX NEWS: South Carolina man's $540 Girl Scout cookie order on cold day shocks kids: 'I'm taking them all'

South Carolina man's $540 Girl Scout cookie order on cold day shocks kids: 'I'm taking them all'



A group of Girl Scouts selling cookies outside of a store in Greenville, South Carolina on Friday was pleasantly surprised when a man gave them $40 for seven boxes and told them to keep the change. But then he returned to their table with another jaw-dropping offer.

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FOX NEWS: Woman claims Tinder banned her over hunting photos, calls out ‘double standard’

Woman claims Tinder banned her over hunting photos, calls out ‘double standard’



One hunter seems to be swiping out on finding love.

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