Light News Dump

Gunman opens fire in deadly attack at German synagogue
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-shooting-synagogue-attack-latest-halle-today-shooter-death-toll-grenade-a9148791.html

Trump defends US diplomat's wife who killed teenage Briton in crash: 'We've all done it'
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-harry-dunn-anne-sacoolas-car-crash-us-diplomat-uk-a9149746.html

Hillary Clinton asked in September of 2016 how money from Istanbul flowing through the Trump property would affect his foreign policy decision making regarding Turkey.
https://twitter.com/HillaryClinton/status/776097265270292480

Trump defends abandoning the Kurds by saying they didn't help the US in WWII
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-abandoning-kurds-syria-didnt-help-during-wwii-allies-2019-10

Trump calls Turkey's military offensive in Syria 'a bad idea' after allowing invasion
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-syria-turkey-isis-kurdish-forces-war-latest-a9149571.html

It's the disaster in the Bahamas no one seems to be talking about - a massive oil spill caused by Hurricane Dorian. We saw aerials of the Equinor facility, but were not sure how close we could get. With the help of a local guide, we landed and made it into the spill zone. Part 1:
https://twitter.com/BrianEntin/status/1181911986910765056

Hurricane Dorian Spilled More Than a Million Gallons of Oil in the Bahamas
https://earther.gizmodo.com/hurricane-dorian-spilled-than-a-million-gallons-of-oil-1838844023

Trump says he won't pay $500K for MN rally. He still owes DC $9M.
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/dc/president-trump-wont-pay-for-minneapolis-rally-still-owes-dc-9million/65-012b6e66-8942-44fb-b4a1-6229b69afe18

Turkey’s Erdogan announces start of military offensive in northern Syria after Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. troops
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/with-turkish-offensive-looming-syrian-kurds-mobilize-civilian-defense/2019/10/09/4efca794-ea02-11e9-a329-7378fbfa1b63_story.html

Turkey Begins Syria Incursion, Targeting Militia Backed by U.S.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/world/middleeast/syria-turkey-kurds.html

Facebook Refuses To Pull Trump Campaign Ad That Falsely Accuses Biden Of Corruption
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/facebook-trump-campaign-biden-ad_n_5d9d7f76e4b02c9da040f73b

It's worth stating plainly what happened with the Elizabeth Warren pregnancy discrimination smear: writers at the Sanders-supporting outlet Jacobin invented a sexist attack on Warren that then got picked up by the far-right Free Beacon. Now its a national story.
https://twitter.com/moiradonegan/status/1181604170811527179?s=21

Satellite images reveal China is destroying Muslim graveyards where generations of Uighur families are buried and replaces them with car parks and playgrounds 'to eradicate the ethnic group's identity'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7553127/Even-death-Uighurs-feel-long-reach-Chinese-state.html

Muslim women in Chinese prison camps are being subjected to systematic rape, sterilisation and forced abortions, survivors have claimed
https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/08/inside-chinas-re-education-camps-women-raped-sterilised-10879874/

Rays' relay even more amazing under dissection. Essentially the ball was batted to the outfield in 5 seconds and returned by throws in 5.4 seconds.
https://www.mlb.com/news/rays-relay-gets-jose-altuve-at-plate
https://bdata-producedclips.mlb.com/b773813f-b950-42d3-beb0-83e07468062a.mp4

More women have come forward in a new book to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-accused-of-two-dozen-more-instances-of-sexual-misconduct-2019-10

Will the 26 New Sexual Allegations Against Trump Be Ignored Like the Rest?
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/ywaq9v/will-the-26-new-sexual-allegations-against-trump-be-ignored-like-the-rest

American diplomats who had pushed for the Trump administration to restore security funding to Ukraine were advised by the White House to play down the release of the money when it was finally approved, documents show. | A series of previously unreported internal State Department emails reflect diplomats’ frustration with the unexpected freeze on funding that Congress had already approved.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/world/europe/ukraine-trump.html

Pentagon official tells @CBSDavidMartin “it’s not been a good day in the fight against ISIS.” SDF has "effectively paused" operations against ISIS while it deals with Turkey's military incursion
2 replies 18 retweets 22 likes
https://twitter.com/CBSWalsh/status/1182034510059393028

1/WHISTLEBLOWER NEWS ALERT THREAD ON ALLEGED "BIAS":
In light of the ongoing efforts to mischaracterize whistleblower #1's alleged "bias" in order to detract from the substance of the complaint, we will attempt to clarify some facts.
https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1182041269360566272

2/First, our client has never worked for or advised a political candidate, campaign, or party.
https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1182041333361512448

3/Second, our client has spent their entire government career in apolitical, civil servant positions in the Executive Branch.
https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1182041565096755202

4/Third, in these positions our client has come into contact with presidential candidates from both parties in their roles as elected officials—not as candidates.
https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1182041635087142913

5/Fourth, the whistleblower voluntarily provided relevant career information to the IC IG in order to facilitate an assessment of the credibility of the complaint.
https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1182041693480198145

6/Fifth, as a result, the IC IG concluded—as is well known—that the complaint was both urgent and credible.
https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1182041930663890946

END/Finally, the whistleblower is not the story. To date, virtually every substantive allegation has been confirmed by other sources. For that reason the identity of the whistleblower is irrelevant.
https://twitter.com/MarkSZaidEsq/status/1182041981154803712


Trump to Chinese president in June: During a private phone call in June, Trump promised Chinese President Xi Jinping that the US would remain quiet on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong while trade talks continued.
https://twitter.com/Carrasquillo/status/1182046070743977985
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/04/politics/trump-xi-hong-kong-protests/index.html

“The remarkable pledge to the Chinese leader is a dramatic departure from decades of US support for human rights in China and shows just how eager Trump is to strike a deal with Beijing as the trade war weighs on the US economy.”
https://twitter.com/Carrasquillo/status/1182046389494276096

Sen Lindsey Graham R-SC says he will call Kurt Volker to testify publicly, if House Democrats won't release his deposition from last week. Graham has also said he wants Rudy Giuliani to testify in public.
https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/status/1182012005605167106

This is itself witness tampering. They want sondland to testify w/o Volker testimony being public so they can cross check their statements. The transcript will then be released surely.
https://twitter.com/kbb_wagne/status/1182041959780818944

Trump appoints Kirstjen Nielsen of Virginia to be a member of the "National Infrastructure Advisory Council."

Extraordinary events in California today as PG&E shuts down power for millions of people, possibly for days, in hopes of preventing their equipment from starting more deadly wildfires due to high winds. | Millions of Californians could spend days without power as the state’s largest utility continues shutting off electricity in a desperate attempt to avoid wildfires sparked by windblown power lines. | The move by PG&E marks the largest power shutdown to date as California utilities attempt to reduce wildfire risks amid strong winds. Equipment malfunctions have been tied to some of the state’s most destructive and deadly fires, including last year’s Camp fire, which devastated the town of Paradise, killing 85 people, and the 2017 wine country blazes.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-10-09/pg-e-cuts-power-across-northern-california-as-winds-bring-critical-fire-danger
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-pge-paradise-fire-20190228-story.html

Trump pressed then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to help persuade the Justice Department to drop a criminal case against an Iranian-Turkish gold trader who was a client of Rudy Giuliani, according to three people familiar with the 2017 meeting in the Oval Office. Tillerson refused, arguing it would constitute interference in an ongoing investigation of the trader, Reza Zarrab, according to the people. They said other participants in the Oval Office were shocked by the request. Tillerson immediately repeated his objections to then-Chief of Staff John Kelly in a hallway conversation just outside the Oval Office, emphasizing that the request would be illegal. Neither episode has been previously reported, and all of the people spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the conversations.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-09/trump-urged-top-aide-to-help-giuliani-client-facing-doj-charges

Trump rule aims to ease restrictions on mineral mining companies
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/465084-proposed-interior-rule-would-make-it-easy-for-mineral-mining

Nestlé, Tim Hortons named Canada's top plastic polluters again
https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/greenpeace-plastic-brand-audit-1.5314739

Turkey Launches Offensive Against U.S.-Backed Syrian Militia
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/world/middleeast/turkey-attacks-syria.html

Pentagon Analyst Is Charged in Leaks of Classified Reports | The arrest was the latest in the Trump administration’s aggressive pursuit of government workers who share classified information with journalists.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/us/politics/kyle-frese-classified-leaks.html

______________________________

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/10/halle-shootings/599710/

A Synagogue Attack on the Holiest Day of the Year

Whatever the motives behind the shooting in Germany, two lessons are already apparent.

12:30 PM ET

Yascha Mounk

This morning, the small Jewish community in the city of Halle, in eastern Germany, assembled for the holiest day of the Jewish year: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. While 70 people were following the services, two armed men drove up outside the synagogue with firearms.

Judging from the information available so far, it seems the armed men tried to enter the synagogue with the intention of killing as many members of the congregation as possible. Thankfully, the policemen and security guards posted outside the temple's gates managed to repel them. At least two people were killed and another two severely injured in the brutal attack, but under the circumstances, that might count as a particularly bitter instance of what Germans call Glück im Unglück: a small mercy amid horror.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/09/world/europe/germany-shooting-halle-synagogue.html

Although the police arrested a suspect—according to early reports, a white German—it is as yet unknown what the attackers' motivations were. But since the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germany has had a highly active, and frequently violent, neo-Nazi scene. From 2000 to 2007, an especially deadly terrorist cell called the National Socialist Underground (NSU) killed several immigrants and a policewoman before being apprehended. A few months ago, a conservative politician was murdered by a far-right assassin as a kind of revenge for the politician's role in helping refugees settle in the country.

Whatever the motives, two lessons are already apparent. First, Germany needs to act more decisively to counter terrorists of all political and religious persuasions. The country's law-enforcement apparatus has failed to deal with violent neo-Nazi cells like the NSU; for example, it initially did not connect the xenophobic murders committed by its members, because it assumed that they must have been carried out by disparate criminal gangs.

The police's resolve to punish Islamist attacks has also been less than firm. Just a couple of days before the attacks in Halle, a knife-wielding assailant attempted to enter a historic synagogue in Berlin while muttering, "Allahu Akbar." Although police detained him, he was set free a few hours later.

Compared with previous decades, Germany faces an elevated threat to its civilian population, and especially to religious and ethnic minorities in the country. When law-enforcement agencies react in a complacent manner, they embolden would-be attackers—and enable the intimidation of vulnerable groups.

A second lesson is even more melancholy because it concerns a problem even more difficult to remedy: Even if Germany does crack down on political terror, Jews—and other minorities in the country—may remain in need of constant protection for decades to come.

When I was growing up in Germany, I had to pass a police cordon on the rare occasions when I visited a synagogue. Feeling awkward about having to convince a bunch of policemen that I was Jewish in order to enter, I sometimes responded to their polite requests to see my passport with teenage sarcasm: "I'm afraid it no longer has a J stamped in it."

I now feel a little embarrassed about my past surliness. The policemen were there to protect me. Some of their colleagues in Halle helped to save dozens of Jewish lives today. But though my feeling toward them is one of gratitude, I am all the more angry at the circumstances that make their presence necessary. How can it be that, more than 70 years after the Holocaust, every Jewish school, synagogue, and community center in the country still requires police protection?

I once hoped that Jewish life in Germany might come to look more like that in the United States: a natural component of a diverse country. But as Americans prepare to mark the one-year anniversary of the even deadlier attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, I worry that Jewish life in the United States may come to resemble that in Germany. Having to make your way past heavy security to engage in worship, a formative experience for generations of German Jews, is now common in the United States.

We want to hear what you think about this article. Submit a letter to the editor or write to letters@theatlantic.com.

Yascha Mounk is a contributing writer at The Atlantic, an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University, and a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund. He is the author of The People vs. Democracy: Why Our Freedom Is in Danger and How to Save It.