AOC says Democratic Party's digital operations are "extraordinarily weak"

Axios NOV 8,2020


VIDEO

https://www.axios.com/aoc-democrats-digital-operation-bbb7fc6f-b370-478a-8984-900455437f49.html

Progressive member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) said Sunday that parts of the official Democratic Party campaign apparatus are "extraordinarily weak" and that the left was not to blame for defeats in the House.

Driving the news: After Democrats lost several key house races in divided districts, moderates were furious and pointing fingers at the progressive wing of the party. Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), who is narrowly leading her Republican challenger, vented on a caucus call that Democrats should never "use the words socialist or socialism ever again."

What she's saying: "If you look at some of these some of the arguments that are being advanced, that 'defund the police hurt' or that arguments about socialism hurt, not a single member of Congress that I'm aware of campaigned on socialism or defunding the police in this general election," Ocasio-Cortez told CNN's "State of the Union."

"I believe that there are many areas that we can point at in centralized democratic operations that are extraordinarily weak. For example, our digital campaigning is very weak. This is an area where Republicans are actually quite strong."

"I believe that many Republicans were very effective at digital organizing strategy as well, whereas the Democratic Party is still campaigning largely as though it's 2005. And I know a lot of us don't want to hear this, but 2005 was 15 years ago. So we can do better."

Ocasio-Cortez told the New York Times earlier this week she tried to help swing district Democrats.

"And every single one of them, but five, refused my help. And all five of the vulnerable or swing district people that I helped secured victory or are on a path to secure victory."

GOP & WALL ST DEMS RED BAIT

AOC urges Democrats to ’not fight each other’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday said it was "irresponsible" for fellow Democrats to point fingers at each other over the party's weak showing in House races, warning that it would only inflame deep tensions.

© Tom Williams/AP Photo

 Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said: “It's irresponsible to pour gasoline on what is already very delicate tensions in the party.”

The New York Democrat, an icon of the party's progressive wing, appeared on CNN “State of the Union” as House Democrats faced the prospect of holding a thinner majority heading into the next Congress than they had after the 2018 election.

Some House Democratic leaders and other moderates warned last week that moving too far left cost the party House seats and imperiled the party's hopes of capturing the Senate, which will be determined by two runoff races in Georgia in January. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a "Blue Dog" Democrat from Virginia, warned colleagues on a private call after the election that "no one should say ‘defund the police’ ever again."

Ocasio-Cortez rejected that criticism on Sunday.

"When we kind of come out swinging not 48 hours after Tuesday, and we don't even have solid data yet, pointing fingers and telling each other what to do, it deepens the division in the party," she said. "And it's irresponsible. It's irresponsible to pour gasoline on what is already very delicate tensions in the party.”

Spanberger who drew headlines for her criticisms last week, is slightly ahead in her race but it has yet to be called. At least seven House Democratic incumbents lost their seats — two in Florida and one each in Iowa, Oklahoma, New Mexico, South Carolina and Minnesota.

The debate was the dominant theme among Democrats appearing on political talk shows Sunday, even as the party celebrated projections that Joe Biden won the presidency.

Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the No. 3 Democrat in the House, said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that fears about the socialism label and the phrase "Defund the police" weighed on Democratic candidates including those in his state, citing the failed Senate campaign of Jamie Harrison and the unsuccessful reelection effort of Rep. Joe Cunningham.

"I just hope that going forward we will think about each one of these congressional districts and let people represent their districts," he said.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), a centrist, said on CBS' "Face the Nation" that Biden lost in his state because Democrats "didn't have a good message." He said voters "went from being mad [in 2016] to being scared in 2020." Biden lost West Virginia by by nearly 40 percentage points.

"They were scared of this socialism that was thrown out there by a radical part of the so-called left," Manchin said. "That hung on and hung on strongly, and it's not who we are. ... I have fought against that. Joe Biden has fought against that."

Ocasio-Cortez, who was easily reelected, said Democrats instead should focus on campaign operations that are more resilient to Republican attacks, in part by improving what she called a "very weak" digital campaign apparatus.

She warned that with a slimmer majority, "it's going to be more important than ever for us to work together and not fight each other."

"There are, at least in the House caucus, very deep divisions within the party," she said. "We need to really come together and not allow Republican narratives to tear us apart."

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), a member of “The Squad” with other progressive female lawmakers including Ocasio-Cortez, said on CNN’s “Inside Politics” that Democrats’ approach “shouldn't be to attack one another and to allow the Republicans — who benefit when we are a divided House — to have the last word.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Says Progressives Aren't the Enemy After Biden's Victory, Reveals She's Not Sure How Long She'll Be in Politics

Jason Lemon 

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat from New York, pushed back against criticism targeting her left-wing coalition in a new interview, while also saying that she remains uncertain about her political future.

© BRIAN SNYDER/POOL/AFP/Getty 

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) speaking in a video feed during the second day of the Democratic National Convention, held virtually amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, at its hosting site in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 18

Ocastio-Cortez, who describes herself as a democratic socialist, has been at odds with moderates in her party since she defeated former Democratic Representative Joe Crowley in the 2018 primary midterms. Although the congresswoman backed Senator Bernie Sanders against Biden in the Democratic presidential primaries, she and fellow progressive Democrats rallied in support of President-elect Joe Biden as he campaigned against President Donald Trump.

In a new interview published by The New York Times on Saturday, Ocasio-Cortez argued that campaigning by her progressive colleagues helped propel Biden to victory.

"I've been begging the party to let me help them for two years. That's also the damn thing of it. I've been trying to help. Before the election, I offered to help every single swing district Democrat with their operation. And every single one of them, but five, refused my help. And all five of the vulnerable or swing district people that I helped secure victory or are on a path to secure victory," the congresswoman said.

"And every single one that rejected my help is losing. And now they're blaming us for their loss," Ocasio-Cortez told The Times. "So I need my colleagues to understand that we are not the enemy. And that their base is not the enemy. That the Movement for Black Lives is not the enemy, that Medicare for all is not the enemy."

Democrats won the presidency and picked up at least one additional seat in the Senate, but Republicans managed to pick up several seats in the House of Representatives. Democrats maintained their majority in the House, however.

Ocasio-Cortez pointed to the grassroots campaigning by fellow progressive Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan in her key battleground state, as well as the efforts by activists in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania—saying these actions appeared to be key to Biden's victory in the Electoral College. She voiced concern over comments from some of Biden's Republican and moderate backers about how the president-elect should act once he enters the White House.

"These transition appointments, they send a signal. They tell a story of who the administration credits with this victory. And so it's going to be really hard after immigrant youth activists helped potentially deliver Arizona and Nevada. It's going to be really hard after Detroit and Rashida Tlaib ran up the numbers in her district," Ocasio-Cortez pointed out.

"If the party believes after 94 percent of Detroit went to Biden, after Black organizers just doubled and tripled turnout down in Georgia, after so many people organized Philadelphia, the signal from the Democratic Party is the John Kasichs won us this election? I mean, I can't even describe how dangerous that is," she said. Kasich, a Republican, served as Ohio's governor from 2011 to 2019. He endorsed Biden but his state went for Trump.

Newsweek reached out to press representatives for Biden to ask for comment on Ocasio-Cortez's remarks, but they did not immediately respond. In a victory speech on Saturday evening, after the Associated Press and networks officially called the race, Biden voiced his plan to be unifying president.

"To my campaign team, and all the volunteers, to all those who gave so much of themselves to make this moment possible, I owe you everything. And to all those who supported us: I am proud of the campaign we built and ran. I am proud of the coalition we put together, the broadest and most diverse in history," Biden said.

"Democrats, Republicans and independents. Progressives, moderates and conservatives. Young and old. Urban, suburban and rural. Gay, straight, transgender. White. Latino. Asian. Native American," the president-elect said.

Ocasio-Cortez has taken aim at criticism from moderates and Republican Biden-backers on Twitter over the last 24 hours. "John Kasich, who did not deliver Ohio to Dems, is saying folks like @IlhanMN, who did deliver Minnesota, are the problem," she tweeted on Saturday. "Please don't take these people seriously and go back to celebrating and building power."

"I've been thinking so much of @IlhanMN. Trump made Minnesota explicitly about HER. Said he'd win because of her. Many Dems in DC believed him, & marginalized her. That burden wasn't fair, but she took on the challenge anyway. She won," Ocasio-Cortez wrote in another post. "Credit and respect her. @RashidaTlaib too."


Just a friendly reminder: @AOC isn’t the enemy or a threat, she is an asset to our party.

When you allow the GOP to dictate who should be included in our “big tent” party, we all lose.

For god’s sake, the GOP has QAnon members in their ranks and won’t throw them under the bus. https://t.co/Stn0DP75wS— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) November 8, 2020

Representative Ilhan Omar, a progressive Democrat from Minnesota, shared Ocasio-Cortez's interview in a Sunday Twitter post. The congresswoman wrote: "Just a friendly reminder: @AOC isn't the enemy or a threat, she is an asset to our party. When you allow the GOP to dictate who should be included in our 'big tent' party, we all lose. For god's sake, the GOP has QAnon members in their ranks and won't throw them under the bus."

In her interview with the Times, Ocasio-Cortez explained that she still isn't sure about her political future. Although many have speculated that she could launch a bid for the Senate, the representative said making such a move was just as likely as her leaving politics all together.

"I chose to run for re-election because I felt like I had to prove that this is real. That this movement was real. That I wasn't a fluke. That people really want guaranteed health care and that people really want the Democratic Party to fight for them," she said.

"But I'm serious when I tell people the odds of me running for higher office and the odds of me just going off trying to start a homestead somewhere—they're probably the same."

Ocasio-Cortez calls on Democratic Party to 'come together and not allow Republican narratives to tear us apart'

Justine Coleman 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is calling on the Democratic Party to "come together and not allow Republican narratives to tear us apart."

© Getty Ocasio-Cortez calls on Democratic Party to 'come together and not allow Republican narratives to tear us apart'

The New York progressive encouraged party unity during an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" after moderate House Democrats slammed the progressive wing of the party in a caucus phone call last week.

"There are, at least in the House caucus, very deep divisions within the party, and I believe that we need to really come together and not allow Republican narratives to tear us apart," she said on Sunday.

Ocasio-Cortez also noted that the Democratic majority in the House will be "slimmer" after the 2020 election.

"It's going to be more important than ever for us to work together and not fight each other," she said.

"When we kind of come out swinging not 48 hours after Tuesday, when we don't even have solid data yet, pointing fingers and telling each other what to do, it deepens the division in the party, and it's irresponsible," she added. "It's irresponsible to pour gasoline on these already very delicate tensions in the party."

The New York Democrat also argued that the progressive wing of the party has "assets to offer the party that the party has not yet fully leaned into or exploited."

"The conversation's a little bit deeper than that, than just saying anything progressive is toxic and a losing message," she said.

Ocasio-Cortez made her plea to the Democratic Party one day after President-elect Joe Biden was projected to win the 2020 election.

Her remarks also follow a tense week in which Democrats lost seats in the lower chamber

Over 1 million Americans filed for unemployment for 33rd straight week

Dion Rabouin, author of Markets AXIOS

Data: U.S. Department of Labor; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios


The number of Americans receiving unemployment benefits continues to fall, but data from the Labor Department showed more than 1 million people filed for first-time jobless benefits for the 33rd week in a row.

By the numbers: More than 738,000 people applied for first-time traditional unemployment benefits last week, and nearly 363,000 applied for benefits through the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) program.

Why it matters: The rate of unemployment filings has been remarkably high for a remarkable amount of time.

Between the lines: The number of people receiving benefits through the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program for the long-term unemployed has risen by 14,348% since it started in April, while the PUA program is up 6,741% during that time.
"The small increase in PEUC relative to the decline in continuing claims for regular state UI is due in part to workers running into administrative glitches getting on to PEUC," Heidi Shierholz, a former chief economist at the Department of Labor and current director of policy at left-leaning think tank EPI, said on Twitter.

What's next: Shierholz also points out that unemployment benefits are starting to run out for more people and will expire for all of the nearly 14 million Americans on pandemic programs at the end of the year.

Why NASA's moonshot, Boeing, Bezos and Musk have a lot riding on U.S. election

By Joey Roulette and Eric M. Johnson 2020-10-30

WASHINGTON/SEATTLE (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump's differences with rival presidential candidate Joe Biden extend far beyond planet earth.

President Trump's plans to win the race in space call for a 2024 moon mission, and ending direct U.S. financial support for the International Space Station in 2025 - turning over control of the decades-old orbital laboratory to private space companies.

Biden, on the other hand, would likely call for a delayed moonshot and propose a funding extension for the International Space Station if he wins the White House, according to people familiar with the fledging Biden space agenda.

Pushing back the moon mission could cast more doubt on the long-term fate of Boeing Co's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, just as Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin scramble to bring rival rockets to market as soon as next year.

Extending support for the space station for a decade would also be a major boost for Boeing, whose $225 million annual ISS operations contract is set to expire in 2024 and is at the depths of a financial crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the 737 MAX grounding after fatal crashes.

Boeing and SpaceX are already supplying spacecraft to ferry astronauts to the ISS under a program begun under the Obama administration and supported by both Trump and Biden.

Though slowing the moonshot would push back contracts for moon landers and related equipment the companies aim to win, the emerging Biden space agenda appears broadly set to promote competition between traditional defense contractors like Boeing and "new space" rivals like SpaceX who promise lower-cost and reusable rocket systems and space vehicles.

© Reuters/Joe Skipper FILE PHOTO: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 39A with the seventh batch of SpaceX broadband network satellites, at the Kennedy Space Center, in Cape Canaveral

CRAVING CONSISTENCY

For the commercial space industry, "consistency is key," said Mike French, a vice president at the Aerospace Industries Association trade group who earlier served as NASA chief of staff under Obama.

"If you shake the etch-a-sketch now, you will (be) risking a series of potentially historic accomplishments and the strong and sustained bipartisan support NASA has seen across its portfolio," French told Reuters.

Roughly 20 former senior NASA officials and scientists have assembled as a volunteer subgroup under the Biden campaign's science committee to informally help draw up ideas for a space platform.

Many held jobs in the Obama administration and are jockeying for influential roles on the transition team or in a Biden administration.

Reuters spoke to three of those people, as well as over a dozen lobbyists, industry executives, and former NASA officials who have held their own discussions with Biden's campaign.

Members of the subgroup also want to boost NASA funding for Earth science and support partnerships with other nations. They stressed that Biden's space agenda, and the staff assignments to lead it, were in a formative stage as his campaign prioritizes more pressing issues, like the coronavirus pandemic and joblessness.

A Biden campaign spokesman pointed to earlier remarks from Biden. In August, after SpaceX launched and returned the first astronauts from U.S. soil on a trip to the ISS in nearly a decade, Biden said he looked forward to "leading a bold space program that will continue to send astronaut heroes to expand our exploration and scientific frontiers."

Representatives for Blue Origin and Boeing declined to comment. SpaceX and the Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment.

FIGHT OVER BOEING ROCKET

But the Biden space group is divided on what to do about Boeing's SLS, several sources said.

The super heavy-lift rocket has been beset by development delays and cost overruns, but supports tens of thousands of jobs in Alabama and California and is seen by backers as central to NASA's exploration plans and the only path to Trump's 2024 timeline for the Artemis mission.

Critics say the rocket's ageing technology and launch costs of $1 billion or more per mission should prompt a formal White House or Congressional review of the program, particularly if SpaceX and Blue Origin are able to offer new rockets at lower cost.

It costs as little as $90 million to fly Musk's massive but still less-powerful Falcon Heavy, and some $350 million per launch for United Launch Alliance's legacy Delta IV Heavy.

Whether a Biden space policy would be more friendly to SLS or to newer commercial alternatives from "new space" players will be heavily influenced by his choice for NASA administrator, a role the campaign wants to be filled by a woman, two people said.

NASA views SLS as its only human-rated ride to the moon in the near term, said Doug Loverro, the former NASA head of human spaceflight.

"But is that the long-term direction to continue to pursue?" Loverro asked.

(Reporting by Joey Roulette in Washington, D.C. and Eric M Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Edward Tobin)

Man mauled by black leopard after paying for ‘full contact experience’

Josh K. Elliott 2020-10-30

A Florida man who paid $150 to get up-close and personal with a black leopard is now suing the sanctuary that made it happen, after the animal mauled him instead of submitting for pictures and belly-rubs

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© Michael Poggi/YouTube Michael Poggi, owner of Poggi's Animal House in Davie, Fla., is shown with a black leopard at his zoo in Davie, Fla.

The attack happened at a backyard animal sanctuary in Davie, Fla., on Aug. 31, according to a report from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC).

Dwight Turner, 50, paid $150 for a "full contact experience" with the black leopard, and expected to "play with it, rub its belly and take pictures," local station WPLG reports.

Read more: Carole Baskin of ‘Tiger King’ sued for defamation

Turner entered the backyard enclosure and the leopard growled at him, then attacked, according to the FWC report obtained by WPLG.

“The owner of the facility brought the victim into the leopard cage," said the victim's attorney, Steve Lander. "About three seconds after entering the cage, the leopard attacked, going for the jugular and took his head in its mouth.”

The animal ripped off part of the victim's scalp and tore his ear in half, officials said. Turner says he spent a week in hospital and required multiple surgeries to recover from injuries sustained in the attack.

Turner alleges that the entire visit was illegal and so any safety waiver he might have signed is invalid. He announced plans to sue the sanctuary operator on Thursday on allegations that the operator let his insurance lapse.

The property's occupant, Michael Poggi, describes himself on Facebook as an "exotic animal breeder" who owns a "private animal sanctuary" for rare, exotic and endangered animals.

The website for Poggi's Animal House lists a black leopard named Dasha as the "resident carnivore."

Poggi has already been charged with allowing full contact with an extremely dangerous animal, wildlife officials told WPLG. He was also cited for maintaining captive wildlife in an unsafe condition.

"Mr. Poggi allowed the victim access to inside of the leopard's cage for a full contact experience which led to the leopard attacking the victim, causing extensive damage to the head and right ear," an FWC officer wrote in a citation filed in court.

The citation adds that full contact with a black leopard is in violation of Florida law.

Officials say Poggi was licensed to have the leopard but not to offer full-contact experiences.

Read more: Puma prince? War vet and his cat lead police on manhunt in Polish woods

The Facebook page for Poggi's Animal House was offline Friday morning. However, videos posted on Poggi's YouTube page show a wide variety of animals on his property, including iguanas, zebras and big cats. Several of his most recent videos advertise marmosets for sale.

Poggi can be seen showing off a caged black leopard in 2012, in a video he flagged as a "pilot" for his "reality show."

He describes one black leopard in the video as a female between six and eight months old. It's unclear how many he had in the zoo at the time.

Big cat experiences have captured the spotlight this year following the release of Tiger King, Netflix's documentary series about eccentric cat breeder Joe Exotic.

Poggi did not respond to requests for comment from WPLG and WSVN.

He is due for a court hearing on Dec. 2.

‘Absolutely huge’ iceberg on collision course with British island

A massive iceberg that broke off of Antarctica in 2017 is now on a potential collision course with South Georgia, a British territorial island that's home to thousands of penguins and seals.

© Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

 A king penguin is shown in this January 2015 file photo from South Georgia.

The iceberg, known as A68-A, looks like a giant hand pointing a finger. It measures 150 kilometres long and 48 kilometres wide, with a surface area nearly as large as Canada's Prince Edward Island. It's the largest remnant of an even bigger iceberg that calved off the Larsen C ice shelf in July 2017.

"It is absolutely huge and it's the largest iceberg in the Southern Ocean," Dr. Sue Cook, a glaciologist at the Australian Antarctic Program Partnership, told The Guardian.

Tracking data from the European Space Agency (ESA) shows the iceberg has already travelled more than 1,400 kilometres north over the last three years, and it's now only 500 kilometres away from South Georgia. ESA projections show it's on course for the island.

Scientists are concerned that the relatively thin iceberg will run aground off the island, where it could linger for months or years. The iceberg is large enough to cause major disruptions around South Georgia, which is a major wildlife sanctuary for penguins and seals.

"There's a danger here that if the iceberg gets stuck, it could be there for 10 years," said Geraint Tarling, a professor with the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).

"That would make a very big difference, not just to the ecosystem of South Georgia but its economy as well," Tarling told BBC News.

He added that a large iceberg could make it difficult for penguins and seals to feed their young, because they would be forced to travel much further to find food.

"A close-in iceberg has massive implications for where land-based predators might be able to forage," he said. "If they have to do a big detour, that means they're not going to get back to their young in time to prevent them starving to death in the interim."

He added that a melting iceberg can also benefit the local ecosystem by depositing dust that will fertilize the ocean life.

There are no permanent settlements in South Georgia or the nearby Sandwich Islands, but the U.K. maintains two research bases and oversees commercial fishing in the area.

Cook says it's hard to know for sure where the iceberg will go. It's currently following a path through "iceberg alley," but weather patterns and ocean currents can subtly change its route. There's also the chance that it might break apart again before it reaches South Georgia.

Many icebergs have become caught in the shallow waters around South Georgia, where they linger and slowly melt over long periods of time.

Part of a massive iceberg known as A38 ran aground at South Georgia in 2004, causing mass die-offs among seal pups and penguin chicks. The iceberg had split in two, leaving behind one piece that measured 70 kilometres long and 19 kilometres wide.

Researchers with the British Arctic Survey are asking the ESA to take more photos of A68-A due to its incredible size.

"A68-A is spectacular," BAS researcher Andrew Fleming told the BBC. "The idea that it is still in one large piece is actually remarkable, particularly given the huge fractures you see running through it in the radar imagery.

"I'd fully expected it to have broken apart by now.

Mysterious radio signal from space traced to ‘zombie’ in our galaxy


Researchers have traced a mysterious radio signal to a point within our own galaxy — and the source appears to be more zombie than alien.

© CHIME Experiment The CHIME radio telescope is shown in British Columbia.

The signal detected in late April appears to have come from a distant object inside our Milky Way galaxy, according to three research papers published in Nature on Wednesday.

The papers lay out how several telescopes, including the CHIME facility in Canada, all heard the millisecond-long signal April 27-28. Researchers gathered multiple radio and X-ray readings from the event, then compared notes to trace the signal's origin to our own cosmic neighbourhood.

Read more: Canadian telescope hears mystery radio signal repeating every 16 days

The millisecond-long signal, known as a fast radio burst (FRB), is one of hundreds detected from space over the last 13 years. Most of the brief, occasionally repeating bursts have come from distant parts of the universe, leaving scientists puzzled as to their exact origin point. This latest signal is the first one that scientists have been able to "hear" with clarity.
Click to expand

New pattern of mysterious radio signals detected from space

"Given the source distance, this is the most luminous radio burst ever detected in our own galaxy," CHIME researcher Daniele Michilli told BBC News.

The signal was so strong that a regular 4G cellphone might have been able to pick it up, according to Christopher Bochenek, the lead researcher on the STARE2 telescope in the United States. STARE2 was one of the other telescopes that detected the signal, in what Bochenek described as a stroke of luck.

"We still don’t really know exactly how lucky we got," he told reporters on Wednesday. "This could be like a once in five-year thing. Or there could be a few of these things that happen every year."

The mysterious signals have stoked speculation that they might be a message — or a warning — from distant alien life. However, researchers say the origin for this signal was likely a magnetar — a cosmic name for what is essentially a "zombie" star.

When a star dies, it blows up in a supernova, then collapses inward into a super-dense ball. If that ball gets dense enough, it becomes a black hole, but if not, it often turns into a neutron star.

A magnetar is essentially an extremely rare, mysterious and powerful form of neutron star, according to NASA. It has a tremendously powerful magnetic field that crackles across its surface and occasionally explodes in massive outbursts.

The magnetic field is stronger than 100 trillion refrigerator magnets, or billions of times more than the magnetic force of the sun, according to NASA.

The new papers suggest that the radio bursts may be caused by a magnetar's decaying magnetic field, although more study is needed.

"It demonstrates that magnetars can release a huge amount of radio energy with properties like those of FRBs, implying that at least (some) FRBs are probably coming from magnetars," Michilli said.

Read more: Mystery radio signal first spotted in Canada traced to nearby galaxy

“There’s this great mystery as to what would produce these great outbursts of energy, which until now we’ve seen coming from halfway across the universe,” Kiyoshi Masui, an MIT physics professor, told The Independent. He was also one of the researchers on the project.

“This is the first time we’ve been able to tie one of these exotic fast radio bursts to a single astrophysical object,” he said.

It's unclear how many magnetars exist in the universe, but NASA has only identified a handful of them to date.

Researchers say the magnetars are a plausible source for some of the one-off bursts they've heard.

However, they still don't explain why we've been getting other signals on repeat.

Indonesia raises volcano threat level, sets no-go-zone

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesian authorities raised the danger level for the volatile Mount Merapi volcano on the densely populated island of Java on Thursday and ordered a halt to tourism and mining activities.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Indonesia’s geological agency raised Merapi’s alert level, which had been at the third-highest level since it began erupting last year, to the second-highest level after sensors picked up increasing activity.

“This condition can trigger a magma extrusion process or an explosive eruption,” National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Raditya Jati said in a statement.

He said authorities have halted the climbing of Merapi and mining activities along its rivers. Only disaster agency personnel and researchers will be allowed to enter the restricted area.

Merapi spewed ash and hot gas in a column as high as 6 kilometres (3.7 miles) into the sky in June, but no casualties were reported.

Its last major eruption in 2010 killed 347 people and caused the evacuation of 20,000 villagers.

The 2,968-meter (9,737-foot) mountain is about 30 kilometres (18 miles) from the Yogyakarta city centre. About a quarter million people live within a 10-kilometre (6-mile) radius of the volcano, according to authorities in surrounding districts.

The head of Yogyakarta’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center, Hanik Humaida, said villagers living on Merapi’s fertile slopes are advised to stay 5 kilometres (3 miles) from the crater’s mouth.

Indonesia, an archipelago of more than 250 million people, sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Government seismologists monitor more than 120 active volcanoes.

Slamet Riyadi, The Associated Press

Indian police arrest, charge firebrand TV station founder

NEW DELHI — Indian police on Wednesday said they arrested a firebrand television news anchor and charged him with abetment to suicide in connection with the 2018 deaths of an interior designer and the designer's mother.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Senior Mumbai police officer Sanjay Mohite said the charges against Republic TV founder Arnab Goswami are linked to the deaths of interior designer Anvay Naik and his mother, which police determined to be suicide. A suicide note found by the police and determined to have been written by Naik said he took his life because Goswami and two others owed him a huge sum of money and had refused to pay it back.

Goswami has denied the allegation.

Goswami is known aggressively backing up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his nationalist policies during his nightly shows, often shouting down opponents. Critics have accused Republic TV of pandering to Modi’s agenda at time when other media channels say press freedom is under threat.

Republic TV in a statement called Goswami’s arrest a “black day of India’s democracy” and alleged he was physically assaulted by the police. His channel showed video of Goswami being forced into a police van by the officers outside his residence in Mumbai.

Multiple senior leaders of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party were quick to condemn Goswami’s arrest.

“Blatant misuse of state power against Republic TV & Arnab Goswami is an attack on individual freedom and the 4th pillar of democracy," tweeted India’s powerful Home Minister Amit Shah. “This attack on free press must be and WILL BE OPPOSED."

Railway Minister, Piyush Goyal, called his arrest a “fascist move” and “a sign of undeclared emergency.”

“We must all stand up against this attack on India’s democracy,” Goyal tweeted.

Another senior minister from the ruling party, Smriti Irani, tweeted: “You may not like him, you may not approve of him, you may despise his very existence but if you stay silent you support suppression.”

The Editors Guild of India, which represents the country’s newspapers, condemned Goswami’s arrest. In a statement, it called upon authorities to “ensure that Goswami is treated fairly and state power is not used against critical reporting by the media.”

Goswami is not new to controversies.

Goswami has been charged in two other cases with inciting communal tensions and promoting hatred between religious groups. He has denied the charges.

In October, Mumbai police also accused Republic TV of rigging the rating system, a major factor in what a channel can charge advertisers. Goswami and his channel have denied the charges.

Over the last few months, he has run a wall-to-wall coverage against the Mumbai police and accused them of mishandling an investigation into the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, a popular actor.

The Associated Press

In blue and red states, milestone wins for LGBTQ candidates

NEW YORK — Across the nation, LGBTQ candidates achieved milestone victories in Tuesday’s election, including the first transgender person elected to a state Senate, and the first openly gay Black men to win seats in Congress.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

NOV 5, 2020

The landmark wins came not in only blue but also red states such as Tennessee, where Republican Eddie Mannis, who is gay, and Democrat Torrey Harris, who identifies as bisexual, won seats in the state House to become the first openly LGBTQ members of that legislature.

According to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which recruits and supports LGBTQ candidates, that leaves only Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi as states that have never elected an LGBTQ legislator.

“Torrey and Eddie sent a clear message that LGBTQ candidates can win in a deep red state while being their authentic selves,” said the Victory Fund’s president, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker. “Their presence in the state legislature can dilute the most toxic anti-LGBTQ voices and lead to more inclusive legislation.”

In New York, attorney Mondaire Jones won in a district of New York City suburbs and Ritchie Torres, a member of the New York City Council, won in the Bronx to make history as the first gay Black men elected to the U.S. House. Both are Democrats; Torres identifies as Afro Latino.

The two “will bring unique perspectives based on lived experiences never before represented in the U.S. Congress,” Parker said.

With the addition of Jones and Torres, there will be nine openly LGBTQ members of the House as of January. The seven incumbents all won their races.

In Delaware, Democrat Sarah McBride won her state Senate race with more than 70% of the vote and will become the first openly transgender state senator in the country.

“It is my hope that a young LGBTQ kid here in Delaware or really anywhere in this country can look at the results and know that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” McBride said as her victory was confirmed Tuesday night.

McBride interned at the White House under President Barack Obama and in 2016 became the first openly transgender person to give a speech at a major party convention.

Two other Democrats became the first openly transgender people to win seats in their states’ Houses: Taylor Small in Vermont and Stephanie Byers in Kansas.

Byers, a retired high school band teacher, expressed hope that her victory would encourage other transgender people in conservative Kansas.

“It helps those people who are transgender to reinforce that they are people who matter, they are people who are important and they’re people who can be successful in their lives,” she told The Wichita Eagle.

Before Tuesday’s election, there were four other transgender lawmakers in state legislatures nationwide, according to the Victory Fund.

In Georgia, Democrat Kim Jackson, a lesbian social justice advocate, became the first LGBTQ person to win a seat in the state Senate. Shevrin Jones, a gay former state representative, accomplished that same feat in Florida's Senate. And in New York, Jabari Brisport, a gay math teacher, became the first openly LGBTQ person of colour elected to the legislature.

In Oklahoma, Mauree Turner, a Democrat who is Black, Muslim and identifies as non-binary, won a seat in the state House.

“I have continuously lived a life where folks doubt my voice or the power that I have,” Turner said. “I wouldn’t have gotten far if I’d let something like that debilitate me.”

There also were some notable losses for LGBTQ candidates.

In Texas, Gina Ortiz Jones, a Democratic former Air Force intelligence officer who is lesbian, had been seen as having a strong chance of winning in a sprawling, 800-mile congressional district that runs from San Antonio to El Paso. The seat had been held by Rep. Will Hurd, the House’s only Black Republican, who opted not to seek re-election and endorsed Tony Gonzales, the GOP candidate who prevailed on Tuesday.

And in southwestern Michigan’s 6th District, Jon Hoadley, seeking to become the state’s first openly gay congressman, lost to 17-term GOP Rep. Fred Upton.

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Margaret Stafford in Across the nation, LGBTQ candidates achieved milestone victories in Tuesday’s election, including the first transgender person elected to a state Senate, and the first openly gay Black men to win seats in Congress.

The landmark wins came not in only blue but also red states such as Tennessee, where Republican Eddie Mannis, who is gay, and Democrat Torrey Harris, who identifies as biusexual, won seats in the state House to become the first openly LGBTQ members of that legislature.

According to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which recruits and supports LGBTQ candidates, that leaves only Alaska, Louisiana and Mississippi as states that have never elected an LGBTQ legislator.

“Torrey and Eddie sent a clear message that LGBTQ candidates can win in a deep red state while being their authentic selves,” said the Victory Fund’s president, former Houston Mayor Annise Parker. “Their presence in the state legislature can dilute the most toxic anti-LGBTQ voices and lead to more inclusive legislation.”

In New York, attorney Mondaire Jones won in a district of New York City suburbs and Ritchie Torres, a member of the New York City Council, won in the Bronx to make history as the first gay Black men elected to the U.S. House. Both are Democrats; Torres identifies as Afro Latino.

The two “will bring unique perspectives based on lived experiences never before represented in the U.S. Congress,” Parker said.

With the addition of Jones and Torres, there will be nine openly LGBTQ members of the House as of January, The seven incumbents all won their races.

In Delaware, Democrat Sarah McBride won her state Senate race with more than 70% of the vote and will become the first openly transgender state senator in the country.

“It is my hope that a young LGBTQ kid here in Delaware or really anywhere in this country can look at the results and know that our democracy is big enough for them, too,” McBride said as her victory was confirmed Tuesday night.

McBride interned at the White House under President Barack Obama and in 2016 became the first openly transgender person to give a speech at a major party convention.

Two other Democrats became the first openly transgender people to win seats in their states’ Houses: Taylor Small in Vermont and Stephanie Byers in Kansas.

Byers, a retired high school band teacher, expressed hope that her victory would encourage other transgender people in conservative Kansas.

“It helps those people who are transgender to reinforce that they are people who matter, they are people who are important and they’re people who can be successful in their lives,” she told The Wichita Eagle.

Before Tuesday’s election, there were four other transgender lawmakers in state legislatures nationwide, according to the Victory Fund.

In Georgia, Democrat Kim Jackson, a lesbian social justice advocate, became the first LGBTQ person to win a seat in the state Senate. Shevrin Jones, a gay former state representative, accomplished that same feat in Florida’s Senate. And in New York, Jabari Brisport, a gay math teacher, became the first openly LGBTQ person of colour elected to the legislature.

In Oklahoma, Mauree Turner, a Democrat who is Black, Muslim and identifies as non-binary, won a seat in the state House.

“I have continuously lived a life where folks doubt my voice or the power that I have,” Turner said. “I wouldn’t have gotten far if I’d let something like that debilitate me.”

There also were some notable losses for LGBTQ candidates.

In Texas, Gina Ortiz Jones, a Democratic former Air Force intelligence officer who is lesbian, had been seen as having a strong chance of winning in a sprawling, 800-mile congressional district that runs from San Antonio to El Paso. The seat had been held by Rep. Will Hurd, the House’s only Black Republican, who opted not to seek re-election and endorsed Tony Gonzales, the GOP candidate who prevailed on Tuesday.

And in southwestern Michigan’s 6th District, Jon Hoadley, seeking to become the state’s first openly gay congressman, lost to 17-term GOP Rep. Fred Upton.

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Margaret Stafford in Liberty, Missouri, and Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

David Crary, The Associated Press


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Human rights museum in Winnipeg releases framework to address racism


WINNIPEG — The Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg has laid out how it will move forward after allegations of racism, homophobia and censorship.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

NOV 5.2020

Museum president and CEO Isha Khan says the plan will help create a safe, respectful and healthy workplace.

She says it addresses recommendations from an external review that found racism is pervasive and systemic in the museum’s employment practices, policies and in the actions of employees.

The museum was criticized earlier this year by current and former employees online after it posted images of a Justice for Black Lives rally.

The employees said it was hypocritical to bring up the Black Lives rally when museum staff face racism at work.

Some also said that LGBTQ content in the museum was censored at the request of certain school groups.

“Creating lasting change requires a deep commitment to challenging our systems and the way we work,” Khan said in a news release Thursday.

Khan began a five-year term leading the museum in August after the allegations led to the resignation of former CEO John Young. She pledged to create an inclusive and respectful work environment.

The newly released plan includes commitments to evaluate staff retention rates, to review board policies for bias and to bring in different recruitment methods. The museum aims to create opportunities for staff to share and learn about their experiences of racism, homophobia and all forms of discrimination.

Another goal is to develop new content to reflect the country's history of oppressing Black Canadians. All current exhibits are to be reviewed to identify where stories from Indigenous, Black, LGBTQ and disability communities have not been adequately included.

Staff were provided a draft of the framework in September and gave feedback, the museum said. There were also consultations with community organizers.

Khan said it is not a checklist and will take significant and long-lasting effort. She said the intent is to address systemic racism and discrimination in a meaningful way and not only as “window dressing.”

“We all believe in the potential of this museum to make a difference for human rights.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 5, 2020.