| Trump says fear of 'low income housing' will bring 'the suburban housewife' to his side Posted: 12 Aug 2020 11:53 AM PDT  The president has attacked Joe Biden by trying to appeal to a community that no longer exists.
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| Protesters in Minneapolis say they won't clear barricades around the George Floyd Memorial until the city leaders meet their 24 demands Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:50 PM PDT  Some of the demands include recalling Hennepin County Attorney, Mike Freeman, and ending qualified immunity.
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| Oregon State Police leaving Portland over lack of prosecutions Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:09 PM PDT |
| South Dakota Governor to get $400,000 security wall around residence Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:21 PM PDT  South Dakota officials said Wednesday they plan to build a security fence budgeted for $400,000 around the official governor's residence to protect Gov. Kristi Noem.
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| "Too many stories" of deaths, assault and harassment at Fort Hood Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:38 AM PDT  At least nine service members have been found dead at Fort Hood, and in more than half of those cases, foul play has not been ruled out.
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| A beloved lesbian baker in Detroit got a homophobic cake order. Here's why she made it anyway. Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:01 AM PDT  April Anderson, a Detroit pastry chef with national cred, was taken aback by a recent cake order that came into her Good Cakes and Bakes bakery.
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| Florida sheriff orders deputies not to wear masks, bans civilians in masks from office Posted: 12 Aug 2020 04:32 PM PDT  "Now, I can already hear the whining and just so you know I did not make this decision easily," Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods said in a memo to staff.
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| 'Antifa' website cited in conservative media attack on Biden is linked to — wait for it — Russia Posted: 12 Aug 2020 05:47 PM PDT  One America News chief White House correspondent Chanel Rion used a Russian-linked site to take a shot at the Democratic ticket.
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| Portland State disarms campus police after Black man's death Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:00 PM PDT  Portland State University said Thursday it will disarm its campus police force, more than two years after officers from the department shot and killed a Black man who was trying to break up a fight close to campus. Portland State President Stephen Percy said the decision to have officers patrol the campus unarmed is the first step in a broader policy to re-imagine safety at the state-funded university in the heart of the city. Activists had been calling for Portland State to disarm campus police long before Floyd's death.
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| Georgia shop that said it would charge only white people $20 booking fee apologizes Posted: 13 Aug 2020 08:57 AM PDT  Black people and customers of color were exempt from the refundable fee.
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| North Korea nuclear reactor site threatened by recent flooding, U.S. think-tank says Posted: 12 Aug 2020 07:58 PM PDT  Satellite imagery suggests recent flooding in North Korea may have damaged pump houses connected to the country's main nuclear facility, a U.S.-based think-tank said on Thursday. Analysts at 38 North, a website that monitors North Korea, said commercial satellite imagery from August 6-11 showed how vulnerable the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center's nuclear reactor cooling systems are to extreme weather events. The Korean peninsula has been hammered by one of the longest rainy spells in recent history, with floods and landslides causing damage and deaths in both North and South Korea.
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| Drake Bell has denied allegations of abuse made by his ex-girlfriend on TikTok Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:33 AM PDT  In her first video, Lingafelt said that Bell verbally abused her when they lived together and that he turned violent, allegations which he denies.
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| AOC responds to apparent Democratic party convention speech snub: 'Eternity is in it' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:03 AM PDT  Firebrand lawmaker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at an alleged snub by the Democratic party after being given just 60 seconds to deliver a speech a next week's convention.AOC responded on Twitter by posting the poem 'I have only just a minute', written by the late Dr Benjamin E. Mays, an American Baptist minister and civil rights leader.
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| US labels Confucius Institute a Chinese 'foreign mission' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:45 PM PDT  The Chinese government educational programmes are "advancing Beijing's global propaganda", the US says.
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| Israel strikes Hamas positions in Gaza over fire balloons Posted: 11 Aug 2020 10:45 PM PDT  The Israeli military said Wednesday it carried out overnight strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip after incendiary balloons were launched across the border from the Palestinian enclave. Jets, attack helicopters and tanks struck a number of Hamas targets including "underground infrastructure and observation posts," a statement said. Fire services in southern Israel said the balloons caused 60 fires on Tuesday alone but reported no casualties.
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| Mexico launches corruption investigation into former president Posted: 12 Aug 2020 09:33 AM PDT  Prosecutors in Mexico have opened an investigation into former president Enrique Peña Nieto, who is accused of taking bribes in one of Latin America's largest-ever corruption scandals. Emilio Lozoya, the former head of the state energy firm Pemex, accused Mr Peña Nieto on Tuesday of ordering him to funnel more than $4m (£2.5m) in bribes from Brazil's construction giant Odebrecht into the 2012 presidential election campaign. In a second allegation, Mr Lozoya said that once in power Mr Peña Nieto used a similar amount to bribe lawmakers to ensure the passage of a crucial energy reform bill through parliament. Mr Lozoya, who led Pemex from 2012 to 2016 and was a close aide to Mr Peña Nieto, has been charged with money laundering, bribery and racketeering in two cases. He has denied wrongdoing, as has Mr Peña Nieto. His offer of evidence allegedly involving Mr Peña Nieto is part of a negotiation to secure a plea bargain, according to reports. Mr Lozoya's allegations are part of the highest-profile corruption case since 1983, when another former Pemex chief was jailed for corruption. If Mr Peña Nieto were indicted, he would be the first president to face corruption charges in Mexico's modern history. Last year, a witness testifying at a US trial of Mexico's drug cartel kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán said Mr Peña Nieto had accepted a $100m (£77m) bribe from the mobster. The ex-president also made no comments on that allegation, but he has previously rejected allegations of corruption. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Mexico's President, on Wednesday said Mr Peña Nieto should have to testify and called on Mr Lozoya to come forward with evidence to back his accusations. The case likely comes as a welcome distraction for Mr Obrador, whose country is suffering from one of the world's worst outbreaks of the coronavirus. He claimed on Wednesday that the coronavirus pandemic is losing force in Mexico, even as 6,686 new confirmed coronavirus cases and 926 additional fatalities were reported the night before. With 53,929 total deaths, Mexico has the third highest coronavirus death toll in the world.
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| Celebrate the VP nominee, not Biden's decision to pick a woman. It's the least he can do. Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:00 PM PDT  Our country has endured high opportunity costs for keeping white men in power for so long while ignoring the political contributions women could make.
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| Turkey's president warns attack against Turkish ships will pay 'high price' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:55 PM PDT  President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that any attack on a Turkish ship exploring for oil and gas in disputed Mediterranean waters would incur a "high price" and suggested Turkey had already acted on that warning.
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| South Dakota Gov. Noem to build security fence around residence Posted: 13 Aug 2020 04:57 AM PDT  The GOP official, a big supporter of Trump, has come under fire for her handling of coronavirus.
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| Taiwan says discussing purchase of U.S. mines, cruise missiles Posted: 12 Aug 2020 10:00 AM PDT  Taiwan is in discussions with the United States on acquiring underwater sea mines to deter amphibious landings as well as cruise missiles for coastal defense, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to United States said on Wednesday. Speaking to the Washington's Hudson Institute think tank, Hsiao Bi-khim said Taiwan was facing "an existential survival issue," given China's territorial and sovereignty claims over the island and needed to expand its asymmetric capabilities. Hsiao said Taipei was currently working with the United States on acquiring a number of hardware capabilities, including cruise missiles that would work in conjunction with Taiwan's indigenous Hsiung Feng missile system to provide better coastal defense.
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| Trump says open schools. Teachers say safety first. As cases rise, unions may win. Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:08 PM PDT  Unions are battling Trump, Betsy DeVos and GOP leaders on how schools reopen, leaving little time to negotiate how to improve online learning.
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| More US churches sue to challenge COVID-19 restrictions Posted: 13 Aug 2020 03:08 PM PDT  Churches in California and Minnesota, backed by a conservative legal group, filed lawsuits this week against the governors of their states challenging restrictions imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak that they contend are violations of religious liberty. In Minnesota, a lawsuit was filed Thursday in federal court challenging Gov. Tim Walz's executive orders requiring 6-foot social distancing and the wearing of face masks at worship services.
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| Father-and-son doctors died of the coronavirus within weeks of each other in Florida hospitals Posted: 12 Aug 2020 09:13 AM PDT  Dr. Jorge A. Vallejo and Dr. Carlos Vallejo were both hospitalized with the coronavirus on Father's Day, the Miami Herald reported.
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| How To Make Mrs. Fields Famous Cookies, Plus 28 More Copycat Dessert Recipes Posted: 13 Aug 2020 09:23 AM PDT |
| He used social media to pimp a 14-year-old in Miami airport hotels, cops say. He’s 17 Posted: 13 Aug 2020 02:45 PM PDT  A 14-year-old runaway told cops she got sold for sex at hotels across the street from Miami International Airport up to five times a day, according to a police report. The first statutory rapist called himself "Slime," the girl said. He paid in Percocet.
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| Huge fire north of Los Angeles prompts evacuations Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:38 PM PDT  A fast-moving brush fire north of Los Angeles prompted mandatory evacuation orders for some 500 homes on Wednesday as firefighters battled the flames that had burned 10,000 acres by early evening, authorities said. Rapidly-spreading flames had scorched some 10,000 acres (4,050 hectares) within a little more than three hours, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. "Multiple agencies are battling a brush fire near the Lake Hughes area in the Angeles National Forest," the department said in a tweet.
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| ‘Enormous Price to Pay’: Pompeo Says He Warned Russian Foreign Minister against Bounties on U.S. Troops Posted: 13 Aug 2020 06:48 AM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday that he warned Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov against placing bounties on the heads of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, assuring him there would be "an enormous price to pay.""If the Russians are offering money to kill Americans, or for that matter other Westerns as well, there will be an enormous price to pay. That's what I shared with foreign minister Lavrov," Pompeo said during an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty."I know our military has talked to their senior leaders as well. We won't brook that, we won't tolerate," Pompeo continued.Reports broke in June that U.S. intelligence found that at least one American soldier, as well as a number of Afghan civilians, died as a result of alleged secret bounty payments that Russia offered Taliban militants to target U.S. troops in Afghanistan.Intelligence about the alleged bounty offerings by Russia was reportedly included in the president's daily written intelligence briefing in February, but the White House claims Trump was not verbally briefed on the matter until the New York Times's June 26 report on the issue. The Times reported that some bounties as high as $100,000 were paid for each U.S. or allied troop killed.The Washington Post said in a similar report that several American service-members died as a result of monetary rewards that a Russian military intelligence unit offered to terrorist militants to target U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.Pompeo's warning to the Russian foreign minister reportedly came during a July 13 phone call that was officially held to discuss a separate topic, the possibility of meeting between the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council.The secretary of state expressed Washington's intense opposition to the bounty program but did not speak about the specific intelligence indicating that Russia paid Taliban fighters and other Afghanistan militants to kill U.S. service members.Last month, President Trump said he has never discussed the intelligence with Russian President Vladimir Putin despite several phone calls between the two heads of state since the intelligence was made known. Trump has said he was not briefed on the intelligence because there was not a consensus about its reliability within the intelligence community.Meanwhile, the U.S. has been entrenched in negotiations with the Taliban and the Afghan government over a peace agreement that involves the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region.
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| Argentina, Mexico to produce AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine Posted: 12 Aug 2020 06:16 PM PDT  Argentina and Mexico will produce the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for most of Latin America, Argentine President Alberto Fernandez said on Wednesday after a meeting with company executives involved in the project. An agreement signed between British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the biotechnology company mAbxience of the INSUD Group includes transfer of technology to initially produce 150 million doses of the vaccine to supply all of Latin America with the exception of Brazil, the Argentine government said.
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| US says Iran briefly seizes oil tanker near Strait of Hormuz Posted: 12 Aug 2020 08:27 PM PDT  The Iranian navy boarded and briefly seized a Liberian-flagged oil tanker near the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S., the American military said Thursday. The U.S. military's Central Command published a black-and-white video showing what appeared to be special forces fast-roping down from a helicopter onto the MT Wila, whose last position appeared to be off the eastern coast of the United Arab Emirates near the city of Khorfakkan. The Iranian navy held the vessel for some five hours before releasing it Wednesday, said a U.S. military official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss details not yet made public.
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| A grapefruit-scented perfume ingredient that's toxic to ticks and mosquitoes is the first new insect repellent to be approved in a decade Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:08 PM PDT  Nootkatone is naturally found in grapefruit rinds and certain cedar trees. The chemical shows promise as a defense against ticks and mosquitoes.
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| Florida sheriff funds $35,000-a-month luxury office with 'the money we take from the bad guys' Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:24 PM PDT  Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and more than a dozen of his top staff will work in the premium space while their main office is renovated.
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| A Florida homeless man found luxury. He moved into a stadium luxury suite, police say Posted: 13 Aug 2020 12:13 PM PDT  A homeless man somehow got into Al Lang Stadium and lived in a luxury suite for nearly two weeks, police said.
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| NRA lawsuits come amid changing face of American gun owners Posted: 13 Aug 2020 01:17 PM PDT |
| Mexican judge orders arrest of 19 former federal police officials Posted: 12 Aug 2020 07:48 AM PDT  The arrest orders were the result of an investigation into the accounts of the previous Interior Ministry, according to Pres. Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
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| Ghislaine Maxwell fails to obtain delay in unsealing documents Posted: 12 Aug 2020 03:02 PM PDT  A U.S. judge on Wednesday rejected Ghislaine Maxwell's request for a three-week delay in the unsealing of additional documents related to her dealings with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein. Lawyers for the British socialite, who faces criminal charges she aided Epstein's sexual abuses, had on Monday said "critical new information" had surfaced that could affect Maxwell's ability to obtain a fair trial, justifying the delay. Lawyers for Maxwell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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| Biden's deep Israel ties could ease Obama-era tensions, say experts Posted: 13 Aug 2020 03:27 AM PDT  During Joe Biden's first trip to Israel in 1973, he met prime minister Golda Meir, who chain-smoked as she detailed regional security threats days before the Yom Kippur War. Biden, a newly elected US senator at the time, later described that meeting as "one of the most consequential" of his life. In the more than four decades since, his career has been marked by a staunch defence of Israel, especially in its handling of the Palestinian conflict.
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| Teens and young adults who vape are 5 to 7 times more likely to get coronavirus, a new study found Posted: 12 Aug 2020 04:46 PM PDT  Health experts had warned that vaping could leave lungs susceptible to severe COVID-19 infections. Now they have the data to show it.
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| Georgia governor to drop lawsuit over Atlanta mask mandate Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:45 AM PDT  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday said he's dropping a lawsuit against the city of Atlanta in a dispute over the city's requirement to wear masks in public and other restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic. Kemp had sued Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and the City Council to block them from implementing restrictions at the local level, even as case counts and hospitalizations in the state soared. The Republican governor argued that local governments can't impose measures that are more or less restrictive than those in his statewide executive orders, which have strongly urged people to wear masks but not required them.
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| Customers attack Chili’s hostess over socially distant seating, Louisiana police say Posted: 13 Aug 2020 11:21 AM PDT  "I just cannot believe that this happened to me," the teen said.
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| After the civil rights era, white Americans failed to support systemic change to end racism. Will they now? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 05:10 AM PDT  The first wave of the Black Lives Matter movement, which crested after the 2014 police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, had the support of less than half of white Americans.Given that Americans tend to have a very narrow definition of racism, many at that time were likely confused by the juxtaposition of Black-led protests, implying that racism was persistent, alongside the presence of a Black family in the White House. Barack Obama's presidency was seen as evidence that racism was in decline. The current, second wave of the movement feels different, in part because the past months of protests have been multiracial. The media and scholars have noted that whites' sensibilities have become more attuned to issues of anti-Black police violence and discrimination. After the first wave of the movement in 2014, there was little systemic change in response to demands by Black Lives Matter activists. Does the fact that whites are participating in the current protests in greater numbers mean that the outcome of these protests will be different? Will whites go beyond participating in marches and actually support fundamental policy changes to fight anti-Black violence and discrimination?As a scholar of political science and African American studies, I believe there are lessons from the civil rights movement 60 years ago that can help answer those questions. Principles didn't turn into policyThe challenges that Black Americans face today do not precisely mimic those of the 1960s, but the history is still relevant. During the civil rights movement of the mid-20th century, there was a concerted effort among Black freedom fighters to show white Americans the kinds of racial terrorism the average Black American lived under. Through the power of television, whites were able to see with their own eyes how respectable, nonviolent Black youth were treated by police as they sought to push the U.S. to live up to its creed of liberty and equality for all of its citizens.Monumental legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed, purportedly guaranteeing protection from racial discrimination in many public spaces and equal opportunity to register to vote and cast a ballot. Additionally, whites were increasingly likely to report attitudes that many would now view as nonracist over the following several decades. For example, white Americans were more willing to have a nonwhite neighbor. They were less likely to support ideas of biological racism or the idea that whites should always have access to better jobs over Blacks.But these changed values and attitudes among whites never fully translated into support for government policies that would bring racial equality to fruition for Blacks. White Americans remained uncommitted to integrating public schools, which has been shown to drastically reduce the so-called racial achievement gap. Whites never gave more than a modicum of support for affirmative action policies aimed to level the playing field for jobs and higher education.This phenomenon – the distance between what people say they value and what they are willing to do to live up to their ideals – is so common that social scientists have given it a name: the principle-policy gap.White Americans' direct witness of police brutality led to a shift in racial attitudes and the passage of significant legislation. But even these combined changes did not radically change the face of racial inequality in American society. Going backwardBy the 1970s and 1980s, political leaders would capitalize on whites' sentiments that efforts for racial equality had gone too far.That created an environment that allowed the retrenchment of civil rights-era gains. The Republican Party's so-called "Southern Strategy," which aimed to turn white Southern Democrats into Republican voters, was successful in consolidating the support of white Southerners through the use of racial dog whistles. And the War on Drugs would serve to disproportionately target and police already segregated Black communities.By the 1990s, racial disparities in incarceration rates had skyrocketed, schools began to resegregate, and federal and state policies that created residential segregation and the existing racial wealth gap were never adequately addressed. From understanding to action?Scholars have made efforts to reveal the intricate and structural nature of racism in the U.S. Their analyses range from showing how racial disparities across various domains of American life are intricately connected rather than coincidental; to highlighting the ways in which race-neutral policies like the GI Bill helped to set the stage for today's racial wealth gap; to explaining that America's racial hierarchy is a caste system. But my research shows that white Americans, including white millennials, have largely become accustomed to thinking about racism in terms of overt racial prejudice, discrimination and bigotry. They don't see the deeper, more intractable problems that scholars – and Black activists – have laid out. [Get the best of The Conversation, every weekend. Sign up for our weekly newsletter.]Consequently, it has taken a filmed incident of incendiary racism to awaken whites to the problems clearly identified by Black activists, just as it did for previous generations.My research also shows that individuals' understanding of the problem influences their willingness to support various policies. A big issue that our society faces, then, is that white Americans' understanding of racism is too superficial to prompt them to support policies that have the potential to lead to greater justice for Black Americans. Attitudes and policies don't matchSome have suggested that this second wave of the Black Lives Matter movement is the largest social movement in American history. These protests have led local representatives to publicly proclaim that Black Lives Matter; policymakers, government officials and corporations to decry and remove Confederate symbols and racist images; and congressional as well as local attempts to address police accountability.But, as after the civil rights era, the principle-policy gap seems to be reappearing. Attitudes among whites are changing, but the policies that people are willing to support do not necessarily address the more complex issue of structural racism. For example, polling reveals that people support both these protests and also the way that police are handling them, despite evidence of ongoing brutality. The polling also shows that the majority of Americans believe that police are more likely to use deadly force against Black Americans than against whites. But only one-quarter of those polled are willing to support efforts to reduce funding to police – a policy aimed to redistribute funds to support community equity. More whites are willing to acknowledge white racial privilege, but only about one in eight support reparations to Blacks.Americans may choose to dig deeper this time around. Some state legislators, for example, are attempting to leverage this moment to create more systemic changes beyond policing – in schools, judicial systems and health matters. But ultimately, Americans will have to overcome two intertwined challenges. First, they will have to learn to detect forms of racism that don't lend themselves to a mobile-phone filming. And they will have to recognize that dismantling centuries of oppression takes more than acknowledgment, understanding and well-meaning sentiment. It takes sacrifice and action.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.Read more: * African Americans have long defied white supremacy and celebrated Black culture in public spaces * How the failures of the 1919 Versailles Peace Treaty set the stage for today's anti-racist uprisingsCandis Watts Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
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| Conservatives are trying to destroy the US Postal Service. Instead we should expand it Posted: 13 Aug 2020 04:29 AM PDT  The USPS is our most successful and trusted institution by almost any measure. Let's embrace and empower it There is an American corporation that employs 633,108 people, handles 142.6bn pieces of product every year, and holds a 48% global market share in its sector. It constitutes a domestic retail network larger than McDonald's, Starbucks and Walmart combined, one that spans even the most rural and isolated parts of the United States. It is an iconic brand tremendously popular with the American public. Even during a devastating pandemic, this firm has seen its total third-quarter revenue increase by $547m year over year.Instead of trumpeting that 3.2% gain, however, the corporation's CEO ominously warns that the company is "in a financially unsustainable position absent significant fundamental change" and threatens to start scrapping it for parts. The notion is bizarre. Yet that is exactly what's happening to the United States Postal Service (USPS). A completely politicized and manufactured crisis threatens to destroy one of the most important institutions in the United States.The US Post Office Department was created by the federal government soon after the American Revolution with a mission to connect a geographically diverse country and avoid the state censorship that plagued colonial America. In the centuries that followed, it has only expanded that mandate, maintaining tens of thousands of far-flung retail offices and postal boxes, all at no taxpayer expense.No surprise that 91% of Americans hold a favorable view of the USPS.Contrary to common tropes of state inefficiency, the post office is both fulfilling a broad social service, far beyond what is expected of any private corporations, and doing so profitably. Those profits are disguised, however, by a 2006 law imposed by Congress that requires the USPS to create a $72bn fund to pay for its post-retirement healthcare costs 75 years into the future. It's a requirement no other organization, public or private, has to fulfill.Business leaders often worry about state intervention "picking the winners and losers" of market competition. But the decades-long campaign against the USPS is more like the opposite – the state undermining its own successful project in pursuit of ideologically driven cutbacks and privatization schemes.The damage being done won't just affect American consumers, particularly those in rural areas that rely the most on the USPS. It will also affect voters – during a pandemic when voting by mail is more important than ever – and hundreds of thousands of workers.Postal employment is one of America's most powerful engines of upward mobility. As early as 1861, the Post Office Department began hiring black employees and maintained that practice throughout the century of racial apartheid that followed the end of slavery. Today, a full quarter of USPS workers are black and the vast majority of them unionized. For these workers, and millions of others, stable public sector employment is the only viable route to union protections, job stability and a decent living.Given the status of the USPS as one of the largest employers in the United States, a needless austerity program of any size would directly affect every community in the country. But the indirect effects would be just as profound. Collective bargaining influences pay and benefits across sectors, benefiting even non-union workers in private companies like FedEx. USPS unions, such as the American Postal Workers Union, have intervened more widely, too, in defense of social goods enjoyed by all working people and backing Bernie Sanders and his demands for new programs like Medicare for All.However, rather than just trying to protect the USPS as it currently exists from Trump administration attacks, we should go further. Let's expand the USPS's mandate.> We can imagine, for example, the USPS using its unrivaled logistical reach to deliver food and other essentials to the poor and elderlyFor example, we should consider resurrecting postal banking. Throughout much of the 20th century the Post Office Department operated a savings system, which allowed customers to make deposits. Today, numerous countries offer postal banking services, including France, New Zealand and South Korea. The return of the postal savings system could help the millions of American adults who currently don't have a bank account, but may regularly access the more than 17,000 post offices in zip codes where there is only one or no bank branch location.As private banks continue to operate in predatory ways and close local branches and "payday lenders" prey on workers without bank accounts, a viable public option is needed more than ever.We can imagine, for example, the USPS using its unrivaled logistical reach to deliver food and other essentials to the poor and elderly, or expanding into the field of telecommunications by helping to improve access to broadband internet in rural areas. No single part of our government is going to be able to do everything well. But it's worth considering expanding the scope of our best-functioning agencies to meet the challenges of the 21st century.Despite our country's tremendous wealth we're failing behind our peers in the industrial world on a range of metrics such as poverty, hunger, life expectancy and infant mortality. Part of the reason is our refusal to invest in and develop our public sector and services. We're failing ourselves and generations to come. Now is the time to double down on our most beloved and efficient public institution, not jeopardize its future. * Bhaskar Sunkara is the founding editor of Jacobin magazine and a Guardian US columnist. He is the author of The Socialist Manifesto: The Case for Radical Politics in an Era of Extreme Inequality
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| Silvio Berlusconi reveals new 30-year-old girlfriend after multi-million pound split with partner Posted: 12 Aug 2020 10:13 AM PDT  Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has appeared to confirm he is in a new relationship with a much-younger woman, shortly after agreeing to a multi-million-euro settlement with his much-younger ex-girlfriend. Marta Fascina, 30, was photographed holding hands with Mr Berlusconi, 83, at his luxurious Villa Certosa in Sardinia, as they were about to board a yacht belonging to Mr Berlusconi's long-time friend Ennio Doris. The four-time premier and media magnate, who has dominated Italian politics for more than 20 years, split in March from his partner of 12 years, Francesca Pascale, 35. The pictures were first published by Italian tabloid "Chi," owned by the Berlusconi family, which has been taken as confirmation of the relationship. According to reports in Italian media, the relationship was consolidated during quarantine and they have already moved in together to Mr Berlusconi's residence. Ms Fascina, a former journalist and press officer for Mr Berlusconi's soccer club AC Milan, has been a member of the Italian parliament's lower house since 2018 in Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.
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| What Do All of Your Favorite Summer Beverages Have in Common? Posted: 13 Aug 2020 07:00 AM PDT |
| Conservation groups condemn Trump administration plan to ease showerhead rules Posted: 13 Aug 2020 03:35 AM PDT  The Trump administration wants to change a 28-year-old energy law to allow showerheads to let more water flow.
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