| Oklahoma becomes latest red state to approve Obamacare's Medicaid expansion at the ballot box Posted: 01 Jul 2020 11:31 AM PDT  Oklahoma follows Utah, Nebraska, Idaho and Maine in approving the Obamacare health insurance expansion for low-income residents.
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| After a Black protester is killed in Omaha, witnesses claim a rushed investigation ignored signs of the shooter's allegedly racist past Posted: 01 Jul 2020 12:03 PM PDT  More than 300 people have been arrested in Omaha amid protests against police brutality in the past month. Jake Gardner, who shot and killed James Scurlock, is not one of them.
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| Alabama college students are throwing 'COVID parties' where they invite infected people and gamble on who gets sick first, officials say Posted: 02 Jul 2020 02:48 AM PDT  As of Thursday, Alabama reported more than 38,000 coronavirus cases. State health authorities have warned intensive-care-unit beds might run out.
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| Harvard Grad Says She Was Fired from Deloitte Job for Threatening ‘All Lives Matter’ Supporters Posted: 02 Jul 2020 05:54 AM PDT  A recent Harvard graduate who threatened to "stab" anyone who told her "all lives matter" has been fired from her job, she announced in a tearful video.Claira Janover, who said in a viral but since-deleted TikTok post that she would "stab" those with "the nerve" to say "all lives matter," posted several tearful videos explaining that her new employer, Deloitte, had fired her."I know this is what Trump supporters wanted because standing up for Black Lives Matter put me in a place online to be seen by millions of people," Janover explained. "The job that I worked really hard to get and meant a lot to me just called me and fired me because of everything."In a second video, Janover claimed that "Trump supporters took my job away from me.""I have gotten death threats, rape threats, violent threats and it's okay — but now it's just like my future is entirely compromised because Trump supporters have decided to come for my life," she stated. "I'm too strong for you. I am too strong for any of you, 'all lives matter' racist Trump supporters. It sucks but it doesn't suck as much as systemic racism."Janover also criticized Deloitte, calling out the company for "cowardice." The firm has not publicly commented on the situation.In the video that led to her firing, Janover warned "all lives matter" supporter that she would stab them. "While you're struggling and bleeding out, I'ma show you my paper cut and say, 'My cut matters too,'" she stated. After the video was picked up and circulated on Twitter, Janover posted a message on the video stating that "For legal reasons this is a joke." She also explained in subsequent videos that her threat was "clearly" an "analogous joke.""Apparently I'm threatening the lives of people — unlike cops, obviously," she added."Anyway, so If I get an email from the Department of Homeland Security or I get kicked out of Harvard or I get arrested or whatever — or I get murdered, according to the many death threats that I'm receiving right now — know that I appreciate you guys standing up for me," she said.
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| Arizona tells Pence it needs additional 500 health care workers as COVID-19 cases soar Posted: 01 Jul 2020 02:24 PM PDT  Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey told Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday that the state needed an additional 500 health care workers as the number of cases of COVID-19 continues to set records there.
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| Italian police seize record amount of amphetamines shipped from Syria Posted: 01 Jul 2020 03:32 AM PDT  Italian police said on Wednesday they had seized about 14 tonnes of amphetamine pills worth around 1 billion euros ($1 billion) arriving from Syria, in what they described as the world's single largest operation of its kind. The shipment was hidden among counterfeit clothing items.
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| US tries to seize Iranian gas heading toward Venezuela Posted: 02 Jul 2020 09:46 AM PDT  U.S. federal prosecutors are seeking to seize four tankers sailing toward Venezuela with gasoline supplied by Iran, the latest attempt to disrupt ever-closer trade ties between the two heavily sanctioned anti-American allies. The civil-forfeiture complaint filed late Wednesday in the District of Columbia federal court alleges that the sale was arranged by a businessman, Mahmoud Madanipour, with ties to Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. "The profits from these activities support the IRGC's full range of nefarious activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism, and a variety of human rights abuses, at home and abroad," prosecutor Zia Faruqui alleges in the complaint.
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| Police officer filmed punching black woman at Miami International Airport Posted: 02 Jul 2020 04:20 AM PDT  The police department in Miami-Dade has dismissed two officers after one punched a black woman at Miami International Airport.The department ordered an investigation into the incident on Wednesday night when a video – dated 1 July – was shared online.
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| Finland's air force drops swastika emblem after century in use Posted: 02 Jul 2020 04:57 AM PDT  Finland's air force has quietly removed the last swastikas from unit emblems after over a century in use. Until recently the country's Air Force Command emblem depicted a pair of wings around a swastika, a symbol which pre-dates its associations with Nazism. The change was first observed by Teivo Teivainen, a politics professor at the University of Helsinki, who argued its negative associations made the swastika's ongoing use politically fraught. Professor Teivainen, who has written widely on the issue, said using the swastika could cause difficulties for the Nato country, particularly if worn on the uniforms of deployed personnel. "I have not found many reasonable arguments to support its military usefulness," Mr Teivainen wrote on Twitter on Thursday. The symbol's association with Finland's air force dates to its founding in 1918, when Swedish count Eric von Rosen donated a plane painted with swastikas to the newly independent country. The German Nazi Party adopted the swastika as its logo in 1920. Finland removed the swastika from its aircraft following a postwar armistice with the Soviet Union, but until recently the symbol remained on Air Force Command emblems and some flags and decorations. A spokesman for Finland's air force told the BBC, "as unit emblems are worn on uniform, it was considered impractical and unnecessary to continue using the old unit emblem, which had caused misunderstandings from time to time."
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| Former US ambassador to Russia says Trump 'always sides with Putin' after the president said the Russian bounty intelligence is 'Fake News' Posted: 01 Jul 2020 10:31 AM PDT  A former US ambassador to Russia excoriated President Trump for suggesting intelligence on a suspected Russian bounty plot was a "hoax."
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| 'We're not going anywhere': Seattle's Chop zone dismantled but cause lives on Posted: 02 Jul 2020 06:33 AM PDT  The special police-free zone set up by protesters has now been cleared, but activists say they won't stop the fight for justiceThe occupied protest zone near downtown Seattle known as the Capitol Hill Organized Protest, or "Chop", effectively came to a swift end early on Wednesday morning when officers largely cleared the area of people and encampments, despite some protests lingering overnight into Thursday.Now activists say the relationships built and lessons learned over the last three weeks in the self-proclaimed police-free zone have already had a lasting impact that will live on past the physical presence of Chop."We won, we're winning, we made history," said Rick Hearns, who had become head of security at Chop. "Look what we did here. The world saw it."But the protest area also became the location of a series of night-time shootings, which left a 16-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man dead and several others seriously injured.In a series of tweets on Wednesday afternoon, Seattle's mayor, Jenny Durkan, highlighted the violence in the zone, saying "the recent public safety threats have been well documented" and "this violence demanded action".She said: "Our conversations over the weekend made it clear that many individuals would not leave, and that we couldn't address these critical public safety concerns until they did."The autonomous zone emerged organically following a series of dangerous clashes between protesters and law enforcement during marches against police brutality sparked by the killing of George Floyd, and African American, by a white police officer, in Minneapolis in May.Officers in Seattle abandoned their east precinct building as demonstrations closed in, after which protesters camped out around it, with the intention of protecting the building from possible destruction that might be blamed on them.In the days that followed, hundreds more joined, and suddenly several blocks of the city's streets were teeming with people of different ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds, focused on calling for the defunding the city's police department – echoing such protest cries emerging coast to coast, which can mean diverting money budgeted for police departments to social and education services, or even dismantling an entire department and restructuring the law enforcement system.And they wanted an end to police brutality against black people, explained Tarika Powell, an organizer with Seattle Black Collective Voice.> We're going to organize sit-ins, we're going to spam the city officials, we're going to show up> > Jessie Livingston"It was a space where people came to learn. We screened documentaries, we put on people's assemblies every day where people had the opportunity to speak and share their feelings and ideas … we put on educational events every single day," she told the Guardian."We had a space called the conversation cafe where people could come to learn about racism and to talk about it in ways they don't get to do in their daily lives."It spurred not only important conversations and learning, but also lasting bonds, which have since resulted in the organizing of anti-racist protests and the creation of social justice groups.The Seattle Black Collective Voice, for example, was formed after a group of organizers and protesters met in the Chop, explained Powell.Today, there are about 40 people involved with the collective, and they hold weekly educational events, and organize neighborhood cleanups and mental health outreach for people in the African American community."We would have not been able to come together and engage in the work that we're doing if it had not been for Chop," she said.Pay the Fee Tiny Library was launched in a tent at the Chop, and now organizers have set up the library, which includes black, indigenous and people of color and LGBTQ literature, around the city and held events. And a garden started in the Cal Anderson Park is now expected to become a permanent addition to the neighborhood.Protesters have repeatedly stressed that the shootings and violence was not directly connected with Chop, and may have happened anyway . But it resulted in a dramatic decline in occupiers, it concerned local businesses and residents, and amplified officials calling on occupants to disperse.By the time police cleared Chop on Wednesday, following Mayor Durkan's emergency executive order, the area had largely been reduced to a small number of activists and many homeless people, explained Powell.The truth is they "went in and did a violent sweep on homeless people, throwing away their tents and belongings", she said."Those homeless people had come into Chop to be safe from the sweeps. That is the vast majority of people that were in that space since the shooting started."Officers reported on Twitter that they arrested 31 people during the sweep.Some activists have argued that the police precinct was needed as a bargaining chip in order to get their three main demands met, which involve defunding the police, using that money to invest in community health and services, and dropping criminal charges against protesters. Others say another occupation in the city could be a future possibility.Jessie Livingston, 36, a protester who has been camped at Chop almost every day since it was founded, said she didn't know exactly the form the movement might take, but said: "We're going to organize sit-ins, we're going to spam the city officials, we're going to show up to city council meetings, we're going to do everything we know how to do."She added: "We're not going anywhere."
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| Sen. Scott on COVID-19 surge in Florida: We can beat this without the government taking away our rights Posted: 02 Jul 2020 05:00 AM PDT  Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott says citizens can responsibly combat the virus by being given more information from the government instead of just being told what to do.
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| The Best Bike Lights to Illuminate Your Ride Posted: 02 Jul 2020 10:26 AM PDT |
| Feds Arrest ‘Ringleader’ in Attempt to Topple Andrew Jackson Statue Near White House Posted: 02 Jul 2020 09:07 AM PDT  Federal authorities on Thursday reportedly arrested a male suspect they say was the "ringleader" of an effort to destroy a statue of Andrew Jackson near the White House.Jason Carter, whom authorities said is connected to the loose knit anarchist group Antifa, was arrested Thursday morning at his home and charged with destruction of federal property, Fox News first reported. Carter allegedly led the June 22 effort to topple the statue in Washington D.C.'s Lafayette Square near the White House, which protesters said they attacked because Jackson owned slaves and because of his treatment of Native Americans."They were very organized," an unidentified federal law enforcement official told Fox News. "Carter was on top of the statue and directing people.""They had acid, chisels, straps and a human chain preventing police from getting to the statue," the official said.The Justice Department on Saturday announced that four other men face felony destruction of federal property charges for their roles in attacking the statue. According to the department, the four were caught in video footage attempting to pull the statue to the ground.President Trump on Friday signed an executive order to protect American monuments, memorials, and statues in the wake of recent attacks on several monuments of historical figures in cities around the country."Long prison terms for these lawless acts against our Great Country," Trump wrote in a tweet announcing the order.At least a dozen other monuments to historical figures have also been targeted, including several Christopher Columbus statues. Statues of Columbus were attacked in recent weeks in Virginia, Massachusetts, and Minnesota as protests continue against racism and police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis.
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| America's New B-21 Stealth Bomber Is Just Two-Years Away Posted: 02 Jul 2020 12:01 PM PDT  These are much better than the older B-2s and should be ready in the early 2020s.
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| Gun-toting restaurateur upsets 5-term Colorado congressman Posted: 30 Jun 2020 08:36 PM PDT  A pistol-packing restaurant owner who has expressed support for a far-right conspiracy theory has upset five-term U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton in Colorado's primary elections. Tipton became the fourth House member to lose renomination bids this year. Republican Reps. Steve King of Iowa and Denver Riggleman of Virginia, and Democrat Daniel Lipinski of Illinois, have already been ousted by challengers.
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| Former Pope Benedict's brother Georg dies at 96 Posted: 01 Jul 2020 04:03 AM PDT  Georg Ratzinger, the brother of former Pope Benedict who nurtured a very close relationship over decades to his sibling, has died at the age of 96 in the German town of Regensburg on Wednesday, the local archdiocese said. In June, Benedict, aged 93, had spent five days in his native Germany to visit his ailing brother, who was also a priest. It was the first time that Benedict left Italy since 2013, when he became the first Pope to resign in six centuries.
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| Thousands of Czechs hold 'farewell party' for pandemic in Prague as country registers spike in cases Posted: 01 Jul 2020 04:11 AM PDT  Thousands of people in Prague bid a "symbolic farewell" to the coronavirus pandemic with a street party stretching along one of the city's most famous bridges. Around 2,000 people sat at the 515-metre-long table on the medieval Charles Bridge to eat, drink and talk with little or no regard for social distancing, although disinfectant was provided and people were encouraged to bring their own food and refreshments. People wanting to attend the free party, billed as a "unique event" on social media, had to book places in advance. The Czech Republic has been heralded as one of Europe's virus-fighting success stories. The country, which has a population of 10 million, implemented one of the continent's harshest lockdowns, and has managed to keep Covid-related deaths down to 350 and infections below 12,000. "This is a celebration to show people that we are not afraid and do not have to remain locked in our rooms," said Ondrej Kozba, the party's organiser. "The bridge was a good metaphor because it brings people together.
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| Lindsey Graham Uses Benghazi to Defend Trump on Russian Bounties Posted: 02 Jul 2020 08:49 AM PDT  Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was among the loudest Republican voices in Congress screaming about the attack on U.S. diplomats in Benghazi, Libya back in 2012. But he apparently has no problem with President Donald Trump's decision to ignore intelligence about Russian bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan. In fact, during a Thursday morning appearance on Fox & Friends, Graham actually used the Benghazi attack to defend Trump and accuse his Democratic colleagues of hypocrisy.After co-host Brian Kilmeade quoted Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA), who accused Trump of committing "treason," Graham fired back by asking: "Where were all these Democrats when Benghazi was on fire, when they were calling for help from the consulate? The president of the United States Obama was briefed and went to bed and never called anybody for a day and a half while our people were being slaughtered in Benghazi. Where was the outrage then?!" Graham went on to say that in his view the "conflicting intelligence" in this case "does not justify a nation stage conflict with Russia." He also defended Trump's apparent lack of knowledge about the bounties by saying, "You don't tell the president of the United States everything you would tell a second lieutenant!" Co-host Steve Doocy then gave Graham an assist by adding, "It should surprise anybody that it's a big story in The New York Times. I mean, that's what they do! They come up with these big stories to make Donald Trump look bad." "And it's all B.S.," Graham replied. "He wasn't briefed. And there was no consensus." While Trump may not have been verbally briefing about the bounties, the intelligence was reportedly in his Presidential Daily Briefing, which he apparently declined to read. Despite this, Graham said Trump has an "unwavering desire and commitment to protecting our troops on the ground." Fox & Friends ended its interview with Graham by asking about his recent golf outing with Trump. "Who won?" Doocy inquired."I've never seen him play this well," Graham said with a straight face as the co-hosts giggled. "I mean, he's got more on his shoulders—I'm hoping, OK, he's a little distracted. He beat me like a drum." Jake Tapper Exposes Pompeo, Graham and Giuliani's 'Stunning' HypocrisyRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet 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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| A white woman who pointed her gun at a Black woman and her 15-year-old daughter outside a Chipotle has been arrested Posted: 02 Jul 2020 02:29 PM PDT  The charges, for felonious assault, come after video emerged of an incident in a Chipotle parking lot in Orion Township, Michigan, on Wednesday night.
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| Column: Pete Buttigieg on running as a gay man and his struggles with Black voters Posted: 01 Jul 2020 04:28 PM PDT  'Nobody two years ago was saying who is going to jump into the millennial, Midwestern, gay mayor lane, right?': Pete Buttigieg on the doors he opened for the LGBTQ community — and the inroads he didn't make
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| Texas Lt. Gov. blasts Fauci as state coronavirus cases rise: ‘I don’t need his advice’ Posted: 01 Jul 2020 08:16 AM PDT  "No thank you, Dr. Fauci."
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| Terrifying: Why France Once Pointed Its Nuclear Weapons at Germany Posted: 02 Jul 2020 09:53 AM PDT  Any Soviet invasion route would have gone through Germany.
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| Kentucky election: Democrats flip state Senate seat held by Republicans for 25 years Posted: 01 Jul 2020 09:05 AM PDT  Democrats have flipped a state Senate seat previously held by Republicans for the last 25 years.Dr Karen Berg won the special election for Kentucky's 26th Senate District after Republican Senator Ernie Harris announced he was retiring following 25 years in office. She beat Republican candidate Bill Ferko by 14 points.
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| Pakistan: Exchange of fire with India kills boy in Kashmir Posted: 01 Jul 2020 05:22 AM PDT |
| Vietnam, Philippines denounce China military drills in disputed waters Posted: 02 Jul 2020 03:52 AM PDT  Vietnam and the Philippines on Thursday criticised China's holding of military drills in a disputed part of the South China, warning it could create tension in the region and impact Beijing's relationship with its neighbours. Philippine Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said China's exercises in the waters near the Paracel Islands were "highly provocative", while Vietnam's Foreign Ministry called them a violation of sovereignty that could be "detrimental" to Beijing's relationship with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
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| Trump reportedly briefed on Russia paying militants to kill US troops the same day he had a 45-minute meeting on the dramatized CPAC play 'FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers' Posted: 30 Jun 2020 09:01 PM PDT  President Donald Trump denies he was briefed on a Russian military intelligence unit paying Taliban-linked militants to kill US forces in Afghanistan.
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| Vanessa Guillen Was Bludgeoned to Death With a Hammer by Fellow Soldier, Lawyer Says Posted: 02 Jul 2020 04:12 PM PDT  This story contains graphic details.A lawyer representing the family of slain Fort Hood soldier Vanessa Guillen has revealed disturbing new details about how the young Houston native is believed to have died after she vanished in late April. Speaking on an episode of the "Crime Stories" podcast hosted by Nancy Grace that aired Thursday, Natalie Khawam said she and the Guillen family had just learned from Army investigators that the 20-year-old was brutally beaten after being called in to work at the Fort Hood armory on April 22. Army investigators discovered "partial human remains" earlier this week they believe belong to Guillen, though they have yet to be positively identified. After reporting for work that day, Guillen is said to have encountered Aaron Robinson, a fellow soldier publicly identified by the Army's Criminal Investigation Division on Thursday as the suspect in Guillen's disappearance. Robinson "displayed a weapon and took his own life" when authorities closed in on him Wednesday morning, the CID said. According to Khawam, Robinson savagely attacked Guillen at the armory after she remarked on his relationship with the estranged wife of a former Fort Hood soldier. When Guillen reminded him that the relationship was in violation of military rules, he allegedly picked up a hammer and began "bludgeoning her head over and over." "The whole place was filled with blood," Khawam said. Dead Suspect in Disappearance of Fort Hood Soldier Sexually Harassed Her: LawyerThe suspect then allegedly took Guillen's body to a river and enlisted the help of his girlfriend to dispose of the remains. "They go to the river, they first try to light her body on fire, they try to burn her body, they can't burn her body, they're having a hard time burning her body, so they decide to take the machete out and start dismembering her whole body," Khawam said. After scattering her remains in a shallow grave, she said, they used quick-dry cement to try and cover it. "Ironically, this all happened between midnight and four in the morning when they were burning her body and dismembering her body with a machete. That time was when Vanessa's sister Mayra was arriving at the base. While she's looking for her sister, they are dismembering her body," Khawam said. The CID has confirmed that "the estranged wife of a former Fort Hood soldier" is also in custody in connection with the Guillen case but "because she is a civilian and in the custody of local authorities, Army CID will not be releasing any further information concerning her or her status at this time." The Bell County Sheriff's Office identified the second suspect as Cecily Aguilar and said she is in custody and awaiting a court appearance in federal court on a charge of tampering/fabricating physical evidence with intent to impair a human corpse, a second-degree felony.Khawam said Robinson managed to flee and shoot himself after authorities tried to hold him at the base in connection with coronavirus precautions rather than getting an arrest warrant. Guillen reportedly confided in family members about experiencing sexual harassment by one of her superiors on the base prior to her disappearance, and Khawam said Robinson was one of the men accused of sexually harassing her. But at a Thursday press conference, Damon Phelps of the CID said Robinson was "not involved" in the sexual harassment inquiry and was in "no way" Guillen's superior. Guillen's family is demanding a congressional investigation into the military's handling of the case, claiming Army authorities have gone out of their way to protect soldiers in the course of the investigation.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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| Memphis police clear downtown plaza, detain protesters who camped out for two weeks Posted: 01 Jul 2020 10:10 AM PDT  Protesters have camped outside the Memphis City Hall since June 16. The city said the move was necessary to allow for construction.
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| Britain recognises Juan Guaido as president of Venezuela after dispute over gold Posted: 02 Jul 2020 05:08 AM PDT  Britain has recognised Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido as the country's president, the English High Court has ruled, in a case over whether Mr Guaido or Nicolas Maduro should control $1 billion of its gold stored in London. The case was brought by the Banco Central de Venezuela to release $1 billion of gold reserves to help fund the cash-strapped country's response to the coronavirus outbreak. The Bank of England said it was unable to act on instructions because it was "caught in the middle" of competing claims for the presidency after disputed elections in 2018. A BCV board appointed by the government of Nicolas Maduro wants the gold released while a rival ad hoc board appointed by Mr Guaido asked for the release to be denied. Commercial Court judge Nigel Teare, sitting at the High Court of England and Wales, was asked to rule on who was authorised to make the demand - Mr Guaido or Mr Maduro. In his judgement, he said: "Her Majesty's Government does recognise Mr Guaido in the capacity of constitutional interim president of Venezuela and, it must follow, does not recognise Mr Maduro as the constitutional interim president of Venezuela."
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| Minnesota state senator reacts to city council members voting to disband police: ‘Hypocrisy’ Posted: 01 Jul 2020 08:19 AM PDT  Minnesota State Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka tells 'America's Newsroom' it's 'hypocritical' that the city council members want to defund the police, yet have their own protection.
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| Elephants are dying by the hundreds in Africa, experts say. Nobody knows why Posted: 02 Jul 2020 12:19 PM PDT  "We need to know what the hell is going on."
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| Richmond Mayor Uses Emergency Powers to Take Down Stonewall Jackson Statue after City Council Delay Posted: 02 Jul 2020 05:37 AM PDT  The mayor of Richmond, Va., ordered the removal of a statue of Confederate general Stonewall Jackson on Wednesday, and city authorities said additional confederate monuments will be removed in the near future.Richmond mayor Levar Stoney's initiative comes amid massive nationwide demonstrations sparked by the death of George Floyd, an African-American man killed during arrest by Minneapolis police officers. Protesters have toppled various statues of historical figures including Christopher Columbus, however monuments to the Confederacy have come under particular scrutiny because of the history of slavery in southern states that chose to secede from the Union."The Berlin Wall fell, but also the system fell with it," Stoney, a Democrat, told a crowd assembled to watch city workers remove the Jackson statue. "Now for us, as elected leaders, alongside our community, it's our job to rip out the systemic racism that is found in everything we do — from government, to health care, to the criminal justice system."Stoney used emergency powers to order the statue's removal after the City Council delayed a vote on removing four Confederate monuments in Richmond.Lamont Bagby, a Democrat representing Richmond in the Virginia General Assembly, applauded Stoney's decision."The tearing down of statues by activists puts their health and safety at great risk, and I support his decision to mitigate those risks," Bagby, who is chairman of the state's General Black Caucus, said in a statement. Virginia Republican Party chairman Jack Wilson countered that "Richmond is no longer run by the rule of law — it has devolved into anarchy," and accused city authorities of "caving to the mob."In addition to monuments, momentum from the George Floyd demonstrations has caused a reckoning over Confederate symbols, including its flag. The Mississippi state government has approved the removal of the emblem of the Confederacy from its state flag, while NASCAR has banned spectators from waving the Confederate flag at races.The debate is playing out in the federal government as well, with a push to rename military bases, including Fort Bragg, that are named after Confederate figures. Senators Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) have introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would create a commission to weigh renaming those bases.
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| Made in America: Meet Iran's 'Zombie' Cannon Posted: 02 Jul 2020 11:38 AM PDT  Neither tank nor artillery piece.
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| British PM's father travels to Greece despite UK COVID-19 advisory Posted: 02 Jul 2020 07:19 AM PDT  The father of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has flown to Greece, despite current advice for British nationals to avoid all but essential international travel. Greek government officials confirmed on Thursday that author Stanley Johnson had arrived, likely via Bulgaria, in the northern region of Pelion, where he has a holiday home, but said there was nothing untoward in his arrival. Photos on Stanley Johnson's Instagram account showed him wearing a mask in what appeared to be an airport.
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| US jobs surge: Trump sees sunshine, Biden 'no victory yet' Posted: 02 Jul 2020 01:28 PM PDT  U.S. unemployment is at one of its worst points since the Great Depression. As Republicans and Democrats fought to spin Thursday's jobs numbers to their advantage, both sides face tremendous political risks in navigating a delicate and defining issue heading into the presidential campaign's final months. Democrats, led by presumptive nominee Joe Biden, seized on the growing threat presented by coronavirus after the better-than-expected numbers were released, a stance the Republicans called rooting against America's recovery.
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| Detroit man sentenced to life in prison for killing two gay men and a transgender woman Posted: 01 Jul 2020 11:46 AM PDT  19-year-old Devon Kareem Robinson's "actions were disturbing on so many levels," Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said.
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| LA launching color-coded system to warn of COVID-19 danger Posted: 01 Jul 2020 06:10 PM PDT  The city of Los Angeles is moving to a new color-coded threat level system to describe Angelenos' risk of developing a coronavirus infection, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Wednesday.
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| Sweden's prime minister orders an inquiry into the failure of the country's no-lockdown coronavirus strategy Posted: 02 Jul 2020 04:44 AM PDT  The number of new COVID-19 cases in Sweden, where the government opted against a strict lockdown, has increased significantly in recent weeks.
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| Weibo deletes Indian Prime Minister's social media account Posted: 01 Jul 2020 09:33 PM PDT  Sina Weibo, China's answer to Twitter, said it had deleted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's account at the request of the Indian embassy, as tensions between the two countries continue to simmer over a border skirmish. Since posting on Sina Weibo the first time in 2015 during a visit to China, Mr Modi has been an infrequent user of the Chinese social media platform. He had more than 200,000 followers and 100 posts before the account was shut. Sina Weibo announced the closure of the account late on Wednesday and the removal comes a few days after India banned dozens of Chinese apps, including Sina Weibo and ByteDance's TikTok, following the border clash between the two nations. The Indian embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment. Mr Modi was among a handful of foreign leaders with a Weibo account. Others include Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau of Canada, and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela. Notably, Mr Modi revealed the birth dates of both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang by wishing them "Happy Birthday" on Weibo. The discussion of senior leaders' private lives is extremely rare in China and the exact birth dates of most of them are not revealed publicly. In contrast, Chinese leaders are rarely active on social media. Foreign social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are blocked in China. READ MORE: China annexes 60sqkm of India in Ladakh as simmering tensions erupt between two superpowers
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| Miami-Dade Schools will require mandatory masks when school begins Posted: 01 Jul 2020 06:30 PM PDT  On the same day authorities took new steps to address the recent surge in Florida COVID-19 cases, Miami-Dade County Public Schools signed off on a plan Wednesday to reopen schools this fall, calling for smaller classes, a mix of in-person, online and hybrid teaching models and masks mandated for all.
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| Seattle police clear out protester-occupied zone Posted: 01 Jul 2020 04:54 PM PDT  More than 30 people are arrested as officers disperse demonstrators from the "lawless" area.
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| Military Mystery: What Happened to Russia's New T-14 Tank in Syria? Posted: 01 Jul 2020 07:00 PM PDT  Last month multiple media reports suggested that the Russian military's new T-14 Armata tank had been "battle-tested" in Syria.
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| Immigration judges in lawsuit say US government muzzles them Posted: 01 Jul 2020 10:59 AM PDT  Immigration judges said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against the U.S. Department of Justice that they are being muzzled by the Trump administration, marking the latest confrontation between the judges and the federal government. The judges under previous administrations were allowed to speak in their personal capacities on issues relating to immigration if they they made it clear that they were not speaking on behalf of the Justice Department or the court system, said Judge A. Ashley Tabaddor, president of the National Association of Immigration Judges, which represents about 460 federal immigration judges.
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| Jeffrey Epstein friend Ghislaine Maxwell arrested on sex abuse charges Posted: 02 Jul 2020 06:44 AM PDT  The FBI arrest of the British socialite is the latest twist in the mystery of Epstein, who went from a high school math teacher to high-flying lifestyle of private Caribbean islands and powerful connections that his victims say allowed him to abuse minors with impunity. Maxwell, 58, was arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire, where she had been laying low since December, the FBI said. Maxwell appeared briefly by video from jail at a hearing in New Hampshire federal court, where a judge ordered her to face the criminal charges in New York.
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| Texas to require face coverings in public spaces Posted: 02 Jul 2020 02:03 PM PDT  Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican and ally of US President Donald Trump, on Thursday issued an executive order requiring face coverings in public spaces as the state marks record numbers of new infections. "We have the ability to keep businesses open and move our economy forward so that Texans can continue to earn a paycheck, but it requires each of us to do our part to protect one another -- and that means wearing a face covering in public spaces," Abbott said, citing the effectiveness of masks in slowing the spread of the coronavirus. "Restricting the size of group gatherings will strengthen Texas' ability to corral this virus and keep Texans safe," he said.
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| U.S. says leaking nuclear waste dome is safe; Marshall Islands leaders don't believe it Posted: 01 Jul 2020 01:14 PM PDT  The DOE says that radioactive leakage from Runit Dome, a respository for U.S. atomic waste, is insignificant. Marshall Islands leaders are skeptical.
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