Red Sox are World Series bound
That didn't make my front page for the game finished far too late.
My lead feature/top story was, once again, this:
Analysis Warren’s DNA test was a long-term strategy based on 2020 politics
You’d think her widely presumed 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign was basically over before she even launched it, but those who are writing off Warren’s gambit might keep this in mind: Her aim this week was not to show she had any claim to join a tribe. Her plan is to take out the trash, or, for the Monty Python fans, “bring out your dead.”
And by doing that she became the butt of jokes and killed her prospects.
I know the Globe has to tell themselves and their readers this to reassure them and continue to push the narrative, but c'mon.
A Globe review earlier this year showed that she never gained an advantage in her academic career based on those claims. Yet a DNA test proving distant ancestry hardly supports Warren calling herself Native American in any context, observers say. That downside to the test might be worth the price of being transparent, as Warren now claims. Making nuanced arguments isn’t easy against the likes of President Trump, who relishes labeling his opponents, but Warren’s strategy was as much about the expected 2020 bid as it was about her 2018 reelection campaign.
The flogging of the story all week is sad and delusional. That is the long and short of it.
Related: Baker walks fine line on new GOP
It's the above the fold companion piece, and purely political.
[flip to below fold]
The cheese fell off the crust during delivery, and the last slice is a terrible thing to waste.
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Trump threatens Mexico over migrant caravan
My printed copy was a WaComPo piece, and I can't believe they think this issue will help them at the polls. All it does is fire up the Republican base.
So what else you got?
"Democrats: Trump intervened personally to stop FBI move" by Matthew Barakat Associated Press October 19, 2018
FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Administration e-mails show that President Trump intervened personally to keep FBI headquarters in downtown Washington rather than relocate it to the suburbs as had long been planned, congressional Democrats said Thursday.
The letter from Democratic lawmakers on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform says Trump’s direct involvement presents a brazen conflict of interest. Trump owns a downtown hotel across the street from FBI headquarters that could face competition if the FBI’s current location is opened to private redevelopment, which could include another hotel. Before running for office, Trump expressed interest in redeveloping the property himself.
Trump ‘‘was directly involved with the decision to abandon the long-term relocation plan and instead move ahead with the more expensive proposal to construct a new building on the same site, and thereby prevent Trump Hotel competitors from acquiring the land,’’ wrote Democratic Representatives Elijah Cummings of Maryland, Gerry Connolly of Virginia, Dina Titus of Nevada, Peter DeFazio of Oregon, and Mike Quigley of Illinois.
Thursday’s letter cites correspondence from a senior official at the General Services Administration, which manages real estate for the federal government, outlining a January 2018 Oval Office meeting and describing the headquarters decision as ‘‘what POTUS directed everyone to do.’’ Another e-mail describes steps that will be ‘‘necessary to deliver the project the president wants on the timetable he wants it done.’’
The GSA responded in a written statement, saying that ‘‘suggestions that those e-mails indicate presidential involvement in the location decision are inaccurate. As previously testified by GSA and the FBI, the leadership team at the FBI made the decision to keep its headquarters at the current Pennsylvania Avenue location.....’’
The Democrats certainly believe in the FBI, right?
Have they not called for an investigation?
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That's all you got, huh?
Ole Miss donor’s name being removed after racist comment
Justice Department investigates Catholic Church in Pennsylvania
New Jersey judge explains ‘close your legs’ comment
At this point I would segment another section for the page A3 world stories; however, when I got there the cupboard was bare.
In North Carolina, hurricanes convince some Republicans that climate change is real
Until the snow starts falling, anyway:
El Nino may mean stormy conditions in the South and Eastern US this winter
Boston’s bill is coming due, and maybe you shouldn't build that tower.
You can forget fishing off the pier, too.
Dianne Feinstein says she would favor reopening Kavanaugh investigation next year
Do they want not want to win the majority?
"Since minority leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, announced her intent to run for speaker of the House should Democrats retake the majority in 2019, dozens of candidates have come out against the first woman to hold that office. Democratic opposition to Pelosi has ranged from intending to vote against her to saying that the party needs new leadership to saying they will look at all of the candidates running for speaker once they are in office....."
And yet I was just told Nancy Pelosi barnstorming through Massachusetts to tout Democrats’ chances is going to help.
Trump praises Montana congressman who body-slammed reporter
The fisticuffs turned into a wrestling match, and he is lucky he didn't disappear like Khashoggi.
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"Trump says he believes Khashoggi is dead, citing intelligence reports" by Maggie Haberman, Mark Landler, Michael S. Schmidt and Eric Schmitt New York Times October 19, 2018
WASHINGTON — President Trump stopped short on Thursday of saying the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was responsible for Khashoggi’s death, but the killing raised hard questions about the US alliance with Saudi Arabia and had ignited one of the most serious foreign policy crises of his presidency.
“This one has caught the imagination of the world, unfortunately,” Trump said in a brief interview with The New York Times in the Oval Office.
Yeah, if only they could have butchered him in secret. It would be a missing persons case then and no trouble for Trump.
The shift in the president’s tone came shortly after a briefing by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and it signaled that after trying to defend the Saudi rulers, Trump was coming to terms with the far-reaching implications of the Khashoggi case and the likelihood that his closest ally in the Arab world was guilty of the grisly killing of a Saudi-born columnist for The Washington Post, but it is not at all clear what Trump has in mind, given the central role that Saudi Arabia plays in the president’s strategy for the Middle East and the web of ties that have developed between the prince and the White House, particularly with Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner.
In conversations with allies, the president has begun to distance himself from Crown Prince Mohammed, 33, saying he barely knows him, and he has played down the relationship that Kushner has cultivated with the Saudi heir.
Trump also signed off on a decision by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to pull out of an investor conference in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, convened by the crown prince — the highest-level American cancellation from a conference meant to showcase the Saudi kingdom’s progressive future.
Related:
"State Street Corp. president Ron O’Hanley has pulled out of the Saudi business conference known as the Future Investment Initiative that begins on Oct. 23. A State Street spokesman confirmed the decision on Thursday, not long after US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin also decided to bail, arguably the most high-profile withdrawal from the conference in Riyadh. A number of financial executives have exited amid questions about the disappearance and alleged murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi; Turkish officials blame the columnist’s death on a Saudi security team. O’Hanley was among several prominent Boston-area executives who had been scheduled to speak. Bain Capital co-chairman Steve Pagliuca was also on the list, but decided not to go a few days ago."
Pompeo said on Thursday that the United States would give the Saudis a few more days to conduct their investigation.
Intelligence reports have drawn direct links between the Saudi operatives who traveled to Istanbul and the Saudi royal court. US intelligence agencies, however, are divided on the degree of responsibility that can be pinned on the crown prince.....
It looks like no more blank checks for Saudi Arabia, and I can't help but wonder why (regime change?).
--more--"
Yeah, something is up.
Related(?):
Turkish restaurant set on fire in German city of Chemnitz
Former Chinese internment camp detainee denied US visa
Maybe Mattis can get to the bottom of it.
US commander survives deadly attack that reportedly kills top Afghan police general
All that peace talk sure faded fast in my war pre$$ -- which is why I never take it seriously anymore.
"Data wiped from Crimea killer’s computer" AP October 19, 2018
MOSCOW — An official in Crimea said all information had been deleted from the computer of the teenager who killed 19 people at his vocational school.
Russian state news agency Tass quoted Crimea’s human rights ombudswoman as saying a computer was among the items investigators took from the residence where 18-year-old Vladislav Roslyakov lived with his parents. Teachers and classmates have described the attacker as a shy person with few friends.
The missing data could frustrate investigators trying to determine why Roslyakov opened fire at the school in the city of Kerch on Wednesday before killing himself. The computer’s wiping could also impede efforts to determine if he had an accomplice in planning the attack.
Gee, who would want to cover up that?
Sergei Aksyonov, the Kremlin-appointed head of Crimea, told Russian news agencies on Thursday that it’s possible that there was an accomplice.
‘‘The point is to find out who was coaching him for this crime,’’ he said. ‘‘He was acting on his own here, we know that. But this scoundrel could not have prepared this attack on his own, in my opinion, and according to my colleagues.’’
Thus I stand by what I claimed yesterday, and the Russians seem to know it, too.
So who was his CIA handler?
The Kerch attack was by far the deadliest by a student in Russia, raising questions about school security. The vocational school had only a front desk with no security guards. Russia’s National Guard said Thursday that it has now deployed officers and riot police to all schools and colleges in Kerch.....
--more--"
At least they got all the girls out.
UK’s May says Brexit transition period could grow, draws ire
Wasn't she just in that part of the world?
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Boston officer’s lawsuit targets online gun marketplace
High school students get the hottest ticket in town
Look who else was in the crowd:
Dorchester charter school overpaid leader nearly $100,000
Trustees at the Helen Y. Davis Leadership Academy charter school in Dorchester lavished its former executive director with hefty pay increases and other perks, including an overpayment of nearly $100,000 as she departed for retirement, the state Inspector General’s Office announced Thursday.
Between 2011 and 2017, trustees more than doubled Karmala Sherwood’s base salary and gave her no-cost health insurance, a benefit that no other employee received at the middle school, which serves 200 students.
In her final year on the job in 2017, Sherwood walked away with $380,000 in salary, benefits, and payouts, representing 11.3 percent of the school’s budget, the investigation found, noting that she continues to work for the school as an $80,000-a-year consultant.
What do you think she should get for punishment?
State will consider allowing pot delivery
What is POT, and is that why he died?
‘Somebody’s gotta win, so you never know’
I keep forgetting to play, so I guess you will have to “Count Me Out.”
‘John Doe’ drops civil case against Bryon Hefner and Stanley Rosenberg
Child abducted from Mass. found in Florida
"Tucked between two other headline-making initiatives, a little-hyped question on the Nov. 6 ballot is asking people to take a step — albeit a noncommittal one — toward overturning the controversial Citizens United court decision. Known as Question 2, the initiative would create a 15-person commission that would be tasked with considering and recommending an amendment to the US Constitution to void the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. While a “yes” vote would establish the panel, it would not guarantee any amendment actually comes to fruition. The commission would produce a report, which then would be sent to the state Legislature, Congress, and the White House — none of which are required to take action, but its seemingly innocuous goal is stoking pushback. The question, to date, has been overshadowed by the debate surrounding two other ballot initiatives: Question 1, a measure that seeks to regulate nurse staffing in hospitals, and Question 3, which asks voters whether Massachusetts should keep the state’s transgender antidiscrimination law......"
The volunteer group is going to “try to repair this democracy.”
So how much tax loot will they be taking down?
I know I may be stuck in the Dark Ages, but I'm voting Yes on 1 (the money is out there, sorry) and No on 3.
My print copy didn't hear the ruckus on the Common.
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US persuades Iraq to quash Siemens deal in favor of GE
Were I running the paper, that would be the A1 LEAD, not buried at the bottom of page B5
The issue involved imports of natural gas from Iran, and the administration has made it clear to Iraqi officials that some could face sanctions if it doesn’t come to terms with the United States. In fact, a Garrett Marquis, some National Security Council spokesman, said ‘‘it’s part of our overall effort to evict the Iranians.’’
Looks like we are NEVER LEAVING IRAQ, either!
Facebook takes aim at fake news
Then they had to apologize for showing baby product ads to woman whose child was stillborn.
Must be a chaotic "War Room" over there.
"A Maine college student says a Dunkin’ Donuts worker refused her family service for speaking Somali and called the police. Twenty-year-old Hamdia Ahmed told The Portland Press Herald the incident happened Monday when she and her family visited a Dunkin’ Donuts location in Portland. Ahmed says she and her family were waiting in the drive-through and speaking Somali to each other when a worker told them to ‘‘stop yelling,’’ and said they must leave and she was calling police. Ahmed says an officer arrived and issued her a no-trespass order for causing a ‘‘disturbance.’’ She says the owner of the store apologized and a corporate Dunkin’ Donuts representative also apologized."
What about the recent airstrike, Globe?
"Invesco, the fourth-largest manager of ETFs, is among firms pushing to get bigger amid growing pressure to reduce fees and gain economies of scale. The deal would increase the Atlanta-based company’s assets under management to more than $1.2 trillion while adding high-fee actively managed funds to the mix. In April, Invesco closed a $1.2 billion acquisition of ETFs from Guggenheim Partners. OppenheimerFunds manages more than $246 billion in assets....."
I gue$$ they are "too big to jail," as someone once said.
"Stocks slumped again Thursday as investors continued to sell. Stocks have skidded over the last two weeks, and there are signs investors are worried about future economic growth....."
Yeah, nothing to $ee there.
I pity you readers who wasted your time here today.
