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欢迎分享南外英语群每日英语早餐! 英语早餐内容包括：国际热点新闻、美国主流媒体文摘、英语政治和媒体词典以及清波门看世界。

国际热点新闻：国际热点时事新闻报道和深度分析文章（CBS, CNN, ABC, NBC, CNBC, CTV...）

美国主流媒体文摘：摘录当天美国主流媒体对美国政治经济热点新闻的报道和分析。

英语政治和媒体词典：解释英语政治时事和媒体常用英语词条。

清波门看世界：英中对照编辑海外主流媒体关于当今世界文化和旅游的报道和专题文章。

国际热点新闻 World Breaking News

1.Secretary Mike Pompeo defends deal brokered with Turkey to temporarily halt military operations in Syria (ABC)

2.US is out of the picture in Syria-Turkey crisis. Putin now owns this mess (CNN)

3.Pentagon chief says US troops leaving Syria for western Iraq (AP)

4.Boris Johnson faces frenzied week as Brexit deadline nears (AP)

5.European leaders ponder how to deal with British request for Brexit delay (Politico)

6.US defense chief in Afghanistan for firsthand look at war (AP)

7.The court that could decide the future of Trump's presidency (CNN)

8.Canada’s Conservatives offer bland option to Trudeau’s flash (ABC)

美国主流媒体文摘 The US Mainstream Media Quotes Oct 20, 2019

Pelosi in Jordan for 'vital discussions' amid Syria crisis
NBC by Associated Press

AMMAN, Jordan — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a group of American lawmakers on a surprise visit to Jordan to discuss "the deepening crisis" in Syria amid a shaky U.S.-brokered cease-fire.

Pelosi, along with the nine-member Congressional delegation, met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in the capital of Amman late on Saturday, for talks focusing on security and "regional stability," according to a statement from her office.

The country is as divided as it's been in recent history. Impeachment will likely make it worse
CNN by By Grace Sparks

The US has grown more divided along partisan lines over the last two decades and past polling suggests the current impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump is likely to only exacerbate those growing divisions.

Mulvaney continues to back away from quid pro quo, as top diplomat defends Giuliani’s role in Ukraine
The Washington Post by Karoun Demirjian

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney continued to back away Sunday from his public acknowledgment of a quid pro quo in which the Trump administration leveraged military aid to Ukraine for an investigation that could politically benefit President Trump, while the top U.S. diplomat defended Trump’s private lawyer’s role in Ukrainian affairs as “completely appropriate.”

Trump Campaign Floods Web With Ads, Raking In Cash as Democrats Struggle
The Washington Post by Matthew Rosenberg and Kevin Roose

On any given day, the Trump campaign is plastering ads all over Facebook, YouTube and the millions of sites served by Google, hitting the kind of incendiary themes — immigrant invaders, the corrupt media — that play best on platforms where algorithms favor outrage and political campaigns are free to disregard facts.

Caught up in Trump impeachment, US diplomats fight back
AP by By MATTHEW LEE

WASHINGTON (AP) — Three years of simmering frustration inside the State Department is boiling over on Capitol Hill as a parade of current and former diplomats testify to their concerns about the Trump administration’s unorthodox policy toward Ukraine.

Investigation into Trump-Russia probe continues to grow
Avois by Orion Rummler

A federal investigation closely supervised by Attorney General William Barr — which aims to inspect origins of the Trump-Russia probe — has interviewed "about two dozen and current F.B.I. officials," the New York Times reports.

Pompeo says he "never saw" Ukraine aid as tied to political investigations
Avois by Zachary Basu

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that he "never saw" the suspension of military aid to Ukraine as being tied to pressure to open investigations into Democrats, telling George Stephanopoulos that he'll leave it to acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney to "explain what it is he said and what he intended."

英语政治和媒体词典 Dictionary of Politics & Media

plausible deniability 貌似合理的否认

plausible deniability是指由于事先不知道某件事情，事后就能否认跟这件事有任何关系。这种否认听起来可信，或至少貌似合理。使用这个策略意味着要事先考虑周全，设置一些条件，为将来貌似合理逃避责任做好准备。

该术语是CIA在1960年代创造的，用于说明CIA对一些高级官员故意隐瞒一些CIA行动信息，以便在CIA的某些活动暴露或公开后，保护这些高官不受牵连，合理逃避责。

Arguably, the key concept of plausible deniability is plausibility. It is relatively easy for a government official to issue a blanket denial of an action, and it is possible to destroy or cover up evidence after the fact, and this might be sufficient to avoid a criminal prosecution, for instance. However, the public might well disbelieve the denial, particularly if there is strong circumstantial evidence, or if the action is believed to be so unlikely that the only logical explanation is that the denial is false. （wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausible_deniability）

Citations
Plausible deniability is a politician’s best friend. It’s something politicians seek to maintain in all circumstances by giving vanilla statements that offer future wiggle room.

For President Trump, though, plausible deniability is a way of life. The ability to pretend he didn’t actually say what he seems to have just said is something Trump has weaponized and exploited. It’s something he wields against his opponents in an effort to constantly muddy the waters and rally his supporters against a common enemy.

-- The Washington Post by Aaron Blake July 4, 2017