| 'His standard playbook': How Trump spent the week of the DNC on counterprogramming Posted: 19 Aug 2020 03:46 PM PDT  As leaders on both sides of the political aisle criticized Donald Trump while praising Joe Biden at this week's virtual Democratic National Convention, the president did his best to steal the spotlight with a range of calculated counter-programming events and statements.
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| Megan Boswell, mom of Tennessee's 2-year-old 'baby Evelyn' has been charged with her murder months after the toddler's remains were found Posted: 20 Aug 2020 01:05 PM PDT  Evelyn Boswell went missing in December, but a family member didn't report it until February. Her remains were found on a family member's property.
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| Rep. Joe Kennedy III denies knowledge that his father contributed millions to super-PAC in support of Senate race Posted: 19 Aug 2020 02:12 PM PDT  Massachusetts congressman and Senate primary candidate Joe Kennedy III tells Yahoo News Editor in Chief Daniel Klaidman and Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff that he had no knowledge that his father, Joe Kennedy II, had transferred a large sum of money into a super-PAC supporting his primary run against Sen. Ed Markey.
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| California firefighters `taxed to the limit' seeking help Posted: 19 Aug 2020 10:20 PM PDT  More than two dozen major fires were scorching California on Thursday and taxing the state's firefighting capacity, sparked by an unprecedented lightning siege that dropped nearly 11,000 strikes over several days. The fires have destroyed 175 structures, including homes, and are threatening 50,000 more, said Daniel Berlant, an assistant deputy director with the state Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. In all, 33 civilians and firefighters have been injured, and two people have died.
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| U.S. senator calls for federal investigation into beating near Portland protests Posted: 18 Aug 2020 07:01 PM PDT  U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham urged the department to probe the case as Portland police identified a 25-year-old man suspected of taking part in the Sunday night attack and asked him to surrender. "This shocking attack by a mob against a young man in the streets of Portland is beyond the pale," Graham, an ally of U.S. president Donald Trump, said in a written statement.
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| Rep. Debbie Dingell warns Democrats that voter concerns over violence could be more important than trade this election year Posted: 19 Aug 2020 05:25 PM PDT  Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell worries the spike in violence in many urban areas, combined with attacks on the police, could be a wedge issue in the presidential election.
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| Obama reportedly moved his speaking slot at the DNC so he could 'pass the torch' to Harris Posted: 19 Aug 2020 06:52 PM PDT  Former President Barack Obama knows what it's like to make history at a Democratic National Convention, and soon, so will Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.).Obama was set to give the final speech during night three of the Democratic National Convention on Wednesday, but instead, he asked organizers to switch things up and give his slot to Harris, a person familiar with the matter told The Washington Post. Why? Because as the first Black president, he wanted to "pass the torch" to Harris, who is poised to become the first Black and South Asian woman on a major party's presidential ticket. Now, he will speak before Harris, and she will deliver the night's final address.More stories from theweek.com 5 bitingly funny cartoons about the Democratic National Convention Can Joe Biden salvage the DNC? A confused Kirsten Dunst asks Kanye West why he put her on his campaign poster
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| Nashville police chief orders investigation after officers knock in innocent family's door Posted: 20 Aug 2020 05:07 AM PDT  Interim MNPD chief John Drake made a swift policy change and decommissioned three officers after the search warrant was executed at an Edgehill home.
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| Macron and Merkel meet with Turkey, Belarus, COVID on the agenda Posted: 20 Aug 2020 08:32 AM PDT  French President Emmanuel Macron received German Chancellor Angela Merkel at his Mediterranean holiday retreat on Thursday to discuss a long list of burning issues including the coronavirus pandemic, post-election unrest in Belarus and growing tensions with Turkey.
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| Cliff collapses in Grand Canyon revealing 313 million-year-old footprints, park says Posted: 20 Aug 2020 10:00 AM PDT  The footprints were in plain view to hikers, the park said.
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| Fox News analyst praises Jill Biden’s speech in comparison to ‘hard, angry’ Michelle Obama Posted: 19 Aug 2020 12:34 AM PDT  A Fox News analyst praised Jill Biden for her DNC speech on Tuesday, before immediately criticising what he described as Michelle Obama's "hard" and "angry" approach the previous night.Appearing on the network's roundup of events on day two of the convention, political analyst Brit Hume gave his take on Ms Biden's speech, in which she made the case for her husband, Joe, to become president.
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| How Ukraine's audacious secret service successfully scammed Putin and his mercenaries Posted: 19 Aug 2020 08:30 AM PDT  Ukraine tricked 32 Russian mercenaries into confessing their jobs and almost flying straight into Ukrainian custody.
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| A lawyer for a police officer charged in George Floyd's death says Floyd 'killed himself' by dying from an overdose and a heart condition Posted: 20 Aug 2020 08:18 AM PDT  The lawyer for Thomas Lane, a former Minneapolis police officer, said the cops charged in George Floyd's death were just "doing their jobs."
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| Mauritius oil spill: Satellite images show removal operation Posted: 19 Aug 2020 03:26 AM PDT  Satellite images capture tug boats trying to remove the broken vessel, which spilled tonnes of oil.
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| Brooklyn mother traveling with 6 children forced off JetBlue flight when her 2-year-old daughter wouldn't wear mask Posted: 19 Aug 2020 06:59 PM PDT  NEW YORK - A Brooklyn mother traveling alone with her six children was forced off a JetBlue flight in Orlando, Florida, Wednesday when her 2-year-old daughter wouldn't wear her mask. Flight attendants ordered Chaya Bruck of Midwood to get off the Newark, New Jersey-bound plane after her daughter Dina refused to keep the face covering on - and when the desperate mom tried to explain the tot ...
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| Where's Tulsi? Posted: 18 Aug 2020 08:12 PM PDT  Few things could have actually enlivened the funereal proceedings that were the second night of this year's virtual Democratic National Convention. But one thing that might have gone a long way in that direction was hearing from Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, the one 2020 primary candidate who was awarded delegates but not given a speaking role.It is strange to think that only four years ago Gabbard was still considered a rising star in the Democratc Party. At the DNC in 2016, it was Gabbard who was chosen to nominate Sen. Bernie Sanders as the official second-place finisher in the delegate tally, the role taken on Tuesday night by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.These days Gabbard is a pariah in her party. There are some fairly obvious reasons for this. Not only did she tear apart Kamala Harris' record as a prosecutor during last year's debates; she also voted against one of the articles of impeachment against President Trump back in February. Like most principled critics of America's foreign policy, her lack of interest in knee-jerk partisanship has done her no favors.Foreign policy is a topic about which we've heard little so far at this year's convention. If nothing else, Tuesday night's endorsements from John Kerry, Cindy McCain, and Colin Powell served as a reminder that a Biden administration would be committed to the same interventionism that left us with an unwinnable war in Afghanistan and perhaps the most geographically expansive refugee crisis in human history in North Africa and the Middle East.Tulsi is not the only former Democratic presidential candidate who would have made Tuesday night better television. I would have paid $50 for a pay-per-view convention in order to hear Marianne Williamson talk about the power of love.More stories from theweek.com Joe Biden is already planning a failed presidency 5 brutally funny cartoons about Trump's assault on the Post Office The elephant in the room at the DNC
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| Pakistani who killed American in court says he was given gun Posted: 20 Aug 2020 09:52 AM PDT  A Pakistani man charged with the killing of a U.S. citizen inside a court in the country's restive northwest has claimed he had an accomplice, a lawyer who managed to sneak the gun into the building and give it to him, the police said Thursday. The American, Tahir Naseem, was gunned down in public last month in the city of Peshawar where he was on trial for blasphemy following his arrest two years ago after he had allegedly declared himself Islam's prophet. The U.S. State Department said Naseem had been "lured to Pakistan" from his home in Illinois and entrapped by the country's controversial blasphemy law, which international rights groups have sought to have repealed.
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| Coronavirus cases reported in fraternities, sororities at 2 universities Posted: 19 Aug 2020 11:58 AM PDT  Auburn University and North Carolina State reported the outbreaks Tuesday, a day after Oklahoma State University began its semester with an entire sorority under quarantine.
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| Washington tourist breaks quarantine and spends part of Hawaii vacation in jail, cops say Posted: 19 Aug 2020 04:54 PM PDT  Hawaii requires travelers to quarantine for 14 days when they arrive to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
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| Fact check: Vice President Mike Pence 'can't wait' to be on debate stage with Kamala Harris Posted: 20 Aug 2020 05:20 PM PDT  The vice president has said on at least two occasions that he's looking forward to debating the Democratic senator in October in Utah.
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| An overwhelming majority of Americans say the US response to coronavirus makes them feel embarrassed Posted: 19 Aug 2020 07:49 AM PDT  A strong majority of Americans (58%) in a new poll disapproved of President Donald Trump's handling of the pandemic; 68% expressed embarrassment.
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| Body cam footage shows Phoenix police restraining a man on asphalt in 100-degree heat who later died Posted: 20 Aug 2020 02:08 PM PDT  Phoenix police launched an internal investigation and released footage showing the arrest of Ramon Lopez, 28, who died in hospital shortly afterward.
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| Former Navy Seal who killed Osama bin Laden is banned from Delta Air Lines after not wearing mask Posted: 20 Aug 2020 01:26 PM PDT  The former Navy Seal who shot and killed Osama bin Laden has sparked controversy online after he bragged about not wearing a face mask on a recent flight – a claim that has banned him from Delta Air Lines.Robert O'Neill, 44, a former US Navy SEAL Team Six member, tweeted an image of himself on a flight where he was seen smiling in his seat without a mask.
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| These Black Lives Matter Protesters Had No Idea How One Arrest Could Alter Their Lives Posted: 19 Aug 2020 07:15 AM PDT  Young protesters, particularly those of color, arrested at protests can face chilling consequences
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| Strike at Belarus' state TV erodes government control Posted: 20 Aug 2020 04:52 AM PDT  In a new challenge to Belarus' authoritarian ruler, hundreds of employees of state television have gone on strike amid a rising tide of protests, calling for his resignation after a vote the opposition saw as rigged. The journalists' action this week has shaken the government's control of the media, helping further erode President Alexander Lukashenko's grip after 26 years of iron-fisted rule. Vyacheslav Lomonosov, one of Belarusian TV employees who joined the labor action, said he and his colleagues could no longer tolerate an official ban on reporting the truth about a brutal crackdown on protests that has stoked international outrage.
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| There’s another salmonella outbreak (not the onion one). First recalls: Target and Aldi Posted: 20 Aug 2020 07:27 AM PDT  Another salmonella outbreak was announced Wednesday night by the CDC, this one linked to peaches produced by Wawona Packing Company.
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| ‘Is that supposed to be a bad thing?’: Trump responds to questions about being at the center of QAnon conspiracies Posted: 19 Aug 2020 03:50 PM PDT  At a press conference on Wednesday, President Trump said he hadn't heard much about the QAnon conspiracy theory but that he understands its supporters like him.
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| American Airlines says it will stop flying to 15 US cities in October, leaving some without an airline — here's the full list Posted: 20 Aug 2020 06:47 AM PDT  American is trimming its route network in preparation for the expiration of government assistance through the CARES Act scheduled for October 1.
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| DNC: Security guard who blurted ‘I love you’ to Biden last year nominates him for president Posted: 19 Aug 2020 01:41 PM PDT  Standing in front of an elevator, Brittany gave her pitch to the DNC, saying "I take powerful people up on my elevator all the time. ... But in the short time I spent with Joe Biden, I could tell he really saw me."
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| How Steve Bannon allegedly duped Trump’s supporters into funding ‘lavish lifestyle’ with a ‘fraudulent’ border wall campaign Posted: 20 Aug 2020 06:01 AM PDT  Thousands of Donald Trump's supporters were duped by his former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and others into supporting an online crowdfunding effort to build the president's long-promised border wall, federal prosecutors have alleged.The indictment of Mr Bannon, Brian Kolfage, Andrew Badolato and Timothy Shea was the result of what prosecutors described as an illegal scheme which "defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalising on their interest in funding a border wall to raise millions of dollars, under the false pretence that all of that money would be spent on construction" along the US-Mexico border.
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| Portland riots rage as protesters set fires, attack government building Posted: 19 Aug 2020 06:03 AM PDT  Protesters lit fires, threw rocks and smashed windows at county government offices in Portland, Ore., on Tuesday, prompting police to declare a riot, after weeks of mostly peaceful antiracism demonstrations.
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| InfoWars Reporter Hailed As a Deep State Victim. The Cops Say She Just Robbed Her Mom. Posted: 20 Aug 2020 01:27 AM PDT  When InfoWars correspondent Millie Weaver was arrested last week, her supporters claimed she was the victim of a "deep state" prosecution of a truth-telling journalist. By Tuesday afternoon, they had raised more than $170,000 to help her fight the charges. In reality, Weaver wasn't some heroine at the vanguard of a fight against nefarious government agents. Instead, she was arrested on charges of robbing her own mother, according to newly released court documents from police and prosecutors. But despite the less dramatic plot, Weaver's backers are still laying claim to her victimhood status. And she does not appear inclined to give the money back.On Friday, Weaver livestreamed her arrest at her Ohio home by sheriff's deputies in Portage County. She claimed she didn't know why she was being arrested, complained that she had not been warned via the mail that she was about to be indicted, and insisted–as she was being arrested—that she was on the cusp of a major professional moment. "I was literally about to break huge breaking news right now and I'm being arrested and I have no idea why," Weaver said on her livestream.Alex Jones and Infowars Ordered to Pay $100K in Court Costs for Sandy Hook CaseSoon after the arrest, one of Weaver's supporters published "Shadow Gate," a convoluted "documentary" in which Weaver and a handful of oddball characters allege a deep-state conspiracy among government contractors alleged to be the puppet masters behind American politics. And soon after that, Weaver's right-wing allies quickly claimed that the damaging secrets in "Shadow Gate" were what prompted the authorities to descend on her. Blaze TV host Elijah Schaffer claimed Weaver had been arrested "for allegedly obtaining leaked government documents." Attorney Robert Barnes, who has represented InfoWars in the past, claimed that Weaver's arrest was probably "criminalizing journalism that obtains information from whistleblowers."Ezra Levant, the head of conservative Canadian outlet Rebel News, set up a GoFundMe page in Weaver's name. With Weaver in jail, the donations began pouring in.> What happened to MillieWeaver likely reflects local authorities weaponizing the theory in the Assange indictment, criminalizing journalism that obtains information from whistleblowers. This is why the Assange indictment threatens the First Amendment so dangerously.> > — Robert Barnes (@Barnes_Law) August 15, 2020Over the weekend, there was near-total silence from local authorities about the charges she faced. Indeed, when asked whether Weaver was arrested for her documentary, a county jail official only "laughed" in an interview with the Daily Dot. But official documents now show that Weaver's arrest had nothing to do with the deep state—unless the alleged conspiracy includes her own mother. Weaver is formally facing three felony charges for robbery, evidence tampering and obstruction of justice, as well as a misdemeanor domestic charge over an April family fight gone wrong. Weaver's husband, Gavin Wince, and her brother, Charles Weaver, are facing the same charges.The incident in question took place on April 25, when Millie Weaver began arguing with and insulting her mother, Felecia McCarron, according to a police report. McCarron started a recording on her phone, in an apparent attempt to catch Weaver, Weaver's brother, and Weaver's husband talking about her. The Weavers and Wince allegedly tried to take her phone away in a scuffle, and all three allegedly "wrestled Felicia to the ground." "Chuck grabbed Felicia's arm as Gavin grabbed the other," the report reads. "Millie joined in and they all threw Felicia to the ground and held her down."Judge in InfoWars Case Says She's Been Notified of Death Threats by The FBIThe trio succeeded in taking the phone, according to McCarron's account, in what constitutes the "robbery" Weaver is charged with. McCarron, who suffered a small abrasion in the scuffle, fled to a neighbor's house and called 911. While there, she saw Charles Weaver running to the back of the house, in what she took to be an attempt to hide her phone.When deputies arrived, the Weaver siblings and Wince claimed that McCarron suffered from mental issues and had in fact lost her phone days earlier, the report alleges. But deputies became suspicious of the trio, suspecting that they were making up the explanation on the spot. Further investigation proved that McCarron had been texting someone from her church on her phone shortly before the alleged robbery, meaning that she couldn't have lost it days earlier. By comparison, the deputies found McCarron's version of events believable."As Millie told the story, she paused numerous times and seemed to be thinking of the details as she spoke," the report reads. "The three would look at one another and pause, as if looking for the right answer before one would provide an answer."The trio's alleged attempts to lie to officers were so obvious to authorities that they were described as absurd. At one point, Weaver's brother Charles told an officer that he had run behind the house to check out a flooding issue, not to hide the phone. When the officer pointed out that there were no footprints in the mud to show that Weaver had gone behind the house, Charles countered that he had "jogged" — which supposedly wouldn't have left footprints. "I commented on the absurdity of their explanation," one deputy's account of the interview reads.Millie Weaver didn't respond to a request for comment. Wince and Charles Weaver, along with McCarron, couldn't be reached for comment. Even as the details about Weaver's case trickled out, her supporters continued to believe she had been somehow punished by the government for her "Shadow Gate" video. Roughly a dozen Weaver supporters gathered outside an Ohio courthouse Monday for Weaver's hearing, carrying signs that said "Shadow Gate" or "Free Millie Now." One claimed that Weaver had been "arrested for journalism." And while Weaver's arrest turned out to be related to an alleged robbery of her mother, rather than deep-state skulduggery, GoFundMe will still allow Weaver to receive the $170,000 she's raised so far. GoFundMe will offer donors refunds if they request them, according to a statement."In order to honor the intent of the fundraiser and pay legal fees related to this arrest, the funds will be transferred to Weaver's legal counsel," the statement reads. "This will ensure the money raised will only be used for the campaign's stated purpose."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| As wildfires sweep through California, COVID-19 impacts the state's ability to rely on inmate fire crews Posted: 19 Aug 2020 10:46 PM PDT  California is dealing with a shortage of inmate fire crews to battle the extreme conditions.
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| Why U.S. intelligence findings undermine the Trump administration's Beijing-centric coronavirus narrative Posted: 19 Aug 2020 01:37 PM PDT  American officials familiar with a new internal report conducted by U.S. intelligence agencies said the findings affirm previous claims that local officials in Wuhan and Hubei Province hid coronavirus information from Beijing at the beginning of the pandemic, The New York Times reports.The U.S. report certainly doesn't exculpate the central government from wrongdoing, which occurred at all levels of the Chinese Communist Party, but it does make for a more nuanced reading of the pandemic's origins and complicates the Trump administration's narrative pinning the spread of the virus directly on Beijing's malfeasance.Michael Pillsbury, a China Scholar at the Hudson Institute who informally advises Trump, said "it makes a huge difference" if Wuhan officials were actually shielding the central government from key information. If Chinese President Xi Jinping wasn't primarily responsible for any cover-ups, Pillsbury told the Times, then his subordinates likely had not engaged in "total deceit" on the coronavirus. That could reopen a door for "good-faith negotiations" between Washington and Beijing that have stalled in large part due to divisions over the virus.Pillsbury, for what it's worth, is a proponent of the U.S. competing with China, but also wants the U.S. to stick to the January trade agreement signed by Trump and Xi. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com 5 bitingly funny cartoons about the Democratic National Convention Joe Biden is already planning a failed presidency Kamala Harris' grand finale involved awkward pointing, an empty auditorium, and a Zoom mistake
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| Greece denies illegally pushing migrants back to sea after New York Times investigation found 1,000 cases Posted: 20 Aug 2020 06:33 AM PDT  Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis has denied renewed claims of illegal pushbacks of asylum-seekers at sea and accused Turkey of peddling "misinformation" about his country's "tough but fair" border management. "If there's any incident that needs to be explored, if there's any exaggeration at any given point, I'm going to be the first to look into it," Mitsotakis told CNN late Wednesday. "Greece is a country that respects the rule of law, we've granted asylum to tens of thousands of people," the PM said. The New York Times on August 14 said Greece was "abandoning" migrants at sea for the Turkish coastguard to rescue. It said it had interviewed survivors from five such episodes, and cited additional evidence from independent watchdogs, two academic researchers and the Turkish coastguard. Based on its research, the Times said more than 1,000 asylum seekers had been "dropped at sea" since March. Mitsotakis said the reports "essentially originate from Turkey". "Some of these reporters who do these types of exploratory journalism should be more careful in checking their sources," he said. "These types of reports are also an insult to our coastguard (which) has saved literally tens of thousands of refugees and migrants at sea, and our islands have always provided shelter to those in greater need," Mitsotakis said.
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| American universities, including Harvard and Princeton, weigh options to protect students from political prosecution under China's new national security law Posted: 19 Aug 2020 09:51 PM PDT  "We have to leave it up to the students whether they enroll because it is ultimately their lives that are going to be affected."
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| Wolverines spotted at Mount Rainier National Park for the first time in over 100 years Posted: 20 Aug 2020 03:23 PM PDT  "It's really, really exciting," said Mount Rainier National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins.
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| Trump explodes at Obama’s convention speech, repeating false accusation of spying on campaign Posted: 20 Aug 2020 02:35 AM PDT  Watching Wednesday night's Democratic convention, Donald Trump launched a Twitter barrage against his predecessor Barack Obama, whose speech painted the president as an incompetent egocentrist who has failed to "grow into the job".Tweeting in furious capital letters, Mr Trump repeated an unfounded accusation he has been trading on for months now. "HE SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GOT CAUGHT!"
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| 'Fort Lori': Chicago police ban protests on Mayor Lori Lightfoot's block, order arrests for anyone who won't leave Posted: 20 Aug 2020 09:15 AM PDT |
| Playful Essentials to Perk Up Your Labor Day Setup Posted: 20 Aug 2020 06:22 AM PDT |
| ‘No one wants to touch this case.’ Probe into payoffs in NFL players’ case goes nowhere. Posted: 20 Aug 2020 03:00 AM PDT  A police investigation revealed that a Miami high school football coach might have paid $55,000 in cash to four men who claimed they'd been robbed by two NFL players in Miramar. The payoffs, according to a detective's report, were made so the victims would change their story — and took place in a downtown Miami law office.
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| The Democratic Party Just Dissed and All but Disappeared Stacey Abrams Posted: 18 Aug 2020 06:27 PM PDT  Tom Perez and the DNC have got some nerve to sit Stacey Abams at the head of the kid's table, burying one of the most impressive, accomplished and recognizable Black women in America at the end of a so-called "keynote" video that used local leaders to highlight the party's supposed diversity without giving those leaders any real time to actually present themselves, and that aired at 9 PM on Tuesday — an hour before the networks start airing the convention. Sure, the party wants to highlight the ones to watch in the years ahead. Many of the local leaders many Americans saw — "met" would be too strong a word for the 5 to 15 second cuts from pol to pol, like a nerdier version of the celebrity "Imagine" video — for the first time tonight will hopefully go on to truly lead the Democratic party and push it forward on progressive issues that should be the foundation of our democratic and Democratic future. But leaving Abrams two minutes at the end of this montage wasn't a way to showcase a star in the party but a way to put her back in her place—to make plain that she's not part of the party's leadership now. Even as the 77-year-old Joe Biden offers himself as a "bridge" to a more diverse future, the sidelining of Abrams shows the party's need for a real reckoning, not just on policy but also on how they prioritize Black female candidates, especially those in the south. From the Georgia governors race to the South Carolina senate primary all the way through the presidential primary, Democratic leadership is still clearly uncomfortable putting their full support behind non-white and non-male candidates.What Happened to Stacey Abrams Will Happen to Joe BidenNo disrespect to her Democratic colleagues — mostly city council members and state legislators — but Stacey Abrams is by far the most accomplished of the individuals with whom she shared screen time in a format that seemed to be more about showing pictures of the supposed diversity that's coming soon to the national stage rather than actually giving any of the people in those pictures the time to truly introduce themselves. Good luck saying anything more than who you are and maybe a couple of platitudes in less than two minutes.It's notable that one of the other politicians in the video is a former Abrams intern. Rep. Sam Park of Georgia. He is indeed a rising star, but the visual of the two of them on the same virtual stage at this point in their careers is not just inaccurate but insulting — or at least it should be if we are being honest about the history of sexism and anti-Black racism in this country and even within the Democratic party.Are Democrats really saying that the woman who founded Fair Fight and Fair Count has the same political future as first and second term city council members? That the woman who has raised millions upon millions of dollars for candidates across the country should be mentioned in the same breath as someone who has been in office for a shorter period of time than most people spend in college? That the woman who built a voting-rights infrastructure across 20 states and almost single handedly contextualized the severity of the Census crisis should be sat at the kid's table?Again, no disrespect to the newcomers, but the placement of Abrams — not very long after she was considered for, and made the case for herself, as Biden's running mate — feels like a direct message to ambitious and accomplished Black women everywhere who state what they want: "Play by our rules and wait your turn. Do not create your own paths for success, organization, coalition building, fundraising, or much of anything else." For far too long the Democratic Party has half-heartedly asked Black candidates what they can do for them. But just as James Baldwin warned, we need a party that will ask, "What can we do with you?" Abrams did not wait for the DNC to assist her in her nationwide pursuit of democracy and equity, and now she is being punished for her success. One need only to rewatch her State of the Union rebuttal last year to know she has mastered the art of the awkward speech into the void.Yes, the Democratic Party deserves a victory lap about the selection of Kamala Harris as the vice presidential nominee. Similarly, the party took victory laps after the election and reelection of Barack Obama, and let's look at where that got us—a pendulum swing to perhaps the most anti-Black president of the last century. The DNC has never dealt with the structural inequities that exist within the organization and the party, which leaves us with a montage of a few rising stars and one whose light they are trying to dim. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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