Ocasio-Cortez's progressive PAC makes first round of endorsements

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Friday her political action committee's first round of endorsements, which will include two progressive candidates challenging sitting Democratic members of Congress. “It's time to elect a progressive majority in Congress accountable to strong, grassroots movements that push support for issues like Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, racial justice and more,” said Ocasio-Cortez Friday, announcing the support of seven women via her Courage to Change PAC. When the freshman lawmaker from New York announced in January she was starting her own PAC dedicated to electing progressive legislators, she said it would refuse to pay dues to the House's campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

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  AOC launches plan to block non-progressive Democrats with all-female candidates: 'My ambition right now is to be a little less lonely in Congress'

  The Independent
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  AOC announces new PAC, endorses slate of progressive candidates for Congress

  NBC News

U.S. vs. Huawei: Is future of the internet at stake?

Last week, the U.S. government charged the Chinese company Huawei with running a campaign to steal trade secrets from American businesses over the course of two decades. It was the latest move in the Trump administration's effort to constrain the tech giant, which it considers to be a threat to national security. Huawei is one of the world's largest telecommunications companies.

With information from China scarce, U.S. spies enlisted to track coronavirus

As Chinese officials face allegations of locking down information about the spread of the coronavirus, U.S. intelligence agencies have been helping in governmentwide efforts to gather information about the disease's global spread. Already, some of the best information about the coronavirus and the Chinese government's response to it is coming from military channels, according to two sources familiar with the matter. “China's behavior causes the intelligence community to get involved,” said one of those sources, a former intelligence official.

Girl, 11, gave birth to baby allegedly fathered by brother

An 11-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her brother gave birth at home, and now he and their parents are facing criminal charges. The girl gave birth to a boy in a bathtub in St. Charles, Missouri, according to a probable cause statement. Her biological brother, who is 17, was charged last week with incest, statutory rape and statutory sodomy of a person younger than 12, while her parents were charged with child endangerment.

10 Amazing Facts About Polar Bears

A few things you might not have known about the largest bear in the world. From Popular Mechanics

Mike Bloomberg's social media strategy is under fire as Twitter suspends 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts for platform manipulation

Carlo Allegri/Reuters Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is once again in hot water over his campaign's social media strategy. On Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Twitter was suspending 70 accounts for tweeting identical messages of support for Bloomberg for violating its rules against platform manipulation. Some accounts were permanently suspended, while others will need to be verified in order to regain posting abilities, a Twitter spokesman told Business Insider.

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  Twitter suspends group of pro-Bloomberg accounts over 'platform manipulation'

  Reuters
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  Twitter suspends 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts for breaking rules

  AFP

US accuses Russia of huge coronavirus disinformation campaign

US officials say thousands of social media accounts linked to Russia are part of a coordinated effort to spread disinformation about the new coronavirus. The campaign allegedly aims to damage the US's image and spread unfounded conspiracy theories that it is behind the outbreak which has infected nearly 78,000 globally and killed over 2,500 people. US State Department officials told AFP fake accounts were created and used on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram so the campaign could reach as many people as possible in multiple languages.

South Korea on virus 'high' alert, Italy and Iran take drastic steps

South Korea went on high alert Sunday following a sharp jump in coronavirus cases, and Italy and Iran took their own drastic containment steps as an epidemic that has killed nearly 2,500 people in China continued a relentless global expansion. The World Health Organization (WHO) also warned Africa's poor health systems left it vulnerable to the COVID-19 disease, which spilled out of China to more than 25 countries. South Korea is raising the nation's alert to its "highest" level, President Moon Jae-in said Sunday after the number of infections nearly tripled over the weekend to 602.

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  Coronavirus update: Surge in South Korea, cases outside of China stoke new worries

  Yahoo Finance
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  South Korea raises virus alert to 'grave' as infections surge

  AFP

Pete Buttigieg begs Democrats to 'take a sober look' at Bernie Sanders

Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg wants America to look before it leaps into a Sanders presidency. Buttigieg remained stuck in third place in Nevada's Democratic caucuses as Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was projected the winner on Saturday night. "This a great day for our campaign," Buttigieg said Saturday as he asked for campaign donations to keep his candidacy running through Super Tuesday.

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  2020 Nevada caucus now underway, giving state chance to weigh in on Democratic presidential race

  WABC – NY
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  Chris Matthews Likens Bernie’s Strong Nevada Showing to France Falling to Nazi Germany in WWII

  The Daily Beast

California Gov Newsom Advocates for Doctors to ‘Write Prescriptions for Housing’ to Treat Mental Illness

California Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday wrote that doctors should be able to prescribe housing like they are able to prescribe medication. “Doctors should be able to write prescriptions for housing the same way they do for insulin or antibiotics,” Newsom wrote in a Twitter post. Newsom then appeared to link the treatment of mental health to his state's housing shortage.

San Diego sheriff agrees to share immigration information

The San Diego County Sheriff's Department will share records of people who were criminally arrested with immigration authorities, becoming the first local law enforcement agency in five states to comply with unusual demands for information, authorities said Friday. In recent weeks, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued 'administrative subpoenas' — signed by an immigration official, not a judge — to state and local law enforcement agencies in Colorado, Connecticut, New York, Oregon and California. Sheriff Bill Gore's announcement, in a statement from his department late Thursday, came less than a week after ICE issued four subpoenas, the only ones so far in California.

Missing 6-month-old boy found dead in cemetery after mom's arrest

Authorities found the body of a 6-month-old boy in a North Carolina cemetery hours after his mother was arrested and an Amber Alert was issued on his disappearance, the Matthews Police Department said on Saturday. The discovery of the infant's body began Friday night with a police search for his mother, Tamara Brown, "who is possibly suffering from a mental health disability" and who was reported missing, said police in Matthews, a town about 12 miles southeast of Charlotte. The mother was then found and arrested in connection to "a separate incident," Matthews Police said in a statement.

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  County sheriff says the mom of missing Tennessee toddler Evelyn Boswell hasn't been truthful with police

  INSIDER
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  Mom of Tenn. Girl Missing Since December Gave 'Conflicting and Inaccurate' Information: Sheriff

  People

Here Comes 1984: China's Regime Is An Existential Threat to the World

The Chinese communist government increasingly poses an existential threat not just to its own 1.4 billion citizens but to the world at large. China is currently in a dangerously chaotic state. And why not, when a premodern authoritarian society leaps wildly into the brave new world of high-tech science in a single generation? Predictably, the Chinese Communist Party has not developed the social, political, or cultural infrastructure to ensure that its sophisticated industrial and biological research does not go rogue and become destructive to itself and to the billions of people who are on the importing end of Chinese products and protocols.

Huawei is downplaying coronavirus impact on its smartphone sales, but experts say it will suffer more than Apple

Andrea Verdelli/Getty Images The novel coronavirus has been a disaster for companies relying on China for supply chain and customers, with firms including Apple, Foxconn, AP Moller-Maersk, Air France-KLM all issuing warnings. Chinese smartphone giant Huawei has been coy on coronavirus impact, with one executive stating there would be no impact on its global supply chain over the next three to six months. Analysts are deeply skeptical and say Huawei will be worse affected than Apple, since it is hugely reliant on Chinese consumers for its smartphone business.

Twitter Suspends 70 Accounts With Pro-Michael Bloomberg Tweets

Some of the suspensions will be permanent, while in some cases account owners will have to verify they have control of their accounts, the Twitter statement said. The campaign has reportedly hired hundreds of employees to pump out campaign messages on social media platforms. In accounts reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the enforcement action, the organizers used identical texts, links and hashtags.

CDC is preparing for the 'likely' spread of coronavirus in the US, officials say

Health experts sounded the alarm Friday over the worldwide threat of the coronavirus, with officials warning of its "likely" community spread in the United States and the World Health Organization cautioning that "the window of opportunity is narrowing" for containing the outbreak worldwide. The COVID-19 coronavirus, which erupted in China in December, has killed at least 2,360 people and sickened at least 77,900 worldwide, the majority of cases in mainland China. Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters Friday that U.S. health officials are preparing for the coronavirus to become a pandemic.

Grave of slain Iraq commander, a new anti-US magnet

Clad in black, they joined wailing women and men beating their chests in grief at Wadi al-Salam (valley of peace), an ever expanding cemetery. All eyes were on the grave of Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Killed alongside top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, Muhandis is now revered as a martyred icon of anti-American resistance.

Chris Matthews Likens Bernie’s Strong Nevada Showing to France Falling to Nazi Germany in WWII

Cable news personalities had a lot to say about Sen. Bernie Sanders' (D-VT) early lead in the Nevada caucuses Saturday, with MSNBC's Chris Matthews likening it to the shock of France falling to Germany during WWII. “It looks like Bernie Sanders is hard to beat... I think it's a little late to stop him, and that's the problem,” Matthews said during a panel segment.

• Bright lights, big stakes for Democrats at Nevada caucus 2020

  KFSN – Fresno
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  The Latest: Sanders defiant about Democratic establishment

  Associated Press

Harry Dunn's family want Julian Assange's extradition blocked

The family of Harry Dunn has called for Julian Assange not to be extradited as long as the US refuses to send the suspect in the teenager's death back to the UK. They have accused the American government of "demonstrating an extraordinary amount of hypocrisy" in seeking the extradition of the Wikileaks founder, despite rejecting a request for Anne Sacoolas to return to Britain. Mr Dunn, 19, died when his motorbike collided with a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27.

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  With WikiLeaks, Julian Assange did what all journalists should aspire to do

  The Independent
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  Julian Assange: Protesters including Vivienne Westwood and Roger Waters march on parliament ahead of Wikileaks founder's extradition hearing

  The Independent

Poll: Trump Expected to Double 2016 African American Support if He Draws Buttigieg Challenge

President Trump would double the support he received from African American voters in 2016 if he ends up facing former South Bend., Ind. mayor Pete Buttigieg in the upcoming election, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Friday. Trump, who recorded eight percent of the African American vote against Hillary Clinton in 2016, hits 16 percent in the 2020 estimate against Buttigieg. Both men are tied with three percent of “enthusiastic” black voters — with Buttigieg having the lowest percentage of enthusiasm in the entire Democratic field.

Two arrested as search for missing 15-month-old girl continues

A man and a woman have been arrested in connection to the disappearance of a 15-month-old girl from Tennessee who was last seen in December but only reported missing this week, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Friday night. Authorities said William McCloud and Angela Boswell were arrested in Wilkes County, North Carolina, about two hours southeast of Sullivan County, Tennessee, where missing toddler Evelyn Mae Boswell lived. The arrested pair were in a gray BMW that authorities said earlier they were searching for in connection to Evelyn's disappearance, NBC affiliate WCYB in Bristol, Virginia, reported.

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  Missing 6-month-old boy found dead in cemetery after mom's arrest

  NBC News
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  County sheriff says the mom of missing Tennessee toddler Evelyn Boswell hasn't been truthful with police

  INSIDER

I Live in South Korea Where Coronavirus Cases are Rising. Not Much Has Changed

South Korea now has the second-highest number of cases of the coronavirus in the world. First, it is worth noting, per Andray Abrahamian, that because South Korea is an open society with an excellent medical system, you are hearing a lot more about corona here than in closed countries. It goes without saying that should corona strike North Korea, that repressive government will tell us nothing and treat the victims terribly.

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  Shadowy Church Is at Center of Coronavirus Outbreak in South Korea

  The New York Times
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  Concerns grow over virus spreading as new hot zone identified in South Korea

  ABC News Videos

More than 100 wild animals in China died from poisoning in a mass die-off seemingly triggered by coronavirus disinfectant

STR/AFP via Getty Images More than 100 wild animals were found dead in a Chinese megacity and tests show that they were poisoned by the disinfectant that's being used to combat the coronavirus. At least 17 species of animals, including wild boar, weasels, and blackbirds, were affected by the mass die-off. Nanchong Stray Animal Rescue claims that authorities are killing domesticated animals outright amid fears that they can spread the coronavirus.