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A federal judge in Florida on Thursday ordered the release of depositions given by former British spy Christopher Steele and a longtime associate of late Republican Arizona Sen. John McCain in a lawsuit filed against BuzzFeed regarding Steele’s anti-Trump dossier. U.S. District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro overruled requests by Steele and David Kramer, the former McCain associate, to keep depositions they gave in the BuzzFeed lawsuit under seal. Ungaro dismissed a lawsuit filed against BuzzFeed on Dec. 19, 2018, by Aleksej Gubarev, a Russian businessman accused in the dossier of using his companies to hack into DNC computers.

New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker introduced legislation to end the federal prohibition of marijuana on Thursday, joined by a series of other announced and potential Democratic 2020 presidential hopefuls including Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, and Kamala Harris...Booker added: “But it’s not enough to simply decriminalize marijuana. We must also repair the damage caused by reinvesting in those communities that have been most harmed by the War on Drugs. And we must expunge the records of those who have served their time.

A former San Francisco attorney serving a life sentence in the dog-mauling death of a Saint Mary’s College lacrosse coach nearly two decades ago will remain in prison for at least another three years. . . . Her husband Robert Noel served four years for involuntary manslaughter. He was not home at the time of the attack. The Bay Area Reporter reported Noel died in June on his 77th birthday.

EL PASO, Texas — A museum dedicated to the history of the U.S. Border Patrol has reopened after officials say protesters vandalized exhibits during an organized demonstration earlier this month. The U.S. Border Patrol Museum in El Paso announced on its Facebook page Wednesday that the museum was welcoming visitors following a protest by immigrant advocates upset over the detention of migrant children at the now-closed detention center in Tornillo, New Mexico.

The depositions given by former British spy Christopher Steele and a longtime associate of John McCain must be unsealed, a federal judge said Thursday. U.S. District Court Judge Ursula Ungaro overruled the objections of both Steele and David Kramer to make the depositions public. The pair gave testimony in a lawsuit brought against BuzzFeed in December 2018 by a Russian Internet entrepreneur. The businessman, Aleksej Gubarev, was referenced in the infamous dossier compiled by Steele about President Trump’s alleged connections to Russia. Gubarev objected to BuzzFeed’s publishing of the dossier in January 2017, which accused him of using his companies...

House Democrats exploded in recriminations Thursday over moderates bucking the party, with liberal Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez threatening to put those voting with Republicans “on a list” for a primary challenge. In a closed-door session, a frustrated Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) lashed out at about two dozen moderates and pressured them to get on board. “We are either a team or we’re not, and we have to make that decision,” Pelosi said, according to two people present but not authorized to discuss the remarks publicly. But Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the unquestioned media superstar of the freshman class, upped the ante, admonishing the...

Mirna Gonzalez had just stepped away from Gate C7 at Portland International Airport when she heard the screaming.

International courier company UPS has stopped delivering to the heavily migrant-populated no-go Malmö suburb of Rosengård, claiming the area has become too dangerous. The company, which is one of the largest couriers in the world, has not made any home deliveries in the troubled suburb in the last two months with residents complaining that the actions are tantamount to discrimination, Expressen reports.

Peru's lowland tropical forest to document invertebrates and saw an uncommon sight: a large tarantula, the size of a "dinner plate" with "massive fangs" catching and eating a baby opossum. Although they didn't capture on video the part where the tarantula caught the animal, they were the first to ever record a tarantula feasting on an opossum.

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — In open dispute, the U.S. and North Korea offered contradictory accounts Thursday of why the summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un broke down, though both pointed to punishing American sanctions as a sticking point in the high-stakes nuclear negotiation.President Trump, on his way back to Washington on Thursday, said before leaving Hanoi that the talks collapsed because North Korea’s leader insisted that all the sanctions the U.S. has imposed on Pyongyang be lifted without the North firmly committing to eliminate its nuclear arsenal.But North Korea challenged that account, insisting it had asked only partial...

...this would be a contender. It's so awful I couldn't even watch the whole video. The reviewing comments are hysterical. $12M in case you were wondering about the asking price.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. —The first time Jeny Amador fled Honduras for the United States, she tried to enter the country legally: She presented herself at an El Paso border checkpoint in early 2018 and asked for asylum. Amador instead was separated from her 10-year-old son. Authorities accused her of being a smuggler. She was detained for months until she agreed to be deported — without her boy, who went to live with relatives here in the Midwest. (snip) ...When Amador tried to enter the country again in February, she found a shocking about-face. She was turned away from the same checkpoint...

A November 2016 video of Michael Cohen indicates he lied under oath when he told lawmakers Wednesday that he didn't want a job in the Trump administration. At a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing, Cohen said, "I did not want to go to the White House. I was offered jobs." But he made clear in 2016 he wanted a Trump administration job. When told by CNN anchor Chris Cuomo that Trump would undoubtedly ask him to go Washington, D.C. with him, he responded: "I certainly hope so." When asked if he go, he responded: "One hundred percent." Near...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she was relieved that President Trump didn’t make a one-sided deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at their summit in Vietnam, but said that even holding a second meeting with Kim amounted to handing a victory to the dictator. “I guess it took two meetings to realize Kim Jong Un is not on the level,” Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters in Washington. “He was a big winner, Kim Jong Un, in getting to sit face to face with the most powerful person in the world, the president of the United States.” Trump, who abruptly...

CNN analyst Van Jones credited the conservative movement with galvanizing support for criminal-justice reform during a Thursday appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)….(snip) ...“The conservative movement in this country, unfortunately from my point of view, is now the leader on this issue of reform,” Jones said.... . . What you’re seeing now is Republican governors being tough on the dollars. Tough on crime and shrinking the prison population.”

New parents know all too well how rare a good night's sleep becomes after a baby arrives. Middle-of-the-night feedings and pre-dawn wake-ups take their toll. Now researchers have calculated just how great a toll it really is. A recent study, published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Sleep Research Society, found sleep satisfaction and duration sharply declined with childbirth, reaching the lowest point during the first three months after having a baby. And even six years later, parents' sleep still hadn't fully recovered. Both sleep satisfaction and duration were much lower for new moms than for dads. Women...

Think we are a republic and not a democracy? Think our Electoral College specified by our Constitution protects that republic? Think again folks. I borrowed some of this reasoning from a friend. In the last presidential election, Nevada had six electors (one assigned for each US Senator and one for each US Congressman from the state). Individual states may pass laws binding the electors to vote for the candidate of their respective party or impose any manner of "pledge" obligation on the electors. While it is rare, some electors (fewer than 1% since 1789) have been "faithless" and not voted...

In this reflective video, Reid asks various questions about our nation's history, our personal responsibilities, and what the future will be for this nation. 12 minute video

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) told moderate Democrats during a closed-door meeting on Thursday to stop siding with Republicans on procedural votes, saying they could become a lower priority for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2020. Pelosi met with the Democratic Caucus behind closed doors to discuss recent procedural votes that exposed the divisions within the party, according to two individuals who spoke to Politico. Since the Democrats took over the House last month, Republicans have won two motions to recommit, including a Wednesday vote that angered progressives, Politico reported.

A motorist whose car plunged into a Meadowlands creek swam to shore and forced his way into a business, where he took off his soaking clothes and apparently fell asleep, police said. Doruk Demirtas was driving his Ford Fusion east on East Union Avenue when it crashed into a guardrail at the dead end street, went off the road and ended up submerged in Berrys Creek around 1:15 a.m. on Thursday, according to East Rutherford police Capt. Phillip Taormina. *cut* Berrys Creek has the highest concentration of mercury in the world, and is part of a Superfund site.