Новости за 19.01.2018

Investigators still do not know why Stephen Paddock shot and killed 58 people during an outdoor music festival in Las Vegas last October, CBS News reports. In a press conference Friday, authorities conceded that three months of investigation had not yielded any findings on Paddock's motivations, though Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo did emphasize that Paddock acted alone and that his girlfriend — who was at one point suspected of helping him — would not be charged with any crime.

The Justice Department said Friday that it intends to retry Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) after his corruption trial ended in a mistrial in November. Menendez, 63, was accused of taking luxury gifts, trips, and campaign donations from his friend and donor, Florida eye doctor Salomon Melgen, in exchange for government favors. One juror afterwards told reporters that the deadlock was 10-2 in favor of acquittal, Politico writes.

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Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has responded to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) dismissively referring to him as "sort of the Steve King of the Senate," a reference to one of the House's most outspoken immigration hardliners.

President Trump and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) met in a rare private meeting Friday afternoon in a last-ditch attempt to negotiate a budget ahead of the looming midnight deadline. Aides said that Republican congressional leaders were not in attendance.

The Supreme Court confirmed Friday that it will consider the legality of President Trump's travel ban, which restricts travel to the United States from Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad, and North Korea, and for certain government officials from Venezuela, The New York Times reports.

Compared to a pet rock, a marimo moss ball ($14 for six) might strike you as a lively companion. Each small green orb is made of living algae that grows in a sphere, and when cared for, it will grow larger ever so slowly and can live 100 years. Though marimo, or "ball seaweed," grows in lakes throughout the Northern Hemisphere, the Japanese led the way in bringing the balls home and nurturing them. Legend has it that the first marimo balls were the hearts of two star-crossed lovers, and every... Читать дальше...

James Comey has a new job.

CNN reported Friday that the former FBI director has accepted a professorial gig at William & Mary College, where he will teach a class on ethical leadership. The class starts this fall and will also be offered in the spring and summer semesters of 2019.

Comey was abruptly fired by President Trump last May while overseeing the FBI's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. In a statement about the upcoming class directed at no one in particular... Читать дальше...

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West welcomed their third child earlier this week, and on Friday the baby girl's name was at last officially made public:

Forget surreptitious jaunts to Manhattan's Trump Tower — if you want to meet Donald Trump Jr., consider investing in Indian real estate.

Forget surreptitious jaunts to Manhattan's Trump Tower — if you want to meet Donald Trump Jr., consider investing in Indian real estate.

Olympic gold medalists and former teammates Aly Raisman and Jordyn Wieber issued powerful impact statements in court Friday at the sentencing of former Team USA gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar. In total, Nassar, 54, is accused of having sexually abused more than 130 of his patients during medical exams between 1998 and 2015. He was sentenced in December to 60 years in prison for child pornography crimes, one of his three criminal cases.

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Concerns over an injury to Tom Brady's throwing hand are apparently very, very real. After the New England Patriots quarterback missed practice on Wednesday and Thursday, the betting line for Sunday's AFC championship game against the underdog Jacksonville Jaguars dropped from favoring the defending Super Bowl champs by as much as 10 points against the Jags to about 7.5, Covers writes.

Former Apprentice villain Omarosa Manigault Newman is rumored to have a penchant for recording confidential discussions and may be a person of interest in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation as a result, the New York Daily News reports.

Don't expect President Trump to take a swim in the ocean anytime soon.

Almost a year to the day after the inaugural Women's March protest, Democratic women are on pace to make record-breaking contributions to midterm races, Bloomberg Politics reports. Democratic female candidates are especially benefiting from the surge, receiving 44.2 percent of their contributions from other women on average in the first three quarters of 2017, the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington found, while a record-breaking 266 Democratic women so far have said they have raised money for House races in 2018. Читать дальше...

The federal government is on the verge of a partial shutdown for the first time since 2013, and Democrats and Republicans have been trying to set the other party up to take the blame all week. The 850,000 federal workers who would be furloughed without pay might be wondering what they'll do without a paycheck, but in Congress and the White House the question that remains is the one posed by The Washington Post: "Who will win in the court of public opinion?"

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U.S. stock futures gained early Friday, despite the threat of a federal government shutdown. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.4 percent, while those for the S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent. Nasdaq-100 futures were up by 0.5 percent. The three major U.S. equity indexes fell back from record highs on Thursday. The House on Thursday passed a stopgap spending measure to keep government agencies funded through Feb. 16. Senate Democrats are threatening to block it, however, as a midnight deadline looms. Читать дальше...

Canadian immigrant Mark Steyn expressed concern over the future of American society while defending white supremacists during a bizarre and alarming segment on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show Thursday night.

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House Republicans on Thursday pushed through a stopgap spending bill aimed to avert a government shutdown, but Democrats said they had enough votes to block the measure in the Senate. The current spending resolution runs out at midnight Friday. The new resolution would keep government agencies funded through Feb. 16. It would extend the popular Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for six years and delay several taxes in the Affordable Care Act, but does not include new protections... Читать дальше...

If Congress doesn't pass a spending bill by midnight Friday, the federal government will start shutting down Saturday, with most of the impact starting Monday. About 850,000 federal workers would be sent home without pay, or furloughed, though employees deemed "essential" would stay on the job without pay (in the last shutdown, Congress paid all federal employees retroactively). A shutdown wouldn't be pretty, especially if if lasted for more than a few days, and it would cost the government in ways big and small. Читать дальше...

The annual anti-abortion March for Life in Washington, D.C., is both inspiring and depressing.

The bitcoin boom may be over. And the death of the cryptocurrency craze may well come at the hands of government regulators.

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